“Conscious femininity gives us the courage to trust in the moment without knowing what the goal is. I believe the psyche will try to heal itself if we give it a chance. We have to cooperate, of course.”
~ Marion Woodman, Conscious Femininity
Even when we feel we are most stuck and struggling; when we have huge challenges to deal with each day, or when we are ill or incapacitated in some way, growth IS still occurring deep in our psyche.
The most objective way to be so sure about this is by watching our dream symbols and themes.
Recently, I’ve been going through another very challenging time, with lots of pain, immobility and depression. Feeling utterly stuck once more and unable to move forward in any way, shape or form.
And yet, I’ve been having some incredible dream images showing me that even when I feel this stuck, in fact what is going on is that I am in a cocoon again. And crucially, that on some level, like writing this piece for example and seeing my clients, I am still functioning and in a meaningful and valuable way.
One such dream image showed a former life-coach of mine who is now a writing coach. In the dream she was leading a writing coaching session for a group, but she was encased in the trunk of a tree! Fully enclosed in there like in a cocoon or tomb, yet she could see out and speak and her students assured me that she was still teaching them and they were learning a great deal from her. How incredible! This dream gave me reassurance that I can still function AND be of valuable service to others despite my present confinement.
This was then followed by another image, this time of a young male cocooned inside some kind of dome-shaped object, but again he was able to communicate to me via another man. And, at the end of that dream I was given a rapidly growing, very beautiful, deep purple plant, which at first alarmed me as its growth was so fast, but the man reassured me that this was okay and that I should now take care of this flowering plant. Again, another incredible dream and message to assure me that deep inside my psyche growth WAS occurring.
Dreams like this both comfort me and give me the necessary hope to keep going, AND to trust the process that is taking place within even when my outer life is severely curtailed.
I am where I am and what is happening in my body especially is necessary at some deep level in order to bring the two very split sides of myself, both physically and psychologically, into greater balance after 50 plus years of living separate from the other, causing me immense difficulties as I’ve more or less been living two parallel lives.
So, if you too are struggling and going through some challenging health crisis or other situation, I hope this short piece reassures you a little and gives you faith in the incredible ingenuity and beauty of the psyche, which is always, always trying to bring us to wholeness and our deepest, truest self and bring about healing in whatever way it can for us.
And as Marion Woodman suggests in the opening quote, we do still have to cooperate in some way. So our task is to pay attention, stay awake, take notice of the gifts of psyche through our dreams, visions and imaginings, and somehow participate in this process of healing which is unfolding in the dark pregnant recess of our psyche.
©Angela Dunning
Image by Anna Veres Art, licensed via Shutterstock.