It begins with me sitting on the ground, knees drawn to my chest, my back propped against a amber-colored casket, in a dim candle-lit funeral parlor. My face was buried in my knees as I wept. It appears that my father had passed away in this dream. Beside me was a ceramic dish with burning pieces of paper filled with writing. After a while, a shadow fell on me. Noticing it, I drew up head up to meet the caster of it. I was greeted by the seemingly friendly face of a man. He then offered me his hand and told me, "Come. I'll show you the world." Reluctantly, I took his hand. All of a sudden, a pair of black-colored wings sprouted from his back. Without thinking, I climbed onto his back and he took flight. The parlor disappeared and was replaced with snow-capped mountains and pine trees. After a while, the snowy paradise was absorbed into the eternal darkness of outer space, where my gaze was met with a breathtaking view of earth. He turned to look at me... and then I was ripped from slumber by the alarm clock.
It's been three years and I still can remember this dream, for some reason. A reason that I hope to find out eventually.
You got visited by the "Genius"--- this winged figure rarely visits dreams (at least ones that we remember) but when it does it is an ancient symbol that could coincide with the birth of consciousness itself. The Genius is the Greek name for a class of imaginative beings that visit us either in unconscious events or in imaginative representations of them. They may represent and aspect of ourselves, or of an abstract concept (such as love--hence Cupid w' wings--, death, will power, even sleep etc). In either case, most cultures associate the winged creature with the soul, whether as an actual manifestation of one's own soul (Greeks, Egyptians, Hindus & even Christians often depict souls with wings) or vital energy, or as an attendant or protector of it (like guardian angels). In all of these cases, the winged creature is an extension of ourselves, which is where that name "Genius" comes from--- a genius being something original that was born or "generated" within us.
ReplyDeleteAt the same time, this character connects to a deeper source, call it spiritual, divine, of nature, whatever. It's kind of like how Jung writes that symbols spring from the collective unconscious "as a plant produces its flower" (Man & his Symbols, p. 53).
It's hard to say where your dream was going from there without knowing the nature of the stress you were experiencing at the time. I'd venture to speculate though that the fact that you were at the funeral of your father plays a role in defining your dream's meaning. Symbols rarely mean what they actually appear as--- so a death might be a loss or change, and a father figure could be protection or guidance (there are of course further potential significances).
Great heights connect to this as well. I actually had a similar dream to yours, mine being about caught up in a rainbow that I ran after as a kid-- in the dream once I hit the colors I was propelled into the sky then space then a great bright light from there. Compare and contrast the two scenes of your dream, from a funeral parlor to outer space, with snow-capped mountains as the intermediary space: these themselves symbolize insurmountable spaces or obstacles, or conditions beyond human grasp. Yet you did surmount both spaces, the grieving of death as well as prodigious natural phenomena. Consider all this further within the context of what was going on in your life at the time, it could lead to some interesting discoveries--- or yet more questions.... Good blog here!
JM