Yaga Dreams

So, I am still very much hooked on the whole intuition thing, which I began to write about last week. The story of Vasilisa the Wise, her doll of intuition and her fundamentally life changing visit to the house of the wild woman Baba Yaga, just won’t leave me alone.  One of the ideas that seems to have struck such a chord is the dreaming aspect of the story. Basically V is given certain tasks to perform for Yaga, in return for which she will be granted the fire she needs for her (horrid) stepfamily. Really, the fire that V will be given, is the fire to tap into her wild woman self, but that is another story. Anyway, some of these tasks seem impossible at first sight, such as separating an intimidating pile of dirt and poppy seeds, but instead of only seeing the impossibility, only seeing the one negative line of reasoning, the doll tells V to go to sleep and all will be well. When she awakes the seeds are sorted. Pinkola Estes explains this part of the story as taking time to listen to your intuition and that answers will often appear in dreams. In fact she says that the wild Yaga might herself appear to guide you if you are receptive enough, if you dare to listen. 

As I read this I had one of those A HA moments for I have been having the most incredibly strong (and very weird) dreams of late. I struggle to sleep but in those small hours I do sleep, these strangely magnificent story boards are appearing and I am still remembering them when I wake up. This has been going on for several weeks now; they have made me listen. Interpreting them is a whole different kettle of fish - abstract is an understatement! But just thinking about the elements involved is supplying me with an incredible amount of insight into what I am holding back, what I am not digesting in my waking hours and, indeed on a positive note, what I want to happen in my life. I love the idea of having an intuition doll ( although of course I think mine would have to be a feline), whispering to take a step back and listen, followed by the wild and wacky Yaga zooming through the night sky, sprinkling those riddled images on her way, daring me to begin the puzzles. 

The illustration is from Jan Pienkowski's The Fairy Tales

I would love to delve into the whole dream magic a lot more. If you know of any resources exploring the connection with dreams please do share them with me :)