“Dreaming is the psyche itself doing soul-work.” J. Hillman
Although it shouldn’t be, it is amazing to me how much the thoughts and images of other bloggers become part of my inner life. Here is a tiny window into how that happened yesterday.
Michelle’s recent post reminded me of how much I have drawn from psychologist/author James Hillman…
Which prompted me to pull down my ragged and yellowed copy of Hillman’s “The Dream and The Underworld”:
… if we think back on any dream that has been important to us, as time passes and the more we reflect on it, the more we discover in it, and the more varied the directions that lead out of it.
As the dream is guardian of sleep, so our dream-work, yours and mine, is protective of those depths from which dreams rise, the ancestral, the mythical, the imaginal, and all the hiding invisibilities that govern our lives.
Dreams are… watchmen of that coming night, and our attitude toward them may be modeled upon Hades, receiving, hospitable, yet relentlessly deepening, attuned to the nocturne, dusky, and with a fearful cold intelligence that gives permanent shelter in his house to the incurable condition of human being.
“relentlessly deepening” and “fearful cold intelligence” — these are words that an introvert with Pluto on the ascendant (who has kept notes on dreams since she was a girl) can hold on to and embrace!
I went to sleep last night knowing I’d quote some Hillman today, thinking if I remembered a dream, I’d share it, in part because I was inspired (am always inspired) by Grace’s recent post in which she shares a dream about the Dalai Lama. (I forget mine).
And yesterday, Joe, through a series of facebook posts, re-connected me back to this amazing blues singer, Chastity Brown, whom I tried to draw and kept JUST missing freezing the YouTube frame where I wanted it, but drew away anyway, listening to that amazing song, over and over.
And, right now my collar itches, because after months of thinking about it, I cut my hair this morning. This was inspired in no small part by Saskia whose work, storytelling, abode, and spirit are the primary drivers of my interest in her, but she happens to also have a great HAIRCUT!
All of this weaving and intersection of thought and effort and words and art and music creates a fertile jumble. It crosses media, politics, gender, and geography.
What better cauldron for noticing and using synchronicity?!!
And let me end with this flourish. Mid afternoon yesterday, I picked up a little applique crow I’ve started, with a determination to finish it, when the ca-ring of an incoming comment jingled my nearby phone. It was Mo Crow!!! Can you stand it? All the way around the world in Australia, Mo, who keeps monastic hours in an opposite season, was chiming in. The evening found me ripping out the incorrectly aligned crow’s legs in part because I want the thing to be good enough to share with an artist (and I mean Mo, of course) whose body of work revolves around and celebrates crows.
comment on your crow (which didn’t take over on Flickr): wowiieeeeeee, super and guess what I’ve been noticing crows today, way more than usual, sitting on lamp posts, hopping on the street, in the trees….must be connected to here, somehow! oh and how did your hair turn out?
btw Fabulous Music, listened to Chastity Brown whilst rereading your post
the hair is ok! I like it. K. will have to trim the back for me later.
How we weave one into the other here…cross pollinating, mixing and melding. Mo in her time zone, you and I in ours, and Saskia, and Grace who is unwell as of yesterday, in hers are connected by this all inclusive thread. All the others too, those we know and those we have no knowledge of, across time and space sharing a Hillman moment, thoughts on dreaming, a crow, a song from Joe, and a beautiful wilting bluebell. Miraculous and humbling is what it is….Miraculous, ordinary, and reminiscent of simple truth. This complex world, this planet, all the people and all their joy and suffering are not separate from us. We are one living breathing entity floating in space at the same time. Any one who feels separate or alone has lost perspective on reality.. I’m going to phone Grace now. Thank you for this post Dee. It lifted me right out of myself.
Your comments, Michelle, ought to be collected and published somewhere. Thank YOU.
comment on haircut: fabulous, reborn, a new you!! and you look younger (which doesn’t matter, but hey thank god for small mercies like these) wow, you sure are brave for doing it yourself!! it also echoes the African mask on last post; I’m gonna have to tell my hairdresser about the online-haircut-comments, ha
love that cloth crow, all the quick sketches, the haircut and especially the bluebell, it’s too hot to grow them here
Nothing more empowering than cutting your own hair and you look very priestess-like — and lovely, too, it suits you. About the collective patterns — in my own life I have been experiencing the same, in different ways — awareness is changing. Of course, I love your crow, the crow and I go way back. xxo
Just had to comment here, Dee. Besides the fact that I love all the work here, your haircut is great. Mine is 1/4″ long (summer cut) and I don’t have to comb it and it’s so comfortable. Men have been keeping this a secret!
best, nadia