celebration  of  the  British  Isles,  also  enjoyed  in  this
country,  with  its  flowers  and  the dancing with ribbons
around  a  pole prepared from  a tree. It is almost as if by
decorating a barren tree with flowers and dancing around
it,  the  people are trying  to  coax  the tree to imitate the
spring in their dance and sprout forth its own flowers.
      But  there  are  also  summer festivals involving trees
and  dancing.   There  is  the  Scandinavian  Midsummer's
Festival, celebrated with  a  specially prepared tree.  And
there is the Sun Dance.  With the Sun Dance it is easiest
to    discern    what   is   actually   present   in   all   these
festivities:  a  concern  not  merely  for physical fertility
but  also  for  the  regeneration   of  the  imagination  and
spirit  of  the  people,  both  individually  and  as  a whole
through the seeking of visions.
     Here  is  a  dream sent in by a participant in the A.R.E.
Dream   Research   Project.    The   dream   reflects   the
imagery of the tree rites  and a concern for the creativity
of ideas:

    ... I  am in a class.  I can participate at various levels.  I
am at the creative writing level.  I  write  a song for a tree.
It  is  raining cosmic rain,  in seed for God's planted ideas.
The  ideas   are   dissolved  in  water,   and  growth  is  the
result...

     The  Tree  of  Life  has  also  functioned  as the world
axis, the  "center still point"  around  which the phases of
creation revolve. As a symbol, dancing around the center
may    reflect    the    "dance   of   life,"    the    constantly
transforming  movement  and  change  over  time  that  is
paradoxically  the  eternally present and unchanging One.
Or the dance  may  very  well  be  an actual attunement to
the  vibration  of  the  creative  forces.  Here  is a dream,
also  from  a  participant  in  the A.R.E. Dream Research
Project, portraying this process in modern imagery:

     ... there  is  a  bright,  stainless  steel  tubular  cylinder,
resting upon a round,  stainless  steel track much larger in
diameter.  A  scientist  in  a  white  coat helps a man strap
himself into the cylinder.  The scientist's  theory is that an

115