Aboriginal Dream

 

Acrylic, Stone and Rue on Canvas
24” x 24” x 1”
Original Framed $7,800

The Aboriginal people believe that the true source of the mind is in the inspirational reality of dreams, therefore giving great reverence to their Dreamtime. They believe that the world is real, but only because we dream it first into being. The Aborigine’s consider themselves guardians of the Earth and live in a world where the dreamtime has not been repressed into the sleep state like it has for most humans. In the painting the Aboriginal mans body is ceremonially decorated; he holds his didgeridoo connecting earth and sky through vibration. It is an instrument carved naturally by termites in eucalyptus branches. Used traditionally in many of their ceremonies for tens of thousands of years for healing and communicating with other dimensions and the Earth and in calling the whales, the ancient knowledge keepers of this Earth.

Originally on the canvas underneath Aboriginal Dream was a painting of an island of dolphins and whales, it was beautiful, I had painted it while on a trip up the Northern coast of California, but I did not do my preparation ceremony like I usually do and to me it was not full of the spirit that had begun to emerge into my paintings at that time. Therefore, I decided I would use the Spirit that was there to make for a higher call.

   Dream your world into song
Awaken your Hearts vibrations…
You Belong…
Cosmic Stars shine from above…
The Earth’s held in balance, 
The Earth’s held in love.
The Aboriginal sends his sounds
through the didgeridoo
into the Earth
Unto Me…
Unto You…

Cher Lyn

I began “Aboriginal Dream” on that same canvas after a trip to Joshua Tree National Park. Such an amazing and inspirational desert canvas of Gods art, I had to paint when I got home. While there I purchased my first didgeridoo and although I could not circular breathe at that time, I could play a good vibration, therefore I decided to use the instrument and make sound vibrations of love onto the canvas. Now days, I use the didgeridoo regularly but this was my first time using this ancient tool on a canvas while painting.

Note: The didgeridoo is an ancient Aboriginal Australian instrument. It is considered to be one of the oldest wind pipe or drone instruments in the world. The didgeridoo is traditionally made from hollowed out branches from eucalyptus trees, also from bamboo. Beeswax is formed around one end of the tubular instrument to create a mouthpiece. The beeswax will soften and form a seal around the player's mouth when the didgeridoo is being blown.

When strange images such as big alligator skeletons emerge after the first layer of paint dried, I was intrigued, with my intension of re-painting on this canvas and using the instrument, I was not going to ignore them. In research I found books on the Aboriginal people and discovered photos and art that were almost exactly the same images that were in my painting! An exhilarating energy ran up my spine and chills covered my body! This was the kind of magic that I was looking for. I feel blessed with Spirit’s emergence in my paintings and I always cry with the realization and honor I feel at God Blessing me with this gift. 

As I meditated and merged more into my painting, I began to see all kinds of magic taking form, little men playing their didgeridoo into the earth, a long neck turtle, and a strong naked Goddess emerging out of a cave painting. The Goddess is sending light out from her yoni, her womb of creation is so very commanding. I am amazed at her unprecedented boldness and power as she shows me Creation is Creation and not even our conditioned minds and culture we live in today can suppress her.  She reminds me how powerful the spirit of the Divine Feminine truly is.

Aboriginal rock paintings are all over Australia. They speak the visual language and express their entire totems and religious beliefs on these cave walls, their canvases. The paintings have survived and proven to be a huge part of the living culture. Aboriginal elders through out the continent have affirmed that it be the duty of certain people to refurbish and make the Spirits of the paintings “fresh”. The painted images of Spirits are real and powerful, their belief is, the freshness of paint, and strength of facial expression is very important. At many sites, the rocks and caves have uncanny physical resemblances to the creation ancestors they represent. 

The painting hosts spirals and Universes within the rocks and sky, hidden messages from ancient knowledge urging us to awaken from our slumber into our own ancient knowledge within. The Aboriginal culture expresses a universal belief about the land, the laws of dreaming and their relationship to the Ancestral Spirits. Their traditions have passed down through the generations from the earliest times. This is ancient culture, so old as to be almost beyond our imagination. The stairways on either side of the painting represent these ancient teachings brought from these ancient ones up into our consciousness for those who are ready to receive.   

In many ceremonies, their bodies are painted elaborately with geometric designs using clay and elements of the earth. Feathers and bark are used as ornaments in the hair, for armbands and false beards. Despite the influence of European involvement and Christianity in the early 1800’s, the ancestral traditions have been kept very much alive. Throughout tribal Australia there has been a strong resurgence of traditional life and ceremony. Families have left government settlements and missions where their parents had lived out their lives and they have started small self-reliant communities. Their Dreaming and Tribal Ceremonies continue today learning their ancestral ways and strengthening again a once suppressed condition. 

The Aboriginal man ceremonially painted in the center holds his didgeridoo connecting Earth and sky through vibration. He sends electric energy into the Earth for healing with the ancestors love sent from above and below, all working together with the Goddess of Creation to help bring us back into harmony.

DREAMTIME.jpg

 

“The dream is a little hidden door in the innermost and most secret recesses of the soul, opening into that cosmic night which was psyche long before there was any ego-consciousness, and which will remain psyche no matter how far our ego-consciousness extends.” Carl Jung   

What is a dream? Humans have speculated on this question for thousands of years, and still there is no definitive answer. We all have dreams, even if we don’t remember them. Life in this dimension demands that we dream. It is through dreaming that we sculpt and paint our experiences in this dimension. Therefore it is important to acknowledge our Dreamtime; there are messages for us there. A good way to show dreams respect and bring more vivid and prophetic dreaming to us is to begin a dream journal. Recording our dreams is a proven way to find deeper meaning within the symbols and the more it is likely to have a mystical, visionary or spiritual dream. The writing of our dreams has the potential to assist us in the art of lucid and creative dreaming. 

“When you become lucid, you can do anything in your dreams. You can fly anywhere make love with the partner of your choice, converse with angels or loved ones who have passed on, receive answers to questions that plague you, use the full resource of material stored in your mind.” 
“Creative Dreaming” by Patricia Garfield Ph.D. Ballantine Books, New York, 1974.

Creative and lucid dreaming fascinates me. My insomnia instantly healed after reading the book with intentions to heal myself through dreaming. I became a scientist of the dreamtime, exploring the vast oceans of my mind in mystifying terrain. I found messages would become clearer by writing the dreams down, even if it was one sentence. In giving them respect by recording them, even more powerful messages began to emerge in my dreams.  

 

When you wake up, don’t try and make sense of what you are writing simply allow it to flow onto the page in the same way that different dreams may flow one into another. Even if you cannot fully remember, note down any words, symbols and visuals, further details may be triggered at a later time. No need to always take your dreams literally, as it may be the essence and your feeling behind a dream situation that is more important rather then the story. Be aware that in the Dreamtime you experience layers of what is below even your subconscious, and that archetypal situations raise to the subconscious, then the conscious like bubbles, each bubble bringing a new lesson, or an awareness that is right for you in the moment.

Every one of us has had a nightmare at some time or other and awoke wondering what that was about and hoping it would not reoccur.  Let’s stop and ponder for a moment, what does such a dream really tell us? The frightening nightmare reveals one of those monsters that we locked in our subconscious, a fear.  The dream is telling us to wake up, to acknowledge and confront that fear. A nightmare almost always has an important message to convey. If we can look at our nightmare as a teacher rather than just a horrible experience that we push as far away as possible from our consciousness, it can be a major positive force in helping to open up our closed hearts and clear up the conflicts in our life.

Many of our masters gathered information and gifts from the dreamtime; Hypocrites, Socrates, Einstein as well as many others were creative dreamers. Take notice and set intention before going to sleep to receive a creative idea.  Embark on a whole new feeling of self-empowerment, freedom and creativity. To love the conscious exploration into the vast mystery through our journeys in dreaming unleashes a whole new perspective and opens up new avenues of adventure. Follow the Aboriginal into the Dreamtime and explore what Spirit has in store.  

"I do not know how to distinguish between our waking life and a dream. Are we not always living the life that we imagine we are?” ~ Henry David Thoreau

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

"Dreams are today's answers to tomorrow's questions." ~ Edgar Cayce