Taera is the Color of the Earth

The Dream: I am painting Taera, a mythological goddess who represents the Earth. I paint her the color of earth. It seems very dark to me; I am concerned as I put this color down that I will not get smooth transitions.

I didn't remember this dream until later in the day when I was reading Marija Gimbutas' The Living Goddess. On page 208 she mentions that an Old European goddess, the Lithuanian Zemyna, is black. Her name comes from the word “zeme,” meaning earth.

Interpretation: My dream evoked an archetype: the earth, fertile and black, represented as a female deity. I accept this concept, but with some misgivings: when I wonder if she is too dark. I am looking at the difficulties of the life she symbolizes, with its inherent pain and inevitable darkness. And yes, the transitions are difficult!

Transfiguration

In this dream the goddess, mourned in the last dream, has re-emerged.
The Dream: A woman in archaic costume is transfigured into a goddess. I see this happen, and I see the changes that take place on her face. For a moment I see reflected in her face a naked power. She composes herself and holds herself erect and majestic. Others doubt, and will doubt, her godhood. She, however, is completely assured.

Interpretation: It's the time of year that I expect a god to be born, and this dream reflects that expectation. The dream tells me I don't have to accept a fixed idea about who or what a god may be; gods will appear in ways that astonish.

Guest Dreamer: The Python, Mago, and Homecoming

Occasionally people experience what dream workers call a “big” dream: one that points us in a new direction. Helen Hwang recounts one of these, along with her thoughts on what the dream has meant to her search for her own spiritual truth.

Helen's Dream: I do not have a narrative for this dream. I have a scene to describe. I saw an old, big, and long python coiled in a room at least three or four times. The coils of the snake filled four corners of the room! Its posture was firm and its head was up. It stayed still and looked at me as if smiling. It was emanating an aura of something positive and comforting, love, peace, and wisdom etc. I felt comforted and delighted with the sight. The snake felt like my grandmother to whom I was very close when young.

After awakening, I described what I saw and felt in my dream journal. Then I decided to interact with the dream. I called the old python "Grandmother Wisdom" and began to talk to her, the content of which I do not remember clearly now. (I do not have the journal with me.) I may have asked her to protect me and guide me through the years to come. I may have pleaded with her to lead me to an exciting adventure in life. I intuitively knew that this was a dream of importance. However, I had no clue about how to interpret it. It just felt good!

Helen's thoughts on her dream: That was twenty some years ago. I was a devoted Christian, liberal though, at that time, eager to follow the lifestyle of an overseas missionary. Perhaps I had already joined the missionary group and was being trained on the day that I had this dream. This dream remained a mystery for a long time. And I had almost completely forgotten it until this morning. Now, I see this python was the symbol of ouroboros leading me to the primordial knowing of the Great Goddess. She kept her promise and granted my heart's wish.

I was reminded of this dream because I wrote and published this essay today: Toward the Primordial Knowing of Mago. It feels right that this dream was a prophetic dream for my life's forthcoming and unfolding voyage to the Great Goddess. I am beginning to understand its details now.

The room that the python was sitting in was a medium-sized rectangular room with white walls and no furniture. The center was simply left empty. Just a clean and bright, pristine room. Now I can see the room is filled with the primordial energy emanated from Mago, the Great Goddess. It is the same energy that came from the time of beginning. That this was a family room of my childhood intimates that I would be coming Home with Mago, the Great Goddess of East Asia. The word, Halmeoni, in Korean means grandmother and goddess at once. This dream was a manifestation of primordial intelligence working in me at that time. It foretold that I would be re-turning to the Female Divine of my own culture.

That the python was coiling in the four corners suggests the four directions, which means all directions of the world in East Asia. Am I not bridging the worlds through my research and advocacy of Mago? Also I find it interesting that the room was undecorated exposing bare white walls. It signifies to me a new beginning to be evolved with many potentials and possibilities. Now the article that I wrote in 2007 about my homecoming with Mago comes to mind: Returning Home.

It has taken many turns over the years for me to realize that the power of the Great Goddess/Mago has been working in me!

My Inner Light

The Dream: I’m on a playground. A group of girls are playing basketball. At first I am accepted, but things change, and I am excluded. I don’t have anyone to practice with: their skills improve as mine deteriorate.

There is a girl with very bright blond bobbed hair. She is graceful and athletic, like a goddess in her charisma. She used to be my best friend, but now prefers another. I am upset and jealous, but then I wonder if the blond girl is a lesbian. Would I have been expected to accept a lover-relationship had we remained close friends? Her new girlfriend is very petite with should-length dark hair.

Interpretation: In the previous dream I failed to take the challenge my unconscious offered. Now I see the result: If I avoid the struggle I lose capability. We can’t stand still in this world. If we try, we fall into what Jung calls “undeveloped persistence.”

My inner goddess (the bright-haired girl), who should be leading me forward, deserts me. This representative of my inner light wants more love and devotion than I can muster at the moment. The part of me that is in touch with this inner light (the new girlfriend) is still tiny (very petite).

Taera of the Waterfall

Dreams are very good at turning ideas into images, as this one does.

The Dream: A woman tells me about an art gallery where she is exhibiting her work. She thinks I should also exhibit there. We look at several of my very large paintings. One in particular catches our attention: on the left is an abstractly rendered waterfall with discrete patches of color suspended in space; on the right sits a female goddess. The picture is called Taera of the Waterfall.

Interpretation: Over the years I’ve come up with an idea about why making art is difficult. It requires two contradictory qualities: control and abandon. The waterfall in the dream, with its flowing water made out of rigid shapes, is a pictogram of this concept.