The Dreaming Way: Courting the Wisdom of Dreams

down. You might start by asking yourself, “What is a car?” Asking about the basic function of a familiar object like a car might seem silly, but defining it can be incredibly illuminating.

Whether consoling their children when they awoke from nightmares, minding the thresholds at birth, illness, and death, or tending to the visionary states accompanying big life transitions, women have always been at the centre of magic-making.

Like allowing your eyes to adjust on a dark moon, synthetic lights must be extinguished before constellations will appear.

A woman who was taught to be accommodating might have a hard time asserting boundaries, so she seethes with irritability instead.

It can sometimes take days, months, or even years to understand these big dreams, so do your best to stay curious and open while you’re still gathering layers.

Healing:

Once you have discovered the secret longing of the dream during the courtship process, it is important to take a symbolic step in the direction of the dream’s prompting.

To strengthen the imagination, we must favour and engage what I call the aptitudes of the soul—receptivity, the body’s wisdom, intuition, relationality—qualities typically associated with women and “the feminine.”

Unlike fitting in, belonging had to be dynamic. This meant that exile and loneliness were equally vital on the path of true belonging. This became a core idea in the book. My old pattern of belonging had to dissolve and decay for a new, more sophisticated paradox to emerge.