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Electric Dreams Volume 01 Issue 14
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| Electric Dreams |
| Volume 1 Issue 14 |
| 11 September 1994 |
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| Questions or contributions should be sent to |
| cbeattie@worf.uwsp.edu. Back issues and the official FAQ are |
| available via ftp at sppc51.uwsp.edu. |
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Dedicated to sharing and exploring dreams.
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Table of Contents
Article Line
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Message Center 26
Dreams and Comments 65
1770's Movie Dream, Cathy 67
Commentary, Marilyn 90
Commentary, Bob 117
Commentary on Mystery Guest's Dream, Bob 180
Tornados Dream Commentary, Cathy 411
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Message Center
Hello again,
It has been another quiet week here, as far as submissions goes.
Remember to send something in if you can.
Just a few notes.
1. I've been having problems with my new email program on my home
computer, so at least one dream is on hold until next issue. I've
found a way to work around the problem, so hopefully this won't
happen again.
2. Still haven't received the official registered version of my ftp
software, so there will still be annoying messages about the site
not being registered, if you should happen to visit.
3. I've finished the FAQ. If anyone would like to try downloading it
and letting me know if it looks alright, I would appreciate it.
4. I know I keep changing which email address to send submissions to,
but I've finally decided I prefer getting mail at the worf address.
The reason for this is, I can reach that one from home, which I
can't do with the uwspmail address.
5. I had a nutty idea, and would like to know what people think about
it. Now that we have an ftp site, perhaps we could store short
descritions of mailing list members. These descriptions could be
used to help people try to get more out of your dreams when they
comment on them. What do you think? I'll reprint any responses
I get so everyone can see what is going on.
6. Normally, we would have sections in the newsletter for articles
and for questions and answers. We didn't get any contributions
that fall into these categories, so the sections have been removed
from this issue. Hopefully they will be back in issue 15.
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Dreams and Comments
======1770's MOVIE DREAM by Cathy====================================
I dreamed I was directing a movie set in the 1770s. It
opened with a candle-lit wedding scene. I didn't see much except the
alter, candles, and the bride, who had a foot of powdered grey hair
piled up on her head and was young, pretty, and petite.
Then the movie cut to a garden scene in bright sunlight. The
box hedges of the formal garden were very green and well clipped.
The heroine's husband was ill, and one of his friends was kissing her
hand in the garden and trying to establish a more intimate
relationship. I had the camera on a close-up of the hand kissing.
Then the movie cut to another night scene. The heroine was
in a 2nd floor room in a tower in a wild part of the garden. Some
candles were the only light, and she lay naked on a rough brown,
wide-planked wood floor. A tall, dark, ruffian wanted by the law was
pouring some gold liquid on her and licking it off. I felt like I
was hovering with a camera lens in the air above the couple. I was
aware that they had met years ago, and now he was back to try to
seduce her into an adulterous affair. Somehow (though now I can see
it) it seemed rather nice that he had waited until she was married
and had not raped her. Then I woke up.
======Commentary by Marilyn Dee Brown on 1770's MOVIE DREAM by
Cathy================================================================
Well, I read your dream and had two immediate reactions: I'm sure
that one could claim it is a dream of a prior life, but I see it more
as pure classical romantic fantasy.
You are directing the dream in two ways: first, as the dreamer;
second, as the camera person. You set the stage; you choose the
point of view; you prevent what looks like an inevitable rape and
turn the situation
instead into something "rather nice". It does have the atmosphere,
still,of a romance novel; and so the questions that I guess you could
ask yourself about this dream might be,
1. Am I bored and wanting some kind of romantic adventure?
2. Am I not bored but still wanting some kind of romantic adventure?
3. What in me corresponds to the beautiful young woman?
4. What in me corresponds to the dark ruffian, the outlaw?
5. Who or what is the sick husband?
6. What is the nature of the tower?
7. What elements within yourself do you think were merging?
8. Why were you outside, looking on?
It's great grist for the Jungian mill!
======DREAM COMMENTARY BY BOB ON 1770'S MOVIE DREAM BY
CATHY=========
The dream begins with dreamer is directing a historic movie (the
dream mind is making the conflict which is the genesis of the dream
safe to approach; i.e. as the director/camera person the dreamer is
both in control and an observer). Powdered hair was a sign of
nobility, so possibly the dreamer perceives the bride as being
"noble." Since it is night, it is late, and it's hard for the
dreamer to see what is happening.
The activity in the garden scene occurs in bright sunlight. Whatever
goes on in bright sunlight is exposed. Possibly for this reason the
dream mind creates a scene of limited risk; i.e. the "hedging" is
well-controlled and the risk of adultery is also well in hand.
The dream mind now places the heroine/wife in both an elevated and
wilder environment. Again it is dark with only candlelight
available. The heroine/wife is vulnerable (naked). She can't stop
the erotic foreplay of the "outlaw" ruffian. The dreamer is looking
down (morally judgment?) on what is occurring. The actions of the
outlaw could be worse; he wants the heroine/wife to want sex with
him, and he had waited for her to marry another (lost her
virginity/purity?) rather than just forcing her to submit.
It appears that the conflict in the dream deals with some aspect of
adultery. The "bride" is noble (pure?"), and in the
bride/heroine/wife's first encounter with an adulterous suitor it is
clear what is going on, and she is well in control of the situation.
The second encounter is darker, more erotic, and bride/heroine/wife
is more vulnerable. Yet, there are no "bad guys" in this dream. The
outlaw is giving her the opportunity to respond voluntarily, (she
still has choices) and he avoided forcing her to submit prior to her
marriage. Even the husband is not a "bad guy." Apparently the only
problem in the dream with the heroine's marriage relationship is that
the husband is sick.
The dream may reflect the dreamer's desire to become intimate with
someone which consciously she cannot justify. The dream mind
disguises the conflict by placing the dreamer in a passive observer
role. The dream mind seems to be telling the dreamer that she is in
touch with part of the conflict (i.e. her desire to become intimate
with someone who is not her husband) and she controls it. The other
part, possibly relating to someone in her past, the dreamer may not
want to control, but neither does she want to be responsible for not
controlling it. Hence, she is seduced by someone "beyond the law"
(moral law?"). The seduction protects her morality (i.e. she is not
to blame because she is vulnerable). Since the outlaw could have
raped her previously and did not, he in some sense is also a moral
person. The husband is sick so he didn't do anything "wrong" to
cause the seduction to occur. The dream makes the dreamer's desire
for an adulterous affair acceptable, because neither she nor anyone
else in the dream is "acting" immorally. There are mitigating
circumstance, i.e., circumstances which mitigate guilt.
As always, if the dreamer disagrees with the above interpretation,
then it is wrong. Only the dreamer knows.
======DREAM COMMENTARY BY BOB ON MYSTERY GUEST'S DREAMS, ISSUE
13===================================================================
It would appear that both of the related dreams are part of a "grief"
process; i.e., the dreamer is trying to come to terms with the loss
of a relationship -- and she is -- but slowly.
TO THE SHORE 8-15-93
DREAM: "I'm feeling anxious, like someone may reach out and grab me
at any moment. For several nights now, in my dreams I've been
running away from someone/ something. Tonight I turned around to see
who it was... It was a friend of mine, BCP. I was going to sit down
(I was tired after all that running away from him) and decided to let
him come to me. First, he prevented me from sitting down in what he
deemed "his" place. He walked up to me to talk, but I felt afraid
and tried to excuse myself. He tugged me gently back. "I'm in your
place," he said, "don't make me run out and get you."
COMMENTARY: The beginning of the dream appears to set out the
dynamics of the conflict. When she is with BCP the dreamer literally
doesn't have a place or space of her own.. Either she is in BCP's
place, or he is usurping hers. There also seems to be a hint that
the dreamer still clings to a fantasy about the relationship; i.e.,
that BCP will pull her back to him; i.e. 'run out and get' her.
DREAM: "Then, suddenly, there was a rush of cold air and I'm standing
before a beach at night. The moon is full and its light makes the
sand look like salt. I'm dressed completely in white. I see a
figure far away from me. He is also in white and he is pacing the
edge of the surf. I knew this man was waiting for me to come to him,
but I didn't want to go. I turned away feeling fear and shame."
COMMENTARY: It's nighttime, which may indicate that it's very late
(for the relationship) The rush of cold air might be akin to the
breath of reality regarding the relationship. The color white can
have many connotations, but, because it is linked to the image of
salt, it appears that the beach is barren, nothing can grow there.
The white worn by the dreamer and the man may also indicate that the
chances for the relationship are barren. BCP is not named as the
man; possibly that may be because he has become a "stranger". The
dreamer is blaming herself for the distance between them. The
stranger wants to come to her, but she is the one doing the
rejecting, and she feels fear and shame. It appears the dreamer is
taking all the guilt or blame for the dissolution of the relationship
upon herself.
DREAM: "Next I confronted a female being made entirely of smoke or
she could've been made of wintery breath (you know, how breath looks
like when in the cold?) drifted around me. She was soft, like many
yards of chiffon scarves flowing. I felt she was Aphrodite, Goddess
of Love and Death, born from ocean foam. "Go to him," she said,
repeating siren-like, "Go to him...go...to the one...go to the
shore..." "But I don't know if I should...," I pleaded, truly afraid
now. But then she pushed me with her voice; "All is well, all will be
well, go... and dare to know love. Go...to the shore..."
COMMENTARY: The dreamer is of two minds about the relationship, and
here we see both of them debating with each other. Judging by
Aphrodite's appearance. she (love) can assume any guise she/it wants.
To 'shore up' also means to support or reinforce, so possibly the
dream mind is telling the dreamer the relationship doesn't have to
fall into ruins.
DREAM: Slowly, I walked to the shore. Beside me I saw two silver and
gold crabs waddle into the ocean with their claws entwined. It was
beautiful. Then I confronted the figure at the shore. It was BCP.
"Do you want to sink or swim?" He asked. I looked away. Seemed like
a trick question. I stared at the sea and thought about it. "Sink or
swim?" I asked, "you're doing this to test me. If I say sink, I
could drown and get in over my head so deep, I'd be crushed by the
weight of the water. There would be no way for me to breathe. If I
say swim, that will mean only skimming over the water--you
know--dancing on the surface of things. It's superficial and you can
get tired of swimming after awhile and, again, there is the danger of
drowning."
COMMENTARY: The image of the crabs is a little confusing. In the
following dream she describes an image of a crab and a scorpion
balancing each other on the scales of Libra. It may be that the
dreamer sees herself as a crab (her zodiac sign of Cancer?) and BCP
as a scorpion. It may be then that the symbol of two silver and gold
crabs together represents the conviction that if BCP were more like
the dreamer, the relationship would be beautiful and harmonious.
The concern of the dreamer toward the viability of the relationship
is also evident again. It appears the dream mind is warning that the
relationship can suffocate it becomes too 'heavy', or it can become
trite if it degenerates to where the dreamer and BCP try to get along
at the level of communication least likely to cause dissension.
DREAM: I looked back up into his eyes. His eyes were ice, but now
they were understanding. I was no longer afraid. He smiled. I told
him, "No, I do not want to sink or swim. I'd rather be on my two
feet, solid, on the ground, and standing beside you as your equal.
Here on land, the sea cannot carry me away from you and neither of us
will drown. I want nothing more than to stand here with you where I
can look you in the eye and see myself reflected." He took my hand
and answered; "That's all I need to hear...that's all I ever needed
to hear..." Then I woke up and felt a strange release.
COMMENTARY: The dreamer defines what it is she wants from the
relationship; i.e., standing beside BCP as his "equal.' She has to
be of importance in his 'eyes.' The strange release the dreamer has
may be because she has set the bottom line of what she wants/requires
/demands in a relationship. BCP's response may, however, again
appears to be wish fulfillment at the dream level.
AT THE MOUNTAIN 8-15-94
DREAM: "I've never seen the ocean (cept in photographs and in dreams)
but this night I saw it in his eyes--a wintery water I'm hungering to
banish. I'm walking on this water and it is the ocean. I want to
swim and sink at the same time and I am alone. There are times when
I feel no breath, all I feel is water. I start to go down and then,
matter-of-factly, I realize I could be drowning. And I'm struggling
against the waves that are carrying me away from land. I feel
helpless, yet I am not afraid. This is only natural. I do not blame
the sea, but I _do_ blame the storm and there's nothing I can do to
stop it, I'm riding it out...
COMMENTARY: As the dream begins the dreamer seems to have given up
hope about being able to decide where she is going to go. She is at
the mercy of the (emotional?) waves. She cannot control where they
are taking her.
DREAM: I'm saved by a light I see in the distance. It takes me a
long time to reach it, and when I do, I notice that it's an old ship.
I grab a hold of a rotting rope hanging from its side and climb
aboard. I smell decayed fish. Then I smell wet, rubbery cadaver
flesh. The ship is full of dead people. I go up to the top deck and
find the captain who is dead, like the rest, at the wheel. The corpse
is strangely beautiful in his dressy white and gold trimmed uniform.
I pry his decayed, powdery fingers from the helm and drive the "dead
ship" back to the shore. Only thing is, I can't stop it. The ship
moves too fast. I bring it to a sudden stop when I fling an anchor
at the beach. When the anchor hits land, the land bleeds a
brilliant, unnatural red--like neon--an interesting, yet sharp
contrast against the white-blue night.
COMMENTARY: The dreamer appears to have rediscovered her 'dead'
relationship. It stinks, the structure is rotten, and the man in
charge is beautifully dressed but dead. Nevertheless, the dreamers
tries to 'drive the dead ship back to the shore.' Possibly because
she has previously defined land as a stronghold for the relationship;
'Here on land, the sea cannot carry me away from you and neither of
us will drown.'
DREAM: "I am on land now. The ship disappears behind me. I almost
start to look for where it went, but then I hear a man's voice crying
out. I look for the voice. He's at the heart of the storm, calling
out for help, and for me. I know who it is and I feel sad. I'm too
far away from BCP to help him and I know that helping him would mean
giving up the safety of land. I turn away, strong and confident, yet
haunted by his voice."
COMMENTARY: At this point the dreamer is beginning to come to
acceptance that the relationship is dead or at least moribund. She
has to take care of herself. 'I'm too far away from BCP to help him
and I know that helping him would mean giving up the safety of land.'
DREAM: "I go deeper into land. I come to a jagged mountain and I
climb it. At the peak of the mountain is the Moon, but there is no
light coming out of it. Like a light bulb, it has to be plugged in.
I take the silver cord of the Moon and plug it into the mountain. It
rises up into the sky and the storm ends. I catch the last lightning
streak from the sky and I fashion it into a huge broadsword. I swing
the sword in a clockwise motion and a force shield (like a quartz
crystal ball) spreads around me, protecting me and the land. The
ocean beats upon the shield but no water can crest onto the shore.
In the distance, I still see BCP drowning...the waves push him
against the shield but he does not break through. Then I notice that
there's a door in the shield. There's a golden key around drowning
BCP's neck. He could use that key, but he doesn't seem to know that
it is there. I feel an urge to help him now.'
COMMENTARY: The dreamer cannot give totally up yet on the
relationship. As with her assuming command of a dead, rotting ship
and trying to sail it to land (i.e. giving herself the power to
resurrect the dead relationship), her dream mind now conjures up
images that again make her powerful, invincible, and capable of
bringing BCP 'in from the cold' so to speak.
DREAM: "But then a giant dove appears beside me. I smell roses.
It's Aphrodite... "You can't help him," she says, "don't try to help
him...he has to find his own way through...you've reached him
once...that is all you needed to do...now he is gone remember: there
is no time and that gives you nothing but time to know that just
because someone says and does pretty things, that doesn't necessarily
mean that they're pretty...let yourself be you now...be glad you are
not like him..." And she gave me her wings. I was an amazon angel at
the mountain, guarding my personal Eden. The guardian alone. Yet,
what a treasure I protect! But I wonder why...I'm happy and powerful
yet mournful and powerless at the same time. I ache for the balance
of the scales. The constellation of Libra is in the stars--a golden
crab is on the right scale, a rusty scorpion in the other. I'm
confused... But then there's clarity. The stars clear away into
thousands of doves forming a circle about my head. I look down and
realize I am a gigantic statue of Lady Justice, yet I am not
blind-folded. I can see. The drowning man still haunts me though.
Even though he is long gone at the bottom of the sea, I keep hearing
his cries. With waking, I realize somehow I can rest my conscience.
COMMENTARY: As the dream ends, it appears the dreamer is finding
peace (the doves) and self-love (Aphrodite). The dreamer has become
Lady Justice; i.e., the quintessential symbol of balance, only with
her eyes wide open.
As always, if the dreamer disagrees with the above interpretation, it
is wrong. Only the dreamer knows.
======COMMENTARY BY CATHY ON TORNADOES BY ROBOJAY, ISSUE
12==========
This dream seems to be a resolved anxiety dream. The dreamer is
fleeing from the forces of nature. Also wounded by nature is a
figure of great evil. The dreamer wonders why bother to save an evil
figure? The dreamer may be concerned that too many human resources
are spent trying to save evil people. Perhaps some personal concern
over the current prison system or some contemporary crime issue?
Then the dreamer recalls that Darth Vader did do something good, i.e.
he reformed. The dreamer is reassured that the rescue is worth it
after all. The dream also touches on the larger issue of why natural
disasters hit both the good and the bad, an issue however, that the
dream doesn't not really confront as Darth Vadar is seen as having
ultimately done some good.
_____________________________________________________________________
Electric Dreams is an independant email publication, and is not
affiliated with any other organization.
