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Dream: I’m in a gymnasium with a bunch of guys exuberantly sprinting from half-way down the court, like “suicides” for basketball practice. Each time I get to the line at the end, a large, tall woman lunges toward me and grabs me in a frontal bear hug. She scares me and I yell out. This happens several times. When it’s time to leave the gym, I sprint to the door and the lady reappears again, grabbing me in a final bear hug and I scream again. She reminds me of a homeless lady I used to see in NYC.

Years ago, I lived in New York City while I was undergoing my clinical pastoral training and residency. I would frequently encounter two particularly intriguing homeless persons while riding the subway and other places while moving about the city.  One was a man and the other a woman. One black, one white. I never saw them together, but what immediately struck me about each was their stature. Both were very large—tall and hefty—which I could never determine if it was from obesity or from the many layers of clothing they wore. I’d run into them in various places, usually with their bags and a cart of personal items.

One weekend in early cold February, I was in the process of moving my belongings from Queens, where I had been house-sitting, to Manhattan, where I had just found a place to stay after being homeless for five weeks. It would take me three long rides on the F Train to haul my stuff in one jumbo suitcase and a small side kick. On my first trip, I made it to the last subway car just in time before the doors were about to close. As I boarded, I noticed everyone making a beehive out of the car, but I was too rushed and out-of-breath to notice what was going on. I was grateful to have a seat and plenty of room for my suitcases, and especially grateful to have escaped a bitterly cold wait for the next train. As I settled down, I began to notice a terrible odor. I looked around and noticed that it was just me and the homeless woman I used to see around town. Oh, that’s why everyone was baling out of the car when I got on….

We stopped at the next station, and I noticed how riders avoided the woman. They’d step off and walk to another car as soon as they entered, or change cars through the gangway doors once the train was again in motion. I had planned to change cars, too, but seeing that everyone else was doing so, I somehow wanted to stay present and not “abandon” the homeless woman. I stayed in the car for several more stops; however, being unable to bear the stench any longer, and I eventually changed cars feeling sheepish that I had “done charity,” then baled like everyone else.

I eventually got to my new place, emptied my suitcases and headed back to Queens for my second load. Off the subway at Sutphin Station, onto the Q44 bus, walk a half mile to the house, load up my suitcases, walk back to the bus stop, back on the Q44, back to the subway station, but definitely NOT the last car this time. I sit in what I think is a vacant car and wouldn’t you know, the same lady was there, again! I began to wonder if I was undergoing some kind of cosmic test.  Aw, shucks! I thought to myself as I sat down. However, I decided that whatever it took, I would stay in the car this time, for the entire l-o-o-o-o-n g ride back to Manhattan. I did just that, breathing as shallowly as I could to prevent the stench from stinging my nostrils and lungs.

I made it! The train was still in motion when I stood up and rolled my suitcases near the door. There was a still moment when I looked at the lady as the train came to a stop. She raised her covered head exposing her matted bangs framing her dark chocolate face with eyes strangely gleaming. She smiled, exposing startling and unexpected dimples. And with seemingly capriciousness, she winked at me. I was stunned with wonder.

How interesting, that years later, the homeless lady shows up in my dream while I’m sprinting with a bunch of boys in the gymnasium. My association with physicality and being in the gym brings memories of frustration and deep shame about my body as a pubescent girl with because of my pear-shaped body. Boys not knowing anything about who I was on the inside taunted and sometimes battered me because of my big calves, thighs and derriere. My five siblings were lean with more equally proportioned bodies, although I ate the same foods and portions they ate. My mother prided her petite physique, posting height-weight charts around the house which was humiliating for me because I never measured up to “normal” range. She frequently tugged at the tops and dresses I wore because they would “ride up” in the back because of my heavy bottom. Somehow, she was always trying to cover it up and clamp it down. She made me start wearing a girdle at age 11.  I was very self-conscious, and instead of celebrating the body God had given me and the changes around coming into womanhood, I internalized that my body was bad and a source of betrayal.

The gymnasium in my dream reminds me of the gym at my junior high-school. I hated going to P.E. Our girls’ P.E. uniform was a romper with elastic in the legs. My generous thighs caused the elastic to painfully cut into my crotch. I was constantly pulling down the elastic bands which would only ride up again, leaving raw, tender welts in the creases of my thighs.

I remember doing forward rolls when we first started tumbling, and I lost momentum and got stuck upside-down–my bottom in the air. Coach Edwards swatted me on the butt with her paddle to “push” me over and everyone laughed. I was mortified. At the same time grateful that the boys were on the other side of the gym and had not seen it. I couldn’t get out of there fast enough when class was over. No shower that day. I just ran across the school yard towards the buses, wiping away my tears while trying to compose myself to look and act normal on the 12-mile bus ride home.

So back to my dream. I’m now back in the same gymnasium no longer persecuted, but rather, on the team with the boys in all my vitality and uninhibited expression. I am not deferring to anyone. I’m not hiding or running away in shame. Instead, I’m equally sprinting with newness and potency. I can see now that in my dream the Divine Feminine/The Healer in the role of the homeless woman from the subway was redeeming me with her powerful bear hugs. Like her, I knew something about homelessness, including metaphorically in my own body. I wonder if she also knew something about struggling with body image. That day on the subway, I sought to stand in solidarity with the woman’s humanity, and therefore she reciprocally appeared in my dream to witness mine.

I remember how reticent and scared I was each time the woman approached to hug me in my dream. Maybe her stature reflected something about me. Stepping up to the plate to own one’s own fullness and take up space can sometimes feel scary, intimidating. Of course, I screamed! It’s all big. Pretty damn big! The dream gives me an opportunity to reclaim the robust, vital parts of myself that I had separated from during my difficult pubescent years.  My dream reminds me of my perpetual healing from places and times where I felt displaced and homeless on the inside. My dream also reminds me that I get to return “home” with a mama bear’s welcome and stay in the robust, “I Am” energy of the boy archeptyes on the gym floor. They’re on the same “team” with the woman, my inner allies who see and know who I am, and redeem me from layers of my covers, and compensations.

A next day I had the following dream:

Dream: I’m in bed with a man having a very sensual encounter. We’re both naked. He turns over on his stomach, exposing that he also has a vagina. I’m startled by this…very curious, in awe. Liquid stool begins to seep from his anus. Somehow, I’m not repelled. The sight stirs a deep place in me. Another man is nearby…I don’t remember what he’s doing because I can’t see him, but I know he’s there. I see grayish turds that turn ashen white, then they turn into brilliant gold nuggets. I feel as if I’m seeing a miracle. Something washes over me, inside of me, filling me from my gut upward to my heart, then to my head, outward to my shoulders, my face and nose, downward through my legs and my feet. Oh my gosh, even my fingertips. Everything’s buzzing.

The “medicine” of this dream is to see and feel the miracle of the excrement (i.e., shame) transmuting into pure gold, and feel the energy moving through every cell of my body. I know that my shame is redeemed and my life force and energy can freely emanate and flow because my blocked channels are clearing.

Another episode in the “healing theatre” of my dreams. Truly a continual and miraculous journey home.

Thanks for visiting!

. . . .

I am so very excited to share this alchemical part of my journey with you. I really want you to know that you can be cleansed and healed by your dreams if you develop the practice of following where and how they lead.  If you would like know more about the process of Archetypal Dreamwork as an avenue for inward journey and healing, please reach out to me via the form below, or email me directly at nowjourneyhome@gmail.com. I am based in metropolitan Atlanta, GA, USA, but work with clients anywhere  via in-person visit, phone, or HIPAA compliant video conferencing.

Much love to you,
Cheptu

Dream: I’m at train depot where lots of trains and buses are coming and going. If you miss one, never mind, because another’s coming. A man stands nearby as I walk around. I’m free and easy as I walk up and down the steps, not looking my feet, but at the luscious green landscape. An mannish-looking boy approaches me with a bunch of little kids saying, “See the kids?” He introduces me to each one, children from my childhood. Three in particular, a girl and two boys, I remember by name. All are younger than I—all child-like versions of their current adult selves. They surround me and hug me. I’m so happy to see them! The man-boy states that he gives them money each week and asks me if it’s okay that he does this. I tell him yes, it’s good thing, and the money will keep building interest.

My dreams have come full circle. I have written in the past about a recurring dream that catapulted me into dreamwork. Thankfully, when I started my dream journal in the late 1980s, I began the weekly practice of transferring my handwritten dreams to computer. Somewhere along the way I began to have a disturbing recurring dream, and when I searched on my computer, I discovered that I had the same dream, recorded three consecutive years, on the same date, recorded at the same time. The dream was about sexual violation that I experienced as a young girl. This dream addresses that.

When that happened to me, I was extremely vulnerable, incredibly naïve. Today, I still don’t remember all that happened because I blacked out. I lost a part of myself after that, and I never told a soul…not until I sought counseling as a middle-age adult. My smarts, organizational skills, musicianship and teaching capacity got me through life, kept me busy. I lived well, but I always felt “off,” de-centered somehow. I had a lot of creative energy that came out in bursts, but somehow it always got sapped by the inner shame I always carried. I lived “nice and safe” instead of “Letting it rip!” as the saying goes. I don’t think people really understand the full nature of this kind of violation–what it does to the soul of a person, and maybe it affects different people in different ways. But for me, it robbed me of my primal “juice.” I always felt I had a mark on my forehead…that I should always be diligent, responsible and stay in control of things…stay in the background, smile and be polite, and not step out too far in the limelight, lest I be found out for some kind of crime I had committed.  As I said, I had counseling around it as an adult, but it takes time for all the residue to clear, and now I feel more free from the inside, not just in a cognitive way. Maybe this is what compels me to write about it now. Interesting, this is “Independence Day.” It’s all about freedom, isn’t it?

In my dream, the “man-boy” was the boy who raped me as a child. In the dream he is a teenager, but with an adult face and demeanor. Maybe I’m seeing him as a more evolved person. I’m not anxious in his presence, nor do I feel a compensatory urge to prove something to him…to prove that I have power. I’m just myself in the presence of all my inner juice and energy represented by the trains and buses coming to and fro. No anxiety about missing my ride (I used to have anxieties about being abandoned, left behind)…not even looking down at my feet as I bound up and down the steps…no shame…nothing to pay attention to except the luscious new and verdant landscape in and around me.

It’s interesting that I had this dream during my recent pilgrimage to Senegal and The Gambia, West Africa, where I was surrounded by so many people, customs, culture that reminded me of my Gullah-Geechee upbringing in the South Carolina Lowcountry. Also, so very interesting that this dream came the night after visiting Goree Island, a place of great humiliation and suffering where captured Africans were held in dungeons to be “processed” and shipped as cash commodity to the “New World.” On Goree Island, I remembered my Ancestors who passed through the “Door of No Return,” taking their final glimpse of homeland before embarking on slaveships. I stood in the quarters of insatiable colonizers who conducted their business, caroused, and had their way with African women, men and children in living quarters one floor above the sea of human suffering beneath them. I stood outside but refused to step into the church within a stone’s throw that sanctioned it all. Taking it all in, I paid homage, poured libation and claimed, “Ha! But I did return!”

In my dream, the man-boy who raped me acknowledges his wrongness. He does this by asking me if it’s okay to pay for the damage he caused. In my dream, the children collectively stand in the role of my Inner Child…my unfettered and unfiltered Essence before the trauma and all its fallout and compensations occurred. I’m saying, “Yes,” while acknowledging that the amends, the healing and reconstruction process that takes place over time, i.e., “keeps building interest.” My dream is showing me how I am evolving from the inside. I’m standing in my own power and have no need to prove anything to him or anyone else. I may or may never see the guy again, but the “charge” of his violation no longer exists. I forgive his ignorant and unguided youth. I am free from the residuals of it all. ALL GONE. IT IS FINISHED. This is my homecoming, a big WELCOME HOME to the reclamation of my essential self-ness.

“See the kids?” he asks. YES, I see them!!! I’m so happy as I hug each one and they hug me in return. I feel this burst of energy inside of me as I write. Internally, I’m in a place that I can honestly say I have never felt before. I know I came into the world with this, but I got separated from it, and now I’m coming back. I’m landing and I feel as if I’m going to burst if I try to hold this energy one moment longer!  HALLELUJAH!!!!

Very often, traumatic experiences in our waking lives tie to wounds from our ancestral past. Healing work is so critical…we can merely survive from the rupture of our wounds or we can heal ourselves and live more authentically and powerfully from the healed and whole self. Healing work is also transgenerational. I believe that as we allow our personal wounds to be cleansed and healed, we open the way for the cleansing of our family lineage and the healing of our ancestral wounds. The work I’m talking about is more than purely cognitive acknowledgment or collective remembrance. It’s about the process of peeling away the layers and looking deeply at our personal sacred story. It’s about learning to trust our inner support systems, and inner “cast of characters” and the Archetypes who show up in our dreams…always beckoning us to pay attention and look at our challenges.  The “Now Journey” is about surrendering ourselves to receive the inner love and support that accompanies us through deep and sometimes murky waters until we emerge victoriously on the other side with our minds clear, our hearts intent, our feet set, and our spirits soaring. I have no science for this, only my experience…but I can say that our dreams (sometimes referred to as “God’s Forgotten Language”) have the capacity to move us through our valleys to the alchemical waters of restoration and rebirth with a unique “taste” that is recognizable and trustworthy to the dreamer. The only pre-requisite is the willingness to follow where they lead and partake of the “medicine” they offer along the way.

Thanks for allowing me to share my story with you…it is truly a blessing. Growing is a lifelong process that I’m loving every day, and I “wouldn’t take nothing” for the slightest nuance of my journey, because there is nothing, I mean NOTHING… like Home, Sweet Home.

Celebrating on this liberation day with much love from me to you,
Cheptu

©copyright Grace Cheptu, 2019. All rights reserved.

If you would like to embark on a journey led by your dreams or if you would like to know more about Archetypal Dreamwork, please use the form below, or email me directly at nowjourneyhome@gmail.com

Overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, the African Renaissance Monument is a 161 ft tall bronze statue located on top of one of the twin hills outside Dakar, Senegal. Designed by Senegalese architect, Pierre Goudiaby, it symbolizes Senegal and Africa—emerging from centuries of slavery and colonialism.

I visited the monument during my recent pilgrimage to Senegal and The Gambia (that’s me at the bottom). Despite controversies that surround this monument, I could not deny the power of its presence and the energy field that surged through my body as I stood beneath its grandeur.

I like the monument because it depicts the strength and valor of the African family without allusion to religion or other intermediary constructs. While I can appreciate Islamic disapproval related to standards for corporeal modesty (Senegal is 82% Muslim), I like the man’s bare and rippled chest which exudes raw strength and virility. I like the supple beauty of the woman’s body that exudes fertility and sustenance, although I wish her size was more complementary with the man’s.

Lastly, I like the alignment of the three figures with the Child who points the way, due North. I study dreams from an archetypal perspective and the Renaissance child reminds me of the Child archetype who represents our raw, unfettered, unfiltered, un-copted Soul and Essence. It causes me to reflect on my primordial African-ness, my true Essence before the trauma of colonialization, enslavement and its subsequent compensations. The Child points the way to a now and future that can be most functional and bright in every dimension.

I hope the heart of Senegal and the heart of all Africa, including her diaspora, will come to embrace this monument to the African Renaissance. May religion, dogma and creed divide us no more.  UMOJA (unity) and AMANDLA (power)!

Love,

Cheptu

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Grace Cheptu is a minister, dreamworker, spiritual guide, teacher, musician and writer who addresses the spiritual concerns of those who are journeying back “home” to their essential selves.  Please feel free to email me at nowjourneyhome@gmail.com if you would like to unpack the power and messages of your dreams.

𝐼𝑡’𝑠 𝑛𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐼’𝑚 𝑖𝑛 𝑑𝑒𝑒𝑝 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑐𝑙𝑢𝑡𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑎 𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑎𝑛𝑘. 𝐼’𝑚 𝑡𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝐼’𝑚 𝑏𝑒𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑚𝑦 𝑔𝑟𝑖𝑝 𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑢𝑛𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔. 𝐴 𝑙𝑎𝑑𝑦 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑠 𝑚𝑒. 𝐼 𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑒𝑟, “𝑃𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒, 𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒, 𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝 𝑚𝑒…𝐼 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑜’𝑠 𝑏𝑖𝑔 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑔…𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑝𝑢𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑒 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟…ℎ𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑦, ℎ𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑦, 𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒!” 𝐼𝑡’𝑠 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑑𝑦 𝑠𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝑎 𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑚𝑦 𝑏𝑜𝑑𝑦 𝑖𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟…𝑜ℎ 𝐺𝑜𝑑, 𝑜ℎ 𝐺𝑜𝑑…. I think to myself, 𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑓 𝐼 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑏𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑒? 𝐼’𝑚 𝑠𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑙𝑦 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛, 𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛, 𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛. 𝑂𝑀𝐺! 𝐼’𝑚 𝑏𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔! 𝐴𝑙𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑟 𝐼 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑘, 𝑦𝑒𝑡 𝐼’𝑚 𝑏𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑛𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦. 𝐼 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑠, 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑔𝑢𝑛𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑒. 𝐼 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑢𝑝 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑒𝑒 𝑓𝑖𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑏𝑢𝑟𝑠𝑡𝑠 𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑛𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑠𝑘𝑦 𝑎𝑠 𝐼 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑟𝑎𝑝𝑖𝑑 𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑒. 𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒’𝑠 𝑎 𝑤𝑎𝑟 𝑔𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑠 𝐼 𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑒𝑝𝑙𝑦 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑓𝑒𝑡𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑚. 𝐴𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑎 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑒 𝐼 𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑎𝑛𝑘 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎 𝑙𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑛 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑙𝑦 𝑠𝑤𝑜𝑜𝑝𝑠 𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟. 𝐼 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙 𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑚.

I had this dream a few years ago as I was returning home from a study sojourn in KMT (ancient Egypt). It was during the final months preceeding the 2016 presidential election when political noise, deception and rhetoric paraded with grandest fervor that reiterated terrifying racist events and our American past. I recall the sense of dread I felt while passing with others in my travel group through Customs at JFK airport. The cacophony blasting through suspended television screens throughout the airport.

In my dream I’m losing my grip trying to hold myself together, as if I have the power to do so all by myself. I’m panicky and know I’m in trouble…my efforts absolutely futile and my only choice is to let go into something deeper, another place of knowing beyond my mind’s capacity. Thank goodness, a part of me that knows to do just that! In my dream, the unrelenting Undercurrent, the Woman and the Man stand in the collective role of the Divine…call it God, the Archetypes, the Source…whatever is the language you use for the Power greater than your own mind and ego. It’s a force that can seem terrifying when you’re used to being in control.

The Woman takes her time to come back to me and the Man is not going to show up until I let go. They are with me all along…but I have to let go of my own devices in order to know my need for Them. We can stay in the panicky place of trying to hold it together on or own, or let go, and surrender to the Love and Support that’s greater. As citizens of this world, we are not guaranteed lives without disappointments, loss and terror. But we are guaranteed that we do not have to suffer alone and ungrounded. We can say, “I’m afraid, I’m feeling insecure, I’m embarrassed, I feel judged and ashamed”…all the taboos that society says, “Don’t feel!” When we are honest about our feelings, we are able to take the next step, to ask for and receive help from our deepest vessel of wisdom. Allow that support to carry you to new depths of consciousness so you can learn to breathe under water despite rocky boulders, noise, and chaos at the shore. Let the Loving, Strong Ones in you show you how to walk in power, direct your steps and help you find balance, real joy,  and radical change. Are you learning to breathe in deep waters?

If you would like to know more about Archetypal Dreamwork or discuss one of your dreams, reach out to me at email me directly at nowjourneyhome@gmail.com.

Love,
Cheptu

Back at my childhood home last week, I found something. My mother saved EVERYTHING! She served as Clerk of our community church for 33 years and saved all the church records and bulletins. She kept the programs for every funeral held at the church and all the funerals she attended elsewhere. Well guess what I found? The memorial service program for my favorite childhood teacher, Mrs. Johnson, my second grade teacher at Parkersville Elementary School! I LOVED Mrs. Johnson!

Second Grade was quite a transitional year for me. I attended three different schools in three different states during second grade. I started out at the school on Sewart Air Force Base in Tennessee where my dad was stationed…just a week or two, though, because we were reassigned to Florida, where I attended most of second grade. We (Mom, siblings and I) left Florida after eight months because of our troubles due to my father’s struggle with alcoholism. It was an abrupt departure with many mixed emotions.

It was the last few of weeks of school year when I arrived in South Carolina.  Mrs. Johnson was my teacher and she was very kind. The entire school was in a flurry of final preparations for the school-wide end-of-year program where each grade had a song or dance presentation. And how lucky for me that my teacher played the piano! I’d never seen anyone play one up close and my eyes were always glued to Mrs. Johnson’s fingers magically frolicking across the keys during rehearsals.

I remember the melody and dance steps to one of the songs where girls wore brightly colored skirts of paper flowers…

Step front, back 1-2-3
Step front, back, and-a 1-2-3!

And although I wasn’t able to participate in the program because of how recently I arrived at the school, I didn’t feel left out or isolated. Mrs. Johnson and the warmth of Parkersville welcomed me. She was the Balm in Gilead for my hungry soul.

Over the weekend my sister and I were at our family home continuing to purge closets and endless boxes of items my late mother had collected over many years. In Mom’s “Inspiration Room” closet, we found two fur coats she had inherited from her dear sister, our Beloved Aunt Lucille. One was an adorable custom design with a pleat and a bow, and a matching hat… So Coco Chanel… so fashionably Aunt Lucy!

Aunt Lucille was my favorite aunt…generous, kind, open-hearted, and comfortable in her own skin, with an adoring husband who was a reflection of God’s generosity and love. As my sister and I poured over cherished memories of Aunt Lucille, I silently reflected on her many lessons. Aunt Lucille was glamorous, sassy, and self-assured, but she also knew when to call for help. Unlike Aunt Lucille, I became overly independent. I fixated on it in so much that I felt I was a failure if my accomplishments had not relied solely on my effort.  It was difficult for me to be vulnerable and ask for help. I understand some of my reasons for this mindset and part of my earthly “metamorphosis” is about learning to surrender in order to receive things beyond my current view…to let go of control and be open more that wants to come. Truly, no small thing for a “do-it-yourselfer.” In a recent dream the Archetypes help me see the folly of my ways:

I have an itch in my back and can’t reach it because my arm is injured. A man builds me a short bristle brush attached to the wall so that I can rub my back against it to relieve my itch. But do use it? There’s a shift and I’m now wearing a short cloak similar to Aunt Lucille’s. I still can’t  relieve my itch. Then, to up the ante, I’m suddenly wearing a heavier full-length fur coat…luxurious, gorgeous… but I’m still unable to relieve my itch.

I chuckle seeing myself in this dream. Duh, Cheptu! Of course, my arm is disabled. Do I accept the man’s help? No, I’ll just bet me a fancy coat. Then I’ll get a bigger, fancier coat. The point is my “inner teacher” gave me an invitation to rely on the help being offered, but my ego went in another direction. Really, it’s not about the coat, nor the itch. It’s about the “arm” of my resistance–my “ego arm” being disabled so I can learn how to rely on the wisdom from my Greater Source. 

Sometimes we distract ourselves with material things thinking our issues will disappear. There comes a time to remove the cloak and deal with the source of the itch. Trust that you are being led, that you are being shaped and formed. Untighten some of that determination to do-it-all-by-yourself and allow the Universe to step in to do what it does with non-judgement, generosity, and power, and a little comic humor along the way.  Be humble and Journey Home.

Love,
Cheptu

P.S. The photo is not a picture of the real coat. Reach out to me if you are interested in learning more about Archetypal Dreamwork at nowjourneyhome@gmail.com. Thanks for stopping by!

Dream: I’m with a large group of African people…hundreds…walking through an underground passageway to a dock where we’ll board a ship. It feels as if I have been here before. We’re all walking in the same direction with a sense of purpose. Large metal rust-covered planks on the ground connect us to the massive vessel before us. It’s crowded, with hundreds, maybe thousands, and still more to get on. I feel anxious, hoping there’ll be enough space for me. A lady is near me…tall, large, bold…like a Nigerian market lady in one of my children’s storybooks. She shows me how to call out to someone far away by using her powerful diaphragm muscles. “Yaa-Yaa!” she shouts in a gutsily strident tone. I call one syllable as loudly as I can, but not nearly as strong as hers. I finally get the hang of it and call both syllables heartily with my full voice.”Yaa-Yaa!” Mahershala Ali, one of my favorite actors, appears and stands right beside me! I feel comforted by his presence and know he’ll be with me for the rest of the journey. I like being both near him and the lady. I feel full, celebrated and connected to everything and everybody, including the Ancestors.

This is a celebration dream that means so much as I compare it to a much older set of dreams in which I was girl child stolen from my tribe, assaulted, sold in slave market and manacled in the bottom of a trans-Atlantic slave ship. I recall the misery of seeing men and women like me lying around in trauma-induced  daze, unable to help me. That set of dreams left me with waking life aching physical symptoms that took 2+ years of qigong and bodywork to clear.

But that’s not what’s happening in today’s dream. . In my ferry boat dream, not only am I returning to my geographical and spiritual home, but I’m also returning home metaphorically. “Home” in my body, “home” in my psyche…home in my inner support systems that are more accessible to me because I’m working through my trauma. There’s no abandonment or captivity here!

I’m enjoying the gift of feeling alive, celebrated and reconnected with throes of support all around me and in me. Mahershala Ali, who I greatly admire and respect, stands in the role of the Divine Male. He and the Lady are not frozen in trauma, but very present and alive. Mahershala in his tall, protective stature amd the Lady, big, free and gutsy. When residuals of old memory raise my anxiety and I get scared that there won’t be enough space for me, I must remember to go back to the Tall Man and the Big Woman,  acknowledge my need, and ask for their help. Just call on your inner support system of characters and your Ancestors. They’re always with you.

Many persons are born with the immense capacity to hold embedded memories and the energies of their current and ancestral stories. Our dreams may sometimes involve terrifying and mournful scenes, but the also show us the way out, towards our healing, and of course, the celebration.

My cultural/ethnic background and historical experience gives my dreams a particular flavor. Your “flavor” may be different because of your historical or ethnic background, but what’s common among us is that our dreams are always leading us “home,” back to our true nature, before the terror, separation, humiliation and deprivation. When we pay attention and open ourselves to their messages and partake of the “medicine” they bring, we can be led through true alchemical tunnels to reclaim our primalcy and potency. 

HOMEGOING . . . that’s what the Now Journey is all about.

With Love,
Cheptu

Thanks for stopping by. Reach out to me at nowjourneyhome@gmail.com if you would like to discuss the power of archetypal dream work.

Dear Ones:

I am here. I had a challenge. I got stuck. I made steps to start my FB page and group and share the gifts my Creator placed in me, and for which I have studied and practiced many years. I stepped out into this wider social media and then I froze. I got scared. Have you ever been afraid or felt an energy that holds you back or makes your deepest desire seem insurmountable? Not everyone experiences this, but I sometimes do. It ties back to old, old trauma fear and shame…some of which is unfamiliar to me in this lifetime, yet I somehow carry the residuals of it in my bones. I also know incredible love and support even in the darkest places and am reminded to step towards it, to trudge through the malaise to return to the promise of my “Now Journey.” I am here, and I am writing.

Two nights ago, in the middle of the night, while passing by my bedroom window I noticed the Super Moon in its iridescent glory. I was transfixed by its presence and began to “wash” my face with its energy and asked its holy presence for whatever it would take to help me move, write, and “put myself out there” so I can be found.  I returned to bed and in the morning, I remembered the following dream from long ago:

I get off the bus for my destination which first stops me at a fork in the road. I must decide which way to go. Along the way, I morph into an infant child with other infants. We end up at the entrance to a church or some other sacred edifice. We are all naked.

I was reminded that in order to receive the promise of my “heavenly” calling as and Archetypal Dreamwork Guide, I must be truthful, open, honest and undefended…like a newborn child. I thought about my role…that it’s not about giving advice or hiding behind the role of an unaffected “expert,” but rather, it’s about standing in the nakedness of my truth and experiences with the power of transparency and vulnerability…about being real with people who also want to be real. .

I went back to sleep and when I woke up later, still twilight, I rushed to my window to see if the celestial being would still be there…to comfort and challenge me, assist me once again. I sifted my eyes through the stoic branches of trees awaiting their springtime dance… And there it was, its radiance even more glorious and than the night before. It was the day the Spring Equinox, just minutes away from the hallowed hour. I surrender my heart and my fingers to glide along these computer keys and write. I will not allow the Equinox to pass before I post something,

I’ve been having dreams of women and men and children coming to my aid when I get stuck or the voices of shame and fear attempt to silence my calling.

Upon this cusp of the Spring Equinox 2019, I celebrate renewal, rebirth and joy! I celebrate the coming of the Light that blesses you with courage, hope and wisdom. I celebrate the Light that expels all darkness, confusion and blockages. I offer each of you and the Universe, my prayers of gratitude and thanks. I pray that your lives will be filled with power, joy and beauty, and every other blessing of Spring.

With much love from the one Journeys Home,
Cheptu

Sunday evening I attended a wonderfully uplifting concert of classical music, art songs and spirituals in honor of Black History Month. “Sankofa” was the title of the event—a word in the Twi language of Ghana that means to “go back and get it.” The program note read:

 “Sankofa teaches us that we must go back to our roots in order to move forward. That is, we should reach back and gather the best of what our past has to teach us, so that we can achieve our full potential as we move forward. Whatever we have lost, forgotten, forgone, or been stripped of can be reclaimed, revived, preserved, and perpetuated.”

I thought to myself, “Wow, this is what I do as an Archetypal Dreamworker…this is what my own experience has been!”  It’s been about going back through the annals of the past recorded the unconscious to get clarity and heal that which needs to be healed, and fetch and reclaim one’s Soul force, one’s primal essence…the most powerful manifestation of oneself in this current life. Sankofa describes what the “now journey” is, what Now Journey Home is all about.

Very often, our primal essence—our innate, spontaneous natural “juice”—gets locked up in trauma, often traumatic childhood experiences that reshape the way we view the world and experience ourselves in it and with others. Sometimes those traumatic experiences connect to experiences from the “great past,” i.e., prior lives or through our ancestral lineages. Our dreams, even the universe will come to our aid to awaken us to what’s hidden, not to re-traumatize us, but to help us move through blocked energy and bring opportunities for clarification, healing, clarification, new insights and the retelling of the story in a more conscious context.

I remember one of my earliest dreams that began to pour in following my divorce in 1989…

I’m out west with Dee (a man I was dating at the time) who has a big scar on his thigh. He says his leg was “slashed open” in a skating accident that happened a long time ago and he covered it with a towel. “My wife is a nurse,” he adds. He then puts on a pair of roller skates and zooms past us (I’m with a group of friends) with his head tucked between his legs and his arms wrapped around his lower legs. He zooms through big water puddles and we’re surprised that he doesn’t try to avoid them. His face gets wet and covered with mud. Is he showing off, trying to be comical? No one laughs. He does not stop—he just keeps going and never returns.

I remember my total befuddlement following the dream…my curious alarm and sadness evoked by very visceral feelings that stay in my body for several days. My only relief is to make the dream about my waking life relationship with Dee, to worry that he would break up with me and never return. Of course, I now understand that Dee was standing in the role of the Animus, the Male Divine archetype who often appears in our dreams as a loving, supportive or teaching presence; and other times as the Animus Provocateur or trickster. In my dream, the Animus is showing me my wound. He’s provoking me to pay attention to a wound that was only superficially covered. Both elements of pride and shame are in the dream, both I knew very well…like twin siblings glued in my psyche. Of course, Dee’s “wife” would be a nurse! She would be the Anima, the Feminine Divine who heals us, especially from shame. This is a prologue dream, an invitation dream to several rounds of trauma work that, at least at an intuitive level, I’m ready to face into with the help of my inner Divine Parents.

However, at the time, my intellect doesn’t know what to do with the dream. I’m not working with a counselor, therapist or dreamwork analyst, so projecting all over it about my status with my boyfriend keeps me distracted for a while, but that doesn’t last very long. My interior world a perpetual state of disoriented days and restless nights. Shortly afterwards I have another dream…this one closer to “home,” set in one of my childhood homes:

I’m inside the house and feel trepidation. A man is there. He feels familiar…my father??? Prince, our pet cat is put outside with a bowl of milk, but somehow, it’s wanting to come back in. I can’t let it come back in because, for some reason, I feel suspicious about it; and besides, my sister is allergic to it. Large smooth round stones are stacked at the entry door so no one get in or out. I feel that something bad is going to happen.

I definitely do NOT want to deal with this dream. I don’t know what to do the haunting feelings my dreams are bringing me. I do some independent research about dreams, but nothing is resonating. I bury myself in my work and other outer world activities hoping the feelings will just go away.

Meantime, still in waking life, it rains one night. I slowly awaken to “drip…drip…drip….” Am I dreaming? Flat on my back I lay on my bed in the silent haze of the black night. I’m transported to some place deep within the coffers of my psyche, feeling utter powerlessness, vulnerability and abandonment which adds to the malaise I have been avoiding from my recent dreams. I fully awaken only to discover that it’s not a dream. My beloved sunroof window is leaking onto my bed! In disbelief I ask, “Where are you God?  Why cannot you protect me from the elements from your heavens imposing themselves on me drip by drip? Why are you doing this?” Where, how will I get the money to fix this? I’m already struggling…why? Why? Why? That was a Friday.

Two days later it’s Sunday, September 30, 1990 at Christ Fellowship Church, a non-denominational charismatic church that I recently started to attend. This Sunday, John and Paula Sanford are the guest ministers. Stationed in Northwestern U.S.A., they lead an inner healing ministry through which they help individuals transform painful effects of early life trauma on the present through guided imagery while facilitating the presence of Jesus or some other significant faith figure into the process. Wow, everything they’re saying resonates with me…so thankful I came to church today…I almost stayed at home!

It’s the end of service, before the Benediction. They invite people to come to the altar for intercessory prayer. Oh, no, I don’t do this. Yes, I’m curious about all this Pentecostal, charismatic stuff, but there is a limit to what I will and will not do! I feel awkward. Here, for the first time in my life since I was 12 years old, I am sitting as a congregant in a church, not employed as a church musician. Here, I get to sit in the pews and worship and pray and be ministered to. Yes, Christ Fellowship’s understanding of spiritual gifts and dreams and visions, etc. innately moves me. But, no, I don’t run down to the altar for someone to pray over me…too much exposure. I can do that in my seat on my own!

People proceed to the altar and are prayed for and things begin to slow down. At some point, I believe it was Paula who calls for people to come who are in need of healing from childhood wounds. I say to myself, “That’s me,” but my “hmph-fy” attitude prevails, and I remain in my seat. I become distrustful of what’s happening, wondering if this is some kind of staged hoax. Then John takes charge. He closes his eyes and begins describing a scene…saying that he sees a young lady with a leaky ceiling and the rain is coming down…that he wants to especially pray for this person. By this time my entire radar is at full alarm and I’m sitting fully upright, saying to myself, “That’s me!” But I drift back to my quacking mind, wondering how did they find out about my leaking ceiling? I’m trying to recall who would know about it? I told no one…except the roof repair people…and it’s not even fixed, yet. I haven’t told anyone else because I’m embarrassed to disclose that I don’t have the money to repair something so basic…my house. My mind is spinning. I settle back into the pew, but still hyperalert and curious. John and Paula make a final appeal and with no additional seekers, John begins saying the Benediction. Suddenly, Paula interrupts, stating that their work is not finished. She asks to go back to the childhood trauma scene…to the lady with the leaking ceiling. Her eyes closed, she says, “I see this person, a woman….she’s laying on her bed and she’s being exposed to the elements, all alone and afraid.” She continues: ”There’s something about her childhood home….I see a man, maybe her father…who is drunk with alcohol and causing a major ruckus in the family home.” By this time, I’ve flown to the altar, for this is my exact history.

I felt that my prior dream had been about the chaos inside of my childhood home precipitated by my father’s alcoholism. That was a place where I felt vulnerable, helpless, trapped. I didn’t want to remember those scenes. I was young when it was happening…@age 3-7…and I witnessed unspeakably cruel emotional and behavioral domination and physical violence perpetrated against my mother’s body. Way, too much for my tender heart, which left me unimaginably confused and afraid of him…of all male authority figures. It made me feel dubious about my own body, my girl body. It shattered my understanding of what love is, what it should look and feel like. I had to hold two pieces…the Daddy who I loved and who I knew loved me when he was sober, and the cruel person he became when under the influence of alcohol. I had blocked it out of my memory so I could move on with my life. And years later when my dreams began to raise these things into consciousness, I avoided them because it felt too scary to deal with. So the Universe upped the ante through the synchronicity of my leaking ceiling and John and Paula’s ministry, to help me trust that a Greater power was at work for my healing, for my good.

I don’t remember what proceeded immediately after going to the altar. I recall both John and Paula laying hands on me and me falling to the floor…a now embodied understanding of what it means to be “slain in the spirit.” At some point I came back into my body and John and Paula were still there at my side. The ushers helped me to the front pew as the Benediction was pronounced and John and Paula ministered to me a little while longer in private. This was a major breakthrough past my pride and independence…an opening to a profoundly sacred closet in my soul that had been facilitated by this very powerfully and spiritually surrendered couple. From that point forward I became more focused on my inner life and committed myself to understand more about this mysterious “theatre” going on in my head at night when I was asleep. I sensed that I would be taking a step of faith while at the same time knowing that I had inner help through my dreams, outer help through specially called persons, and the cosmic grace of the Universe. I had nowhere to go but forward in the mystery of it all.

Do you have dreams that stir you deeply…sometimes difficult, fear-inducing dreams you cannot make sense of? If they are coming to you, then your Soul is communicating your readiness to deal with their messages, of course, according to your will. This work is about going back to move through the energies of the past that linger in your bones, your cells and psychic memory. This work is about releasing your Soul Child from the tentacles of the past that keep you twisted, blocked and “safely” smaller than you are meant to be. It’s about getting back your true potent Self so you can move forward with your life in a more authentic and glorious manner. It’s about slaying the demons of the past and emerging valiantly from your own Hero’s Journey!

If you would like to know more about Archetypal Dreamwork as a form of inward journey and personal “healing theatre,” please stay in touch via this blog or my Facebook page “Now Journey Home.” I’m just getting my social media coordinated and up and running, so pardon it’s imperfections, but we’re moving forward. If you need help with a dream, please reach out to me at my dedicated email address nowjourneyhome@gmail.com.

Sankofa, and Much Love,

Cheptu