A True Story

The events took place in the mid to late 1970s, between the cities of Cedar Springs and Virginia Beach, Virginia, and Toronto, Ontario. It is a true story so far as I know.

It begins in the summer, in Cedar Springs. I have set up the “Dream Tent” upon the hill above the Big House at Mountain Valley Farm. I was experimenting with an approach to dream incubation that would allow a group to participate rather than a single individual. I decided to ask folks to find a rock, or other object from nature, to be their “proxy,” to be the physical presence in the dream tent on behalf of the individual person placing it there. On one evening, I invited folks to bring their nature object with them as they climbed the hill to the dream tent. We stood in a circle surrounding the tent while I explained to those gathered about the purpose of the ceremony, to ask for a seed dream, something they could nurture into something of value in their lives. After a blessing, each person went into the dream tent and placed their nature object. After all had placed their proxy, we closed the tent and walked back to the Big House.

About two years later, I was in Virginia Beach and ran into “Mike,” who was one of the folks who participated in the group dream incubation I just described. He told me that he got his dream come true, and told me an incredible story. After the ceremony, Mike went to Toronto, Ontario to live. He met this woman, “Mary.”. They became an item. Shortly after they became close, Mary told Mike a surprising secret. She said that a couple of years before they met, she had a very strange dream, although it seemed like it was more than just a dream. In this dream, she was lying in bed when this tall, skinny curly haired fellow in a white t-shirt and kakis, flew into her room and took her by the arm and flew her through the sky. This curly haired fellow flew Mary to a forest like area, where he pointed down to a bunch of folks standing around a tent. As they flew closer, he pointed out to Mary this particular man standing around the tent. Mary got a good look at his eyes. Then what Mary told Mike surprised him. “That fellow that was pointed out to me, whose eyes I saw, was you!” Mike was indeed surprised to hear of this dream. He then told Mary of the dream ceremony, how he had planted a prayer for a dream that would lead to a meaningful romantic relationship, and that the curly haired fellow she saw in her dream was an exact replica of me, Henry Reed, who typically wore a white t-shirt while teaching at that summer mountain retreat center.

I had no prior knowledge of the focus of Mike’s prayer for his seed dream. Nor had I recalled any dream that remotely resembled the dream Mary told Mike. I do recall reading sometime prior to that, it was something about an idea from Edgar Cayce, that a person could pray that while asleep, their soul could be helpful to others. I thought that was a good idea, and seemed like a good back up plan in case my earthly efforts were not so effective. Whether it was really “me” or not, Mike got his dream come true.