DREAMING THE LIFE, AND LIVING THE DREAM
REV. CHARLA HERMANN April 2006

“You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one...” and the dreams continue to grow with my soul. Today, as I step into the Council Seat of Recorder, I honor the task of my role as an archivist, her-storian, and keeper of the ancient stories. It is a dream that came as I snuggled up with my favorite childhood books in the musty dark rooms of the library in Casper, Wyoming. Those books led me to dreaming of a world of healing and peace and a world of consciousness of all our relations.

In 1969, that dream looked like a small commune in Provo, Utah. I was sure that raising goats, growing carrots and home spun kids, along with a strong political conviction would carry me through life. It did, as did the lessons of the Navajo ancestors of Arizona. I did not count on Vietnam or divorce, to carry me to a new dream of survival as a single mom. Leaving the garden for a career, became the imperative of the time. Dreaming and new visions of creation were given to the men in suits and my energy helped them become wealthy, and me stressed.

In 1973, that dream took me back to the Wind River Reservation and the beginnings of a media career. This once again involved raising healthy children, political conviction and changing the world. I did not count on the ramifications of telling the truth during reservation conflicts, or the need to shift in marriage, and being a working mom with two children. So for a minute, I went back to sleep to dream a new dream of personal survival. That dream was awesome as it carried me through the women’s movement in San Francisco, a hugely successful media career, and creating new awareness in the blossoming New Age movement that was rapidly evolving the Spiritual Consciousness of the planet. I did not count on the challenges of motherhood, drugs, sex, rock n’ roll, and the shadows that would emerge from living that dream. By 1979, I knew the folly of the dream, and decided to wake up to a new one.

Ted Turner showed up in San Francisco, and I found the opportunity to merge my dream with his. I landed in Atlanta Georgia, with more ceremonial tools and healing traditions to honor than any other girl on the crew. My role as resident healer/ writer/producer and overall organizer of network energy held me through my first Saturn return. 1980- 1986 became a blur of successes beyond my wildest dreams. I led every women’s organization, my face was on the cover of magazines with stories telling of my brilliant visions and ability to start networks and bring awareness to the needs of single mothers and children. My work in the prisons brought awards and turned the dream into that of a philanthropist and entrepreneur. The cash from those awards was the first payments on the land that now has become Hawkwind. I did not count on how hard it would be to raise my children and change the world at the same time. We gratefully survived the wealth of dreams that spun through our lives during that time..

Choosing to take all of my skills into the healing world, led me from the Fortune 500 boardrooms to the barnyards of Alabama. Dreaming into a Harmonic Convergence, I joined hundreds always dreaming of solution and creation of healing space for all who would choose. My focus from day one was around caring for the old ones and making safe space for the young ones. I did not count on how challenging that task would be, each and every day. Yet the visions of healing just kept right on coming. Praying, sweating, praying, singing, questing, dancing and praying some more, I found myself dreaming the shifts and shifting the dreams to meet the demands of reality that comes with rules.

By 1987 the vision took place on a mountain top in North Carolina. My children at my side, I knew I had a plan and was supported by the equal desires of hundreds of young parents around me. Hawkwind came to life first in my heart, then my head and then within reality. I did not count on how many years I would carry water, pound nails, and cut wood. Yet the Elders kept on coming and the children kept on growing up with new ideals, and it felt good. I did not count how many would join Spirit so young. The visions of praying, dancing, questing and holding the healing circles continued to motivate my every breathe as did the arrival of grandchildren, along with two more generations of children who would run and play on the land .Now I look forward to the rare days that the grandchildren play on the land and run in the woods maintained with of years of labor.

We all got older and circles shifted and changed as fast as the visions evolved to meet the needs of the next generation at the doorstep. By year 2000 we had created our own Non-profit Foundation; ABOVE & BEYOND, A SANCTUARY OF HOPE, to support the needs of single parents and children in crisis. And the dreams of hope continued. We did not count on cancer or liver disease to slow us down. We did not count on the constant challenges of insurance and building codes and rules that would slow down the work. We kept dreaming of ways to support personal and planetary healing using the wonderful skills shared with us by so many incredible healers and Elders.

As we step into 2006 many things have become quite clear to us:

* The old people on and off the reservation are in serious need of heat, clothing, good meals and lots of emotional support. We do not have good plans for our parents and worse plans for our own future eldership, which is creeping up all too fast. This year our tax material came with a series of questions about how we plan to care for our medical needs and what we plan to leave behind for our grandchildren.

* One serious illness can leave you bankrupt in less than six months!~
(The system says to prepare for such an event.)

* WE WILL ALL TOO SOON BE THOSE OLD PEOPLE...AND WE NEED TO FIND SOME YOUNG COUPLES IN THE NEXT SEVEN YEARS THAT WILL WANT TO PURCHASE INTO HAWKWIND AND TAKE OVER THIS VERY SPECIAL PORTAL OF HEALING, BEFORE WE ARE TOO OLD TO MANAGE THIS HOLISTIC CENTER.
( We know that our own children have no desire to manage this land and would more than likely sell to developers at some point and all of these ancient grounds would be gone. We are looking into trusts and ways to protect the land, but must also plan for our own financial needs which are tied up in this land.) We need to teach the ways of the drum making, the altar making, sustainable living and the wisdom left for us to pass on, before we forget, like so many before us.

* We are in a time when the children are suffering before they even get to planet earth. A young mother conceives may be medicated or on street drugs. The baby is born premature or with birth defects. The school system is not funded or equipped to teach that special needs child, so they get passed through the system with no regard, but continually medicated to keep them in control, or able to function to meet the demands of testing that keeps the schools funded. They end up worse off that the young parents. IF THE YOUNG PARENTS END UP IN PRISON FROM THE 100 EASIEST WAYS TO GET BUSTED...WE NOW HAVE A HOMELESS CHILD THAT THE SYSTEM DOES NOT WANT.......These are the THROW AWAY CHILDREN...and they need help. These children are being forced to become the zombies of our sci-fi lifestyle. The techno children who are completely chemically imbalanced....they respond mostly to the frequencies of computers, cell phones, and television sets....and chemicals. Parents have a slim chance of getting into the heads of a child who is not able to hear them. The medication cocktails help them function on some levels and kill the muse on so many other levels. This is a serious life choice that does not go away EVER in most cases. It is always evolving to the next cocktail, or the next quick fix. We as a nation are not dealing with the source of the problem. We are talking over 18,000,000 12 -18 year olds who are becoming lost in the system. Many are ending up in detention centers as there are no foster homes for them. What they did not know of pain and how to get in trouble is now ingrained in their souls. Nurturing is a thing of the past for far too many. Try visiting one of these centers and then look at the world from these children’s eyes.

* We are close to water and food shortages, gas prices out of control, inflation, wars of the oils, drugs, environment, gangs, and so much more....and WE ARE THE ELDERS IN CHARGE OF CHANGE....We are charged with a huge task of transformation at every level and need to stay on top of our networks and weave together the many solutions that were left for us to carry forward. CHANGE IS NOT QUIET. Change is not easy. Change is a must. We must dream the change to live the change. We must access a higher plan in order to find answers that are accessible, fast enough to save these kids in trouble.

Lately when I drop into sleep to dream the dream, I find myself restless and waking up in a cold sweat. Many is the night I feel like I am the only one who is pacing in the darkness looking for answers...then I hear from my Medicine friends that are also doing the same thing. I see glimmers of solutions, and then I have another rule or new law thrown at me to become and obstacle for manifesting a sweet change without tripping through the costly system that could not provide solution in the first place. Insurance companies can cut off policies and keep centers from being accessible. Health departments can pick and choose whom they want to fine or shut down. Grants and corporate funding goes with each new rule. Yet I keep dreaming of ways to just get the job done without all of the paperwork to slow us down, and I realize that everyone else around me is getting bogged down in the same mire of having to do so much with so little and having the knowledge that things are bound to get harder with the world conditions. Reality vs the dream. Then the dream vs reality...and we dance forward. No child left behind is more than a small joke and the children ARE being left behind every day.

This year as I pray through my healing opportunities, I will be thanking the ancient ones for seeing new ways to solution. I will be thanking them for peaceful nights of dreaming gentle, sweet dreams of nurturing for the children. I will be giving them my steps when I dance, my voice when I sing and my heart felt emotions as I pray through each ritual from circle to circle. I am hoping that you will join me, as we seek real ways to support walking in balance...when it is all wonky out there. On the days when there is no one to join me at Hawkwind, I will be offering those prayers in whatever circle of honor that I can find.

Step one is to deal with the serious ramifications of meth and chemical imbalance that is all around us. Let us band together to save our children and friends before it is too late...... G.R.A.M.S......Grandmothers rally against meth suicide.....a program of nurturing children who are the victims of meth families is in the making....wait for details and be ready to be empowered to create new solutions in your own back yard!!!!

Many Blessings
Rev. Charla Hermann