Sacred Union, Nature's Elements and Resources

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

(Page 6 of 8)

Sacred Union

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.

Nature's Elements and Resources

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.

Copyright © 2001 Ariadne Green and Skylight Press

About the Author

In Ariadne's Book of Dreams she brings meaning to the everyday symbols which we often witness without understanding. She is authoring a complementary book to the first, which will teach the reader how to view life as a dream more directly through practice. She views dream work and shamanism as the clearest and most direct way of tapping into the wealth of wisdom and healing potential within the subconscious. She holds the vision of transforming culture through dream work and shamanism.