We all have spirit helpers that come around in our lives, and are oftentimes experienced in our dreams. Of course, in this rational age of materialism, consumerism, political correctness and religious might, there’s no such thing as spirit helpers. So, with that in mind, let this be our little secret, okay?

I am in the process of re-reading Carl Jung’s autobiography, Memories, Dreams, Reflections. It’s an amazing compendium of this modern-day shaman’s inner journey. And it’s more revealing than one might think.

A near-death experience at the age of 68 left Jung with this idea about the human existence on earth, nearly twenty years before he actually died:

Although my belief in the world returned to me, I have never since entirely freed myself of the impression that this life is a segment of existence which is enacted in a three-dimensional boxlike universe especially set up for it. (295)

This boxlike universe is certainly the rule here on planet Earth in these days, each of us separate from one another, doing our own thing as though we had no connection with anything other than our remote control. It is so very, very difficult to maneuver in this three-dimensional existence outside of the framework given to us by authority. It’s a tight fit, really. And the help given to us by unseen forces might just be the ticket to help us around all of this.

I seem to have some kind of otherworldly help, at least in my dreaming life. I’m grateful for it, and I don’t take it lightly. I have to imagine that the dreamworld affects this waking world, and vice-versa. So, perhaps, in some way, the help I am receiving in that realm is also help for this side, too. Ponder that for a moment.

In my dream of the other morning, I am in this old, wooden house, trying to light fires in several fireplaces in this large living room. I’m using a wooden object to catch fire, a holder with two dark grey angel-like wings on each side of it. In the middle of it is this plump old man with white, rosy-red cheeks. And the objective I have is to set afire the wooden holder, even with him in the middle: it’s no matter, as he’s a spirit!

To set this wooden holder afire, I place it down on the floor in the flames of one of the little fires. It is not working. I can’t get this holder on fire. But guess what? The old troll-like man is laughing very hard, amused, smiling with a sparkle in his eyes at me. He thinks my efforts are funny and very cool!

You see, the helpers we have in the spirit world of dreams are our ticket to get outside of this “three-dimensional boxlike universe” that Jung was talking about. By engaging the energy of our dream images, and working with those images, we can facilitate growth and change in our daily lives. They are alchemical tools of the highest order.

This old troll with the rosy-red cheeks is sort of a Fire Spirit, helping me in my own transformational process. Fire is the element of change, of strong vitality, and this spirit is helping me on my path to incorporate this element into my own growth process. Fire is the element of Spirit, and its helper here is certainly an energetic and enthusiastic representative! Yet, I’m not exactly getting it right in the dream—I’m not catching the wooden holder on fire—but I am moving in the right direction. And, with a helper of this sort, I won’t go wrong.

Come to think of it, I think of the fire element as an ally in my waking life as well. Whenever I light a candle or a fire, I notice an incredible movement of energy in the flames or the burning fire itself. It’s a magical process. The old troll is certainly a fine representative of that process!  Jung writes:

The more the critical reason dominates, the more impoverished life becomes; but the more of the unconscious, and them ore of myth we are capable of making conscious, the more of life we integrate. (302)