Dream Groups
Dream (1/12/10): I start a dream group with three or four people I vaguely know. I’ve brought my jug of Oregon Brandy and am drinking out of it. This really surprises me as I am not a drinker. My friend Nicole shows up and she’s got her brandy bottle too. One of the guy’s in the group is excited that I have “Oregon Red”–so he calls it. His wife is encouraging him to get the good stuff too, since it makes him excited. I say, “Oh, I like that, but actually I ran out and refilled it with Safeway stuff.” I shrug as I say this, as if the quality of the alcohol doesn’t really matter. His wife laughs at this. “Oregon Brandy is good,” I continue, “also there is a really good vodka…” I am trying to remember the name, but can’t. These are all good for tincture making.
A young man in the group helps Nicole. He is attractive with curly blondish brown hair. He comes over to her and drips the brandy on her third eye. I ask him to help me. He pours some into his hand and wipes it across my forehead. Nice.
At our second meeting a nurse I’ve hardly spoken to is there and a man in the group is taking over my lead and explaining the group to him. He’s not telling her the things I think she needs to know about how we tell our dreams, so I step in to redirect.
We go as a group to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s presentation on dream groups as ordained by the US government of health and somesuch. At first I am excited because the government is participating in dream work. It is a show of naked men, women and children dancing and moving together. We are part of a huge audience. One by one members of our dream group stand to speak out against the show. They are ashamed of this portrayal of the dream world/work. One stands up in her night shirt. She speaks directly into the camera that is filming the event, as she puts on her sweats:
“Dreaming is not about feeling new things, or hearing new things, it is about seeing new things.”
Wake: Well, so many things. First of all I think the “Oregon Red” refers to the hawthorn berry tincture I made with brandy (Oregon brandy) that is a sleep/insomnia remedy. It is good for waking up in the middle of the night type insomnia. I have been taking it lately for other reasons. But I have also suggested it to a few people I know who have that type of insomnia. The way the man puts the tincture on our foreheads reminds me of the last time I was at my Guru’s. There was a big Shiva puja and we had ashes wiped on our foreheads. It was a healing ceremony.
The young man with the curly blondish hair seems like a plant spirit.
I have been planning on starting a dream group soon. One of the things I am interested in doing in the group aside from dreams, is spending some time meditating with plants that facilitate dreams and sleep. This dream brought up some ideas about the process. It also brings up representations of dreams and manifestation in mainstream culture. Such as Men Who Stare at Goats, which I saw recently. At first I was excited that a mainstream movie was delving into these issues, let alone that the US Govt did, but ultimately both seem to treat the area of study with disrespect. The nudity and partially dressed people in the dream reminded me of the way people’s bodies often are when sleeping.
I really liked this dream and was very inspired by the way the herbal tincture, hawthorn or otherwise, was used in the dream group process. I am also going to be contemplating the final statement: “dreams…are for seeing new things.” This statement reminds me of Calea.