Dear Dream Tending Community,
Belonging to a family occurs inside of our emotional and psychological life as much as it does outside. I invite you to join with the Dream Tending community and offer thanksgiving to your ancestors, figures of imagination, and those who are closest to you. These are the persons of soul whose remembrance constitutes your inner family. Take a moment, let your imagination open, and make invitation. Host these dear family members to a celebration of life’s abundance. After all, their presence, their calling muses your own. Even those figures that are troublesome, even frightening at times, have something to offer back to the gathering. When hosted with clear boundaries and in the presence of the others, they may have offerings to share.
Together, in our extended community of dreamers, let’s expand the table. Let’s set a place for the many figures of our soul families. They need us as much if not more than we need them. Their presence makes it possible to live an animated life—a life full of curiosity and wonder, a way of embracing your one and precious life.
This is the time of Thanksgiving. Reach out to five people you know and share our intent. Invite them to Tending Tuesdays. This season, together, let’s include the figures of soul in our family gatherings. Let’s offer the blessings of love and compassion to those who all too often remain invisible. As you bring care to your inner family, they in turn bring care to you. Pass this message on. Together, let’s tend to all the members of our families, inner and outer, and receive their loving harvest.
Until next Tuesday . . .
In the dreamtime,
Steve
Dream Tending Exercise:
1) Sketch an image of a table capable of hosting a family gathering.
2) Place at the table members of your family, alive or in remembrance, who you would like to have present.
3) Take a few moments, open imagination, and notice what imaginal figures, what members of your soul family come forward.
4) Make a place at the table for these family members as well.
5) What food for the soul would you like to serve? What offerings come from your heart?
6) Find a time and a place that you can host your Thanksgiving meal.
7) At first do this alone; then, feel free to share with others.
8) Reach out and invite five friends or family members to join you in our Dream Tending community’s vision of Thanksgiving . . .
Inside The Curious Mind
“Be present in all things and thankful for all.”
—Maya Angelou
“The thankful receiver bears a plentiful harvest.”
—William Blake
Learn the Power, Purpose and Intelligence of Dreams
Unleash your creativity and innate genius
Stephen Aizenstat
Stephen Aizenstat, Ph.D., is the founder of Dream Tending, Pacifica Graduate Institute, and the Academy of Imaginal Arts and Sciences. He is a world-renowned professor of depth psychology, an imagination specialist, and an innovator. He has served as an organizational consultant to major companies and institutions, and as a depth psychological content advisor to Hollywood film makers. He has lectured extensively in the U.S., Asia, and Europe. He is affiliated with the Earth Charter International project through the United Nations, where he has spoken. Professor Aizenstat is the Chancellor Emeritus and Founding President of Pacifica Graduate Institute. He has collaborated with many notable masters in the field including Joseph Campbell, James Hillman, Marion Woodman, and Robert Johnson.
