Tribute to Claire Wineland & Shamanic Dreaming with Lynn Andrews

Blog

Sep 4

"I want to live here!" That's what she said six years ago when she walked in the door of my "treehouse" in Topanga. Claire walked in like she owned the place, full of so much confidence in gusto and light and life.

Her aunt, Blyss, had been my client for a few years and had been telling me for the longest time, "You have to meet Claire! I have to bring Claire to meet you! You just have to meet her!"

Well on this one day, she brought Claire to meet me. And she was everything I've been told and so much more. Words could never describe the force of nature this 14-year-old, 90-pound girl was. Immediately I thought if Angelina Jolie and Anne Hathaway had a baby, it would look like Claire.

She came to me to share a series of dreams she'd been having that were the most unbelievable dreams I had ever heard. Later, she gave me permission to write about them in my book It's All In Your Dreams. I'll share that with you below...and I'll share about it on my "Ask Doctor Dream" show today.

It's such a shock that Claire's not here in flesh anymore-but she is with us in spirit-and in video! She leaves behind not just Claire's Place Foundation, a non-profit foundation dedicated to supporting families with children who have CF, but her TED talks, and videos on life, death, and everything in between. On Sunday evening, after being taken off life support and using the newly transplanted lungs she received just one week earlier, Claire took her last breath. The cause of death was a massive stroke she suffered soon after the transplant surgery. She was 21.

Claire has known her days were numbered since she was born. Unlike worst of us who think we're gonna live forever, so she lived as the shamans teach as if like death her right over your shoulder (Lynn V Andrews will illuminate more about this today on the show). Most of us contemplate that for a moment and then we're back to thinking were immortal and we take even the most stunning miracles for granted. I know I am guilty of this.

But, Claire is a reminder to Live Here! Just like she said when she walked through my front door...I know she meant it not just about living in my tree house...but living here-on earth-in this moment-fully-regardless of what's going on in our lives!

Here's the story of the dream series she shared with me years ago (as excerpted from Its All In Your Dreams), I think it's especially relevant now:

Bridge Angel

Claire came to see me because she wanted support and confirmation regarding a puzzling series of dreams. When she entered my home/office, I saw a diminutive fourteen-year-old girl (a miniature Angelina Jolie meets Anne Hathaway). In most regards, Claire is beautiful, charming and vivacious . . . utterly typical of her age. However, Claire is atypical in one important way: Since infancy she has suffered from cystic fibrosis. Suffered is perhaps too harsh a word, since aside from the oxygen tank at her side, the tubes running into her nose, and the treatments that include having her lungs vibrated for an hour or two a day, you would scarcely see a difference between Claire and any other bright, precocious, teenage girl.

Being in and out of the hospital is an ordinary part of Claire's life. A year before our meeting she was in a coma with a three-percent chance of survival. Shortly after miraculously reviving from her coma, she had the following dream:

My best friend, Alicia, and I are walking through a playground and we come across this twisted vine that catches our attention because it reminds us of "Jack and the Beanstalk." When we touch the vine, it carries us (at turbo speed) up to the "galaxy." We end up in a place high above the clouds. It is the most magical and beautiful place I've ever seen. Not only is it filled with the most brilliant colors, but it is also filled with the answers to every question we can think of. For example, Alicia has "boy problems," but up here in the galaxy, she completely under- stands why the boy she likes doesn't call or text her when he says he will-it all makes perfect sense!

I ask a question I've always wanted to know the answer to: "Why do I have this illness?"

The answer is revealed immediately.

"You've done good work in past lives. Your reward for all the light you have brought to others is the gift of a short life. You won't have to grow old like so many other people. You will get to have a lot of friends, bring joy to many people, make a difference in the world by shining light on cystic fibrosis through your foundation [Claire's Place Foundation], and then you get to leave, without having to grow old."

This answer makes me feel so good. I no longer have to think of my illness as a punishment for something I've done wrong or because I'm bad.

We explore the "galaxy" for what seems like months, having the best time ever. Up here I don't need my oxygen tank or my medical treatments at all!

At some point we realize we've been gone for what seems like weeks and we don't want our families back on earth to worry about us, so we travel back down the vine to earth. Luckily, in earth time, we were only gone a few minutes. Whew!

Back on earth we receive a letter telling us that we are "Bridge Angels" who have been given a special mission to find people who have just died and take them to the "galaxy." Most people don't know how to get there on their own, so they need a Bridge Angel to escort them. Since we know how to get there, we are perfect candidates for the job.

Alicia and I are so excited to have such an important assignment . . . especially because we know from personal experience how amazing this place is . . . we can't wait to share it with people!

I have this dream a lot, and so far we have taken hundreds of people to the "galaxy"-all kinds of people, young and old, every ethnicity and religion. They all die in different ways. From the human perspective it all seems so tragic, but when Alicia and I are in Bridge Angel mode, it's like magic. even though every person we take to the galaxy loves it once they get there, at first they resist us, because they are afraid of leaving their familiar world and loved ones behind . . . and who could blame them?

We have to be very convincing. We found this out the hard way. Once there was a man so stubborn he wouldn't let us take him, so we finally let him go. We found out later that no one could find him because he had apparently gotten "lost." This made us realize the seriousness of our job. Since that moment we have never let another one slip by, no matter how much they kick and scream. In every case, all the people we take to the "galaxy," once they see the beautiful colors and feel how wonderful it is to be there, hug us, thank us for taking them, and walk into the light with smiles on their faces.

Dreams Are Not Just for the Dreamer

Because Claire walks a fine line, in real life, between here and the hereafter, this dream has become a source of reassurance for her and her family-especially her younger sister, Elly. each time Claire gets hospitalized (which is frequent), little Elly gets scared and seeks reassurance from Claire. Claire and Elly share a bedroom and sometimes Elly asks Claire to tell her Bridge Angel bedtime stories. These stories reassure Elly and send her to dreamland with a smile on her face:

"Tell me again about the galaxy.""What is it like to be a Bridge Angel?""When I die, will you be my Bridge Angel?""Can I come visit you in the galaxy before I die, or do I have

to wait till I die?""Can we paint pictures of you in the galaxy so I know where

you are going to be?"

***

Ancient dream cultures, such as the Senoi of Malaysia, believe that dreams are not only for the dreamer, but are meant to be shared so that the entire tribe may benefit. This is definitely the case for Claire's "Bridge Angel" dream. When I spoke with Claire's mother, Melissa, she told me that she, too, takes refuge in the dream.

"Claire's dream has been a great gift to me. It gives me a strange comfort in the midst of what would otherwise be unthinkable. In some way it seems this dream is preparing me (us)-like nothing else could-to cope with what would normally be an unbearable situation (having a child with special needs who is frequently hospitalized, and the constant threat of things getting worse) by giving us a positive frame to put around it. One of the reasons for this odd feeling of peace we are able to hold on to is because Claire has embraced death in a powerful way. She is teaching us how to have a positive outlook on death, hers and our own. Because of her dream, Claire sees the after-life as if it were a fabulous vacation she is preparing to take. She speaks of her dream locale in such vivid detail that we all share the mental imagery of this place, and it feels so real. There is comfort in knowing that if Claire gets there before us, we have a place to meet and be together again."

And who knows, maybe she really is a Bridge Angel who is actually helping transport newly departed souls to the other side during her dreamtime. All I know is when my time comes, there's no one but Claire I'd want to be my escort to the hereafter!

***

The Ask Doctor Dream Show is LIVE NOW!

With Kelly Sullivan Walden

Decode your DREAMS to AWAKEN your sleeping GIANT! ™

TUNE IN BY CLICKING HERE!

Later on the show I'll be talking about:Shamanic Dreams/ Sacred Dream Medicine, with Lynn V. Andrews

Back in the early 80's Lynn saw a sacred marriage basket on display in a Beverly Hills gallery that triggered a series of bizarre dreams...that eventually led her on the odyssey of a lifetime. By following the dream clues she discovered native healers, curanderas, aboriginal mystics, and then some. Lynn Andrews, the New York Times and internationally best-selling author of the Medicine Woman Series, will share with us about how to incorporate shamanic dream healing into our modern world in ways that will shock and delight you. http://lynnandrews.com/

About the Show:

Ask Doctor Dream is hosted by America's Dream Expert, Kelly Sullivan Walden, aka "Doctor Dream"is a certified, clinical hypnotherapist, bestselling author, and popular media guest...and she's on a mission to awaken the world to the power of dreams!

On her new live call-in radio show on Unity Online Radio she shines a light on people's dreams and shares her uplifting perspective on how to "Dream-a-Fest" a dreamier life, followed by conversations with today's leading thinkers, dream experts, and transformational trailblazers, so riveting we promise you won't go prematurely into dreamland!

Other fun & exciting events:

If you missed Dreams Unzipped with Doctor Dream & Nancy T, catch it by clicking on the image below!