The First Dream of the New Year
Posted by Stephaney Abilon on
At the start of every new year, I pull a ''guiding animal card'' from my well loved deck of Medicine Cards. This year I pulled Dragonfly which guides Illusion; communications from the elemental world, made up of tiny plants, and the elements of earth, wind, fire and water. In essence, this world is full of nature spirits.
I find this card the perfect guide as plant essences and nature spirits are the major pulsing energy behind everything I create at Absinthe Rabbit. Later that night I dreamed I was holding a large rose quartz orb and it began spinning wildly between my hands. My message as I held it was "don't attempt to stop it, just let it spin''.
Then, in an additional dream I saw a large bear at the top of a hill. The bear stood up on two legs and roared. I did not know if the bear had seen me and I began to run to the house for shelter, but the bear was too fast and I sought refuge under the house instead. Suddenly their were several bears and my thought this time was to go into stillness and a deep meditation, do not fear the bears, but love the bears instead. In the dream I sat in a meditation pose against a pole under the house, making myself as still as possible. One of the bears came face to face with me and he stared into my open eyes. I did not fear him even though he was close enough to smell his breath, but in the dream, I did not smell the bear.
Reading about Bear in the Medicine Cards book, I was surprised to discover that Bear represents Introspection; to quiet the mind, enter the silence, and know. Bear invites us into the dream lodge, where our ancestors sit in council and advise us of alternate pathways that lead to our goals.
I remembered a man called Dreaming Bear, an author who works with dreams and upon further research I read this from his blog, Robert Moss, The Way of the Dreamer,
This was written just a few days prior to my own dream, which arrived on January 1st:
In Japan they make a special effort to catch and work with the very first dream of the new year. Many Japanese people pay close attention to Hatsuyume, the first dream of the New Year. It may come in the night of December 31-January 1 but – since many may be up late partying or suffering the after-effects – it may come in the following day or on the night of January 1-2. - Robert Moss
I've decided to pay close attention to Hatsuyume and today I invited Robert Moss to come into our community and share a dream workshop. I hope he is able to accept the invitation, and if he accepts I hope you will find a way to attend. I will also lengthen my personal meditation practice. I will also bring rose quartz into the shop via these tiny roller balls that will create a Rose roll on skin care/perfume. I've promised myself to ''just let it spin'' as I wish you a happy Hatsuyme.