Dream Analysis of the Week- Butterfly League

Dream:

A man was seated at a round table in a club.  Each had different deep-coloured table cloths that hung to the floor.  Seated strangers talked in hushed voices. He waved for a standing lady to come over. She smiled, wrote something on a sheet of paper and handed it to him scrunched up like a boquet as she walked away. The writing said she was " out of his league." He set the paper down under a transparent glass butterfly paperweight.  The paper rolled itself up, covering the paperweight. Then it turned into a butterfly and flew away.  Suddenly, the man was alone. everythign else vanished. He became half man, half woman, drinking from a golden cup.

Insight:

On the surface, it may seem someone or something is rejecting or not validating you, but deep down, you can only ever reject or validate yourself. Every character (man, woman, strangers) and objects are a version of you inviting you to explore shadow fears.  The matter of opposites and the failure to recognise and integrate the shadow (all that is within us that we do not know about) are responsible for all out percived problems. 

Something or someone has had longstanding appeal and has also has been enriching your life experience.  Yet, as energy and priorities shift, what once held your undivided attention can lose/ has lost power and influence. Like a paperweight, it may now feel like its holding you down (or back) from your soul destiny. You are like the restless paper, ready to spread wings, fly into new freedom. This may be a turning point for letting go of attachments, emotions, karmic loops, situations that have had you feeling powerless until you awaken to truth. 

Round tables highlight decisions on the horizon which can bring or maintain inner peace and harmony.   Reason to feel imbalance tends to call for reinforcement.  As a metaphor, the Knights of the Round Table were a order dedicated to ensuring the peace of Arthur's kingdom, and were entrusted with mystical quest for the Holy Grail. The Grail echoes, the hero's journey, the true spirit of Western man. It is the myth of Western civilisation. 

Contemplation and silence enable the individual to allow the best of his or her own inner life to emerge. For the undisciplined person, however, ego can redirect attention into disorientation and misery, if his own defects and negative thoughts maintain control. Until we have conquered our own hidden shadows, no rest is truly given. The disciplined person relaxes and is quiet. He is in peace with life and himself, for he knows the inevitable challenges we all must face in order to grow. He gets that his greatest enemy has always been himself, and until he conquers that he can go no further. Until he does so, he will see himself as a victim of the trials and tribulations of life, which adds to the burden of his own unconscious.

On another level, the Holy Grail is a symbol of the Self, the psychic totality and ultimate wholeness of the human being. It is the vital force that drives us toward balance, the process of bringing unconscious mind into consciousness. If we are not trying to become whole, we are cut off from the true source of our being, and we feel empty. Encountering the Grail does not impart direct knowledge, but rather gives us an emotional readiness to receive a numinous experience of our inner centre. The Grail story is itself a projection of the Self as an inner centre, unrealised and inaccessible to most. It is the inner guide (God’s voice), the hidden disposition to wholeness which exists in the unconscious of each of us until awakened.

League refers to depth (i.e. 20,0000 Leagues of the Sea) as well as in distance one is willing to go to achieve a goal, solve a mystery, get to the truth, complete. a journey.  To interpret dreams, we must be willing to accept a soul's-eye view of our life. Ego goals focus on fear-based needs for food and shelter, survival for the body, food for thought, and the soul guides us to deeper spiritual sustenance. 

Butterflies are insect totems and symbols of transformation. They are also short-lived like windows of opportunity to make key decisions in your life.  Just as a caterpillar transforms into a butterfly, you, too, can transform and grow spiritually. Turning into a butterfly involves more than just a physical transformation.

We offer Dream Consultations which explore single and multiple dream patterns, components, categories and energies. We also offer an Astral, Lucid and Dream Yoga Course. 

Stop postponing the inevitable

Notice as consciousness expands, the moment arises when it feels right to stop postponing what evokes discomfort. Allow yourself to feel deeply and do the things you resist. Show yourself directly that underlying fear is unfounded.

Patience is alert, conscious. Postponement is subconscious resistance, a double-bind: you want to act and yet, you hesitate, tell yourself you not ready. The mind is very clever. You want to meditate, to close a chapter in your life, leave a job, move, but a voice within says, “later, tomorrow, when X happens.” We make time for priorities. Now is the right time. The future is uncertain. If you really want, act. Why not? If you postpone sharing your feelings and affection with people due to fear of rejection, or lack of reciprocity, this lso has consequences.

Is fear reinforced or strengthened by postponing something? When something is pivotal, and your desire is intense, then you will not waste a single moment. You will postpone everything else, but you do that. You postpone only that which is not significant, or, you allow fear control you. One part of mind says, “Yes, it is important.” Another part of mind says, “Yes, it is important, but later.” What is really going on here? How do we give power away? How do we reclaim it?

Consider what you postpone and what you prioritize. How you spend money, mental and physical energy, time, speaks volumes. Spiritual practices are often postponed in favor of that which enriches the body, materialism, appearances. Anger, greed, hatred, negativity tend to flow quickly. Outbursts happen. You may say, “I’m coming!” and yet doddle or not show up at all. Ask where you show up for yourself. When insults come, many people do not say, “Tomorrow I will be angry;” Yet, gestures of self- love or finding peace within are often postponed.

In a nutshell, postponement points to how we are dishonest with ourselves. Watch inside yourself, at what you have been postponing, and you will find that all that is beautiful you have been postponing. Note water flows when it is allowed to flow freely. Seeds will sprout in season, but the seeds must be sown. Otherwise they will not sprout. Which seeds do you hesitate to plant in your own life? Or, what follow-up behaviour is required to blossom into more of your true being?

Let go of will to control

Notice its common to wonder what determines how life unfolds. Yet, its not up to us. Its outside of our control. Feel into any resistance arising to not being in control. Everything that presents results from dynamic forces of equilibrium and natural laws interacting and creating what is seen and unseen. We do not have to know all reasons that needed to happen for everything to be as it is. This has nothing to do with us. Its completely impersonal. Everything is fine until we show up, judge it, attempt to force or manipulate. Energy flows where we are not. We are fine with that. We rarely or never complain about where we are not. Ponder this...

So, life is not about controlling energy. Its about our relationship with the force of creation unfolding outside us. We each inhabit a body and "the world" is outside. Energy is always unfolding, that includes before after time, before our birth and after body is gone.

Many people seek peace. Thing is, right now, we can be in a state of acceptance, awe, respect, honour, experience this moment as fresh and new. Insodoing, we gift ourselves whatever arises. We are the only being standing right here, now. From this view, no problems exist, simply experience we accept (or reject/ resist). For most, their relationship with life and self is not always peaceful. Why is that?

Well, we decide in the mind, develop ideas, of what life should be doing today, tomorrow, and beyond. In truth, we limit possibilities, make it all up, create a vison, goals, dreams we must realize and specific steps to get here. Ego decides what should and should not be, what we like and dislike, what is right and wrong in relation to our own self-created points of reference. A problem is that unfolding realities are not obliged to meet our expectations. Business projections are not always accurate. When what we want to happen, doesn't happen as we want it to and when, that is viewed as a problem. Yet, reality does not behave this way. We make up an alternate version of reality and get upset when the unfolding does not happen as ego wants. This brings suffering. We are the source.

In essence then, Buddha's Nobel Truths are simple. Everybody is suffering because they do not have the right understanding of the way things are, they have expectations for life that reality does not meet. The cause of suffering is desire, preference, our idea of ways things ought to be. We make it up and want things to happen, our way.

As it is, moments exist independently from the rest. Everything is interconnected. To end suffering, end attachment to desire and outcomes, stop being rigid about the way things must be. Come back to simplicity. The way the world is does not have to be the way you want it to be.

A key question to ask is what prompts us to fear things will not be the way we want? It evokes tension. A wise person does not renounce all desires. Yet, why do we insist on imagining an alternate reality instead of savouring the one that exists? Rather than struggle with life or ourselves, go deeper. Everything does not have to be a certain way for us to be loved, lovable, accepted, successful. We are a witness, guest and observer.

Decoding the signs

As changes continue to unfold in the world, each of us reacts or responds based on our level of consciousness. This feels like inner harmony or disharmony. We may feel like a conscious creator, taking responsibility for each thought and feeling within, or perhaps confused, indifferent as if we are helpless or powerless.  It may feel as though resistance or specific emotions are arising.

Consider nausea.  An inner view is that nausea is a physical expression of rejection or feeling not being heard.  There is something in your life that you do not want to hear.  One physical possibility is that nausea or vomiting results from something ingested, inhaled or absorbed.  Emotionally, there may be something that you don’t want to integrate or deal with or there may even part of yourself that you reject.  Ask yourself if you feel uneasy with and resistant to those in your environment who don’t resonate with you.  Ask if you are tired of making effort yet feel under or not appreciated.

Now is the moment to be open to new points of view, to read the signs you are giving yourself and to take steps to be in greater harmony with and more accepting of yourself.

Reaching a Fork in the Road

Reaching a fork in the road is an invitation to reflect on where we have been as well as on where we are headed.  It is about recognizing we have the power to make different choices.  Making more conscious choices enriches and strengthens us from the inside out due to acting from a state of deeper awareness about ourselves. Feel the urge to change focus and/or priorities?

Now is the moment to recognize and act more based on things that really matter: the power of vulnerability, courage, innate worthiness.  Part of the journey involves bravely exploring our shadows, the characteristics and behaviours we adopt that echo we are less than we actually are.  More specifically, this is about making the unconscious,  conscious, growing aware of self-defeating and self-sabotaging choices that point to patterns. Our overt and covert behaviours are linked to our sense of belonging and fear of rejection. 

As we reflect on how we are taught to live, what we are taught to achieve and the persona/ role we project, underneath words like "success" and "fulfillment" is that compass that gauges our sense of belonging.  This points to our unspoken desire to be seen, heard and validated. Beyond that is a yearning to “be part of something bigger than ourselves, to experience genuine connection with others. Beig true to ourselves is what makes us aware of the nature of authenticity, true freedom and innate power.