Childhood Nightmares and Monsters

Remember when you were a child and your mom had to check all the closets and under the bed for monsters before you would go to bed? Was I the only child who would take a running jump into the bed because I was sure there was a family of snakes under the bed? Did anyone else wake up several times in the night because of the terrifying dreams?

Recently my Guides led me to take a "journey" into the past and confront all those terrifying monsters. I have related in past blogs about how pieces of our souls get stuck in the nonphysical, spiritual realms when we experience trauma. I would describe those childhood fears as trauma. I frequently take non physical journeys for clients in my shamanic work, retrieving pieces of their souls from the places where they have fled during their lifetimes or perhaps previous lifetimes, but I had never done this type of work for myself. 

I enter into the nonphysical realms by practicing a form of meditation. In this case my guides led me to my old bedroom from childhood. It has long been known that fears are known to lose their power by the mere act of confrontation, and this was no exception.

As we lifted the bedskirt and looked under the bed, in the spirit I saw the family of snakes. Of course there were no actual physical snakes but their symbolic, spiritual counterparts did indeed reside there. I was accompanied by my child self, who had been terrified of them. I asked them in the spirit why they were there. The spirit of the snake told me that symbolically snakes represent healing, and they were there because I had been hiding my gift of healing under the bed since I was a child; in fact I had been hiding it for several lifetimes. In a previous lifetime apparently the gift had caused me a great deal of trouble, so I had hidden it in several subsequent lifetimes. In this lifetime the snakes appeared to hide under the bed because indeed, my healing gifts were hidden, under the bed, so to speak. I apologized to the snakes and the symbolism of healing for hiding from them and for being afraid of them, and asked that the gift of healing no longer be forced to hide.

In the meditation I also confronted other fears and the nightmares as well, which would take several blogs or perhaps chapters in an upcoming book to relate. The reason I tell this story is multifaceted. The first reason is to let those parents out there know that if your child is suffering from nightmares or unreasonable fears, know that their fears are real. Do not make fun of them or tell them that they are imagining things. As a child I was repeatedly scorned for these unreasonable fears and told that it was silly to believe that there were snakes under the bed. It might be helpful to take your child and address the fear. Just because you do not see any actual snakes does not mean that the spirit of the snake is not in fact under the bed. If you do not feel qualified to do this, I have in the past helped children deal with their fears and the spirits that they do actually feel and see.

The other reason for sharing this experience is that sometimes things that we have long forgotten will come up for healing. It is important to acknowledge those things that come up and address the issues that were long ago repressed or forgotten. Healing is a lifelong process. I have helped other people for several years now become reunited with lost pieces of themselves, but I had not addressed some of my own lost soul parts.

This is an example of one thing you might experience if you would become interested in a shamanic journey or a soul retrieval.  We all have lost pieces of ourselves, and in these days and times it is helpful to have all the pieces of our souls so that we can move forward and experience the best life that we can imagine. Best thoughts and feelings and prayers to all those hungry souls out there ready to experience the next step in their adventure called life.