I Told You So

Back in March, on the 5th actually, I posted twice, writing to you about a dream I had that morning and sharing a lovely synchronicity from later that day. Today I caught up to the media storm around Anne Rice quitting Christianity and all I can say is, I told you so.

What I mean is, isn't it marvelous the way dreams prepare us for future events? If you read what I said then in both posts of this blog thread and listen to what Ms Rice is saying publicly, I believe you'll see the future glimpsing dynamic of dreams in effect. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5Wb5CnYrmA

On a deeply personal level, I applaud her and thank her for her courageous, intelligent and articulate public statements. She's a remarkable woman opening a dialogue that has been long in coming.

I titled the dream I'm referring you to "Remember Who You Are." It's so important to stay true to my spiritual certainty in the face of organized, big business religion telling me I'm not worthy in "gods" eyes. My dreams assure me I'm worthy, as can yours. The spiritual connection to who we are at our deepest core is a dialogue within ourselves that leads us to our true Self. It is a dialogue with our Soul; we don't need the intervention of others, nor should we project our life interpretation on to others. In Active Dreaming,Robert teaches that we should be careful not to project our interpretations on others' dreams; we can play with understanding others'dreams by making them our own, a rule of Lightning Dreamwork. We can understand another soul by walking in their mocassins, not by sitting in judgment.

To give over spiritual authority to some "ordained"leader who does not consider himself or herself just as vulnerable, human and subject to error as me, to hear someone interpret the word of god for me is like hearing someone tell me what my dream means.

William Blake, that great metaphysical poet described religion as "mind forged manacles." Nothing binds like a paradigm. It's ideology that leads to what Blake lamented in his brilliant poem, "London," "and the hapless soldier's sigh, runs in blood down palace walls." That the ideology of religions world wide at the moment are leading to wars, to just such bloodshed, should be our first clue. I guess, as my dreams have taught me, giving up religion does not mean giving up your Christ. As Jesus himself encouraged, love is the answer and living it is your religion. When some shyster money lender is fleecing you in the temple or causing you undo anguish and guilt, throw the sot out. Jesus took the bull whip to organized religion; what an irony for him that he became it's shill.

I know many, many beautiful people who call themselves Christians and live as they believe Jesus would have them do. Hurray for them. I chose to leave the organized religious scene all together because I didn't want to use my talents to promote an organization I believe manipulates the basic human spiritual instinct and enslaves the human spirit. You don't need to be told how to love Jesus or how to arrive at your truth; you can find out on your own and share it without trying to convert anyone.

I think Anne Rice has done us an amazing public service by speaking out. I'm thankful that my dreams helped me arrive at the same decision a while ago, but she's chosen to use the bully pulpit of her fame at this crucial time in history to raise this issue; it makes her a hero in my eyes, a person risking all that public backlash to speak her controversial truth rather than shut up. Another great metaphysical poet, William Butler Yeats wrote in his poem, The Second Coming, "the best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity." The airwaves are full of hate mongering rhetoric condemning people who don't fit the sanctioned paradigms of organized religions; thank goodness the voice of a good Christian questioning the madness is also being heard.

I'm happy to add my two cents and my two recent dreams. If we all dream together a future of possibilities and then take steps to act our dreams out, then maybe we can change the hateful paradigms that forge malignant ideologies that shackle us and create a world that would make Jesus proud.

Big Dreams

Across time and cultures, teachings on dreams place them in categories, or levels; most simply put,there are Big dreams and more ordinary, everyday ones.

Big dreams also have different categories. For instance, there are Collective Big dreams, like when Carl Jung, in 1913-1914 described his dreams of blood flooding Europe and of frozen barren lands. He knew a collective catastrophe might be their meaning; World War I broke out soon after.

The longer you pay attention to your dreams, the more you'll discover your own personal Big dreams. In my dream repertoire, my personal Big dreams are markers of my soul's journey. My first I had as a child of 5 still living in Havana, Cuba. My second was a dream trilogy just prior to my graduation at 21 from the University of Rochester, N.Y. Unfortunately, I only remember one of those dreams clearly. I was 27 the next time. There were a series of dreams that prefigured a future love affair that I never in a million years would have predicted. That proved a stormy time in my life, but one dream in that magical series of dreams I had stood out so much that I actually wrote it down at the time. It's probably the dream that initiated my passion for dream journaling.

The title of the dream is, "Let Me Tell You My Story."

The dream's story involves many classic Jungian Archetypes: the hero,the journey across the desert, finding sustaining waters. It's the end of the dream that's most magical to me. After enduring many tests, my dream Self, now in my own form, is walking up one side of a mountain. As is possible in dreams, I'm not scaling sheer rock cliff, I'm just slowly walking up to the flat knoll at the top. As I crest the edge, so does the man I love, from the other side, facing me. We step towards each other at the same time and I say to him, "Let me tell you my story."

To me, it's a classic Jungian individuation dream. I join with my Animus, my soul mate, on the mountaintop after surmounting all obstacles to proclaim my life story, my spiritual journey, my individuation. Remember Ecclesiastes saying, "Naked came I into this world and naked I shall return?" For me, this always means that despite all the love and connections we make in our lifetime, we will be dancing out by ourselves, one by one, naked, except for what we can take with us, which is every soul lesson we've mastered.

This Big dream became a source of strength for me, a personal parable that took me through many years of changes. When I had to make choices at that time; the dream helped me choose to care for myself, to do what was in my best interest. In showing me some of the hardships I'd have to endure while presenting the ultimate success of my journey, the dream gave me a road map and assured me I was on the right path. In the end, I didn't get my man,or at least, that man, but I came into my Self.

Each of us has a story. I wonder if when we cross over, when we die, there will be those waiting to hear our stories, not to judge us, but to acknowledge our journeys on the earth plane and welcome us Home.

Big dreams are great gifts from the dream Source, whatever you believe it to be. For me, they are the channels that all my teachers and guides on other planes use to assist and instruct me, and that those who love me on the other side of life use to stay in touch and support me.

This drawing is an awkward attempt at portraying the last scene in "Let Me Tell You My Story." I drew it now, these many years later to honor a recent dream I had where I discover many forgotten dream sketches among my journals. In my dream, I'm delighted because I can use these to illustrate my blog.

As with most dream drawings, there's an element that surprises me. In this one it's that I'm holding hands with my Love. After so many years, this makes me feel that all is well and all is forgiven. I didn't mean to draw the figures holding hands. That's what I love about dream drawing.

Big dreams don't tell me just what I already know. Big dreams are initiations into my life's true path. They become the road maps I need to stay on course and get there. They help me realize, as in the illustrious words of the Rolling Stones, "You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need."

The Kiss

What's in a title? In Lightning Dreamwork, developed by Robert Moss, one step along the road to dream understanding is to give each dream a title, as if it were a story.

Dream titles become like little soul tattoos that help you access a dream memory or recognize the serendipity in your life. I usually title my dreams after I'm finished relaying the dream story in writing in my journal. Most of the time, the title just wells up in my mind and I write and underline it at the top of the page. Usually the first thought is the best. When we edit our dream stories and titles, we cheat ourselves of potential healing revelations later on. Unconscious material made conscious in dreams takes time to sink in.

So a title is wonderful shorthand for the essence of a dream. The other day, one of my dearest friends was telling me her dream. She titled it, "The Kiss." I immediately felt a flutter of excitement; there's a dream whose only record I have is a dream painting I did of it on a seashell. I painted my picture, dated it and titled it "The Kiss." So we both share that little tattoo; I listen eagerly to her story.

My amazement grows as I recognize in her story, if it's my dream, the power of Divine Love,archetypal Love that is unconditional and eternal. If it's my dream, I realize that my dream self is displaying an archetypal capacity for Love in all it's dimensions: erotic and all-inclusive, non-judgmental, forgiving, all accepting - the quintessential experience of Love. There's a wonderful "Home" in her dream that reminds me of those dream locations I keep on the other side as my "Homes", my sense of center and security. Symbolically, these places speak to me of my Self; literally, they're places I can always re-enter at will, when need or desire propels me there. They are places of great comfort, wonder and Love. So, if it's my dream, The Kiss, becomes a portal to the many levels of Home in my soul and a bridge that connects me to those I love most deeply.

A great gift of listening to other people's dreams is how often they spark wonderful feelings born of my own dreams in me; dream thrills are totally re-livable any time their energy gets re-ignited. Sometimes, all it takes is a title.

The In-Between

I have a dear friend who’s been asking me wonderful questions about her wonderful dreams. She's a very strong dreamer, (I really try not to be jealous). Recently, she's experienced heightened consciousness in her dreams. She feels as if she’s in an in-between state, between waking and dreaming, just as awake as when she’s conscious. These sleep/waking experiences are new to her; she's excited and curious about them.

In one dream, she’s walking in what seems like an in-between world. She says it's as if she's walking through a bright, sunny yellow mist or fog,a place of light, very pleasant. Another person is with her, a person she likes. They’re walking side-by-side, talking. She has a feeling of great elation and joy that stays with her after waking.

I told her that if this is my dreaming and these experiences are mine, I would value them. I know I would re-enter the dream again, not by trying to go back to sleep, but rather by relaxing, closing my eyes and letting the dream replay in my consciousness. I see myself re-entering the dream and revisiting the events, letting myself dream them forward. I learned this practice from Carl Jung's Active Imagination and Robert Moss’s Active Dreaming techniques . It's similar to shamanic journeying; all it really takes is the imagination of our childhood and the willing suspension of disbelief that we regularly apply to watching movies, etc. You're entering a daydream; weren't you good at that once?

In groups, I've learned to use Shamanic drumming to help create a mild trance state that can quiet the left blabbing brain. You can use a favorite piece of music, preferably one without lyrics and with a calming effect. Neither is essential; if you come back supercharged from a dream, going back can be quite easy. My favorite time to reenter a unique dream is immediately when I wake up from it. If a dream rocks my socks,the energy is hottest right then; the dream portals may not have closed completely.

A good dream experience is like a good orgasm, except it lasts a lot longer. Physics and Metaphysics agree, we create our world through our conscious and unconscious willing. If so, it’s important to to use my imagination to will my own good and the good of others. A dream like this is a gift and I'll imagine myself back in it again and again until the energy is gone and a new dream gives me a new portal. If I don’t re-enter on waking up, then I’m going back any chance I get. (I’ve had great dream re-entries as a passenger on long trips; it’s not a recommended activity while you’re driving).

Back to my friend’s dream, if I know myself to be in an in-between world, an in between state, you can bet I’m going to look around when I re-enter and gather any details I might have missed. I listen to what the person I'm with is saying, what I’m saying; I see what we’re doing and continue in any direction I desire. A rule of the dream world is that you control everything; there's a creative way out of every dilemma and an eternity to enjoy what feels good.

Another thing that comes to mind about this in-between is that I might literally be visiting a place between life and death. I know people get the heebie jeebies thinking about their own death, but most of us have lost people and animals we love. The in-between of the dream world is possibly where we continue our relationships with them. If dreams allow me to cross back and forth and if my loved ones there share ideas with me and give me comfort, why shouldn't I rely on this in my waking life? These are gifts for the soul; it's hard to live without a happy soul.

Perhaps places we visit in dreaming will help us prepare for our own deaths. I have the memory of a very special dream that gave me an amazing script for my exit from this life. I don't know if I'll share the whole dream, but it involves a bridge of moonlight on water. What an image,right? I hope that when it's time for me to go, I can access this dream portal to soothe my journey across. So, why wouldn't I cultivate that image while I'm alive by re-entering this dream from time to time, making sure it's strong and clear for when I need it?

Sometimes dreams like my friend is having get labeled "lucid dreams" or "OBEs", (Out of Body Experiences); there's a lot of fascinating literature about it all. I don't think there's any substitute for allowing yourself to experience your own dreams intimately; eventually, portal after portal will open and shiny new experiences will thrill you.

Walk Like an Egyptian

In the practice of Active Dreaming taught by Robert Moss, waking dreams are as important as night dreams. A “waking dream” is an experience from my waking life that I choose to treat as if it were a dream. It can be recent or from long ago, the key is to play with the memory the same way I play with a dream.

First, I write down my memory of the experience in my journal. I take an objective approach, as if I were writing a news story or filing a police report, just the events as they occurred, no speculation or interpretation. I date it fully- month, date, and year - and give it a title. When I’ve finished writing it down, I can look at the experience more objectively and perhaps learn something from it.
Let me offer a recent waking dream example:


My friends and I are working together at a business event we’ve produced. We’re enjoying ourselves, as usual; talking and laughing between attending to customers. In walks a stranger, a man dressed in black, abrupt, arrogant and aloof. Throughout the event, he interacts with each of us and says things that in the guise of jovial jesting are veiled insults.

My waking dream story is much longer, but this vignette illustrates how I play with a waking dream. In this experience, which I titled "Kiss-off", I choose to look at this stranger the way I look at a shadow/animus figure in a dream.

According to Carl Jung, sometimes a character we dislike or fear in our dreams is a Shadow figure. Shadow figures for Jung are usually the same sex as the dreamer, but the opposite sex can also appear in shadow roles. I believe the shadow delivers a message I need to hear. It may upset me, insult me, or make me feel shame, but if I look beyond my defenses, the reward is always worth the effort. (For more of my musings on the Shadow see my previous post “The Shadow Knows” on 12/22/09.)

The animus/anima is an even more intriguing archetype, according to C.G.Jung, much more complex (pun intended). In my experience, my animus, the male characters in my dreams, come in a variety of personifications which I can put into two groups; good animus – bad animus. When I encounter a “bad animus” he’s usually threatening, bullying, undermining or skeeving me out somehow in the dream. He may even be threatening my life. If I face and challenge him, I'm sure to benefit because he embodies my fears and self-loathing; he comes at me menacing and it’s my job to figure out how to tame and transform this beast within me.

One caveat, dreams can sometimes be literal warnings about waking life threats. Playing with your own dreams for an extended period of time is the best way to ascertain a dream’s meaning because you become familiar with your own dream ways. (For more, see my post “When Bad Dreams Happen to Good People” 3/6/10.)

Back to my waking dream, if I use my dream sense to evaluate my experience I have to ask, is that person I so dislike a Shadow to me or what Castaneda might call, a worthy adversary? Should I look at his insults for what I might learn? Why not? There may be personal or communal benefits to be won if we’re willing to dive in, face what we fear or own what we dislike. The Shadow illuminates our blind spots, in waking or sleep dreams. That doesn’t mean I have to like the guy or be his BF. When I become the observer of my experience, an extra benefit to learning a lot about myself is that it diffuses the sting of negative energy.

Walk like an Egyptian means pay attention, as the Egyptians did, to the omens, messages and spiritual lessons that may come in my waking life, as surely as they come to me in dreams.

Dreams Are Like a Box of Chocolates

There were three of us, a niece, me and my cousin, going to a country fair and then nightclubbing. Our quandary in the dream is what to wear; should we dress for country fair or nightclubbing, I presume in the city. This is a fragment of a dream I had in January of this year. Since I didn't remember a dream this morning I opened my journal at random to this dream. As soon as I re-read this bit I was drawn to the two options, country or city? How interesting; missed that back when I first wrote it down.

One of the things I so totally love about dreams is that when you go back to one in your journal, it's like going back to a box of chocolates thinking its empty and it's actually got a lot of bonbons in it; (this if chocolate's your thing).

Why does it work that way? Perspective, for one thing. I think that's how it is in waking life, too. A little distance from the immediate drama can be just the ticket to a better understanding and a better solution to life's conflicts, like counting to ten, walking away, giving it some thought.

Here's a list of things I've learned so far from journaling my dreams for over thirty years:

How to want to know more about myself, others, life and beyond.

How to pay attention.

How to have intention, to formulate a desire and ask for what I want.

How to go with the flow.

How to ponder.

How to give up control of everything and realize there is a loving guidance available to me on my life's journey.

How to recognize dream gifts, guidance and encouragement and put it to good use.

How to have a sense of humor about all the things I think are so important.

How to enjoy myself every night.

Dreams have entertained me more than movies or tv.

Dreams have given me images, symbols and messages that have provided incredible guidance and inspiration throughout my life, not to mention intrigue and suspense.

Dreams have fueled my creativity; I've painted, written poetry and stories, made beautiful masks, made-up a song, danced like in my dream, daydreamed, fantasized and became a blogger, all inspired by my dream life.

I've dreamed about my beloved dead and feel connected still to their love for me.

Dreams have given me consolation and insight during my most difficult times.

Dreams have shown me valuable glimpses of what's ahead, in my future.

Dreams have helped me remember and heal trauma from my past.

Dreams have taken me to strange, interesting places and times.

Did I mention I can fly? Yes, you too. It's such a fun thing, isn't it?

This isn't an exhaustive list. I just want to highlight some of the reasons for playing with your dreams regularly. Once you start; you'll have your own list someday, not to mention all these benefits. If this sparks a question or a comment, I'd love to hear it.

Thanks to my dear friend and gifted artist, Rita Paradis, for giving me permission to use her pastel still life as the eye candy for this post. Aloha!

If you want to see more kick-ass art like this visit: http://www.finelineartgallery-connecticut.com/

The Evolution of Meaning in a Dream

"What does it mean?" is probably the most frequently asked question about dreams. My experience is that a dream's meaning evolves and materializes as I pay attention, as I ponder it for days, weeks or sometimes, years. Meaning dawns in my thoughts, feelings and in the sychronistic events of my waking life, but what I experience is not just intellectual understanding. I experience something like a door opening for me, a gift being given me, an opportunity to act in waking life for my own healing and pleasure, perhaps in a new and exciting direction.

In my previous post, I shared with you the image of a woman hugging a child from a recent dream, but I didn't share the dream. This is it; it's titled: Caring for The Little Girl.

Jim and I find a little girl, 3 or 4 years old, who'd been abandoned in her crib with a puppy; she's blond, blue eyed, very sweet. We have to go home because Jim needs to get up early for a gig. I insist on taking her home. We get little footie pajamas and some clothes from the room she's in. Holding her, I realize she's running a fever. I put the pajamas on her. She'll sleep with me and Jim will sleep in the guest room (with the puppy).

I often take action to honor my dream by painting it. I'm not a visual artist professionally, but since I was a small child, I've loved to draw . Perhaps you did, too? Sketching and painting my dream images or scenarios gives free expression to that little girl who once loved to draw things. I unplug my superego/critic and just let myself flow with whatever I happen to do on the paper. I hold the dream in my mind's eye and let something come out on the paper, no judgements, no over-corrections. I can always just throw it away, so no pressure.

The drawing in this post is the second one I painted from the dream. I'm always surprised, and usually delighted by what I actually get on paper, but every once in a while, I experience a visual Gestalt from the unintentional appearance of a figure I draw in this flow state.

In this picture, it's the "ghost" that appears behind the child's crib. When I first drew that figure, I was going for the baby's face. It came out the face of an older, heavy woman, wearing a not very pleasant expression. I abandoned trying to transform the face to a baby's and started again next to it. Happy, if still bewildered, with the overall sketch, I began painting it in watercolors. My charcoal pencil lines remained distinct on everything but that odd figure I drew that wasn't in the actual dream. When I painted over her, her lines blurred and flowed into the paint. She became a ghost. I know I'll be dialoguing with this figure as I explore the dream further.

This dream is equivalent to about three good therapy sessions for me. I'll be exploring it for a while longer, I'm sure; it's got good juju. The real energy and understanding of the dream began to flow after doing these drawings. I hope my sharing this with you gives you a sense of what I mean by the process of understanding a dream, the evolution of it's meaning.

Your comments and questions are welcome.