Musings.7: Barbara

Here I sit with my mug of chai tea, feeling as if I have awakened in one of my character "Melissa's" dreamscapes. Fog shrouds the skyline, settling a hush around this little neighborhood. Mist drips from the leaves of the magnolia across the street. What "Dream Weaver" is responsible for this scene? I like that - "Dream Weaver" - like the song by Gary Wright sooooo many years ago. When I look at the dreams woven into "Melissa's" life I admit I am largely responsible for them, yet I also freely admit to the existence of some Creative force which, when I tune in to it, gives me some splendid threads to use in the weaving of "Melissa's" character.

The tea party with the Goddesses was a complete surprise to me, especially the way it dovetailed so beautifully with T. S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock". I laughed when I realized the tea party was a reference to Eliot's poem because I remember Fr. Robert Boyle, S.J., back at Marquette University, telling us in one of his lectures about James Joyce that Joyce referred to Eliot (Thomas Stearns) as "Tea Stain Eliot"!

Whatever the dynamics between those avant garde early 20th century writers I am indebted to Eliot, for his poem offered a unifying structure for an encounter with all those various Goddesses. As I focused on "Melissa's" latest dream I realized I was to include the Valkyries and Xi Wang Mu, all of whom I had discovered in an encyclopedia of world mythology, as well as the Faery Queen and the Crow, of course, but how to do so?

Then, of all things, I thought of the teapot in the accompanying photo. This was a Christmas gift from my mother-in-law maybe twelve years ago and I just love its combination of whimsy, beauty and practicality. Still, however, I was not certain what to do with a teapot, four Goddesses, a Faery Queen and a Crow. So, back to the books to examine what I had - Valkyries, mead, meat, Xi Wang Mu, queen of the Western Paradise, peaches. "Peaches" was the piece that resolved the puzzle and pointed to "Prufrock". The rest just fell into place.

It is a delight to discover that "Melissa" inherits my love of Guinness! Oh, I do love Guinness - so smooth and creamy - but I save it for a treat because, as the Bard wrote in Sonnet 102: "And sweets grown common lose their dear delight." (I did make a Guinness cake, but I need to tinker with the recipe as it was a little dry - good, but dry.)

One element of the dream is still a bit of a mystery to me - the magnolia. I have no idea where "Melissa" lives so I cannot say if it is a part of her life. If it is another bit of my life appearing in her dreams, I wonder why?