After years of near-obsessive inner work I’ve given myself permission to relax a bit. Sometimes weeks go by before I record and work on a new dream. But when I do I’m always rewarded with a cornucopia of insights and meaning. Following is the first dream I’ve analyzed since the one about individuation I posted nearly two months ago.
Dream #4338: Venus Rising. I’m holding half of a large clamshell, maybe 5 inches from end-to-end, behind my back. It’s covered with a small square of cloth. I know there’s a baby beneath it. Someone says I should take the baby out. I bring the shell around to the front, lift off the cloth, and see a placenta. The cord is attached and hanging out and down to the left. I start to pull up the baby and “someone” warns me to be careful. Ashamed at forgetting how vulnerable babies are, I pull more gently and there, dangling from the bottom of the cord, is the baby. I cradle it in the palm of my left hand. Tiny, but with adult proportions, it’s softly glowing with a pale, pearl-white aura. I’m grateful it’s okay.
Associations: My immediate association is to the classical images I’ve seen of the birth of Venus. This one is from a fresco in Pompeii. Click here to see Botticelli’s more famous painting. To me they suggest the emergence of the feminine archetype of beauty and love from the maternal depths of the collective unconscious. In waking life I’ve been trying to honor and empower all four basic feminine archetypes (Queen, Earth Mother, Wisewoman and Beloved) for many years. This dream says that so far my ego has been shielding this one, the Beloved, from the public eye. In other words, I haven’t integrated the qualities she represents into my persona so that others can see and acknowledge her beauty and worth. But something within me — i.e. my intuition, the voice of the feminine side of the Self — knows the time is right to bring her out into the light.
According to the dream I haven’t fully appreciated just how vulnerable this archetype of love, relatedness, delicate beauty and tender feeling is in a world which still glorifies masculine toughness and treats feminine softness so carelessly. That she is still attached to the placenta by the cord suggests her dependence on my physical health. I need to treat my body with more love and care. I need enough rest and exercise, healthier food, less stress.
The warning tells me to be more mindful of my thoughts and behavior. I need to bring more gentleness to every word and action. I need to be kinder to myself. I need to stop striving for perfection, stop judging myself and putting myself down, stop trying to please others while holding the real me back. Like Venus, I need to celebrate the beauty and miracle that is me.
I’ve shared this very personal dream with you for two reasons. First, because it’s a perfect follow-up for my last post about dream symbols of transition and transformation. Second, because the dream itself seems to be urging me to do so. Didn’t the mysterious “someone” tell my dream ego to bring the baby forward and be careful in doing so? I hope I’ve been sufficiently careful in bringing forth the message of this dream, and I hope that regardless of your gender you are inspired to revisit the integration of your own Beloved into your waking life.
As with my previous dream about individuation, I invite your associations and look forward to reading them.
What’s the Point of the Three Kings?
December 24, 2024
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Those of us raised as Christians know this holiday is about a lot more than rushing about, partying and shopping, and many of us enjoy warm memories and nostalgic feelings this time of year. But why are the moments of love, joy and peace so difficult to find during the holiday season? Where do the feelings of exhaustion, anxiety, disappointment and depression come from? Why do we keep missing the point of Christmas? How can we recapture it?
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“And so we have the prophetic word, made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in the dark place until the day dawns and the MorningStar (Venus) rises in your heart”.
2 Peter 1:19
Jean, Soul Sister. How I would love to meet you and share soul stories!
I so resonate with your dream! If it were my dream the clam shell would be a reminder for me of the invitation to me in 1980 when in the midst of a life “meltdown” I was trying to recover from at sister’s home on Jupiter beach in Florida and awoke one morning to see the morning star shine big and bright over the ocean. I was transfixed with it and knew, as it was the second time it appeared so synchronistically to me, as a sign of love and presence to keep the path of wholeness (the square cloth over clam shell representing the mystical path to wholeness and love Jesus is referred to as the bright MorningStar in Revelations. I still have a collage with a picture of a little girl on the beach picking up clam shells, and I actual still have the clam shell on the collage!
To the Native Americans the Morning Star represents inner work. Thus, I too, have been devoted to following the thread of my heroine’s journey ever since. The feminine archetypes for me of Lilith as libidinal power for growth and transformation, also as the Black Madonna; of Mary of Egypt, woman of wisdom and passion who was all of who she was without apology and wild woman of the forest as Artemis, and the Virgin Mary; woman unto herself; a whole wise healer, mentor, compassionate fool willing to suffer the wounds of many to awaken love in the soul and heart of all who seek the power of her whole loving. Yes, the bright Morning Star arises in our souls and shines out into a soul starved world with the radiant Rainbow Light of WISDOM’S sacred Presence shining through our lives; the integrated anima animus soul! Thank you for sharing your dream….it is the rising of Venus in our souls that is the salvation of the world!
Oh, Julie. You are, indeed, a soul sister. Your comments and associations are so meaningful that they’re still sending chills throughout my body as I write this. You will note that I’ve changed the title of this post as a result of your words which convey so much more than my original title did.
I had no idea that the Morning Star represented inner work to the Native Americans. I absolutely love this! Everything about this dream and your comments come at an extraordinary time for me, during which I am not only enjoying a rise in the readership of this blog, but joyfully anticipating the publication of my book, the theme of which you have so beautifully summarized with your last phrase: “It is the rising of Venus in our souls that is the salvation of the world!”
Thank you. I cherish your words and your friendship.
Love,
Jeanie
I look forward to reading your book, Jean! You have a gift of conveying the terrain of the journey of soul.
Thank you, Julie. What a lovely compliment! I am in love with the journey and I suppose that’s why I pay such close attention to the terrain. Every step and signpost bring me closer to my goal.
Jeanie
Very interesting, not many people admit this type of dream on the internet. I woke with this idea in my head and I just cant shake it. It has changed my life. Thank you for sharing.
I’m thrilled to hear you found some deep meaning for your life in this post. This is why I write this blog.
Dreams tell the truth about us. Our egos don’t write them, they come from our unconscious, instinctual nature. Once I realized this, I stopped worrying about what other people think about my dreams and started trying to get their messages so I could help others understand themselves a bit better. We’re all in this together. We all dream things that make our egos uncomfortable, we all have flaws, and we all need help and reassurance in our struggles to understand ourselves if we are to grow more conscious and mature.
Blessings to you on your journey,
Jeanie