Today, we continue with part 2 of Debra Page’s planetary empath discoveries.
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Though I have always been somewhat psychic, I equate my empathic abilities (in so far as they are connected to the earth) with the arrival of an image I called Reindeer Woman. This is how I came to be recently re-reading a book by author Peter Vitebsky, The Reindeer People: Living with Animals and Spirits in Siberia. It has been full of synchronistic insights for me, both in regards to Reindeer Woman, and the work of a planetary empath.
Vitebsky documents his conversations with the Eveny, “The Reindeer People.” They show him how important the nightly dreams of the tribe or group are to their survival. The dreams warn them about changes in the environment, or about death and illness. The dreams tell them when they are out of balance with the “spirit of the place” or with their reindeer herds. Yet, notes Vitebsky, the dreams themselves “put up impenetrable barriers to any understanding before it’s fulfillment.” (Vitebsky/2005,pg 298) And “the meaning of the dream revealed itself with shocking clarity when it was fulfilled. It was as if the dream was taunting the dreamer with her helplessness.” (IBID)
The tribe’s answer to this conundrum, through time, has been to develop systems of divination that clarifythe dream. The tribe also has group dreams, shared between two or more members. They explained to Vitebsky that while there existed group or conventional dream symbols, each dreamer has symbols that mean certain things specifically to that dreamer. Some members of the tribe will have bodily symptoms preceding specific events.
When the camp had an encounter with a hungry wolf, Vitebsky reported , “Later I found out Granny had felt a twitch the previous day in her left cheek , on the side that indicated something bad will happen.” (Vitebsky/2005 pg 344) (Italics mine: myself and other empaths have report a particular tone or ringing in the left ear only prior to a quake or volcanic eruption.) The camp’s pets and herds also gave warning prior to important events. Even the arrival of strangers is preceded days in advance by animals of the tribe.
In an attempt to “civilize” the nomadic Eveny people during the Russian Revolution of the 1920‘s, the shamans of the tribe were removed. Most were never seen again. Yet, the living field (described as spirits of the land, animals, trees, creatures and ancestors) that the Eveny people communicate with is still talking to them, through dreams, their pets and herds, and through their bodies. Vitebsky’s wife came to visit him at the Eveny camps. Sally, a psychologist from England “came to feel that the land had sent her dreams even while she was still in England.” (IBID).
For me, this example- the Eveny people – gives a possible explanation of what the phenomena of being an earth empath may be and how it may work. It seems that there is no future if humans completely cut themselves off from this “living field”. Traditionally, this living field calls the few it will communicate with. These individuals don’t have a choice: they have to listen.
Since we no longer have a place for the traditional role of the shaman in our culture, it will be interesting to witness how this relationship between the unseen living field and the humans it chooses to interact with will continue to develop. It would also appear that for our postmodern planetary empaths, the field has expanded: we are dreaming the world’s events, not just our own locale.
A very ancient path being fused to the post-modern world…..
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The Senoi and the Aborigines also honor the role of dreams in their cultures to enlighten, illuminate, guide, warn, and confirm the actions and decisions of the tribe. It seems that Debra – and perhaps all the empaths – have tapped into something deep, collective, genuine. And the talent apparently continues to evolve. I suspect they are the new shamans who will help to usher us into the new paradigm.




















