About Silence

Avant-garde Musician John Cage talks about sound. A very Zen way of to consider being with sound.

So Young by the London Suede

Threading music and lyrics in dreams to connections and insights. Recently, I dreamt and recalled the lyrics of a song called “So Young” by an English band Suede (1993) “Lets chase the dragon home.” This band and song never had any significance to me personally but reminded me of an ex. I discussed the song with my husband and he had known that “chasing the dragon” was an English colloquialism for shooting up heroine– not something I am familiar with in any sense. However, chasing the dragon is mythic and connects us to medieval dragons and chinese dragons, linking us with the dark and light aspects of the magical creature. 

Something hints at what it means to chase the dragon. To chase after alter states of the same reality that is somehow known and unknown to us, perhaps we can say what the addict longs for to transcend the banal. Songs can have strong archetypal connections and speak to phenomenon on a collective level not just our personal associations. And yet recalling the song and this ex, I realized how much this was the beginning of me chasing my own path of individuation when I was so young. It allowed me to reinstate the importance of that relationship and time in my life that had a domino effect in reclaiming my power and transcend from other spells, patterns, that I was “addicted” to and it did take numinous experiences, connecting to the transcendent, for it to happen. Facing the dragon’s dark and light sides of myself, the collective and life, and bringing it home.

Micro to macro, macro to micro, an interconnected unfolding, thanks to a song.

On the Two Marions

Dancing in the flames. Marion Woodman on the two contending parts of the self.

Before Sunrise

Such a great exploration and conversation on the meaning and value of romantic love

Genius

“Genius is nothing more or less than childhood recovered at will– a childhood now equipped for self-expression.”

— Baudelaire

Animal Totem

Our relationship to animals is indelible. Our instincts correlate to symbolic and literal animal figures. They become symbols of the soul and can communicate aspects of our psyches, shepherding our paths. 

We have related to animals in various capacities. We eat, feed, adopt, herd, hunt, train, breed, nurture, play, use, think, and grow with them. And they can also link us intimately with purpose, meaning and identity as individuals and as a collective.

My college mascot was a lion and I too am astrologically a leo. This regal creature as appeared in dreams and holds a big symbolic component of my paternity. The bear, likewise, is the emblem of my home state and has also appeared in dreams as a soul totem connecting me to the maternal. My relationship to these mammals connects me to my instinctual nature, loyal, protective, and relational.

How do you link to the wisdom of animals, both literal and figurative, in your life? 

Encuentro con Uke

Inspired by dear old friends, UKE, a beautiful couple from Spain making sparse melodic music.

In Tune

“When you are in tune with the unknown, the known is peaceful.”

— Yogi tea. Never know where wisdom will find you.