Essay: Dream Magic Tapestry
by Libra Kaplan, Expressive Arts Therapy program, CIIS, September 26, 2023.
Below is my final paper for the music therapy class I took in the Fall 2023 semester. It was taught by Stacie Aamon Yeldell, certified music and vocal therapist and all-around special human being. Stacie created a process called the Song Tapestry™ , which she lead us through during the weekend intensive. The Song Tapestry™ is defined as, "a musical map, presenting as a music playlist, that can instantaneously reveal gems hidden in the unconscious mind. This method can be used to facilitate expression, understanding and shifting of difficult feelings" (Yeldell, 2023).
Dream Magic Tapestry
Don’t Go Breaking My Heart; Masterpiece (a new song that Dave Grohl is writing in my dream); 3 Little Birds; It’s a Family of Bears (It’s a Family Affair)—there’s a family of bears in my dream and in the morning that is what I sing; Sailing by Cristopher Cross; Gimme Just One Reason morphs into You Can Do Magic; This is It by Kenny Loggins; Shake a Tailfeather by Ray Charles & The Blues Brothers.
Above is a progression of some of the songs that spoke to me over the last three weeks. I am someone who naturally thinks in song, in lyrics, in visual shapes, pictures, and metaphor—and sometimes puns! —so doing the song tapestry felt like a congruent and organic choice. At first, I had thought a collage would be the ideal way for me to artistically express this assignment. But as I began to consider the throughline that was present in the songs I was receiving, the theme of Magic emerged loud and clear, and I got the idea for a wallhanging- I call it my “dream magic tapestry” 
(scroll to bottom for more images)
Part I
During the toning activity in the yurt, I had a profound experience of feeling a band of my ancestors in the room with me; they stood at my back, in a supportive arc. One of them stepped forward and it was my great-grandfather, Benjamin, whom I had experienced contact with only once before, about year ago during a meditation. (He and I had never met in the flesh, as he died in April 1974, six months to the day before I was born.) The following day, in the song tapestry activity, my song was You Can Do Magic by America. I had a distinct knowing that it was a gift directly from Benjamin and my ancestors.
Part II
In 2020 during the pandemic, I began questioning my purpose in life; interior design was not fulfilling me the way it used to and the calling to something deeper was stirring inside me. All that year, I took many long walks with my dog, Coco, and at some point, I began collecting certain feathers. Not all the feathers, for I saw quite a lot; I was selective, and they had to be unique somehow. I was moving through the world embodying a new question: what was my purpose? I had begun speaking a new language which involved moving slower, with more awareness, more openness, ‘experiencing the extraordinary in the ordinary’; this is very much what dream shaman, Robert Moss (Moss, 2020), calls kairomancy, meaning navigating by synchronicity.
It was one such walk where Coco and I ended up at a park we seldom went to. I felt drawn to it that day, and Coco loved to venture. As we meandered through, I stepped carefully, curious as to what was pulling me close. Then, I saw it. A blue jay’s wing, with feathers all about. The universe had been paying attention to my quest. I felt so honored. I looked at the injured wing and wondered what had happened to the rest of the bird. I said a prayer of gratitude and love, I sent good energy to the bird, wherever it was, and I safely collected. I took most but not all of them, listening to what felt right. On another day, after a profound dream involving a hummingbird, I alighted on some of the smallest blue-green iridescent feathers.
Part III
Not insignificantly, my purpose and I did eventually find each other, and I went back to school to become an expressive arts therapist. Also, my sweet Coco passed away in the spring of 2022. Creating a literal tapestry from the metaphor of Song Tapestry was a playful and beautiful process, one which required a delicate touch, and I took care not to rush it. I thought of my doggie Coco, and how she came to me in a dream and showed me the next doggie we would have (Javier- we have him now and his spirit/energy is exactly what I felt in my dream). I thought of the courage it took to leave a career and go back to school in my 40’s. I thought of Benjamin and my supportive ancestors cheering me on. Weaving meaning and memory and love into each stitch, I contemplated the way I move through the world, how I experience Magic and ‘the extraordinary in the ordinary’, and how even when I get scared and worried that I’m not going to be a good enough therapist, or I don’t know what I’m doing, that those thoughts are just my fears talking and they are not real, not really. And when I forget these things (because that’s quite likely) I will have a very sweet reminder hanging on my wall.
Future Use
In using the Song Tapestry™ with my clients, I see it offering myriad benefits, just as it did for me. It can be a way of creating or finding deeper meaning to an ongoing situation. It can open communication with the Self, or with ancestors, or as simply a channel for guidance. It also has the potential to be a fun way for activating and engaging with dreams, especially for those who say they don’t dream, or who want to remember their dreams more often.
References
Moss, R. (2020, Aug 14). Birth of the kairomancer. The Robert Moss Blog [Blog]. http://mossdreams.blogspot.com/2020/08/birth-of-kairomancer.html
Yeldell, S. A. (2023) Song tapestry: Weaving music and lyrics with the unconscious mind. (Powerpoint presentation slides, CIIS, EXA Approaches II).
