Impenetrable walls

One entrance

Locked by a key

Names, dates, faces

Remedies, examples, curiosities

Embroidered napkin, hole in the pocket, lock of hair

Pretty words, strange faces, sunset at the lake

exposed wrists, cold room, red nose

Do not forget!

I often dream of a huge castle. Full of cold, dark, winding corridors. All the windows are covered with thick curtains. The furniture, covered with sheets, haunts with its deformed silhouettes.

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I hear the ticking of an old clock, rushes me. I check each room. In one of them I find a large wooden chest. It's locked with a big, heavy padlock. I start looking for the key. I look in drawers, cupboards, under beds. The clock is ticking more loudly. The corridors are getting longer, the ceilings lower. I look into every nook and cranny. In one of the small dark rooms, in a drawer of a beautiful baroque desk, I find a brass, large key. I return to the chest - try to open the lock – with no success. I continue searching. The clock is ticking faster now. I find another key in the kitchen, in the tea tin. I run to see if this one might fit. Another fiasco.

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I decide to find as many keys as possible and then try them all at once so as not to waste time going back to the chest each time. I am very through, but also in a big hurry. The clock ticks very distinctly, I can hear it behind me almost all the time. I keep looking back. I am alone. I find several different keys. Small and large, beautifully carved and just plain. I return to the chest. I try each one and at the last one I can hear the lock letting go and...

...I wake up, of course.

Forgive me, I know how frustrating this is. Stories interrupted in the middle can drive anyone mad. This dream repeats itself very often. I'm not always looking for keys. Sometimes I'm looking for puzzles, sometimes I'm collecting children's toys, ribbons, matches. I always have a strong feeling that someone is watching me, and that if I don't pass this test.... something terrible will happen. This feeling of danger stays with me sometimes even after I have woken up. Then I feel uncomfortable all day, it is difficult to concentrate on anything, I am out of rhythm. I walk around the house purposelessly.

In order to help me tame this dream a bit and by the way improve my terrible memory - a few years ago I started to use the space from this dream to build my 'memory palace'.

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Here short definition source

A Memory Palace

is an imaginary location in your mind where you can store mnemonic images. The most common type of memory palace involves making a journey through a place you know well, like a building or town. Along that journey there are specific locations that you always visit in the same order. The location are called loci, which is Latin for locations. (singular: locus, plural: loci )

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It is an old technique that works well for remembering large amounts of information. It doesn't matter if it is historical events, mathematical rules or a recipe for cheesecake.

The memory palace can work for anyone if it is properly adapted to our needs. When I first learned this technique, I had my family home in mind, where I knew every nook and cranny, every shelf, the contents of every cupboard. Sometimes I would make up stories or rhymes to make it even easier to recall the information. After a while, my 'memory house' started to feel like a junkyard.

Sometimes it is nice to revisit a poem we learnt as kid, or causally recall facts from the battle of the Somme.

But space began to run out. Paradoxically, I was helped by my night terrors, which have accompanied me almost since I can remember.
The big castle I visit in my dreams has enough space to store not only historical facts, song lyrics or birthdays, but also passwords, codes and numbers to remember in case of trouble.

The memory palace requires a lot of work, and is a very dreary technique to begin with - but it is really worth a try. Start with a small space, like a tree house :)

About drawing

I started by sketching the figure with a soft 4B pencil. I wanted the figure to be very proud, and full of distance from the viewer. I did not have a ready-made image in mind. For some reason I couldn't get the image of St Patrick's Cathedral in NY out of my head. I was looking at pictures of gothic and neo-gothic cathedrals, and although my favourite is Koln Cathedral (Germany), I chose St Patrick's church, I really like the front of it, with the strong divisions and the rosette in the middle.

I thought to myself that the Sleeping Kingdom needs a guide, a guardian perhaps even. Someone who watches over and observes those in deep sleep.

I continued with my favourite black pen. I have used black acrylic ink to do solid black background and white paint to add a little bit of light to it.

As always – excited to see your comments!

Have a good week!
Yours,
Strega Azure

I have used pencils 4B and 2B, black 'no brand' black pen(Tesco's), black acrylic ink, white acrylic paint, and solvent.

Drawing & pics are my authorship if not stated otherwise, all rights reserved @strega.azure ©