The Word Made Flesh – A Hillmanesque Rebuke.

In hurriedly and lazily making all those inferences with the Bookshop dream of the previous post, I fell into a classic trap that Hillman points out. I made my inferences based on the waking mind’s perception and desire to codify the image… stick with the images dummy. So to relive the dream in the form of a Q and A.

Q: There was a choice of books in the dream, what were the books like?
A: There was a book with a gaudy purple and yellow cover and another with a black ,white and red cover. The black, white and red book was thinner than I expected.
Q:Why did you choose the gaudy purple and yellow one?
A: I don’t think I did, but I already had a number of books by the same author with red,black and white covers, so I thought the purple and yellow cover would be more interesting. Unable to choose I decided to ask about the Vampire Book.
Q: What was the pig like in the Vampire book?
A: I can’t really recall, all I can remember really is the zebra. It was lying on the ground with a great big wound in its side.
Q:Describe the wound.
A: An almost triangular shaped wound, a large chunk of the abdomen had been taken out. There were flies on the wound,
Q: Was the wound fresh.
A: Yes, glistening.

Q: Describe the bookshop proprietor
A: Dark hair, younger than myself, with a beard, not a thick beard, he has glasses on. An earnest look about him.
Q:How did he speak?
A: Quietly, though quite assertive when telling me the shop was closing. I was surprised because it was still early.
Q: What made you think it was early?
A: I am not sure, I had the clear impression it was two thirty
Q:Was there a clock then?
A: Again I am not sure, It was light outside, overcast, no shadows.

Q:Where was the boy in the dream?
A: My Son was standing by the entrance to the shop
Q:Why do you think the boy in the dream was your son?
A:He was called David
Q:Did he look like your son?
A:I think so, he had fair hair. He had fair hair and was called David.

Q:Who was the co-author of the book?
A: I can’t recall. All I can remember of the text on the title is that there were two author’s names separated by an ampersand on two lines. David Ashton (if that was his name) was on the lower line.

Q:Describe the layout of the shop.
A:Single story, or possibly not, there looks to be a spiral metal stairwell at the back of the shop. The books that I was originally looking at were on a low shelf opposite the counter. This shelf seems to separate the shop into 2 halves. The other half of the shop seems to have pamphlets; it’s quite untidy, musty. Some of the pamphlets and documents seem to have perished.

***

So no great message here, no great revelation, but this is entirely the point of working with the image: the image is its own revelation, no qabala, no complexes, no hyperlinked or copy and pasted quotes from esoteric sources. However, I feel I should point out the entirely natural flow from the red, black and white book cover to the wounded zebra: white and black striped, with a fresh red wound…. “The word made flesh”.