Ritual For A Dream Pt. 4 (The Book and the Mandorla)

I decided, at some point, to make a little book as part of the dream work I was doing. In Owning Your Own Shadow (Johnson, 1991), I read about the mandorla, which is not an alternate spelling for mandala. It's a whole other thing, Ethel. Mandorla means almond in Italian and it refers to the almond-shaped form that appears when two circles intersect (see above). This image inspired the structure of my book. 

The left side of the book contains images of the "dark" that represent my dream figure. In the middle, there is a mandorla, in which the images of the dark and light sides of the book intersect and overlap. The right side of the book contains images of the "light" and methods of healing. This is where the recipe for the salve is, as well as the image of the healing goddess. 

The book itself is an altar, like that of the curanderos of South America "who are a curious mixture of primitive shaman and Catholic priest" (Johnson, p. 111). They divide their altars so that "the right [side] is made up of inspiring elements such as a statue of a saint, a flower, a magic talisman; the left contains very dark and forbidding elements... The space between these two opposing elements is a place of healing. The message is unmistakable; our own healing proceeds from that overlap of light and dark" (p. 111).

I dedicated the book to my grandmother and "to all people who have been powerless to protect themselves against physical violence and abuse of any kind," and I can say without hesitation that I have experienced a healing in this process. 

I would be happy to share this book with anyone who is interested in experiencing it. I don't want to post too many images from it, because I don't want to reduce the impact of experiencing it as a whole. The image at the top of the post is the front and back covers of the book; in other words, it's the book lying open,  cover side up. The circle on the left symbolizes the dark images, the shadow, the unconscious, the beaten woman; the circle on the left symbolizes divine, healing light. It has been powerful to physicalize the merging of the two. I can't recommend it highly enough.