I like the Gnostic concept of creating consciousness by gathering sparks of light from the darkness. The light could be gathered from the dark experiences in this world or one’s own psyche and used in soul-making or creating the Philosopher’s Stone. Creating light from night.
The Shadow with the Golden Eyes
I had a dark dream when I was four years old. I call it “The Shadow with the Golden Eyes.” I was standing at the foot of the stairs facing my grandmother’s dark basement. Suddenly, I saw a huge shadow blacker than black with large, bright golden eyes shining through a grey haze. I was terrified and rooted to the concrete floor. Laboriously, I turned toward the stairs and focused on the ceiling light at the top of the stairs spreading its golden light.
My legs felt as heavy as concrete. With great difficulty and intense effort, I lifted each leg from stair to stair feeling an invisible, yet tangible force radiating from the shadowy figure trying to pull me back down the stairs. I awoke terrified. I didn’t understand the dream until many years later when I studied Jungian dreamwork.
My grandmother’s basement was a symbol for the unconscious. The shadow was a Self symbol simultaneously scaring me forward while making me stronger by pulling me backward. The Self’s shining golden eyes and the light at the top of the stairs symbolized the consciousness I was expected to create/gain.
Sometimes, one of a person’s earliest remembered (and possibly unremembered) childhood dreams describes for him or her an important life task given by the Self. Remember, the Self is the giver of all dreams and all life tasks.
Waking Up
Wake up, Terry… The shadowy Self has you… One of Neo’s tasks in The Matrix is to create and/or gain consciousness. This allows him to see through the Matrix.
Wake up, trader… The trading matrix has you… Each trader who is vocationally called to trading has the task of gaining consciousness through trading. Each trader has a labyrinthine journey that with perseverance, faith, and insight can lead him or her beyond the trading matrix. To be aware of the need for consciousness is the first step of that journey.
Fascinating dream! How do you interpret the stairs in the dream?
Hello Amy,
Thank you for your excellent question. The stairs can be looked at three ways. First, each stair represents the passing of a number of years in a lifetime of gaining consciousness. Second, each stair represents a gradated gaining of consciousness, gradually ascending to a higher level of consciousness. Third, climbing each stair represents making the unconscious conscious by moving from darkness to light.