Dream Dogs

Sometime ago I had a dream, it went like this:

"I was in Russia (no idea) and I was staying with a friend (nameless, faceless). I needed to travel to their house by myself but I had two very large dogs with me. They are not the dogs I currently own but I obviously considered them family as well as protection. I needed those dogs for that journey. On the way however I got stopped by an officious high level officer. he wanted my dogs and I knew that the consequences of not giving him the dogs might be severe. I didn't want to lose them as they were family but also because I did not feel able to complete the journey without them. Sometimes in my dreams, once they really catch my interest I become more aware within them and can alter them. I sometimes replay different endings and try and find one I like from the point where I become aware. I am not sure if the following ending to the dream was created by me in a more aware state or not. I rang the friend and he suggested giving the officer a puppy from the two dogs. I have no idea if the officer accepted. I woke up. It seemed like a compromise but I was left with the suspicion that it wasn't enough..."

Following much discussion with various people, it seemed people agreed that these dogs were spirit guardians and my good friend Mel wrote this poem:

Guardians

Amber eyes mirror ancient memory
brindle coats streaked with alchemists gold
Fierce as forge fire beat their hearts
muscle and sinew wild as the wind-torn moor.

From the mists they come
torn howling from the deep of the wood
Savage breath clouds the night
Rage in those eyes, terror in those souls

At the edge of the forest she waits
daughter of the moon, child of earth and sky
In her hands she weaves for them, silver threads of moonlight
whispering the words of the Summons

Faster now, they run
Closer, sensing her near
Stronger she is, with every thread her power grows
until...
she steps into the wood to meet them.

In the shadows they circle
Tasting the air, white teeth gleaming in her light
Quiet, she stands, peace in her heart
Softly, she speaks the Binding.

And there, in the space between the worlds
she slips the weaving over ancient restful heads
And gentle now, they come to lie
at the feet of the Dreamer.

Things began to change for me though on March the 6th. My beloved Big Dog died, suddenly and unexpectedly. He had a nasty bone cancer that once it was identifiable, it was too late... The dream began to resonate in my head again, but for very different reasons. One of my guardians had been taken. For nasty officious officer, read Death. My dog had indeed been taken and there had been nothing I could do.

I might have remained in this viewpoint but for continuing synchronicity.... I saw a fantastic idea for a photo mosaic on Quinceberry's blog which I posted all about here. One of the questions that really stumped me was 'who is your celebrity crush?'. I don't really have crushes, I am a bit single minded in my affections and they are kinda pointed in the direction of F. I have many celebrities I admire for many different reasons. I could just as easily have picked David Bowie or Sean Connery as Heath Ledger. Why I picked Heath Ledger is an odd thing really, I am sure I admire him that much in the grand scheme of things (not up there with Bowie and Connery but still very much up there I guess).

I dutifully typed in his name and started scrolling through the first page of pictures that flickr returned. I was most bemused to find this picture.
In many ways it fits so perfectly and although on the surface it has nothing to do with Heath Ledger, I had to pick it.

Today I decided to have a really good look at it and look at what the artist had witten about it. It was inspired by a story in a book called The Bloody Chamber, which is now on my amazon wish list, and tells various fairy tales in darker style... This picture is based on a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood:

"A young witch is courted by a local nobleman, (and in the brilliant film version of the story he also gets her pregnant). He promises to marry her, but instead ditches her and gets engaged to a wealthy young heiress. On the day of the wedding, the witch decides to take her revenge, and, turning up at the reception, promptly turns the married couple and the entire wedding party into wolves – who race off into the forest."

So you throw all this in together and what do you get?

A witch has two magical dogs / wolves. She stands under the full moon and the stars, on the edge of a wood. She is pregnant, either literally or in a creative sense (I want kids and hope to get started on a family sometime in the next couple of years). The wolves are a result of her power and may or may not be the result of her transformation of less positive aspects of her life. I don't know how the story turns out, if the wolves liked her after she worked her magic, but my wolves are clearly friends, family and guardians. The picture also brings in the crow and lots of jewellery. I relate to members of the crow family, one of them has a link to F, another is apparently by Native American horoscope birth month and another has a special link to me as I use them to read omens. The jewellery looks strangely like offerings, or clooties, not to the witch but to the Goddess.

I think the dream had several levels, i think yes, it was some sort of warning about the loss of Big Dog. I also don't think I can ever lose these two souls linked to me. What do you make of all these strange rambings?