
"messages"
from the other side?
Are some actually "messages"
meant to guide us?
Indigenous people from all over the world share this same belief.
Even the biblical, Jacob's Ladder came as a spiritual message in a dream.
Looking at various Spiritual Beliefs around the world, I've found evidence that the teachers, prophets and leaders of the past often looked to their dreams for Spiritual Guidance.
Have you ever dreamt of a dead loved-one?
Have you ever had a dream that later came true?
Considering our own dream experiences, we may each realize the truth
about dreams. Sharing these dreams inspires others to look more closely at their own dreams.
My Recurring Dream
My Grandmother passed away on September 27, 2010.
The month prior to her death, I had recurring dreams of her Husband, my
Grandfather, who had passed away 36 years earlier.
I had never dreamt of my Grandfather before. He died when I was only two years old. He contracted polio after serving in the war, so he was in a wheel chair since my Mother was a little girl.
In my dreams, Grandpa walked around as a healthy man! He wasn't old, he
seemed to be about my age.
He seemed so full of Life!
The color of his clothing was so vibrant and bright. His smile seemed to fill his face, even his eyes were smiling. He was so kind and loving in my dreams. I felt perfectly safe with him.
The dream always started in the same place, Ponemah, which is a small village
on the Indian Reservation. My Grandfather was a member of the Red Lake Band of
Chippewa Indians. This village was very far away from where our family lived.
The idea that my Grandfather could have visited there while he was alive seemed
strange to me because of the distance.
A Message to Deliver
I lost count of how many dreams of Grandpa I had, but they seemed to occur
each night. Through these dreams, I received a very clear message from
Grandpa...
Grandpa wanted me to tell my Grandma that he had been waiting for her and he
would meet her in Ponemah.
My Grandmother's health was failing and her death was expected soon. I
called my Cousin who lived near Grandma and asked her to do me a favor. I
asked her to wait until she was alone with Grandma and then yell into Grandma's
good ear loud enough to make sure that she heard it.
I told her to say, "Grandpa said he's been waiting for you and he will meet
you in Ponemah."
My Cousin asked, "what is Ponemah?"
I explained where the village was and she also didn't think Grandma would
know what that was. Our Grandmother was a white woman who married our
mixed-blood Native Grandfather.
I also told my Cousin that the word "Ponemah" was in three of Longfellow's
Poems, it translates as "the Hereafter."
I asked my cousin to deliver the message word for word. She agreed to do
this, but suggested we not tell everyone else, they wouldn't understand it. My
Mom was the only other person in my family who knew.
She did as I had asked and yelled into my Grandma's ear, "Grandpa said he's been waiting for you and he will meet you in Ponemah."
My Cousin said my Grandma suddenly smiled, a bigger smile than she'd ever
seen before. She looked as excited as a little kid on Christmas Morning. Her
eyes looked joyous with anticipation.
Grandma had not been very responsive before hearing the message.
When my Aunt returned from the restroom, she wanted her to know how Grandma
reacted, but told her that she had told Grandma that Grandpa would meet her in
Heaven. They continued telling Grandma that Grandpa would meet her in Heaven,
but she didn't react to hearing that.
When my Cousin told me of Grandma's reaction to hearing the message, she said
she didn't know if Grandma knew what Ponemah meant or not.
Isn't it obvious?
She knew exactly what Ponemah meant! I began to wonder if Grandpa had told
Grandma he would send her this exact message from the other side?
Grandma died within the next few days.
I spent the week with my Mom and her sisters at my Aunt's home, making
preparations for Grandma's funeral.
I made sure to document my experiences on my laptop, as the "other messages"
I received from Grandpa in my dreams were a bit unsettling. According to my
dreams, I died before arriving at Grandma's funeral.
The Dreams
The dreams always started in Ponemah. From there, Grandpa would take me to different places, but the dream always ended at Grandma's funeral. We arrived prior to the funeral, the family was gathering in a different room. None of my relatives would talk to me, they just ignored me. I didn't understand why, but thought they were just being mean and childish.
When it was time to line up to enter the room where the funeral was, I heard
my cousins behind me say, "can you believe Jennifer didn't even show up for
Grandma's funeral?"
I turned around and said, "that's it, now you've gone too far!"
They continued ignoring me, which only angered me further.
Suddenly my Grandpa was behind me and he whispered, "they can't hear you...
because you died too."
I didn't believe him because I had no memory of dying.
I continued trying to talk to my relatives, but they didn't seem to see or hear me at all. I noticed they looked different than I did.
The colors of my clothing were very vibrant and colorful, like Grandpa's clothing. Their clothing was dark and dingy, their hair and skin color was like a photograph of someone standing in a shadow.
I couldn't enter the funeral room or get close enough to the casket to view
Grandma. There was some sort of force field in the doorway, others entered
easily, but I bounced off of it.
Suddenly my Mom was there, she could hear and see me! She seemed completely
unaware that there was a funeral going on at all. I showed her how I bounced
off the doorway and couldn't enter to attend Grandma's funeral. I was franticly
running around to the other doors and bouncing off those doorways too!
I tried to catch a glimpse of Grandma in the casket, but I couldn't get close
enough to see her. I was very upset by this. My Mom said it didn't matter
anymore and suggested we go do something fun. I then noticed that the colors of
her clothing were also very vibrant and bright.
I told Mom about Grandpa bringing me there... that's when I woke up.
Had Grandma ever been to Ponemah?
I really was curious to find out!
I asked my Great Aunt at the Prayer Service. She didn't know if Grandma had
been to Ponemah or not, but shared that The Narrows was my Grandma and Grandpa's special camping place.
The Narrows is where the Upper Red and Lower Red Lakes meet. The East side
of the Narrows is near Ponemah. The West side of the Narrows was much closer to
our family's farm.
Learning that my Grandma had been to the Narrows was amazing! She must have
known that the other side of the Narrows was called Ponemah!
I asked my Great Uncle if Grandma had ever been to Ponemah. He commented
that the Narrows was Grandma and Grandpa's special place, they camped there all
the time. They camped on the East side of the Narrows (Ponemah) only a few
times, because it was so far away.
Grandma had been to Ponemah!!!
The Narrows was their special place... no wonder Grandma got so excited when
she heard Grandpa would meet her in Ponemah!
I was the ONLY ONE of her Grandchildren who knew what or where Ponemah was!
I had my Naming Ceremony in the Ponemah Lodge years earlier, but had never
gone all the way out to the Narrows. I had felt a strong urge to go to the
Narrows, but since it is a closed reservation, I needed a tribal member to take
me there.
I attended the Ponemah Labor Day Pow Wow in late August 2010. I found a
tribal member who agreed to take me to the Narrows! I was so excited.
I had looked at the narrows many times on a map. Seeing it in person, it was
much bigger than I imagined it would be! The area seemed so secluded and it felt
like such a special place.
It was almost a month before Grandma passed away that I visited the Narrows and strangely that's when the dreams began.
The "Other Messages" from the Dream
After the excitement wore off, I realized HOW REAL the message from Grandpa
actually was.
What about the "other messages?"
The next day was Grandma's funeral.
In my dreams, I had died before arriving at Grandma's funeral.
Would that be real too?
I had learned that dreaming of your own death didn't necessarily mean
physical death, it could mean a very big change. I found this meaning online at
www.DreamMoods.com
"To dream that you die in your dream symbolizes inner changes,
transformation, self-discovery and positive development that is happening within
you or your life. You are undergoing a transitional phase and are becoming more
enlightened or spiritual. Although such a dream may bring about feelings of fear
and anxiety, it is no cause for alarm as it is often considered a positive
symbol. Dreams of experiencing your own death usually means that big changes are
ahead for you. You are moving on to new beginnings and leaving the past behind.
These changes does not necessarily imply a negative turn of events.
Metaphorically, dying can be seen as an end or a termination to your old ways
and habits. So, dying does not always mean a physical death, but an ending of
something.
On a negative note, to dream that you die may represent involvement in deeply
painful relationships."
I felt comforted by learning that it could mean something else, but still felt uncertain. Unsettled enough to email my last wishes and goodbyes to a friend for safe keeping, just in case the dreams were extremely accurate. Those several days leading up to my Grandma's funeral, I faced and prepared for the possibility of my own death. My Mother knew, but I didn't know how to share what I was going through with the others.
I refused to drive with anyone else to Grandma's funeral service (just in case). My heart raced with anxiety all the way there. When I walked through the doors and my relatives talked to me, I felt much better!
When I walked through the doors into the funeral, I did brace myself for the possible force field which I had faced so many times in my dreams. :)
A Special Task
When the funeral bulletin was ready to preview, my Mom and I sat down to read
it. I read the scriptures and passages my Grandma had previously selected for
her funeral.
I was so moved by this, I cannot remember exactly what the words were. It
was about being carried to Heaven on the wings of an Eagle.
My Mom knew about the message from Grandpa and also that I am Eagle Clan.
My Mom said,
"I guess you are Grandma's Eagle, you should take her to Ponemah."
It was a special task, a beautiful errand to run... carrying Grandma's Spirit
to Ponemah where Grandpa's Spirit waited to reunite with her. The thought of
it still brings tears to my eyes.
I quickly arranged for a tribal member to accompany me to the East side of the
Narrows... Ponemah.
My Mom, Cousin and I didn't think the others would understand it, so we just didn't tell them. We all had our own personal way of saying farewell to Grandma. I heard one family member found a heart-shaped potato and felt it was from Grandma. The potato was kept for a year before being planted in a special place.
After Grandma's funeral, I left early the following morning, I went to Ponemah and prayed at the Narrows. I was able to visit the Narrows two days in a row. I felt a great peace there and felt that my Grandparents were always going to be there, together in their special place.
I felt so fortunate to be a part of this, to experience how much they loved each other.
Each time I visit the Narrows, I feel that they are near.
As we left the Narrows, I let my escort drive because I was feeling so tired. I fell asleep and when we reached my Elder's home, he decided to let me rest longer and he kept driving. I woke up and saw the roadsign which said: Bigfork 14 miles
I was shocked to see this, because of my BIG FORK dream, which I will write about in a different blog.
Obviously, I didn't die before Grandma's funeral, but my life did change drastically not long after. It changed so much, that it's as if my old life ended and I had to start a new one.
You see, my Husband didn't attend my Grandma's funeral.
Soon after I returned home, my Husband suddenly decided he wanted a divorce.
Instead of telling me this, he told my friends, family and children (excluding my Mother) many untruths about me. Many of them believed him, without ever asking me a question about it.
To this day, some of them have not spoken to me or returned my calls. Even his children, who I adopted and loved as my own, turned their backs on me and repeatedly told me never to contact them again. I had given this family my heart, they threw it down and stomped all over it. None of it made sense to me.
This did FEEL LIKE dying.
I realize now, the kids are like the relatives from my dream. They look like they are standing in a Shadow. They ignore me and say horrible things about me while I'm standing right next to them. They can't hear me. They haven't noticed that I'm actually still there with them.
In many ways...
the "other messages" from my dreams were correct.
Many of my relatives don't see or hear me anymore
AND
My old life suddenly ended...
a new life forms to take it's place.
This new life really is more brightly colored, as I am FREE to BE MYSELF.
The new people I've met treat me with more respect, they LISTEN TO ME and truly appreciate me for WHO I REALLY AM..
I have stepped out of the Shadow and into a more vibrantly colored life.
Do I believe Dreams carry messages?
After all this... my answer is:
YES!
Jen's Blog entitled: Messages in Dream

Inspirational Teacher, Speaker & Writer known as the "Caterpillar Whisperer"
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