This is my last week of full-time hours at work. It’s a little surreal. I’m excited for what’s coming next, though! It’ll be so nice to focus on a passion I’ve had since I was young: creating. I’ve spent this last month setting everything up and investing in supplies. I’m basically ready, now, but I’ve been debating on whether I should open an Etsy shop, too. It may be worth trying, anyway.
Now that I have a proper planner, I’ve been trying to work in time to practice my drawing skills: both my technical skills and intuitive skills. It’s been a long time since I’ve drawn on a regular basis, so overcoming the discomfort and dissatisfaction has been a bit of a challenge. I’m trying to focus more on how much I enjoy the process, the feel of pen on paper (or pen on tablet), instead of thinking, “This isn’t good enough.” I know I have a habit of holding myself to extraordinary standards, but I also have to remind myself that I haven’t been working regularly at this skill. Of course I’m not where I want to be! I’ll only get there in time, and with practice.
Last night, I decided to dedicate myself to a low-stress drawing session with Morpheus. A little while back, I asked him through tarot/oracle how I could connect with him, and creativity was one of the answers. He’s helped me with my first few spirit art pieces, I think, but I haven’t yet invited him to draw with me purely for the sake of creating something. I wanted to change that, and perhaps make a habit of it.
These little sketches (I’ve decided to call them “Dream Doodles”) are far from anatomically correct, but that wasn’t the intention. All I wanted was to pick up a pen and see what came through — see how I could convey energy without worrying over how well I’m drawing. In a world dominated by social media artists, it’s too easy to feel overshadowed by artists who are vastly more skilled than I am. I know I can reach that level of skill with enough practice and dedication, so I might as well focus on the joy of creating.
I should preface this by saying deity worship was never something that grabbed my interest. In my 26 years of living, Shiva was the only deity to which I felt a pull, and even then, I didn’t quite worship him the way an ordinary person might. I had no idea how to worship him beyond meditation and art.
That was several years ago, and now, I find myself in exactly the same situation. I’m going through some major life changes (career-wise, specifically), and in the midst of sorting through old spiritual blogs, I stumbled upon a reference post on Morpheus, the Greek god of dreams. For whatever reason, as I read through this post, I had the deepest desire to connect with Morpheus, to work with him throughout my day-to-day life. I’ve been a longtime fan of dreams and stories in all varieties, and while I’ve admired the concept of Morpheus over the course of the last decade, I only felt the need to begin working with him in the last few weeks.
Now, smack-dab in the middle of June, I feel lighter, more hopeful, more excited about what’s to come. My dream recall has improved drastically: I’ve remembered four dreams in the last two weeks alone. Before that, I’ve woken remembering nothing (or extremely little) over the course of the last three months. I’ve returned to building up my intuition and I’m learning how to work through old insecurities.
It’s difficult for me to say whether I can attribute any of this to Morpheus. I don’t claim to know any hard facts about deities and the spirit/dream world. The universe is a big mystery to me, but in all honesty, I don’t think any of that matters. What does matter is that I’m on a path of self-improvement, and for whatever reason, working with an ancient god of dreams is helping me along that path.
Out of curiosity, I’ve been asking Morpheus each night to join me in my dreams, because I’ve wanted to meet him face-to-face. It’s rare that I have big, world-shaking, spiritual dreams. It’s also rare that I dream of spiritual beings, so I think in the back of my mind, I’m testing the universe. Mostly, I’m curious to see how a god of dreams would present himself. Here’s the thing, though: the four dreams I’ve remembered this month have all stood out in different ways (tornado dream, college dream, work dream, travel dream), but were also full of faces, both familiar and unfamiliar. Hell, I even dreamed about a female teacher in the college dream, only to wake up the next day to a picture sent by my sister-in-law of the same woman… who’s a kindergarten teacher.
Plot twist: I’ve never seen that woman before in my life. I couldn’t explain that one.
These experiences led me to wonder whether Morpheus is intentionally keeping his ‘true’ form away from me. Maybe he doesn’t think I’m ready to see it. Maybe he doesn’t have a ‘true’ form because he’s the Formshaper. He can be whatever he needs to be — whatever I need him to be — at any given moment.
Still, I wanted to see what he came up with, so I have a tool for connection. My strengths lie in visuals and gut feelings, so one day, I asked him to join me for a bit of spirit art. The painting you see above was the result of that session, and it was fascinating to see how the depiction transformed as I worked. I’m sure I’ll be making more art of him in the future.
Finally, my offerings to Morpheus have been slim (I live in a small apartment with a roommate, so I don’t have much room to work with and I’m trying to be discreet), but the great thing about working with a god of dreams is that my offerings can be discreet things like candles and dream journals and tarot cards. One day, when I have a place to call my own, I can spread out and dedicate more than a tiny nightstand to him.
All in all, my experiences with Morpheus have been subtle and intriguing. I think my issue with trusting spirit is that, with my highs and lows, I’ve never reached a point in my spiritual development where gut feelings or psychic impressions were so obvious or transparent that there was no room for doubt. I honestly don’t know if others ever reach that point, or if that’s simply how spirit works. It’s trust and faith.
I’d be interested to hear from anyone who does work with Morpheus! What have your experiences been like, or how do you intuit his energy?
Midnight Moon: Tarot and Intuitive Art 