I DREAMED I WAS AN ELEPHANT: Honoring the dream

I DREAMED A DREAM (art by Hallelujah Truth)

Hallelujah for DREAMS and all the WISDOM that they bring us! This past week, I dreamed I was an old elephant, matriarch of my tribe.

"But the tigers come at night
With their voices soft as thunder
As they tear your hope apart
And they turn your dream to shame..."

-from “I Dreamed a Dream”

I dreamed as this matriarchal elephant, I was at the end of my life and killed by a tiger tearing me apart at my throat. Instead of being frightened or worried about the content of this dream, I felt gratitude for the opportunity my psyche was presenting me to explore transformations taking place deep inside of my SOUL! 

As is my daily creative practice (visit my Facebook Group, The Daily Creative Practice), I first honored my elephant dream by drawing it! Here is my image!

I DREAMED I WAS AN ELEPHANT. (Art by Hallelujah Truth)

Now, to further investigate my dream, let me tell you in words a little about my intentions in creating this image. I began drawing it by tracing on the bristol board a central vertical rectangle and five circles--three large at the top of the rectangle and two small at the bottom of the rectangle, which became the elephant's feet. 

In past months of my 15-minutes-of-drawing each day, I have been randomly selecting square and circular objects from my household and composing my images in arrangements that comfort or satisfy me. 

Here, in the above image, "I Dreamed I Was an Elephant," I was seeking to elicit strength and balance. Notice that I placed the elephant killer (the tiger) at the feet of my elephant, parallel with the symbol of Hallelujah Truth (symbolized by the flower). This arrangement "honored" the presence of the tiger, equal to the four-petalled flower, an essential essence of me. 

Then I used the lotus flower (a newly acquired symbol in my Cosmos of Hallelujah) and the heart (with leaves and flames) to frame the elephant's head creating this visual/verbal phrase for me: 

LOTUS--ELEPHANT--HEART
That which unfolds from wisdom is passionate new growth.

I am not sure yet what kind of meaning I want to make of the tiger and the death of the elephant. I have researched the symbolism of both animals want to reflect more about their significance to my particular stage of life. I do believe the tiger to be a part of my psyche and not an outside force. I also have an intuition that the matriarch elephant may have died, but that I am still an elephant. Strange? 

How wonderful it is to entertain our dreams! What an inviting visual and visceral way to engage with and in what our bodies know and create! Perhaps, now, I need to do a dance on behalf of my elephant dream. Will you come and witness this elephant dance for me?

That's Coffee with Hallelujah! SOUL BLOG with me and tell me what you think my dream means or share your own night dreams with me!