Deconstructing Your Own Visions
A couple weeks ago I posted a random vision I had when waking up. It was Jesus seated with Mary Magdalene standing on one side and Mary of Bethany on the other. The arrangement was very similar to how Padmasambhava sits with Yeshe Tsogyal and Mandarava on each side of him. Anyway, I posted it on facebook as sort of a throw-away post, but many people commented and today someone asked me:
“What came of that vision you had of Jesus and the two Mary’s that was similar to Padmasambhava and his two consorts?”
My answer: Nothing came of it. I more or less dismissed it.
I think though that while the vision isn’t important maybe sharing the thought process by which I arrived at that conclusion might be. It’s an application of a lot of the principals that went into my Post Gnosis Checklist.
MODE OF VISION:
The vision happened as I was waking up. Its a mind state that I often have visions as dreams blend with waking reality. This is a state that spirits can communicate in, but also one where random imagery can appear – especially imagery linked to things I was doing or thinking about.
The vision did not occur as a response to a working or meditation and in fact occured at a time that I am prone to such imagery.
CAUSE OF VISION:
First, I was raised Christian, and still consider myself Christian in a fashion, so that imagery is not unusual for me to tap into. I am also Buddhist and lived for a time in Nepal. I have a lot of Buddhist and Christian art in my office, so again: fodder for imagery abounds.
In addition to this, I was reading Cynthia Bourgeault’s excellent book: The Meaning of Mary Magdalene: Discovering the Woman at the Heart of Christianity, where he proposes that those two Mary’s may have been the same person.
Clearly the vision had sufficient non-occult causes to emerge.
DID IT HOLD MEANING OR DEMAND ACTION?
This is probably the most important question we can ask ourselves when we have some kind of vision or communication. If the answer is no, then we don’t actually need to evaluate it at all. Whether its from a spirit, a deity, or random acetylcholine noise doesn’t matter because we aren’t doing anything with it. Its just a thing that happened. If its from spirit, its just a thumbs up or a wave. If not, no problem either.
In this case, while one could construct some kind of Sadhana or something around the imagery, I really don’t think the world needs that, and I am not particularly interested in it either, so no big deal.
DIVINATION AND EXPLORATION
In this case I didn’t need to divine on it. If I thought there was more to it I would do some divinations as well as invocations and prayers asking for more guidance.
Anyway I thought maybe some might find the general thought process of how I think about things like this interesting and useful.