Short, but memorable... Dream: Distraught over an incident in real-life, I am whirling, frantically distressed, through a camp in a forest at night. It appears to be a small Native American inhabited camp. I am running, spinning, everything is a blur in my great sorrow. I begin to move to the camp's edge and I briefly notice a large woman, somewhat reminding me of Venus, watching me with concern. I seem to rise up into the air, as if in a great leap, cry out something like "Gaia/MotherEarth, Take me!" and I land laying on the ground, gripping the earth, just outside where the light of the campfire reaches. My perspective changes and I'm facing up instead. The woman is watching me with a look of surprise and something like pity. Everything turns black and I am lying on my back, arms by my sides, and I feel as though I am floating up. I can vaguely see a ghost-like form of myself, my soul perhaps? It was what I think an OBE would feel like. I think "My soul is rising from my body, I am free! I am rising finally, free." There is a peaceful, a bliss feeling that dissolves my sadness and then everything is completely dark and quiet and I realize I am asleep. I would like to make note that today is my birthday. Does that have any added meaning?
Put it this way: I'll bet that's one present you weren't expecting. And were glad to get. I don't know much about Indian lore, (and, fact is, Native American tribes and cultures are a lot more diverse than we think of them); but the Earth Mother is common among them and, for that matter, the legends and divinities of much of the world. It doesn't surprise me that this dream would occur in the setting you describe. It will probably go without saying that I don't think Gaia is real in the waking world. The dreamworld is a different matter. She's real there, and her gift is real: she's set you free! It happens that way sometimes. Surprising how much you can grow between darkness and dawn.
Yes, very unexpected! Even more so because I had actually taken the time to meditate to settle my rattled nerves before bed. This dream gets a warm welcome... I can't shake the curiosity though! Why did she free me? Me? A girl who is so stationary in life? A young lady, possibly stupid in love with the beautiful soul who called her the same? What has she indeed freed? My soul? My higher-self? Has my physical body "died"? (Obviously not, for I currently inhabit it.) My recent dreams are odd compared to the usual dreamworld adventure. The last two feel...deeper. I imagine vividly but the feeling of rising out of my body was so unreal, so amazing!
Let's just say that the problem with breaking through a barrier is that it takes time to find out what's on the other side. Not to mention, to find out what you should do there. Keep paying attention to those dreams that seem odd right now. Keep in mind, freedom does feel odd to someone who's just gotten it.