The Healers

 

I have come to believe that our spirituality is connected to our sacred individual stories. From this space, we are able to experience healing and to become healers, or as Henri Nouwen calls us, wounded healers.

 

For me, our stories are spiritual energy orbs. Sacred. Sometimes fragile. At some point our stories have to be fully recognized, dealt with and allowed to be set free. Our spiritual maturity requires this letting go.

 

The “Healers” are people who are open to help bring healing into our world because they have recognized their own brokenness and how to live life authentically. While recognizing their limitations, they offer the best they have to give and they are willing to be vulnerable. This is more than enough.

 

What more can we ask of ourselves or each other?

 

You know people who are helping to make this world a better place.

You may well be a healer yourself.  

 

The Dream

 

In a dream, I find myself within a landscape. I hear water running and feel a slight breeze. The waterfall and reflective blue lake are comforting. There are softly worn rocks, dark, damp and red hued, to my left. To my right is a strange formation of rippled rocks in deep blues with cool water trickling over the edges. I see a fabric-like terrain before the lake. It occurs to me that the area is alive as if a soul is curled-up there sleeping. It is a place of birthing and of gentle movement. The waters of the lake have a slight pulsating disturbance. I know it is cool to the touch yet full of life below the surface. The forest is thick and must be difficult to traverse. The deep space in the upper right is vague. There is movement in the fog and clouds, all illuminated by the rising sun. The light is soft as an early morning awakening. Then I see a mountain shrouded in a mysterious mist. Compelled to go to the mountain I turn to find my way.

 

As one is able to do in a dream, I immediately find myself before a cliff overseeing a deep abys. There she is. The mountain. I feel her energy! She calls to me to come closer. I can almost hear the mountain whispering; or do I hear soft cries? Indeed, I hear the voices of the wounded of the world. They are living in caves . . .

 

Dream Landscape, Oil on Hardboard, July 2018

Dream Mountain, Oil on Hardboard, July 2018

The Caves and Cave Dwellers

 

In dreams, caves are often a place of invitation, of personal transition. Caves by nature are sacred protective spaces. Caves also confront us even as they embrace us. Caves were most likely our first homes.

 

The caves in my dream mountain, within my dream landscape, are full of dwellers. I feel their isolation, disconnection and need for healing. As one can only “know” in a dream, I realize each wounded soul, each cave dweller, believes she or he is alone in the mountain. While the mountain is full of small caves and cave dwellers, each one does not realize their deep connection. They all are in the womb of Mother Earth. They are not alone!

 

Each cave dweller is being protected during a process of healing. Their state of being wounded is actually the source of their healing and their enlightenment. They are in God’s presence as all of creation is connected and cries out to be a part of the healing of the world, of creation herself.

 

Each wounded soul, each cave dweller, is a person like you or me. Some have had tragedy, some have experienced trauma. Most have experienced betrayal, disillusionment, feel afraid, or possess low self-esteem. Some have experienced violence or abuse. Others have been deeply hurt by someone they felt they could trust.

 

 Cave Dwellers, Charcoal and Pastel on Paper, September 2018