All this spring, I dreamed of climbing, fatigue, cold, risk, and fear. But other visionaries' writings told me I wasn't alone... in fact, dreams of ascent are common in shamanic initiation, and it's not always flight. Sometimes you need to struggle up out of your body, culture, gender, and species to the spiritual heights. And you need toughening to handle the scary truths you find there.

This comix panorama reads generally left to right, but you choose your own path up the mountain (and down the far side! Too many visionaries forget that half of the hike!) This is just an overview to orient you; click for a big readable/wanderable version.

I made two pencil drawings--ascent and descent. Scanned them, deepened the contrast digitally, fused them and tinted the resulting grayscale panorama. The two drawings' horizon lines differ intentionally, as in some East Asian brush paintings.

• THE LEFT has a high viewpoint and long views, fitting the theme of ascent. The distant mountainscape isn't Guizhou or Yunnan but my native Sierra Nevada. No specific summit-vista, just a fusion of the High Country of Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks where I've mostly climbed.
• TO THE RIGHT we're below the looming peak, horizonless and intimate. You only appreciate the heights fully when you spend SOME time below them; letting them BE high.

And girls CAN climb. That quote from the Unicorn Peak logbook is real (true, they wrote it in Elvish; this was 1975); and I climbed that 3300-meter spire barefoot. You don't need heavy guy-gear. Just perseverance.

World Dream Bank homepage - Art gallery - New stuff - Introductory sampler, best dreams, best art - On dreamwork - Books
Indexes: Subject - Author - Date - Names - Places - Art media/styles
Titles: A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - IJ - KL - M - NO - PQ - R - Sa-Sk - Sl-Sz - T - UV - WXYZ
Email: wdreamb@yahoo.com - Catalog of art, books, CDs - Behind the Curtain: FAQs, bio, site map - Kindred sites