Island of Misfit Toys

The drive from Chautauqua County NY to Nashville is about a 10 hr drive, which is one of the reasons I went - it was within a reasonable driving distance. The other reason I went was because I made the Communion jewelry which Whitley’s friend, Steve Neill, designed and sculpted. I also made some Rosslyn Chapel Greenman jewelry to take in honor of Anne Strieber, and made a commemorative pin for the festival. I did all this after already deciding to go since I missed last year due to a Matrix Energetics blowout.

On the trip to the 2nd Dreamland festival in Nashville Tennessee my daughter, Dani, was trying to reassure me that it would be fun, trying to offset my trepidation about going. I never met any of Dreamland’s hosts or any of its other small but loyal group of followers, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I have interacted with them on the forums and chat. But that isn’t the same as face to face. I knew they were an intelligent, not easily led bunch just from the nature of Whitley’s, and the other host’s, approach to the whole Streiberian realm of topics. My daughter who is a big fan of Whitley and his work wasn’t as familiar with the other hosts. She has heard them., but doesn’t listen to every show. She is finishing university and working, on top of doing the other typical media multitasking like most other students in their 20s. 

I was amused that she was the youngest one there. But perhaps like Jim Mars pointed out, people under 30 just take for granted that UFOs, psychic mediumship, ancient hidden knowledge, secret societies, and spiritual awakening are all real. She really enjoyed herself there. All of the speakers are so approachable. She was intimidated by the thought talking to Whitley or Anne though. I fully understand that, and told her I kind of felt the same. This was not due to anything the Strieber’s did. They were as warm and open and accessible as anyone could be. They didn’t duck out between talks but happily talked to anyone who approached them. 

Marla Frees..well what can you say but WOW! She really got everyone’s full attention by connecting people with their loved ones and giving the hard non-sugar coated information that comes through. If you need a loving reassuring message or a good swift kick in the butt (she can do that too). I think the phrase from her website says it best. A reading from Marla may not be what you expect - but it is exactly what you need. She gave quite a few mini readings she calls Kamikaze readings. Every person I talked to who had one of these was gobsmacked after their reading. John Edward move over! My Daughter really liked her presentation as well as Marla offstage. 

William Henry gave an amazing presentation on what he calls Stargate Christianity. It seems to be where his work has led him., and it is powerful in its truth. I have read quite a bit by William, but the way he presents it live , gives it the emotion , humor and humanity that is William. If we are to become these new Light Beings like Jesus we need to discover once again lives driven by love and hope instead of fear. William Henry is our guide. He is daring to go were too few have gone before, to rediscover how we can all reconnect with God and our true selves. I have noticed William has changed over the past couple years from a researcher gathering facts and connecting the dots, to a guide climbing up then reaching back to grab us by the hand and help lift us up out of the carnal cloak that we are now bound in - quantum consensus reality that tells us we are only our bodies and nothing more. 

Jim Mars is riveting, entertaining, and knowledgeable. You may not agree with everything he says in the conspiracy department. I had a discussion with one person who agreed with “almost “everything he said, or he at least was willing to entertain the possibilities of these things being true. He is an older gentleman who has only been exposed to all of this UFO and hidden history stuff for just over a year. I said that maybe not all of Jims conclusions are true but……you can be sure most of them are - that is the point! I said Jim has been researching and documenting this stuff for decades. If you think he is making any of this up just do a little research. I give this guy I spoke with a hell of a lot of credit for being able to absorb so much of this in such a short amount of time. Most in our society would have smoke pouring out of their ears at start repeating the mantras like “ it can’t be true, everyone knows its impossible, mass hallucination, etc. : you’ve heard them all.

Linda Moulton Howe gave a great talk complete with many photos and diagrams to help the audience to follow the information. From Crop circles and the messages they may give, to Drones and the bizarre ways they may work, Linda took us step by step to help us understand the mathematics and reality of them that pegs-out the credibility meter well into in the red zone, even for those of us who as Jim Marrs said, have minds that are so open things start to fall out. Thanks Linda for doing the hard research to bring it all together.

Anne Strieber talked about the hundreds of thousands of letter she read, sent by people who read Communion. So many had experiences that had disturbed them for years and no one to tell. Anne took on the yoke to help them, and us, grasp the complexity that is the Visitor phenomenon. She read some experiences the Dreamland Festival members wrote down and placed in a jar. She reassured us that those of us who had the fortune or misfortune to bump up against the abyss in our lives are not alone. She informed and she comforted. Not a bad combination of hats to wear, if you could only pick two.

Last is Whitley. I assume everyone here is familiar with him and his work. He is Whitley! The man behind the machine. He is intelligent, informed on an amazingly broad range of topics, and quite funny. A speaker that grabs your attention and holds it - even if the message comes out as a pondering whisper at times. What did he talk about? It is not so much what he talked about as his presence while talking. He talked about the Visitors. He talked about the future and the past of humanity. Mostly he talked about US! What we really are - what we really can become again if we are brave enough to face the enigmatic challenges the Visitors have presented us with; To ‘Have joy” and to embrace a new world “if we can take it”. How do we accomplish this , or more importantly , where do we begin? 

This takes me back to the title of this post - The Island of Misfit Toys”. most of you probably have seen the stop-action animation of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer that came out in the 60s and was played on TV every year for Christmas. The narrator was the unique voice of Burl Ives as the snowman. I got to hear him perform live at Chautauqua Institution in the 80s. He sat on the stage with his guitar and didn’t use a mike - he didn’t need one.

When I joked with my Daughter and compared the Dreamland gathering to the island of Misfit Toys she thought I was being mean. Quite the contrary. I am proud to count myself as one of those marginalized by our society because they don’t fit in the very narrow constraining “normal” box. The toys were sad that they weren’t wanted by most, but …they had the comfort of each other. A small group gathered in Nashville to hear things that were profound, things that were true. We gathered to share in the common frustration that so few are open to these profound truths - to this potential of this awakening. There were no tinfoil hats, only intelligent people with open hearts and open minds. 

It didn’t look like Whitley drank enough at the restaurant on Saturday night to make his nose glow red ( that task was assigned to Jim Marrs I think ). His work does do the same though. He leads the way for us in a night so dark few can see past their nose , let alone past tomorrow, or next year, or 2012, or beyond. . I asked my daughter on the trip back how she would sum up the overall message of the Festival and she immediately replied “ Love”. I hadn’t thought of that ( crap-upstaged again!) and couldn’t have put it any better myself. The message most of us got from the Island of misfit toys was the same as the message Both Whitley and William proclaimed - live from the heart and live for others, in other words; love. The new commandments which Jesus gave us were to love god with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself. You follow these and the rest fall in place. William added that if not loving God with all your heart, love ‘SOMETHING” with all your heart - in other words live with a passion for something. Being that light of the world may be a big part of the key for opening the Light Body William speaks about. 

If so, Hermy, Santa’s elf who only wanted to be a dentist, is a good model for us. So On Whitley on William , on Marla, on Jim, on Linda, on Anne…on Dreamland, leading us ahead with a sleigh full of gifts and wonder. Thank you, and thanks to everyone who was there. It was a fun trip to the edge.