Anthropologists suggest that a significant factor determining whether or not a person becomes a shaman is that from an early age they are dreamers who have out-of-the-ordinary perceptions. Their dreams connect them with the spirit world – which, ultimately, is the source of their power.
Like a shaman candidate, Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Jimi Hendrix, and John Lennon were dreamers who saw the world differently than most people.
Cave drawings in Sicily
As a child growing up in Minnesota, Dylan recalled staring at the snow and having “amazing hallucinogenic experiences doing nothing but looking out your window.” 1 Later, in a “Rolling Stone” interview he commented that “I live in my dreams. I don’t really live in the actual world.” 2
Jimi Hendrix was also a shy, dreamy kid – who spoke with a stammer. He claimed to see colors, not notes in his head as he played his guitar. 3 “I used to dream in Technicolor that 1966 was the year that something would happen to me.” 4 And, in 1966, Jimi went to London and everything changed.
John Lennon said that “psychedelic vision is reality to me and always was. Even as a child. When I looked at myself in the mirror . . . I used to, literally, trance out . . . seeing these hallucinatory images of my face changing, becoming cosmic and complete.” 5
And, in his song ‘When I Live My Dream’ David Bowie declares that: “It’s a broken heart that dreams.” He acknowledges that he’s a “dreaming kind of guy.” And, he promises: “Nothing in my dream can hurt you.” 6 This is just one of Bowie’s many songs about dreams.
These artists were definitely in touch with the dreamtime. It was a source of their creativity and it gave them the power to transform their lives. And, for those who were listening . . . it showed us a way of connecting with realities far beyond our normal experience . . . opening us to the possibility of connecting with the source of our power.
Notes:
- Howard Sounes, Down the Highway. The Life of Bob Dylan, (New York: Grove Press, 2001), 17. ↩
- Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stone Interview, January 26, 1978. ↩
- Charles Cross, Room Full of Mirrors. A Biography of Jimi Hendrix, (New York: Hyperion, 2005), 133. ↩
- Ibid., 118. ↩
- David Sheff, All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko One, (New York: Playboy Enterprises, Inc, St. Martins Press, 1981), 158. ↩
- From the album The World of David Bowie released in 1970. ↩
So interesting! They were able to make their dreams into reality. I sometimes dream like this. But I wonder what it is like to dream in color. If they were able to transform their lives, then I believe that I can too.