Dreams show us the landscapes of our souls. Where do your dreams regularly take place? What is the felt sense of that space? How does it speak to you? According to the African indigenous perspective on dreaming, the landscapes in our dreams denote our DNA and the people we originate from.
In the modern world, where urban and technological landscapes often overshadow the natural world, there is an ever-increasing disconnect between humanity and the environment that sustains us. The consequences of this detachment are far-reaching, impacting on the very essence of our well-being. Jung saw our relationship with nature as essential to the development of consciousness and wholeness (Sabini 2001). Jung stated that in the “civilization process, we have increasingly divided our consciousness from the deeper instinctive strata of the human psyche” (Jung, 1964, 36).
Dream analysis and intuition (umbillini) is central to divination in the African traditional healers’ perspective as much as it is also the focus during Jungian Analysis. Within the context of African cosmology, the traditional healer's calling includes an understanding of the role of the ancestors, the causes of illnesses and the use of dreams, symbols, and rituals in the healing process. Jung’s theory encompasses the collective unconscious which is populated by archetypes. Jung believes the symbolic mode to be the cornerstone of mythological images, which are complex structures consisting of different aspects.
African people regard myths as a direct expression of the universe and of their inner and outer experience of themselves in relation to the world around them. Myths are not merely symbolic or a product of human imagination, but conveying certain facts or truths about man’s experiences in his encounter with the created order and its relation to the super-sensible world.”
Shamanism is the path of direct revelation. Its purpose is to serve the highest good of humanity. It is the practice of communicating with Spirit through Resonance. It operates on the understanding of the interconnectedness between all things within Nature/Cosmos and between the seen and unseen worlds (dimensions beyond the ordinary state of consciousness).
The process of ‘othering’ has allowed humans to treat Nature as a mere object instead of a living organism with its own organizing intelligence. Carl Jung recognized that ‘We are Nature’ - that the natural world is important for the development of consciousness and wholeness...
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Pachamama is the Great Earth Mother. As supreme and eternal goddess she represents both the living earth (physical planet) and the Universal Feminine Energy - the cosmic matrix of all life...
This embedded ecological awareness of origin-in-the-sentient-land (earth as mother) and the connection to other life forms as sentient beings and kin is a custodial ethic - a template for how to live in accord with nature based on reverence, responsibility, reciprocity and respect.