Journey to the Serpent Mound

 

Title: Journey to the Serpent Mound

Summary: I put some shamanic drumming on, take a close look at a picture of the Serpent Mound, close my eyes and ask to be transported there.  Surrendering to the rhythm I am soon there observing the Mound from close to the Serpent’s head.  I ask the spirits of the place for permission to explore.  They say “Wait!” and turn up the volume so much so that I get an earache in my right ear. “Why so loud?” I ask.  “Because you’re not ready to visit yet. You need the drum music to sustain you.”   Some minutes go by and it feels right to move towards the grassy mounds that stretch along the hill.  As I walk beside the serpent`s body, it seems to rise up out of the earth to be higher than it actually is.  Dragonflies and other insects buzz past.  I move slowly and the drumming comes to an end.  As I am only about a quarter away along the mound and haven’t discovered anything I hear a voice saying “Put the music on again and louder”, so I do.  This time as I am standing beside the mound, I feel that I am rising up.  Looking up I see an eagle in the sky above me magnetically drawing me closer and motioning to me to flap my arms as wings.  I do so and my arms transform into feathered wings, my hands and feet into talons.  We soar way, way up. “You can only really appreciate the snake from here” says the eagle.  It’s true.  The shape is so clear as we fly over it and the colour starts to change to a dark brown and yellow as if it is a huge real live snake.  The eagle tells me to shake my arms hard, then my body, my legs, all my being and we start to descend. As we get close to landing, I suddenly realise that I am no longer an eagle but have become a snake trying to cast off my skin.  I look below me and the snake on the ground is no longer there, simply the dried-up skin left behind as the beast slithers off into the woods. “That is what you have to do” are the eagle’s final words. “Cast off your old skin and become renewed”.  Waking up immediately I think of a line in a song by Joni Mitchell (Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter) It says “The eagle and the serpent are at war in me.  The serpent fighting for blind desire, the eagle for clarity”. I check out the song and its lyrics.  The song is about the duality we contain within us, in a state of struggle.  There is much to chew over in the lyrics and in the way we can try to balance these forces.  I play some other tracks from the album which have native, natural rhythms like Paprika Plains and The Tenth World.  I think about what I need tonshake off and what I would like to renew. Synchronistically, I pour a glass of grapefruit juice and on the surface white shapes form, blend and reform before disappearing. An ode to the ebb and flow of life and creation.   Some of the lyrics include: ......Out on the vast and subtle plains of mystery A split tongued spirit talks Noble as a nickel chief Striking up an old juke box And he says: "Snakes along the railroad tracks." He says, "Eagles in jet trails He says, "Coils around feathers and talons on scales... Gravel under the belly plates..." He says, "Wind in the Wings..." He says, "Big bird dragging its tail in the dust... Snake kite flying on a string." ..... Last night the ghosts of my old ideals Reran on channel five And it howled so spooky for its eagle soul I nearly broke down and cried But the split tongued spirit just laughed at me He said, "Your serpent cannot be denied."   ....... Here in Good-Old-God-Save-America The home of the brave and the free We are all hopelessly oppressed cowards Of some duality Of restless multiplicity (Oh say can you see)   The eagle and the serpent are at war in me The serpent fighting for blind desire The eagle for clarity What strange prizes these battles bring These hectic joys- these weary blues Puffed up and strutting when I think I win Down and shaken when I think I lose. There are rivets up here in this eagle There are box cars down there on your snake And we are twins of spirit No matter which route home we take Or what we forsake We're going to come up to the eyes of clarity And we'll go down to the beads of guile There is danger and education In living out such a reckless life style I touched you on the central plains It was plane to train my twin It was just plane shadow to train shadow But it felt like skin to skin The spirit talks in spectrums He talks mother earth to father sky Self indulgence to self denial Man to woman Scales to feathers You and I Eagles in the sky  You and I Snakes in the grass You and I Crawl and fly You and I Feelings afterwards? Exhilirated, inspired   Connections, associations, then and now. I have been a Joni Mitchell devotee all my life but wasn’t especially thinking of her work lately.  The Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter album has influences of Castaneda but also reflects Joni’s exploration of the indigenous elements of North American life and her interest in Lakota and also Caribbean culture.   Could any of this play out? Metaphorically yes but I have no plans to visit Serpent Mound.   What would I like to know?  Mostly, how I can retain the energy of this dream and use it as a motivation for change.   Input from others     Action plan  Study the lyrics more, play the music and drumming and journey some more with questions set as intentions.     Themes and symbols  Snake, eagle, feathers, talons, casting off a skin, drumming     Bumper sticker Where the earth meets the sky

 Dream or Journey

 

Date: 13 Dec 2021	Dream State: SD
Title: Geese in the backyard
Summary: In my house trying to go out and sit on an exam board for a student I taught years ago.  I am mildly irritated by this. I am aware I will arrive late and still haven’t thought of an essay topic to give them to write.  I send Cynthia a Whatsapp to say I’ll be late. Meanwhile V has got people in to renovate the house.  They are painting the lounge and part of my room. The young painter keeps asking questions and can’t seem to finish even one part of the job.  I have to leave and don’t want to be held up by this. In the garden 4 geese are running wild.  People refer to them as turkeys but they are geese. V has offered to give them a home in our garden until they can be sold but they are running rampant, eating all the plants, insects and other garden creatures and terrorizing our dog. I wasn’t them out. I’m struggling to handle this.
Feelings afterwards?  Overwhelmed. Sense of resentment that other people are not helping to solve these issues or do what they are supposed to be doing.
Connections, associations, then and now: there are some geese a few blocks from my house in an empty lot.  The house is a quarter painted and needs doing but the painter has other jobs and avoids finishing it. The sense of others not doing what they are supposed to do is one I am feeling quite often.  The exam business is pretty much in the distant past now. V is frequently prioritizing other things than the most urgent or important (or only what he perceives as urgent and important. We are giving food and a second home to a neighbour’s dog – generally happily. Could any of this play out?
What would I like to know? What is the message?  What is the next step?  Why do I see them as geese and others call them turkeys?
Input from others
Action plan Do a dream incubation.
Themes and symbols   Geese, Overwhelmed, Decisions, lack of action, impositions
Bumper sticker

 

 Dream or Journey

 

Date: 9/12/21	Dream State:SD
Title: Karori Fragments
Summary: 3 parts all set in or near Karori, the Wellington suburb I grew up in.  1. I’m secondary school or university age. One sunny afternoon I leave home telling my mother I’m going for a walk. The streets are empty. Walking gives me a sense of freedom. 2. No. 8 Firth Terrace is up for sale and I am inside it looking across at No. 7 (Pam’s house). No. 8 belonged to Old Ma Fuchs and has been illegally divided into flats.  It is in great need of renovation.  It has been empty for 7 years.  Who will buy it after being empty  so long? 3. I’m out walking and discover a newish café so I go in and order.  The young student waitress is friendly but pretty clueless. I have my coffee and some healthy food and try to pay.  At first the waitress tries to work out the bill but can’t and disappears.  Then I spot the owner who is a friendly woman in her 40’s called Pia.  She has family members with her including her father and they are seated at a table.  She gets up to help with serving too so I ask her for the bill.  She doesn’t know what one item costs and is hesitating over the bill.  I say it must be written down somewhere but she can’t find it.  We try to work it out comparing process with similar items. Nothing is clear. I am enjoying her friendly chatty manner so don’t get too irritated but I do want to pay up and leave. She suggests that I don’t pay for that item but come back another day and she could give me a job. This is not my intention or the point but I can see that the café management needs some order given to it, especially as it is busy.  In the end I pay an approximate amount as no one else seems to be able to decide.
Feelings afterwards? Confused but quite calm and happy.
Connections, associations, then and now. Karori streets and my neighbour’s house are familiar.  That house has been occupied all the time by a string of owners since Mrs Fuchs. The café is fictional but could exist.  This is the second dream in a few weeks about people not knowing what to charge me in a café.   Could any of this play out? The café scene could.
What would I like to know?  Symbolically what is this uncertainty about charging?  Is there a soul loss in these scenes of my home suburb?
Input from others
Action plan Short story or dream reentry
Themes and symbols:  Café, bill, uncertainty, Friendly strangers
Bumper sticker Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth

 

  

Date:31/10/21	Dream State:SD
Title: Getting nowhere and receiving no service
Summary: This is a dream that seemed quite long and continued despite waking up a couple of times in the middle. I am in Buenos Aires and for some reason I decide to pop into to the university I worked at for some years. Some of the staff are still there and we chat a bit.  Continuing on my way I see not far down the avenue a Café Martinez. And I head there to have a coffee.  I realized I have missed my appointment with Mariana and whatsapp an apology.  The roads are lined with police because the motorcade of the visiting US President is passing this way.  Strange as this is not a glamorous part of the city.  I reach the café.  Service is slow and and they have part which is a self-service. I discover that people come in and pick up a small cake to reserve their place in the line then either look at the food displays elsewhere in the room or go outside and then come back to take up their place just before their turn comes up.  Consequently, I never seem to get closer to the cash desk. The staff there are incompetent and keep changing and each is the same or worse. I decide to cut my losses and go further down the avenue to find another placev but after tramping a few blocks realise that nothing else decent is open so I return to the Café. The customers are mostly the same but the whole staff has changed again!  I ask for the official complaints book but a customer says she’s tried using it and nobody pays any heed to it.  When I finally reach the cash register and make my order and payment the attendant walks away. The scene jumps to being seated at a table near the cash desk – somehow I have my coffee and snack, when suddenly a woman waiting in the queue falls on top of me. People around think I deserve it for my complaints and verbalizing my discontent but it turns out the woman was stretching to catch a wedding bouquet and overbalances on to me complete with bouquet.  I laugh at all the inconvenience and carry on with my coffee,
Feelings afterwards? Frustration with all the time and energy at getting the coffee, the incompetent staff and awkward system.  And with my own returning and staying instead of giving up.
Connections, associations, then and now.  Biden at G-20 in Italy. Motorcades.  None of the buildings and streets are familiar to me. Café M exists and has many branches and I often go to them.  Service is usually better but not always, though the dream scene was a hyper exaggeration.  Tricks to save places in the queue exist but not in these places. Mariana is a zoom friend and classmate. Service is quite inefficient these days in many shops, etc.   Could any of this play out? I have no intention to revisit my university.
What would I like to know? Is it a metaphor for life in Argentina?  And my life?  The next day I had a couple of bad experiences in shops. The falling woman and the wedding bouquet?
Input from others Mariana suggested that there was a message about patience and waiting and insistence in which you get what you came for, but it is not the coffee and cake but the bouquet.  Something falling suddenly into your lap.  The bouquet is a special prize.  I needed to go through all the hassle of getting the coffee to get the prize.
Action plan: Write a short story
Themes and symbols: Wedding bouquet, queues, poor service, café, surprise, frustration, insistence
Bumper sticker: Being in the right place at the right time and u don’t know it.

 

Complaints about transport

 Dream or Journey

 

Date: 02/04/21	Dream State:SD
Title: Complaints about transport
Summary: I’m flying through London with a free day to spend so I decide to meet up with Teresa, a friend from 30 years ago.  She proposes a day trip to Brighton on the South Coast. We go by bus, a typical suburban bus which will take us about half the way, where we will have to change to another bus for our destination.  Apparently, the trip down goes well and it is a relatively mild and sunny day. On the return journey, T comments that we have really been very lucky as to make this journey and expect that the connections will work has been unusual lately.  Either the bus doesn’t come or is late and then the connecting bus doesn’t turn up.  People are left stranded and frustrated at not being able to continue their trip.  I wonder if she is exaggerating but two different passengers overhear us and come up to reiterate what she is saying. One is a teenage boy in a red track suit and the other a young woman and they say that this breakdown in the transport system is particularly hard on young people who are the ones who most use it.  I check and notice that nearly all the passengers on the bus  are young.  I also become aware that Teresa is in charge of the equipment used in the operating theatres of a major London hospital and I wonder why we are making this trip by bus and not driving by car.
Feelings afterwards? Curiosity
Connections, associations, then and now Haven’t been in touch with my friend for many years, nor been to Britain for about 20 years. A friend mentioned Brighton in a chat a few days ago and I have been reading about the negative consequences of Brexit on Britain recently. Could any of this play out? A trip by me to Britain might happen but is not among my current priorities.
What would I like to know? What does the emphasis on young people with regard to transport refer to?  Why do they want to give me this message? What in my life corresponds to a system where connections are difficult to maintain?
Input from others
Action plan I want to draw the scene on the bus and then re-enter it.
Themes and symbols: Buses, transport system, Brighton, young people
Bumper sticker The system flows

 

Holiday Ancestor Discovery

 Dream or Journey

 

Date: 26/10/21	Dream State: SD
Title: Holiday Ancestor Discovery
Summary: I am on an island for a vacation.  It seems to be Europe – Greece?  It is actually the end of my holiday and I’m listless and ready to pack, trying to do it unsuccessfully but not so keen to keep doing holiday things. I have got a touch too much sunburn.  A man comes into the area where my bed is (is this a hostel or a hotel?) and recommends a trip to see the war graves at Colinroyd, which is where the cemetery is. Apparently it has graves of NZers in it. I guess I google it because information comes to me that it has been mentioned by a NZ governmental organization in the last 24 hours and a name leaps out at me Ms Taurangarangi. Suddenly, 4 of my relatives, Gay, Erica, Margaret and Alison appear in the room and attest to my family’s suffering in the war.  I decide to get my bag packed quickly and change my T-shirt and then I’ll go, coming back later on to pick up the bag and go to the airport.
Feelings afterwards? Curious.  The intention for the dream had been “Where is the rest of me?” and this seemed like an answer
Connections, associations, then and now. I had uncles in WW2 and a grandfather in WW1 and others I did not know personally gave war service.  No one close died and was buried on an island in Europe.  The 4 women are aunts and cousins, from the Duncan side, only Margaret remains alive. I had been helping V pack his bag for travel the night before.   Could any of this play out?  Not very likely but I may one day go to Scotland to see where more distant ancestors lived and died.
What would I like to know?  Why the obsession with packing my bag?  How does this dream contribute to finding the rest of me or part thereof? Colinroyd itself does not exist as a word.  Royd means Small areas of land were cleared by farming families from forest and moorland. These clearings were often enclosed with a hedge. In the local dialect of Yorkshire, cleared land was called a 'royd'.  It is a boy’s name of Norse origin. In Maori, Tauranga means resting place, fishing ground, mooring and is the name of a city. Rangi means sky, weather or heavens Cemetery is a completely different word in Maori but the combination of Tauranga and rangi could be resting place in the heavens which underlines this idea of dead ancestors.  And a royd could be cleared land to make a cemetery.  Perhaps Colin was the man who owned or cleared the land.
Input from others
Action plan: Return to family research, especially those who passed in combat
Themes and symbols: Suitcase and clothes, Cemetery, Female relatives, recommendation, Colinroyd, Taurangarangi
Bumper sticker: Visiting cemeteries, a great holiday activity.

 

2 Cakes and an ending

 

Date: 23/03/21	Dream State: SD
Title: 2 Cakes and an ending
Summary: I am in a dark hotel somewhere overseas.  It is the last day of a breathwork course and more than half the group have left early with 4 of us and the leader remaining. We have our last meditation sessions and group feedback to do but the sense is that it is already over.  Outside it is raining. I’m trying to decide if I should stay on at the hotel one more day and ask reception to reserve me a room, which I am sure they will be happy to do given the general emptiness of the place.  I also haven’t booked my flight out of the country as I didn’t know what I would feel like doing after the course.  It’s just a question of staying on a couple of extra days to rest and sightsee. I decide not to join the others and start walking in the rain to a nearby convenience store.  In the window I see some cakes and decide to buy a Danish pastry and a cream cake to take back to my hotel room.  They look quite good but often in these places they turn out to be stale and tasteless.  I’ll buy them anyway I decide as a sort of comfort food or reward. Inside the shop are two assistants, one of Asian appearance and one European. I am the only customer in the shop but before I can make my request a man barges into the shop and demands to be served first. Whatever he wants is unclear or unavailable and it seems that he will cause further disruption as a result complaining about the place.  A 3rd customer comes in and we wait patiently while the 2 assistants try to get rid of the complaining man.  The thought crosses my mind that at least one of them could be serving us.  Interestingly, the seemingly senior assistant, the European, leaves his junior colleague to do the bulk of the reasoning with the angry man. Finally, the grump leaves, I buy my cakes and wander back to the hotel in the rain. Part of me wants a lazy day and part of me is saying move on.   I woke up, write this down, go to the bathroom and return to bed to attempt a dream re-entry in a hypnagogic state. I find myself going to the hotel reception to see what they can offer me if I stay on an extra day or two.  I feel like doing an excursion to a local nature reserve in the morning and having an afternoon in the hotel spa.  The disinterested receptionist tells me that there are no tours operating at this moment and the hotel spa is closed for renovation.  She has no alternative options to suggest.
Feelings afterwards? Sad, listless, undecided and a little irritated at the lack of positive options
Connections, associations, then and now Have been in these situations at the end of courses where the buzz has all disappeared and the mood is deflating.  Have bought cakes, chocolate etc., at times as comfort food.   Could any of this play out?
What would I like to know? Does leaving on time open any doors for me that I will miss if I delay a day or two? What cycle am I not accepting as over?
Input from others
Action plan Re-entry which I did. Now, I am reflecting on all my life’s cycles to see at what point they are.  Do I have to let go of anything?
Themes and symbols Cakes, training, hotel, shop, service, lack
Bumper sticker And what if you did something completely different? (emerging from input)