7/05/2009

Dream Conference Memories: Day Two

My second day at the IASD dream conference introduced me to many of the people who I now hold fondly in my memory.

The first is Marcia Emery. I attended her workshop on intuition and dreams, a great reminder for me to pay attention to the intuitive messages in my dreams...and the intuitive messages I pick up all throughout the day. During the workshop, we practiced getting intuitive messages about people in the class. My partner saw me as a focused, stealth lion. This immediately resonated for me -- I am entering the point of my graduate program that requires me to hone my skills and focus in order to create a meaningful final project. Later, I gave that same woman an aura reading, my first with someone outside of Intuitive Way that isn't one of my friends from school. It went well and it gave me confidence that psychic readings are going to be part of my repertoire after school.

Although I hadn't originally planned on attending it, the next presentation, one by Victoria Rabinowe and Freya Diamond, was about taboo dreams: specifically shit dreams. Flaunting their excellent senses of humor, they called it, "I Had the Shittiest Dream Last Night!" The presentation turned out to provide me with a wealth of knowledge...I have a lot of bathroom dreams. Don't we all? Their hilarious plays on words and playful presentation convinced me to join their evening dream group, an appointment I kept for the rest of the conference. Meeting these two women, who dress only in black and white and are consummate artists, was a highlight of the conference.

At lunch I bravely joined a table with at least 10 strangers and had a great time. I met a woman who knows a classmate of mine at JFK and another who recommended that I get an intuitive health analysis from the School of Metaphysics, something that definitely piqued my interest.

The biggest synchronicity of the day happened in the next workshop, one led by Susan Benson, a woman steeped in depth psychology, deep ecology, and dreams. I resonated strongly with her work. At one point she asked us to pair up with someone and share a dream. I chose Rita, a woman I had a familiar sense about. During our time together sharing dreams, I learned that she lives a block and a half from my uncle. Here again the universe showed me a family connection. Rita used to take regular walks with my aunt. What are the odds?

Finally, I attended a fascinating panel on dreams and pain, one that has convinced me, once and for all, to visit a Western doctor in the hopes of diagnosing my health issues. Although acupuncture, allergy treatment, and nutrition counseling have done a tremendous amount, all of my alternative practitioners have encouraged me to go get things checked out. I do not like Western doctors; I never feel attended to, listened to, or seen. But I know this is the best thing to do for my body at this point. After attending that panel, I'm a bit afraid to look at what my dreams are telling me about my health!

After joining Victoria and Freya's evening dream group, I retreated to my room for the first time that day. After nearly 12 hours of non-stop dream talk, I was ready to relax and recuperate for day three.

Themes from the day: listen to my intuition, continue investigating ancestry, be brave and talk to strangers, and take the time to work with all those dreams I write down every morning!

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