World Dream Bank home - add a dream - newest - art gallery - sampler - dreams by title, subject, author, date, places, names

Harriet Tubman

Tubman was a woman of action, but a dreamworker too. Tales of premonitory dreams and divine guidance swirled around her. Those who knew her well, especially those she led to freedom, were quite clear she had strange gifts. She never learned to write, so her story depends on (numerous) biographers, nearly all white, who were bemused by (or could not believe) such tales and were illiterate about dreamwork. Sadly, she never met Abraham Lincoln or (so far as I know) Mark Twain, both of whom had similar psychic dreams, and might have understood what she was talking about. Instead we mostly get stuff like:

"She loves to describe her visions, which are very real to her; but she must tell them word for word as they lie in her untutored mind, with endless repetitions and details; she cannot shorten or condense them, whatever be your haste. She has great dramatic power; the scene rises before you as she saw it, and her voice and language change with her different actors...
"I wish it were possible to give some of her racy stories; but no report would do them justice"
--Ednah Cheney, 1865
So most of her dreams & visions were never recorded. But a few samples survive; a scant outline of a working shaman's life. They're in chronological order.

RELATED TOPICS: shamanic dreams - psychic dreams in general - Mark Twain's clairvoyant dream of his brother - Lincoln's dream predicting his own death - Plenty Coups' dream Buffalo Person, looking 70 years ahead - See also the full INDEX OF SUBJECTS.

What this site is - Add your dreams! - How to read blurbs - Ratings - Copyright - Downloading - The World Dream Bank has 4000+ dreams plus 1000 more pages on dreamwork, shamanism, surrealism, fantasy, worldbuilding, creativity and genius. Site © Chris Wayan 2001-2022.


ESCAPE: by Harriet Tubman; 1848?-49, recurring dreams of freedom
I dreamed of flying like a bird over beautiful meadows to a border or river I couldn't cross. But ladies in white
helped pull me over. After I did escape, I met some of those ladies and knew by their faces who I could trust...
RIVER CROSSING: by Harriet Tubman; mid to late 1850s; a lifesaving intuition
Leading a party out of slavery, I got off the road when God warned me to. He insisted I must ford a cold river.
Turned out the slaveowner had posted a reward at the station ahead; we were saved by divine guidance...
JOHN BROWN'S DEATH: by Harriet Tubman; 1858/4, recurring predictive dreams
I saw a snake with a white-bearded man's head, and two younger heads alongside. Men attacked the
snake, cutting off the younger heads. The eldest looked at me, mournful, and they cut off his head too.
Soon after, I met John Brown; I knew it was him. But only on the day of Harper's Ferry did I understand...
EMANCIPATION: by Harriet Tubman; c. 1860/1/1, a dream looking three years ahead
Tubman woke ecstatic, unable to eat. "My people are free!" Her host said "My grandchildren may see it; but we will be gone."
"No! I tell you, sir, you'll see it, and you'll see it soon. My people are free! My people are free!" Three years later...
FANNY SEWARD'S DEATH: by Harriet Tubman; 1866/10/29, a psychic dream
I saw a chariot fly south then return with the cold body of my friend. I ran into town to warn them
"Miss Fanny's dead!" As I reached town, the news came, confirming her death...

This topical list is one of many. See the full LIST OF TOPICS currently indexed.

World Dream Bank homepage - Art gallery - New stuff - Introductory sampler, best dreams, best art - On dreamwork - Books
Indexes: Subject - Author - Date - Names - Places - Art media/styles
Titles: A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - IJ - KL - M - NO - PQ - R - Sa-Sk - Sl-Sz - T - UV - WXYZ
Email: wdreamb@yahoo.com - Catalog of art, books, CDs - Behind the Curtain: FAQs, bio, site map - Kindred sites