F. Scott Fitzgerald: Before Gatsby: The First Twenty-Six Stories
Sarah Sentilles: A Church of Her Own: What Happens When a Woman Takes the Pulpit
Corey Moortgat: The Art of Personal Imagery: Expressing Your Life Through Collage
Rice Freeman-Zachery: Living the Creative Life: Ideas and Inspiration from Working Artists
Natalie Rogers: The Creative Connection: Expressive Arts As Healing
I work for a really wonderful organization called the Arts & Healing Network. Recently I was interviewed by Britt Bravo for our latest podcast.
It's a sweet, little interview. Take a listen! (click the player in the top, right part of the page).
I've been participating in a great conversation on Beth Patterson's blog about Dream Theater. Beth and many others were part of a wonderful experience we got to share at San Damiano Retreat Center a few weekends back.
I've been hesitant to share my Dream Theater experience in detail because it really was so intense and powerful, but the decision I came to (as I normally do in these situations) is that sharing my truth and my experience is helpful and inspiring to others and it does not take away from the power for me (although I am aware that there is some spiritual debate about that in dream and shamanic circles).
If you read the comments section on Beth's post (also known as Sista Mud!), she has a great description of Dream Theater, so I will refer you to that if you don't know what I am talking about.
It's so hard to talk about dreams and dreamwork sometimes. It is often not "speech-ripe" as my father likes to say. It's also hard to narrow down "the beginning" of the story. I'm reminded of that Tom Waits' live introduction on his album Big Time: Well, listen. We're gonna have to go all the way back to the Civil War. This dream story feels ancient and circular - no beginning and no end.
But this is a blog! Meant to entertain and inspire and it is, by it's nature, a linear format, so here goes:
I had this dream the morning of March 12, 2008. I call it Tattooed Hands.
I'm driving up a steep hill [just like in San Francisco, which I did learn to drive on] in an old VW bug from the 60's. I'm with my Uncle John. I have to slow way down because there is another car in front of us that is going really, really slowly. I am getting more and more pissed off because I cannot keep the car in gear and we keep stalling. John puts his hand on my knee and says, "I know that guy. He's having a hard time." My attitude immediately shifts to empathy for the man in front of me.
We stop the car and get out, because honestly, it's faster to walk at this point. John disappears and I begin to walk up the hill, which has turned into a mountain. The path starts to get muddy and I realize that I am walking the path of a pilgrimage. There are brown-skinned women - they look Mestizo or Mayan - flanking both sides of the path. They are dressed completely in white.
I realize that I am essentially "cutting in line." These women are on the pilgrimage too and they are waiting, whereas I am walking on the muddy path. I feel bad, but I can feel good energy coming from these women - they want me to keep walking. At one point I slip in the mud and fall flat on my face, and no one helps me up, yet I still feel nothing but encouragement from them.
I get to the top of the mountain and there are older women in a circle. I realize that they are here for me. They have been waiting for me. I walk to the center of the circle and one-by-one they walk up to me and take various parts of my body. Holding my hand, or elbow, or ear, they "divine" my future. But they are speaking a native language that I do not understand. I notice that their hands are elaborately tattooed in blue ink. It's a square Aztec kind of design and it is breathtakingly beautiful against their dark skin and white robes.
I realize that I am supposed to be blind, but I am not. I try closing my eyes, to pretend that I am blind, but the overwhelming sensation in my body is almost too much to bear. It feels like nausea and it feels like I am spinning out of control and then I wake up.
The night of May 2, 2008, I was at the Mercy Center, doing another dream workshop with my Father and I woke up with the memory of this dream and a feeling of urgency to work with it in some way. I ended up staying up most of the night drawing on my hands in blue ink and taking photos with my cell phone.
I had a lot of insights that night about my creative life and how I would like to make more time for ritual and ceremony in my life.
Flash forward to the weekend of the San Damiano workshop. I found out that we were going to do Dream Theater and this dream popped into my head with a solid BANG! I felt bad about putting my name in the hat to be chosen because I was a Teaching Assistant and didn't have to pay go, as others did. But my soul kept asking that I write my name down. When I started to fill out the slip of paper, the pen that was given to me, didn't work. "It's a sign!" I thought. "I'm not supposed to work today." The man who later played my Uncle John in the dream theater experience asked me what was wrong. "My pen doesn't work. It's a sign..." He said, "Yeah. A sign that you need a new pen!" and handed me a new pen. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
So I got to share my dream with everyone and use the Dream Theater process. Everyone present got to play various parts of the dream.
In Dream Theater, people play different parts of the dream (both animate and inanimate objects) and then the Dreamer has the option to shift in and feel what it is like to be that part as well. It's a very Gestalt kind of technique and it is amazing how visceral things can feel when I pretend to be "mud" or "the beginning of the path." I again, refer you to Beth's comments on her post, describing what it felt like to be the mud that I fall into. Amazing!
So what was my experience like? Honestly, it was one of the most intense and transformational experiences I have had in many years. I was very moved by falling into Sister Mud and feeling how deeply I was held, even though I had fallen down. I learned that falling down is part of the process of transformation. It's not about being perfect and walking the path with no injury or pain. It's about falling down and getting back up again and continuing on. And it's about knowing that Mother Earth is most definitely here for me. She will hold me whenever I need her. I just have to go lay down on the ground or even, let myself fall.
When Sister Mud and I changed places, I got to feel how amazing it is to be mud! To be rich, living earth! I also had a moment of feeling how powerful and joyful the Earth is. Growing up in the 70's and being around very hard-core environmentalists (and being quite conscious of the earth myself), I was used to a paradigm of the earth being a victim. Like the Earth was going to get so hurt at some point that she would die or break. But when I embodied Mother Earth in that moment, I felt strong and powerful and not like a victim at all. In fact, I felt this very visceral truth that all the digging and mining and poisoning that is happening to the Earth doesn't actually hurt her at all. It's all interaction and she loves interaction of any kind. There is no good or bad in her consciousness. Now of course, this doesn't mean that I'm going to go around telling people to do whatever they want to the Earth because she likes it all. I got the distinct message that no matter what, the Earth will be fine, but people are going to die off very soon, if we keep things up the way we have been going.
I also learned to really honor my slowness. After the Mercy Center retreat, when I stayed up all night drawing on my hands and taking photos(!) I came home energized and excited about my life and immediately got incredibly sick. I was so angry that I was sick. I couldn't believe God would knock me down when I was feeling so good. But now I realize that the dream is also coming to tell me that slowing down, just like falling down, is also part of the journey. Sometimes I am that man in the car in front of me who is having a hard time, and that is OK and natural and will pass.
The divination part of the Dream Theater was amazing. There really are no words for that aspect. All I can say is that I feel intimately connected to every person involved. All the women who blessed me into what I can only say now is some kind of womankind earth ministry. And the two men present, who spun me around, to give me the feeling of dizziness but really succeeded in keeping the woman playing nausea at bay and supporting me when I felt too dizzy. The spinning actually kept me upright, whereas if they had stopped, I surely would have fallen down.
And yes, oddly enough, no one played the tattoos on the hands. I would be curious to know what they represent, although one wonderful person pointed out that the Aztecs often sacrificed the best healers and if the ritual felt anything like that blessing/divination/re-initiation that I felt, I would have happily given my life at that moment. Tear out my heart! Eat it with hot sauce! Devour me!
So there is my experience of Dream Theater. I highly recommend it to anyone who has the chance to do it. It's incredible to be the dreamer, but it is almost as powerful to participate in someone else's dream.
I'm considering doing a Dream Theater Group soon, so be sure to e-mail me for more information. Thanks for making it to the end of this long post!
This morning I awoke from a dream with Hillary Clinton. In it, I am attending a work meeting/fundraising dinner. Hillary arrives at the very end and wows us all. She is very personable and incredibly friendly. In the back of my mind, I wonder "why is Hillary Clinton here?"
At the end, when we are cleaning up, Hillary jumps right in and starts taking out the trash, putting the folding chairs away, etc. I am very impressed that she is doing this "dirty work."
At the end of the dream, she takes me aside and tells me very earnestly, "I'm so sorry you had to deal with all that harassment stuff at your work." (I recently left a job due to a hostile work environment). She was so genuine and honest. I was so deeply touched by this, both in the dream and remembering the feeling now. She held my shoulders and looked into my eyes when she spoke to me and it was so authentic and felt so real.
And then I woke up, feeling like I had just spent the evening with Hillary Clinton.
As I was driving my husband to work this morning, the news was full of reports on the "scare tactics" that Hillary is using in her advertising. I had not heard or seen the ads, but it is always interesting and important to note when my dream images are immediately reflected in waking life.
I'm not sure what it all means, but I am amazed at how much more connected I feel to Hillary Clinton then I did before. Is she she using a new Dream Campaign?
This posting was originally published in my monthly column on The Chaplaincy Institute (ChI)'s website which can be found here: http://www.chaplaincyinstitute.org/pages/newsletter.html
Why do we need sacred space? It’s simple. We need a way (a place, a process) to gently and easily reconnect with the spiritual core of being human, to be touched "where we live" on a regular basis by that divine bit of fire.
—Kathryn L. Robyn, in Spiritual Housecleaning
Being an independent minister with no “home church” to call my own, I get creative with making spaces to serve and practice my ministry of creativity, dreamwork and healing.
When I moved to Petaluma from San Francisco, I reluctantly gave up my very cheap and beautiful shared office space. I needed somewhere to see clients and hold my dream groups, so I decided to use my new home as an office to see clients in.
I
was worried about doing this for many reasons. I wanted my space to be
private, and opening up my home to lots of different people seemed
invasive and overwhelming. And what about the cleaning?! I’m not a
dirty person, but I’ve been known to let dishes sit for a couple of
days, and sometimes I’m not so quick on the disposal of old cat litter.
On
the day when my first client was scheduled to come to the house, my
husband and I woke up early and begin the daunting task of making our
home “spotless.” I was so afraid I would overlook something and my
visitors would walk in, see that missed tumbleweed of cat hair on the
floor, and walk right out, horrified.
As
the process of cleaning our home began, I was completely shocked to
discover that I was actually enjoying myself. Thankfully, I have a
wonderful partner who was completely on board with the idea of making
our home beautiful and clean to welcome in my new clients.
I
realized in this process that my husband and I were creating sacred
space — the same way volunteers come to their church to oil the old
wooden pews, and the same way a Buddhist monk cleans the floor of the
temple or shrine. Who says my home is not a sacred space also? It is a
sanctuary and place of healing, both for my husband and me, and for my
clients.
As
I got down into the nooks and crannies of my home, I discovered piles
of dust and cat hair I didn’t know were there. Instead of being
disgusted or upset by this, I felt grateful that I had discovered this
“undiscovered” place in my home, and could now clean this neglected
space and make it fresh and new again.
This
process of “deep cleaning” reminds me so much of my own spiritual
practice, as I walk my path of healing and transformation. I have
committed to going deeper and to understanding my shadow places, so
that I can see what is “dirtying” up my energy body and find a way to
clean it out and transform it into something different and more
nurturing.
This
thorough housecleaning has now become a ritual for us, as I see clients
at least once a week in my home. It’s also a meditative time for me,
where I think about my past week and my ministry and what I would like
to do in this life. With this work, I am tending to my temple.
In
the beginning I had some concern that I wouldn’t get my home back after
meeting with clients, but this has not turned out to be the case. The
act of cleaning and preparing for them shifts the energy of the house — I
move the chairs around and create a new space that is just for when
clients come visit, or I put the chairs in a circle for group work. First I create a sacred container; then when the
session or group is over, I put the furniture back the way it was, burn
a little sage, and I have my home space back.
I
also create altars specifically for client sessions. Often I use a
statue of the Buddha (being an Interfaith Minister, I feel comfortable
with a variety of icons from various faith traditions) who holds a
small candle in his lap. Sometimes I have fresh flowers. Sometimes I
have crystals that my husband has blessed in his healing work.
I create special altars for the groups I facilitate as well.
These
often include little “gifts” or offerings I have prepared, or a book I
would like to read from. I always include my “circle of friends”
candleholder, which honors the way we have all come together to support
each other. The candle at the center honors the role that Spirit plays
in our gathering.
I also have the honor of performing wedding ceremonies; when I meet with couples to prepare and do pre-wedding consultations, I make an altar as well.
This
includes two statues that were given to my husband and I when we were
preparing for our own wedding. Sometimes I wrap the two statues
together with the beaded stole I crafted for my ordination. I always
try to include a ripe fruit or vegetable, to honor the growth and
nourishment of being in a love partnership.
In
the process of cleaning and preparing my sacred space, the whole house
also becomes like an altar. I try to pay attention to each object and
honor all the objects in my house. Those who have been in my home know
that I have A LOT of things! I have many sacred objects, from many
different faith traditions. I frequently re-arrange objects and make
new altars and spaces. That includes the little statues in the bathroom
and on top of the television. It keeps my home alive and the energy
moving instead of getting stuck and stagnant.
Making
and re-making altars is a powerful way to create sacred space. I think
Eleanor Coppola, wife of Francis and mother of Sophia, explains the
process well in the wonderful book Altars & Icons:
...there’s also something very soothing in just placing objects, shifting their position, or refolding the fabric, making the square a little smaller or a little larger. It satisfies some artistic part of myself.
Re-connecting
with our altars helps keep our home/office/space alive and fluid. It is
a way to honor visions and ideas in a tangible form.
Altars don’t just have to be for meditation. Janet Carter, from the same book:
Even when I’m not sitting in front of it, my altar is working because these particular objects are activated by my intent. It’s up to me to remember that the altar is here, to sit with it and take it in, not with my mind but with my heart and body. The altar brings these three together.
Seeing
my home through my clients’ eyes is a powerful experience. Many of them
see it as an oasis. I live on four acres in a home with high ceilings
and large windows. Yet I sometimes get stuck in the mundane realities
of my home, taking it for granted and overlooking its beauty. My
clients remind me every week that I live in a beautiful place that they
experience as a healing oasis, a place where they can take a break and
step back into the deep waters of their spiritual life.
Yes,
there have been times when the dishes didn’t get done before a client
arrived. And you know what... they didn’t even notice. Or if they did,
it didn’t take away from the work we did together that day.
Tending
to my space and keeping it clean and beautiful helps me stay in touch
with the greater Spirit. Sacred space can be created anywhere! I often
carry “altar kits” in my car, in case I am called to minister to
someone out in the world. A simple blanket, a small statue, some
wildflowers picked by the side of the road, can come together to make a
beautiful space for healing and transformation.
How do you make sacred space?
BOOKS:
Altars & Icons: Sacred Spaces in Everyday Life, by Jean McMann (Chronicle Books, 1998)
Altars of Power & Grace: Create the Life you Desire, by Robin & Michael Mastro (Balanced Books, 2004)
Beautiful Necessity: The Art & Meaning of Women’s Altars, by Kay Turner (Thames & Hudson, 1998)
Spiritual Housecleaning: Healing the Space within by Beautifying the Space Around You , by Kathryn L. Robyn (New Harbinger Publications, Inc., 2001)
We are all walking unique paths as we live our lives to the fullest. As we make choices and commitments, we are taking an active role in creating our lives (whether we are aware of it or not!).
As we walk our spiritual paths, our relationship paths, our career paths, and more, it is always nice to have a companion to walk along side us - someone who can be a compassionate witness and gentle guide, who can be a friend in the difficult times and help celebrate the joys and achievements.
Through one-on-one work and in groups, I am honored to be that unconditional, compassionate companion, to help you on your life journey.
Some tools I use: dreamwork, art-making, coaching, spiritual direction and meditation.
Here are some of the opportunities being offered this season:
******************
Sunday Afternoons, 2pm - 4pm
January 13th to April 6th, 2008
Investment: 3 monthly installments of $145,
or pre-pay for the whole series with $400
Our dreams always come in the service of health and wholeness (even the nightmares!) and sharing our dreams with others in a group format can be a powerful and essential way to gain new perspective and understanding of the inner life our dreams.
This is a "closed" group, so that we all can get to know each other, week after week and create a sacred space and community for 3 months.
As in all dream groups I facilitate, we will use the projective method ("If it where my dream" format).
Reserve your space today - tristy@trismegista.com
***************
NOTE NEW DAY
Friday Evenings, 7pm to 9pm
January 11th to April 4th, 2008
3 monthly installments of $145,
or pre-pay for the whole series with $400
Art making with dreams can be a powerful practice in finding new levels of meaning in dreams and their images as well as encouraging and freeing the innate creativity we all share. Bringing art and dreamwork together can help us overcome obstacles that are holding us back from being who we truly are, as we honor our own transformation.
This Dream Art Group includes sharing and working with dreams and creating art projects related to the dreamwork. NO ART SKILLS REQUIRED!
In this group we will do dream work using the projective method (the "if it were my dream" style), much like a "regular" dream group, with the added bonus of working with art as another tool to do dream work. The actual art-making will be done by each participant at home, but we will come together and bring our artwork to share with each other and be "worked" like a dream, in addition to sharing actual dreams with each other.
Reserve your space today - tristy@trismegista.com
******************
Saturday Afternoon, 3pm to 5pm
Beginning December 1st, 2007
Please RSVP for space availability
$25 per meeting
This is the on-going dream group I facilitate. This is a great group for those that would like an introduction to projective dreamwork, cannot commit to a class series, or have missed the window to sign up for a series. This group has more of a "drop-in" feel (but please register as space is limited). The person who gets to work a dream is selected randomly, but all benefit from this transformative work.
As in all dream groups I facillitate, we will use the projective method ("If it where my dream" format).
Reserve your space today - tristy@trismegista.com
******************
Saturday Afternoons, Noon to 2pm
Beginning December 1st, 2007
Please RSVP for space availability
$25 per meeting
Group Spiritual Direction is a wonderful way to find spiritual community in a comfortable setting. No matter what your spiritual path is, communicating together in an Interfaith setting can bring a deeper experience to our spiritual lives.
In past gatherings we have: discussed spiritual books; learned the history of various holidays; shared spiritual conflicts or issues to receive advice or guidance; experienced new spiritual practices; and shared new art projects.
Any topic is up for discussion! What would you like to talk about?
Reserve your space today - tristy@trismegista.com
*******************
Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays, or Sundays
various times - call for appointment
$55 per meeting
Join me in Petaluma and give yourself the gift of a compassionate, unconditional companion on your life path. Together we can explore your dreams, intuit the next step in your spiritual life and bring more creativity into your life journey.
My approach is truly Interfaith. I companion those who are agnostic, working the 12-steps, gardeners, and more as walking a spiritual path - and it is always nice to walk that path with a friend!
Reserve your space today - tristy@trismegista.com
When we work with dreams, especially in a group format, we all use projection to understand and comprehend the dream that is being shared. We listen to the dream and as we listen to it, we imagine our own version of the dream. If someone is telling me a dream about parachuting past a giant statue, there is a lot left to my imagination - no matter how much detail the dreamer may give me, my imagined dream and their remembered dream look and feel very, very differently.
That is why we do dreamwork in groups - hearing someone else's unique perspective can be essential to cracking open a door or window that may have been shut before.
But what is projection?
Projection is just as it sounds - we are projecting images, ideas, emotions, etc. onto another person, experience, object, etc. It is the only way we know how to communicate and "be" with each other. It is our human process of relating.
Sometimes participating in a dream group is the first time someone has heard or understood the term projection. In the groups I facilitate, I ask that all participants use "I Statements." In other words - "If it were my dream" or "in my imagined version of the dream." This is both respectful and truthful, as all we can do is feel our way through the imagined version of the dream being shared with us.
I personally feel that this "I Statement" practice should also be used in "regular" life. It's amazing how often I hear things like, "You work so hard in life and no one appreciates you..." or something along those lines - when really the person making that statement is speaking about themselves and their own experience. I know when I start using "You" a lot, that I am probably not owning something about myself.
In fact, in the dream groups I facilitate, I ask that, even when people are speaking about waking life events, that they still use "I Statements." We project on people in our waking lives hundreds of times more than we do on other people's dreams.
I also know how powerful the Ego can be. There is such a deep desire to separate ourselves from each other and sometimes we can get pretty feisty about our projections - "no, this is really about her, not me!" But the fact of the matter is, if we are capable of expressing that feeling or idea or emotion about someone else, we are capable of feeling it ourselves and therefore that statement applies to us in some varying degree.
And dreams are the perfect vehicle for "meeting and greeting" our dark sides - the parts of us that we don't want to acknowledge exist! Our dreams come from us - no one else is writing or dictating these scenarios, so when I had a dream about a dark, evil man torturing me, I am both the one being tortured and the torturer - even though I would never intentionally hurt another being in waking life. Some part of me understands that evil character and it is a benefit to me and the greater world to get to know that aspect of my personality and see what it might be asking me, as far as healing and transformation. This is what Carl Jung calls "getting to know the Dark Shadow."
And it works the other way as well - when I dream about a powerful spiritual being that infuses me with love, I am that Bright Shadow as well. When someone praises me for something I have said or done, I try to receive it, but then let it go - because it is not really about me, it is about that person recognized a part of themselves and celebrating it. The same is also true when someone gets incredibly angry at me for something I've done - I listen and integrate the criticism in a way that is helpful to me, and then I let it go, because again, it is not just about me. My father often says, "projection doesn't work unless there is a hook to hang it on." It is a shared experience.
Can you imagine what the world would look like if our global leaders understood projection and could communicate on that level? I have witnessed countless misunderstandings (not to mention, participated in more than my share) that all went back to one person's idea of who another person was and vice-versa - "I am not that." Our "war on terror" is a perfect example. The Dark Shadow can never be eliminated, just more deeply understood and integrated.
I see this a lot when I am counseling soon-to-be-married couples. Often I will witness huge, emotional arguments, when in reality, they actually want the same thing! They have just forgotten that they are on the same team and have slipped into the "he obviously is punishing me for..." or "she never understands me..." They are falling unconsciously into their projections and start to communicate in a defensive way. The tone can change so quickly when everyone involved switches to "I Statements."
So think about projection as you go about your day - pay attention to the words you say and how you say them. It might lead to a big change you were not expecting!
This posting was originally published in my monthly column on The Chaplaincy Institute (ChI)'s website which can be found here: http://www.chaplaincyinstitute.org/pages/newsletter.html
While facilitating my Dream Art Group,
I have been spending a lot of time thinking about Spirit as it works in
our dream lives and in the act of art-making as a catalyst. Making art
can be a way to bring the world of dreams and the world of the waking
life together for deeper understanding and transformation in our lives.
Dreams provide us with our own personal myths, and in mythology, fact
and fiction form a finely woven fabric of story. A myth is neither only
fact nor only fiction. Dreams also belong in this middle realm, as they
fall between imaginal and consensual reality.
When we encounter the fantasy elements within our dreams, often we
dismiss such dreams as unhelpful. Yet we are just as quick to dismiss
“unimaginative” dreams because they have no fantasy elements. Both
positions are extreme and exclude the middle realm. Even the most
ordinary dream can open a wide window onto a field of workable symbols
and images.
When we enter a dream and work its images through an art-making
process, we are embodying the dream in a whole new way. It is very
similar to Fritz Perls’ Gestalt work with dream images and symbols:
"Instead of telling the dream as if it were a story in the past, act it out in the present, so that it becomes a part of yourself, so that you are really involved. … If you understand the meaning of … some bit of a dream, each time you translate an ‘it’ into an ‘I’, you increase in vitality and in your potential.” (Perls, Ego, Hunger & Aggression 1969, pp. 68-70)
When
we take a dream image and bring it into ourselves, letting it guide our
hands and shift our perception, a new direction is given and a new path
is discovered. When we pick up a crayon or a paintbrush and begin to
experience the feeling of the dream as we work, our own “personal
mythology” begins to show itself.
The personal symbols appearing in our dreams are specific only to us.
Just as no one can tell us what our dream means, so no one can tell us
what the images and symbols in our dreams and our art mean. To one
person, a snake can symbolize female power, while to another it can
represent the feeling of being fake or sneaky. Thus working with
powerful dream symbols in art-making is a direct way to discover our
own mythology, and through doing this, we understand ourselves in a
much deeper way.
Shortly before his death, Joseph Campbell spoke of the bliss of the
mythologically-inspired life—where mythology is lived as layer upon
layer of fluid metaphor, leading the self to the exalted state of being transparent to the transcendent.
It is important to remember that this process is not about
illustrating, although there are many wonderful artists who do this
kind of work. Making Dream Art is more about connecting to the energy
of the dream. Through this process, the symbols present themselves.
When getting started in making Dream Art, two mediums are very easy
and accessible. One is keeping a dream journal; the other is making
collages. Both are easy to do (they do not require any technical
training or special materials) and can be done relatively quickly.
Combining the two is especially powerful!
In addition to being a wonderful way to track all the dreams we have,
keeping a dream journal is a great tool to refer to when making dream
art. Upon waking, I write the dream down in a narrative form, using the
present tense so I don’t miss any details. Then, when I am ready to be
more involved and delve into the deeper space of making art, I have my
dream journal at the ready, full of stories and ideas. When I begin
creating, I try to let go of any intention to “duplicate” anything in
the dream. Sometimes when I have finished writing down the dream, I
daydream while doodling on the same page. I am always amazed at how
beautiful these images can look!
I am That Too by Tristy Taylor
I am Everything by Tristy Taylor
When
collaging with a dream, a great place to start is to sit down with a
pile of magazines (make sure you have a variety, not just fashion
magazines or just science magazines) and other good sources for images,
like catalogs and old textbooks. Look through them and tear out
anything that strikes you—good or bad. (When I have a nice big pile, I
like to make categories like “Monsters”, “Animals”, “Women”, “Fire,”
etc.) Then sit down with the dream and identify what stands out for you
emotionally. Was it a scary dream? Did it feel spiritual and calming?
Enter that emotional space as completely as you can, then take some
heavy paper (like card stock or poster board) and start laying out
images. It is amazing what can show up in this process!
Inspired by Seena B. Frost’s SoulCollage cards, I worked with my dreams
to create my own deck of personal mythology cards.
The Ancestors
The Call
The Father
The Preacher
All
of these cards echo dreams that I have remembered. Through the process
of working these dreams through art, I have had amazing insights about
myself, my patterns, and my deep beliefs.
I hope you are inspired to make some art with your dreams! I’d love to
hear and share in your experience. Feel free to e-mail me at tristy@createwithspirit.com.
Resource Books
In the Dream Art Group I am facilitating, we do an Art Check-In every week. One of my intentions with this is to integrate art-making into our daily lives. In the past, I have facilitated workshops where the art is made during the group time, and while that is also a very powerful experience, I found myself disappointed when I noticed that the art-making wasn't happening after the group had completed.
Now, don't get me wrong, I love making things...but having an art assignment every single week is pretty intense! I'm really getting pushed in new ways. Here are some really powerful things I have realized:
The last couple of weeks I have been making these little goddess dolls. The first week, I made them out of cloth. I used some old fabric I had lying around and I filled them with rice and lavender, as I HATE the toxic batting that craft stores sell to fill dolls with. I also embroidered them and added little crystals on some of the chakra points. I don't know why I made these dolls - I was just following my creative intuition, which is what I do every day, in some way.
The next week, I decided I wanted to continue with this goddess figures, but I wanted them to be more sturdy. The cloth dolls felt too floppy. For some reason, I wanted something I could hold firmly in my hand.
The next little goddesses I made were created out of Sculpey. I love Sculpey. I grew up with my father making Fimo creatures. I remember him making lots of little characters for his Dungeons & Dragons game and I also remember a face of Jesus hanging on the front door of our house with a cartoon bubble over his head (also made of Fimo!) that said "Love Your Enemies!" I remember him sitting with his X-Acto knife, cutting out tiny black letters to put on that white background. It was meticulous! The Jesus face also had tiny drops of blood and a tiny crown of thorns. Now that I have worked with a similar medium, I am astonished at the amount of detail he crafted with those characters!
The other issue with having a week to make a piece of art, is that I often don't have time to be that meticulous. I usually only have one afternoon to really get into making (I have 3 jobs!), and I usually want to get my general concept completed, with the intention to get more detailed later. That time to get more detailed doesn't seem to ever come (I guess with all things that are important to me, I have to MAKE that time!).
So this past week, I used Sculpey (I prefer it to Fimo, it's easier for me to use - it stays softer longer) and I made some solid, little goddess characters. The first one I made seemed to have a long tail like a sperm. Why am I making little Goddess Sperms? The next one was a flat triangle shape and the third one was a little round lump with tiny breasts. The third one is very satisfying to hold.
At this point, I finally realized why I might be making these funny little creatures. I recently had a terrible experience while pregnant. My husband and I have been taking a break while I heal, 
both physically and emotionally, and we finally feel ready to start trying again in earnest - this week in fact! I still have a lot of fear around what could happen this time, and I realized 
that I was tapping into a very ancient place in myself and making little fertility/pregnancy totems.
Archaeologists have been finding little Goddess figures for many years. Their original purposes will never really be known, but when I have looked at them in museums and books, they have a very voluptuous, fertile feeling to me (like the Venus of Willendorf). Many of the replicas are very satisfying to hold. I realized that I am making my own versions of these little figures. Perhaps to help us get pregnant? Perhaps to be angels and guides watching over us so we don't have another painful loss of a pregnancy? Perhaps to hold on to when I am giving birth? I don't really know, but they make me very happy.
I have put them next to our bed, so they can watch over us.
I think I am going to make more this week. We shall see what new goddesses I create. I found some stone-colored Sculpey and some excellent new face molds!
What are you making this week?
We experience dreams in much the same way that we experience a powerful piece of art. There is an emotional experience that we may or may not understand. We are taken in by the images or words or sounds and for a moment, we forget about "waking life" and are immersed in a different world and therefore, a different part of ourselves that we may not usually have easy access to.
So it makes a lot of sense that the act of making a piece of art while in "conversation" with a dream can be a very powerful process that affects both waking life and the dreaming life. When we dialog with the parts of ourselves that we don't always communicate with, it can have tremendous outcomes.
I'm currently re-reading the wonderful book Art as Medicine: Creating a Therapy of the Imagination by Shaun McNiff. In his book, he shares a wonderful story about the dialog between dreaming and art-making:
A woman...was making eight-by-six-foot paintings. She was a tall person, over six feet. With the group she discussed how she feels that she takes up too much space and experiences conflicts with others in relation to this. In an evening performance she rolled up one of her large paintings, placed a red rose on it, carried it in a slow procession accompanied by sacred music, placed the painting on an elevated surface, and knelt before it. That night she dreamed that a large ship stops in the middle of a village to board passengers. It moves deeply through the earth without effort and not subject to the control of a person. As the ship passes, the ground returns to its previous condition...The woman who feels too big, who is accused of taking too much space, and who just walked in a procession, dreams of a large ship that moves gracefully through the earth...In responding to this dream, we marveled at the way psyche amplified the actions of the day, sympathized with them, and transformed them into fascinating forms that re-framed the situation within a silent drama of imagery.
This passage beautifully illustrates my own experiences (and what I have witnessed in others) in making art with dreams. There is a powerful dialog that can happen between our waking life and our dream life. When we can look at the pieces we make with as much respect as we give our dreams, we can integrate this new knowing and truly change our lives by healing old wounds and transforming how we are in the world.
I'm not sure where to begin with explaining who Sally Cruikshank is and what a big influence she has been on me. Normally, at this point, I would link to the person's entry in Wikipedia, but I have recently decided that I don't trust it anymore (and really should I have ever trusted it?). The best way to really get to know her is to read her wonderful blog.
So I am just going to write my own, personalized entry right here - I grew up in Marin County, here in Northern California. I was also the daughter of movie lovers and at least one comic book/animation enthusiast (when my father was asked what he would be doing if he weren't a revolutionary minister and dreamworker, he replied, "a comic book artist!").
One of the best art movie houses outside of San Francisco was (and it's still holding its own in that department) the Sequoia Twin Cinema in Mill Valley (now called the CineArts at Sequoia). We would go there regularly (sometimes once a week!) and watch all sorts of wild films. I loved reading as a child, so my parents were delighted to discover that I loved foreign films because I could read the subtitles. Of course, being a seven-year old watching an unrated French film in the 70's brought up some interesting questions in my little brain!
One of the other great things that the Sequoia Twin would do is show Sally Cruikshank's fantastic, amazing, dreamlike, inspiring, animated films. My Dad and I would be rooted to the spot as we watched her shorts. Her work is indescribable, but to me, seems VERY influenced by dreams. I can't find any evidence supporting this fact at all - but see for yourself! Face Like a Frog is one of my favorites (and now it's available on DVD!). My father and I STILL sing, "Don't Go in the Basement!" (performed by Oingo Boingo, no less!)
And as far as giant puppets - I'm not sure if this was inspired by dreams either, but images of this giant "princess puppet" went right into my dreams!
Experiencing videos like these always fill me with inspiration and excitement. I hope it does for you too!
In the Dream Art Group I am facilitating, the Process Painting technique came up. It's a wonderful way to spark creativity, discover new aspects of ourselves and explore issues that are presenting themselves in our lives.
Michele Cassou & Stewart Cubley are the pioneers in this process. When I was part of a Process Painting group (also called Point Zero Painting & Painting Experience), each person has their own "canvas" taped to the wall, which is usually some very inexpensive paper (image from Heather Sullivan's wonderful Build Altars website). There are tempera paints (which is the same as finger paints!) in the center of the room and every kind of brush you could imagine, and every person paints freely, with no thought going towards the final product. It is a purely process-focused experience. That is why the paper and paints are so low quality - so there is no fear of being too "precious" about painting ("I shouldn't use so much blue - I don't want to wreck this nice painting!").
Whenever you get stuck, the facilitator comes by and asks really simple, non-directional questions like "how are you feeling?" and "what color do you want to use next?" Choosing the next color is a nice way to step out of the "stuck" place and come back to the act of creating. It's amazing what this process brings up and it is amazing what images come out when you are not thinking of the final outcome. It is such a place of freedom!
Imagine what you could paint if you were in a place of total and complete freedom!
After taking my own Process Painting Workshop, with the wonderful and talented Lauren Vannett, at the (now no longer?) Brush with Creativity studio in Sausalito, CA, I created a series of powerful paintings that shifted my whole career path. At the time, I was working for various non-profits around San Francisco. I wanted to do good work in the world and "help people," but making web sites and photocopying didn't really feel my heart with joy. After making these series of paintings, I realized that art-making and creative expression was essential in my life. This realization lead me to John F. Kennedy's fantastic Arts & Consciousness program, which showed me the path towards my creative ministry.
I highly recommend that you take a Process Painting class (or any version thereof) and experience it for yourself - but check out the facilitator very carefully - there are some people out there that claim to be doing this process, but actually make comments about the final work and other destructive things - no one in the group should be commenting on anyone else's pieces as it can damage the safe container that has been created by only focusing on process. Call the facilitator of the group and ask questions about their process. If you get a bad feeling, move on and find another workshop - there are hundreds of them out there, all over the country!
If you are one of those folks who want to read a bit, before taking a class (and I know you well because I am one too!), then pick up Life, Paint & Passion: Reclaiming the Magic of Spontaneous Expression by Michele Cassou & Stewart Cubley, with a forward by Natalie Goldberg, who wrote the wonderful book Writing Down the Bones.
This book gives a wonderful history of how Michele and Stewart came up with this process, why they feel it is so important, and how it changed their lives.
I also have this wonderful little chapbook that Michele Cassou created, called Questions to Awaken your Creative Power to the Fullest. I want to quote the section called Do Not Compromise:
Do not compromise with your inspiration. Creation is adventure, a moment to moment discovery. Open the door to your spontaneity, to your playful side, and images and colors will flow out of you to your surprise and delight. To create is to move into the unknown, to enter into the mystery of life. Let go of control and listen to your intuition, which knows best.
There are no mistakes and no points of comparison. Your work is totally unique, because you are unique. You cannot fail!
This is such wonderful advice for creating in general. And to bring this all back to making art with your dreams - it's all about following our intuition. When we wake from a dream and feel called to create something, being able to access the place of freedom and worry-less making is essential. There is no good or bad, no failure and no mistakes. It is pure creativity - pure making and that can be a powerful, spiritual space to dwell in!
My mother has been an incredible inspiration to me for all of my life. I grew up sharing my dreams and art with her and she always received them with appreciation and interest. She is a very crafty lady (as is her mother) and I was always surrounded with yarn and quilts and dolls and paints and other wild projects she was working on.
When she moved, she created a fantastic studio for herself in her new garage (a garage was inconceivable idea in the house I grew up in).
Her latest passion are her PrismaColor pen pictures, which she creates using dreams she has had as inspiration. I've been encouraging her to start a blog and share these totally amazing pictures with the world and now she has!
Here is a description of her process in her own words:
I've been working with my dreams for over 30 years and in the last 10
years I've been mining my dreams to make art. I lost interest in
"illustrating" my dreams and began to just follow the path of least
resistance. The process is something like what the surrealists
experimented with - automatic drawing. But what I do seems to draw from
both conscious and unconscious states of mind. I suppose it's a
meditation, really.
I've come to think of it as a "getting out
of my own way" kind of art making. There is some sort of balance
between thinking things through and following impulses, feelings and
intuitions. I do think about the elements of design, but only when it
doesn't interfere with the flow of images.
Her images have always been an inspiration to me. Check out Dreaming While I'm Awake and enjoy!
Dream Art Group
Meeting for 13 Wednesday evenings in Petaluma, CA
August 1st to October 24th, 2007
7:30 - 9:30 pm
For more information contact Tristy at tristy@trismegista.com or call
707-775-4219
Art making with dreams can be a powerful practice in finding new levels of meaning in dreams and their images as well as encouraging and freeing the innate creativity we all share. Bringing art and dreamwork together can help us overcome obstacles that are holding us back from being who we truly are, as we honor our own transformation.
DreamArt work includes sharing and working with dreams and creating art projects related to the dreamwork. NO ART SKILLS REQUIRED!
In this group we will do dream work using the projective method (the “if it were my dream” style), much like a "regular" dream group, with the added bonus of working with art as another tool to do dream work. The actual art-making will be done by each participant at home, but we will come together and bring our artwork to share with each other and be "worked" like a dream, in addition to sharing actual dreams with each other.
We will be using collage and other easily accessible mediums, so participants can be at any level of art making skills (including never having done anything creative before!) I will also be available by email during this time if you have technical questions (how do I make my collage 3-D? Where can I find images of frogs? etc.).
$25 non-refundable fee to reserve your space.
Discount price if you pay ahead: $300 (minus reservation fee = $275)
paid by 1st August for the entire 13 weeks,
Or payment plan of $125 (minus reservation fee = $100) on August 1st,
$100 on September 5th and $100 on October 3rd
If you have to drop out before the 13 weeks are over, please give me 48
hours notice by phone
Any questions? Please don't hesitate to call: 707-775-4219 or email tristy@trismegista.com. For more information about dream work in general, please visit my website: http://www.trismegista.com.
Tristy Taylor has a Masters in Transformative Arts and Dream Studies at JFK University, several Dream Studies Certificates and is an ordained Interfaith Minister. She has been leading dream groups for over 15 years and has been making art inspired by dreams even longer!
Dreams are self-luminous: they shine of themselves as gods do. Myths are public dreams. Dreams are private myths. By finding your own dream and following it through, it will lead you to the myth world in which you live. - Joseph Campbell in Sukhavati: Place of Bliss
One of the first times I consciously acted on an invitation to make art from my dreams, I was having re-occuring dreams of blue babies. They would come in all shapes and sizes, sometimes talking, sometimes flying, sometimes crawling, but always in the same shade of blue.
Soon, I was seeing this blue color everywhere I went, and the synchronicities became overwhelming. I would see this brilliant blue in mundane places like cars and clothing, and I would see it in more "higher " and "cosmic" places like beautiful illustrations of the Hindu God Krishna, the Medicine Buddha, and Lakota Land Spirits.
Finally, I decided to actually manifest my own blue babies in waking life, and to stay open to new information that I could learn from the dream and my divine inner self. I started by drawing them. This felt good, but I knew there was a lot more I wanted to do. I didn't want to just illustrate my dream, I wanted to communicate with it - to have a dialog with these blue babies.
I realized I wanted to make an actual 3D baby. This meant moving into the world of sculpture, which I had never been to before. I decided to start with something easy, so I went to the Goodwill Thrift store and started searching in the toy section for baby dolls. As I was digging in the giant pile of dolls and doll parts, a little girl walked up and asked me what I was doing. I told her my plan and she understood immediately. Soon I had three kids helping me look for baby dolls in the giant pile of toys in the corner. They all understood immediately that I had to make something and I needed a doll to do it. It was so beautiful to have these kids understand my confusing creative path so quickly and immediately...no long explanation needed!
Finally I found about three dolls that seemed like they might work. I bid goodbye to my tiny helpers and bought some blue spray paint that closely matched the blue of my dreams and sprayed all three dolls. I propped them up, next to my bed, to see and feel what the next step may be.
Through my dreams, I discovered that the next step was to bring them to my Shamanism & Dreams class at John F. Kennedy University. This scared me to death...what would people think? These blue babies are kind of creepy, aren't they? But I had made a commitment a long time ago to honor my dream life and if I felt I was being asked to do something, I should do it!
As soon as I pulled them out of my bag, I started hearing stories from many people in my class about their own dreams of blue babies and blue deities. It was truly amazing! I again understood that dreams are a direct tap into the universal consciousness that Carl Jung and many others speak of. We all share universal archetypes, once we delve down into the unconscious.
As no dream has one meaning, so my blue babies have many different meanings for everyone who interacts with them, including myself. A couple of women in my class where very disturbed by the babies, because they themselves had been born "blue" (not getting enough oxygen in the womb). I wondered if the same was true for me and I called my mother. She told me that in fact, my umbilical cord had wrapped around my neck in the womb and I was a bit bluish when I was born. This experience is just one example of the way working with Spirit through dreams and art has healed and transformed my life, giving me insight about unconscious memories and experiences.
I find, when we honor these synchronicities, by working with our dreams and the symbols connected to the dreams that appear in our waking life, it is a divine path to health and wholeness.
Now that I am solidly in my mid-30's, I have learned some solid truths about the world and my life. I have discovered and named patterns I was completely unconcious (or totally in denial) of and I have created a somewhat solid and meaningful life.
This is not to say, that everything I know to be true in this moment may change a year from now...because the absoluteness of change is the one thing I can count on. When I was ordained as an Interfaith Minister at the Chaplaincy Institute in Berkeley, CA, one of our group vows was "Transformation on our journeys." As I grow and change, my life changes and so does my spiritual path and therefore my ministry changes as well.
It can be difficult to relax into the transformations, but I'm working on it!
That is really one of the deepest inspirations for beginning this blog. I want to track and share what I see and understand about the world and read and understand how others see the world, how their paths have transformed, etc.
I do this already with my dream journal. I have kept a dream journal regularly from the age of 13 (and many sporadic, half-filled journals from earlier!) so I can now read and process twenty years-worth of dreams. I see new patterns I never saw before. It's really quite amazing.
And now I have this new "spiritual journal" and we shall see what transformations occur...
