It’s been a busy few months, and I’m heading to Rancho la Puerta again soon to give another dream workshop.  In the meantime, the word, “fall,” is on my mind.  Have you had a dream of falling?

If you only remember falling and nothing else, your dream is probably just a side effect of the biological experience of entering REM sleep, when our major muscle groups are actually paralyzed, to keep us from acting out our dreams and hurting ourselves.  That feeling is similar to the feeling of falling, and your dream may have just translated the feeling into an image (as dreams tend to do).

But maybe falling was part of a longer dream; often, we fall at the end, and awaken before we land.  Consider what happens just before the fall.  Does it echo anything within you, or an outside experience you’re grappling with? In that case, are about to ‘take a plunge,’ metaphorically? Are you considering taking a risk? Or is there some seeming danger in your relational or emotional life, something analogous to jumping over a cliff, or skydiving?  Is the plunging earthward a warning of overreach?  Have you been higher, more ungrounded or inflated than is wise at this time; is the fall a fall to reality?

Or is there something coming up that would bring a rush of adrenaline, then push you to the edge of fear, sending you hurling into exhilarating relief when you realize you’ve held yourself safe all along?

May the words of an old, wise friend help you to discern the meaning of your descent: will you fall, or will you dive?

We are approaching the winter solstice, the day that turns the dark to light for the next six months of the year…

Just as light is a metaphor, so is darkness: in dreams, the dark can stand for unawareness, confusion, unconsciousness, deeper feelings waiting beneath the surface.   When you dream of night or a dim place, consider…  what’s happening there? How do you feel when there? What are you trying to “see” (become aware of) within yourself, situations, and others?

Most often, our nightmares take place in the dark. (If you have one of these, take a look at the “nightmares” post for how to discern its message and move past such a dream.)  When we are scared of the dark, what are we really afraid of? What we don’t understand about ourselves is what frightens us the most.   Often, what we have a hard time facing is just what we need most.

Two thought-provoking quotes from Carl Jung for this time of year:

• “Knowing your own darkness is the best method for dealing with the darknesses of other people.”
• “Enlightenment is not imagining figures of light, but making the darkness conscious.”

Of course, then again, all hail the return of the light!  Spring is just around the corner…

Next time,  by request, dreams of zombies and other creatures.  Until then…sweet dreams!