The Octopus’s Garden and Shadow Work

So many people –friends, clients, the collective, and myself included — continue to feel buried trauma, memories and emotions bursting from deep waters of the subconscious. Intense stuff, launching from ocean floor to the surface! Despite the Shadow nature of this gunk, I keep sensing waves of healing and liberation.

Last night, David and I were digging around for clarity about certain relationships, and I went to sleep asking for some kind of dream commentary. I awoke after about five hours of sleep with a joyful song and visual still playing. With a revised version of “Octopus’s Garden” as soundtrack, I saw tentacles of the octopus releasing all the old Shadows, which starting singing and frolicking to the surface with these revised lyrics:

“We used to be

Under the sea,

In an octopus’s garden

In the shade.”

The Shadows expressed glee at their liberation from tentacles long strangling them and holding them under the sea. As they broke free, they bubbled to the surface, laughing, giggling and dancing — so happy for their release.

If you feel oppressed or even tormented by a recent onslaught of old memories, regrets and pain, please know there’s a benevolent side to all of this. Searching for the right video, I came upon this one of a baby elephant dancing in the ocean. His joy and motions mimic almost perfectly the way the Shadows danced once they hit the waves. “We used to be … under the sea …”

As Kahlil Gibran so wisely said:

Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.
And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears.
And how else can it be?
The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.

May it be so, and so it is.

Deep blessings and love … Laura