11/20/11 I am training in new places yet they are the same...
Twice this week I have been on a river , a typical initiatory sanctuary for me. But this river tests you more than my ancient river home. There are fast moving eddies and channels that are hard -to- impossible to get out of. The river controls your movements. You can use some will but ultimately you have to let go, trust, and be fearless.
I am high on a cliff. To beings are down at the river picking up this dark shell. I see that it must be extremely large because from my high point of view it still looks large. They are astonished at this massive unusual shell. I feel neutral about it. I am in a different form.
When I come "back down" I am in the river floating and letting it take me where it goes. I have some fear because its really powerful and I don't want to die/ drown/ get stuck in a whirlpool/loop I can't get out of. I look around at my travel companions and they are smiley and happy. I ease up emotionally.
The river spits me out on the rocky shore. (The landscape is very cascadian/oregon washington forest river scene. ) There is a huge dark abalone looking shell. The backside is black but the iridescence goes all the way through just not as much on the backside. It is roughly the size of my torso and even shaped like you could wear it as a torso shield if you put straps on it. Like abalone it had rainbow iridescent markings but they were very ordered and striping the front of the shell. Linear patterning. And darker , more vibrant, than normal abalone. It felt like a code in the sense that every one was unique and communicating the song of that creature. I intuitively knew what the shells were saying by their patterns. These were power shields. When I told another person that they were all over the river they didn't really seem to interested. They were blissing out in going with the flow of the river :)
This experience faded as night came . The river was pulling us to its end. There was a large cement ramp and tube on the side of the river. An opening out of the river. We were supposed to get out here and go through the cement pipe to the "world beyond the river" but there were harmful people blocking it. They had a zombie feel in the sense that they were only for their survival and they would hurt us by instinct. I floated further down from my group and came into body contact with a chain link fence that was securely spanning the river :( the river just literally ended and beyond the chain link fence was dusty ground, some large pipes, a parking lot, an industrial area. An unpretty manmade environment. There are two heavy set men lurking. They feel like ogres or short giants :) They are blocking this area as well. I am not really feeling too much fear or stress. My body is weightless and I feel pretty blissy. I am waiting for the dream to shift or the river to pull me in some other direction.
