Tag: Transformation

Heretic

Heretic by Valley Reed

In this painting and process on Easter Sunday, April 20th, 2025 I feel an intensity of a story trying to come through me. Today waking to learn the passing of the Pope, I feel the energy of my painting connected to his story. A dream from a previous night seemed to be a place for gathering creative power and practice to enter the story that was tracking me.

Artist Studio 4/20/25

The night before, I dreamed of living in an art studio, where I had plenty of room to paint, and ample light to see through the windows of the skylight overhead. I felt empowered to create and supported by the space and vision to do so.

Today, I am seeing many elements included in the visionary painting I created. Pope Frances has chosen to be buried in the church of Mary Major, (the first Pope to do so) as well as his adding the feast day of Mary Magdalene to the liturgical calendar as resonate with the restoration of spiritual power to women.

The meaning of the word heretic is rooted in Greek for hairetikós, that means choice. Since the 13th century, the catholic inquisition weaponized the word heretic in their genocide of Women, who were the healers and Wise Women of their communities. In choosing Mary as his dying wish, Pope Frances chose Women.

The painting interweaves the story of the rebirth of Jesus, with a focus on the three Mary’s who attended, Mary Magdalene, Mother Mary, and Miriam, cousin of Jesus. The visionary powers of women are interwoven with generations going back to the Oracular powers of the Goddess.

The flow of waters coming down the mountain is connected with troubling the waters with the healing powers and intervention of an angel. Mary Magdalene is the first to enter and receive the healing powers of the waters.

The Christian priest is Peter who is kneeling staring at his shadow, where his lust for power created the base for many to abuse people around the globe in the name of God.

The cedar on the hill is a humble resilient tree that endures. In my mind I thought of generations of Palestinians who have survived, and those who have not, and how Pope Frances was a voice for the voiceless. The birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, reflects a refugee whose life was endangered. The hope in the message in the rebirth of Christ, carries also to the Palestinian people of Gaza.

The death of Pope Frances the day after Easter, brings a spiritual message of his station in life and death, as someone of integrity and spiritual meaning. May the doors, and paths, and gateways be open for us all, where no one is turned away due to gender, religion, nationality, tattoos, wealth, sexuality, political party, or education level.

Kairos and Metanoia

Girolamo Da Carpi, Opportunity and Remorse, 1541 

In the Ancient Greek world, the God Kairos is known as the opportune moment, and can be evoked when making a decision or taking impeccable action. Kairos also encompasses the scope of the times in which we live, and can involve the opportune moment for collective change when Metanoia is invited into the picture.

The God of Opportunity is known to consort with Metanoia, a Goddess of missed opportunity, or regret. She is a shadowy figure who may come in the form of Maiden or Hag, and her presence causes reflection on the past, and transformation towards a change of heart for the future. Metanoia means beyond mind, she is a liminal goddess who brings us in touch with inner worlds of self reflection and mind expansion.

Dreams give us entry into liminal spaces on the cusp of consciousness. A place between waking and sleeping, the twilight between day and night, or waking moments on the horizon of what slips away, and what is dawning. These in between moments are when we may enter lucidity, or recall dreams below the threshold of consciousness.

Our dream journal is a place where we can experience both Kairos and Metanoia, through mind expansion of time arc potentials. We may encounter the wheel of life with its opportunities or misfortunes along our path, and dreams can assist us in choosing to meet the moments of our life with clearer discernment. Metanoia can also hold regrets on what we may see as not our best moment. Reflections from our past, when we were unable to act with honor, or courage of heart. Dreams can help us reframe our past, so that we are able to reorient in alignment with future opportunities and personal growth.

In collaborative dreaming, we can embrace the past, and partner with potential futures. Dreams may inspire connection and creation in deeply meaningful ways. You may discover paths of awakening taking you into the heart of healing, and learn to act from a place of more integrity by cutting away what clouds your authenticity and discernment. 

A collaboration with transpersonal dreaming and archetypal meaning, where the personal intersects with synchronicity, and psychic glimpses are interwoven within a mystical web of dreams. Here we may enter mutual dreams with each other inside a web of collective unconscious. A holistic and multidimensional awareness as part of a community of beings with our more than human relatives.

When we enter dreams each night, we can approach it in a sacred way, and incubate an intention for entering a threshold of what is slipping away and what is coming to pass. A crossroads where we may come into contact with cosmic design such as the event horizon of a black hole, or become a blazing comet. We may descend into the deepest darkest depths at the bottom of the ocean, or enter the creative matrix of galaxies being born. We can align with the sentient nature of Earth, Sun, Moon or Stars.

We may dream travel through time and space to commune with sacred sites and ancient ancestors, or become an ancestor to future generations. In dreams, we may discover guardians in the form of angelic beings, spiritual guides and teachers, fairy folk, animal spirits, elemental beings, spirits of the land, muses of genius, or Gods and Goddesses. What we are calling forth into our lives, is also seeking us. A willing collaboration in dreaming with deeper realities beyond what is known, and entering thresholds of greater understanding. Dreaming is where we can meet the moments of our lives in collaboration with Kairos and Metanoia.

Golden Dragonfly

I have been dreaming about the color gold in many dreams over the past several years and it always leaves me feeling that something magical is at work in my life. Alchemy is a magical approach of turning lead into gold. Alchemists believed that gold was a spiritually pure metal, and the journey of the soul to was transmute lead into gold. The Arabic term al-khimia means ‘the art of transformation’ which just happens to be the tag line for my business Chrysalis Healing Arts. Like butterflies, dragonflies are also connected with regeneration, immortality and rebirth.

Dragonfly Dream Catcher

A giant golden dragonfly entered my dream and flittered before me. I turned with a sense of awe as I followed in the direction of where this giant golden creature had gone, and saw it had landed on a golden circle held in the hands of an artist weaver who was creating a dream catcher with golden thread. The giant golden dragonfly was large enough to cover the entire center of the dream catcher, and so the weaver had to work underneath it to create her dream catcher with her golden thread.

It turns out the dragonfly is an ancient creature, and actually dates back 300 million years, when it arose in giant form with 2 foot wings and 4 feet across. There are many tales of the dragon fly from many cultures around the world.

Prehistoric giant dragonfly fossil

Ancient mythology reveals the original name for Japan is “Akitsushima” meaning dragonfly island. Dragonflies are known to be returning ancestors and celebrated in the Summer Festival known as Obon. Samurai warriors identified themselves with dragonflies as a symbol of power.

In a Mayan legend, dragonflies hold the power to heal and rebirth the Moon Goddess Ixchel by humming over her and filling her up with their life force.

Zuni Native tribal peoples see dragonfly as having supernatural powers who carry prayers to the spirit world. The indigenous people of the southwestern tribe of the Hopi, also believe the dragonfly has supernatural powers and are shamanistic. They assisted the ancient Hopi in migrating to find their permanent home, and helping them to locate water and to grow corn. The Hopi have lived in their permanent home in Arizona for over 2000 years, but they are rooted in much more ancient cultures from which they migrated from South America, Central America and Mexico. They are considered one of the oldest cultures living in documented history.

These are just a few of the tales of dragonfly from around the world, and in my dream the dragonfly got my attention appearing as a giant ancient ancestor and pointing me to a golden web of dreams giving protection and vitality to the dream catcher being woven by an artist weaver. My dreams are woven from the transformative process inside my being. Blessed by the presence and protection of the golden dragonfly, big dreams are being created in the center of my circle.

Valley Reed © 2021

Midnight Butterfly

by Valley Reed

 

Rise into infinity,

Come away with me,

Come away with me.

 

Midnight Butterfly 

wild and free,

show me possibilities.

 

Giant wings alight my crown.

My head in flight,

and my feet on the ground.

 

Enter the infinite,

beyond inhibitions.

No prerequisite

for dream exhibitions.

 

Free to roam

and wander around,

explore the mundane,

reveal the profound.

 

Dimensions of dreaming,

flooding my mind.

depths of meaning,

wise and kind.

 

Dream memories land

on fluttery wings. 

Beyond understanding 

the order of things.

 

Midnight butterfly flight

visit my dreams, 

guide me tonight…

 

Wisdom wings

of the soul kind,

open my mind.

 

Travel far 

on intentions set, 

Discovering where

you haven’t been yet.

 

Creative winds 

are expected to blow.

Remembering how 

to forget what you know. 

 

Rise into infinity

Come away with me,

Come away with me.

 

Midnight butterfly

take me dreaming

From a sight so high,

reality is streaming.

 

Butterfly flight 

in dreams tonight,

take me where

you want to go.

 

Show me your wings,

covered in all things

artful and mysterious. 

Show me places 

marvelous and curious.

 

Set course for

the upper realm.

Whisper your magic spell,

with love at the helm.

 

A place where spirit dwells 

in the unseen world,

let my wings unfurl.

A place my soul delights

and vision swirls,

let dreams take flight.

valley@awakenthesacreddream.com

Valley of the Giants

Becoming my Larger Self  June 2012

I dream of growing into a Giant being. I begin from my natural appearance and then grow into a very large version of myself.  Over and over again, I am growing larger and becoming giant. There is now, more than one of me.  I am aware inside of the dream of this transformation taking place, and my thought is, “It’s happening! I am becoming my larger self.”

I am deeply afraid of what is happening and at the same time, I know it is inevitable. My little self, lucid awareness, begins to try to control the dream and stop from growing so big, but soon I realize it is no use, there is nothing I can do to alter what is now happening. I even try to forget about it inside the dream, actually telling myself,” I won’t remember this dream in the morning, no need to worry!” (wrong) Finally, I try self deception and doubt, and tell myself this is not really happening. My larger reality however, overcomes the fears and doubts of the little lucid self in the dream.  I finally have to accept the truth of what the dream is presenting, and realize I AM becoming my larger self and growing into a larger being, on the scale of a goddess. EOD

What does it mean to become the larger self in affinity with a Goddess as big as a mountain? In one respect, it means the limits and constrictions of the little self can no longer control, nor hold the larger sphere of the soul and spirit which now reaches out to connect with the everyday world. This seems to hold a place of great fear, to be viewed on the same plane as a Goddess, and not seem like an egomaniac. The dream showed however, there is no stopping this transformation taking place anymore than one could change a butterfly back into a caterpillar.

I had a deep sense of knowing within the dream that this space of transformation was always available to me and that it would eventually come my way someday. It was as if remembering some long forgotten promise, that was finally coming true. Another part of this dream for me, is that it was not a singular event which resulted in this transformation, it seemed to be a process of learning how to shift into becoming my larger self, and indeed practicing becoming giant, over and over. Beyond that, I had the sense this replication of the larger self was perhaps creating these larger shifts of perception and being into other realms and dimensions.

Action Plan- Recall the larger self in waking reality, when I find I am struggling with fears and doubts.

Dream Re-Entry to get to know and explore the dream of the larger self.

My one liner from this dream is “Living the Larger Self!”

Valley Reed © 2012

Dream Healing with the Benu Bird

At a recent Dream Healing workshop I was teaching in Grand Junction, Colorado, there were themes of heart and soul interwoven with the dreams shared. I incubated a healing dream while catching an afternoon nap, prior to giving a lecture that evening on the Healing Powers of Dreams.

“Bennu Bird” by Michelle Celebrielle

During my dreaming, I was gifted with the presence of a large white bird which flew overhead.  I could clearly see the huge white wings until it landed on a tall tree upon bare branches.  I looked closely at the face of the bird,  noticing the streaks of black coming out from the eyes and long narrow feathers reaching out from the crown.  I recognized it as the mysterious Benu bird of Egyptian myth, bringer of renewal and capable of retrieving and bringing forth the energy of soul.  A wonderful ally to accompany our dream journeying for the weekend.

There were themes of the heart and relationships which presented themselves over and again from our group of dreamers. One participant shared a dream which was full of opposites and polarities which gave the opportunity to dance with each of the polarities represented in the dream. The dream was brought to life through the movement accompanied with the intent of each of the polarities. The dreamer was able to reach a resolve toward wholeness through the movement and integrate the separation of loss into complete freedom. The wings of the Benu Bird were flying through the dance at the end, to bring about healing liberation. Another young woman brought through a vision of seeing a possible love relationship which culminated in the couple riding off together on black and white horses. The dream also gave counsel and warned her of the need to be willing to wait and not hurry into the relationship.

A doctor who attended was eager to see how dreams could help her better care for her patients. She journeyed with two power animals, that of the cougar and the eagle which became one creature. She was on call during the whole workshop and was indeed living in two realms at once. The bringing together of these two animal protectors will help her to better navigate the challenges of her dual life.

The energy of relationship and the balance of opposites flowed throughout the day, and in the end, the feeling of connection was the gift, like the egg of the Benu bird in the tree of life, which promises renewal for the future.

The Benu Bird according to Egyptian mythology recounts the bird as a carrier of “Ba” or soul energy. The soul energy is able to leave the physical body and travel at will, something we can do nightly in our dreams.  The Benu Bird is akin to the Phoenix and bringer of renewal which comes with each era. It is a rare occurrence to witness a Benu bird, as there is only one such bird in existence.  The Benu bird has no mate but continues through self regeneration. It has the capacity to integrate both polarities of Masculine and Feminine into one being. It builds its nest in the tree of life, laying a single egg to break open a new era of soul.  It was the song of the Benu bird which sang creation into being. The mysterious Benu Bird is a beautiful story of how, we may each give birth to ourselves and participate in this renewal of soul and spirit. Through this transformation of death and renewal, we can bring all parts of ourselves into wholeness as a way to help heal the past and bring about a brighter future for coming generations.

Included in this healing and to honor the Benu Bird, I offer this poem of prayer;

Dream of the Benu Bird

May we walk in beauty as we step upon the earth,

and sing our lives into being.

May our souls learn to soar as the Benu bird,

and dance awake our dreams.

May we bring about more balance in connection to each other,

the Earth we all share,  and all the creatures upon it.

May we honor those who came before us,

and the gifts they have given.

May we remember where we came from,

and what we each came here to do.

May we honor and protect the children,

and future generations, through our actions today.