Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Virgo Dreams: Needing to be Perfect or Embracing the Mystery of Yourself

As I pondered which dreams best represent the energies of Virgo, the first dreams to pop into my mind were the dreams we all have of feeling we aren't ready for something in our lives.  You know those dreams: you're suddenly back in school and you're having a test and you haven't studied for it.  Or those dreams of having to give a presentation and you never did the work.

Constellation of Virgo


These dreams are about our own insecurities and feelings of being unprepared for life's tasks.  We all have them because our society really doesn't teach us anything about how to deal with life.  Do our schools teach us how to see the big picture, think analytically, understand our emotional intelligence, work with our intuitions or understand our gut instincts?  NO!  Our educational system basically cuts things up into little pieces and leaves us to figure out how to put the puzzle pieces together.  Schools make us memorize dates in history but rarely teach us the reason why certain issues arose in those societies and how they affect us today.  We learn math, but never how it applies to our real lives.  We are never taught a wholistic vision of how we fit into the life of the world and our society.  We aren't even taught how to understand ourselves and others and how to be in relationships, which is the one thing most of us want to engage in.

So you can see why so many of us have these dreams of being unprepared for life.  And that's why these dreams are connected to Virgo, because it is in the sign of Virgo that we pull everything together.  Virgo is the sign of the Virgin, the one who belongs to herself.  Who has integrated body, soul and spirit.  When we don't know how to do that, we tend to fall into control issues and try to be 'perfect'.  Virgo is not about being perfect but rather about being whole.

Now the other side of Virgo, whose motto is 'Know Thyself' is to embrace the mystery of who you are so you can dance with life.  And that reminds me of a dream I had at the Jung Institute about 30 years ago.  It's one of my favorite memories and I embrace this dream whenever I feel like I've lost my center and need to be 'perfect'!



In the dream, I'm in an airplane that has just landed in Egypt.  We have a stopover and I decide to leave the plane and go look at the pyramids.  I check to make sure I have my ticket and am surprised to see that the name on the ticket is STAR.  As I walk down the road, I see someone coming towards me.  As the figure gets closer, I see that it is a little baby Sphinx!  Golden, with the body of a lion cub, small wings and a human face.  This baby Sphinx comes to me and takes my hands and we dance with joy and wonder.  

Some dream, huh!  The Sphinx is associated with Virgo, for in ancient Egypt the Nile flooded during the Leo/Virgo season, so they united Leo the Lion and Virgo the Virgin.  The Sphinx is a symbol for the mysteries of Life, which can only be understood through the creative right brain imagination.  Not what we usually associate with our put-together, uptight, controlling stereotype of Virgo.

This Virgo New Moon is a solar eclipse, which means we can really leave something behind us and plant a new vision of life for ourselves.  Perhaps we need to leave behind fear and insecurity, distrust and victimization.  Take time to meditate on what you want to know about yourself.  Whatever is holding you back from living fully, let it go and embrace the mystery.

The baby Sphinx of my dreams tells me that there is always the possibility of new life.

Until next time,
Sweet Dreams!

Monday, August 15, 2016

The Wisdom of Dreams: Baby You're a Star!



Elana Gibeault
The Dreaming Mind

Just like Prince, who in Purple Rain realized that he was a star, we are all Stars. We all have the archetypes of life within us and we all have many lives' worth of experiences within us.  Just because you're not ruling the world at the moment doesn't mean your inner star isn't alive and well and living in your heart.

With the Aquarius Full Moon coming up this week, I've been reflecting on how each of us is so unique and yet the same. With the Aquarian ideal of Community we also have to be able to shine like our Leo Star.  We have to unite these opposites and get over thinking we have to compete with each other to see who is the 'best' instead of working together to make something the 'best'.  

When I was trying to decide what kind of dreams typified the energy exchange of Leo and Aquarius, I realized that it had to be the dreams we have about important cultural icons or superheroes.  When we dream about 'stars' and other famous people, we are dreaming ourselves into that archetypal plane of existence, which resonates with the sign of Aquarius, the Cosmic Mind. 

When I lived in Los Angeles in the 90s, I would meet people there who were trying to make their way into the byzantine world of Hollywood.  And when they found out that I am a Dream Worker, they'd tell me, with great excitement, that they had been dreaming about a particular actor/director/ writer and they just knew they were going to meet and be together.  Most of them had a talent they were pursuing, so they were living out a part of their dreams.  But I often felt they wasted their enthusiasm and passion believing that they were 'meant' to be with this famous person.  



Don't get me wrong.  It's very seductive to think that the intimacy we sometimes experience with people in the dreamworld is a sign we're supposed to be with them in the outer world.  And sometimes, maybe it even comes true.  However, for most of us, it's better to use the energy generated by knowing that this archetypal figure lives within your psyche.

I used to dream about two 'stars' almost every week for years.  Trying to maintain my dignity as a Jungian :) , I struggled to 'own' these two creative and activist artists as part of me, and I started writing and doing my environmental work.  Sometimes, though, the personal knowledge and intimacy was hard to deny. I was lucky to have my Jungian background, so I could see how an alchemical process was taking place within me.  I was integrating my personal new masculine energy.   Although I do tease myself about them with my friends, so whenever one of them comes near my circle of friends, they all point to me and say I brought them in!



So who are you dreaming about?  Perhaps you've been hanging out with President Obama or Michelle.  Or maybe Robert Redford thinks you're delicious or Merle Streep thinks you're desirable.  Or perhaps you're shooting baskets with Michael Jordan or DeAndre Jordan.  Or riding motorcycles with Brad Pitt or Tom Cruise.  (As you can see, I don't know the younger 'stars'!)  Perhaps you've been hanging out with the Dalai Lama or Pope Francis.  Or with Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton.

Whoever you're hanging out with in your dreams holds your talents and possibilities within their energy fields.  They are the 'star' in YOU!  So if you're dreaming about someone in the news, know that you too share their energy.  

And of course, if you dream you're cozy-ing up to someone you dislike, you might have to take a look at your Shadow.  While nobody is all good or all bad, we each get to face our own unconsciousness when we dance with the Devil.  Or the Donald!

Until Next Time,
Sweet Dreams!