VANDICE

Let me tell you the secret that led me to my goal. My sole strength is in my tenacity.”

 —Louis Pasteur. French Microbiologist and Chemist

TWO DREAMS WITH THE NAME VANDICE

I remembered I was involved in the making of one movie, and had started another when I was rescued during a police raid. These films were not fancy, but called “B” movies that could be made in  one week and would last an hour. As a teenager, I saw these movies on Saturday at a local theater. Many movie stars, including Robert Mitchum, began their careers making "B"  movies.

What is interesting about the following dreams is that the name Vandice appeared a second time after a thirteen-year gap.

 

DREAM: The Zulu Man (November 9, 1980. Nine years and one month before my memory returned.)

There has been an election and a crooked Mafia man has won.

I am in Zululand and a man is chasing me. I am running along a dock and decide to jump into the water and hide under a boat in one of the air pockets.

The scene changes and my friend, Joannie, is put in my place under the boat while I fly above, observing. I decide to get help from my uncle and run into a room where he is being filmed having sex with a woman.

I yell, “Help! The Zulu man is after Joannie. Can you help me?”

My uncle finds a telephone book and looks up the number of the bad man and hands it to the woman and says, “Call Vandice.”

We all run and find Joannie, who has been dragged out of the water and is sitting on the dock. By then Vandice has arrived with his men. We look for the Zulu man and find him. I wonder how we should punish him and ask what the customs of the land are. They say, “public spanking!”

I was probably told the black man in this movie was Zulu. I think “public spanking” probably means flogging. The dream suggests that I was dissociated because I fly up above and observe the action.

 

DREAM: Vandice and Gregory Bates (October 22, 1993. Thirteen years after the first dream and four years and one month after my memory returned.)

I am in Washington D.C., and a senator is in this dream. I am reading a document and the name Vandice is written on it…V- A- N- D- I- C- E. Excited, I say to myself, “Why did that name appear?”

Several dreams in my book take place in D.C., and a senator is mentioned. I have tried to find out who Gregory Bates was, and did come across a Washington lawyer with this name, but was unable to find further information. Newspaper.com does not have major D.C. papers in their files. If I was younger and had lots of money, I would go to Washington and see what I could find. I believe Bates's name is in my dream because he had something to do with my case.

 

SAND PLAY THERAPY

A primary aim of Jungian analysis and sand play therapy is “to relativize the ego” — that is, for the ego to relinquish its illusory dominance and to reestablish a connection and continuing relationship between consciousness and the unconscious. — Estelle L. Weinrib, Images of the Self

While living in San Francisco, working with my therapist Barbara, I discovered sand play therapy. Barbara had used this technique in her counseling sessions, and I had found the experience both nurturing and calming. Sand-tray therapy provides an avenue for expressing emotions in a non-threatening way. It gives insight into the inner struggles and conflicts of the person, and the choice of toys and where they are placed have metaphorical and symbolic meaning.

In 1990, after my father died, I moved to El Cajon, California, to live with my mother. I had enjoyed working in the sand with Barbara,and began collecting objects from garage sales and flea markets to use in a newly purchased sand tray of my own. I added materials from nature, such as seashells, pine cones, and grasses, along with colorful buttons, rocks, children’s toys, animals, woodblocks, and houses.

I began creating scenes using my collection of objects. When finished, I would write a story about my creation and photograph it. When nieces, nephews, and friends visited me, we had fun playing in the sand. I took pictures of their arrangements and listened to their stories.

 WONDER WOMAN

“In sand play, the adult plays as a child does, with seriousness. The playing aspect seems to provide access, or an initiatory rite of entry for adults into childhood. Lost memories are found again, repressed fantasies are released, and possibilities of reconciliation occur. Paradoxically, sand play seems to enhance the capacity to distinguish between illusion and reality.”

—Estelle L. Weinrib. Images of Self.

WONDER WOMAN AGAINST THE FORCES OF EVIL

 

Description

Looking at the tray vertically, the sand slopes gradually upward from the bottom to the top of the tray. The scene is divided into two parts. The lower half of the tray is covered with monsters, animals, bugs, and cowboys and Indians with weapons drawn. In the left quadrant among the figures are two cows, three cars, and three dogs. The sand is empty from the center of the tray to the top. Wonder Woman stands dead center. Behind her, a maple leaf stands upright in the sand. On her left is a snail shell and, on her right, an owl. Wonder Woman is ready for action.

 

Explanation

The figures at the bottom of the tray are forces of evil, twisted beings represented by monsters, bugs, and animals. The devil in the form of the dogs remind Wonder Woman that a cow had been sacrificed and that they have in mind to possess her soul. Indians and cowboys are advancing on Wonder Woman with the intention of destroying her.

 However, she has the situation well in hand. After all, she is Wonder Woman, and unbeknownst to the forces of evil, she has extraordinary help. Behind her and backing her all the way are the full “forces of nature,” represented by the maple leaf. The seashell represents “the wisdom of the ages,” and gives her the knowledge necessary to trick these evil demons. On her right the owl gives her courage, by enabling her to see into the future and past the evil onslaught. There is a battle ahead, but Wonder Woman is not afraid. She will sleep well tonight for she is loved by her inner self, and nothing can destroy her.

I created this sand tray two years after my memory returned. Little did I know how long my battle would last.

 

  

 Me on one of my adventures.

 Onward and upward.