ACTIVE CAMPAIGNS

• Mayan Kekchi Land Project

• Kogi Sacred Land Rematriation Project 2023-2024

Past Projects Include…

Kogi People and the Sierra Nevada Mountains in Colombia: Expeditions and Land Rematriation Program (2017-Present)

In 2018 Dream Change helped a Kogi community purchase more than 30 acres of land so they could return to their territory and repatriate their ancestral lands.

In 2019 the Kogi were able to acquire 2 farms totaling an area of 53 hectares. The land is a mixture of working farmland (coffee, fruits and vegetables) and cloud forest with rivers and even waterfalls suitable for hydro electricity (which powers the village of Palmoro). It is situated in the Cherua region, a further 90 minute drive into the mountains from Palmoro where there is another Kogi community already established. The land will benefit 25 families which is approximately 125 Kogi's in total. Acquisition included a plan that land will be used according to the agreement with the Colombian government which states 30% for agricultural crops and 70% for conservation. The Kogi once again became guardians of their ancestral lands.

This program is open and we continue to raise money for our next donation to purchase a farm for more families to return from the unfriendly terrain of the high mountains where they fled after being forced from their lands. We are supporting their wish to return and in exchange are learning valuable lessons on sustainable thriving and transformation. People from all over the world have contributed to this effort.

Love Summit Business & Leadership Conference (I & II)
Portland, OR (2015) & Cincinnati, OH (2017)

 The goal of the first two Dream Change Love Summits, created and run by Samantha Thomas, was to help businesses, executives and entrepreneurs understand that if they want customers to love them, their companies, and their products, their businesses must love the planet and its long-term sustainability. In other words, the success stories of the future will be about those who build a Life Economy. The summits included speakers who are recognized in the fields of transformation and creating better social and environmental systems. Visit justchooselove.com for information on future Love Summits.

Shapeshifting the Story, with Charles Eisenstein & John Perkins
Wallingford, PA (2015)

This weekend workshop was an immersion in thee new-and-ancient stories of what it means to be a human on this fragile space station, Earth. It was led by Charles Eisenstein and John Perkins, bestselling authors and economists who are intimately familiar with the death-dealing financial machine that is wrecking the earth. Charles and John have also seen how that same machine draws from a more basic worldview — a misunderstanding of who we are, how the world works, what is real and what is possible. In this workshop, Charles and John led discussions and group work around disrupting this worldview and the state of being that accompanies it — creating a sacred space in which a new story could crystallize.

Food, Plant and Animal Alchemy and Awakening Your Spirit, with John Kozinski & John Perkins — An Evolver Network Webinar Collaboration (2014)

In this live, interactive 4-session webinar, macrobiotic health counselor John Kozinski and Dream Change founder John Perkins collaborated to teach how the energies of food, plants and animals can aid in developing spiritual insights and expanded consciousness.

Conscious Eating: Healing Yourself and the Corporate Food System, with John Kozinski, Patty Lovera, Allan Savory & John Perkins (2014)

This live, interactive 4-session webinar brought together two leading food change agents, macrobiotic health counselor John Kozinski and environmentalist Patty Lovera of Food & Water Watch, to help participants make the connection between their own diet and the global food system. Sessions 2 and 4 included special guest appearances by bestselling author and economist John Perkins, and biologist and environmentalist Allan Savory of the Savory Institute.

Shapeshifting in Action: Spiritual Insight & Expanded Consciousness in Your Everyday Life, with John Perkins & Barbara Marx Hubbard — An Evolver Network Webinar Collaboration (2014)

In this live, interactive 4-session webinar, John Perkins, Dream Change founder and one of the world’s most renowned shamanic experts, shared with participants his hard won lessons in the application of shapeshifting — and similar spiritual approaches toward expanded consciousness — in the life we lead every day. For the final session, he was joined by the inspirational futurist, Barbara Marx Hubbard. The course taught participants how to apply spiritual insight and expanded consciousness to the actions they take to realize their mission — to manifest their dreams — in a way that is consistent with this amazing time that we are born into.

Interpreting Statistics with Bainbridge High School Students
Bainbridge Island, WA (2014)

Dream Change and John Perkins collaborated with Bainbridge High School teacher and social justice league director Brad Lewis to create a 4-session "interpreting statistics" workshop for his junior and senior mathematics and AP statistics classes.

Over the course of the four sessions, John shared with students his experience of many years using statistics and econometrics to justify the goals of his clients, including the World Bank, United Nations, various Fortune 500 corporations and NGOs. He demonstrated ways one set of statistics may be used by a variety of interests groups to reach different conclusions, and how the conclusions are presented to various stakeholders. He then provided assignments based on these lectures and topics, and afterward facilitated open discussions and Q&A sessions with students.

University of Massachusetts Amherst Permaculture Your Campus Conference Sponsor (2013)

UMass Amherst's Permaculture Your Campus Conference gathers students, faculty and staff from colleges, universities and businesses in the United States and internationally to learn why and how permaculture design is being used as the guiding framework for some of the most cutting-edge sustainability programs around the world. In support of this work, Dream Change sponsored 22 scholarships to people in need of financial aid to attend the conference. 

Shapeshifting Business Leadership, with John Perkins
Rhinebeck, NY (2012)

Dream Change and the Omega Institute — a leader in providing professional workshops — offered a first-ever workshop for leaders and aspiring leaders. This unique event, "Shapeshifting Business Leadership", led by Dream Change founder John Perkins, included five days of interactive discussions, experiential activities, networking, and developing approaches for envisioning and realizing strategic goals. It integrated modern business approaches with deep transformational processes with the objective of empowering participants to embrace these changing times and inspiring them to return to their work places with tools to create innovative and sustainable business practices. In order to ensure that future leaders were able to attend, Dream Change and Omega offered a number of full scholarships for people under 30 years old.

The Altai Book Project

Beginning in the early 1990′s, Dream Change has hosted expeditions to: south and central Americas, the Asian steppe and taiga, the Maya lands of Guatemala, Mexico, Africa, Tibet and Nepal. Hundreds of people have learned ancient healing and shapeshifting techniques, embracing earth-honoring teachings from indigenous masters in diverse cultures. The trips empower an intimate experience of the interconnectedness of all things, help to preserve ancient indigenous ways and ancestral lands, and emphasize the necessity of shapeshifting our own cultures and consciousness.

Spiritual Wisdom of the Altai Mountains by Altai Elder Nikolai A. Shodoev

Book summary:

Spiritual Wisdom from the Altai Mountains, Altai Bilik touches on the religions of Altai history including Tengrism, shamanism and the twentieth century development from shamanism to White Faith. Drawing on ancient symbols, oral and shamanic text, legend and prophecy, author and elder Nikolai Shodoev gives a personal introduction to Altai cosmology, the soul, spiritual development, harmony between man and nature and the imminent evolutionary shift from the yellow to the white era.

Shodoev writes:

“Altai is a key source of Asian spirituality; a cradle of religions. In the heart of the Altai indigenous people the ancient wisdom of rich historical memory has been preserved.” Elder Nikolai Shodoev refers to the Altai folk wisdom as bilik.

The Altai bilik reveals a profound relationship to life, a deep understanding of natural energies and rhythms and a keen feeling for the dramatic contradictions of our time.

Endorsements:

“Expeditions and excavations in the Altai region in the first half of the 20th century as well as national festivals and interest in the geographic locale itself have brought about heightened attention to a region and a culture long hidden from public knowledge. This book by an Altai scholar close to historical memory and source materials, is a valuable addition to our knowledge of Siberian culture and belief systems, illuminating the relatively unknown Altai White faith “ its concepts and specific language” in its relationship to nature, cosmic forces and the natural history of the human soul.”  Eva Jane Neumann Fridman, Ph.D., Author of A Sacred Geography; co-editor: Shamanism: an Encyclopedia of World Beliefs, Practices, and Culture.

“Featuring the voice of elder Nikolai Shodoev, this book provides valuable insights into the shamanic worldviews of indigenous Altai peoples, using the concept of “bilik♓ folk wisdom.”  Marjorie Mandelstam Balzer, Ph.D. Georgetown University, Editor of the Journal Anthropology and Archeology of Eurasia and the book Shamanic Worlds.

“Nikolai Shodoev’s book Spiritual Wisdom of the Altai is a must for anyone who is interested in the mysticism of Siberia, past and present.  Mr. Shodoev does a wonderful job of making his knowledge of religion and wisdom of his Altai people accessible to the Western reader. Those of us who have wondered at the meaning behind the “ribbon-draped wish trees” still seen throughout Siberia and Central Asia will appreciate the background about such customs found in this book. It makes clear that the past is still present there.” Frederick Lundahl, Former US Foreign Service Officer and Specialist on Central Asia

“A rare and lucid glimpse into an ancient cosmovision that may otherwise be forgotten. Spiritual Wisdom of the Altai Mountains presents meticulously translated spiritual principles, derived through academic as well as mystical means. It is a guide to enlightened society and prophesies a transition into an era of harmony foretold by diverse original cultures. A precious and dedicated work that transcends time and culture.” Llyn Roberts, M.A., Director of Dream Change and author of Shapeshifting into Higher Consciousness and other titles.

Andean Forest Reserve

A forest high in the Andes near the border between Ecuador and Columbia – one of the few remaining habitats for the endangered Spectacled Bear – was slated for destruction by an international land development/mining consortium in the early 1990′s. Dream Change raised the money and made all the arrangements for purchasing the forest.

Children’s Programs

DC has been involved with teaching children about the importance of environmental and social interests and sustainability since 1995. Programs initiated by members include the World Dream Institute which later inspired the non-profit organization ‘Eco-Ethics Institute’ spearheaded by Sam Mason-Merrill and Gail Danto, Dreaming with Children, “In the Rainforest” – a play by third graders directed by Michelle Gandy, school Trash-a-Thons to raise money for indigenous communities run by Tara Nieves, the Shuar Kindergarten Project overseen by Patricia Arcos and Mary Tendall, and the Gathering of Wisdom Keepers Student Program (overseen by Stacey Gibbon and Sam Mason-Merrill) offering teens direct experience with indigenous teachers and ancient wisdom at annual events. Student coordinators for this program were Sayre Herrick and Max Weikel.

Dream Change Buries Tibetan Buddhist Peace Vases

In the spring of 1999 a Tibetan Buddhist Peace Vase was buried deep in the Amazon rainforest on a DC trip to Ecuador. Another vase was buried on the grounds of a Tibetan Buddhist temple in Kyzyl, Tuva, on a trip with Llyn Roberts and Bill Pfeiffer, and a third delivered by them to indigenous Siberian Shor people via Alexander Arbachakov was later buried by shamans in the Shor Mt. region. Initiated by His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, hundreds of such vases have been placed around the globe – they contain consecrated items which emanate blessings to the environment, avert negative occurrences, and balance natural energies.

Dream Change Hosts Russian Conservationists

During a visit arranged by the Sacred Earth Network in 2001 five leading conservationists from the former Soviet Union met with Dream Change representatives to share about culture and environment. The meeting was hosted by Llyn Roberts and Bill Pfeiffer and resulted in exchanges with DC representatives and indigenous Shor, Hakass, and Tuvan peoples and collaboration on projects that support Siberian culture and environment.

Dream Change Magazine

For six years beginning in 1998 the Dream Change Magazine was published to inspire and network the Dream Change community; as an educational tool to encourage sustainable living and shifts of consciousness; to support its work and projects with indigenous peoples. The DC Magazine was initiated by Christine Collins and Bob Southard in 1998, from 1999 to 2004 it was produced by Llyn Roberts and Bob Southard, then by Mary Warejcka. The magazine was distributed nation-wide and an on-line magazine was incepted in 2003.

Dream Change Website: Time Magazine Award

Since 1997 when Eve Bruce incepted Dream Change’s first website, dreamchange.org has kept community members abreast of indigenous and environmental projects, dream-changing news, and has educated the general public about consciousness-shifting and ancient indigenous values. In 1998 TIME magazine cited Dream Change as one of thirteen websites in the world who most reflect the values of Earth-Day.

Gathering of Shamans and Wisdom Keepers

From 1999 through 2003, DC organized, managed, and facilitated a series of gatherings that brought shamans and indigenous teachers from cultures around the world to New York, California, Colorado and Michigan. Hundreds of people attended these events which were open to the public and included teachings, community gatherings, ceremonies, and shamanic healing sessions. Eve Bruce initiated and directed Dream Change’s first Gatherings and Llyn Roberts directed them from 2001-2003. Its logistical coordinators included Bob Southard, Dolores Mannix and Sam Mason Merrill. Cultural groups represented at Gatherings have included: Ecuadorian and Peruvian Andean, Ecuadorian Amazonian, Maya of Guatemala, Native North American peoples from several tribes, Native North American Hopi representatives, Eskimo, Siberian and Mongolian elders. The annual event inspired the inception of numerous independent gatherings across the country and in Europe.

Global Awareness and Change Club

Global Awareness and Change was a club founded by Joel Bray and Tyler Thompson at Olympia High School in Olympia, WA, and at University Prep in Seattle, WA, respectively. The club was inspired by the work of both John Perkins and Al Gore, each who presented the necessity to take action to prevent global catastrophe. The club held that for a solution to be found, it is necessary to gather the help and active support of everyone in our communities. GAC educated students about the problems we face, and encouraged them to take action in their own lives.

Indigenous Peoples Exchange

Sponsored by the Sacred Earth Network, Co-sponsor: Dream Change Directors: Bill Pfeiffer & Cathy Pedevillano, M.S.

Building on its environmental track record in Russia the Sacred Earth Network (www.sacredearthnetwork.org) began coordinating indigenous exchanges between Native Siberians and Native Americans in 2001. Dream Change played a large role by sponsoring this work and organizing trips to Russia. Elders, shamans, and leaders from both sides are encouraged to share their traditions with one another and in the process find mutual solidarity and support, not only among themselves but from the larger community of Natives and Non-Natives they come into contact with.

The wisest of these voices recall their own prophecies about a time when humans would be consuming the Earth and in response, the keepers of legend, stories, culture, rituals, and myths, and all the ancient tribal customs would be needed to restore the land and people to health. They would represent all four races and be humankind’s key to survival. They were called by the Cree and others Warriors of the Rainbow and their main strategy is one of unifying superficial differences and cutting through the illusion of separation.

Chief Arvol Looking Horse, one Native America’s foremost spiritual leaders says it well:

We are the watchers. We are the witnesses. We see what has gone before. We see what happens now, at this dangerous moment in human history. We see what’s going to happen, what will surely happen unless we come together. We, the Peoples of all Nations, to restore peace, harmony and balance to the Earth, our Mother.

In Siberia, Ai-Tchourek, the dynamic chairwoman of the Tos Deer Shamanâ society in Tuva , Siberia adds: I want people to stop killing one another. Shamanism is the root of life and people need to help shamans stop the evil. She stressed that people everywhere need to perceive the healing of Mother Earth. People must come together, respect the Earth, and make ceremonies she said. It will be good for them.

Valentin Hagdaev, a Buryat shaman and participant of the Fall 03 said Indigenous people of Russia and America have the same problems of preserving language, culture and religious traditions. During our meetings with Navajo. Hopi, Tlinket, and others, we came to an important conclusion that we need to correct this situation together.

Buryat leader and interpreter, Erjen Khamangova adds persuasive words: In attempting to evaluate this trip, there are no words to adequately describe what I feel and what I learned. This trip was very important to me. The spirits were leading us and so many things opened to us. It was great! It is now clearer how much more needs to be done to overcome the fear, uncertainty, lack of knowledge, doubts

POLE Project

The POLE (Pollution Offset Lease for the Earth)Project emerged in the late 90′s from meetings with John Perkins and the Shuar community of the Amazon as a means to:

• Educate people and shift global consciousness;

• Promote the preservation of the Shuar rainforest land;

• Provide financial support for the Shuar who had little access to the ‘outside world,’ could not subsist solely on rainforest lands, and were dependent on outside sources until they develop sustainable businesses;

• Conserve oxygen-producing rainforest land that will offset the pollution created by modern environments;

• Support the Shuar in their desire to avoid selling ancestral lands to oil interests or clearing trees for cattle raising. POLE eventually was integrated into the larger Shuar Sustainability Project.

Quechua Sacred ‘Pachacuti’ CD

When Quechua elders from Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru decided that it was time to share their most sacred Pachacuti (‘Time to Set Things Right’) music with the world – music that had remained “secret” within the Andes for many centuries – they turned to DC for assistance. DC produced the CD for the elders under the direction of Wendy Core, and Dream Change distributed them. In May 2009, Dream Change supporter, Emily Dahmen, made it possible for the Pachacuti CD to be distributed via ITunes.

Rainforest Seed Jewelry

DC partnered with the Shuar of the Amazon to design and market jewelry made by the tribe’s women using sustainable methods that help promote environmental stewardship and awareness. Mary Tendall initiated and managed the project for Dream Change, helped by Joyce Kendall.

Re-Dreaming the World with the Dalai Lama

During a DC trip to Ladakh and India featuring John Perkins and organized by Dream Change supporter, Sheena Singh – 33 members flew across the Himalayas in a plane with the Dalai Lama and then met with him at his home in Dharmsala. He shared Tibetan teachings and practices, asked the DC members to tell him about indigenous people in the Amazon and Andes, and encouraged DC to continue its re-dreaming the world work.

Pachacuti (Andean) CD and Shapeshifting Music

The Circle of Yachak Shamans from the Andean countries asked John Perkins and Dream Change to record the 15 songs that date back to very ancient times and are said to facilitate shapeshifting from the Old Pachacuti (500 year period beginning about 1500 and marked by brutality, when the industrialized nations practically destroyed the indigenous cultures) to the New Pachacuti (beginning about 2000  and marked by compassion, when indigenous cultures and industrialized nations will come together to create higher consciousness and a peaceful, sustainable world). This resulted in a CD that Dream Change distributed to more than 5000 people and organizations and then gave the rights to the Andean shamans.

Sacred Springs Preservation

When a spring sacred to the Incan community of Quilajalo, high in the Ecuadorian Andes (and the community’s only direct source of water), was threatened by land developers in 1996, DC trip facilitator, Christine Parini, raised the funds necessary to purchase the spring and surrounding forest and donated the money to the community. The people of Quilajalo bought the threatened area and also set up programs for teaching other communities about the importance of environmental stewardship.

Shapeshifting the Corporation

Spearheaded and designed by John Perkins, DC taught programs to help corporations shapeshift themselves into more aware and sustainable organizations for over a decade. Executives from many corporations have participated, including ones from Hewlett Packard, Nike, Exxon, Harley Davidson, General Electric, Los Alamos Laboratories Interface, The Natural Step, several branches of the U.S. Government, and the World Bank.

Siberian Book Project

The Shor Mountain peoples of Siberia number about 10,000 and during the 20th century have been decimated by repression, alcohol and suicide. Many of the Shor shamans are now in their 70′s and 80′s, their grandparents being the renowned drumming shamans persecuted during the Soviet occupation – shot in the back or rounded up and burned alive. The Shor shamanic legacy might not be remembered if not for a project such as this.Alexander and Luba Arbachakov compiled a book – The Shamans of Gornaya Shoraya – depicting ethnographic sketches of the some of these remaining Shor and recorded their shamanic verses. The book also includes photographs of the Shor and their symbols. Directed by Llyn Roberts, Dream Change raised the money needed for the Arbachakov’s to publish the book in Russian as a research publication by the publishing house Kuznetskaya Krepost, in Novokuznetsk in 2004.See current Dream Change Programs to view the english language US/UK publication - The Last of the Shor Shamans - via O-Books October 31, 2008.

Shuar CD and Ceremonial Music

At the request of the Shuar of the Amazon, trip facilitator Mary Tendall elicited the help of the DC community to raise funds needed to record Shuar traditional music. Tendall and other DC representatives helped the Shuar community organize itself to recreate ancient ceremonies, brought in a professional recording team, and also produced and disrtibuted the resulting CD. In May of 2009, Dream Change supporter, Emily Dahmen, made it possible for the Anent CD to be distributed via ITunes.

Shuar Solar Project

Shuar families of the Ecuadorian Amazon were using foul smelling, smoke producing kerosene bottles for artificial evening light with the advent of “modern” methods of extending light, which extend activities into the evening hours. At the Shuar’s request and under the direction of Dream Change representative, Mary Tendall, a healthier and safer alternative to kerosene lamps was sought.Licensed electrical contractor, Chris Amson, suggested solar off-grid and grid-tied stand-alone solar electrical systems to create sustainable energy sources. Chris traveled to the Shuar with Mary; converting costs were calculated, money raised and charging stations for each community complete with waterproof flashlights and batteries were created. The Shuar constructed pole holders for each solar panel. Charger boxes at each station were made with natural materials and the Shuar were trained to do future solar installations.The project made it possible for seven Shuar communities to each have three simple fluorescent fixtures, and a set of 60 waterproof flashlights with 160 rechargeable batteries.