From Tarotize - Holistic Tarot: The Totem Tarot Spread

I found this recent blog post from Lisa Frideborg at Tarotize on totems inspiring and timely. I've posted several dreams and waking life moments involving Dog, and have been working with this recurring imagery. Without much insight, so far. I can't wait to try Lisa's spread.

Tarotize - Holistic Tarot: The Totem Tarot Spread: These days, it is quite easy to just Google the meaning of totem animals. However, no matter what they mean in general, you may still not find the exact message they have for you at this point in time... There are a couple of ways of resolving this: you can either keep trying to connect with the spirit animal in your dreams or in meditation until the message becomes clear... OR you can do a Tarot reading on it with the Tarot spread I created specifically for this: (Lisa Frideborg, Tarotize blog)

Lucid Dreaming: Dog Again, Two Jacque Vallees

Lucid dreaming: awareness of the self or that you're dreaming within a dream. Here's one definition of lucid dreaming from The Lucidity Institute:

"Lucid dreaming means dreaming while knowing that you are dreaming. The term was coined by Frederik van Eeden  who used the word "lucid" in the sense of mental clarity. Lucidity usually begins in the midst of a dream when the dreamer realizes that the experience is not occurring in physical reality, but is a dream. Often this realization is triggered by the dreamer noticing some impossible or unlikely occurrence in the dream, such as flying or meeting the deceased. Sometimes people become lucid without noticing any particular clue in the dream; they just suddenly realize they are in a dream. A minority of lucid dreams (according to the research of LaBerge and colleagues, about 10 percent) are the result of returning to REM (dreaming) sleep directly from an awakening with unbroken reflective consciousness."

Dog: Spike Returns

Dog visited again the other night: repeating dreamscape of a dilapidated house, somehow ours. Lots more: I don't want to go into the house while Jim is away, the place is in a semi-rural area, lots of open lots with patchy grass, no trees, pretty ugly and bare. Front of the garage half gone, 2/3 seem to have been sliced in half so now it's a sort of lean to. I prefer to stay in there until Jim gets back.  Jim goes off for the entire day to return with a dog. Now our dog. 

Portrait eines Dobermanns, C. Reichert 1916 public domain

The thing about this dog is, the dog (Doberman) is from our waking life. Thirty years ago we lived in a place with this dog, who was great. Just a great, smart, sweet dog. In the dream, I say to Jim "This is very weird; Spike here would be over thirty years old, and dogs don't live that long." I was happy to see Spike again, but couldn't get past the strangeness of how it could be that he would still be alive, and healthy and young and happy at that.

(Dog, as dream guide and recurring image has been a recurring symbol in my dreams for awhile now. I've been working with Dog in my dreams; one, obviously the persistence of the image is important and two, I'm not a dog person. I love animals, and once I get to know a dog, I will often end up loving it. Oftentimes I wish I had a dog, but the timing and living situation is not right. At the same time, I've several extremely unpleasant and dangerous episodes involving dogs.)

UFO Researcher: The Two Jacque Vallees

A night or two after that, I had a dream about a golden UFO which I posted about on my UFO blog the Orange Orb. The UFO researcher Jacque Vallee appeared in the dream, but the man "playing" him was completely different in appearance. I comment to others in that dream that "This is very strange, in reality -- not here in this dream --  Vallee looks nothing like this. Vallee is tall, thin, has gray hair, this man is short, bald, not thin."

Dreaming is deeply intriguing. What lives in our subconscious, the levels and layers of dreaming (such as lucid dreaming), the recurring "dreamscapes" and symbols -- in my case, Dog -- and the frustrating and elusive nature of remembering dreams. It is fascinating to know that we had dreamt that night when we wake up in the morning, but just can't remember the dream. Or, we might have a few vague memories of that dream.  But those memories, that dream history, is still alive somewhere. Where? What part of the mind do these dream memories live? What part of the astral -- outside of us -- do they live?

What message are my guides sending via these lucid moments? What are the triggers that have caused these lucid moments to pop up in my dreams recently? No doubt meditation has been the cause; something I've just started doing again with intent, focus and consistency. (That last part … not easy for some of us.)

All this calls for a reading using the Angel Dreams oracle, which I will post here tomorrow.

Doreen Virtue and Melissa Virtue: Angel Dreams oracle

The Cosmic Tarot and The Fool

In the post below, I mentioned that I wasn't familiar with the Cosmic Tarot. After looking at images on-line, I realized that I had seen this deck before, and I love it! Now this is a deck I really want! Maybe the birthday fairy in March will gift me with a deck.

The deck was created by Norbert Losche in 1986. A few reviews on the deck at Aeclectic Tarot's site.

Like many readers, there are certain cards that I look at when looking at a deck -- if those cards "call" to me, then I know it's probably a deck I want to work with. The Fool is one of the cards that I always look at to help me choose.

I do like the Fool in this deck!

The Fool, Cosmic Tarot

Some of the reviews on Aeclectic Tarot say the deck might appear "dated." Not a criticism, more of an observation. I suppose that's true, from what I've seen so far, but I like the feeling of a sort of 1960s/1970s feel. After all, I'm an old flower child myself. The card also evokes RWS.

Speaking of the flavor of eras and The Fool, this remains a favorite album. If you're a fan of Incredible String Band, for example, you'll love this.

The Fool album cover

Pit bulls, cats and raccoons . . . and a dove

As I've been writing about, I've been having a lot of dreams where Dog has visited. A few nights ago I had a dream: one of my recurring dreamscapes, where my guide -- the white haired woman -- appeared. This time, she was wearing blue hooded cloak. There was a little white dog running around, and she gave the dog to my husband, telling him she had a job for him. That she would pay him to take care of the dog. She seemed to believe that it was a done deal, and that of course he was going to take care of the dog, whether or not he'd be paid for it.

Sunday night, at approximately 8:50, we heard the most awful banging and thumping against our front door -- we opened it to find a pit bull attacking our cat, who was on the shelf on the porch where we keep our wood. It all happened so fast; the dog and cat screeching, in a ball, then our cat takes off. He went a good twenty feet up into the large apple tree. Here we are, trying to get him down, but of course he wouldn't come down. My husband tried to get him, but no use. Poor cat stayed out there all night and Jim was able to get him down the next day.

We thought Mango was going to be all right; we didn't see any external injuries and the cat seemed okay. But then he started to breath funny and wasn't moving much and was obviously not only depressed and freaked but in pain. We took him to the vets where he is now; x-rays, oxygen, overnight, etc.

This morning, walking the block and half from my car to work, I hear a dog bark. I look over and there in an unfenced yard, is a large pit bull. It isn't growling but barking at me, looking right at me, and taking a step or two towards me. I found that I was literally frozen, I couldn't move. I didn't know if I should go back to the car or keep walking towards my building. I was shaking and then I saw the owner; who was just standing there. I said "Is that your dog?" and he grumped "Yes," and reluctantly took the dog into the house. Then I saw another pit bull, also unleashed, who was standing there, looking at me. I looked at the man with a "Really? You're going to leave that dog out here while you're int he house?" look, and he took that dog in as well. When I glanced back as I walked towards my building, he gave me a dirty look.

I have walked past the house many times -- every morning just about since September -- and have never heard or seen dogs in that yard. This morning was the first time I had come across those dogs.

Just as I was nearing my building, I saw what I thought was a dog at first, then a cat (because it was small and moving oddly) then saw that it was a raccoon. The raccoon was walking slowly and then it stopped, looked right at me, and didn't move. I stood watching it -- there was something strange about the whole thing -- then it turned around and climbed up a tree.

By the time I got into my building I was almost crying. The interactions with those two pit bulls really got me.

One more pit bull synchronicity: a pit bull rescue and rehabilitation place has opened literally around the corner from our house, not even a block away. Coincidentally, I know the owners, having met them through a previous job.

So Dog again, and pit bulls. (It was a pit bull mix that killed our cat Roswell almost exactly a year ago.)

As we pulled into our driveway after leaving Mango at the vets, we saw a dove at the fence where the bird feeder is. The only time we have seen a dove around here was within the first few weeks we moved into this house over twenty years ago. A dove hung around for a couple of days then left. We never saw it again. While there are pigeons around in parks, etc. we have never seen pigeons around here in the neighborhood. However, both doves -- the one from years ago and today's -- were definitely doves and not your typical city park pigeon.

Dog Totem/Dream Guide

     

      A disturbing dream in many ways last night, and I didn't realize it was Dog visiting once again until later in the day. 

     One of my dreamscapes, this one is an area that is very run down, large open lots where houses once stood, now many abandoned or dilapidated, lots are weedy. I know the ocean is just a few blocks away but can't see it. Some parts of this little town are still viable, barely, a downtown-ish kind of place.      Over the course of many days, I observe a homeless man (I assume he's homeless) roaming around the place. He is very dirty, filthy clothes, and appears to be in his forties. With him is the largest and ugliest dog I have ever seen that the man keeps on a leash.  This dog doesn't' even look like a dog. I don't know what it looks like -- a small bear, or a … who knows. It too is filthily, and gray. Not gray from the dirt, that's it's normal color. Shaggy gray ugly filthy dog.      Neither one of these beings are happy. I wonder if they're crazy, psychotic, dangerous, mentally ill, mean or what. I can't decide if it's safe to approach them. Every time the man sees me he just glares. And the dog -- hasn't growled or shown any aggressive signs, yet, but he isn't warm and fuzzy either. I want to stay away from both of them, and yet, they are both obviously in need. They are so dirty and hungry and clearly not being treated with any compassion by anyone. So I decide that these two creatures need food and care and so what if they turn out to be crazy or mean? I don't have to be their best friend, just see that they don't suffer.     I leave them some food, and some clothing. They're suspicious but then I realize that I'd be angry and surly and suspicious too if I had to live like this. They have every right to be full of anger and fear. It's not their fault.      They don't do anything at all to me, either way. They don't attack me or make me feel afraid, nor do they give me the time of day. They do accept the food and clothes and that's all that matters.     My work calls me, they're upset that I've been taking care of these two. The whole town gets in on the act. Some side with my place of employment, others with me. I think anyone who has the audacity and lack of compassion to criticize me for doing this can go to hell, and I tell them so. More uproar from citizens. More of me saying "Go screw yourselves." I continue to leave food and items for the man and the dog.

     Usually Dog appears either by itself, or with a woman. I think this is the first time Dog appeared with a man. 
     Sometimes Dog talks to me, or is downright friendly and sweet. Other times Dog is a guide, silent, leading the way, often on a leash, with its/my Guide, which is usually a woman. This time Dog was again silent, but waiting, not exhibiting any emotion, be it aggression or playfulness.