Chicana Dreamer

In last week’s post, I committed to continue the discussion on how Dream Awareness helps us garner power and clarity for our creative and spiritual aspirations, which we will be examining in the new series of Meeting the Feminine which begins on September 9, 2011. This article features one dream Artist Diana Marto had in 1986, which serves as a beautiful example of the way dreams can weave in and out of consciousness over time, while subtly impacting our lives and creativity.

Ashaia Speaks Dream: I am walking through an airport with a roll of paper on my shoulder.–

As we worked through this dream a couple of days later, Diana and I sat in my apartment at the corner of California and Laguna in San Francisco facing each other sitting on the tan suede sectional. I asked her, “What does the roll of paper feel like?” Sometimes we just have short snippets of a dream to work with, but that can be enough. She went back in time and thought about the work she had begun in 1981.

For this article, I spoke with Diana by telephone to refresh our memories, and she gave more background about her life related to the dream: “In 1981, I was traveling between Hong Kong, Kyoto, and San Francisco, when my work with paper was just beginning.” She said. “At the time I was living in Japan, and was greatly influenced by the culture, particularly, Shinto Ceremonies I’d seen in mountainside villages above Kyoto.”

Upheaval, End Game

“The actual roll of paper was literally eight feet high, a powerful symbol in my hands. I created performances unraveling huge rolls of paper. “Be the Bird that Soars in Your Dreams, is my first Canto in the epic ‘Spirit Plays with Paper and Dance,’ which I performed in Kyoto, Hong Kong, Big Sur, and Duxbury Beach in Massachusetts.

“In Hong Kong on a mountainside I danced all over the paper, which then took on the impressions of the early morning dew of wild flowers, soft pinks, yellows, and pale grasses before the rainy season arrived. It looked like a Chinese landscape brush painting.” Later works of papermaking show the influence of these impressions.

“I would make immense sculptural shapes like magical birds which I arranged in gardens. I then became part of the garden dancing in light white silk fabrics that gracefully waved in the breeze, caressing the sculptures. In one performance piece, I carried a huge piece of paper that the wind ripped, which then came to symbolize the wing of the ‘Soaring Bird.’

“The roll of paper in the 1986 dream conveyed a vibrant message about continuation, and hope. At the time, I had just moved back to the Bay Area. My husband John had died of Lou Gehrig’s disease. My life was in ashes, but this dream brought a new light to my work and my life. I felt an acknowledgment and affirmation of my art. I felt that it was telling me, ‘Don’t give up; Don’t stop.’”

Diana took the dream to heart. Since the first Canto, She has presented sacred ceremonies in Capetown, Catal Hoyuck, Turkey, a neolithic archeological site where the Mother Goddess was worshipped, and locations in the United States. Now, some twenty-five years later, she has completed Canto XXI.

“Today, when I begin new projects or prepare for performances, the message still lingers and the Spirit World continues to whisper to me, supporting, and enlivening my creative expressions. Not having children, the dream has helped me stave off mortality and find a way to be remembered. Over the years, the dream has woven in and out of my awareness assuring me I’m on the right path; that I’m not just a consumer, but that I am giving back to life; it has given me a gift to leave future generations, an important way to contribute to human awareness.”

The image of Diana’s walking through an airport with a roll of paper could easily have been overlooked. At the time, she thought it was simply a replay of her life before her husband passed on. But, as time has shown, with the attention she paid to the dream, it continues to guide her art, providing a container of safety for her life–I’d say this dream was a life saver for her.

Diana’s Dream is an exquisite example of how we will examine our dreams in our upcoming Dream Circle. It doesn’t have to be a Big Dream; it may be, on further examination, but what’s important is to examine these images and glean from them the subtle or quiet promptings from within. We are all artists of our life, and we all dream. We bring the dream out from behind the curtain, and the Feminine does the rest.