Dreams from Your Self

Returning from Rupert

I dream that having completed my work assignment in Prince Rupert, I am ready to return home. On Saturday I try to catch the plane, but have trouble finding the ticket office. Eventually I show in the afternoon, but the plane has left in the morning. At least now I know when the plane leaves, and where to buy the tickets. That evening I eat in a restaurant and then phone my wife to tell of the delay. She is not unduly concerned.

On Sunday I show up at the ticket office, but there is some confusion about where to line up. I have really not come early enough, for when I get to the ticket booth the man behind it has just closed it. There is a man and a woman behind the counter. The man is helpful enough and takes my credit card information so that on the next day I will not have to buy a ticket, but simply board the bus that connects with the plane. I make up my mind to arrive at the ticket office in plenty of time on the next day. The dream ends.

Commentary on "Returning from Rupert"

Prince Rupert is British Columbia's most northerly coastal town, located 500 miles northwest of Vancouver by air, or 1000 miles in a huge dog leg by highway. Rupert is also a stopping point for cruise ships to Alaska, is serviced by BC Ferries to Vancouver Island and the Queen Charlottes Islands, and forms the terminus for one of Canada's three transcontinental railways. Two airlines service Prince Rupert, but accessing the airport is rather inconvenient and time consuming. From two rather awkwardly placed ticket offices located downtown a bus leaves that then takes a ferry to the island where the airport is located. There is no possibility of a last minute check in - you either show up in time for the bus or you miss the boat - and your flight.

Prince Rupert is also where I first worked for Coast Guard, for a period of five years, ending over 23 years ago now. I have indeed been back on work assignments since then, but only very occasionally. In waking life I have never missed a plane to anywhere, but of course there have been times when a flight was delayed or cancelled.

In the context of the dream cycle started two night previously, Prince Rupert is an admirable image of the northlands to which Charlotte and I were running. The town is also symbolic of my personal past, a place I miss in some respects, although I much prefer Ucluelet where we now live. Like our present home, Prince Rupert is a place of great natural beauty, a small enclave of western civilization at the end of the road, surrounded by miles of wilderness forest, and facing the ocean. But Prince Rupert is also known to have one of the lowest annual hours of sunshine in Canada, often overcast and misty even during the summer. It is therefore a place of dark and subdued natural beauty, and unlike Ucluelet it does not have accessible sandy beaches on which to commune with the ocean.

This dream seems to tell me that it is time to get on the bus, leaving the distant past and the beautiful dream from yesterday behind. For to delay and not act proactively in response to anticipated change is an attempt to deny change. In denying change one causes unnecessary suffering to both oneself and others.

Speaking symbolically, to deny change is deny Lady Death. This is not only illogical and counterproductive since change will happen anyway, but change is actually the primary characteristic of life, and to deny change is to deny life. In the worst case our denial can make our lives a living death, totally unfertile and void. It makes more sense to become the friend, and even the lover, of both Death and Life. Indeed Lady Death is actually Lady Life also, they are one and the same.

More essentially, this dream further expands on the theme of loving without detachment or possession, which is a dualistic love. More practically perhaps, one acknowledges that dualistic love is appropriate to dualistic consciousness, but through regular exercise of unitive consciousness gradually strengthens the ability to love within the unitive domain. It is to be hoped that eventually unitive love supercedes or at least provides context to dualistic love, informing and deepening it. In Christian terms this unitive love is agape, the love of and from God - in Buddhism it is karuna, the compassion of the Bodhisattva.

Just as the dark haired lunar beauty of Charlotte has been transformed into a solar blonde - one that I could not accept in yesterday's dream - so the time in the northlands with her is over. It is past time for me to return the full warmth of the sun, bringing those seeds that were planted in the dark into full growth and manifestation.

There is an intriguing connection of the name Charlotte with Prince Rupert, for offshore of the mainland at that latitude are the Queen Charlotte Islands, sometimes called the Misty Isles, a sacred and beauteous place of old growth forests and long sandy beaches.

Those sites that you mentioned look facinating... I've bookmarked them to read later, since they look very in-depth.

I am so envious of your ability to recall your dreams in such vivid detail!

Mine tend to be very vague and fragmented, which is something I am working on. I think this limits how much I can learn from them, since often I feel unsure as to how accurately I am remembering what happened- it can be very frustrating!

elnor

Further Commentary on Charlotte's Web

I did not mention another lesson from yesterday's dream. Last week the local pastor asked me not to drum on Sunday as I usually do. This request was put forward in a rather ad hoc and insensitive way, with some supplementary quibbling about drum volume and positioning that led me to believe that there was a lack of acceptance of the drum by the pastor and some members of the congregation. There was a strategic timing to this request, since this particular service was held in preparation for that day's annual general meeting - and not only was the drumming out of sight and out of mind during this service, but there was no mention of it in the voluminous pages of annual reports, including the one on Music and the Choir.

I have drummed at church for close to half a year, at the invitation of the pastor. However, since my return from the Reiki Medicine Wheel retreat, in which I learned to actively introduce Reiki energy into my drumming, my playing has become more assured and confident - an active prayer of the deep soul. Although the physical change is undoubtedly subtle, and not necessarily louder, the soulful change would undoubtedly be felt at the unconscious and shadow level. Some folks would find this soul power disturbing and initiatory, as is Lady Death herself.

In any event, it so happens that I will then be away for at least the two Sundays following due to a work commitment - so I will not have been drumming there for at least three weeks - but it is entirely possible that this hiatus will extend indefinitely. This is work that I have loved deeply and that I feel carries a strong blessing, but as Lady Death and Eirian continue to teach me, to love is to let go free. Or as Deva Premal's third album title suggests, Love is Space.

Incidentally, if I do return to drumming in church these dreams have also taught me that I need to be more intentional about explicit soul or Reiki drumming, and as I was asked to do at the Medicine Wheel Retreat I will do a solo at the end of the service. It is of course quite normal for a pianist or organist to do so, but up until now I have not done so with the drum. More of the wildish soul needs to intrude across the nice square trimmed lot of ecclesiastical convention, not less.

Elnor said:

Those sites that you mentioned look facinating... I've bookmarked them to read later, since they look very in-depth.

I am so envious of your ability to recall your dreams in such vivid detail!

Mine tend to be very vague and fragmented, which is something I am working on. I think this limits how much I can learn from them, since often I feel unsure as to how accurately I am remembering what happened- it can be very frustrating!

elnor

Click to expand...

I also often only remember dream fragments, but I read in a book about dreams that this doesn't matter - that you can work with that fragments as well as with a detailed long dream. Sometimes I find it even easier because long dreams can be a bit overwhelming and hard to interpret.

The book also mentioned that it doesn't matter that much if you remember your dreams correctly - as an exercise it even asks you to make up a dream or continue one that you had. Apparently, the made-up dream is just as valid as the real one. So don't worry too much, you can work with whatever you have.

The Art of Dreamwork

Elnor said:

I am so envious of your ability to recall your dreams in such vivid detail!

Mine tend to be very vague and fragmented, which is something I am working on. I think this limits how much I can learn from them, since often I feel unsure as to how accurately I am remembering what happened- it can be very frustrating!

Click to expand...

I have found seven things helpful in learning to work with dreams:

1) Some time ago I made an intention and a request to the Self that I only remember significant dreams. If I were to recall all my dreams the task would become hopeless.

2) I have had a lot of practice over the past three years, which all started with a dream that was impossible to forget, since the dream character, Sophie, emerged with me into full consciousness.

3) I had the assistance of my creativity teacher in learning to interpret dreams. This interpretation effectively becomes a dialogue with the unconscious which naturally stimulates it to produce more coherent dreams. Additionally, the apparent coherence increases as the dream language is learned by the waking consciousness.

4) Related to this, the amplification of dreams through such techniques as intentional dialogue with the dream actors (including the setting, which is also an actor), using the Tarot for clarification, and drawing or painting the dream imagery, both stimulates the memory and extracts supplemental information from the unconscious.

5) I believe that visual meditation, emptying meditation and drumming have all helped me enter creative trance more easily. During the last year I found that if I had questions about a dream I could stay in trance to pursue them before waking fully - I assume it is these practices that have given me the ability. During the trance I can dialogue with the dream director or the dream characters and ask for clarification.

6) In spite of all this the ego still tries it darnedest to suppress significant dreams, or the most significant parts of them. And if it can't suppress them, then the ego tries to minimize with such things as, "Its not worth writing that one down". The ego is the natural resistor of change - indeed it is diametrically opposed to Lady Death who for this reason was the last of the Triple Goddess to make her presence known to me. A prime example of this egoic resistence was related to the breakthrough in December in which I made love with Lady Death in her shallow grave. The ego was protesting that it was nothing! When I realized what was going on I was laughing on the inside - if that was nothing then I would like to know what he thought would be significant! So if the ego is brushing off a dream or being unusually suppressive of its memory then this is a tipoff that the dream is particularly important. Negative egoic response usually indicates a significant dream.

7) Dreams that you at first do not understand are particularly important. In this case something new and radical is being given to you which will take time to process. Such dreams can be great sources of continuing information and inspiration. As long as you record the dream right away, that is all that needs to be done in the immediate moment. The dream can then be allowed to stew for a while as its meaning is processed and becomes clear - provided you have use the self-discipline to recall the dream or review your dream journal on a regular basis. Any dream will benefit from being reviewed periodically - there is never a single, final and conclusive interpretation - all dreams need to remain open for further consideration.

Elnor, may I suggest that you try to patiently work with what you do remember and trust that if it were incorrect (which is unlikely) there will always be another night of dreaming in which the dream director can send you a correction. Baby steps can be frustrating of course, but one step does lead to another, and eventually it becomes second nature.

Liralen said:

I also often only remember dream fragments, but I read in a book about dreams that this doesn't matter - that you can work with that fragments as well as with a detailed long dream. Sometimes I find it even easier because long dreams can be a bit overwhelming and hard to interpret.

Click to expand...

Yes, absolutely! I couldn't remain functional in consensual reality if I had a night of dreaming such as I did on Sunday morning every single night! But when you do have these extended sequences they can be truly magnificent landmarks along the journey.

Liralen said:

The book also mentioned that it doesn't matter that much if you remember your dreams correctly - as an exercise it even asks you to make up a dream or continue one that you had. Apparently, the made-up dream is just as valid as the real one. So don't worry too much, you can work with whatever you have.

Click to expand...

Yes, again I have found this to be true.

But I do have a caution about making up a dream. Unless one has practiced entering non-egoic trance - i.e. suspending control so that the unconscious is completely free to express itself - a waking dream must be considered to be subject to egoic interference. Making up a dream is very valuable as an exercise in creative expression in itself, but as a transformative experience I believe it is an order of magnitude away from the purity of natural dreaming. For the same reason - the imposition of egoic control over the unconscious - I feel that highly lucid dreaming, in which the ego actually directs the dream, is typically less valuable than freeform dreaming.

The ego really has very little to teach us that we do not know already - by definition its viewpoint is limited and contained. The less it interferes in the process of revelation the better. But the ego does have a significant job to do, and that is to reintegrate what we have learned. Without the ego's integrative activity, disassociation rather than individuation is the result.

I had a bit of an unusual one last night- the bit I can remember is very brief, but I could see inside my own head, (not sure if I was looking in a mirror or what) and I can't remember now if I was looking in through my mouth or up my nostrils, (I am hoping it was my mouth! ).

It was like an enormous cavern- lots of stalactites and stalagmites; and I vaguely get a sense that there were pearls hanging from the ceiling, too. In my dream I was thinking what a magickal universe, and I wished I could go in and walk around in it!

I had to laugh when I was recording it in my journal this morning. I'm a bit concerned that my subconscious is telling me I've got a big empty space between my ears... either that, or rocks in my head!

Elnor

The Beautiful Cavern

Elnor said:

I had a bit of an unusual one last night- the bit I can remember is very brief, but I could see inside my own head, (not sure if I was looking in a mirror or what) and I can't remember now if I was looking in through my mouth or up my nostrils, (I am hoping it was my mouth! ).

It was like an enormous cavern- lots of stalactites and stalagmites; and I vaguely get a sense that there were pearls hanging from the ceiling, too. In my dream I was thinking what a magickal universe, and I wished I could go in and walk around in it!

I had to laugh when I was recording it in my journal this morning. I'm a bit concerned that my subconscious is telling me I've got a big empty space between my ears... either that, or rocks in my head!

Click to expand...

This dream reminds me of the sequence that played out for me last year, as posted to Spirit Guide Dreams. In mid-September I dreamt of my Solar Plexus as an empty cavern in The Descent of the Rose and by mid-October the Solar Plexus had become The Cavern of Trees. In a similar way I would suspect that your enormous cavern, in your case accessed through the Throat Chakra, is most likely in a stage of preparation for something new to emerge. Your cavern is by no means empty of course, but contains things of great beauty such as stalactites and stalagmites, as well as the hint of pearls from above. These are strongly visual images, and it strikes me that your cavern is at the level of sight and insight - at the Third Eye. The pearls from the ceiling above may evoke the descending energy of the Crown Chakra. I would suggest that what you experience in the upper chakras is seeking expression through the Throat - an artistic but not necessarily vocal expresssion. The cavern will be stimulated by release of its beauty to fill with even more beautiful imagery.

The Cock Crows

February 15, 2007

In earlier parts of the dream there are vague recollections of going to university, and then Sophie and I climb to a rooftop tower to embrace under the moon.

Then we are living in a mobile home, and a male guest is having breakfast at our small table under the window. On the opposite side of the room a yellow chick is perched on the window sill over the kitchen sink. As I watch the bird grows into a beautiful young rooster with golden and brown plumage.

But I am at a loss at to what to do with this rooster. Should we kill it and eat it? Sophie will hear none of this, we must save the rooster and nurture him. Part of the time he will live outside and part of the time inside.

The young man is handsome and well spoken, but I notice that he is sitting at the table in a curious position. Although the table is pushed right up to the window he has somehow squeezed into a chair on the window side. It is actually a child's high chair, perhaps with the table pushed back out of the way. In some way he is comfortable in this chair and not cramped. The dream ends.