personal    associations    enabled     me    to    then  find
reminiscent     symbols     from     my     dreams:    book,
locomotive, sun and monkey. The shield that resulted
teases me with its double message.
     Here  are  two,  wonderfully  different, viewpoints of
the  quaternity,  the  four  directions. They  may  suggest
additional approaches to constructing dream shields.
     A    beautiful    rendering    of    a   Native    American
worldview   is  given  in   the  book,  Seven  Arrows,   by
Hyemeyohsts Storm. According to Seven Arrows, there
are "four  great  powers" on the "medicine wheel" of life:
North is  the place  of "wisdom," its  color is  white  and
it is represented by the  Buffalo. South   is the  place  of
"innocence," its color is green  and it  is  represented  by
the  Mouse.  East   is   the  place  of   "illumination,"  its
color   is  yellow  and  it   is  represented   by  the  Eagle
West is  the  place of "introspection," its  color  is  black
and it is represented by the Bear.
     These   four  "powers"   confer  "gifts"   of  perception.
They   are  basic  attitudes,  or  orientations,  that  people
can use in perceiving  and approaching  life  experiences.
Seven Arrows teaches that each person is born in one of
the four  places  and thus enters  life with  that  particular
power as their dominant gift of perception. It is  then  up
to the person  to "visit" the  other three places so that the
initial  gift  can be blended  with the  other three  gifts of
perception. Being  a whole  and  complete person  means
having  all  four of the powers  available  to meet life and
serve  others.  As  an  expression  of  wholeness,  then,  a
dream shield can be a story map of  your visit to the  four
places of "power."
     Now  although  there  is  an  archetypal  pattern  behind  the
association  (as  given in Seven Arrows)  of  the  four  "powers"
with particular animals and colors, it  is  best  for  our  purposes
to  consider  these  associations  as  just  one of  many  possible
choices. For  example,  in  his  Dictionary  of  Symbols,  Cirlot
reports that a  traditional  association  in  the Eastern world is as
follows:  North—black  tortoise,  South—red  bird, East—blue
dragon, and West—white  tiger. For  the Western  world, Cirlot
reports,  there  are  the  following  animal associations: North—
the   ox,  South— the  eagle,  East—the  lion,  and   West—the
peacock.  I  mention   these  differences   to  encourage  you  to
come up with your own personal symbolic associations.

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