Before sleep I had been reading 'The shape of things to come' and I tried thinking of an object before I went to sleep (as discussed in the book) to see if it would appear in my dream to see if it resolved any issues.
I chose a feathered arrow.
I didn't dream of any arrows, but obviously arrows must mean direction and then travel in my mind, because all night my dream featured various modes of transportation: bus, train, walking through doors, following other people.
I had to swap tickets to get onto the bus where my uni friend was going through a brochure of the camp we were supposedly heading towards, although we didn’t get there.
Dream edited for easier reading - JT, 2005
Tingting*
19:25 01/10/2001
Another quick note: in the dream, I didn't get anywhere, only featured travelling, and thinking back, I don't think I spoke to anyone either.
Although I did dream my brother and his friends walking through a train at the crossing. I only see them walk towards teh train, knowing they are going to cross and then we are on the other side and they are all lying down on the ground. I call my mother on hte mobile, telling her what happened and I she isn't concerned about my brother, but was complaining about the travelling time she would need to do - one hours drive or something. Which I thought was very odd. This is a direct reflection to what she told me the day before - she was objecting to me changing courses whenever I changed my mind, because she worried it would waste time.
Jane Teresa Anderson
12:32 02/10/2001
Hi Tingting,
Great to hear the results of this particular exercise from "The Shape of Things to Come".
Yes, I would see the symbol of an arrow stirring up unconscious reactions to direction and the issues surrounding this.
Trains can come up in dreams as a pun on 'training' (how our dreams love to work in puns and metaphors). A train travels on rails - there's no control for the traveller, no sudden decisions to turn left or turn right. The empowered decisions include 'jumping trains', getting off at the next station to reconsider, making a decision to go to the end of the track in any case, or to choose another method of transport entirely. (The last meaning one not rigidly or treadmilled unidirectional .. or one with more lateral expression built in as opposed to the straight-ahead direction of a train on rails.) However, in the best of dream puns, we may find ourselves dreaming we are "off the rails" or "on track".
Your brother and his friends laying on the ground may suggest 'grounding' - practicality. Your brother may represent the 'male side' of you (Yang, left brain, outer world) in general, or they may represent a combined quality or approach to life (consider the general nature of your brother's peer group).
One of the conflicts in the dream may be:
Grounded and practical (Yang) vs changeable and lateral (Yin). Built into this is a question of 'the time it takes' and why time should be an issue for you.
Others will come in here to help you to interpret this dream, Tingting. I wanted to set you an exercise to help elucidate:
When you picked the feathered arrow as your symbol to incubate into a dream, you were, in a way, picking one half of a whole. An arrow is half of the mechanism determining its direction. The other half is the bow.
In being lost (not finding the destination) in the dream, I wonder whether it would be helpful for you to consider the bows in your life:
FIRST EXERCISE FOR YOU
If you are an arrow, Tingting, what or who is your bow?
You may discover there are several bows, some from the past, some current ... as well as perhaps bows-in-the-making. "The Shape of Bows to Come".
It's probable that the bows which have set you, as an arrow, on your course, are conflicting, causing the wavering line of travel, the questioning that leaves you still in search of a destination.
Once you've identified the bows which have shaped your direction so far, you can then move on to let go of those old bows which are inappropriate and begin to fashion the bows which are right for you.
TYING IN WITH YOUR SYNCHRONICITY FORUM POST
I did read your post in the Synchronicity Forum about the passage in my book coming up as a Synchronicity for you. Notice that the piece quoted was about my son, Euan, acting as a pitcher. Pitcher..bow .... both are instruments which start the path of the ball/ arrow. Further food for thought!
So, Tingting, maybe the original synchronicity came up for you because you are indeed in the process of realising the need to look at what is driving you - what your pitcher or bow is - and how you can change this.
BTW Euan moved on to university after time out and travelling overseas. He is studying Philosophy and is absolutely in his element. So there again is an overlap with the decisions you were weighing up when you posted to the Synchronicity Forum.
SECOND EXERCISE FOR YOU
To help you to elucidate all of this, I suggest you write a poem (free form, no rhyming, no structure, very gut-reaction, write to a 15 minute time limit .. nothing clever .. the more it looks like it's written by a child the better ...) titled, "THE SHAPE OF BOWS TO COME".
See where it takes you ... and, if you wish, please post your thoughts and results here as the number of people who read and learn from these forums is enormous compared to the number of people who post.
In dream sight,
Jane Teresa Anderson
Tingting*
00:22 03/10/2001
Hello Jane (Can I call you Jane? =D )
I was so delighted to have a response from you! Thanks for your time - your analysis has helped a lot. I'll try the 2 exercises and I'll get back to you...promise.
That's interesting between the pitcher and the arrow, I didn't make that connection...
I was thinking about crossing the train tracks again...before we crossed I was feeling anxiety and on the other side was chaos with my brother and his friends strewn across the ground. This could reflect my anxiety towards approaching drama and what its results might be...perhaps.... However, I haven't exactly figured out what my brother or his friends could represent...
Keep you posted! =)
Tingting*
Jane Teresa Anderson
11:32 03/10/2001
Tingting ..
I thought you'd appreciate this extra note from MY dream last night:
I was in a stage play as the non-professional actor in the group (I have never acted in plays beyond primary school). At the end we took a bow. This was the most exciting part of the play for me - not the applause (as I don't recall the audience or any reaction), but the act (?act?) of linking hands and taking a bow. When I wrote up the dream this morning I suddenly thought of the fact the YOU are an actor (ref Synch post) and that a "bow" is spelt the same as the "bow" from which an arrow takes its aim, direction and speed.
Something else for you to ponder ... bows as in acting bows .....
Jane Teresa
(aka in Shape as Jane .. to answer your question: people call me either - my next book will be published under Jane Teresa Anderson)
Tingting*
23:52 03/10/2001
Hello, here is what I wrote for the exercise you set me -
"The Shape of Bows to Come."
If I was an arrow, I can feel myself fling forward - in one direction. But I am wavering, as if the bow that shot me was an amateur and didn't shoot me the right way and I feel that I may miss my intended taget although I won't miss the haystack entirely.
The more I try to think who or what my bow may be - propelling me forward like this - the more I believe that I AM the bow and the arrow. That I have set myself into the air.
It all makes sense now.
My destination is unclear, unknown - unpredictable just like my future is now. My goals are changing.
I am still in the air travelling because I have to keep moving, the motion has been set, I have to keep studying and moving foward to straighten the arrow's path.
But why did I shoot myself with such amateur skill. Perhaps not amateur skill caused it but I couldn't decided where I wanted to shoot - and down the last seconde, before I shoot, I still can't decide. Therefore producing the wavering arrow.
Maybe the wind will correct my course. I have already shot the arrow, it can't turn around or change its course on it own accord.
If I want to change - I am letting wind (outside forces) determine my fate.
Or if I am the bow - the archer - perhaps I can send out another arrow to change the path of the first arrow?
However, I can't be another arrow. It has to be someone or something ele or from someone else's bow.
It's either the wind or another arrow that can change my course and decide.
And there we have it - now what does it mean? well, from my own interpretation - i feel that when i first started uni - I've never been utterly sure about where I wanted to go - but i've already started and i feel taht i have to get to the target somehow - but which target i haven't decided - which is basically my current conflict between advertising and drama...
at the moment, if i pass the auditions - i'm letting that be the deciding factor for me to follow that path - so that is the outside force - my wind that will change my course.
With your dream Jane, and its synchronicity with the bow and the arrow and bow is great.
I do agree that the bowing is pretty cool - we just did another performance tonight and we got to bow twice. Do you remember what you were wearing in your dream? Did you have a costume? Were there many other actors around?
=D I'll see you in my dreeams....
Star
06:21 04/10/2001
Hi Tingting - with all that is occurring for you re bows and arrows I thought you may find the following useful.
It is an extract from a book I have in relation to Native American beliefs and is linked to Sacred Path Cards.
"Warrior Clan your arrows fly straight and true, Bold of heart, proven faith, protection lives through you."
The Arrow was quick to protect and quick to act in crisis. Straight and true, weighing all future possibilities, each Chief aimed for the highest good and remained totally responsible for the actions of each decision he made. The Bow of Beauty was the joyful expression with which he viewed his task of leadership. Even in times of great sorrow, the ability to bend without breaking was remembered through the Bow of Beauty, the arch of inner strength that gave flight to the Arrow.
The Bow of Beauty was said to have been made of finest gold, which represented the golden light of Grandfather Sun's love, and was inlaid with pearls, which represented the essence of Grandmother Moon's nurturing. At the core of the Warrior Clan's principles was the balanced male/female within each Brave. This balance was found through the willingness to bend like the Bow of Beauty and send the Arrow of Truth into the world.
Remember that the Arrow's path is straight and narrow and that its target is the heart. Arrow speaks of using total truth as our weapons and our protection.
If Arrow has found its target in your life you are being asked to find the truth of your present situation. You can protect yourself from uncomfortable situations by using the truth as protection. It does not matter what others think of you. You know the truth. When you honor that truth you cannot be hurt by the lies of others.
This is to say that you must armour yourself with the good intent and truthfulness of those you wish to associate with. Drop those who would no longer honor your path or truth. Remember: Arrow is straight and always says, "Stay on the Sacred Path."
Arrow also speaks of the ideas of Brotherhood which is interesting as your recent dream had you linking hands with others before you could/did take a bow.
The Blood Brother Ceremony of Native America is the undaunted connection of man to man/human to human that has produced the union of heart, body and strength that creates a support system for the balanced Warrior Spirit within. The undying loyalty of a friend made Brother is promised in this Ceremony and that type of commitment is rare in any culture of today's world.
For me personally, Arrow when it appears always tells me to "walk my talk" and live the truth in my heart regardless of what I encounter in doing so, for truth of heart tells no lies nor does it deceive us.
Blessings for your journey, Star
Angela
07:23 04/10/2001
Hi Tighting, Jane and Star.
Well, I'm now drawn into this one for two feathered reasons:
Jane, you know the first one. Feather is a link for me to this site.
And the second one is because on the date of this posting. When you, Tighting, would have been requesting the dream incubation image, I was having a yard sale in Western, Canada. I had a feather pillow amongst my things for sale, but it didn't sell that afternoon. Strangely enough, two days later, the doorbell rang and it was a boy of about age 12 wondering if I still had the feather pillow for sale.
So, Jane is synching with you on the bows and I'm synching with you on the feathers. I happen to be going through a huge transformation time, in which I am taking flight and heading in a new direction (East), both literally and metaphorically. My bow has been pulled back, I'm ready to let go and see where the feathers gently guide this arrow. I'm not sure if that is what is going on for you, but it is a profound image for me right now. And this is how I've seen synchronicity to work for me: We seem to pick up each other's symbolism as our lives resonate with one another.
There is so much to try and grasp as you head into the world of dreams and synchronicity, but it is truly worth the effort. And from what I'm reading of your posts, it seems to naturally be coming at you.
Please keep posting. You have opened up a whole new world for yourself. And I can tell you from experience, it will never, ever steer you wrong.
Angela.
Jane Teresa Anderson
17:09 04/10/2001
This is developing and synchronising beautifully.
Tingting:
Great work on the exercise. You are already drawing conclusions and working with the images. You can add into this a visualisation element:
Firstly you decide how you want your arrow to fly, or how you want your bow to be. Secondly summon up the FEELING you would like this arrow-being or bow-being (or both, or together) to give you and then visualise yourself AS the arrow or AS the bow or AS the combo of each at the same time as FEELING the feeling. Let the feeling absolutely absorb into your being.
Whenever you are in a situation where you have need to draw (draw a bow?) on the energy of the arrow or the bow, summon up the visualisation/ feeling and let the energy work for you.
Tingting: About MY dream:
I didn't notice what I was wearing, but there were 5 or 6 of us and I was on the end of the row when we took the bow - with my right hand free, so I was on the far right of the bow from the actors' point of view.
If I had to guess at what I was wearing I'd say it was colourful, lots of green and a bit forest-fairy-tale-robyn-hood-peter-pan*!
One of the other actors was named Joanne, but this Joanne is someone I know and I can see the relevance of her symbolism in the dream.
Is there any overlap with your performance?
Jane Teresa Anderson
* Maybe this feeling springs from the thought of a 'feather' in a peter-pan/ robin-hood type hat!
JT
Tingting*
21:09 04/10/2001
Thanks for the advice on the 'feeling' - i'll try it next time.
Wow - here's more synchronicity for you...in the play I am in, there are 5 performers, myself included, and in the first act all of our costumes are white body suits and each of us has a GREEN letter sewn on the front. Those letters are H, B, R, I and Q. I play the character Q.
and get this - in the performance I had last, I was bowing on the far right! but i'm not always on the right everytime we bow at the end.
Maybe you will see me in your dreams... =)
Tingting*
Angela
15:15 05/10/2001
Tingting...
Just want to apologize for mis-spelling your name. I have no idea why I saw 'Tighting'. Anyway, sorry about that. I think I did it on the synch. forum the other day too... oops.
