I’ve kept dream diaries since the ‘70’s and noticed this recurrence in mountainous dreamscapes over time. In other recurring dreams, there is a familiar urban landscape, unknown to me in wake-a-day life, along with the old haunts neighborhoods, family spaces and places in varying altered guises.
Guidance along the way in this exploration of dreams includes the writings of C. G. Jung and Joseph Campbell, Anaïs Nin and others. One contemporary inspiration has been Sufi mystic and teacher, Llewellyn Vaughn-Lee. He is the successor of Irina Tweedie of the Naqshbandiyya-Mujaddiidyya order of Sufism and founded The Golden Sufi Center. It is an order where dreamwork is practiced, spiritually and in the tradition of Jungian psychology. Dreams are a guiding force along the path. For a decade or more, I belonged to a local Sufi meditation group of this order, facilitated by Judith Citrin and Tom Wallace. There are many such gatherings across the country and world.
Personal symbols and imagery we always important to me and I also wanted to learn technical skills to be able to express myself visually and tell my stories. I went back to school for an M.F.A. in film/video. One of the courses I took in the graduate film program at Columbia College was called “Myths, Dreams, and the Movies.” This course taught by Keith Cunningham, offered tools to see the mythic quality of my own life and make symbolic connections in the stories of my life . Also while at Columbia College, instructor Shuli Eshel’s documentary course and her own filmmaking and presence became a catalyst for my creativity and we developed a longtime friendship.
In spite of being an introvert, the time was ripe in the 90’s to expand horizons so while I was in film school, I found powerful influences within groups of women. Over a ten-year period, involvement with the following groups began to dovetail and coalesced in art, ritual, myths, dreams and healing. Judith Citrin’s gathering of women called “Healing through the deep Feminine,” awakened the connective tissues of body, mind, spirit, and dreams. We meditated, did “hands-on healing”, used non-dominant hand exercises, and more. Pame Elish and her ongoing course “CreARTive Validity” created a close-knit group and spawned many artworks with art dialogue integrating modalities to celebrate what archetypes and forces were moving through us. In Pame’s group we met locally but also went on artist retreats during equinoxes and solstices. I remember whirling on a private beach at Lake Michigan during one of these retreats. Working with Althea Northage-Orr included groupwork in the Hermetic Tradition, exploring Goddess archetypes and rituals, as well as private sessions in Hakomi psychotherapy and Oriental Medicine.
In going through years of dream journals to select these connective dreams, I made a discovery. Unconscious of the dream long past, I did an art piece of a spinning rose out of fabric with collages on a lazy susan, no less. It had a meaning and purpose, which spoke to me at that time. The spinning rose image, I now see, came unconsciously from that older dream.
Spinning Rose with B. Yonan, P. Elish, and M. Robinson
In my second shared dream of standing stone, I regret I haven’t seen them in “real life” but their singing in vibratory tones power was a felt experience… Lastly in my third shared dream, I am reminded to cut the strings of attachment where they are the most attractive. This is an ongoing struggle for me but I honor and appreciate the lesson in the imagery.
Barbara Ezell is a librarian and film enthusiast with an M.L.I.S. from Dominican University and an M.F.A. in film and video from Columbia College Chicago. She lives in Chicago with her husband, Reggie Ezell and son Garrett.