I am in favor of circumambulation. This is quite different from going around in circles in the sense of mindless or frustrating repetition. It’s a matter of looking at a central issue or symbol from many different angles. It’s circling in order to home in. Or even to find home, as a dream instructed me last night.

The dream presented three isomorphic scenes. I gave it the title

I have found the rond-point of the old Roman city of Nîmes. Rond-point is the French term for a traffic circle or roundabout, but this is more than a part of the road system. It is the point where everything comes together. Here there is no confusion. From here, the patterns of life and of history can be read clearly.

The discovery is repeated in other cities. The scene shifts to London, and again I am at a Round Point, a central circle. Here the archives are opened. Priceless documents from the earliest times and from imperial history float upwards to become part of an electronic cloud of information available to the world.

In a third location, no longer in Europe, young people gather at a third Round Point, bringing offerings of lilacs. The petals rise on a gentle breeze and thousands of butterflies dance above their heads.

I wake feeling strong and centered.

Reality check: I visited Roman sites in Nîmes during my recent travels in southern France. Before that I was in London for a week. I’m not sure of the third locale; it may be in Asia.

You see rond-points of varying sizes everywhere in France. 

Mulling this, I become fascinated by how much more may be going on in this dream. For example, if you are driving in a traffic circle or roundabout in a country where people drive on the right (as in France or the US) you go counter-clockwise. In a country where people drive on the left (like the UK or Australia) you go clockwise.

In a roundabout, you can reverse direction (in effect, do a U-turn) without departing from the flow of traffic.

Circumambulation of sacred sites is important in many religious and spiritual traditions. Circumambulation of temples is a basic practice in Hinduism. A Catholic priest may circle around the altar, cleansing with incense from a thurible. Muslims process around the Kaaba in Mecca.  I move in a circle when I clear sacred space for a workshop, and when I call in the powers of the cardinal directions to support and protect our work.

Jung came to believe that personal transformation and integration (“individuation”) is accomplished by the circumabulation of the Self, the center of the psyche that is mysterious to the ordinary ego. On the roads of life, our connection with the center of the Self may be obscured by the lesser self’s excessive identification with the passing roles we play in the outer world. Dreams help to restore our inner compass.

In approaching the meaning of symbols, in dreams and in the outer world, Jung’s process was again one of circumambulation. He turned to art to pursue his quest for the center by painting mandalas.

Viewed from above, a rond-point can look a lot like a mandala.

Dreams require action. My action plan is to try to seek the center – the Round Point – in all the revolutions of my work and my life.