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A couple of weeks ago, my neighbor was sitting in her front yard when a streak blazed past her. She had the wits – and even the camera - to see that it was a bobcat. It turned, looked at her, and dashed away. BOBCAT! Here on my street!  While this alarmed some neighbors, my sons and I were thrilled. Days and nights of Bobcat Watch commenced. Binoculars by the window. Stealthy exploration of the thicket by the creek. Forensic dissection of dog poop, hopeful it might be bobcat sign. I forbade setting out a chunk of ham but it’s possible Peter did it anyway. William, invoking the predatory grace of the harmonic minor scale, improvised a sensuous Bobcat Luring Tune and played it by the open window at dusk. No luck. Others have seen the bobcat again, but we, alas, still quest for clues. Sometimes dreamwork feels like Bobcat Watch. We glimpse a dream, we write a few words, catching the dream just as my neighbor caught a fleeting photo of the big cat. Hunched over our notebooks, we associate, amplify, and sketch our dreams, looking for explanations and meaning. We long for something we can’t imagine to appear. But remember, dear Dreamer: dreams are just the signs. Dreams are the damp pawprint on your driveway, the bedded spot in your tall grass, the scat in the garden, the tuft of hair snagged in your rosebush. They all attest to the Wild Presence, here, every night, just outside your door. Remembering this can rearrange a person. At first we thought the bobcat lived in our neighborhood. Soon the bobcat re-ordered our whole sense and scope of the place and of each other: we now realize that we live in the domain of the bobcat. We keep eyes open for the thrill of the hidden streak, the slightest movement. We compare notes with neighbors we didn’t know til now. We watch out for each others’ pets, and invite each we other to sit – distanced and masked - around the firepit on a Friday night. We’re not exactly scared, but awed and wary as we tend the Wild Presence who has let us know we are living in its territory. So sometimes when you’re doing your dreamwork, and you feel a shiver, a prickle, an inkling, straighten up. Turn around slowly. And breathless, you may find yourself eye to eye with the great cat, the living source you hoped to glimpse, which has all along been following your trail...gazing, golden and glorious, at you. Yes, it can rip you open. Or you can open yourself up to the transformative powers of the DreamGiver - who watches from the shadows of that fire circle, in this neighborhood where the evangelical right-wingers and the yellow-dog democrats and the gay couple and the single mothers and the Obamacare-dependent cancer survivors and the songwriters who sing in their driveway on Friday nights and the economically crashing self-employed and very very shy and the exhausted homeschooling parents somehow keep the peace and grow more human by honoring the Wild, here on our uncommon ground in Bobcat territory. Wild, wise, live-encounter dreams to you, Laura 
 Something new: Digging Deep with a Dreamwork Retreat for your Small Group Curious about group dreamwork? You can book a one-time dream circle for your small group or circle of trust. You’ll learn the basics of group dreamwork, practice three ways of exploring your own dreams, and reach into your creative depths for some embodied dream-tending that helps you carry your dream’s wisdom into waking life.
Groups: All groups are set for now: if you’d like to be on the waiting list to join in January, please email me at laura@firebynight.net.
Photo of bobcat at night courtesy of D.C. Cat Count
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Dear Dreamers – It’s Emergency Preparedness Month, something that weirdly appeals to me. Maybe it comes from raising a pack of Boy Scouts. Or from the prudent thrill of filling so many plastic tubs with supplies before the inevitable disaster of Y2K. Or the charm of the tiny, detailed survival kits my boys used to pack into Altoid boxes. Given the vividness and nightmarish quality of many Covid dreams, it occurs to me that we may need to check our Dream Emergency Kits.  This month I want to remind you of the Swiss Army Knife of dreamwork, the one tool you absolutely must have to engage with your dreams and to follow through on their purpose. Often you will need this when things feel troubling or nightmarish in the dream. But know this: when you feel an emergency in a dream, it comes in the service of emergence.* The tool goes beyond “Mitigation Strategy” and into the realm of “Divine Compassionate Healing Miracle for Yourself and for the Ages.” Here’s your tool: it is the phrase I am that too. Yes, you probably already have it in your pocket. Yes, this is shadow work. I just want to remind you how necessary it is, and offer a blade by blade review of how to use “I am that too” when you wake from a dream, particularly one that disturbs you.
 I am offering this tool now because we are in a state of multiple emergencies, including the Covid crisis, wildfires and hurricanes, political turbulence, coming to terms with systemic racism, violence at peaceful protests, economic instability, and the general upheaval of life as we thought we knew it. To many of us, it feels like a time of emergency. It can also be a time of emergence. Of new capacities in ourselves…of space for the Other…and of the wild surge of knowing that way way down in the psyche, in the imagination of God – there is a kind of unifying force field which holds us all. Carl Jung talked about the necessity of doing this kind of soulstretching , claiming that the fate of humankind depended on every one of us doing our inner work. Shadow work is hard, it’s never finished, and it often feels nearly impossible. I’m still pretty bad at it. But dreams help us learn it. They offer us an amazing chance to practice over and over this strange, richly powerful, deeply humbling work of saying…and meaning…and finally understanding… through the disturbing emergence in a dream …“I am that too.” Heartfelt gratitude to each of you who is willing to stay with the otherness, Laura * I had a dream that showed me this: I saw a crash site, emergency vehicles everywhere, looked like a disaster, then I see a geyser of clear water gush up from the center of the intersection! Somehow the emergency had become an emergence. Gives me hope. ** See David Richo, How to Be an Adult for a clear, simple guide to shadow transformation.  Autumn at Fire by Night Individual Dreamwork –
Pandemic-friendly discounts END at midnight Wednesday Sept. 30. Thanks to all who have taken me up on the offer! Email me by the 30th to book your individual sessions at $75 each or four for $280. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Something new: Dream Emergence Survival Kit for Group Dreamwork Curious about group dreamwork? Book a one-time dream circle for your small group or circle of trust. You’ll learn the basics of group dreamwork, practice three ways of exploring your own dreams, and reach into your creative depths for some embodied dream-tending that helps you carry your dream’s wisdom into waking life. You’ll be prepared to handle future dream emergences - alone or together. 2 hour group meeting ($200) 4 hour workshop ($400) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Groups: All groups are set for now. If you’d like to be on the waiting list to join in January, please email me at laura@firebynight.net. I doubt many of you noticed, but I never got that June newsletter off the ground. Not for lack of trying! I had a series of vivid dreams, all set in white churches, that I wanted to write about as being relevant to our collective work with racism these days. But no, this series of images has more to teach me before I write. So I want to share just one simple phrase which applies to dreamwork and any kind of emerging work or wisdom. It’s been helpful to me in many ways, and is especially useful now as I navigate through Covid-based social/family/school challenges; antiracist learning and unlearning; work and financial disruptions, and general dismay. Here’s your phrase: “Not yet speechripe.”  Isn't that beautiful? Not yet speechripe comes from the poetic, image-rich Anglo Saxon language, the precursor to modern English. It means exactly what it says. It means something has come up for you. You kind of get it, sort of see it, but you can’t really say yet what it is. It’s a state of dawning consciousness, in which the mind is just about to grasp something of great significance. It’s on the tip of your tongue, but words are not how you can experience or share the experience. In dreamwork, that not yet speechripe feeling is often indicative of a big change in progress. Something that will rearrange your sense of who you are and how you fit into the larger picture.  The dreams I can't yet write about are helping me viscerally experience something of white supremacy. How pervasive it is in my life and culture. How calmly powerful. How it has shaped everything I know and do. And how it limits my imagination about how I can contribute to a just society. How this era changes us may be not yet speechripe for you– but certainly it will change you and all of us.  Please, let’s do two things. Let’s learn. And let’s do better. I love what Layla Saad says, in Me and White Supremacy, “Just try to be a better ancestor.” How? Dreams do help. When I dream repeatedly of white churches, I am looking at the “white church” part of myself as well as the influence of white churches over time in my culture. The dream doesn’t show me one church: it shows me many different ones, and only a few are familiar. As I begin my dreamwork, I can list all my associations – personal and collective – about “white church.” I can learn more about how white churches chose and didn't choose to serve justice in the civil rights era and beyond. And I can also simply put myself … literally… at the threshold of an actual white church, and see what comes. Lately I have been doing just that – spending time outside my own literal white church each morning, and meditating on the blessings and burdens in my legacy of being a lifelong white churcher. There are many. Understanding where I stand - the setting I am in, both in dreams and waking life - helps me catch on to my perspectives from here. They are limited, but open to a vision of justice and mercy and full inclusion for all people.  Lately, the young neighborhood hawks and their parents scream to each other all day. I can't imagine what they could be going on about, but they start at dawn and keep it up all day. Their cries are like the words - from dreams, from newscasts and podcasts and books and articles and each others' stories and the streets full of protestors- that challenge everyone in earshot to get woke and stay woke. So I'm getting woke. Meanwhile I'll wait, not yet speechripe, for whatever is truly mine to say. Deep dreams, Laura  Time to Sign up for Fall...FIRE BY NIGHT DREAM GROUPS I've moved all my groups online and it's working beautifully! Some dreamers say the focus and depth in virtual groups is even better than an in-person group. NOW you can dream with us from anywhere! Fall dream groups begin the first week of September. 8 meetings, every other week. Let me place you, or gather your own group of 4-6 dreamers. What do you do in a dream group? You will -
Email me to schedule a conversation at laura@firebynight and learn more at firebynet.com.   So much trouble in the world. I trust we're naming these things, praying about them, and meeting each other with as much equanimity as we can muster and as much grace as we are given. If you're like me, you want to do something that "matters.” But what? That "really matters?" The other day, my walk took me past the Glendale Elementary School flagpole, which reminded me of Ivey Mae Lewis, and a story I want to share about “doing something that matters.” So much trouble in the world. I trust we're naming these things, praying about them, and meeting each other with as much equanimity as we can muster and as much grace as we are given. If you're like me, you want to do something that "matters.” But what? That "really matters?" The other day, my walk took me past the Glendale Elementary School flagpole, which reminded me of Ivey Mae Lewis, and a story I want to share about “doing something that matters.” Ivey Mae’s name, along with dozens of others, is carved on a plaque near the flagpole, honoring those who made significant donations to the school. Ivey Mae went to my church, and I knew her only slightly as a retired first grade teacher with slow drawl and gorgeous Betty Davis eyes. One day, to make conversation, I asked about her career. She was silent a minute, looked me over, and said quietly, almost whispering, like it was a secret, “I taught nearly a thousand children to read.” I burst into tears. Can you imagine how that would feel? To know you gave the world a thousand readers? This puts me in mind of the old hero storyline: After great challenges, those who follow their call finally reach the point of “receiving the boon,” where they experience such bliss, riches, insight, or meaningful wounding (or all of the above) that they can hardly stand up to walk back home. But remember: the point of the journey is not receiving the boon. The point of the journey is sharing the boon. So whatever it is that transforms and enlightens you, that reveals your true self, that opens worlds and saves your soul and reunites you to the human race and shows you your true Belovedness – that is only half the story. Now you have to bring back that Gift to your ordinary world.  Remember this too: as we travel back, blessed and burdened by the discovery of our essential Gift, the boon transforms us. Who we are and what we bring are re-created by the journey. Maybe you discover your essential belovedness – and it turns to acts of compassion that bewilder you. Or you discover your creativity – and you find yourself engaging the divine possibility in any situation. Surrendering fear manifests in curiosity about everything frightening or strange. By the time you return, the Gift is not what you give – it’s what makes a Giver out of you. Over time, your offerings might change, but always at the heart of them is the lively, essential relationship between you, and your Gift, and the Giver. Dreams are one way we learn how to embody our Gift. For now, dreams lead me to sharing dreamwork. But being a dreamworker isn't the boon, nor is it the main way I am called to share the gift, which, as best as I can say at the moment, is the shocking awareness of my essential belovedness. What am I to do in this disorienting hour in our collective history? I really do not know. But in my dream I see a wounded wolf outside the church door - and I'm sure that a right response to the current situation will feel like a loving, courageous response that wolf. The Dreamgiver and the Giftgiver are one and the same. Staying in alignment with that sacred source makes it possible to respond from soul, not ego. Ivey May must have had a powerful encounter with the BoonGiver. Clearly, it graced her with whatever it took to walk through the door of a first-grade classroom every day, for decades, and teach a thousand children to read. And you? May you remember your Gift - the freely given grace that you’ve had to struggle so nobly to receive. Listen for your calling – now, in this time - that shapes your Gift to meet the needs and longings of the world’s heart. Let's help each other stay aligned with that. Our world needs your giving to come from there. One more thing: Don't be surprised if it you never know what it is that you give: few of us can point to a thousand readers, and I know Ivey Mae gave those children much more than literacy skills. Just trust, as Paul says, the Source who "by the power within us, is able to accomplish far more than all we can ask or imagine." Deep dream blessings, Laura P.S. About Ivey Mae’s husband: He had some other kind of encounter with the Boongiver and I can only say that he converted the garage into a Jungle Room with a wraparound mezzanine, fake zebra rugs, and a Wurlitzer on which he played 40’s swing tunes in his Hawaiian shirts amongst the trailing vines. He brought home some Boon, let me tell you. If your Gift is wild joy, live it large. I've learned that Zoom space is a real place, a thin place –and it is made for liminal sharing and honest intimacy. For now, all groups are on Zoom. It works!  "Me reading my dream journal!" (a card from Carrie, FBN dreamer) Summer dream groups are about to start. Email me to learn more: laura@firebynight.net. Thursday nights and Monday afternoons are open for new dreamers! You can dreamgroup from anywhere! ********************** If you’re having puzzling, powerful dreams lately, let’s do some 1:1 dreamwork to learn how the “wholemaking nearness of God” is transforming you and your world. Pandemic pricing extends through June. Go to www.firebynight.net to learn more. Thursday nights and Monday afternoons are open for new dreamers! You can dreamgroup from anywhere! If you’re having puzzling, powerful dreams lately, let’s do some 1:1 dreamwork to learn how the “wholemaking nearness of God” is transforming you and your world. Pandemic pricing extends through June. Go to www.firebynight.net to learn more.   FOR THE JUNG AT HEART Join us by Zoom to discuss Jung’s wonderfully readable autobiography, Memories, Dreams, Reflections. We will talk about Chapters 5-8 on Sunday June 14, 2:30-4:30. So that we can send your invitation, please register at https://www.nashvillejungcircle.org/onlinebookdiscussion. (Free) DREAMING AT THE LIBRARY: In June, Elizabeth Sanford and I are teaching an online class on how to turn your dream into a fairy tale and create a Dream Story Book. Follow me on Instagram to learn when it’ll post. LauraHuffDreamworker. (Free) Boongiving and Givebooning is happening all the time.Here’s a song that describes how it works in psychospiritual terms: “The Wholemaking Nearness of God” from one of our Haden Institute stars: teacher, musician, and dreamworker Sheri Kling. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPPKh0-otoA&t=10s (You can just dance to it and understand it that way if you don't catch the lyrics.)  My grandmother, Mattie Lou HIxon, with one of her many many first grade classes. She had the Gift too.
Dear Dreamers, |
| In my letter above, I used my vision issues as a model. Tip: Remember, you can do “dreamwork” without a dream. Anything that seems to carry significance for you in waking life can be explored using the same metaphorical processing skills we hone in dreamwork. |  |
You can use a situation, an arresting image from a movie or art piece, an interaction, a song lyric – anything that touches your heart or soul or piques your curiosity can be explored as an energy or “part of you” that is asking for your attention.
Try it with the image above, or any other that moves you.
Main idea: Shadow work for October Mask. Survival Kit
1. Horrror movies...I dont' do them but politics and contiual specer of Face (fill it in with hhwoever you're blame) is
- 2016 dream group
1.5 dream.
2. Tiem do do our shadow work, and soon: survival kit
3. first. Assumptioins. Jeremy. Maybe some Rico.
4. then the work. Rico? The flip. But also Taylor, th epromise.
5. Do/dont' . Dont' mask.
6 Share ... iI wonder... BELONGING Maybe some joh ondonohu;oeiteu
7 my other trump dreams. Scar.
Waking up grumpy lately. Nothings exactly wrong,here in my tidy little life, but there is so much out of tune, out of joint: there is no more sense of some sort of safe apartness that insulates. It's hot, October 4 and the coolest is .... but I can't complain because my country contributed more than anyone else, adn my country covered up the evidence that we needed to act s30 years ago, and my country is too busy following the insane dsXXX of its XXX to do anything outside of itself to pass any real legistlation that helps. We're turnign around EPA and stalling on gun contro and seriuosly doing adn not-doing anything we can to avoid and destoy human progress.
In this it's easy to pick the prime targets and let loose a rant.
But what we know is that all we can do about whoever seems most blaemworthy is to take a deep breath and start with the shadow work.
1. Horrror movies...I dont' do them but politics and contiual specer of Face (fill it in with hhwoever you're blame) is
- 2016 dream group
1.5 dream.
2. Tiem do do our shadow work, and soon: survival kit
3. first. Assumptioins. Jeremy. Maybe some Rico.
4. then the work. Rico? The flip. But also Taylor, th epromise.
5. Do/dont' . Dont' mask.
6 Share ... iI wonder... BELONGING Maybe some joh ondonohu;oeiteu
7 my other trump dreams. Scar.
Waking up grumpy lately. Nothings exactly wrong,here in my tidy little life, but there is so much out of tune, out of joint: there is no more sense of some sort of safe apartness that insulates. It's hot, October 4 and the coolest is .... but I can't complain because my country contributed more than anyone else, adn my country covered up the evidence that we needed to act s30 years ago, and my country is too busy following the insane dsXXX of its XXX to do anything outside of itself to pass any real legistlation that helps. We're turnign around EPA and stalling on gun contro and seriuosly doing adn not-doing anything we can to avoid and destoy human progress.
In this it's easy to pick the prime targets and let loose a rant.
But what we know is that all we can do about whoever seems most blaemworthy is to take a deep breath and start with the shadow work.
Tips and Titles for Dreamwork and Dreamplay
Tip: Sleep-train yourself. 8 hours. No kidding.
Title: Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker.
To start or deepen your dreamwork, begin at the beginning: sleep. Just stop and go to sleep! Make it a priority to get 7-8 hours a night, and do that by going to bed and getting up on a regular schedule. I know - this seems so boring! Especially for you dream junkies who want tips for flying, problem solving, and steamy lucid-dream romances. But listen: not only will you dream better, you’ll live longer (like 8 years). If I can do it so can you: I’m up to 7.5 hours of “sleep opportunity” every night – in bed, lights out at 10:30. Working towards 10:00. It’s a stretch, but the results are every bit what he promises (read the book).
Tip: Sleep-train yourself. 8 hours. No kidding.
Title: Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker.
To start or deepen your dreamwork, begin at the beginning: sleep. Just stop and go to sleep! Make it a priority to get 7-8 hours a night, and do that by going to bed and getting up on a regular schedule. I know - this seems so boring! Especially for you dream junkies who want tips for flying, problem solving, and steamy lucid-dream romances. But listen: not only will you dream better, you’ll live longer (like 8 years). If I can do it so can you: I’m up to 7.5 hours of “sleep opportunity” every night – in bed, lights out at 10:30. Working towards 10:00. It’s a stretch, but the results are every bit what he promises (read the book).
And one tip for dream tending:
Tip: Make a dream twig: Pick up a twig from the ground. Meditating on your dream image, wrap the twig in string or yarn in a color that seems appropriate to you. Place it in easy view to keep your dream image in mind. Whether or not you understand a powerful dream image, you need to translate its energy into concrete expression through some small ritual. Any little act that connects your feeling about the dream into a physical gesture is enough.
Title: Inner Work This book by Robert Johnson - sage, analyst, and friend of your heart - is one of the best Jungian oriented introductions to dreamwork ever. Lots of stories to illustrate his accessible and exciting presentation of Jungian dream theory. Written to stay with you and change your life. If you’ve already read it, read it again: I promise there’s always more with Robert Johnson.
Tip: Make a dream twig: Pick up a twig from the ground. Meditating on your dream image, wrap the twig in string or yarn in a color that seems appropriate to you. Place it in easy view to keep your dream image in mind. Whether or not you understand a powerful dream image, you need to translate its energy into concrete expression through some small ritual. Any little act that connects your feeling about the dream into a physical gesture is enough.
Title: Inner Work This book by Robert Johnson - sage, analyst, and friend of your heart - is one of the best Jungian oriented introductions to dreamwork ever. Lots of stories to illustrate his accessible and exciting presentation of Jungian dream theory. Written to stay with you and change your life. If you’ve already read it, read it again: I promise there’s always more with Robert Johnson.
Dear Dreamers,
What follows is another long post - it's the lecture I'm giving tomorrow at Main LIbrary, Read it all if you like, or just pick up the main ideas here:
1. If as Jung says, myths are the collective dreams of a culture or time,
2. and they can arise to help out with the collective individuation,
3. then what are we dreaming about climate change?
4. As we see the increasing threat of Earth as a wasteland, I see some links with the myths of Gaia, the Grail legend, and the Green Man.
5. I see them because they arose in my own dreams that helped me heal from cancer, which was a personal environmental crisis. Can we extend this to the collective?
6. I don't know. But I would love to hear your dreams about things that threaten the whole of humanity these days: climate crisis, racial issues - please share.
New Section just for pictures, film, and songs at the end!
What follows is another long post - it's the lecture I'm giving tomorrow at Main LIbrary, Read it all if you like, or just pick up the main ideas here:
1. If as Jung says, myths are the collective dreams of a culture or time,
2. and they can arise to help out with the collective individuation,
3. then what are we dreaming about climate change?
4. As we see the increasing threat of Earth as a wasteland, I see some links with the myths of Gaia, the Grail legend, and the Green Man.
5. I see them because they arose in my own dreams that helped me heal from cancer, which was a personal environmental crisis. Can we extend this to the collective?
6. I don't know. But I would love to hear your dreams about things that threaten the whole of humanity these days: climate crisis, racial issues - please share.
New Section just for pictures, film, and songs at the end!
Carl Jung said, “The dream is the private myth: the myth is the public dream.”
He also suggested that in a time of crisis, collective dreams and myths arise to help us see our way through. If we are humble and wise enough to listen to dream wisdom among other forms of knowing, it is possible to cohere around the Self’s sense of the issue rather than the Ego’s. Perhaps we can dream our way forward, collectively, into the lifegiving changes we must make. I have seen this work on the personal level, in my own dreams and those of my clients, so I trust that this is possible on the collective level as well.
A few days ago, the United Nations' IPCC issued another urgent warning. Our climate is changing at crisis speed, and we are far behind in slowing the damage before the Earth becomes a living hell for most surviving life forms (including us). Panic and blame are not my point: I simply want to know why are we so stuck? Is this complacency, lack of education, denial, distractedness? A crisis of this clarity and proportion should have all hands on deck.
As I’ve wondered along these lines, and as I’ve healed from my own wasteland of cancer, three myths have presented themselves to me: Gaia, the Grail, and the Green Man. The grouping first came from my own dreams. As I researched these myths, I found that all three got considerable play in Western culture during the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, when environmental concerns began to catch widespread public attention. What follows is some wondering out loud how the collective unconscious may have be helping us out through the picture-feelings of archetypal energies that come up for us in recent years.
He also suggested that in a time of crisis, collective dreams and myths arise to help us see our way through. If we are humble and wise enough to listen to dream wisdom among other forms of knowing, it is possible to cohere around the Self’s sense of the issue rather than the Ego’s. Perhaps we can dream our way forward, collectively, into the lifegiving changes we must make. I have seen this work on the personal level, in my own dreams and those of my clients, so I trust that this is possible on the collective level as well.
A few days ago, the United Nations' IPCC issued another urgent warning. Our climate is changing at crisis speed, and we are far behind in slowing the damage before the Earth becomes a living hell for most surviving life forms (including us). Panic and blame are not my point: I simply want to know why are we so stuck? Is this complacency, lack of education, denial, distractedness? A crisis of this clarity and proportion should have all hands on deck.
As I’ve wondered along these lines, and as I’ve healed from my own wasteland of cancer, three myths have presented themselves to me: Gaia, the Grail, and the Green Man. The grouping first came from my own dreams. As I researched these myths, I found that all three got considerable play in Western culture during the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, when environmental concerns began to catch widespread public attention. What follows is some wondering out loud how the collective unconscious may have be helping us out through the picture-feelings of archetypal energies that come up for us in recent years.
Gaia, or Mother Earth, as creative and sustaining force for all of life
When the Apollo missions began photographing Earth from space, we behold the earth as a whole. These stunning visuals shifted our perspective. Across nations and cultures, we were able to see ourselves as global citizens sharing a beautiful planet.
Meanwhile, James Lovelock was developing his hypothesis that the earth is a single life system that sustains life through continual adjustments in species, climate, ocean and weather events. A year after the first space photo was published, he named his idea the Gaia Hypothesis at the suggestion of novelist William Golding. It was a brilliant move: the name and narrative invited us to hear crucial science as story. It helped us vulnerable, powerful humans to realize our intersubjectivity with the life of the planet as well as life on the planet. Gaia says – louder each decade - that if we are to survive, we must make profound changes. Life itself probably won’t die out anytime soon, but we might. Nature is more powerful than we are. There is no normal way forward; we can’t “sustain” how we live now.
When the Apollo missions began photographing Earth from space, we behold the earth as a whole. These stunning visuals shifted our perspective. Across nations and cultures, we were able to see ourselves as global citizens sharing a beautiful planet.
Meanwhile, James Lovelock was developing his hypothesis that the earth is a single life system that sustains life through continual adjustments in species, climate, ocean and weather events. A year after the first space photo was published, he named his idea the Gaia Hypothesis at the suggestion of novelist William Golding. It was a brilliant move: the name and narrative invited us to hear crucial science as story. It helped us vulnerable, powerful humans to realize our intersubjectivity with the life of the planet as well as life on the planet. Gaia says – louder each decade - that if we are to survive, we must make profound changes. Life itself probably won’t die out anytime soon, but we might. Nature is more powerful than we are. There is no normal way forward; we can’t “sustain” how we live now.
Grail Question – key to healing
So why are we, as a species, so hard to change? To understand stuckness, we have the myth of the Holy Grail, specifically the old French version about the Fisher King. It’s interesting that so many film versions of the Arthurian legend came to the screen in starting in the late 1960's : maybe the dying king was an apt image for the social upheaveal in America. Chretien, in the 12th century, tells it this way: the King, for reasons unclear, is wounded in the thigh or groin. He can’t heal, he can’t die: he’s stuck. And the land mirrors his condition: crops fail, waters are drying up, there’s no rain, no food. The king feels relief from pain only when he fishes in his boat. His one hope for healing is if a pure knight arrives at his castle and asks the correct question - which is a secret.
So here we are: living in our tormented ego-structure, stuck in our dying land, and waiting for someone aligned to the Self, and enlightened enough to ask the right question.
After endless misadventures, Perceval finally arrives and asks: Whom does the Grail serve?
That’s it. Then king can drink from the Grail. He'shealed; consequently, the land revives.
The Holy Grail is the cup from which Jesus and the disciples drank at the Last Supper. Mythically, it is the cup of suffering, shared by the archetype of the Willing Sacrifice or the Wounded Healer. It is the Self willing to serve something higher than the Ego, something higher than even good intentions, prudence, compassion.
And whom does it serve? The story shows deep connection: the wholeness of the Grail knight, the King, the land, and its peoples are interdependent. Individuation of one person links to individuation of the whole. I wonder - if myths and dreams teach us to understand the Grail’s power, and help us choose a path of wisdom and necessary sacrifice, then could we help the whole creation – Gaia – be healed?
So why are we, as a species, so hard to change? To understand stuckness, we have the myth of the Holy Grail, specifically the old French version about the Fisher King. It’s interesting that so many film versions of the Arthurian legend came to the screen in starting in the late 1960's : maybe the dying king was an apt image for the social upheaveal in America. Chretien, in the 12th century, tells it this way: the King, for reasons unclear, is wounded in the thigh or groin. He can’t heal, he can’t die: he’s stuck. And the land mirrors his condition: crops fail, waters are drying up, there’s no rain, no food. The king feels relief from pain only when he fishes in his boat. His one hope for healing is if a pure knight arrives at his castle and asks the correct question - which is a secret.
So here we are: living in our tormented ego-structure, stuck in our dying land, and waiting for someone aligned to the Self, and enlightened enough to ask the right question.
After endless misadventures, Perceval finally arrives and asks: Whom does the Grail serve?
That’s it. Then king can drink from the Grail. He'shealed; consequently, the land revives.
The Holy Grail is the cup from which Jesus and the disciples drank at the Last Supper. Mythically, it is the cup of suffering, shared by the archetype of the Willing Sacrifice or the Wounded Healer. It is the Self willing to serve something higher than the Ego, something higher than even good intentions, prudence, compassion.
And whom does it serve? The story shows deep connection: the wholeness of the Grail knight, the King, the land, and its peoples are interdependent. Individuation of one person links to individuation of the whole. I wonder - if myths and dreams teach us to understand the Grail’s power, and help us choose a path of wisdom and necessary sacrifice, then could we help the whole creation – Gaia – be healed?
Green Man – life force, vegetative vitality, hidden in plain sight
A third helpful myth has emerged in the early 20th century. For ages, the Green Man has been hiding in plain sight – in rituals, stories, songs, and oddly, often in many old British churches. Once you know to look for it, his leaf-hidden face seems to be everywhere. Sometimes he’s pictured with vines proceeding from his mouth, the greening force emanating like a speech bubble. Scholar P.M. Araneo says: "Whilst the figure of the Green Man has appeared, disappeared and reappeared throughout the centuries, there is evidence to show that his appearance is often linked to times of upheaval, change or environmental crisis."
The Green Man can be friendly, but he’s also a trickster, with shades of Christ and Dionysus. He’s there and not-there, testing our perception. Invisible like viriditas, the greening power of God, and felt in the blood, like “the force that through the green fuse drives the flower.” Common as grass, unruly as kudzu.
I mention the Green Man not because I think he’s charming. I bring up Green Man because he appears in my dreams, whether I’m dreaming for myself or – apparently sometimes – for others.
He showed up when there was an environmental crisis in the landscape of my body. He showed me I had a cancer, and he encouraged me, partnered me, helped me heal. With his lively vitality, a wink, a knowing, a hug, a bouquet of parsley, he presented the problem as opportunity and calling. He says, Here’s your bagpipe – time to play it! He uprooted a dead tree to show me the problem. In another dream, I’m distraught over a burned-out church, but he says Hey look – and I see his ring on my finger, huge, like a Queen Anne’s Lace flower. He puts me out in the rain. He plants gorgeous vines that lure me off the path, and gets me lost in a strange world. Sometimes I get him mixed up with Jesus.
The Green Man was my guide through my personal environmental crisis. I hope his lively greening power will continue to visit all of us, and help us become dreamers willing to align our small selves with Whom the Grail Serves, to heal both the Fisher King (representing personal and collective power) and Gaia (the entire created life system.)
It's a massive shift, almost impossible to imagine, but we must. Perceval’s story shows us that we must start within, with the simple practices for setting Ego aside, and listening for a wisdom that arises naturally through unconventional ways of knowing, including our collective and personal dreams. The king revives. The Green Man winks. Gaia breathes. .
Correction: Here's the right link to the Grail scene from Excalibur.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bP0LW-rvQc
******************************
If you have any dreams that offer wisdom for collective healing and wholeness, I’d be grateful to hear them. Please send to laura@firebynight.net. I never share dreams without permission.
A third helpful myth has emerged in the early 20th century. For ages, the Green Man has been hiding in plain sight – in rituals, stories, songs, and oddly, often in many old British churches. Once you know to look for it, his leaf-hidden face seems to be everywhere. Sometimes he’s pictured with vines proceeding from his mouth, the greening force emanating like a speech bubble. Scholar P.M. Araneo says: "Whilst the figure of the Green Man has appeared, disappeared and reappeared throughout the centuries, there is evidence to show that his appearance is often linked to times of upheaval, change or environmental crisis."
The Green Man can be friendly, but he’s also a trickster, with shades of Christ and Dionysus. He’s there and not-there, testing our perception. Invisible like viriditas, the greening power of God, and felt in the blood, like “the force that through the green fuse drives the flower.” Common as grass, unruly as kudzu.
I mention the Green Man not because I think he’s charming. I bring up Green Man because he appears in my dreams, whether I’m dreaming for myself or – apparently sometimes – for others.
He showed up when there was an environmental crisis in the landscape of my body. He showed me I had a cancer, and he encouraged me, partnered me, helped me heal. With his lively vitality, a wink, a knowing, a hug, a bouquet of parsley, he presented the problem as opportunity and calling. He says, Here’s your bagpipe – time to play it! He uprooted a dead tree to show me the problem. In another dream, I’m distraught over a burned-out church, but he says Hey look – and I see his ring on my finger, huge, like a Queen Anne’s Lace flower. He puts me out in the rain. He plants gorgeous vines that lure me off the path, and gets me lost in a strange world. Sometimes I get him mixed up with Jesus.
The Green Man was my guide through my personal environmental crisis. I hope his lively greening power will continue to visit all of us, and help us become dreamers willing to align our small selves with Whom the Grail Serves, to heal both the Fisher King (representing personal and collective power) and Gaia (the entire created life system.)
It's a massive shift, almost impossible to imagine, but we must. Perceval’s story shows us that we must start within, with the simple practices for setting Ego aside, and listening for a wisdom that arises naturally through unconventional ways of knowing, including our collective and personal dreams. The king revives. The Green Man winks. Gaia breathes. .
Correction: Here's the right link to the Grail scene from Excalibur.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bP0LW-rvQc
******************************
If you have any dreams that offer wisdom for collective healing and wholeness, I’d be grateful to hear them. Please send to laura@firebynight.net. I never share dreams without permission.
Dreamsharing is a seriously wonderful practice. It can also be a little risky, because dreams reveal your true colors, especially the ones you've never seen before.
Double issue! Not quite double wordcount.
First, a story.
Then three principles for sharing dreams
Next, another story.
Then, a couple of points about how dreamwork makes more authentic people of us, and why that is a good thing despite the obvious inconveniences.
If that sounds too much, start at the end and watch the YouTube videos. They are fabulous.
Double issue! Not quite double wordcount.
First, a story.
Then three principles for sharing dreams
Next, another story.
Then, a couple of points about how dreamwork makes more authentic people of us, and why that is a good thing despite the obvious inconveniences.
If that sounds too much, start at the end and watch the YouTube videos. They are fabulous.
Story 1: True Colors
The other day I shared a fresh dream with a roomful of people, just hours after I woke up from it. I NEVER DO THIS. It 's not wise, because even if you get a quick “Aha!” from your dream, you still don’t know the whole of it, and you end up sharing something your precious vulnerable ego might regret. However, because the dream seemed to be about getting over my protective habits, and because the audience was a roomful of librarians, i.e. the Trusted Storykeepers of the World, I told it.
Now that you are drooling at the prospect of this juicy dream, I'm sorry: it'll disappoint. (And it involves coats in July, potentially a nightmare.) But here it is:
I walk into a lecture hall, where people are gathering for a presentation. I’m wearing a striking flame-orange wool coat, midcalf length, with orange buttons patterned in concentric circles.
I spot a woman I know, a civic leader (and real-life participant in one of my dream groups). As I sit down beside her, I see that beyond her another woman I know, also civic leader (who in waking life has offered me some helpful business advice). As I lean forward to greet them, my coat gaps open and I’m astonished to see the color of my blouse - a crimson so beautiful, so vivid and shining, that it seems almost alive. It's the color of a living heart.
Quickly I close my coat, because this feels so personal and surprising, and I’m not ready for anyone to see this color.
On one level, the dream points to that “yikes” of sharing something real or vulnerable about yourself that you didn’t realize you were saying. This happens all the time in dreamwork. When you tell a dream, you’re revealing your heart.
The dream also reminded me that it’s often been my habit in waking life to hide my heart, sometimes beneath an overcoat of energetic presence. Learning to share from the heart has been sometimes terrible, but in most instances a lifegiving exercise in connection, compassion, and courage. It wears me out, so maybe that big orange ego coat is helpful boundary at times.
The dream suggests it's time to connect with my inner “civic leader” energies for the practical good of the community. (The community would be both my internal energies and the literal community beyond myself.) What might happen if I spoke more freely, with heartfelt conviction about - everything? I trust there could be some changes for the general good.
**************************************************************
So - to follow through on the work of dreamwork I'll experiment with Instagram posts this summer. Little heartbeats that could offer some truth and beauty. Or just fun. My helpers and I figured out the techie bits, so now you can
follow me on Instagram at laurahuffdreamworker.
Three Principles of Sharing Dreams
Sharing your emerging self can be feel risky - but when you're ready telling dreams is a good way to start.
Agreeing on a few basic principles for sharing dreams will make it go better. Below are three general principles. (Continue to the Tips and Titles section for a 5-step guide for partner dreamwork.)
Humility – the dream is from the unconscious, so it presents something new, which usually suggests the next steps in the individuation process. Often, this news is upsetting to the Ego, because the dreamer has to change an attitude, integrate shadow energies, etc. And the dream is multi-layered, so neither you nor the dreamer will ever get the whole picture. Please go gently. The dreamer is sharing from the heart.
As always, preface any remark with “In my dream…..” because you are speaking, after all, of your experience of the dream. Only the dreamer can know for sure what the dream means for them, and it may take awhile to get there.
Honesty - The best way to understand another person’s dream is to let it get down inside you and work on your feelings as well as your thoughts. Take awhile to really listen with mind, heart, and even body. (How does it feel?) You can offer brilliant insights, which are very helpful. But your honest feelings sparked by your experience of the dream offer even more profound “Aha’s” for the dreamer.
Again. Preface any remarks with the phrase, “IN MY DREAM….” because you are projecting.
Curiosity – Good dreamwork includes wondering aloud, stepping into the perspectives of the various dream figures, and holding “Aha’s” lightly enough to continue learning from them. Art, dialogue, embodiment, ritual, and play are good ways to engage a dream with a respectful, fruitful curiosity.
The other day I shared a fresh dream with a roomful of people, just hours after I woke up from it. I NEVER DO THIS. It 's not wise, because even if you get a quick “Aha!” from your dream, you still don’t know the whole of it, and you end up sharing something your precious vulnerable ego might regret. However, because the dream seemed to be about getting over my protective habits, and because the audience was a roomful of librarians, i.e. the Trusted Storykeepers of the World, I told it.
Now that you are drooling at the prospect of this juicy dream, I'm sorry: it'll disappoint. (And it involves coats in July, potentially a nightmare.) But here it is:
I walk into a lecture hall, where people are gathering for a presentation. I’m wearing a striking flame-orange wool coat, midcalf length, with orange buttons patterned in concentric circles.
I spot a woman I know, a civic leader (and real-life participant in one of my dream groups). As I sit down beside her, I see that beyond her another woman I know, also civic leader (who in waking life has offered me some helpful business advice). As I lean forward to greet them, my coat gaps open and I’m astonished to see the color of my blouse - a crimson so beautiful, so vivid and shining, that it seems almost alive. It's the color of a living heart.
Quickly I close my coat, because this feels so personal and surprising, and I’m not ready for anyone to see this color.
On one level, the dream points to that “yikes” of sharing something real or vulnerable about yourself that you didn’t realize you were saying. This happens all the time in dreamwork. When you tell a dream, you’re revealing your heart.
The dream also reminded me that it’s often been my habit in waking life to hide my heart, sometimes beneath an overcoat of energetic presence. Learning to share from the heart has been sometimes terrible, but in most instances a lifegiving exercise in connection, compassion, and courage. It wears me out, so maybe that big orange ego coat is helpful boundary at times.
The dream suggests it's time to connect with my inner “civic leader” energies for the practical good of the community. (The community would be both my internal energies and the literal community beyond myself.) What might happen if I spoke more freely, with heartfelt conviction about - everything? I trust there could be some changes for the general good.
**************************************************************
So - to follow through on the work of dreamwork I'll experiment with Instagram posts this summer. Little heartbeats that could offer some truth and beauty. Or just fun. My helpers and I figured out the techie bits, so now you can
follow me on Instagram at laurahuffdreamworker.
Three Principles of Sharing Dreams
Sharing your emerging self can be feel risky - but when you're ready telling dreams is a good way to start.
Agreeing on a few basic principles for sharing dreams will make it go better. Below are three general principles. (Continue to the Tips and Titles section for a 5-step guide for partner dreamwork.)
Humility – the dream is from the unconscious, so it presents something new, which usually suggests the next steps in the individuation process. Often, this news is upsetting to the Ego, because the dreamer has to change an attitude, integrate shadow energies, etc. And the dream is multi-layered, so neither you nor the dreamer will ever get the whole picture. Please go gently. The dreamer is sharing from the heart.
As always, preface any remark with “In my dream…..” because you are speaking, after all, of your experience of the dream. Only the dreamer can know for sure what the dream means for them, and it may take awhile to get there.
Honesty - The best way to understand another person’s dream is to let it get down inside you and work on your feelings as well as your thoughts. Take awhile to really listen with mind, heart, and even body. (How does it feel?) You can offer brilliant insights, which are very helpful. But your honest feelings sparked by your experience of the dream offer even more profound “Aha’s” for the dreamer.
Again. Preface any remarks with the phrase, “IN MY DREAM….” because you are projecting.
Curiosity – Good dreamwork includes wondering aloud, stepping into the perspectives of the various dream figures, and holding “Aha’s” lightly enough to continue learning from them. Art, dialogue, embodiment, ritual, and play are good ways to engage a dream with a respectful, fruitful curiosity.
Story 2 Joseph
All this talk of coats and colors reminds me of another dreamer with a colorful coat.
At the risk of offending some of my Bible buddies, let’s take a look at how unprincipled dreamwork went for Joseph (Genesis 37-50). He proclaimed his dreams in a superior tone, and his brothers, similarly unaware of good dreamwork principles, were provoked to violence. They threw him in a pit to die, but sold him into slavery when the opportunity arose. Of course God uses it all for good in the end (that's in the story too.) If you’re on the path you can’t fail too horribly.
What if Joseph hadn’t been such a stuck-up little prig? What if his eleven brothers knew the principles of proper projective dreamwork ? Maybe that scene could have gone better, something like this:
Joseph: Brothers! I had a couple of dreams that seem important. I’d like to see what you make of them. May I tell them to you?
Brothers: The first principle of dream sharing is humility. Are you willing to believe that this dream may not be flattering to your ego?
Joseph. Wow, I forget that part all the time. But, sure, I know God has a tremendous plan for my life and I am willing to hear it. Plus you have GOT to hear this, it involves you.
Brothers.. Hmmm.
Bro 1 -We’ll be honest.
Bro 2 And stay curious.
Joseph. Great! I dreamed there were twelve sheaves of wheat: all of yours bowed down to mine, which was in the center, naturally.
Bro 1: Hmmm. In my dream, I remember that everything in the dream is a part of me.
Bro 2: In my dream, harvest is about gathering the inner gold.
Bro 3: Yes – in my dream, the middle sheaf isn’t the ego, it’s the Self, which organizes the collective riches of the whole psyche. I don’t control it, just connect with it.
Bro 4 - In my dream, bowing is about recognizing : all my inner players know they are not more important than the divine image in me. My ego is really not in the center.
Bro 5: Right, and the center sheaf is a collective thing – in my dream, I remember how every little stalk and seed comes to fruition naturally. I don’t have to stress, strive, or compete.
Bro 6 – Getting honest here: in my dream, it looks like what happens at home: I have to play second fiddle to Dad's favorite.
Bro 7 - Yep, In my dream, I am watching out for ego inflation. That way lies peril.
Joseph – Wow guys, you are really helping me with that sheaf dream. But what about the Sun, moon, and stars? Really, they bowed down to ME. Not a symbol.
Bro 8 – How’d it feel in the dream when that happened?
Jo – Oooooo, grand!!! Like I was more fabulous than anything in the sky!
Bro 9- You want to take a look at that? I mean, in my dream, if I’m more important than the SUN, the dream exaggerates as a form of compensation: it's trying to help me see my arrogance before something bad happens.
Joseph. Aha! You’re right! I see that! So I will back off on acting so special all the time.
Still, I like the coat. What do you think about this coat, is it a problem for you if I wear it?
Bro 10 – You mean if you flaunt the fact that dad loves you best? Is that a problem for us, guys?
Brothers – Well SURE, it’s a problem.
Joseph – Maybe I could organize a rota for sharing it? Or cut it up and make bandanas for everyone? Or give it to our sister Dinah? What should we do?
Maybe we could all dream on it?
Bro 11 – Thanks, Joseph, for considering how we feel. This projective dreamwork is sure a great way to build authentic, compassionate community and even do some practical problem solving.
***********************************************************
The reason the Bible version of this story finally ends well for the whole family - after years of lies, grief, slavery, scandal, imprisonment, famine, and finally, some good dreamwork skills - is because suffering finally opens into compassion, understanding, and trust for each other. I hazard to guess that with a certain amount of humility, honesty, and curiosity, they could have spared themselves the drama, and still headed off the famine.
Be brave, be true, share your colors with those who will appreciate them, and don't let Ego run the show. Your deep Self, part of the infinite rainbow, is glad for the chance to shine.
All this talk of coats and colors reminds me of another dreamer with a colorful coat.
At the risk of offending some of my Bible buddies, let’s take a look at how unprincipled dreamwork went for Joseph (Genesis 37-50). He proclaimed his dreams in a superior tone, and his brothers, similarly unaware of good dreamwork principles, were provoked to violence. They threw him in a pit to die, but sold him into slavery when the opportunity arose. Of course God uses it all for good in the end (that's in the story too.) If you’re on the path you can’t fail too horribly.
What if Joseph hadn’t been such a stuck-up little prig? What if his eleven brothers knew the principles of proper projective dreamwork ? Maybe that scene could have gone better, something like this:
Joseph: Brothers! I had a couple of dreams that seem important. I’d like to see what you make of them. May I tell them to you?
Brothers: The first principle of dream sharing is humility. Are you willing to believe that this dream may not be flattering to your ego?
Joseph. Wow, I forget that part all the time. But, sure, I know God has a tremendous plan for my life and I am willing to hear it. Plus you have GOT to hear this, it involves you.
Brothers.. Hmmm.
Bro 1 -We’ll be honest.
Bro 2 And stay curious.
Joseph. Great! I dreamed there were twelve sheaves of wheat: all of yours bowed down to mine, which was in the center, naturally.
Bro 1: Hmmm. In my dream, I remember that everything in the dream is a part of me.
Bro 2: In my dream, harvest is about gathering the inner gold.
Bro 3: Yes – in my dream, the middle sheaf isn’t the ego, it’s the Self, which organizes the collective riches of the whole psyche. I don’t control it, just connect with it.
Bro 4 - In my dream, bowing is about recognizing : all my inner players know they are not more important than the divine image in me. My ego is really not in the center.
Bro 5: Right, and the center sheaf is a collective thing – in my dream, I remember how every little stalk and seed comes to fruition naturally. I don’t have to stress, strive, or compete.
Bro 6 – Getting honest here: in my dream, it looks like what happens at home: I have to play second fiddle to Dad's favorite.
Bro 7 - Yep, In my dream, I am watching out for ego inflation. That way lies peril.
Joseph – Wow guys, you are really helping me with that sheaf dream. But what about the Sun, moon, and stars? Really, they bowed down to ME. Not a symbol.
Bro 8 – How’d it feel in the dream when that happened?
Jo – Oooooo, grand!!! Like I was more fabulous than anything in the sky!
Bro 9- You want to take a look at that? I mean, in my dream, if I’m more important than the SUN, the dream exaggerates as a form of compensation: it's trying to help me see my arrogance before something bad happens.
Joseph. Aha! You’re right! I see that! So I will back off on acting so special all the time.
Still, I like the coat. What do you think about this coat, is it a problem for you if I wear it?
Bro 10 – You mean if you flaunt the fact that dad loves you best? Is that a problem for us, guys?
Brothers – Well SURE, it’s a problem.
Joseph – Maybe I could organize a rota for sharing it? Or cut it up and make bandanas for everyone? Or give it to our sister Dinah? What should we do?
Maybe we could all dream on it?
Bro 11 – Thanks, Joseph, for considering how we feel. This projective dreamwork is sure a great way to build authentic, compassionate community and even do some practical problem solving.
***********************************************************
The reason the Bible version of this story finally ends well for the whole family - after years of lies, grief, slavery, scandal, imprisonment, famine, and finally, some good dreamwork skills - is because suffering finally opens into compassion, understanding, and trust for each other. I hazard to guess that with a certain amount of humility, honesty, and curiosity, they could have spared themselves the drama, and still headed off the famine.
Be brave, be true, share your colors with those who will appreciate them, and don't let Ego run the show. Your deep Self, part of the infinite rainbow, is glad for the chance to shine.
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