A Dream from Mother Wisdom
November 8, 2024
6 Comments
Last night I had a dream. I feel the need to share it with you today because it illustrates the main point I’ve been trying
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Wow. So insightful. Love reading this
Thanks, Joanie! I love hearing from you.
Reblogged this on lampmagician.
I appreciate the reblog lamp magician. Thanks.
Hi Jeanie,
Now that’s what I call remarkable story-telling! I loved how you separated all aspects and characters and put them back together in true Jungian relationship with each other … makes so much sense. I wonder if unconsciously the writer knew of this deeper story?
‘And like Popeye’s relationship to Olive Oyl … is by no means problem free.’ This totally caught my attention as I recognise how I seek to connect ever deeper to the inner feminine, only Brutus (animus) every now and then seems set on stealing the show.
Just wonderful as I found myself relating to each role and lastly Ha-ha! Please know that this little Swee’ Pea is smiling and laughing and nodding in glee! Thank you for sharing and illuminating the story of Popeye. I’m hopeful there’s a new book on the horizon.
Blessings, Deborah.
Hi Deborah,
I often wonder too if writers are aware of the deeper realities behind some of their stories. Consciously? Only sometimes I think. But unconsciously? Always. That’s why myths and fairy tales have universal appeal. Because their symbols and motifs and characters describe the unconscious life of the soul with all its struggles to grow stronger and more aware and healthy and whole.
I know you are aware of the healing power of myths (by the way, my friend Elaine Mansfield and I will be doing a workshop on this subject for the Sarasota Jung Society next March; you can find the details on my website, http://www.jeanraffa.com), but I think most people have no idea how much comfort and hope they can find in a myth that speaks to their particular issue. So anyway, that’s why even a ‘silly little cartoon’ has healing power if we take the time to explore its deeper meanings!!
Thanks so much for your always tremendously affirming words. Is there a new book on the horizon? I’m mot sure yet. I’m just resting in the question for a while…..hopefully not for Sleeping Beauty’s 100 years!!
Hugs, Jeanie
How awesome, you and Elaine, together, giving a workshop on the power of myths, deep sigh! … I’m positively turning into a ‘Green Woman’ on the spot … Ha-ha! You’re bringing out the ‘Witch’ in me! Two beautiful souls, opening their hearts and sharing their knowledge and insights thus far … it doesn’t get any better in my book! 🙂
Thanks again, Deborah! We’re both looking forward to it. We enjoy working together and seem to inspire and bring out the best in each other. We’re hoping this joint endeavor will be magical for all concerned! Jeanie
Wow! Just WOW! I can’t even begin to tell you how much I like this piece! As Popeye might say, “You hit me in my wheelhouse!”
Hi Skip,
Thanks for the great comment, my friend. I love knowing this piece had such a strong impact on you. Such is the power of story!! Maybe I should think seriously about Deborah’s question of whether there’s a new book on the horizon, and consider filling it with more pieces like this…. Jeanie
No doubt of that in my mind!
I may need lots of spinach…….
Well, I be blowed! Bowled over and blown away! Shows what a little digging can do when we get to the story behind the story. I loved Popeye the sailor man as a child and now look at him and his relationships with a keener eye and appreciation …Thank you Jeanie. I loved your personal connections with him and may the iron continue to maintain you, flavoured of course with salt, the prima materia (I think).
Thank you, Susan. This was a fun one to write. Finding the meaning behind the story is one of my favorite things to do. I do it all the time, as naturally as breathing, to just about everything: not just cartoons, but novels, movies, songs, poems, art, even the ordinary stories people tell over dinner. The soul speaks loud and clear if you know how to hear it, and I know you’re one who does. Thank you for your iron blessing. And yes, indeed, we always need a sprinkle of salt! Prima materia, indeed.
Speaking of….did you ever read my story about the first Bible verse that ever spoke to me, waking me up to the meaning beneath the words? It was Matthew 5:13: “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.” I was 17 and suddenly I understood the metaphor! From then on, it was as if a light was turned on to a whole new world I’d never been aware of before. Such power in metaphors. Maybe that’s one reason why I like this particular piece so much. It was such fun seeing the metaphors in Popeye’s story.
I’m applauding as I LOVE your metaphor and the story. It is funny as I had been thinking about writing a similar post about Popeye, but you learned far more about the meaning of Olive Oyl, spinach, and Brutus. I too, slowly am learning to be OK with Who I Am. I wish I had learned this many years ago. Thank you for a lovely and meaningful post.
Thank you, Gwynn. “I yam what I yam” is a powerful statement, isn’t it? I agree. I wish I’d learned this many years ago too. I guess it’s not a very easy lesson to learn, especially when we’re conditioned to believe that all the adult authorities are right so if we’re different, we must be wrong. Wish there were an easier way to learn to trust ourselves! I guess life has to do it in its own time.
I loved your breakdown of the Popeye elements Jeanie. It brought back some of my own family life to mind. My father was a WW2 sailor, had an anchor on his right arm and as he got older, got referred to by my mother , in a not always positive way, as “Popeye”. His character not as positive as Popeye’s, his catchphrases being “that’s how the cookie crumbles!” and “it’s just yer Donald Duck!” . Quite the fatalist.
This was a great read, and between the info and the memories I had a few “yuk,yuk,yuk!”s.
I’m glad to know this post was meaningful to you, Brian. And that you got some laughs from it. I can imagine that some of your memories of your particular Popeye weren’t all that funny. I’ve never heard of, “it’s just yer Donald Duck” before. I guess that means: this or that person, or experience, or life itself, is a joke, just a meaningless comedy…something like that? Yes, fatalistic for sure. War can do that to a person….it’s ruined the life of many a hopeful and innocent young man. So sad. Thanks for writing.
Hi Jean,
We are both fans of your blog and students of Jung’s wisdom and this post has really gotten things stirred up! We have also both been discussing your bible quote about “salt” and it’s symbolism:
“.did you ever read my story about the first Bible verse that ever spoke to me, waking me up to the meaning beneath the words? It was Matthew 5:13: “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.”
Is there somewhere that we can find your story and your interpretation of the symbolism? We would find that very interesting.
Thanks so much for all your work, words and wisdom.
Dick & Rae
Hello Dick & Rae,
I’m delighted to know this post has ‘stirred things up’ for you. As you no doubt know, that’s a sure sign your inner alchemy is at work, trying to add a new perspective to your current one, always pushing for the next stage of growth! The story I’m referring to is in my newest book, Healing the Sacred Divide, on page 99. This story is the first of many that describe my gradual awakening and expanding into greater psychological and spiritual awareness. I use a lot of metaphors and symbolism throughout the book to demonstrate this way of thinking. You can order the book on Amazon, and as you’ve probably noticed, there are links at the end of each post.
I really appreciate your writing. It’s very gratifying to hear from people who’ve been touched in a meaningful way by something I’ve written. And thank you for your kind words.
Jeanie
Thanks, Jean, what an inspiring story. We already had your book, but didn’t know where to find the passage. It was a wonderful archetypal experience, similar to Job’s declaration to God: “I had heard about you, but now I see you”.
Yes! It was exactly like that! God was there all the time but I couldn’t see God with my literal way of seeing. What I learned that day, although I didn’t realize it yet, was that the way to God is through the metaphoric image! I hadn’t quite understood that until just now!
And so we come back again to the mandorla, that middle space of creative imagination where two entities meet and enter each others’ space through dialogue. The result is like the chemical reaction between two elements in the alchemical vessel: together they create a newer, subtler, more purified and refined form of life….as in this dialogue we have just had. Thank you for instigating a conversation which has brought more clarity to my “salt” experience. I hope it has made a difference in you as well.
Delightful. That damned Bluto has been chasing me around–and he’s bigger than I am. I need to take on a little Popeye power and smack down the bully. New mantra for this week is “I Yam what I Yam. It’s good enough for Olyve Oyl and it’s good enough for me.” Thanks for making me laugh at myself.
Hahahaha. I love the image of Bluto chasing you around! What a bully he is/was/will always be as long as he dwells unrecognized in the unconscious of each of us. All we can do is keep searching for our own version of spinach! As you know, my source of power comes from digesting the symbolic images of mythology and my dreams.
Great fun to think of Popeye this way. Brutus terrified me as a child. I somehow mixed him up with ‘Judas.’ And interesting to think of popEYE and the olive oil Lamp. Sort of a strange mystical union going on there. Really beautiful how you broke this all down and made the connections!
Bluto…Blutus…Brutus…Judas. I can see the connection. Critics. Abusers. Rat finks. Betrayers. Kidnappers of purity and enlightenment. Good reasons to be terrified. You must have been an unusually sensitive and intuitive child to have responded so strongly to him and everything he represented. And now you’ve shown me a new connection I hadn’t made: PopEYE and the light! The eye of enlightenment. The conscious ego which sees. Wow. I love that. Thanks.