A variety of animals have appeared in my dreams. The deer has been my most frequent visitor. Even as a child, I felt a sense of peace when I encounter one of these creatures. The buck and doe have delivered me messages on receptivity, survival, adaptability, civilization, wilderness, wisdom and my adventurous path in life.
I was born into a family of five boys. At the time of my birth, the ages of my brothers were 19, 17, 10, 9 and 5. When I was 11, a brother died suddenly. Thirty years later, another brother died unexpectedly. After both of their deaths, I was flooded with dreams about Wayne and Danny.
A year ago, I completed writing my memoir. It is about mourning the death of a sibling from the perspective of a child and an adult. The end of the book has a series of thirty-six dreams that provided comfort during my bereavement. Dreams were vital in my healing process. They took me through difficult phases, offered help and prepared me for a hopeful future. It was hard to lose my two brothers but I have accepted them being gone.
From Wayne, I learned how to communicate and initiate. Danny taught me when to be quiet and observant. They both left me with the knowledge and ability to accept death. As time passed, my dreams with Danny and Wayne became further apart. This was part of the healing procedure. Recently, a new animal joined my dreams. It was a bear and here is the dream:
Inside, I could sense that my car was full of fuel when I drove down the road. I stopped driving the vehicle because there were road barriers. A huge female bear was curled up in a ball and slept on the road. She looked contented and smiled. Behind her were two small bear cubs. One was quiet and the other made playful bear sounds. They both lightheartedly swatted their paws at butterflies that flew in the air. Next to the cubs were five slender adult bears standing on their hind paws. They pushed machinery around with their front paws and performed road construction.
This dream caught my attention because I couldn’t move forward. The five bears represented my five brothers. They prepared the masculine energy in my home life before I was born. The cubs were a symbol of Wayne and Danny. Their souls have moved on to new life. The sleepy female bear represented the feminine energy that I had to use in order to balance out the tilted male energy within my family. Inside, I had the power to endure hardships through my dreams.
This bear dream reminded me to hibernate and use introspection about my sibling bonds. My family has taught me the importance of death, rebirth and transformation. Next to my deer, I have gladly accepted the bear as part of my dream totem pole.
Bird Horn
by Marie Otte
my bedroom adorns me in down while finding myself near a town walking over a bridge sensing a voyage I can see a hill with people standing still on top is a goose her honk is letting loose a mixture of French Horn and bag pipes vibrating forlorn the sound is loud and pulling the crowd the goose takes flight as the people follow ever so light the mystery of migration above the birch in V-formation
Camouflage Fox
by Marie Otte
nodding off with a problem reaching the bottom he is trying to appear while trotting near large ears, sharp snout stopping and standing about I sense his piercing eyes as he replies, “Notice what is hidden. Listen to your intuition. Opportunities will manifest in what is blessed.”
