09 Oct Romanian Soup for the Active Dreamer’s Soul

Adventures in Imaginal Healing on the Black Sea 

“It is only through the heart that one can see rightly. What is essential is invisible to the eye.”
(Antoine de Saint-Exupery, The Little Prince)

“When we are in a state of poetic health, we understand that ‘the imagination is the most scientific of the faculties, because it is the only one to understand the universal analogy, or that which a mystical religion calls correspondence.’”
(Robert Moss, writing about “Correspondances” by Baudelaire in Sidewalk Oracles, 2015)

When I first met the soulful dreamers from Romania at Mosswood Hollow during my Dream Teacher Training Level 1, I knew I would one day visit Romania. On September 30, I traveled to the Black Sea, a trip that took me from Indianapolis to Chicago to London to Bucharest and finally to Constanta for a workshop entitled Imaginal Healing. This experience was hosted by Ana Maria Stefanescu for Robert Moss, dream teacher, scholar, and best-selling author. In addition to members of the Romanian Dreaming Community, participants who attended the workshop came from other countries which included Australia, Bulgaria, UK, Belgium, and Latvia.

Once I cleared customs and exited the baggage claim area in Bucharest, I glimpsed Oana Maria’s infectious smile through the crowd. She had been in my Dream Teacher Training at Mosswood Hollow two years ago. She greeted me with spirited hugs and told me that she had wanted to welcome me to Romania, so she decided to stop at the airport for a visit.  Soon we were joined by Nickie from Brussels, and Inin from Latvia both who would also be workshop participants.  Nickie, Inin, and I made a three hour road trip through Bucharest rush hour and on the road to Constanta, by automobile driven expertly by Catalin, a determined Romanian dreamer.  Arriving near midnight at the seaside Palace Hotel, I was delighted to discover that Inin would be my roommate for five nights. Sharing a room with Inin was one of the most magical parts of the workshop.

Imaginal Healing invites us to reclaim the power of dreaming to heal, imagine and create. It challenges us to find the larger purpose in our lives, one that speaks to us from the heart and offers a path of soul.  During our time together in Romania, we set intentions, recorded and shared dreams, went deeper with the Lightening Dreamwork Process, practiced dream reentry and tracking, journeyed with one another, discovered living symbols and power animals in the seven energy centers, recovered childhood gifts in the Magic Market, encountered guides in the Magic Library, made action plans, played games, wrote poetry, and performed theater. Most powerful of all the journeys for me was one in which we were asked to grow a vision for the future, a dream we would most like to manifest in our lives. Mine included teaching, writing, photographing, growing dream work, service, and connections with a larger community.

As I rode the train from Constanta back to Bucharest on the last day, I realized that an Active Dreaming workshop in Romania is about more than journeys, dreams and spectacular creative offerings. It is also about connecting with dreamers on the other side of the planet who share hopes for a better world over meals that include the best home-made soups in this reality. It is about knowing that we all dream the same dreams, no matter our country or culture. It is about creating a global community where dreaming fuels the heartbeat of humanity and where we learn to “light a candle rather than complain about the darkness.”

Dreams are the fire of the imagination, a place where one finds the dragon that wakes us up to what is possible. On this adventure, I found that dragon, a blue one who discovered he has more than smoke left in his belly.  And I tasted some Romanian soup for the body… and for the soul, a reminder that the light of our gifts will provide all that is needed for creating the best reality from our dreams.

In deep gratitude to Ana Maria and Robert Moss for a dreaming experience I will hold dear as my most profound imaginal healing.

“May your doors and gates and paths be open.”

(The photos, “Dreamers on the Pier” and “Doorway to the Past” taken by Meredith Eastwood at sunrise in Constanta on the Black Sea.)

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