By Alysa Braceau
From time to time, I am asked, “What is sorcery all about?” Well let me first explain that it has nothing to do with Merlin and the Knights of the Round Table, or the Netherworld. It also doesn’t have anything to do with spirit possession, terrifying manipulation, strangers in the dark, or black magic.
What is Sorcery then? It is a spiritual path of wisdom and knowledge.
Most people are familiar with the work of Carlos Castaneda and his wildly popular works full of fascinating extraordinary visions and intense and terrifying experiences. The debate as to whether the experiences in his books are fact or fiction continues to this day. Carlos Castaneda described the “first line of knowledge,” coming from the Toltecs and Aztecs. The tradition of the “first line” uses fear and terror as a teaching method. I had my own initiation into the Native American tradition of sorcery, which is known as the “second line of knowledge.” When we first met, my dreaming teacher Running Deer (aka Vidar) explained to me how the “second line” evolved:
Originally there was only one sorcerer’s line, but because hunters covered great distances during the ice age, and due to the origination of land bridges, the original line (first line) split into two tribes. The second line is known as the North American tradition, the way of monumental beauty.
Shifting Your Perception
Now you understand there are various ways of the sorcerer, the first line and the second line. For a sorcerer in both traditions, reality or the world we all “seem to know” is only a description, an interpretation.
Sorcerer, man of knowledge, witch, brujo, shaman…Let’s start with this: In these traditions you do not relate or define yourself or your surroundings. You will understand this better when I explain the assemblage point.
The assemblage point is the place where all lines of intent come together; it is the ultimate place of perception. Call it a concentrated sense of perception. In the physical body it is usually, but not always, located at the height of the shoulder blades. We speak about moving the assemblage point in order to shift our perception, and the assemblage point should be flexible. For example children don’t perceive the world as fixed as we adults do. As soon as we start to learn and understand the meaning of words, the assemblage point starts to fixate more and more. The more definitions, the more solid our assemblage point. In the course of years, a child becomes more and more fixated on a definition of this reality, and when we become fixated we lose our totality.
People of knowledge or shamans seize every opportunity to shift their own assemblage point or someone else’s through words, a gesture, music, or love. However, in the end we purposefully set the process in motion with the arts of totality.
The Art of Dreaming is one of the teachings of Totality in the Native American sorcerer’s tradition. Running Deer explained there are four practices that guide the apprentice into the totality: the art of dreaming, stalking, hunting, and the art of the warrior. He said gradually that I will learn to master all of them, but because I am a dreamer the art of mastering lucid dreaming (dreaming while being aware that you are dreaming) is the most important one for me to reach totality.
If we reach totality, we truly experience that we are the creator of this reality.
To reach this point, I was taught in the beginning of my apprenticeship that it is important to confront yourself with bad dreams and nightmares, to look right through them, and then they will change into images of beauty. Unpleasant dreams do disappear when you look right through them, and then self-healing can occur in this tradition.
Become the Creator of Your Life
The Art of Dreaming is about freedom of perception. To be free from perception, you have to face your spiritual, physical, and emotional blocks and work to release them.
One of the techniques I describe in my book, The Sorcerer’s Dream, is The Healing of Your Inner Child, to heal yourself from fears and traumas. Releasing blocks gives one (you) the chance to become a totally free person and the more you experience that, the more you experience and discover that you can be the creator of your life instead of waiting around as a victim of circumstances.
One of the most important things I experienced in this tradition is that love and appreciation for self (for yourself) are the keys to freedom.
Almost everyone can learn how to lucid dream, and then enter the boundless unknown by learning to master those dreams. During my initiation one of the steps was to take magic mushrooms in a dreaming ceremony. The mushroom is the outward appearance of the entity Mateeë, whom I was fortunate enough to meet. Mateeë is a signpost into the second reality and a cosmic relative. Running Deer told me somewhere in the beginning of my apprenticeship that Mateeë would guide me to the unknown. He teaches how to shift your assemblage point. The characteristics of the entity are cosmic love, humor, and beauty. He teaches you that this reality is not the only one.
“The encounter with Mateeë will give you intellectual freedom,” Running Deer once said, “and that’s the opposite of the intellectual arrogance of mankind who claims the door is over there.”
However, you have to be ready to meet this entity, to be guided into the unknown. It can be very dangerous if you don’t have someone to teach and to guide you because you are challenged and confronted with your fears during the process.
Indeed, traveling into the boundless unknown, I was confronted with my fears. The experience taught me to let them go and heal myself from my traumas in order to live my life in harmony and freedom.
Sorcery is about mastering the first everyday reality, moving into the boundless second reality of creativity and dreaming, and then gaining the ability to separate these two realities. A sorcerer is one busy enlightening the whole universe and helping to heal the dark places with intention!
Author’s Note: The Sorcerer’s Dream is true story of initiation into the Native American sorcerer’s tradition by Alysa Braceau, Dreamshield. The author gives us a glimpse into the very real world of lucid dreaming and astral projection. Her direct experiences with a modern-day mystic, Running Deer, takes the work of Castaneda one step further. In The Sorcerer’s Dream, she reveals unique steps to mastering lucid dreaming and traveling to the unknown.
Alysa Braceau, Dreamshield, lives in the Netherlands (Europe), and she is the mother of a 10-year-old daughter. A freelance journalist for the past 10 years, she also studied social legal studies. Alysa has a healing practice and gives workshops about the “Art of Dreaming.” You can order the Sorcerer’s Dream on amazon.com or visit www.dreamshield.nl. Visit Alysa’s blog at http://dreamshield.wordpress.com.
From time to time, I am asked, “What is sorcery all about?” Well let me first explain that it has nothing to do with Merlin and the Knights of the Round Table, or the Netherworld. It also doesn’t have anything to do with spirit possession, terrifying manipulation, strangers in the dark, or black magic.
What is Sorcery then? It is a spiritual path of wisdom and knowledge.
Most people are familiar with the work of Carlos Castaneda and his wildly popular works full of fascinating extraordinary visions and intense and terrifying experiences. The debate as to whether the experiences in his books are fact or fiction continues to this day. Carlos Castaneda described the “first line of knowledge,” coming from the Toltecs and Aztecs. The tradition of the “first line” uses fear and terror as a teaching method. I had my own initiation into the Native American tradition of sorcery, which is known as the “second line of knowledge.” When we first met, my dreaming teacher Running Deer (aka Vidar) explained to me how the “second line” evolved:
Originally there was only one sorcerer’s line, but because hunters covered great distances during the ice age, and due to the origination of land bridges, the original line (first line) split into two tribes. The second line is known as the North American tradition, the way of monumental beauty.
Shifting Your perception
Now you understand there are various ways of the sorcerer, the first line and the second line. For a sorcerer in both traditions, reality or the world we all “seem to know” is only a description, an interpretation.
Sorcerer, man of knowledge, witch, brujo, shaman…Let’s start with this: In these traditions you do not relate or define yourself or your surroundings. You will understand this better when I explain the assemblage point.
The assemblage point is the place where all lines of intent come together; it is the ultimate place of perception. Call it a concentrated sense of perception. In the physical body it is usually, but not always, located at the height of the shoulder blades. We speak about moving the assemblage point in order to shift our perception, and the assemblage point should be flexible. For example children don’t perceive the world as fixed as we adults do. As soon as we start to learn and understand the meaning of words, the assemblage point starts to fixate more and more. The more definitions, the more solid our assemblage point. In the course of years, a child becomes more and more fixated on a definition of this reality, and when we become fixated we lose our totality.
People of knowledge or shamans seize every opportunity to shift their own assemblage point or someone else’s through words, a gesture, music, or love. However, in the end we purposefully set the process in motion with the arts of totality.
The Art of Dreaming is one of the teachings of Totality in the Native American sorcerer’s tradition. Running Deer explained there are four practices that guide the apprentice into the totality: the art of dreaming, stalking, hunting, and the art of the warrior. He said gradually that I will learn to master all of them, but because I am a dreamer the art of mastering lucid dreaming (dreaming while being aware that you are dreaming) is the most important one for me to reach totality.
If we reach totality, we truly experience that we are the creator of this reality.
To reach this point, I was taught in the beginning of my apprenticeship that it is important to confront yourself with bad dreams and nightmares, to look right through them, and then they will change into images of beauty. Unpleasant dreams do disappear when you look right through them, and then self-healing can occur in this tradition.
Become the Creator of Your Life
The Art of Dreaming is about freedom of perception. To be free from perception, you have to face your spiritual, physical, and emotional blocks and work to release them.
One of the techniques I describe in my book, The Sorcerer’s Dream, is The Healing of Your Inner Child, to heal yourself from fears and traumas. Releasing blocks gives one (you) the chance to become a totally free person and the more you experience that, the more you experience and discover that you can be the creator of your life instead of waiting around as a victim of circumstances.
One of the most important things I experienced in this tradition is that love and appreciation for self (for yourself) are the keys to freedom.
Almost everyone can learn how to lucid dream, and then enter the boundless unknown by learning to master those dreams. During my initiation one of the steps was to take magic mushrooms in a dreaming ceremony. The mushroom is the outward appearance of the entity Mateeë, whom I was fortunate enough to meet. Mateeë is a signpost into the second reality and a cosmic relative. Running Deer told me somewhere in the beginning of my apprenticeship that Mateeë would guide me to the unknown. He teaches how to shift your assemblage point. The characteristics of the entity are cosmic love, humor, and beauty. He teaches you that this reality is not the only one.
“The encounter with Mateeë will give you intellectual freedom,” Running Deer once said, “and that’s the opposite of the intellectual arrogance of mankind who claims the door is over there.”
However, you have to be ready to meet this entity, to be guided into the unknown. It can be very dangerous if you don’t have someone to teach and to guide you because you are challenged and confronted with your fears during the process.
Indeed, traveling into the boundless unknown, I was confronted with my fears. The experience taught me to let them go and heal myself from my traumas in order to live my life in harmony and freedom.
Sorcery is about mastering the first everyday reality, moving into the boundless second reality of creativity and dreaming, and then gaining the ability to separate these two realities. A sorcerer is one busy enlightening the whole universe and helping to heal the dark places with intention!
Author’s Note: The Sorcerer’s Dream is true story of initiation into the Native American sorcerer’s tradition by Alysa Braceau, Dreamshield. The author gives us a glimpse into the very real world of lucid dreaming and astral projection. Her direct experiences with a modern-day mystic, Running Deer, takes the work of Castaneda one step further. In The Sorcerer’s Dream, she reveals unique steps to mastering lucid dreaming and traveling to the unknown.
Alysa Braceau, Dreamshield, lives in the Netherlands (Europe), and she is the mother of a 10-year-old daughter. A freelance journalist for the past 10 years, she also studied social legal studies. Alysa has a healing practice and gives workshops about the “Art of Dreaming.” You can order the Sorcerer’s Dream on amazon.com or visit www.dreamshield.nl. Visit Alysa’s blog at http://dreamshield.wordpress.com.