Symbolic Power
When I was in my late twenties, I was seeing a Jungian Analyst to help me make sense of the crazy dreams I was having and the crumbling of my marriage.
I was so good at recording my dreams at the time that I would easily remember three or four every night. Most of them, I have forgotten, but a few I never will.
In one of those dreams, I was looking at the palm of my hand and an eye was protruding from it. I remember feeling frightened and confused. I tried to push it back in, but it just kept popping out.
When I told my Analyst, she lit up and showed me an image that was just like what I saw in my dream. She told me about the Eye of Horus. She told me about my power to heal myself from the pain I was experiencing.
Years later I became a Reiki Master and now visualize and feel that symbol on my hands as a part of my process. I am no longer afraid. I know know it as an incredible guide for healing.
This morning I sat in a packed church at the funeral of a young woman in our community who died giving birth to her sixth child. It is tragic and almost impossible to fully comprehend.
The church is old and beautiful. I looked up to the stain glass dome and what should I see? That same eye looking down on us all.
In more western, Christian culture, it is known as the All Seeing Eye or the Eye of Providence.
No matter what it's called, this powerful symbol has been woven throughout time and cultures. In some it is a woman and some it is a man, in some contexts it is both or neither. And this brings me tremendous peace in the midst of the sadness.
It reminds me of our interconnectedness, not only to those in our physical realm, but also to the spirit of all who came before. It reminds me that we are all wrapped up together in some greater mystery that always reveals what we need to know when we need to know it.
And so I let go of needing to know why and just let myself be in this very human experience while I still can.
This is the power of symbol. It can speak to so many in a plethora of ways in a language each can hear. It transcends trends and yet can encompass them at the same time. It is both universal and very personal. It simply requires a human willing to find meaning within it.
We all are full of symbols. Your imagination loves them. Capturing symbols simply allows a new kind of conversation to unfold and deeper truths to surface. Don't be afraid to doodle them out and see what they might show you now and in years to come.