Deep dreaming and soul encounter

Greetings on this winter solstice week. I truly thought the sun was not going to rise on the weekend, still dark well after 7am on the southern slope of a mountain outside Melbourne. I took myself out in the half-light to roam the forest, and was treated to the display of the Bulen-Bulen, the Superb Lyrebird  fanning its tail and singing its entire medley of bird calls, in a bid to attract a mate. This male Lyrebird display is one of the hallmarks of this Wuring (Wombat) season, signalling the beginning of its courtship. 

It’s also a time that I tend more the inner world, my own, and those who I support. One way I have been doing this is writing my soul story - my personal myth - the way I came to know myself over a 12 year initiatory period through numinous encounter and deep imagery. Including in a dream.

In the spirit of this deep dreaming season, I'm sharing a key dream on this journey, one I know as ‘The Farm.’

I am standing on one side of a cast iron gate. It is humble and yet elegant, cursive writing spelling out ‘The Farm.'  It seems a name that is intentionally deceptive in its humility. On the other side of the gate, is land that is both deeply alluring to me, and also somehow familiar. It is wild and beautiful, sovereign in its beingness, but also cultivated in a way that enhances the wildness of the place. It is purposeful land. Intentional. I know that this is a place that people come to for initiation. A voice in the dream tells me that ‘this is the place of my true inheritance’. I know that I am meant to inhabit that place, and be part of its purpose. It is actually the place of my physical and spiritual home. I prepare myself to walk through the gate.

Tears fell as I woke to this dream, as I realised the significance. I knew already that my task was to guide people through Initiation but here was an image and a felt sense, like a psychospiritual ecological niche, that spoke to the specific kind of inner landscape that I occupy as a guide. Here was the 'place of my true inheritance’, the dream-maker borrowing a line from one of my favourite David Whyte poems. 

Could The Farm also be an actual physical place that I might one day find and guide in? I hold that longing close.  

I share this dream to inspire us all to recommit to that dream journal, to dream tracking, especially at this time of year. You don’t want to miss the dream of a lifetime.

Vision Quest is a powerful place to dream into the deepest authenticity one might embody. I have just released dates for the Autumn Quest for next year. I’m guiding with Mitch Stent who has been apprenticing with us for some years, and brings deep poetic wisdom and the fire of truth telling to the guide role. Welcome Mitch! 

In another new collaboration this Spring I am cooking up a treat of wildcrafting, herbal crafting, nature connection, singing, cooking, storytelling and ceremony with good mates Siobhan Delaney and Skye Fior in HearthFire Fridays. 

And wanted to mention, I'm going to be sharing a myth or two, including a long cherished myth about initiation that always stirs the cauldron of longing, on July 20 at Remembering Story Medicine. Love the community that is cooking here. 

So many more offerings smouldering away. Take a look down below.  

Dream wild and deep friends, 

With love, 

Claire