Had a great time at dream Sangha yesterday. Nice affirmation in last night’s dream.
DREAM: I’m approaching the Secretary of Education. She’s visiting a site outside where deer and animals gather round. I can’t get her attention. I ask her to look at my dream journal. When she finally does it bursts into flames. Ha!
Pretty hot stuff! 
Lots of possible metaphors, the flame of knowledge, burning enthusiasm, Agni (Sanskrit for fire) wisdom . . .
Wish I could have joined you, but wasnt able to make it Saturday. I put my email on the mailing list, looking foward to joining in 2 weeks.
This one is a head scratcher for me. Do you have any kind of connection to The Secretary of Education? How did you know who she was? Most people dont.
The Deer in the drawing really stand out, as does the fact of all the animals depicted, deer were the only ones you mentioned by name.
This interpretation may be a little far fetched, but deer were sacred to the Goddess Diana, Personification of the Moon. Also motherhood, female cycles, hunting, and Intuition. While the moon is visible at times during the day, nothing does moonlight justice like night and darkness. Was it at night in or daytime in the dream?
Agreed. Fire is very sacred. The terms "clear LIGHT mind’ and “the great Eastern sun” that never sets, in Buddhism both have connections to an enLIGHTened mind. One of the great gifts of fire other than protection, warmth, and purification is it power to allow us to see in the darkness. And these nocturnal meditations of lucid dreaming and dream yoga illuminate the darkness of our egos, and give us greater intuition and knowing of our inner self.
Perhaps the education you have recieved from your dream journal is symbolized as the wisdom and light of the fire.
While i have never witnessed animals flocking to a person like that, I have heard storys of people who were deeply connected to nature, being alble to draw the attention and curiosity and close proximity of wild animals (animals who would otherwise stay the hell away from most humans). Perhaps the dream again is commenting on you developing a deeper connection to nature through your dreams (dream journal).
The drawing and general surroundings reminds me of Milarepa, Tibet’s great yogi. He could communicate with animals and indeed taught the Dharma to a deer and a dog in one famous episode. He practiced Tummo, “inner fire,” and was able to live in the high Himalayas with only a thin cotton cloth for protection. I visited the spot where this purportedly happened and there is a center nearby dedicated to his practices. The photo below shows his kindness,
Great feedback, thanks!! I think the Secretary of Education is me. I think it’s a role I’ve skirted for a while and now it’s coming into focus. (I also worked for 23 years at a school reform organization that was all about education.)
I also had this 1/9/2022 dream in the white wedding dress series where deer gathered around me while I’m standing in a circle mandala in the woods. I think of this as a coming together of animal intuition and energy of the self, and my process of becoming wedded to the Self.
Would like to know more about your work in educational reform. Have you had much progress over the years?
Could this also be a representation/emanation of The White Tara?
Really glad you shared that information about Milarepa, that is so cool and deeply meaningful to me. I am excited to read that book and do more research on him!
Really fascinating coincidence, I went to a yoga class yesterday, and after it, spoke to my instructor about LD. She told me that her most recent LD was about her dog who had died. I replied that a few years ago, my very first LD involved my dog who had died (After seeing her walking around, I realized it wasnt possible because she was dead and I became aware i was dreaming). Crazy how even from beyond the grave animals can still help us.
Years ago when her dog was still alive and she was dating her husband, she told me of an instance where the dog tried to communicate with her. She was greeted by the dog at the door, and saw a flash of an image of the dog running joyfully in the forest, she turned to her husband and told him the dog wanted to go for a walk in the woods. The guy replied, “Not right now”, and the dog looked down dejectedly after he said that.
Not your typical conversation topic that you can have with people. Most people will look at you like you are crazy if you talk about that stuff. What is so fascinating to me is she was the one who initiated that topic (even though for a while I have wanted to ask her about it before, I have been afraid to bring it up). And as always, I am amazed by the synchronicities that followed on this site. 
Thank you
Very interesting you bring up the White Tara. I had never heard of her before, looked her up and found this:
"
White Tara has seven eyes. She has three eyes on her face, the third eye in her forehead symbolizing her ability to see the unity of ultimate reality, while her two other eyes simultaneously see the relative and dualistic worlds. She has one eye on each palm of her hands and feet, showing that all her actions are governed by her ultimate wisdom and compassion. It is said that White Tara’s seven eyes enable her to clearly “see” all beings in all the realms of existence. Her expression is one of the utmost compassion. "
In @DreamingFromHere s first post in these forums, I posted a native american symbol of a hand with an eye in its palm. I have never heard of any dieties having an eye in their hands until today. So cool.
Now you have me wondering if the lady in the white dress that was in my last lucid dream was the White Tara, or a symbol of another Goddess or Dakkini.
In my experience, if you talk to most people about dogs, or cats, you’ll usually find extraordinary stories.
I think if you talk to most people about dogs, or some with cats, you’ll find extraordinary stories
I worked at the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University where I managed their website and social media presence. The focus was on working with underserved urban communities and public school districts together to form “Smart Education Systems.” Well, it didn’t work. I found it all pretty toxic and dysfunctional. I was also struggling with my undiagnosed bipolar disorder - ugh. Brown ultimately shut it down and reconstituted it into a data tank.
Where did you work on school reform? It’s such hard and unrelenting work. This country is paying dearly for not educating its citizens well enough. It’s a tragedy.
Taught at the New Age School (Circle School) in San Antonio in the '70s, which today is an Ashoka Changemaker School. I have an MS in Waldorf Education from Adelphi and in the '80s was involved with the Christa McAuliffe Institute (National Foundation for the Improvement of Education) looking at the best ways to use technology to restructure schools. Also worked with The Flipped Learning Global Initiative before retiring.
Yep!
Tragedy is an understatement. Its almost like leadership in this country has gone out of its way to to keep people blind. Not to long ago it was illegal to teach slaves how to read or write. Now everyone is taught the bare minimum, enough to read an advertisement or propaganda, and be mislead by a discounted sale. Educated people are a threat to those in power (see Elon Musk). Uneducated people are docile and comsume, and are treated like cattle, and are slaves to samsara and the powers that be.
I wish it would change, but i dont think it ever will. Too many people at the top have too much to lose.
In my opinion, “Education” / “Public Eduction"is a multifaceted societal knot that even Alexander The Great would have trouble cutting through, with too many insoluble issues leading down one-way streets with few apparent ways to undo “bad” decisions generated by the unintended consequences of “good” intentions. Who/What determines “what is a good education?” To bounce off @Dreamingfromhere’s description, thinking about it in generalities can often be " pretty toxic and dysfunctional.” However, there are plenty of successes when we narrow our focus enough to see them. The end.
Amy it was so nice meeting you in our dream sangha, thanks for coming!
It was so satisfying and fun for me to facilitate the group, Great to watch it grow!
The land I’ve been on for the last month is surrounded with lots of deer😊
