Dancing the Dream by Jamie Sams

Dancing the Dream ... the seven sacred paths of human transformation, 1998, written by Jamie Sams is a native spiritual genre book that takes the Medicine Wheel further in our lives. Knowledge shared by native elders and Jamie's own life experiences create a fascinating story that we find hard to put down once we start reading. The seven sacred paths are an evolutionary circle that originates in Medicine Wheel thinking. The first four paths are the four directions: East, South, West and North (in that order) and we can cycle through the
lessons of these directions many times. Sometimes we move forward onto paths 5-7 and
might return to issues not fully resolved from any one of the first four paths. Jamie describes
the 5th path as ABOVE (infinity/spirit) and the 6th path as BELOW where we connect
with the spirit in all things that are earthly as well as heavenly. On the 7th path we are living
in the present moment, the now, or WITHIN with full awareness.

The process is one of remembering our authentic selves, our intrinsic wholeness. By
completing life lessons we gradually remove the seven veils of separation that prevent
us from knowing. Each veil involves specific issues: 1st veil is about oneness of all things
in the universe; 2nd veil concerns our spiritual essence or divine purpose; 3rd veil is about
sensory perceptions; 4th veil is about emotional masks we wear and 5th veil is created by our
belief systems. You are beginning to see the steps required to remove these veils. At the
the 6th veil there are extrasnnsory perceptions that may have been awakened in the earlier
stages and the 7th veil is created by our identity and the concepts that hold our identity
together.

Jamie's discovery process takes us into the Southern Seer tradition and we learn about
the Dreamweave which we all can explore through dreams or meditation practices when
the mental chatter of mind fades away into the stillness or Tiyoweh. Jamie helps us to learn
what works and what doesn't work for each of us. The native tradition teaches respect for
each person's spiritual journey and allowing each one the freedom to make their journey.

I read and assimilated the contents of this book in small chunks and know when I read it
again at some future time I will have a new understanding and enjoy it just as much.
There are six other items published by this author: Medicine Cards (David Carson)
Sacred Path Cards, The Sacred Path Workbook, Other Council Fires Were Here Before
Ours (with Twylah Nitsch), The Thirteen Original Clan Mothers, Earth Medicine.

Margaret (Library staff)