At 12;23 am I awakened from a very disturbing event while asleep; perhaps dream perhaps not. This is how the story unravels: I am a woman, but I felt I was somehow a man. I am standing at a half-open door and agree to take on this woman who is dressed like a Greek goddess somehow onto my body; she basically steps into my feet and during a very strong magnetic type of field/vortex she presses all of her body into mine, we are almost about to tip over from this balancing act and I disentangle my right arm now on her back from being pressed against me and hold on to the door knob of the half-open door to balance ouselves and the task is complete. I feel a "question mark" from another mind and I acknowledge this was not without my permission, ie, I agree to take her with me; she is somehow disabled or weak or a "pity" case, I do so as if one agreeing to take a child for a ride, or something. Worse, I realize I have done this before, it is not the first time I take on or leave an "entity?" through this process. Having just watched "The World Within" tape of Carl Jung's before falling asleep, and the T.V. in my bedroom is accross from my bed, I had a stong feeling Carl Jung witnessed this himself and was somehow a part of it. {I have had tremendous synchronicities with Carl Jung, "the entity" not his work"...He has actually concretized himself synchronistically during a period that I was very much in tune with his work, in the form of a gentleman that looked identical to him, walking into a restaurant where I was, along with a skinny black man, of whom I had had dreams of (aborigine looking, primal man archetype). This is merely one of many other tremendously powerful and meaningful connections and synchronicities with Jung. The connection I make is with Jung's belief that distinct and autonomous entities (archetypes, as with Philemon in his case) occassionally enter one's psyche -- and that this is a fact, as "fantasies" are indeed facts. The greek goddess personifying the archetype of the epitome of femininity (which I used to be) and that I have let go of in the past several years as I am running a business by myself and have had to cling to a more male goal-oriented focus, forgetting my female side. Am I re-integrating my female side or, because I felt this was not the first time this happens, am I prone to possessions. Does this happen to others? Also, who is this mind that asks "what are you doing?" through thought?

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 51

Have You Posted Before? Date of Last Post {Use Search and Your Post Name to Help Find Last Post} F

How Did You Find the Dream Forum? Miami

I often interpret dreams line by line before reading the whole dream. Your dream was as follows:

This is how the story unravels:I am a woman, but I felt I was somehow a man. I am standing at a half-open door and agree to take on this woman who is dressed like a Greek goddess somehow onto my body; she basically steps into my feet and during a very strong magnetic type of field/vortex she presses all of her body into mine, we are almost about to tip over from this balancing act and I disentangle my right arm now on her back from being pressed against me and hold on to the door knob of the half-open door to balance ouselves and the task is complete.
I feel a "question mark" from another mind and I acknowledge this was not without my permission, ie, I agree to take her with me; she is somehow disabled or weak or a "pity" case, I do so as if one agreeing to take a child for a ride, or something.
Worse, I realize I have done this before, it is not the first time I take on or leave an "entity?" through this process.

This is my interpretation, before reading the rest of your post:

You are probably giving in to certain masculine traits. The goddess may be your spiritiual self, or your higher aspects {aspirations} which needs to be recognized. You are naturally drawn to this aspect but have to give balance to what is wanted and what is real {repsonbilities in your waking world?}. There are opportunities but you have not completely given in to them {possibly because of waking responbilities or social expectations}.
This essential part of is not your strongest suite and you question those things that prevent it from being so. You have been down this path before.

This is the rest of your post {not including the info about Carl Jung}:

The greek goddess personifying the archetype of the epitome of femininity (which I used to be) and that I have let go of in the past several years as I am running a business by myself and have had to cling to a more male goal-oriented focus, forgetting my female side. Am I re-integrating my female side or, because I felt this was not the first time this happens, am I prone to possessions. Does this happen to others? Also, who is this mind that asks "what are you doing?" through thought?

Something that Joseph Campbell said during one of his many inteviews with Michael Toms {THE WISDOM OF JOSEPH CAMPBELL} on the New Dimensions Radio Network {read excerpts} was that even in his final years of life he was experiencing the ever so menacing dragon of social duty. If Campbell had these negative experiences, having to overcome the daily on-slaught of social duty, it shows what we are up against in trying to follow our own Bliss. I see your situation fitting with this. The ever so demanding world of having to make a living, living up to others expectations, living in a world of material desire, is a challenge to even the best of those who have discovered the hero/heroine path. Re-integrating the feminine is often a daily exercise, until you let that highest quality become your source of life. As does the hero/heroine you must make sacrifices to achieve this goal. And because the world today is so challenging most of us have do it in steps. The great desire is just to drop everything and go with your bliss. You can drop everything if you are courageous enough, and if you do this I am convinced you will find that bliss. The patterns of nature dictate this to be true. I have even experienced it in my own life, before recoiling back {the first threshold}.

You are apparently aware of your life's desire. You can live your life in the corporate world, living a spiritual life and succeeding in doing so. But is it the real you? That is the question you must address, and then what to do about it.

I have seen The World Within but it has many years ago. A great thing to see, the master in his own words.
Gerard

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 54

Have You Posted Before? Date of Last Post {Use Search and Your Post Name to Help Find Last Post} Male

How Did You Find the Dream Forum? Murfreesboro, Tn

Thank you for your insights and recommendations. I am new to the site and I have not as yet revealed much about myself. I am indeed very familiar with Joseph Campbell's work. In fact, I found this site and decided to participate because of its relatedness to both my "heros", Jung and Campbell. Suffice to say that I own approx. 12 VHS of Campbell (Power of Myth and Mythos), ordered a new one recently and have read most of Jung's work. I watch either Campbell or Jung every night at bedtime; it is my way of entering a meditative state and de-stressing from the problems of the day. I am not in the field, but I discovered them through my own interest and searching and felt a very strong connection when I happened accross them and have stuck to their philosophies/insights as a source that provides answers and inspiration to me.

I followed my bliss in 2000 when I retired from the corporation I worked at for 18 years, because I felt suffocated with the lack of creative expression this way of life provided. I wasn't sure what I would do with myself next, but I have always loved fashion and designed for myself and girlfriends since I was young and I fell into this path "serendipitously?" I started designing "guayabera" dresses, and decided to open my own boutique with my exclusive label and designs. While the designs have been very well received, this is a small business and I have to do just about everything under the sun to make a go of it. In a way, this is my bliss; designing, creating, receiving positive feedback of my "child", but, as you well stated, or Joseph Campbell stated, rather, even in his final years the dragon of social responsibility surfaces. (In my case, having to deal with the business side of this, my second child.)

Your statement that I have been down this road before is right on target. Twenty-four years ago, I divorced a controlling husband when my child was 3 years old (I was suffocating then, too) and I had to be mom, dad, breadwinner, etc. Enter the dragon! But at least, I was free of his abuse.
I must be more committed to following my bliss than even I realized; I guess the real lesson is that there is a price to pay for everyhting, including bliss, and my dragon invariably calls for the masculine side to take over. Thanks again! Victoria

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 51

Have You Posted Before? Date of Last Post {Use Search and Your Post Name to Help Find Last Post} F

How Did You Find the Dream Forum? Miami

Victoria,
Thanks so much for your story. Your life exemplies the power of the social dragon even when one is seeking their bliss with great zeal. Society has become so demanding in its attitudes and requirements that just making ends meet can be a real deterent to the creative soul. I think it is for that reason that so few even try to seek the creative self. That and the religious ideology we seem to think holds all the anwers to life's problems. Corporate American has in many ways become the dragon that the Arturian Knights sought to slay centuries ago. The only difference is the dragons of today are more real than any we find in myth.

I, like you, spent hours upon hours listening and watching audio and video productions made by Joseph Campbell, and the few that are available by Jung. Audio books are wonderful tools to learn by. And when you listen to the words of such masters over and again, you eventually begin to understand the 'deeper' message they have to offer. Jung is very deep and often hard to understand. Campbell's articulation of Jungian ideas {and his own varied learned philosophies} is a great primer in understanding the psyche {soul}. It takes dedication and a will to learn but the education is invaluable. People of gnosis are few and far between. I hope this forum at Myths-Dreams-Symbols becomes a mecca for such persons as yourself. The Forum is beginning to accumulate a small but growing number of students of the psyche, people of gnosis who have so much to share about the power that underlyes our waking conscious.

Your story is one that will help inspire others in their struggle with the social dragon. I hope you will visit often and share your insights.
Gerard

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 54

Have You Posted Before? Date of Last Post {Use Search and Your Post Name to Help Find Last Post} Male

How Did You Find the Dream Forum? Murfreesboro, Tn

Thanks for your encouraging words. I look forward to continuing to participate and learn from you and the members. I would be interested in knowing more about your story and background to use as an inspiration of what may lie ahead for us in this path that we are all obviously sharing.
I hope I am not getting off the subject (dreams, myths, symbols), but I wonder if you have read David Hawkins' POWER VS. FORCE and what your opinion is. It is one of the most spellbinding books I have read of late and I believe very apropos with the individuation process by way of shedding light about the individual energy patterns that may be at play in our own particular lives. I don't recall Campbell ever mentioning morphogenic fields, per se, but I think the topics are connected, as when he refers to "energies of our own body as being our divine source, dictating how we react to a certain problem or decision at any given time." Jung also foreshadows this topic when he refers to the seed of a man's character and his individual pattern being different from that of a "donkey," I think he says, or an oak tree (exaggerated examples to make a point obviously.) Hawkins' third book of this trilogy, THE I OF THE SELF, is also fabulous, although it takes a very different angle. It is mostly a Q/A interview on the topics of ego and the path to enlightenment. I believe they are two wonderful texts that invariably elevate world consciousness through our mere involvement in the subject matter.
Thanks again and I look forward to hearing from you.
Victoria

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 51

Have You Posted Before? Date of Last Post {Use Search and Your Post Name to Help Find Last Post} F

How Did You Find the Dream Forum? Miami

Sorry - correction - David Hawkins' third book is entiled: I, REALITY AND SUBJECTIVITY. Victoria

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 51

Have You Posted Before? Date of Last Post {Use Search and Your Post Name to Help Find Last Post} F

How Did You Find the Dream Forum? Miami

Victoria,
We are very happy that you can give time to participating in the forum and share your knowledge. Varied approaches only enhanses our knowledge. Anyone who participates learns.

I have some knowledge of Kinesiology but I can't say for sure whether I can remember coming across David Hawkins. I probably have since I've read some on the subject. Enough to understand the basics. I see where they are onto something. Wouldn't surprise me though if they are up on their Buddhism. Eastern philosophies have known about many of our new discovers for thousands of years.

There are many paths to enlightenment, many teachers. I have a page with several I have come across in the past decade 'Spiritual Teachers. I am more impressed by the women teachers of spirituality. Marion Woodman is just wonderful, as is Elaine Pagels and Jean Houston.

The connection one feels at the time one realizies that their life has dramatically been changed forever, that moment when a specfic teacher you do connect with helps you in the transformation of your psyche to a higher awareness. The role of the teacher is to transfom. The teacher provides you with new knowledge {.gnosis}. And the teacher is the messenger only. It is the message that is importnat.

Spirituality is pure connection, first with the natural environment, which is god, then with with yourself and the realities of one self, the psychcology. As much as I enjoy psychology my real interest is in the psyche. I have yet to find anyone more knowledgable on the psyche than Jung and Campbell. But it does come down to the individual psyche as to what and who resonants. As long as one discovers the spiritual path {not religion, entirely different in most cultures}, that is what matters. Enlighten beings are tuned into the Christ within, and/or the Buddha conscious, and are where they should be. Doing the deeds and not just a blie system.

I am concerned with the amount of commerialization of many good teachers. As much as I identify with Deepak Chopra I believe he has spent too much effort toward sales of his products. Joseph Campbell died in 1987 and he would be dismayed at the commerialization of some of his works. Capitalism and commericalization is contary to a true spiritual life.

I look to the sciences for much of my knowledge. All the sciences especially human. One of the things that has made me such a devoted student of Jung and Campbell is because of all the science that I have read the past several years either confirms, or at least is in line with what both said in their various works and writings. And when I interpret a dream and come to conclusions that are often what the dreamer dreamt about, you can see the validity of their ideas.

I hope everyone who is truly interested in dreams does read the posts and the follow-ups. Sometimes I can give a very good interpretation from the orginal post. If not then I am able to help find a correct interpretation after a follow-up or two. When the dreamer participates {as in a psyche session} the true interpretation usually is found. I can do my part because I do use Jungian techniques of interpretation, and Jungian psychology as I know it.

I am a student a personality also. I find my experience with people over the years enhanses my intuitive abilities. I am not so much interested in the academics as I am the ground of evidence. I let my intuitive self take it from there. We all have the ability, it is just a matter of expanding it through mental exercises and knowledge.

The muse as the essense of the soul's work.
Gerard

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 54

Have You Posted Before? Date of Last Post {Use Search and Your Post Name to Help Find Last Post} Male

How Did You Find the Dream Forum? Murfreesboro, Tn

Hi, Gerard, thanks for your reply. While Power vs Force has its roots in kineseology, to me the book's value is not in this information, but on the introduction to the layman of quantum physics and energetic fields and the implication that our behaviour and thinking patterns carry with it an energetic field, which can be altered (albeit with much work, obviously.) With this knowledge, or theory, one becomes more aware of certain thinking and behaviour patterns of oneself as well as others and through this understanding, one can chose to "understand where others are coming from" and the energy level by which one is also acting and thereby correct it, if only through a greater awareness of ones actions. Much like personality types, once you realize this or that person is probably an introvert, or extrovert, or a combination, etc., you have a greater awareness of their capabilities inasmuch as relating to a conversation, or information, or perhaps the reason for some of their actions, and be more tolerating of other's actions. I agree with you 100% in re Choprah; I believe you will find that Hawkins is not in this group. Thanks again. Victoria

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 51

Have You Posted Before? Date of Last Post {Use Search and Your Post Name to Help Find Last Post} F

How Did You Find the Dream Forum? Miami