Our dreams invite us to consider our associations to the word and gesture of sacrifice when we are invited or forced to make offerings we had not considered in waking life.  What kinds of situations are our dreams forcing us to put up with and tolerate?  Often the most difficult aspect to tolerate in our dreams is our own response to what is occurring.  Our reactions to the offerings we are expected to make in our dreams point to our attitudes and what gets in the way of our advancement.

If we are getting too cocky, arrogant, self-righteous, even in the most politically correct and altruistic manner, dreammaker is sure to intervene.  Often in our dreams, we are forced to sit back and watch the fruit of our efforts disappear or be destroyed, to witness our clear directions or requests be ignored, to accept theft, violation, devastation, and death.  Our dreams seldom ask permission or offer a considerate invitation to sacrifice, yet sometimes we are given a choice.  Perhaps we are shown the absurdity or obsoleteness of, or the contradiction in, our loyalties.  Maybe the self-betrayal required in these agreements is bluntly revealed.  Regardless of dreammaker’s tactfulness or lack thereof, we are being summoned to surrender, sacrifice, make an offering, and let go.

Generally, when we think of sacrifice, we may be quick to think of suffering, of loss, of perpetuating lack.  We may hear those sayings that we must sacrifice for what we believe in, for what we want, for love, for happiness, for others.  We may associate it with the motto, no pain, no gain.  Considering what we may be expected to give up or live without, we may deeply sense our unwillingness to accept or put ourselves through any of that.

The word sacrifice inherently implies to make sacred, and our dreams are asking, can we perceive and approach our surrender, our offering, as sacred?  To make sacred is to uphold, to revere, to regard as pure, essential, deserving of respect, reverence, and devotion.  It is impeccability, discipline, dedication.  It comprises that which is most worthy. The benediction in the unfinished plot of these kinds of dreams is in our choiceless openness to an inevitably unexpected outcome.

Our wishes, even when they are right for us, may not be in alignment with a greater need that we are unable to perceive.  It is easier for us to be confronted with this reality in dreamtime than it is in waking life.  Whether we think we are in control of events and outcomes in waking life, this is less so in our dreams.

But how is meaningful sacrifice different than giving up what we want for a—hopefully—greater gain in the future?  The curious detail in all of this is in the unperceived attachment we often have to what is familiar, along with its unnecessary pains and discomforts.  A meaningful sacrifice debunks this old paradigm that we must suffer to have what we want and need, that in order to gain, we must give up something of value to us, because what has been of value has been the familiar rather than what we are truly worthy and desirous of.

And so, if we are feeling denied of something in our dreams, this is an indication that our tendency toward the familiar needs to come to an end so greater fulfillment can enter our waking life.

Something else to consider is where our initial attachment is coming from, ego or soul? Ego responds to material seductions, to conceptual notions of control and power, to limited ideas and ideals of who we are and who we should be, whereas soul—for our purposes here, and for lack of a better term—is aligned with our true essence and our individual evolution for the benefit of the collective.  Our dreams are certainly and most unapologetically unsupportive of ego interest, and in service of our greatest health and wholeness for the benefit of all.

Some would argue that this denial of what we think we want and need is a form of protection delivered by that which knows more deeply within us.  Usually we—through the caring service of our ego—are unable to recognize and own our true worth and intrinsic value, and we are unable to claim the magnitude of what we legitimately deserve.  And so, dreammaker summons us or forces us to offer up that which we believe is right for and true in us, so we can make way for what will more deeply and essentially fulfill and complete us.

Meaningful sacrifice does not come without a request to deepen our faith, strengthen our trust, and own our courage.  It is also a decided request to surrender our attachments and any illusion we hold on to that keeps us believing we are in control and we know what is best.

The higher grace of our intuition, our impulse, our deeper knowing, as guided by the greater unconscious, is the source of our greatest empowerment and our most joyfully fulfilling provision.