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Electric Dreams Volume 01 Issue 16
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| Electric Dreams |
| Volume 1 Issue 16 |
| 9 October 1994 |
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| Back issues and the FAQ available via anonymous FTP at |
| sppc1952.uwsp.edu. Mailing list info, subscriptions, and other |
| business: email cbeattie@worf.uwsp.edu |
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Table of Contents
Article Line
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Message Center 37
Dreams and Comments 51
Comments on "The Apparatus" - Richard 53
Comments on "The Material/Immaterial World" - Cathy 99
Comments on "A House Dream" - Cathy 125
Comments on "Room 448B" - Cathy 150
Comments on "Room 448B" - Bob 181
Comments on "Dry Lagoon" and "Man with a Gun" - Bob 249
Comments on "To the Shore" and "At the Mountain" 357
Bizarre Shopping Dream - Cathy 506
Hippie Jesus - Val 519
Man from the French Revolution - Val 528
The Messenger - Val 545
Manipulation - Val 562
Questions and Answers 592
Dream "Into the TV" - Ayvar 599
Dream "The Pit" - Cathy 627
Dream "Moon Mice" - Richard 644
Dream "The Kitchen Parade" - BJ 680
Ye Olde Disclaimer 722
_____________________________________________________________________
Message Center
1. I have moved the FTP site to a new computer. The new address is
sppc1952.uwsp.edu. Email me at cbeattie@worf.uwsp.edu if you need
instructions on how to get files via FTP.
2. Your current head editor of Electric Dreams has found herself to
be over her head in work again, so, if anyone would be willing to
take over all the editing responsibilities of the newsletter,
either temporarily or permanently, let me know at the usual
address (cbeattie@worf.uwsp.edu) and maybe we can work something
out.
_____________________________________________________________________
Dreams and Comments
=====NOTE BY RICHARD (RCWILK@AOL.COM)ON VAL'S DREAM: THE APPARATUS
(see VOLUME 1, ISSUE 13)=============================================
I've kept this dream in my mental pocket the past week or so
to see what would happen. I also question my writing futures [i.e.,
all of the commentator's future potential experiences as a writer? --
Ed.'s note] and asked of it what it meant for my Val. I first
pondered the images in a typically Jungian way, relentlessly herding
aspects of the dream to categories of subjective projections, but
then set that project aside for one of my own pet theories, that of
dream image as imaginal platform.
The question of what the dream might be saying about the
dream-ego's (Val's) future in writing changed to one of how the
dream was already a piece of writing and how this narrative might
already be trying to extend and unfold itself. Slap me, oh master,
for answering this question, but I can't resist. My technique was
quite simple, I just tried to re-enter the image as often as
possible, look around and watch what happened.
While in the library today the dream image entered me
unbeckoned. I was actually surrounded by a pile of books and reading
an essay on how we may be unhealthily sustaining an artificial
boundary between ourselves and machines, much in the same way we
damaged the environment by sustaining the artificial boundary between
ourselves as humans and other animals. We've done this with dreams
to, but that's another story.
Val's dream entered my awareness and I felt that my own
"Woman in the Library" could now connect with the technologically
capped penis (a connection more related to internet than to
individual machinery) and my writer, imagining writing on the net,
filled with inspiration. When that inspiration begins to dip, I
recall the standing naked before the police and find myself
recharged.
Thanks Val for your dream, my new writing apparatus. To all
others, I recommend reading Val's dream and Donna Haraway's A
Manifesto for Cyborgs: Science Technology and Socialist Feminism in
the 1980's, an essay in Linda J. Nicholson (ed) (1990).
_Feminism/Postmodernism_. New York: Routledge.
======Comments by Cathy on THE MATERIAL/IMMATERIAL WORLD by Chris====
The opening section of the dream in which the dreamer
succeeds in going through the glass despite first floating away,
seems to indicate confidence in the dreamer's ability to succeed if
she works hard. The dream illustrates the old work ethic, you get
what you work for.
The dreamer starts to lose mental control over the dream
world once inside the house. She is unable to carry out her mental
decision to explore. The box incident is again an effort to control
the dream. The result is partially successful. The dream seems to
suggest that even trying as hard as she is able, the dreamer cannot
make things come out the way she wants or expects them to. Her power
is strong, but not unlimited.
Chris asks us "Any ideas on why glass would act as a trigger
for me?" One reason might be the long connection of magic, mirrors,
and windows. The mirror and the window both divide yet do not
divide. They are nature's magic--the solid thing that isn't there,
the picture that seems so real but is only a reflection. Also in
literature, windows and mirrors have often been used to transport
people to magic worlds. Some past reading might trigger this
association.
======Comments by Cathy on A HOUSE DREAM BY BLUEJILL=================
In the opening section of the dream, all of the dreamer's
wishes come true as quickly as she makes them. She has the
satisfaction also of valuing that which other people cannot see the
value of. The delightful house could be a symbol of good
self-esteem. Others don't value her (the house), but she is happy
with herself, her mind, her body, all the hidden and complex aspects
of herself. The trip down inside the secret door suggests plumbing
into the secret workings of her self. The treasures she finds down
below suggest that she is happy with who she is at the deepest level.
The feeling that the treasures have been prepared for her by others
might mean that she feels that genetics and nurturing are partially
responsible and also that her relationship with her husband
contributes to her happiness and joy in life. An alternative reading
would be to see the house as her husband's personality, which she
explores, probes, and discovers is a rich treasure trove.
The concluding section in which the pool merges with an ocean
suggests the spiritual well inside of a person. The spiritual aspect
of the person, or the goodness inside, is connected to a larger or
more divine, or more universal pool of goodness. The feeling of joy
is the feeling of merging with a greater good.
======COMMENTS BY CATHY ON ROOM 448B BY JIM==========================
The opening of the dream suggests that the dream is about
sexual desire. The medieval-look disguises the sexual content of the
dream and makes it safe by having the setting so unworldly,
associated with another space and time. The tower is a penis symbol.
The missing class on erotic, the missing room, suggests that some
dimensions of sexuality in yourself seem inaccessible to you. You
are cut off from your full sexual potential or erotic expressionism.
The arrival of others suggests that you see this problem as
bigger than a personal one, perhaps a cultural inhibition against the
erotic is what is at the heart of the dream. You and the others wait
for the instructor, or cultural authorities to sanction your sexual
desires. You and others seem only to be able to search so far into
eroticism.
The downhill run associated with CP is a sexual release
symbol, an orgasm. You are afraid of letting your body be totally
out of control, giving into the physicality of orgasm but you do and
"make it."
The dragons and fire at the end of the dream may represent
some fear of cultural or moral punishment for indulgence in
eroticism.
Final Note: This is only a dream reading, no accusations or offense
is intended, and I hope no one is offended by the sexuality of the
commentary.
======COMMENTARY BY BOB ON DREAM ROOM 448B===========================
DREAM: "I was at this medieval-looking place. I found out that a
class, probably on erotica or something of that sort, was to be held
in classroom 448B. I went outside to go to it, and found that it was
in a very tall building, that looked like a castle tower or
something. I went to the area of the classroom, and I could not find
the classroom. Pretty soon, others arrived and none of us could find
it at first. However, I did see something that said 448, so we
walked down a corridor or courtyard and find a room called B. There
was another class in there."
INTERPRETATION: Another name for the medieval ages (or at least the
beginning of them) is the dark ages. So the dreamer is literally in
the dark looking for a class or education concerning erotica (or
sex). He is looking for a place to B or be, so that he can learn,
but he has to walk a corridor (straight and narrow?) and/or pass
through a "court"yard (is he being judged?) before he finds the place
to be.
However, the dreamer can't learn anything about erotical at this
place because something else is being taught. Therefore, the dreamer
will remain in the dark until it's his turn to learn.
DREAM: "We figured we would wait for the instructor to turn up. In
the meantime we waited in buildings in the area. I was at a place
where I wanted to walk down hill to get to somewhere, and a woman,
CP, was nearby. I told her I would go down the hard way. I went down
a steep embankment. I wound up flying partially the way down. This
made me very insecure, and I wondered if I would make it. But I
seemed to have made it."
INTERPRETATION: The dreamer in a sense is exploring outside the
classroom, possibly seeking experiential rather than book learning.
He tells the woman CP that he wants to "go down (a hill) the hard
way," which may be another way of saying that he wants to "fall hard"
(for a woman?) The experience of flying may allude to the act of sex
("getting off"), and the dream is concerned about "making it," which
may refer to a fear of not being able to perform should a sexual
opportunity present itself.
DREAM: "At another time I walked by a fenced off area, and found a
dark, fiery monster-filled area that could have been the abode of the
devil himself. It was about half the size of a football field, and
the fence was about the height of my head. I saw fires and dragons
in there. I decided I did not want to go in there, and I stayed
outside and watched in until I had to go to classes."
INTERPRETATION: If the dreamer enters the abode of the devil, (has a
sexual experience) will he be in over his head? The devil's abode is
apparently half a football field, in on a such a field "ball games"
are played. The dreamer decides against experiential knowledge of
sex, and decides to learn about it through book knowledge. The
dreamer's conflict may concern his spiritual beliefs versus his
sexuality.
As always, if the dreamer does not agree with the above
interpretation, it is wrong. Only the dreamer knows.
====== INTERPRETATION OF THE DRY LAGOON AND THE MAN WITH A GUN BY
BOB==================================================================
DREAM: "I went to a place that seemed remote to me, to see some
relatives; it seemed the place was in California. When I got there, I
went out to see what else was there. All of my relatives and I went
to a trip to a building. I was in this building with many artifacts.
Eventually I wound up in a chemistry lab with a group of scientists,
both male and female. We all went downstairs. There was a party going
on in the first floor or basement of this building. The atmosphere
was dark, and it looked like a bar, with dark wood decor. It was
somewhat larger than After Dark. It also had a cafeteria, which
started in the left portion of the building and was somewhat bright,
turns to the front and then turns left to an ice cream area and a
dark bar-like area with a lot of people, especially men there."
INTERPRETATION: The dreamer tries to remain "scientific" in the
basement (libido?) area. The reference to the west in this dream may
be of personal relevance, or it may refer to "the wild west." It
seems that on the top floor (which may refer to 'here and now'
consciousness) men and women are objectively (scientifically)
similar, but in the basement (libido?) there seems to be a dichotomy
between childlike innocence (ice cream area) and adult knowledge
("dark bar-like area with a lot of people, especially men there").
DREAM: "I was in a party of people where two of the women got
promotions to Captain, and I remembered as I went by the ice cream
bar that we remarked that the two women made the grade. Then we went
(the scientist group) went to a corridor to find things. We went down
further in the basement to what looked like a river in a jungle.
However, it was all dark, and there was no sky, so it was more likely
a cave that had access to the bar. The river was lighted, and it
seemed clear and sparking light bluish green, and inviting. There was
a lagoon at a bend of the river. We all took off our clothes and
hopped in. The water felt good on my body, but it also seemed
strange. It seemed to have a gelatinous crust on the top, that
dented like a black-hole demonstration when you jumped in it. The
water did not seem all that wet, although it did seem of reasonable
consistency. It seemed almost as if it were made of chemicals.
INTERPRETATION: The fact that women are in command or control
(promoted to Captain) may indicate the way the dreamer experiences
his relationships with women. The dreamer tries to remain
"scientific" in the dark cave-like atmosphere of the libido or
subconscious, but a cave is primitive and almost the exact opposite
of a "scientific" experience.
The dreamer takes his clothes off and jumps in the lagoon, but it is
not a natural environment for him, it seemed "made of chemicals."
The jump into the lagoon may be a sexual reference. If so, this may
indicate the dreamer does not feel uninhibited sex is "natural" for
him. The reference to a black-hole may also reflect a message from
the dream mind that there are some experiences form which there is
"no escape."
DREAM: "One of the men in my party got out and walked away. He was
medium height and stockily built with a beard, and he looked like a
big Western guy, although I don't know how a person can seem Western
if he were naked. He may have had a hat on. I told him to hop in
instead; it's rather unusual. He went back to the cafeteria and bar
instead."
INTERPRETATION: The hat may be protecting the dreamer's
superconsciousness [super-ego?--Ed.'s note] from his "wild west"
libido. At this point in the dream, the superconsciousness wins,
since the "big Western guy" opts not to jump into the saloon.
DREAM: "Then I was back in the cafeteria. I finished getting food in
line at the cafeteria, went by the cashier without paying since I
wanted ice cream too, and got some ice cream, with the intention of
going back and paying. I looked at the crowd of people down in the
bar area, and it seemed there was a mild chatter or ruckus going on.
Then a tall guy came out; he was about six foot eight or so and thin
and wearing a black suit. He held a pistol in his hand. I finished
getting my ice cream and then I walked back to the cashier. I saw
the guy come towards me. When I saw this, I dropped everything and
walked away from the bar area and outside the building. I quickly
turned right and looked back to find him walking towards me. I then
walked quickly outside the building from the back to the front. Then
I turned right again at the front. I looked back and saw him back
there still coming after me with the gun in his hand. I then went to
the entrance and went in the building again. I sat down in a dark
lounge in the front part of the building, like a lobby, with sofas
and stuffed chairs. There were some people around and I wanted to
figure out what to do and thought of asking people around what to do
about this man entering the building.
INTERPRETATION: The dreamer feels that if he "goes for" ice cream "
(i.e. childlike innocence) he can avoid "paying," at least for a
while. The tall guy wearing a black suit and with a pistol in his
hand (the epitome of the Western "bad guy") may be the dreamer's
adult sexuality. The dreamer runs, but he can't escape the man
"entering the building," i.e. he can't escape becoming a man). As
with the previous dream (Room 448B) the dreamer's conflict may
concern his spiritual beliefs versus his sexuality.
As always, if the dreamer disagrees with the above interpretation,
then it is wrong. Only the dreamer knows.
======COMMENTS: TO THE SHORE & AT THE MOUNTAIN from Mystery Guest====
Regarding the comments by Bob:
Yes, it is true that I was coming to terms at the end of a "close"
friendship. This person did not allow me, or, in better words, I did
not allow myself to be myself when he was around. At the time of the
dream TO THE SHORE it was too late to rebuild what was lost, but I
was trying.
It's hard to communicate with someone who does not communicate back.
It was very sad, but I learned some valuable lessons through it;
1)not to blame myself when things go bad out of my control, 2) people
who you admire never turn out to be who you idealize them to be, 3)
there is nothing better than self-love, without it you drown, 4) let
things go and they will cease to haunt you, 5) never lose yourself in
someone else's identity, 6) dream about the future, don't dream about
the past, 7) real friends care about each other and stay in touch--if
a "friend" is emotionally abusing you (through neglect, blaming,
taunting, gossiping, etc) that "friend" is not your friend, he's a
bully, 8) and NEVER, EVER GIVE TOO MUCH OF YOURSELF AWAY.
As you can see these dreams were very powerful to me. About the
silver and gold crabs...that's still sort of a mystery to me, too.
I've been taught by therapists that whenever you dream of anything
that is "silver and gold" it means that the image has great value.
Imagine if any of us ever happened across _real_ crabs made of silver
and gold! I also thought it might have something to do with the
astrological sign of Cancer, but that is not my sign, nor is it
BCP's. Perhaps it's a symbol of the emotional, turbulent aspects of
Cancer. Or that something is "Cancer-ous" about turbulent
emotions--a warning I should've paid attention to?
The symbol of the scales of Libra balancing the crab and the scorpion
actually reminded me of "balancing two enemies;" I do not like crabs
or scorpions, they give me heebee-jeebees. A crab to me is a symbol
of turbulent emotions. Scorpions to me, remind me of viciousness,
anger, and jealousy. Keeping these "enemies" in balance keeps me on
my feet. In that image I am not allowing myself to "sink" down to my
enemies' level. Again, it was a very powerful dream. Thank you for
your comments.
======COMMENTS ON TO THE SHORE & AT THE MOUNTAIN by Mystery Guest====
Regarding Jim's comments:
I liked what you had to say, but I must warn you, the brunt of my
comments on your comments mainly covers what you had to say about
Aphrodite--THE GODDESS OF LOVE and (yep, you guessed it) DEATH. Not
many people know about the true nature of this goddess. I was not
wrong about her. I was _not_ mythologically incorrect! Let me tell
you a bit about her and what she has to do with my dreams...
Mythologically first, Aphrodite was born from the foam of the sea
that had gathered about Uranus' severed genitals (if you know
anything about mythology, look this story up, it's, well,
interesting...). This image tells us that, when we suffer a wound to
our "virility" (by love), the vast array of emotions from the sea of
the collective unconscious is brought forth--humility, longing,
betrayal, sadness, and the desire to share our lives with another.
The emotional tidal waves and unpredictable patterns of the sea teach
us to attune ourselves to its rhythms (like I was trying to do
through my dream) and be aware of sharks in its depths, to appreciate
powers more primordial and more powerful than our own desires.
We meet "love" when we let go to the waters of life. I meet
Aphrodite just as I am "going to the shore" of the waters of life.
Through her, I come face to face with the wound of my heart.
As you can very well see, Aphrodite's nature is connected with the
wounds of love. In mythology, she commits adultery (her marriage to
Hephaestus wasn't that great) and she is associated with vengeance
(she turned Hippomenes into a lion when he neglected to thank her for
helping him win Atlanta). Her love is possessive and deadly. From
Aphrodite comes pleasure and pain, both good and bad; a strange
balance, sort of like love itself, yes? When Aphrodite had children,
she gave birth to Deimos (Fear), Phobos (Panic), and Harmonia
(Harmony).
In other stories, she's just the opposite. Aphrodite helps mortals
win their beloved (as in the case of Hippomenes and Atlanta) and even
the gods seek her aid (she lent Hera her magic belt/garter to win
Zeus). The point I'm trying to make her is that Aphrodite contains
the dark and light sides of love. She is called ANDROPHONOS "killer
of men" and MELAINIS "the black one;" but she is also called CHRUSE
"the golden one" or "heavenly love." Out of the pain and challenges
she sends us comes growth--as in the story of Eros and Psyche.
Aphrodite's appearance (like the one in my dream) is most often
described as radiant, shining, and ethereal. She _is_ the goddess of
Death, Rebirth, Sex (erotic love), Fertility, and Passion. From
these very things come life _and_ death. As we all know, sex is a
life-giving _and_ life-taking thing. When we fall in love, we
experience its "life-giving" qualities and, when wounded by a love,
we experience its "life-taking" qualities (metaphorically, that is;
an ending or break up is a deep change, like death, no?).
Aphrodite, goddess of love and death, joins us one to another--for
her realm is that of relationship and feeling. Often her consort is
the dove; the original symbol of love and harmony (peace) with a
laurel leaf (an offering of peace and love) in its mouth.
Aphrodite's ears are roses; symbols of passionate love whose color
represents her fertile, blood-red vulva. Sometimes she carries a
conch shell with her; symbol of her womb and a "trumpet" which she
uses to call humans to join with one another. Her magic belt/garter
represented the mysteries of woman and was a potent symbol of sacred
sexual power. In paintings and sculptures throughout history, she is
seen with her hand over her genitals-- this was not purposely placed
to "cover herself up modestly"--she points to her genitals to remind
humans that they came into the world via their mother's vulva and
where they will return--the earth; the Universal Mother's Great Womb.
In my dream, she was all these things and more.
I apologize if I did not make myself clear. As you can see, I am
_not_ wrong in stating that Aphrodite is both the goddess of love and
death. I am also _not_ wrong in stating that this is not just my
personal symbol. Study real ancient mythology and learn the great
mysteries our stuffy old schoolmasters didn't teach us. Patriarchal
society may have "dethroned" this powerful goddess by trivializing
her powers; I refuse to.
It seems I stood on a soap box here... Please don't feel that you
insulted me. It was interesting that you pointed this out. It gave
me the opportunity to tell people why this goddess is so important to
me and why she was such an important symbol in my dreams. Thanks for
your comments and for hearing an old pagan out. Perhaps we should do
a special "Questions and Answers" section on the mythological
aspects/symbols in our dreams? I'd be happy to comply.
--Mystery Guest
======BIZARRE SHOPPING DREAM BY CATHY================================
I was walking down a street with brick houses along one side, I don't
know about the other. Although it appeared to be a residential area,
it was a street of shops. I went into a fish store. I stood by a
freezer case of fish and watched two Chinese mobsters come in and
start harassing the owner. Then John-Claude Von Damm came up a
service escalator and the two Chinese men and he fought a high
kicking fight. I watched a while then left the store. I went down
the block a bit and then went in a fancy Victorian style dress shop.
I went up to the balcony level and tried on lots of gorgeous, bright
colored evening gowns.
======HIPPIE JESUS(9-9-94)BY VAL,THE DREAM SHAMAN====================
There was a blond hippie man in my bathroom. I asked him who he was
and he told me he was Jesus Christ. For some reason, I asked him why
and he just said that "because I wanna be, that's why--got a problem
with it?" I slammed the door on him when he tried to urinate on my
feet.
======MAN FROM THE FRENCH REVOLUTION (9-16-94) BY VAL, THE DREAM
SHAMAN===============================================================
I had this dream in the back of Chris' car while on the way to a
convention. I slept very light... As I drifted in between sleep and
reality, I thought I saw a man dressed in 1780s attire. He was very
handsome, but strange. He sat next to me in the car. He put a hand
on my left ankle and his touch was dull and cold. There was a red
line about his neck...as if someone had drew blood across his
jugular, but the blood was drying, not gushing out. He smiled at me
and said something I could not hear. Once he noticed I couldn't hear
anything he had said, he gave me this desperate look and disappeared.
It unnerved me a little. I felt as if this person was truly alive
and had wanted to communicate with me. I felt bad as I woke up, but
the feeling soon passed.
======THE MESSENGER (9-18-94) BY VAL, THE DREAM SHAMAN===============
I heard a man's voice calling my name. I dreamt I rose up from my
bed, but I was "stuck" and couldn't move once I realized I hadn't
gotten up from bed. My room was bathed in pinkish-red light and
there were faces coming through the walls--they were human faces, but
they were ink drawings of faces; like ones you'd see in a comic book.
The man's voice told me to "travel the golden road ...become the
gold...work on gold...you are gold...gold returning...an image
returning to you...be careful."
I felt frightened. Suddenly I was lifted up from my bed. It felt
like a huge invisible hand had picked me up. Then I woke up. I
almost fell out of bed.
======MANIPULATION 9-19-94 BY VAL, THE DREAM SHAMAN==================
This is an on-going symbol in my dreams lately. Another male
messenger. This time he's just a regular guy that I've never seen
before. He has dark hair tied up in a pony tail, wearing blue
colored John Lennon glasses, and a white T-shirt with the letter V on
it in gold. He teaches me how to move objects with my "mind"--all I
have to do is visualize an object moving and it does! Then he tells
me that I have to teach others this technique of "manipulation." He
also goes on to tell me, "don't be afraid to be dangerous...do what
you want when you want and where you want to do it...you have
limitations now but soon you won't have any...be careful."
Then I get a vision of comic books again...pages and pages flying all
around me and I can't focus on a single picture or word. I pass
through a heavy steel door and I'm in my kitchen. I'm expecting
something to come over but don't remember who it is. I can't wait to
show this "person" or "persons" my new "powers of manipulation." But
then I wake up and find out that this power I thought I had is unreal
and only a dream. I'm disappointed.
This "manipulation" dream--being able, then being unable to move
objects around with my mind--has occurred several times now
throughout the last two months.
What do ya think?
_____________________________________________________________________
Questions and Answers
(I forgot to send these out to our questions and answers editor this
week, sorry)
Responses to the question: What is the first dream you remember?
======INTO THE TV, BY AYVAR==========================================
Geez, the first dream?
It may not have been the first dream, but it is one of the
first lucid dreams I remember having.
I was about 10, and I was standing in the living room of my
house with my family and several relatives around the room.
Suddenly, this harlequin (bloke dressed in super colourful
clothes etc) appeared, and told us that we should all fly
into the TV to a wonderful world.
I knew he was lying, and tried to get them to stop. A few
of my relatives went in, and I knew I had to get them back.
At about that point, I knew I was dreaming. I took a few
steps back, and then launched myself at the TV screen. I
flew into it, and into a world of clashing colours and
swirls etc. I was forced out by something, pushed out of
the TV, and hit the opposite wall rather hard (yes, I did
feel how hard I hit!). After a few more attempts, and a few
more hits against the wall, I decided just to fly around the
room for a while.
The dream ended soon after that.
Ayvar--what *is* your name, child?
======THE PIT, BY CATHY==============================================
The first dream I remember having is a nightmare. Since we
moved from the house I had the dream in when I was seven, I
was probably six or so. I dreamed my family was at the
church we went to during my childhood. We stood on the back
porch of the church, and my father and brother got in a
huge fight. Then the dream became fantastic. There was a
narrow square pit in the floor of the porch that seemed
about a foot by a foot and a mile deep. My father threw my
brother into the pit. I looked down the pit, lined by arrow
stone columns, about an inch wide. There at the bottom was
a small black dot that I knew was my brother. I woke up
screaming.
Cathy
======MOON MICE, BY RICHARD WILKINSON================================
First Dream (3-4 yrs old) 1958-59
Moon Mice
I am dreaming that I can't sleep. I get up and find my
mother in the living-room. She is standing in the moonlight
beside the sleigh-bed. She is wearing her diaphanous
nightgown and matching robe. When I tell her I can't sleep
(or did I have to tell her?) she tells me the following
story.
Once upon a time there were these moon mice that came
to earth and lived in the sewer tunnels beneath the ground.
To see them from the front one might call them mice, but
from the back they looked like the back of a round wind-up
alarm clock. They moved on wheels instead of feet and rolled
around all day in the sewers. But at night they would come
out and gather around in a circle and wait to see the moon
(whom they worshipped).
But one night if was foggy and the when the mice came
out they were sad because they couldn't see the moon. And
so, on that night, with all the moon mice gathered in a
circle, the moon came down to them. And so the mice were
happy again.
End dream. Though I remember feeling delighted in the
dream by the mice and moon's descent, I woke up from the
dream in the middle of the night and was quite terrified. I
loved the dream so much as a child that I rehearsed it often
and kept it and three others with me like secret friends.
Richard Wilkerson
======THE KITCHEN PARADE, BY BJ HIORNS===============================
My first dream--well, the one I remember--hit me quite
a few times when I was about 3 or so. The only reason I
remember this one is because it recurred for about two
weeks.
I'm sitting at the formica table in our dining room,
looking into the living room with its brown shag carpeting.
To my left is a large archway leading into a short hall.
Turning right down the hall leads to the kitchen; left goes
upstairs. This is how my house was really laid out.
I sit in a high folding chair (not a high chair, but
you know) and I've got a flyswatter. I hear something in
the hall and look toward the archway. To my three-year-old
horror, I see various kitchen appliances (the big ones)
marching from the kitchen toward the upstairs. All I can do
is watch as they parade past the arch. The refrigerator
marches past, doors banging open and shut--I can see all the
food inside. The kitchen sink, complete with a section of
countertop, follows behind the fridge. It knows I'm
watching and the faucet starts running.
I watch, unable to make a sound or leave the chair.
Big hunks of the kitchen have taken life and march back and
forth past the archway; all of them know I can see them and
that I'm helpless. I start smashing the flyswatter against
the table (a real-life pasttime of mine then) with all my
strength, trying to get someone's attention, but I'm alone
in the house. The fifth time the swatter hits the tabletop,
the dark brown formica fades to a tannish colour and thins
out, splitting into jigsaw puzzle pieces, some of which fall
through to the floor.
There was more, but that's all that survived the past
20 years. It always terrified me, and I remember talking
about it to my mother, who assured me it was just a bad
dream and I'll always wake up.
BJH
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