vision quest nasties
VISION QUEST NASTIES
I did a vision quest this evening:
I started climbing down the trunk of a tree which led down into some fathomless chasm. Light and lithe, I descended easily stepping from branch to branch. When I finally reached the bottom, I found myself in a circle of firelight with darkness beyond. The watcher from beneath the tree, as I read in the guide, was there waiting for me. He came forward and sat cross-legged behind the fire, and invited me to do likewise.
We sat thus for some time, with animals coming and going, but none coming into the light. Finally, a goose appeared and came to me. When it was close enough, it gave me a severe pecking, so I retaliated and punched and kicked it.
At last we called a truce, and the goose led off indicating that I should follow. The light went with us, and I dutifully followed along behind the goose. But as we went, it turned into a dodo. After a while it started dancing, and I copied its steps, as though on a dance mat. After a while, it turned to face me, and the dance continued for some time before the dodo disappeared, and I found myself floating upwards, still with the light surrounding me, but darkness beyond.
For a while I remained suspended in the air, then suddenly a lot of feirce creatures came snarling and snapping out of the darkness. They none of them penetrated the light. Finally, I blew a loud, long raspberry, and they all disappeared as though they might have been soap bubbles. That was the end of the quest.
Meaning
The dodo I connect with a series on TV. It was a serialisation of the novel Middlemarch, by George Elliot. The principle character was nicknamed Dodo by her sister. Dodo fell under the spell, and married, an academic who was writing a 'key to all mythologies'.
This reminded me of an aspiration I had some time ago, but which I had forgotten about: since I have learned in recent years how to interpret dreams, I have, myself, doscovered the 'key to all mythologies', and a while ago I had thought to do some writing, perhaps a website, on the subject. The quest was reminding me, at a time when I have finished several projects and am thinking of starting something new, of a project that would be good to start.
As to all the violence, and nasty creatures: Having begun to practice pathworking, I have read several books on the subject, and they all feel the need to tackle the 'problem' of encountering creatures that seem to mean to cause harm. My own visionquest shows the way to deal with this sort of thing --- do not take it seriously.
In my vision, I was surrounded by light, and none of the nasties were able to penetrate it. Light has two meaning. First, in the 'light of reason', one can learn to understand that these things are no threat, and simply ignore them and they can cause no harm. Second, and more importantly, 'light' stands in oppostion to 'heavy'. That is, humour, as opposed to seriousness. Notice that when I blew a raspberry they all burst like bubbles. This is how to deal with that sort of thing. Nasties rely on being taken seriously.
Notice, too, that you can go so far as to employ violence yourself --- remember the fight I had with the goose! This is light-hearted, it is fun! This is what humour is for, and it should always be used.
I did a vision quest this evening:
I started climbing down the trunk of a tree which led down into some fathomless chasm. Light and lithe, I descended easily stepping from branch to branch. When I finally reached the bottom, I found myself in a circle of firelight with darkness beyond. The watcher from beneath the tree, as I read in the guide, was there waiting for me. He came forward and sat cross-legged behind the fire, and invited me to do likewise.
We sat thus for some time, with animals coming and going, but none coming into the light. Finally, a goose appeared and came to me. When it was close enough, it gave me a severe pecking, so I retaliated and punched and kicked it.
At last we called a truce, and the goose led off indicating that I should follow. The light went with us, and I dutifully followed along behind the goose. But as we went, it turned into a dodo. After a while it started dancing, and I copied its steps, as though on a dance mat. After a while, it turned to face me, and the dance continued for some time before the dodo disappeared, and I found myself floating upwards, still with the light surrounding me, but darkness beyond.
For a while I remained suspended in the air, then suddenly a lot of feirce creatures came snarling and snapping out of the darkness. They none of them penetrated the light. Finally, I blew a loud, long raspberry, and they all disappeared as though they might have been soap bubbles. That was the end of the quest.
Meaning
The dodo I connect with a series on TV. It was a serialisation of the novel Middlemarch, by George Elliot. The principle character was nicknamed Dodo by her sister. Dodo fell under the spell, and married, an academic who was writing a 'key to all mythologies'.
This reminded me of an aspiration I had some time ago, but which I had forgotten about: since I have learned in recent years how to interpret dreams, I have, myself, doscovered the 'key to all mythologies', and a while ago I had thought to do some writing, perhaps a website, on the subject. The quest was reminding me, at a time when I have finished several projects and am thinking of starting something new, of a project that would be good to start.
As to all the violence, and nasty creatures: Having begun to practice pathworking, I have read several books on the subject, and they all feel the need to tackle the 'problem' of encountering creatures that seem to mean to cause harm. My own visionquest shows the way to deal with this sort of thing --- do not take it seriously.
In my vision, I was surrounded by light, and none of the nasties were able to penetrate it. Light has two meaning. First, in the 'light of reason', one can learn to understand that these things are no threat, and simply ignore them and they can cause no harm. Second, and more importantly, 'light' stands in oppostion to 'heavy'. That is, humour, as opposed to seriousness. Notice that when I blew a raspberry they all burst like bubbles. This is how to deal with that sort of thing. Nasties rely on being taken seriously.
Notice, too, that you can go so far as to employ violence yourself --- remember the fight I had with the goose! This is light-hearted, it is fun! This is what humour is for, and it should always be used.
posted by joan @ 1:57 PM
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