Dream :: New Pope & Lesbian Priest
I was in the town in Norway where I grew up, for the installation of the new pope. The ceremony was performed in a small room in one of my old schools, although the building had been extensively remodeled since I saw it last. A Swedish lesbian priest led a simple and beautiful ceremony. There were only a few guests there, and I sat next to the new pope on the first row.
Before the ceremony, I sensed that if the new pope asked me for help during the ceremony, we would have a strong connection in the future. And later on, he did ask me for help with finding the right page number in the poems and songs book used during the ceremony (his was a slightly different version than for the rest of us.)
At the end of the ceremony, the new pope gave a beautiful and brief talk. The topic was the Seven Gates - on how the seven main ways the mind functions changes when we move from delusion to clarity.
Notes
Waking up, I noticed several aspects of the dream.
The ceremony was very simple, earthy and ordinary, and in a small room with only a few guests. The priest was a woman, and lesbian, which in the dream was completely ordinary and to be expected - an inclusivity fits with the relaxed and simple atmosphere. The new pope was not unlike the previous one in appearance - an older man, quite unassuming and ordinary in looks and behavior. He was a little cold and distanced in his behavior towards me, as he did not know me very well. And his talk was extremely beautiful in its simplicity and wisdom. The Seven Gates are similar to the five Buddha families, outlining how characteristics of the mind are transformed when we awaken to Buddha Mind. The sense of a continuing connection with this particular new pope is still with me, even a while after the dream - and there is a sense that the connection will be there for a long time (whatever that means).
My main association with the pope is that he is the connection with God. He is the interface between ordinary people and God. The interface between the personal level and the transpersonal. This somehow seems to fit the dream as well, although there was not really anything numinous there (except for his talk). It was very ordinary, simple, earthy and grounded. Which seems to exactly be the direction of my current spiritual deepening.
Labels: dream