Dreams and Dream Stories | Page 9

looked the stone opened from its summit to its base;
and I saw that the strata within had the form of a tree, and that every
minute crystal of which it was formed, --particles so fine that grains of
sand would have been coarse in comparison with, them,--and every
atom composing its mass, were stamped with this same tree-image, and
bore the shape of the ice-crystals, of the ferns and of the colossal
palm-leaves I had seen. And my guide said, "Before these stones were,
the Tree of Life stood in the midst of the Universe." And again we
passed on, leaving behind us the chapel and the circle of stones, the
pines and the firs: and as we went the foliage around us grew more and
more stunted and like that at home. We traveled quickly; but now and
then, through breaks and openings in the woods, I saw solitary oaks

standing in the midst of green spaces, and beneath them kings giving
judgment to their peoples, and magistrates administering laws. At last
we came to a forest of trees so enormous that they made me tremble to
look at them. The hugeness of their stems gave them an unearthly
appearance; for they rose hundreds of feet from the ground before they
burst out far, far above us, into colossal masses of vast-leaved foliage. I
cannot sufficiently convey the impressions of awe with which the sight
of these monster trees inspired me. There seemed to me something
pitiless and phantom-like in the severity of their enormous bare trunks,
stretching on without break or branch into the distance--overhead, and
there at length giving birth to a sea of dark waving plumes, the rustle of
which reached my ears as the sound of tossing waves. Passing beneath
these vast trees we came to others of smaller growth, but still of the
same type,--straight-stemmed, with branching foliage at their summit.
Here we stood to rest, and as we paused I became aware that the trees
around me were losing their color, and turning by imperceptible
degrees into stone. In nothing was their form or position altered; only a
cold, grey hue overspread them, and the intervening spaces between
their stems became filled up, as though by a cloud which gradually
grew substantial. Presently I raised my eyes, and lo! overhead were the
arches of a vast cathedral, spanning the sky and hiding it from my sight.
The tree stems had become tall columns of grey stone; and their
plumed tops, the carven architraves and branching spines of Gothic
sculpture. The incense rolled in great dense clouds to their
outstretching arms, and, breaking against them, hung in floating,
fragrant wreaths about their carven sprays. Looking downwards to the
altar, I found it covered with flowers and plants and garlands, in the
midst of which stood a great golden crucifix, and I turned to my guide
wishing to question him, but he had disappeared, and I could not find
him. Then a vast crowd of worshipers surrounded me, a priest before
the altar raised the pyx and the patten in his hands. The people fell on
their knees, and bent their heads, as a great field of corn over which a
strong wind passes. I knelt with the rest, and adored with them in
silence.
--Paris, July 1877

VIII. The Enchanted Woman*
The first consciousness which broke my sleep last night was one of
floating, of being carried swiftly by some invisible force through a vast
space; then, of being gently lowered; then of light, until, gradually, I
found myself on
--------------- * On the night previous to this dream, Mrs Kingsford was
awoke by a bright light, and beheld a hand holding out towards her a
glass of foaming ale, the action being accompanied by the words,
spoken with strong emphasis,--" You must not drink this." It was not
her usual beverage, but she occasionally yielded to pressure and took it
when at home. In consequence of the above prohibition she abstained
for that day, and on the following night received this vision, in order to
fit her for which the prohibition had apparently been imposed. It was
originally entitled a Vision of the World's Fall, on the supposition that
it represented the loss of the Intuition, mystically called the "Fall of the
Woman," through the sorceries of priestcraft. (Ed.) ------------------ my
feet in a broad noon-day brightness, and before me an open country.
Hills, hills, as far as the eye could reach,--hills with snow on their tops,
and mists around their gorges. This was the first thing I saw distinctly.
Then, casting my eyes towards the ground, I perceived that all about
me lay huge masses of grey material which, at first, I took for blocks of
stone, having the form of lions; but