DREAM SHARE SEMINAR in KAUAI
December 6, 7, 8, 9th 2007

THE 13TH SIGN HOLDS THE KEY TO TRANSCENDENCE…

People aware of astrology know that we work with a mandala called the zodiac, a 12-sign system comprising 12 basic keys to life (archetypes). But, the star-gazing specialists who delve into the pictorial archetypes of the cosmos know that tucked in between the constellations of Scorpio and Sagittarius there is the commanding figure of Ophiuchus, the 13th astrological sign.

Who, you might ask, is Ophiuchus? His other name is Asklepius, the Greek healer-physician-god who was trained by the centaur healer god Chiron from his early childhood. This partnership spawned a lineage of healers descended through the ages, specializing in dreams. The year 2007 is the 30th anniversary of the discovery of the comet orbiting in our solar system between Saturn and Uranus who was named for the healing centaur god, Chiron. At that time in 1977, Chiron’s discovery and naming coincided with sweeping changes in the medical field, when alternative or holistic medicine began to be embraced by thousands and today is enjoyed by millions of people around the world.

Dream healing was indeed an important aspect of health care in the ancient world. Ophiuchus is pictured as a man holding a giant serpent, symbolizing the serpent wisdom of life, death, reproduction and transformation. In the ancient world of Greece where dream healing sanctuaries were located in every major region, the same serpent wrapped around the healing staff – Asklepius’ symbol – was emblazoned on the doors, walls, entryways and more importantly, attached to the healing staff that was always in possession of the god himself.

Asklepius, God of Dream Healing

The god Asklepius was of royal lineage descended from Apollo himself, a god of healing. In mythological stories, Apollo once held in his possession the caduceus, the magical healing staff, while his brother Hermes proudly carried the lyre, fashioned by the infant Hermes from a tortoise shell. At one point they traded sacred objects and our little friend Mercury has since never been seen apart from that special healing staff with the twin serpents. The serpent cults, alive and well in the 3rd millennium BCE during the latter period of the Age of Taurus, was timed to the period when the partnership sign of late Scorpio, or in this case, Ophiuchus, was prominent on the western horizon of the precessional time-line.

Asklepian temples were well known shrines of healing but, specifically dream healing, honoring the god who healed man’s ills through the dreaming process. Remnants of these temples still exist today throughout Greece and are visited by millions of people with the most well-known shrines located at Epidaurus and on the island of Kos. The island of Kos is where the ancient physician trained by Asklepius—Hippocrates—was born. Today, the Hippocratic Oath is taken by all medical students entering the field of medicine. In the ancient world, patients would make application to these dream healing centers and, once accepted, would perform a series of purification rituals that would specifically enhance the dreaming process. Then, they would pray to the god for a dream, which the attendant priestesses such as Hygeia or Panacea, daughters of Asklepius, would then proceed to analyze. From the materia pura would come to the dreamer the alchemical process which would convey to the attendant dream physicians both the cause and the cure of the patient’s ills. The price for such cures was small compared to the gain. Asklepius was one of the few gods who accepted offerings as humble as the rooster, rather than demand the sacrifice of a prized bull, goat or sheep. This was so that the common people who were able to afford a rooster would not be turned away. It is said that Socrates’ last statement before his death was: “I owe Asklepius a cock, see that he’s paid.”

What does this have to do with the 13th sign? Ophiuchus is the image placed in the stars to honor and represent Asklepius. That region of the sky covers the last 1/3 of Scorpio to about the first 1/3 of Sagittarius, which we could call the domain of Ophiuchus/Asklepius, the dream healer. If you have planets positioned in this small sector of the zodiac, you could be a living representative of Asklepius/Ophiuchus; and, actually, a closer examination of multitudes of horoscopes reveals that people with planets populating this region are students or practitioners of numerous kinds of healing, not just specifically limited to dream healing.

The Constellation of Ophiuchus

Perhaps the nature of dreams—hidden to most people that either don’t remember them or can’t understand them—may reflect the hidden image of the 13th sign, seldom mentioned and absent from most astrology textbooks. This is truly the esoteric segment of the zodiac; and, like other esoteric studies, only reveals its secret treasures to those who actively go searching for them. Mystics and healers have long held that we are in touch with the transcendent realms of our humanity when we are visited by a dream. It is the interpretation of the dream that often eludes us; and, where still today we may need to call upon specialists or therapists to help us sort them out. Because dreams are an archetypal language of symbols and because our astrological chart is a mandala of archetypal symbolism, there is much that the two realms share and a cross-over does take place.

The dimension of time and space that we are entering into now supports the dream healing process; in fact, it strongly encourages us to take a deeper look. Dream healing, dream awareness and dream honoring may certainly apply to one’s personal evolution and the attainment of higher consciousness; but, this particular time line—leading us to 2012—strongly urges global transformation and healing. What better opportunity do we have than to gather together our community of elders, visionaries, healers and teachers than now—to collectively share the dream? What constitutes the collective dream and how does it describe or help to shape the path humanity is currently on? The dreams that speak to the changes we are making as a species and as a planet will be of particular concern during this 3 day seminar on Kauai.

The aforementioned Greek model will be shared and facilitated by Arielle Guttman of New Mexico, author of two volumes of Mythic Astrology, the latter volume rich in the astrology-dream archetypal connection. Participants will be guided to emulate as nearly as possible the preparation process for dream incubation as practiced in the ancient world. The Hawaiian traditions of dream healing will be shared and facilitated by Dr. Jane Ely, Kauai resident, healer and shaman.

The three-day dream sharing on the island of Kauai is an appropriate setting to re-acquaint ourselves with the dream incubation process practiced in classical Greece. Important to those centers were a clean environment, running water, such as oceans, rivers or springs, and peaceful settings where nature, rather than man, would dominate and its voice could be heard.

The Dream-Share Seminar will take place on Kauai on December 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th, 2007, while both the Sun and Moon transit through the region of Ophiuchus and Jupiter and Pluto conjoin in an alignment that occurs only once every 13 years. For more details and registration, please contact Dr. Jane Ely at: 808-245-4246 or email her at jane@drjaneely.com. For more information about Arielle Guttman, please contact her at: 505-984-8330 or visit her webpage at www.sophiasantafe.org/arielleguttman.html.