Forest Woods

Our natural feelings; the self we are underneath what we express through our needs for social and physical survival; the magical world of the unconscious, full as it is of strange forces, primeval creatures and miraculous people.

If you are in or exploring the forest it shows you becoming aware of the level of yourself that is usually drowned out by your daily life or civilized activities. You will be more aware of meeting your internal animals. This is the country of dreams and the unconscious. In the forest you are in touch with the forces and wisdom of Life. See tree; animal; brain levels; jungle

Example: I had a dream last night that I was walking in a lush green tropical forest similar to a place I visited as a child with my family (one of the happy, adventurous family trips) and looked similar to a Dr. Seuss book (also a happy memory), walking alone along a wide dirt path.  Trees tall, hanging vines.  I realized that everywhere in trees, bushes were snakes of all kinds, hanging like vines and entwined within every bush.  They weren’t on the road, just enmeshed in the greenery, almost lazily and happily like playful energies.  I was stressed when I started to realize they were everywhere, like when you get caught in a spider web, not really so scared (there was a friendly air) but I knew that they could be dangerous.  I was more afraid of getting tangled up in them than I was of getting bitten.

I see the main message of your dream is stated in the words “clear, wide dirt road running through and the trees.” Also “doing what snakes do, enjoying the beautiful environment.” But you meet fears that you are infringing on their territory. So it sounds to me as if your future is assured because there is a clear road ahead of you. It is your fears of making a wrong move that leads to your uncertainty, but there is no sign of that in your dream, just your fears.  You say that nature is in charge; but you yourself are a product of nature, and are part of Life’s process. So walk with your head held high, even though you carry fears with you. That is what a forest means.

Example: I dreamt I was walking in the streets of a tree-lined suburb. It was dark and I felt like a creature of the dark, and avoided the few people. I was now a dark skinned, nearly naked youth or man, and trotted down a forest track away from the houses, back to my “home”, the forest.

As I went deeper and deeper, I saw on my right, a man dressed only in long underpants, hanging up animal skins to dry. We knew each other. I asked him why he had killed them. He said he needed clothes, that there was a shortage of animal skins, etc. But all of his arguments were to me futile and rationalisations of his pleasure in shooting. He said, “Anyway, what is wrong with shooting then?”  I replied that he was killing the forest. I pointed to a river behind him. Its banks were sterile and empty of growth and life. “Men” had done this to the river, and were killing the forest. I wept with emotion as I told him this.

Here the dreamer is entering his natural state, not his programmed civilised condition.

The forest and exploring it can be an intimate experience of our own background, our heritage. Here is a man’s meeting with it.

For the great beast I saw in the rocks, were an image behind which lay the realisation that the extraordinary process of life has struggled through unimaginable periods of time, and we are the expression of it. Although it appears like a great and ancient beast, it is full of mystery and magic. It has brought about living beings in incredible variety. It has possibilities we cannot even guess at. Within itself it holds the secrets of creation and destruction, of sleep and waking, of the intricacies of mind and spirit. It has unimaginable power and tenacity. It is beyond us and yet intimately of very core of self. We relate to it, we enliven it, we call it out or imprisonment by every act we do.

As I looked at this beast I noticed that its eyes were being hurt. Arrows were being fired at its eyes, and javelins thrown. I wondered who could be doing this, and stepped forward to take out the javelins and the arrows. I wondered what the arrows and javelins could be, and was it I throwing them, firing them? Gradually it clarified that we continually injure this wonderful process in us. Consciousness is a special state that acts in all manner of ways for this great ancient being or process is what lies behind our existence. Consciousness is its eyes and ears, its fingers and mouth, its means of experience, and its way of learning. And whatever we feed back to that fundamental part of us is deeply felt. Perhaps this is not a very accurate description, but it is like a loving and willing dog that out of its instinctive being tries to do all that we ask of it, tries to grow, tries to learn.

But it is so sensitive, so when we are angry with it, or frustrated, or direct criticism at it, it cowers, it feels failure, its exuberance diminishes. So also with this great wonderful beast within, this mysterious process of life that is at our core. It withdraws. But we can also call it out into further expression, enabling it to extend beyond its previous capabilities, by loving it, by acknowledging its wonder, by calling it forth.

Useful questions:

Am I afraid or lost in meeting this natural part of me, or do I feel at home?

Do I meet anyone or anything in the forest, and if so what happens?

What am I learning or doing in connection with the forest?

See Techniques for Exploring your Dreams – Summing Up – The Sacred Tree