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You are at a zoo on a Sunday afternoon. People are wandering about, snacking and chatting as they inspect the animals and birds. As you approach the big cat enclosures, you are uneasy because you know that big cats don’t belong in confinement.
When you come to the lion pen, you are disgusted because people are mocking the great beast, pulling faces – until someone screams that the gate is open and the lion could get them. Now all the people are running away.
Instead of fleeing, you step through the open gate, into the place of the lion. The great beast runs towards you and leaps up…and his great paws are on your shoulders…and he licks your face like a friendly dog. He wills you to turn around and look at the scene in the zoo in order to understand what is really going on here.
When you look back, you see that it is the humans that are living in cages. In the comfort of their suburban houses and malls and supermarkets they have failed to notice that they have walled themselves in places of confinement. When you look beyond the lion, you see there are no walls, only an open horizon of wild freedom and possibility. The lion says to you, in his gravely lion voice, “You see, my dear, humans are the only animals that choose to live in cages.”
I have made this dream a gift to you. Originally, it was a gift to me, the gift of the Lion. In a spontaneous night dream, I found myself in that zoo, and stepped through the gate, and saw that the rules of life are different from the viewpoint of the Lion. In some of my workshops, I offer this dream to a whole group and invite them to go right inside it and re-vision the world. This is a dream of power, and to transfer such a dream to others is an ancient shamanic way to share gifts of the deeper world. My new book, Active Dreaming, is all about getting to the Place of the Lion.
posted March 25, 2011 at 12:42 pm
Thank you for this gift. Coming on the heels of your messages about the deer, this couldn’t be more synchronistic for me personally.
posted March 25, 2011 at 9:58 pm
Robin – Thank you. The lion lay down (or rose up) with the deer today.
posted March 25, 2011 at 3:12 pm
Your story about the lion reaches my heart. I am very glad you posted it. It reminds me, in a way, of what I dreamed and wrote in one of my “hobby books” years ago.
WILD
My place is with nature:
In the forest or by the sea -
Places deemed wild by those
Who would change them.
It is those who
Would change them
Who are wild.
SUPERFLUOUS
The beauty of nature,
Pristine, unspoiled,
Is not superfluous.
But those people
Who think it is
Might possibly be.
Thank you very much, Robert, for that jolt of beauty and inspiration.
posted March 25, 2011 at 9:57 pm
Nice, Don! Bless you for your deep connection with the natural world, and its many voices.
posted March 25, 2011 at 3:32 pm
nice this came up today considering earlier i was thinking- i see (and feel) lion today. not anything the general public would think of as lionish, just, like a lion. from the comments above looks like i’m not the only one.
posted March 25, 2011 at 9:56 pm
Nan – and how do you act or think differently when you are feeling lionisj? And do you feed the lion energy in your body?
posted March 25, 2011 at 3:59 pm
What a beautiful gift this dream is, Robert. And how perfect that the word choose in your second to last paragraph has chosen to break out of word order (or is that world order) and has taken front position.
posted March 25, 2011 at 9:54 pm
Thanks, Savannah. You know that I love to savor what may be showing through a slip (or a typo) but as I look at my screen my eyes choose to see that the word “choose” is where you would expect it to be in the sentence. Perhaps it has broken out just for you?
posted March 25, 2011 at 5:59 pm
I have ordered your book and I am waiting on its arrival! Since meeting the lions/lioness’ in my dreams, I feel a different kind of strength. I finally had a ladies get-together in my home about 3 weeks ago with my lion door knocker on Mohawk Street…sharing the blessings of the lion/lioness. Such a powerful energy!
Thank you, Robert.
Margie
posted March 25, 2011 at 9:50 pm
Margie – Ah, I love the symbolism of your lion door knocker, on Mohawk Street. The glorious cover art of ACTIVE DREAMING suggests that we need to brave up and be proactive in order to open the door to the Place of the Lion, truly the place to be!
posted March 25, 2011 at 6:36 pm
Coincidence? Well….
A long time ago a lion came to me in a dream. He is standing in front of me and I am pleased to see him. A huge hole opens up between us and he walks down into it. I follow him into the underworld.
This week I connected with him again to come with me into the dream workshop/playshops I am offering to teach people the Active Dreaming process and reentry.
Thanks for the confirmation and teaching.
Patricia.
posted March 25, 2011 at 9:48 pm
Patricia – An ally worth trusting, on the roads of the Lower World, in the thickets and romping fields of the playshops, and wherever your heart travels.
posted March 25, 2011 at 10:47 pm
Definitely out of line before… must have been the pixel pixies at play, or choice chose to leap out just for me, and I’ll take that dream, too
.
posted March 26, 2011 at 12:05 am
Ever since we invoked the energy of the lion at our last Mosswood gathering my life has not been the same! Indeed, Leo asks us to “brave up” and choose a life without bounds, the Lion does not play small! …hearing the song “Born Free” goin’ through my head right now…
posted March 26, 2011 at 12:11 am
When we invoked the energy of the Lion at the last Mosswood gathering my life has not been the same!! Wozwer! Leo is an energy to contend with – when embraced you cannot play small! Grrrrrreat medicine for these turbulent times when one needs to brave up or stay locked up and pacing in the various mind cages we create for ourselves.
I’m hearin’ my soundtrack playing now…..”Born Free….as free as the wind blows…..
posted March 31, 2011 at 1:28 am
Karolyn – Yes, I think that soundtrack will please the lion…
posted March 26, 2011 at 8:59 am
Greeted by the Lioness: a dream from March 10 2011.
I am an on my street, Chambers, looking into my neighbors yard. In the driveway along the fence I see a group of lions. A lioness comes up to greet me. I am not scared. I am happy that this powerful creature has chosen me. She is muscular and strong.
Feelings: Excitement/Awe
Reality Check: No lions next door. None loose from (we are the ones who “fence” ourselves in.
Synchronicity: On the way to work I saw a license plate that said: PETKTE, which I read as “Pet Kitty”. The lioness is much more than a pet, and when I stroke her fur it is more like a caress.
I am very excited about the close arrival of your book and reaching out to find and create those Places of the Lion
posted March 26, 2011 at 9:09 am
Greeted by the Lioness: A dream from March 10, 2011.
I am on my street, looing into my neighbors yard. In the driveway along the fence I see a group of Lions. A Lioness comes up to greet me. I am not scared. I am ecstatic that this powerful creature has chosen me. She is muscular and strong.
Feelings: Excitement/Awe
Reality Check: No Lions in the driveway. None escaped from the zoo. (We are the ones “fenced” in.)
Synchronicity: On the way to work that morning saw a license plate that said “PETKTE” which I read as “Pet Kitty”. My lioness is much more than a pet, and when I stroke her fur it is more like a caress.
Action: The Lioness fills me with inspiration. I will work on her behalf.
I am excited about the near arrival of your book, and will be happy to learn more about finding and bringing forth the Places of the Lion.
posted March 31, 2011 at 1:27 am
Justin – I, too, would regard that welcome by the lioness as a blessing and an invitation.
posted March 26, 2011 at 3:55 pm
Thanks so much for this. i was dreaming a lion the other night – i was lying in his paws feeling very safe….
posted March 27, 2011 at 7:58 am
Carole – Ah, what a lovely night-time experience. I’ve had nights like this too, with the sense of the golden energy body of a lion or lioness lying next to me, like a friendly dog. I recommend this!
posted March 27, 2011 at 7:23 am
Yesterday, my husband said to me, quite matter-of-factly as he sat in front of the fire with a glass of port wine in hand, “The body is a vehicle of pleasure.” And I said, “so how come so few of us know this?” … Through dancing, I have learned that mouvement with a touch of breath and a dash of mindfulness, is quite literally a pleasure worth living for. The human body is in and of itself, an endless universe that I am grateful to explore. While working in Human Ressources over the past years, I have often felt sad at how absent people become through excessive and poor mental activity (job titles, objectives and external recognition). This combined with the easyness of life (washing machines, cars, air-conditioning, super-market free home delivery…) often has, in my opinion, an numbing effect on people, myself included.
Thanks for reminding of the many cages I don’t necessarily want to get stuck in. … and of the ones I have accepted.
posted March 27, 2011 at 7:50 am
Irene – Your husband has given me my one-liner for the day. I’ll try it out on my curent workshop group and see where they go with it! I am reminded of a critical day in my life, long ago, when the kind of inner voice you come to trust said to me, “Remember, this world is your playground, not your prison.” Hard to remember, at times, but when we can remember, and start to act in the spirit of divine play, we hear the gates of those cages creaking open…
posted October 26, 2011 at 5:40 pm
Thank you, thank you, thank you, Robert. This post came at a most opportune time.