John: At the start of the dream that you described yesterday (see Under Fire), you were depicting the general situation that we all find ourselves in – we are in life, we are on a journey, and everywhere there is turmoil and commotion. There’s always something going on.
We have become conditioned, numb even, to the fact that we exist each day in a type of war zone, because what unfolds around us is constantly throwing us off-balance. But if we’re lucky, we might get a glimpse, in all that commotion, that there’s something more happening than meets the eye.
The dream is showing you that you have an inner quality that is complete in itself, in terms of having a sense of the wholeness, yet that quality isn’t realized by you until you pick up the bow and arrow and recognize, basically, that “I can do this.” It reminds me of Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, who always has the power to go home again – within her – she just has to believe in it.
And that’s what happens to you in the dream. You are, at first, just trying to survive, to not get shot, as you try to make your return. Then, once you have the means at your disposal – the bow and arrow and your colored animal stones – you’re gaining the awareness that it’s already in you.
The sporting goods store owner appears, with a weapon that is right for you, as a way to show you that you can manifest what you need because you are part of everything. And what you are shooting from your bow are like particles of light into this darkness.
The mood, the oddity, and the confusion of the imagery you describe arises because you find yourself in your feminine aspect. It’s your masculine aspect that can cause the awakening to occur: at the beginning of the dream you had a sense of a male companion, and then the store owner that helps you is a man. That masculine aspect in you is what triggers a type of knowing that lets you see that you already have everything you need to cope in this world.
I would think such a dream would leave you feeling exhilarated because the process is one where you’re resolving the problems as they crop up. So, you move through life, things crop up, and those things act as a stimulus which can trigger something to be revealed to you. You have discovered the mechanism through which life can be navigated without bewilderment.
It’s another example of how our dreams enable us to stay current with where we are, both in relation to ourselves and to the world around us. A great opening-up inside us becomes possible when we get oriented, as it is sometimes described, to traveling in a counterclockwise direction.
It is the standard, clockwise approach to life that limits us to seeing and knowing only the separation and the struggles. In the counterclockwise approach, we open up to realize that there’s something going on behind the scenes of life that is actually much greater, much more important. In taking that approach, we open ourselves to revelations that help us make sense of it all.
So this dream shows that you have an understanding of what is unfolding. Again, it is like you are shooting light into the darkness, cutting through the veils, with your bow and arrow.
