(Saturday, December 13, 2014) Moon: third quarter Virgo / Tarot: ace of cups
A major earthquake erupts in the Pacific Northwest: Northern California, Oregon or Washington. I live many miles south of the quake, maybe in San Francisco. I hear a story about moose being swallowed by the fault in a forested region. I head north to see for myself.
I reach a place in the woods where the closed fault is visible, like a deep seam in the black earth. There is a utility worker onsite. He has tools that enable him to peel back one side of the fault, tipping tall Aspen trees onto their sides, opening the chasm where the animals are buried.
The first animal to emerge from the channel is a huge male African lion. He seems larger than life, much bigger than any lion I have ever seen. He is very old and regal, with dark, round eyes. He stands looking gruffly at his rescuer but doesn’t seem to notice me, even though I stand close to the utility worker. I am a little fearful that the lion is considering an attack. But he does not.
Somehow I know that the rest of the beasts in the ground are moose. The worker uses his tools to continue to open the seam, like a zipper. Or a cesarean section. My dream ends before any moose emerge from the ground.
Day notes:
Jamie Sams and David Carson (Medicine Cards) say that moose is the largest of the deer clan and is found in the north on the medicine wheel, with the buffalo. Moose wisdom is knowing when to use the gentleness of deer or the stampede of buffalo. According to the website shamanicjourney.com, moose symbolizes longevity, wisdom, confidence and primal feminine energy. Their antlers grow larger than any other animal; in ancient myth moose antlers were called the “Crown of Courage.” Antlers are linked to the crown chakra (I think again of Patricia Garfield’s Branching Woman). Moose babies are born with open eyes; people with this power are born with inner eyes open.
The lion has similar attributes, according to the Herder Dictionary of Symbols: “… the lion is an animal that usually has solar significance or some connection to light, probably because of its strength, golden color and shaggy mane radiating around its head. The lion’s relationship to light is also expressed in the characteristic of it never shutting its eyes … in the Middle Ages the lion symbolized the resurrection, in part because of the idea, attested by many authors, that lions are born dead and after three days are awakened to life by their father’s breath.”
Both animals symbolize courage and wisdom. One is a power animal from the northern latitudes, one is a power animal from the southern part of the globe.
Animals emerging from the earth is a dream of birth, or resurrection, or both. They are swallowed by a “fault” and are rescued by a diligent, patient male midwife (awakened to life by their father’s breath). Earthquake: contractions, birth pangs of mother earth.
This is another dream with visual elements from the Strength card in the tarot. In my dream called “WARM” I am holding spinning wheels, a lemniscate, above my head. This dream contains lion, the Strength maiden’s companion.
The lion is old and seems ready to relinquish his power to the emerging moose.
My coworker Cyndi sent me this email on Friday: “I think I mentioned that you appear into my morning dreams quite a bit. Well, this morning’s episode was that you announced to everyone at the office that you were pregnant! You seemed very pleased about it and not too concerned about a high-risk. You were going to be on leave starting February.”
The storms from the Pacific (Pineapple Express) have caused mudslides and flooding in the Bay Area this week.
Nigel Hamilton: “Going north … indicates the energy and consciousness of the dreamer is ascending.”