Three figures were swaying in the shelter of a tree, a willow perhaps, whose young leaves suggested springtime. Sunlight filtered through them upon the figures, girls in young maturity recalling those of Botticelli's Primavera except that these were so alike as to seem triplets. They were blonde and dressed in green floating material that left their ankles bare.

Under the tree a shallow pool spread out as if a well had overflowed and wetted the earth to a rich brown. The bare feet of the nymphs seemed to hover above the water surface or at least not to enter it deeply enough to become muddy. I felt that it was or had been a healing well and that the nymphs were its tutelaries [guardian spirits].

The scene had a Celtic atmosphere, but I do not know where it was situated. At the time of this visionary dream (early 1970s?) I had not heard of the healing well located in Finistère described by Hilary Llewellyn Williams as 'Notre Dame des Trois Fontaines'. She mentions three wells close together with different (fairly late) dedications, but only one well to Our Lady survives. I wonder what's happened to the others.

Could they have spilt over to become one but retained their three guardian spirits?

In the same article (Wood and Water, vol. 2, no. 5) Hilary tells of the number three associated with another holy well, that of the three-breasted Sainte Guen. She suggests that the Trois Fontaines well hints at 'the three aspects of the Great Goddess', presumably nymph, mother and crone.

But my dream vision concerns something other, since all three figures were nymphs. Were they the three children of Sainte Guen, each suckled by a separate breast? Or are they some beings from Tír na nÓg, untouched by the human time that influences mythology?

SOURCE: Medea's Charms: Selected Shorter Writings of Ithell Colquhoun, 2019 (Richard Shillitoe, ed.) p. 340. TITLE: Colquhoun just called this "A Dream"; I renamed to aid searches.

TWO NOTES

One source Colquhoun knew well, but it's so obvious she didn't bother to mention it: the Three of Cups, as drawn by Pamela Coleman Smith. Three young women with sources of water. The threes of Swords, Wands and Pentacles all have lonely figures; only Cups has three friends united. Three in one.

Note what Colquhoun doesn't do here: recall people met or seen that day, or personal associations to the trio, or her feelings; she senses it's a healing well, but doesn't bring up any healing she might need (or a friend or client, either). I find this an odd way to treat dreams, but with Colquhoun, it's a constant. These figures aren't symbols; they're autonomous beings. They mean... themselves.

Yet I still suspect the dream did have a personal message Colquhoun chose not to hear--friendship! A sisterless witch needs a coven; is hardly a witch at all. But then, I was blessed with the visions (weekly televisions) of friendship lessons on My Little Pony. "Friendship is Magic", Ithell! But that's just me.

Colquhoun's impersonality is firm--more archetypal and Jungian than Jung himself, who could get quite confessional, and whose dry humor spared no one (including him).

Her astringency puts me off, but makes me stop and think, too. What if she's right? Are our dreams really always about wonderful us?

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