Issue 95, July 2006
Double or quits?
©Jane Teresa Anderson, July 2006
“I dreamed I was Alice in Wonderland,” said Alice. Well, let’s call her Alice anyway because the story is better that way.
“I went to visit the Queen of Hearts who was sitting on her throne in the middle of an enormous rose bed. I was struggling through the thorny rose bushes, trying to reach her, when the White Rabbit appeared, hurrying me along, muttering, Double or quits? Double or quits?”
Alice looked at me. “Yes, I know the White Rabbit in the story says, I’m late, I’m late, for an important date, but in my dream it was Double or quits? Double or quits?” she laughed. “And doesn’t Alice in Wonderland end with Alice telling everyone they’re nothing but a pack of cards? Dreams are so clever at making associations.”
“You bet,” I smiled.
“Double or quits?” Alice giggled.
And then it was down to business. Why did Alice dream of visiting the Queen of Hearts? Why was the journey so thorny and difficult? And why did the White Rabbit urge Alice to double or quit?
Oh, and what’s in this dream story for you, dear reader? Why, a wonderful piece of magic, of course, far greater and more powerfully life-changing than pulling a white rabbit out of a hat. So, let’s move along, at a relaxing gentle pace, and smell the roses along the way. Now, where were we? Ah yes, Alice’s dream. Now, what would you have done in Alice’s situation?
I asked Alice the same question, “If you were still in the dream, still struggling with the thorny bushes, what would you do: double or quit?”
“Well, in my dream I really wanted to see the Queen of Hearts, so I guess I would choose to double my efforts,” Alice replied.
“And then what would happen?” I asked.
“In the dream, whenever I hurried, the thorny rose bushes just got thicker and thicker, so I guess if I doubled my efforts I’d get even more scratched and even more blocked from seeing the Queen,” Alice reflected.
“That’s true,” I agreed. “So would you quit instead?”
“If I quit then I’d never, ever see the Queen,” replied Alice.
“Double or quit, which is it to be?” I insisted, echoing the White Rabbit.
“Neither,” affirmed Alice. Neither would result in me seeing the Queen in the dream, so … ,” she trailed off, lost for a solution.
“What about doubling your resolve?” I asked.
“But the White Rabbit meant double my efforts or give up,” explained Alice.
“That’s what you thought! That’s how you saw it! Double your bets means double your faith in the outcome, doesn’t it?” I asked.
“I guess,” Alice said, doubtfully. “But the White Rabbit is all about hurrying, hurrying, because he’s late for an important date. Surely he meant double my hurry, double my efforts, push through the thorns, before it’s too late for my important date with the Queen,” she added.
“What was making you late in the dream?” I asked Alice.
“The thorns. If it wasn’t for the thorns I could skip through the roses and reach the throne in no time,” smiled Alice.
“So, what’s the solution?” I asked.
Alice looked at me, blankly.
“Alice, it’s a dream! You have a magical white rabbit at your disposal and you have already agreed that double your bets might mean double your faith,” I urged. “Now, imagine you’re Alice in Wonderland! Be a child again! What’s the solution?”
“Okay, I’ve got it,” chirped Alice, warming to the game, “I could double my faith in magic and tell the thorns they’re nothing but a pack of pins, and watch them fall away leaving the rose bushes as smooth as silk and then skip through them and curtsey to the Queen. How’s that for a solution?”
“Perfect,” I replied. “And what will you say to the Queen of Hearts when you see her?”
Still in playful mood, the answer came easily to Alice. “Why, I’d say, Hello Queen. When you have faith, the journey becomes light and easy and leads straight to the heart. Doubt is a thorn in your side that blocks the way to your heart’s desires.”
Alice stared at me and blinked back the first tears, “That’s incredible!” she whispered.
“See?” I smiled, “Awake you’re even cleverer than in your dreams!”
By imagining herself back in her dream and playfully asking and answering questions very quickly (without really thinking), Alice found meaning in her dream, meaning that resonated with what was going on in her life. She had been feeling increasingly blocked in her life and with the blocks came the doubts, and with the doubts came the feeling that she would never achieve her heart’s desires, and so her doubts became bigger and bigger obstacles along her path, causing her more pain than pleasure. She had been close to quitting.
What was the breakthrough for Alice in this question and answer play? It was where she realised that she could change the dream. She could make the thorns disappear. Once she made this one change to the dream, the whole dream changed. Once she changed her view of the journey, the whole journey changed. Her dream was giving her strong clues with its Alice in Wonderland theme of imagination, magic and transformation. All she had to do was imagine transforming the obstacle in the dream and that created the magic.
This is what dream alchemy is all about. It’s about using special techniques to change an element of your dream, while you’re awake, to achieve a magical outcome. When you transform your dream while awake, you transform your waking life. When Alice transformed her dream symbol for doubt (painful thorns) into something quite opposite (silky smooth stems) her unconscious mind instantaneously transformed doubt into its opposite: faith. Then, with faith in place instead of doubt, the new, awake dream automatically ran to completion and Alice experienced and saw the light!
So, are you ready to apply more dream alchemy to your dreams from now on? You bet! Double, no quits!
Jane Teresa Anderson
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