Power of a Dream

“Know Thyself”

This is the famous Greek maxim carved near the entrance to Apollo's temple at Delphi and attributed, variously, to Plato, Pythagoras, Heraclitus, or Thales. Whoever it was that said it first, it has been repeated down through the ages as the great command for those who would become wise.

But how do we go about knowing ourselves? Our REAL self, the authentic or deep self that moves behind the public personas we all have built up to help us fit in to our crazy families, crazy jobs, crazy world?

My belief is that the soul - another word for the psyche or the totality of the self - communicates most readily and most frequently through the nightly journey into the realm of dreams. It is no wonder that Freud called dreams the royal road to the unconscious or that Jung spent intense hours unfolding and amplifying the meaning in his own and clients’ dreams. It is because dreams are so valuable for receiving messages from the soul that I encourage all my clients to keep dream journals.

~ . ~ . ~ .

In my early 30’s I had a dream which set me on my path and has proved to be a touchstone for numerous moments in the decades that followed. In brief, the dream concluded with a powerful image of me as a turtle, on my back, helpless. Around me I hear voices discussing what will become of me. One voice says, “turtle soup,” another says, “a rattle,” a third says, “a pillow for my head,” another says, “a box for my jewelry.” I am in despair at my helplessness to avert any of these fates.

Then a firm, gentle voice admonishes them all and says “This turtle is not for pillows, or rattles, or soup, or any purpose other than her own. She is on a journey and our only task is to assist and not hinder.” Then the speaker’s hands are around me and I am being set back on my little turtle feet. A pair of kind eyes gazes into mine.

Then I hear the words: “Your name is Protector of the Path: Remember that all the ways are sacred.”

~ . ~ . ~ .

When I awoke from this dream I knew I had received my soul name and that it was also a description of the work I was meant to do this lifetime. Shortly afterwards I applied to university and began to work towards the degrees I now hold in religion, myth, and ministry. Whether as a teacher, minister, mediator, mythologist, or spiritual guidance counselor I am constantly aware that my most important task is to assist and not hinder, by protecting the path of the person I am with and remembering that all the ways are sacred.

I have taken this message deep into my bones and find that it has transfigured personal and professional relationships of all kinds – especially those with significant others like my children and spouse. As a core identity it keeps my focus on what it is I am doing with my time and energy and inspires me to find the higher purpose in a lot of what might otherwise seem to be mere routine.

Since I have known firsthand the power of a single dream to give shape and stamina to life, it is my desire to help others find the gifts offered by the unconscious – some of which come through dreams, but may also come in the form of synchronicities, moments of aesthetic arrest, daydreams, favorite songs, fugitive images, poems, or any of the other ways that sacred messages seek us out and invite us to hear the deep music of the soul!

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