From my journal:
“I have no idea how come Elder Brother, I’itoi, the creator in the Tohono O’odoham people and of the desert’s beautiful “crimson evening,” would visit me in my dreams. Elder Brother does not belong to me. I am not of his tribe. Yet he visits me in my dreams. Each time, he draws the transparent line in the dark and a creek is created. It becomes a roiling dark river. In my dream, Elder Brother walks along the river. He is tall and silhouetted in the dark against a sliver of a moon just past new. I am being swept along in the river. I am drowning, though I know how to swim. I’itoi, Elder Brother, reaches into the river and pulls me out. I awake with a great gasp of air. In the second between sleep and awake, I see a small spot of light in the distance as I am lifted out of the water. And then, I’itoi puts me down and I feel the ground beneath my feet.”
Silver acacia pod, with the tied leather thong.
From my journal:
“I sleep with a silver acacia seed pod under my pillow. I don’t know why it is important, but it is. The silver pendant is held with a square knot on a soft leather strip, to make it easy to pick up. Last night I put it on my wrist, so I would not drop it. As I felt more and more sleepy, I slipped it off my wrist and put it under my pillow. I felt the knot pull tight as I took it off. I wondered if I would dream of I’itoi again.
How i found it: untied.
I don’t remember the dream, but I remember that I dreamed. It was important, but I could not remember the dream. I got up and got ready for the day. As I do most mornings, I reached under my pillow for the silver acacia seed. It was far under the pillow and when I pulled it out, there was no knot in the leather thong. It was completely untied. I don’t know what it means, to have the knot unbound, to have that which was tied, untied. But I smiled when I saw it. I was neither frightened, nor mystified, just surprised. I’ll have to wait to see what it means.”
–Quinn McDonald is a dreamer and a naturalist who keeps a journal.
Such depth in the connections. I find myself called to read these dreams over and over.
Quinn my very first thought when reading this post was: Quinn be careful your health!
What flashed through me was water bloodpressure heart..
I did not want to write this first but somehow I feel comfortable to do so now.
thanks for your concern, Marianne. I’m touched by your concern.
Holy smokes — my dreams are a LOT more boring than this! No characters. And for sure none with names and tribes and the like!
Yeah, but you were one who had the cool dream known as “that dream” on the interwebs. And most of my dreams don’t sound or look like this. When they look and sound like this, they are important and I have to pay attention to them.
That’s true (and I keep having it) but I think I mostly just dream shapes and other abstract stuff. I’ll probably eventually dream the digits of pi, which will be in the wrong order but in the dream it will seem like the right order!
Rosemary sometimes mentions dreams with characters and dialog though.
Questions: Why did you move to the dessert? Where can I find lovely “totems” to place beneath my pillow? Have you spoken to Elder Brother, I’itoi in your dreams? What are you now wondering about the untied knot?
Deep and rich and beautiful…thanks for sharing!
I was called to the desert. There were many small reasons, but I felt called. i love the landscape, and find it sacred. It is good to live in a sacred place. I find my totems when I’m walking outside. If they are very special, I have it made into silver (rarely, gold). I have not spoken to I’itoi in my dreams. Nor has he spoken to me. We may talk without speaking, but I’m not aware of that, yet. I am surprised that the physical knot I tie becomes untied, seemingly without my help. I wonder how this happens. It is deep and rich and beautiful, and I try hard not to muddy it up.
I love this post Quinn and hope you will write more about l’itoi and dreams.
I wonder how universal dreaminterpretation is – I mean how dreams are interpretated.
When I studied dream interpretation, all the instructors were very careful to steer away from popular theme or archetype interpretation. As each person has her own set of archetypes, symbols and myths, the only person who can interpret a dream, my instructors said, is the person who had it. We learned interpretation through exploring who was in the dream and what was going on with the dreamer at the time. I was surprised to see how often a dreamer will see an obvious symbol (flight = freedom) and filter it through their experience to interpret the dream in a deeply personal and meaningful way. One person in my class had a dream of a flying bird and after careful thought, realized she had to move from one place to another (migration). As we are the dreamers, our dreams are deeply personal. Not all dreams are message dreams, but those that seem to be vivid are.
Stories of American Indians are always interesting, Quinn, so thank you for sharing this information. I meant to ask before, what is the significance of the silver acacia pod? You said that you don’t know why it’s important, but does it symbolise anything to the Indians? And do you know a lot about Tohono O’odham mythology, to enable you to interpret the dream?
Elder Brother must have an afinity with you somehow, even though you don’t know what it is and you do not have an Indian background. I’m just pleased he pulled you out of the water in time!!
The acacia tree thrives here in the heat of the Sonoran Desert, in several forms. It’s a useful tree–it is often a nurse tree for a Suguaro, giving the small cactus shelter from the first harsh years until the cactus is big enough to care for itself. Acacia trees are also the source of gum arabic–the binder that makes watercolors work. You gotta love ‘em for that alone. The seeds are edible, and Coyote will eat them for protein. Acacia seeds can be ground into flour. Like the mesquite bean, it was a staple in the diet of desert dwellers, and the carbohydrates are slow to digest, making them a good food for diabetics. I picked up a seed pod and found the texture of it pleasing. After carrying it around for a month, I had a jeweler make me a silver one that would last. For me, a seed of a tree that thrives in the desert carries with it the history of time, geography and the natural world. The tree represents persistence, thriving in harsh conditions. And best of all, the limbs often grow parallel to the ground, then veer at sharp angles, making them great to draw!
Hello Quinn.
I read this post yesterday and just had to consult my “Dictionary of Dreams” book to see if it would shed any light on your dreams. I looked up rivers, drowning and knots. It would be quite lengthy to include all of these entries in full, although I thought it interesting to learn that rivers represent emotions running through us and drwoning represents anxiety and fear. Drowning is a sense of overwhelment.
Knots, however, represent problems. The important point here is that a knot that becomes untied easily is a sign that you should proceed with confidence!
You say that the knot that became untied was not in your dream, although I’m sure it represents something significant.
You didn’t say who Elder Brother I’itoi is, or how you know of him. My thoughts whilst reading the entries from your journal were that perhaps he is your spirit guide and he’s helping and protecting you.
I do hope you will continue with this post when more realisations come to light. It’s extremely fascinating!
Thanks for consulting your dream book. That was kind of you. The reason the dream puzzles me is that I’itoi is the major figure in the origination myth of the Tohono O’odham–the Indian tribe that lives in the Sonoran Desert. Elder Brother created the TO out of clay and brought them out of his cave into the desert to live. You can read more about him in my answer to Marianne. The dream is interesting because I believe I must interpret it according to how it is meaningful in my life by using Tohono O’odham mythology, not Freudian psychology, for interpretation. I’m not an Indian. My parents were immigrants from Europe–so I’m puzzled why Elder Brother is in my dream at all. He seemed willing enough to pull me out of the water, though.
A creator recognizes and helps out a fellow creator. He is dooing for you what you have done so often for many of us.
What an incredible thought. I am left so breathless by that. Like in the dream. . .
That is really interesting Quinn.. in a way I think it is so funny that you focus more about the untied thong than what your dream had been about
Now who is l’itoi?
A dream is always a dream–to be interpreted at will. The untied leather thong was a real item that I have underneath my pillow. So it seems more vivid to me.
I’itoi is also called Elder Brother. He is the central character is the creation myth of the Tohono O’odham Indians, who are the first people of the Sonoran Desert. They were called various names through the ages: Pima, Papago, and Hohokam (which means “those who disappeared). In the mid-1980s, all the agrarian tribes of the desert were re-united into one group–Tohono O’odham, which means Desert People. The Apache, who were also in this area, but were not agrarian, and were sworn enemies of the TO, were not put into the Desert Dweller group, even though they lived here. The TO are responsible for digging the canals that bring water from our mountains to the desert. They developed irrigation systems thousands of years ago, many of which we still use. Along with Elder Brother there is First Born, who created the sun, Earth Magician, and Coyote, who was also a creator. Unlike other Indian mythology, the Tohono O’odoham have tales that are fluid, were all passed on orally, and don’t have a clear beginning, middle and end. Also unlike other mythologies, there are few “good” and “bad” characters. There are many trickster figures–including Elder Brother, who is also a shaper shifter.
Whew, more than you asked for, huh?
How very, very cool.
Yeah, I thought so, too.