A Dream

Not long before morning, I dreamt a crazy, restless, disjointed but utterly Canadian dream. In the first part. J. and I were in the cathedral, or what appeared to be a much darker, smaller version of it; it was a vaulted space made of dark wood, crowded with piles of things. There was no priest or Dean; no clergy at all, in fact, and I knew they were gone or retired or that we could no longer afford to pay them. A handful of us were keeping things going, but it was a very disorganized group of a dozen or so people, milling around in the front of this space, where there was some light, talking and laughing. J. had just read part of the service and I was looking for a prayer book in order to read the next part, but couldn't find one - there were all sorts of other books, mostly outdated prayer books and hymnals no longer in use, stacked under pews and in corners.

Soon I gave up, because it was clear most of the people had figured the service was over and were much more interested in lunch; it was all very congenial and relaxed. We went out a back way, and I found myself on a wooden porch, in a town in the country somewhere, looking out across a snowy driveway at a small group of people gathered around an igloo that had been built there, kind of against the side of a house. The sun was shining; it was a bright, not-very-cold day. I saw J. bending down about to disappear through the igloo's entryway, and one of the men - in a fur-hooded parka - looked up and told me that they were fishing through the ice inside the igloo. I wanted to go in, too, so I came down off the porch and joined the group of people standing around.

There was a beautiful husky there, grey and white with light-colored eyes, and I petted her and said I'd always kind of wanted one, but maybe as a puppy, and the dog changed into a puppy with a soft white face and then changed back again, after I turned away, into the adult dog from before. I looked toward the igloo and began having second thoughts about going into it; the entryway looked very small and close to the ground, and I have a kind of claustrophobia about entering small passages like that (my worst nightmares involve crawling through narrow passages that become ever tighter and then start filling with water.) The woman next to me began talking to me, and I saw that she was pregnant. "I have to go into it," she said, and as she spoke I suddenly imagined the shape of the igloo as a very pregnant woman, lying on her back. "Why?" I asked. "That's how the baby will be born," she said. "You see?"

(NOTE: Jan has written a fascinating and careful analysis of my dream on her blog, "A Skeptical Mystic.")

Comments

[Kim]

Well. That's interesting. I rarely, rarely remember my dreams.

[Marja-Leena]

So that's a 'Canadian' dream, what an amazing one! I rarely remember mine.

[Jan]

Love the picture. Interesting dream. Sounds like the need for changes/rebirth in your life or the life of the church. Dreams are very personal. What's your take?

[Jan]

Beth, as the hours progress since reading about your dream, these symbols are becoming more clear and haunting(not in the sense of scary but powerful). This is not a disjointed dream. Hope it seems clearer to you as well.

[Dave]

Wow, that is the ultimate Canadian dream, except for the omission of hockey sticks and maple leaves.

I think the igloo stands for qarrtsiluni.

[Kathryn]

Hello:

What a lovely dream. If it were mine I'd say that things are changing, and that I am entering a time when I'm being offered the opportunity to go deep within myself and to birth something new. I'd say the dog was offering to guard me through the process. I don't know about time for something new in the church as it feels just so much more personal than that. But, that's just me. Everyone's dream iconography is so personal, and it could mean something entirely different to you.

[Dick]

Like Marja-Leena, I rarely remember dreams nowadays so this account was entrancing! The only other blogger...er...beyond callow youth who posts fascinating dreams is Sam Candide at Otherwise (http://bitterbrush.blogspot.com/)

[Beth Patterson]

Hi Beth--
What a powerful dream! Very hopeful, breathtakingly so.

I have birthing dreams regularly, and I know to prepare for change...

How wonderful that you have a Northern Dog, a shapeshifter, as guide for your process. Huskies are mystical creatures, all on their own. Their DNA from the wide open spaces gives their eyes a far spectrum of light and nuance of white. (A husky/wolf/shepherd hybrid shares my life, and I am eternally graced by what he sees/doesn't care about.)

The church part was interesting and probably part of a larger 'journey' for you? Have you read 'I heard the owl call my name'?

"In my dream of your dream" (the phrase we use in our dream circles so that it's clear we're projecting our own perception on someone else's dream, I am drawn to the light in each of the dream sequences. Some it's less obvious than others, but it's there in each piece. And a dream task that you might want to explore would be to actually allow the young woman and/or the dog to take you into the space where the men are ice-fishing and the woman giving birth.

Thank you for sharing this luminous dream. My life has been enriched by sitting with it a spell.