Ariadne's Book of Dreams: A Dictionary of Ancient and Contemporary Symbols

Chapter 1

The Lower World is the deepest dimension of our soul. It contains nature's secrets, the primordial power that is instinctual to our nature. The Lower World contains the imprints of every thought and idea planted and cultivated by humans throughout our history. These thoughts have germinated into public dreams, or what we call mythology. Within each cell of our bodies this mythic legacy exists, ready to be tapped by the dreaming process. Mining the gold of our dreams brings the wealth and wisdom of the ages and nature's mysteries to the light of the conscious mind.

The Lower World is rooted in the natural world. It is the terrain of a primordial reality in which the power of the earth, its elements, and its kingdoms may be encountered so that their wisdom and power can be brought forward into life.

For the shaman who travels deep into the Lower World, it is a sacred journey of initiation. Traditionally, shamans make their descent into the Lower World to retrieve their power through a potent dream or through an altered state of consciousness. They may enter the earth's body through an opening such as a cave, a hollow tree, or a deep pool to descend and die a mythic death so that they may be reborn in some way. The visions from their subterranean journeys are brought back to the tribal culture to be reenacted through sacred rites and seasonal ceremonies.

Some Native American cultures such as the Pueblo and Hopi, ancestors of the Anasazi of the southwestern United States, still use structures called kivas that replicate the portal into the Lower World. Kivas are circular chambers made of earth and limestone that are entered by descending a ladder. Once there, the initiate is prepared through prayer and ceremony to obtain the mythic knowledge of his culture. Through secret teachings by tribal elders and through his own visions, the initiate ascends, transformed and empowered to inspire and renew the faith of his community.

Modern psychology uses the term collective unconscious to describe the Lower World, where powerful archetypes dance with the elements of nature and still influence our personalities today.

According to Carl Jung, the father of analytical psychology, archetypes, or patterns of energy that influence the human personality and emerge spontaneously in dream material, are carried within the vast collective unconscious. These archetypes, what Jung calls mythological motifs, point to a mythic life we live, perhaps without knowing it. The qualities and dynamic tensions expressed by these archetypes are set in bold letters, demanding attention within the text of the subconscious. They summon us to transform ourselves by acknowledging their power, embracing their positive qualities, and resolving the conflicts they act out. We accomplish this through a process called creative dreaming.

The kings, queens, tricksters, fools, gods, goddesses, and mythical and natural creatures, as well as demons, may bear gifts for dreamers in the form of a spiritual message. These characters are often forces of dark and light waging war with each other. The queen, for instance, may come to signify the honor bestowed on the mature feminine persona, and at the same time may present the lessons of the evil, jealous queen who wants to destroy the emerging individual who is rival to her throne. She also demonstrates the maternal aspect of the personality, which may rule the subconscious and may not want to give way to a more liberated feminine aspect.

In archetypes dreams, which are also referred to as "big" or "grand" dreams, the gods and goddesses play out their dramas within the psyche. They ignite passion, celebrate beauty, bring reason, demonstrate the courage of a hero, or offer a theme for further exploration into the soul. These archetypes are a blueprint for spiritual knowledge that is the basis of the values we recognize as intrinsic and necessary to our wholeness. They express clearly what it is to be a truly multifaceted human being. For instance, a dream of Mercury wearing his winged helmet and racing through a field may speak to a dreamer's desire to run forth with quicksilver speed and deliver an important message to someone—or to the world.

The gods and goddesses in our dreams may emerge clothed in modern dress as celebrities. In the drama of our dreams, they express the same qualities and values as the gods and goddesses. Our fascination with celebrity seems to represent a fascination with qualities we cannot achieve within ourselves.

The appearance of Madonna in a dream, for example, may come as none other than the Greek goddess Aphrodite, who won the prize of Paris as the most beautiful goddess in competition with Athena and Hera on Mount Olympus. Madonna is sexy and expressive, bringing power and recognition to feminine sexuality. She emerges as a seductress, summoning a woman to embrace her own unique beauty, and as the temptress of a man's unexpressed desires. In this way, she may fulfill an unconscious desire to express sexuality more freely.

I once had a dream that I was at the breakfast table with Mel Gibson and was straddling his lap asking for a commitment. I associated Mel with the qualities that his character portrayed in the film Braveheart. In this role he was a courageous hero who was willing to fight for a mission that was heart-inspired. At the time of the dream, I was hunting for my own masculine qualities, which could bring me the focus and bravery necessary to fulfill a longtime vision.

A powerful archetype, the shadow, perhaps the most disowned and denied power within the subconscious, may appear out of nowhere to threaten the goodwill of the dreamer. It may appear as a villain, an assassin, a tyrant, or even as the Devil himself to torment and threaten our sense of worth or fulfillment. Like the Grinch (who stole Christmas) or the Wicked Witch of the West, the shadow may indicate the power of evil, which must be confronted and challenged in order to win back our innocence and embrace fulfillment. The nightmarish quality of a shadow dream may bring about fear and terror. Most of us have had a confrontation with the shadow in a dream, in which we are being chased, threatened, or robbed of actualization. We may run or hide when he pursues us and awaken with a jolt. The shadow rests in our subconscious, the place where we may deny the evil within ourselves in order to live moral lives. Our shadow nightmares reveal this conflict within ourselves.

One of my students dreamed that her boyfriend doodled an inscription on the skin of her leg through a hole in her jeans that read JC/Satan. This dream expressed perfectly the conflict between good and evil, between Jesus Christ, the resurrected son of God, and Satan, the fallen angel. It was clear that this deeply embedded conflict was imprinted in her "genes."

Our shadows cannot be denied, bargained with, or destroyed. They must be faced, or their evil will continue to haunt our dreams and rob us of our opportunities for fulfillment and pleasure in life.

There is a natural attraction to what we repress or deny within the subconscious. An example might be a woman who is attracted to a "bad boy," a lover who seduces or tricks her and perhaps even abuses her. She may really be yearning to embrace her own disowned antisocial desires. The danger is in the trap of believing that she does not deserve better because of the shame of such dark yearnings.

Those within the culture who are attracted to negative symbolism, who wear tattoos of devils and images of death, may act out the disowned shadow for the culture as a whole. Positive or negative overidentification with archetypes may be dangerous because this assigning of black or white devalues other pieces of the self that, when integrated, offer a more complete picture of the individual.

Modern positive archetypes such as Mickey Mouse, Big Bird, or Winnie-the-Pooh hold significant power and archetypal meaning. When we were children, they taught us important values through their stories and characterizations. In adulthood, their messages still urge us to adopt their principles. Mickey is a jovial character who teaches us to appreciate the Kingdom of the Magical Child. Winnie-the-Pooh shows us ways to unconditional love. Big Bird demonstrates the value of having a special friend. Each reminds us of important spiritual and human values.

Dreams of mythic proportions usually come at times when the personality is ready to individuate from the imposed structures and patterns of society, family, and the beliefs of a culture. During the peak of a transformational cycle or a ripe opportunity in life when change is forced or welcome, whether it is a period of maturation such as adolescence or a transition such as divorce, a dream may come as a call to venture deep into the Lower World. Like Alice in Through the Looking Glass or Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, a mythic dream may take one into a dark forest as a hero or heroine to slay the demons that block the path. We might have to slay our father, our mother, a witch, or a monster shadow figure who may seek to devour us or rob us of our power. Once that figure has been slain, the ego can move past its old identity and claim one that reflects growth. The personality no longer seeks refuge in the safety of the known world, and it is compelled to accept a deeper connection to nature and a truer, more authentic expression in life.

Adolescents who are between the ages of twelve and seventeen commonly have dreams that mark the passage into adulthood. This period in one's life is seldom recognized in Western culture. In more primitive societies, the transition is celebrated through specific rite-of-passage rituals. Adolescents frequently have difficulty making the transition from childhood to adolescence, and their dreams may reveal the conflicts they face. Their quest to individuate and for self-exploration is often interrupted by parents and educators who exert an opposing force, pulling them into different levels of conformity. While the soul struggles to resolve these conflicts creatively, the adolescent's creativity may turn inward, resulting in emotional tension and depression. It may also turn outward, resulting in antisocial behavior.

When my daughter was twelve, she had a very important dream in which she was confronted by two men with strange-looking futuristic guns. These men were also wearing spider rings on their fingers. She wrestled away a gun and shot the strangers. Rather than bullets, the guns emitted rays of light that dissolved the men. She then descended into the basement of the house, where she discovered a treasure chest full of jewels and spider rings. A guide in the dream told her that she could take as many of the jewels as she wanted. No matter how many jewels and spider rings she took out, the treasure chest remained full. In the dream, she was talking to her father on the telephone, telling him about the dream experience. He in turn told her that he had the same dream when he was her age.

My daughter's dream marked her transition into puberty and pointed to the discovery of her creative power drawn from the Lower World. In the dream, she had conquered her fears through the power of the light and made a descent to find the treasures within her subconscious, symbolized by the basement. The spider ring is a symbol of fertility and creativity, an amulet of power that would protect her and offer her a symbolic connection to her own creative potential. The jewels within the treasure chest represented the radiant qualities and regenerative potential of her sexuality. They also represented the wealth and abundance that may be claimed when she touches the depth of her own creative potential.

Dreams like these are milestones in a psychological as well as a biological process. Recognition and celebration of such a dream may ease the crisis of adolescence and bring to light the psychological tasks necessary to embrace growth.

Dreams from the Lower World may also be calls to shamanize, to retrieve the power within nature in order to use it for healing. Intense energy or heat-even fever-may accompany such dreams. They may be seen as the milestones of deep psychological work that push forward the soul's evolution. Shamans often are called to their profession through a dream in which they are met by an animal power who will later become the shaman's ally, guiding him into the many dimensions of the soul.

A dream in which a wild animal appears and threatens to devour or dismember us may represent a confrontation with a natural or supernatural power. Animal power dreams are common but are seldom recognized as a call to shamanize. Often the dreamer will avoid the call by running from the animal and thus avoid the deepest connection to nature and its power.

I recall a dream where I was being chased through the forest by a bear. I ran straight to my mother's house, where the bear waited patiently for me outside. The dream remarked on my avoidance of my role as a shaman and healer through my adherence to the belief that to be successful I needed to pursue doctoral studies. My mother's house represented the safety of accepting her conventional beliefs that higher education was the formula for success.

Animal powers, from the perspective of the shaman, are not symbols. They are strong allies or spirits who lend their energies as power to the shaman through a special kinship. The Lakota Indians, for instance, subscribe the name "relations" to the animal power that they encounter in the spiritual realms. For the Lakota as with other tribal cultures, the power of the animal is familial and sacred. For instance, Brother Eagle is a guide to the spiritual realms. He brings the power of Great Spirit into life and offers a "bird's-eye" view of life from a spiritual perspective.

When animal powers emerge from within a dream we can commune with an extraordinary power and potential. If not fought off or chased away, the animal may offer its wisdom as medicine for the soul, supernatural power for healing, and instinctive power to strengthen the personality. Whether it is the healing energy of a snake or the pride and confidence of a lion, each possesses an extraordinary power that connects us to an instinctual side of ourselves.

The ancient Egyptians believed that animals were closer to God because they were in touch with the mysteries within nature. They assigned godlike qualities to animals and worshiped their power. Many dream analysts interpret animals in dreams symbolically and ascribe negative characteristics to them. They consider animals as reflecting lower drives, which humans should rise above by virtue of the intellect. This view separates man from the mysteries of nature and thus denies the power and potential of the Lower World.

More than twenty years ago, I had an important dream. In the dream I was giving birth to an androgynous god with both male and female genitalia. I believed it to reveal the true nature of the soul—that it is androgynous. The male side expresses the forces of reason, logic, and action. The female offers the qualities of intuition, receptivity, creativity, and emotionality. If encountered dancing together in a dream, these archetypes express the union of opposites merged in a sacred expression. A wedding in a dream may suggest the celebration of this sacred union.

Dreams often express this struggle to balance the male and female aspects in order to actualize them creatively.

For both men and women, the unconscious female is wounded by the patriarchal male, who imposes structure and obedience to negate feminine power. A modern myth, "The Little Mermaid," first written as a children's fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen, has been transformed in recent years by the myth-makers at Disney Studios. This animated movie points to the reemergence of the feminine voice at a time when our culture needs to regain the balance and sensitivity of the feminine principle. Growing legs out of fins, which were only useful when hidden in the sea of the subconscious, Ariel, in her archetypal female adolescence, must reclaim her voice from the demonized sea witch named Ursula. The struggle to reclaim the voice of intuition and wisdom is difficult to resolve. Through the defeat of the sea witch, Ariel is embraced by her masculine aspect. This myth illustrates the individuation process as Ariel leaves her father's side and her familiar ocean world, as well as speaking to the sacred union of the male and female.

From within the Lower World, the natural elements may erupt in dreams as weather patterns that offer insight into the mood of the dreamer. These elements have corresponding meanings as they relate to man: fire (passion), water (emotions), air (mind), and earth (the body). As weather, these elements combine to create storms, floods, and winds of all sorts to express our own feelings or moods. Earth activity, such as earthquakes and aftershocks, in dreams may reveal deep emotions or responses to situations that rock our lives. Dreams of tidal waves and hurricanes may offer a magnified picture of our emotions. A stream may represent the flow of life force; a river may indicate vital sexual energy. A cave may be the womb, a mountain peak the crown. Dreams reflect the deep con-nection between man and the elements of nature.

Minerals, the jewels and treasures of the earth, are excavated from deep within the Lower World to offer up their radiant qualities and to help us glimpse the spiritual light within. Dreamers have reported being presented with a special crystal, such as an amethyst, in a dream by some wise woman or sage. Such a gift of power may awaken intuition and spiritual vision. More commonly, dreamers may find themselves wearing a special piece of jewelry containing a gem that may signify a special quality: Diamonds reflect radiant clarity, and pearls represent wisdom and enlightenment. Each brings a definition to an aspect of the soul. As a synchronistic gift, a dreamer may later acquire such a crystal or piece of jewelry in his or her waking life in order to work with its power more consciously.

The ore of the earth, when refined into precious metals, has meaning as different aspects of the soul. Silver as feminine and gold as masculine, together, bring balance. Raw metals such as iron may denote strength of character.

The process of alchemy, which turns base metals into gold, represents the refinement of the soul into its purified and untarnished state of wholeness. Ancient alchemy symbols may also appear in dreams to further our understanding of ourselves.

If a garden serves as the dream environment, the varieties of plants, trees, and flowers offer messages to the dreamer. Each flower or plant offers a unique quality that reflects natural characters within the individual. Therefore, a rose may represent qualities of feminine beauty and a daisy may reflect a ray of sunshine into one's heart.

A beautiful dream told to me by a seventeen-year-old revealed the protective quality that nature bestows. In the dream, she sat beneath a sacred tree whose branches were expansive. For a time her family was there with her, but then they turned away, leaving her beneath the tree. When she journeyed away from the tree and down a path, the tree's branches reached out and continued to shelter her for quite a distance. In this dream, the tree is the tree of life, and its branches of wisdom offer protection while she embarks on an important rite of passage. It signifies her innate connection to nature's wisdom. The path leads her to mystical knowledge.

Seasonal changes may be announced to the dreamer attuned to the cycles of nature. A dream of a fox in a snow-blanketed forest may forecast more accurately the arrival of winter than the day marked on a calendar. Seasons in dreams may also represent the seasons of life. With each season of life, we are asked to embrace the milestones and the wisdom that come with each age. Spring calls us to embrace innocence, summer the magical, fall the mystical, and winter our wisdom.

In cultures where the seasons were celebrated by festivals and ceremonies marking the solar cycles such as the solstices and equinoxes, connections were made directly to the cycles of feminine fertility. In modern culture, we seem to celebrate the seasons with sports activities: soccer in spring, baseball in summer, football in fall, and hockey in winter. The male consciousness, with its preoccupation with competitive sports, may reflect a spiritual need as well. These games offer empowerment, much like the contests of any other warrior society that tested the strength of the masculine will.

Mined from the depths of the Lower World, ancient symbols bring forth a rich history of associated meanings. Whether historical or religious, ancient symbols may be traced to mythological origins. The ancient symbol of the ankh, for instance, is associated with the healing power of Isis, the Egyptian goddess. In her mythology, she restored the life of her dismembered husband, Osiris, pointing to the healing power of the great goddess as a life-giving and life-renewing force.

Ancient symbols may offer esoteric meanings that are related to mystical traditions. Sometimes these symbols occur randomly within our dreams, even when we may not have any personal relationship to the tradition from which the symbol originated. They appear as part of a rich legacy of the collective unconscious. These symbols may be researched in ancient religious texts or in more modern encyclopedias of ancient symbols.

From basic shapes and elementary symbols to the complex geometric forms, a vast array of symbols that rest within soul memory may appear in dreams. The most common first scribbles of children are circles and crosses, basic symbols of wholeness and spirit. Concentric circles, or circles within circles, for instance, have a long historical association that depicts the cosmos and its spheres as a microcosm within a macrocosm. These early shapes are imprinted deeply in the soul, emerging through expressive art forms and within dreams quite spontaneously.

More complex symbols such as mandalas, Hebrew letters, labyrinths, and the yin and yang offer examples of a legacy of spiritual history that connects man to the journey of the soul and its spiritual origins. Mandalas, with their intricate patterns, display rays that conjoin at the center of a wheel that has no beginning and no end. They express an order and symmetry to man in his quest for spiritual attainment. The Hebrew letters were offered as the word of God; the labyrinth is the pathway of the inner journey. The symbols of yin and yang represent the balance of male and female opposites.

The primordial power symbols and archetypes of the Lower World have accumulated their meaning over thousands and thousands of years. The symbols of the Lower World differ from those of the Middle World in that their meanings are imprinted deep within us as part of a universal consciousness that is separate from our personal experience. We may form associations, however, with symbols from the Lower World that may be positive or negative. Sometimes these associations are born of biased opinions or because of a personal historical reference to them. Thus, we may miss the deeper spiritual meaning these symbols seek to convey. Other symbols can be seen as a doorway to sought-after wisdom that leads to deeper knowledge. Their psychological pull is strong-so strong that when one's own beliefs challenge the archetypal patterns, conflict arises and must be addressed and resolved through conscious effort. Through conscious contact with a symbol and the pattern of energy the symbol holds, we may discover some deeper truth. In this way, meditation on an ancient symbol, such as the cross or a five-pointed star, may induce a physical experience that brings a deeper, truer understanding of the symbolic message. This can be a profound awakening experience to the meaning of a symbol.

The deepest aspects of the soul exist within the Lower World. Thus, Lower World dreams transform the soul at the most fundamental level and leave a collective imprint for future generations.

Copyright © 2001 Ariadne Green and Skylight Press

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