Dreamtime animals

I am blessed with the gift of dreams. I dream long, colorful, interesting stories. While most dreams are just regular dreams; some are very powerful and seem to be actual visions and messages. The characters are more significant and the message or story depicted more profound and meaningful. Even the colors are amplified and magic is afoot. Common themes are dreams with significant people, mainly family, and dreams with animals, often set in far away or long ago places. 

Let me tell you about my dream animals. As a child, I often dreamed, drew pictures of and imagined adventures of my young self living in the Amazon jungle. I carried a spear and had a raccoon by my heels. We were both scrappy and looked for ruins and adventures. I am sure my Peruvian family and relatives made the Amazon a real fantasy adventure land for me. I remember my grandfather calling me "princesa Inca" (Incan princess).  This fueled my fantasy of jungle and Andean adventures. I still dream about jungles and wild places. And I still have a soft spot for raccoons and like to photograph them and feed them in parks. They represent a fiesty side that is not afraid of anything. Of course, I have a soft raccoon puppet.

Another animal that has visited my dreams all my life is the bear. Big brown bears coming at me, frightening me, but not killing me. I am always alone in remote wilderness and surrounded by bear (s) who decide to play roughly with me, pawing me and rolling me around with their strong paws. I play dead or go limp and wait out their play-time with me. They are ferocious and large but I always escape by being passive and quiet. I smell them, feel their fur and hear them but stay still. They eventually move on.

The most significant appearance of an animal came in a visionary dream that seemed to take place in a deep jungle. I came upon a ferocious looking, huge,  long white snake with an eloquent, decorated,  tribal looking woman. She imparts wisdom to me and in the end, the white snake leaves her side and becomes my companion and protector.  This animal came so strongly that I got a glass snake to keep near me. I could not find a white snake.

This past year, I had another visionary dream with my mother, who has passed on. In the dream, I am on a quest/job she sends me on  and out of the thick bushes/trees in her backyard spring out four animals. All powerful and dangerous animals; and I have to be careful to avoid or make a truce with each one, all while completing the task my mother sent me on.

The first to jump out or rather pounce forward is a black panther. She is followed by an alligator. Then my old friend the big brown bear and lastly an elephant. 

The dream had such an impact on me that I want to bring forth those animals in my everyday life. I am eying a cellphone case with a black panther, a pair of gloves with a cute elephant image on them and I am making art with bear imagery. I have not decided how to bring the alligator into my life. Maybe living so close to the Everglades is enough. I actually took the picture of this one here. 

I welcome feedback on meanings or messages you think these animals may be imparting to me. Or ways you work with animals in your waking and dream life.