Power Dreaming
A few nights ago I had one of those AHA dreams. The message is a wee bit typical, but the experience was quite inspiring. Here it is:
My landlord moved me to a new apartment building outside of SF, on a remote forlorn beach. It was a strange building, to say the least, filled with dark passageways and heavy unlocked doors, odd shaped rooms with hooks coming out of the walls and concrete…lots of concrete, to protect it from the elements (being on the open beach and all).
I felt unsettled as I often do in new places and wondered if I should stay there or not. So, I walked up some stairs to talk with my “upstairs neighbor” and ask her what she thought of our strange new digs. She informed me this was the building they used to keep vampires, and those weird hooks coming out of the walls were where they used to hang the vampire bodies.
How lovely. Nate Berkus would faint.
So, I’m pleased to say my dream self reacted the same way my “real” self would initially react upon hearing such words, with a “Holy Shit!!! I am SO out of here!!!” But my friend from above grabbed my arm and said, “please don’t go, you can’t go”. I broke away from her and ran downstairs to grab my stuff and high tail it back to the SF I knew and loved - that garden of eden filled with green parks, cute cafes, organic food, friendly dogs, and even friendlier sex toy stores. As I was frantically packing, a vampire came up behind me to have his bloody way with me and I instinctually turned and smashed his vampy ass to bits.
I suddenly, immediately, completely “remembered” that I was a vampire slayer. With that awareness, sure enough more vamps came lunging out of the passageways and I started kicking some major vampire booty (btw, these were not the sexy, tormented-soul, human-friendly hottie vampires with a conscience from like say, Twilight or an Ann Rice novel or HBO’s True Blood or Buffy). When I was done sending these baddies to dust heaven, I thought to my dream self, “Who am I kidding, this is EXACTLY where I should be living, this is exactly where a vampire slayer should be perched. How perfect.”
So, the basic message of my vamp dream (it isn’t just that I’m crushing on Joss Whedon’s old T.V. show), is that even though times are downright freaky right now - what with the economy nose diving and the environment rightfully lashing out and the politicians lying through their winks, not too mention our own personal fears we are up against every day in our work, relationships, and bodies - we were made for this.
That’s right, in my red universe, we are all spiritual superheroes and this is exactly where we should be right now. Each and every one of us have unique, but latent super powers that can only be realized, only be experienced and lived and shared if we are pushed to our edges…if we are moved out of our comfort zones and into the strange, the unfamiliar, the concrete bloody fear.
We have been warriors in waiting for far too long. It’s time to roll up our sleeves, pull up our superheroine boots (pics of my new crazy amazing red superheroine boots coming soon), stretch our red hearts open even wider, and get down and dirty and thus divine with the best and worst of life… knowing, eventually, ultimately that there is no real difference between the best and the worst.
So superheroes and heroines, I can hear your inner timers ringing from way out here on my dreamy beach. Time’s Up. Come Out Come Out where ever you are and Come In Come In to who you truly are. We need you. You have a planet to save, a universe to serve, and some super fine new footwear to wear.
October 15th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
You are right! I sometimes feel as though I am fighting a battle ok really with my mom to try and make her see that some of the things that she is doing and not doing affect not just herself in the short term but also has long term consequences like her refusal to recycle because “it is too expensive”. I am not sure how she feels about me doing what I can for the planet. Plus now that I am pregnant with my first child I am being very “picky” with what I want my child to wear and play with but I also feel that I have a right to insist on certain things not only for her health but also the health of the planet. Thanks for the dream and for kicking some major butt!!!
October 15th, 2008 at 8:33 pm
Hi Sera,
I really loved The Red Book and have been reading your blog for awhile but didn’t feel compelled to comment until today. What a great entry - thank you.
fight the good fight.
October 15th, 2008 at 10:38 pm
funny ive been going through a hard time lately, thinking, can i handle this? so today i bought a new pair of GORGEOUS boots and whaddya know! Now i feel totally super bad ass! haha retail therapy works wonders doesnt it! but honestly when i saw the boots i thought of them as encouragement to quit dragging my feet in the sand, kick it in to high gear, and KICK ASS! so now thanks to reading your story i feel totally justified in buying these boots even though i really shouldnt have LOL
October 16th, 2008 at 8:33 am
Thank you for this post! I’ve been on a sort of spiritual retreat for the past 6-7 wks working through a cycle of transformation and thanks to some pent up negative feelings and fears including being able to maintain the growth I’ve accomplished now that I’m “allowed” to communicate again with some important people in my life, I landed myself with a sinus infection gone bad (of course I didn’t realize the source of it until only a couple days ago). Thanks for reminding me that I was made to do this, and that I can kick the ass of those fears and dust them!
October 19th, 2008 at 11:39 am
I needed a pep talk right about now…and I have new footwear so the timing is extraordinary.
October 20th, 2008 at 7:10 pm
I just wanted to say a big thank you for this post and also say hi. I have just discovered you and am so glad I did!!!
October 22nd, 2008 at 4:12 am
This is very timely. Thank you. Perhaps it is linked to the season and pending winter darkness and all of that wood chopping prep back here in the Great Smokies. I awoke speaking out the need to re-position my relationship with the darkness. Darkness is calling to be integrated, not shunned. Acknowledged not denied.
I like the kick ass part too !
Integration (as mantra)…nature has such a sweet way of acknowledging change now; Fall colors…and eventual winter. Dark. Cold. But warm soup, candles, fires burning also make for balance, no? (Did I forget to mention warm apple pies too? Shame!)
Vampires? I can’t help but have a little compassion for creatures who have lost their way on a planet that revolves around a sun - HELLO! The reality I suppose is that if they cross a line, and try to submit others to their way, the boot straps go on and the ass-kicking commences.
At some point, we have to ask ourselves, invite ourselves to respond to the question: who are we? Then, what do we stand for and how much darkness and toxicity do we tolerate before we act and do something about it?
Looking forward to hearing and seeing more about the Redevolution Project and of course, Fierce Light.
Namaste
October 22nd, 2008 at 9:04 pm
Thanks. Sometimes you say just what I needed to hear.
Hope you come to New York again sometime soon. It was great to get to meet you when you were here last.
October 23rd, 2008 at 8:34 pm
Ahh perfect dream for the beginning of Scorpio! Thanks for your service on the front lines of the astral plane slaying all the shadows that suck the wild red life out of us
If it were my dream, I might also try this alternate vampire killing strategy from a dream someone e-mailed me recently where she employed Jesus’ sneaky surrender tactics to destroy the energy by merging with it from a place of expansion. I love that the secret incantation “I am that too” and the love and forgiveness that springs from that place of expanded identity is the key to dissolving that eternal parasitical knot: But of course doing some shadow boxing and kicking some vampire ass is fun too! I would just want to make sure I spent some time off duty from being a superhero…swimming in that dream ocean and enjoying my beach front dream property.
My Vampire
“he is the most vicious of them all his complete arrogance that he will be feared he begins the attack i’ve been here before–NOT THIS TIME i face him trembling, I am prepared to die, but on my terms not his I prepare my red warm blood, charging it with a secret incantation “I am that too–I forgive you and even love you as you drain me”
we are both weakened by this alchemy of sharing my gift to you–mortality–at long last you can rest in peace. a tranquil smile while you utter a profound thank you.
your gift to me: visceral fear must be faced for the promised rebirth.