Which archetype is needing attention in my life?
It’s important to ask oneself every so often, Which archetype is needing attention in my life? Archetypal psychologist James Hillman theorized that we tend to live through one core image or archetype, and that the work of depth analysis is to loosen that core image enough that we are free to experience other ways of being in the world.
Greek mythology is full of gods and goddesses, each representing specific archetypal forces. I have lived close to several of these archetypal patterns at different points in my life, including Persephone, Ariadne, and Hera. Last year, through a series of dreams, it was Dionysus who needed my attention (which took me deeper into my commitment to theatre). This year, it was an all-resounding “ATHENA,” like a gong going off somewhere in the sky and all its power being zapped into my head.
Waking dream with Athena
It’s a Friday night at dusk, and I’m walking alone on a deserted path on an isolated San Juan island. Out of nowhere, it feels like I am hit across the head with a two-by-four. Confused, I scan the space in front of my head. Nothing. I figure a branch must have fallen from one of the trees, so I look down at the ground. There is a significant branch that could have caused such a blow, but it’s off to the side and looks like it has been there a long time. Surely, too, I would have heard it hit the ground. I’m touching the back of my head, which is already starting to swell and pulse.
I look further down the path. A huge owl stands stock still, staring at me, wide-eyed. Concentric circles of feathers surround the eyes, magnifying the effect. We lock eyes. It takes a moment to sink in: the owl struck me from behind. Later, I find talon marks on my skull, like two exploding stars. That night, it feels like electricity is entering the back of my head. I also have a mild concussion.
I have to work backward, tracking symbols and synchronicities in my real life and dream life.
I’d had a BIG DREAM a few weeks earlier of two owls flying over my head. They were larger than buildings. The sight of them instilled such a deep sense of awe. I know that dreams will always point the way for your individual soul’s evolution. Yet with over 30 years of dreamwork, personally and professionally, and a full understanding of the importance of dreamwork, amplification, and active imagination with dream images, I did not “work” that dream. I was busy, so I merely looked up a few things in my book of symbolism and moved on, wondering occasionally, Wow, what was that?
Well, what that was caught up to me on that path at dusk. My encounter with the owl is something Jungians call a synchronicity—a moment where the image for a dream shows up in one’s life. The synchronicity signifies the importance of the original dream. Synchronicity is often a euphemistic way of saying, “If you don’t work your dreams, they will show up in life as fate and try to force your psyche in the right direction.”
Amplification and Active Imagination with dreams
Amplifying the image of the owl, I found many interesting threads that resonated with me, from several different cultures and religions, including First Nations, the Celts, Islam, and Wicca, before coming back to classical Greek mythology, a collective level of the dreaming psyche I am most familiar with.
Of the Greek deities, I have spent the least amount of time with Athena/Athene, whose animal companion is an owl. So I reread several of the myths that surround Athena, as well as the chapter on her in Chris Downing’s book The Goddess: Mythological Images of the Feminine, where Downing writes, “Persephone is involved with the soul’s initiation in the underworld, Athene with its emergence into the human world.” Downing also mentions Athena’s connection to art as being extroverted and concerned with the “outwarding of soul,” with art made within and for the human community.
Then I entered into active imagination to find the deeper personal and individual significance of this encounter. This brought about a third dream that magnified the meaning. While it is true that my creativity in the past has been very introverted and private, my current writing and producing of a theatre show is a communal experience and will be shared with the community in an intimate way when I perform it. My personal struggle in bringing forth the work from the inner depths to the outer world continues.
I have always been in awe of the fact that Athena is so in the world the way it is, and yet through her connection to her ally the owl, she maintains access to the deepest mysteries of the night. I am in the realm of Athena as I move forward with this project. And now, knowing this more fully, I can invoke her presence to give me strength when I falter.
To learn more about amplification and active imagination, visit my dreamwork course page.
