{"id":44,"date":"2014-10-08T10:30:54","date_gmt":"2014-10-08T16:30:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/66.147.242.158\/~brendaf2\/art\/?p=44"},"modified":"2014-10-08T10:38:11","modified_gmt":"2014-10-08T16:38:11","slug":"the-dream-alone-in-the-desert-the-pain-of-the-soul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brendaferrimanidreamart.com\/art\/the-dream-alone-in-the-desert-the-pain-of-the-soul\/","title":{"rendered":"The Dream, “Alone in the Desert – The Pain of the Soul”"},"content":{"rendered":"Follow Brenda Ferrimani Dream Art on Facebook
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Alone in the Desert<\/p><\/div>\n

I was alone traversing a desert of red sand that burned my feet. \u00a0A woman came in front of me and sprinkled something white, a powder that covered the ground and the burning stopped.<\/em><\/p>\n

Dream Journal Entry: February 10,1998<\/p>\n

\u00a0The thought of aloneness, being marooned on a deserted island for example, or the punishment of solitary confinement, is terrifying to most humans. \u00a0Yet, this is how we begin life and will surely be the way we leave it…ALONE. \u00a0In mythology, ALONENESS is the beginning of every holy person’s quest for enlightenment, and is the heart of individuation. \u00a0The journey to becoming one’s unique or authentic self (which is implied in the term individuation), is an intensely personal, and sometimes a very lonely experience.\u00a0 It is not a group phenomenon. \u00a0Considering the dream, Alone in the Desert – The Pain of the Soul, is a sharing of my own inward solitary journey.<\/p>\n

A few years before having had this dream, I made a very difficult decision to leave the religion of my upbringing.\u00a0 And so began a very lonely period in my life; a separation from friends and relatives who did not understand or approve of my decision. \u00a0More devastating than this, was the emptiness I felt without a prescribed way of connecting to God. \u00a0Through this period I thought of myself as agnostic, not being certain of anything. \u00a0I was lost and every step along the way was excruciatingly painful! \u00a0In my waking reality I had two teenagers who demanded answers and guidance, that in my darkness and confusion I felt inadequate to give.<\/p>\n

“Who am I?\u201d, \u201cWhy am I here, in this place and at this time?\u201d, \u201cWhere is life leading me?”, were questions that compelled me to seek counseling and through this process I began to realize spirituality was very much a part of my truest nature. \u00a0I began to see the difference between religious conditioning and true spirituality. \u00a0I began to read and study everything I could on this subject.\u00a0 Most of all, I began to both tingle with my own inner sense of truth and to trust my own feelings and intuition. \u00a0It is no accident that it is a WOMAN who sprinkles the white or sacred powder bringing relief to my burning sole\/soul. \u00a0I began to listen to my inner knowing and to honor the divine feminine power within me.<\/p>\n

I find a strange similarity in the white powder of my dream and the Biblical story of the Israelites wandering in the wilderness. \u00a0In the story, God provided a white substance called Manna, which appeared on the ground in the mornings like dew. It was gathered as food and had sustaining power. \u00a0It was also referred to in texts as “the grain of heaven” teaching that man needs more than bread to stay alive. \u00a0To sustain not only means to nourish but to keep from falling or sinking. \u00a0The relief I received to my feet prevented my eventual fall in the desert by giving me inner strength of spirit and helping me see those principles I stand for.<\/p>\n

Red is the color of the desert.\u00a0 It is also a symbol of a passionate need to find meaning again and a way of being that would carry me forward. \u00a0“According to Jung the urge for meaning is the prime mover through whose impetus all other aspects of the psyche, including ego consciousness itself, are brought to birth…Man’s overpowering need is to feel passionately about something-to dedicate one’s life and energies to the service of a higher authority.”-Jung and the Tarot, by Sallie Nichols (Chapter IX,-The Hermit)<\/p>\n

Desert light is very bright, creating great contrasts between light and dark. Shadows really stand out here, and there is great opportunity to see clearly the qualities in ourselves that we have disowned before. \u00a0We may also encounter creatures who live on the dead, like buzzards and jackals; symbolizing those inner demons who haunt our unconscious and need to be seen and accepted.<\/p>\n

It takes courage and determination to stand this lonely journey. \u00a0If you are experiencing a painful soul search, or have been ALONE in this way, it is comforting to know that, “When you repose in yourself, you have come home.”- Tarot, Mirror of the Soul, Ziegler (Chapter IX, The Hermit}<\/p>\n

Published in the Rocky Mountain Dream Journal, Apr\/May 2004 edition<\/em><\/p>\nFollow Brenda Ferrimani Dream Art on Facebook

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Follow Brenda Ferrimani Dream Art on FacebookI was alone traversing a desert of red sand that burned my feet. \u00a0A woman came in front of me and sprinkled something white, a powder that covered the ground and the burning stopped. Dream Journal Entry: February 10,1998 \u00a0The thought of aloneness, being marooned on a deserted island […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brendaferrimanidreamart.com\/art\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brendaferrimanidreamart.com\/art\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brendaferrimanidreamart.com\/art\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brendaferrimanidreamart.com\/art\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brendaferrimanidreamart.com\/art\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/brendaferrimanidreamart.com\/art\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53,"href":"https:\/\/brendaferrimanidreamart.com\/art\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44\/revisions\/53"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brendaferrimanidreamart.com\/art\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brendaferrimanidreamart.com\/art\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brendaferrimanidreamart.com\/art\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}