Tag: Accupuncture

Vein of Gold

The way to the Vein of Gold opens in dreaming, revealed by my higher self as a path of deep creativity and spiritual energy. An alchemical energy hidden within the Earth.

May 10, 2023

I am looking at a vein of gold from above, held deep inside the Earth. I am shown a map of two pathways which lead to the vein of gold. Once I chose a path in my mind, I am standing before the way. A stone is the entry point. I move with ease into the stone surface, becoming like the osseous rock, I am able to enter the crevice where the gold is found. In the dream, I do this over and over, practicing how to traverse this pathway of stone deep inside the Earth, becoming layers of stone to reach the vein of gold. Once there, I feel a deep satisfaction and happiness within myself. I notice the destination is a large and spacious cave, and a Chinese man is there to greet me. He asks me how I knew how to get here. He says we from the East, have been coming here for a very long time, but people from the West, rarely know how to get here. I told him, I dreamed myself here!

I explained how my dream showed me two paths I could follow in order to get there. I practiced in my dreams, over and over, following the path, so I would know how to find the path to locate the vein of gold. In my case, that involved becoming rock, moving through the solid, to find the movement held inside it. Becoming like the osseous surface that can breath in and out, shifting with each breath, and by becoming one with the rock surface, my awareness became fluid movement in the direction of my destination.

“At its essence, art is an alchemical process. By practicing art, by living artfully, we realize our vein of gold.”

— The Vein of Gold: A Journey to Your Creative Heart (Artist’s Way) by Julia Cameron

The interaction with the Chinese man in the cave at the heart of the vein of gold, had me researching Chinese alchemy from a Taoist view. I discovered the vein of gold mentioned as a Taoist concept, which brings together the elements as a way of becoming one with our environment, and physical reality, and a path towards immortality. The Taoist masters taught about becoming, through receiving and letting go. Not a path to produce, accomplish, and consume, as we in the West are prone to do.

The history of the Vein of Gold in ancient Chinese Taoism identifies a vein of gold as akin to dragon lines of energy connected with an alchemical approach to longevity and immortality, which was the inward and physical goal of mystic Taoism. The vein of gold associated with the Dragon lines, known also as ley lines, are energy lines connected to Earth and Sky. A map between the worlds of inner and outer experience. Connection to this vein of gold, may also center in a cave of the ancestors, where reservoirs of spiritual power can be found, and held within the Earth, where perhaps my dream guided me.

One of its most important goals of Taoist painting was revealing qi, variously known as the “Breath of Heaven,” the “Breath of Nature” or the “Quality of Spirit.” According to one painting manual, “qi is as basic as the way [people] are formed and so it is with rocks, which are the framework of the heavens and of earth, and also have qi. That is the reason rocks are sometimes spoken of as ‘roots of the clouds.’ Rocks without qi are dead rocks, as bones without the same vivifying spirit are dry bare bones. How could a cultivated person paint a lifeless rock…rocks must be alive.”

“Vein of Gold“
by Valley Reed
Acrylic Pour

The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao;
The name that can be named is not the eternal name.
The nameless is the beginning of heaven and earth.
The named is the mother of ten thousand things.

Ever desireless, one can see the mystery.

Ever desiring, one can see the manifestations.

-Laotzu

The Wisdom of the Body and Dreams

“Wisdom is to the soul what health is to the body”-De Saint-Real

Dreams can provide a key to unlock the wisdom of the body. The body has deep wisdom toward balance and wholeness known as homeostasis in scientific terms. It has ways of identifying and expelling unwanted intruders through the immune system. Our sensory proprioceptive awareness allows us to know where we are in relation to the space around us and to navigate our world without effort. These processes happen without our conscious control and dreams certainly have an affinity with the realm of the unconscious and can help us navigate through illness and disease.

In dreams we may receive health warnings about impending problems, long before doctors could detect a problem.  I had a precognitive dream about a health condition which did not surface until a year later when I developed Uterine Fibroids.  The dream showed a tremendous black spider covering my lower body when it landed on my abdomen.  A large pointed needle like protrusion came from it’s mouth and stuck into my lower abdomen.  In the dream, I was really scared of that spider, it was really huge! I attempted gathering further information through dream re-entry, but my fear was blocking me from getting anywhere.

When I eventually developed symptoms of fibroids a year later, I recalled my dream.  I sensed the needle was an important clue to approach treatment of the problem. The information I read from the western medicine approach was not encouraging, and surgery was the consensus at the time.  I opted instead to go with acupuncture,  inspired by the image of the large needle offered by my dream ally of the huge scary spider.  After several months of intensive acupuncture treatments I found that the problem was not only alleviated, but has not since returned.

Dreams and the body are important in other ways, the body with it’s incredible wisdom can be a source of helpful insight in helping to navigate the realm of dreams. My lifelong background in dance, enabled me to learn how the body has a power and wisdom all it’s own. I found for instance, when I consciously asked my body to perform a movement that was difficult, my body would respond with ease and grace.  If I tried to force doing a movement with my will,  I was left with struggle and pain instead. I have also found the mind/body connection to be a valuable way to work with dreams and I often incorporate movement into dream workshops I teach.  Expressive movement is a beautiful way to get in touch with your dreams, and gain helpful insight through the information the body imparts.

Science has discovered the power of the mind and body to heal through imagery and dreams. Recent studies have shown that the inward experiences of the imagination and dreaming translates as a real experience to the body. The body knows that the dream world is the real world. When we activate our imagination to inspire and affirm the body’s healing capacity, we are supporting our body’s innate wisdom and ability to heal.  Dreams also provide a stage to rehearse for every day life, so whether you are practicing violin, healing cancer or learning french in your dreams, the body is there in a very real sense with you.

Valley Reed © 2011

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