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Electric Dreams Volume 04 Issue 10
KING RICHARD III O Ratcliff, I have dream'd a fearful dream!
What thinkest thou, will our friends prove all true?
RATCLIFF No doubt, my lord.
KING RICHARD III O Ratcliff, I fear, I fear,--
RATCLIFF Nay, good my lord, be not afraid of shadows.
KING RICHARD III By the apostle Paul, shadows to-night
Have struck more terror to the soul of Richard
Than can the substance of ten thousand soldiers
Armed in proof, and led by shallow Richmond.
Electric Dreams Electric Dreams Electric Dreams Electric Dreams
Electric Dreams Electric Dreams Electric Dreams Electric Dreams
Volume 4 Issue 10
Electric Dreams Electric Dreams Electric Dreams Electric Dreams
Electric Dreams Electric Dreams Electric Dreams Electric Dreams
October-November 1997
Electric Dreams Electric Dreams Electric Dreams Electric Dreams
Electric Dreams Electric Dreams Electric Dreams Electric Dreams
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E L E C T R I C D R E A M S
Volume 4 Issue #10
24 October 1997
ISSN# 1089 4284
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Electric Dreams - on the World Wide Web
www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~mettw/edreams/
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-- Send Dreams and Comments on Dreams to:
Bob Krumhansl <bobkrum@erols.com>
--Send Dreaming News and Calendar Events to:
Peggy Coats <pcoats@dreamtree.com>
--Send Articles and Subscription concerns to:
Richard Wilkerson: <rcwilk@aol.com>
--For back issues, editors addresses
and other access & Staff see
ELECTRIC DREAMS ACCESS INFORMATION
at the end of this issue
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Download a GREAT COVER for Electric Dreams 4(10)
www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~mettw/edreams/home.html
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C O N T E N T S
++ Editor's Notes
++ THE 3rd ANNUAL HALLOWEEN SWARM
++ Dream Airing Column - Victoria Quinton
++ Join an Online Dream Group
NIGHTMARE SPECIAL SECTION
++ Nightmares - An Introduction - Richard Wilkerson
++ DREAM TREK: Psychic-Creative Dreaming
Linda Lane Magallon
++ Dreams that Survive after Death - by Alfred
++Big Dreams and Nightmares: A Journey through the Night Forest.
Geoffrey H. Smith
++Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and bad dreams
Harry Bosma
++Overcoming Nightmares:
Stephen LaBerge and H. Rheingold
Including:
-What Are Nightmares?
-Nightmare Causes and Cures
-The Uses of Anxiety
-Facing the Nightmare
-Practicum for Overcoming Nightmares
-Exercise: Dialoging with Dream Characters
-Prescriptions for Nightmares
-Recurrent Nightmares
-Exercise: Re-dreaming Recurrent Nightmares
-Children's Nightmares
++ Madame Aionia's Astrological Dreaming Series:
Dreaming Through the Houses: 10th House
++ Reflections on the Tenth House - Island
G L O B A L D R E A M I N G N E W S Index
- Dream-Quest Cards
- Dreamwork with Jeremy Taylor, Salt Lake City, Utah
- Dream work Amid the art and culture of Bali
- New Mailing List for Anamolous Experiences
- Halloween Costume Ball Group Dreaming Project
RESEARCH & REQUESTS
- Dreams Needed for Book on Princess Diana
- Dream Symbols and Popular Culture
- White Light Dreams
- Mutual Dream Survey
- Lucid Dream Study on Fears
- Life Changing Dreams
- Diana Dreams
WEBSITE & ONLINE UPDATES
- Psychic Creative Dreaming: An Explorers Guide to the Dream Net
- Sports Betting & Precognitive Dreams
- Halloween Chat on AOL
LATE BREAKING NEWS
-The Everything Dreams Book
- Myth and Dream Tour in Greece
DREAM CALENDAR for November-December 1997
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NOVEMBER 12, WED deadline for submission
FOR Next Electric Dreams vol 4(11)
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Thanks to Island for many of the Nightmare Quotes
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Editors' Notes
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Boo but no Hoo
Halloween is almost upon us and so it is fitting that this issue of Electric Dreams focuses on Nightmares. For a quick introduction and beginning reference list, see my note on Nightmares, where you will find information ranging from Night Terrors, to Earnest Hartmann's theories to books and online sites.
Before we descend into the darkness, Linda Magallon discusses the difference between the Paleozoic age of dreams when we had a nightmare and just had to passively take it, to the new age of conscious participation and responsibility. This dialogue of interpreting what has happened and participating in what will happen is a continual one this month, this Century, this Millennium. See Linda's Psychic-Creative Dreaming column.
Then, like many scary nights, we have a ghost story, and the boundaries one might explore with dream reentry. See Alfred's Dreams that Survive Death.
Geoffrey H. Smith offers us a view into the amplification of nightmare symbols across mythological motifs and weaves this with his personal process, showing how deeply we can be influenced by the archetypes at play in our lives. Don't miss the twists in this story. See Big Dreams and Nightmares: A Journey through the Night Forest.
Harry Bosma is back with an update on his site devoted to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and bad dreams. Bosma explores the CFS as it personally effected him and others, the nightmares that ensued and the healing dreams that are possible.
The Lucidity Institute has generously offered a chapter re-print on Nightmares from _Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming_. Stephen LaBerge & H. Rheingold explore not only the classical, medical & psychological realms of nightmares and their causes, but also explore and offer lucid solutions, exercises and suggestions. Children and Recurrent nightmares are explored as well.
A Dream Halloween wouldn't be complete without the Swarm. The swarm began as an invitation to dreamers to gather online on Halloween and travel across the Net, leaving tricks and treats along the way. The idea was to use dreams as imaginary platforms from which to move in new and alternative directions. This year we want to continue breaking down old catagories and repressive structures by opening up the swarm to boundaries past the Net via Mutual Dreaming. Set your intentions and join us online, in the dreamworld and beyond. For details, see the 3rd Annual Halloween Swarm.
Madame Aionia and Island return to explore what happens when we look at dreams via the astrological houses. For October, M. Aionia explores Tenth House dreaming and Island reveals a personal journey through the 10th House and its dreams, as well as opening the door to a greatness we all deserve to experience.
Due to space constraints, we have several interviews, reviews and articles scheduled this month that will show up in late November. If you were expecting your article to appear this month, you haven't been cut, just moved to the November issue.
Peggy Coats has the full scoop on dreams and dreaming in the Global Dreaming News. Not only are new online dream projects announced and reviewed here, but offline projects as well. Here you can join a special class on psychic-creative dreaming, sign up for a tour of dreams and Greece, check out the latest books and materials available for purchase, find seminars in your area and find the schedules of the up and coming events online and in your area. Also, for anyone with a minute, please look through the dream research section and send dreams to these researchers.
Please note the special request by Victoria Quinton not only for children's dreams, but for other information, such as childrens' books on dreams and dreaming, tapes, videos, and cd's. See the Dream Airing column for more. Also - you can send info into the column for publication as well.
Bob Krumhansl has been collecting the nightmares and comments on nightmares that have been coming in all month. Below is a peek at what's in store, but be sure to read his full editorial in the DREAM SECTION. I'll see those of you who swarm with us on Halloween online, and the rest of you, watch for me in your Halloween Nightmares! - Richard Wilkerson
Hi there! Here is a preview of the DREAMS SECTION for Vol. 4 Number 10.
Highlights from this issue: Happy Halloween to those who celebrate this event. This issue is full of interesting dreams with a focus on fear and nightmares in honor of Halloween - a time of facing many masked creatures of the night. Have you ever had a return dream visitor? Read The Celtic Warrior in REPETITIVE DREAMS. Can you help this person? There are a couple LUCID DREAM references, and linked dreams - as one flows into another seemingly unrelated vision. Under DEATH, a tragedy at sea snatches a new life before it is born, and a skeleton dies again.
Ghosts and a variety of ANIMALS (good and evil) make their presence known. A weird Piano and a Paul Klee Painting demand some attention. Rock and Roll literally with the JELLY BABY dream. Captain Picard, Q, and other Star Trek characters make a guest appearance on our pages under PERFORMERS. Lady DI still evokes deep feelings within which are yearning to reach out under CELEBRITIES. The categories of RELATIONSHIPS, ROMANCE, VEHICLES AND WATER had multiple contributions this month, and have a way of weaving into many of our dreams. Morphing creatures and things transform themselves before our very eyes. A special extravaganza this month is provided by Stan, with a unique spinoff somewhat reminiscent of Jurassic Park. You will be glued to .. the tank?? FEAR dreams were the focus for this month of October, and the dreamers responded. Torture, entrapment, escape and tears abound. Even a toilet makes an appearance. As your heart begins to pound faster, tension begins to build, and sweat appears on your body out of nowhere, what are you to do? What if these were your dreams, er..nightmares? Enjoy your visit to the pages of Electric Dreams. - Bob Krumhansl
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Dream Airing Column - Victoria Quinton
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Hello everyone
Anyone who would like to be an interviewee is welcome to
send me some email mermaid@alphalink.com.au
Have happy and enlightening dreams everybody..
Do you have questions, answers, comments, replies? This is your column to communicate with the rest of the Electric Dream Community, so just send those email in.
Request for Children's Dreams and Resources
Do you have a collection of children's dreams or lists of relevant books? How about just some ideas and thoughts about children and dreams? If so, send those to me mermaid@alphalink.com.au
Home Made Lucidity
for the past several weeks, i've been practicing recalling my dreams with relatively good success. i'm at 1-2 per night. but, i've had only one lucid dream. but, once i became lucid i ignored it while i was dreaming. i have a homemade mask to assist in alerting me when i'm dreaming but, i sweat quite a bit with it on. it's made of an ordinary sleeping mask, two LEDs, and a digital egg timer that i rewired to flash the bulbs after 95 minutes of sleep. pretty crude. i can't stand sleeping with it on account of the sweating. have you heard of anything similar occurring to others wearing such devices? any solutions? thanks D T
===
Hi D,
You may want to try using your device in the last 2 hours of sleep. The majority of REM sleep happens in the last 4 hours of sleep, so you are more likely to benefit from your efforts during that time. Your last REM period can last up to an hour long. Try setting your device to give you acue in 20 minute intervals during that period. You might also want to puta fan nearby to help you with the sweating :)
Our NovaDreamer mask would be more comfortable, and it will signal youwhen you are in REM sleep which takes the guesswork out. More information on the NovaDreamer is located at our website http://www.lucidity.com.
Read http://www.lucidity.com/NL63.RU.Naps.html for information on taking anap as an effective means of lucid dream induction in conjunction with your device.
Good Luck, Keith Garcia
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The Lucidity Institute, Inc. * tel: 650.321.9969 * fax: 650.321.9967
keith@lucidity.com * ftp://ftp.lucidity.com * http://www.lucidity.com
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The Fly-By-Night Club, Electric Dreams E-zine and DreamGate Present:
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THE 3rd ANNUAL HALLOWEEN SWARM
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Dream and cyber fun during the entire week of Halloween!
October 25th-October 31st:
* Halloween Costume Ball
(Sponsored by the *Fly-By-Night Club*)
Send dreams to CaseyFlyer@aol.com
Friday, October 31st, Halloween Night:
* AOL Chat Room, 6-8 Pacific Standard Time.
(Your host: Fly-By-Night Club's founder, LucidFlier)
Select "DreamSwarm."
* Visit Dream Sites and Network with the Online Dream Community.
* Experiment with new channels for dream sharing - IRC, ICQ, more!
* Say hello to old dream friends via email.
* Follow up reports in Global Dreaming News and Electric Dreams.
==================================================================
Group Dreaming Project: Halloween Costume Ball
Boarding nightly at the Gate of Horn: the Magallon-Galleon dreamland cruise.
Route: 2nd star to the right and straight on 'til morning.
On-board activities: the Costume Ball
How to join the cruise:
Any night between October 25th and October 31st...
Decide what costume you will wear to the Ball before you go to sleep.
Picture yourself in costume, then climb into your own ship of dreams.
Set sail as you drift into sleep.
Sleep and dream yourself to the Ball. Pay especial attention to the characters in your dreams...the fellow revelers you will meet this night.
Wake and record your dreams.
Decide whether you want to be known to your dreaming partners by your waking name or whether you'd like to use a dream or cyber name.
Send your dreams to CaseyFlyer@aol.com (Linda Lane Magallon)
Deadline for dream reports: the sooner, the better, but November 2nd is the very latest.
Dreams will be re-distributed to all Halloween Costume Ball participants. Then you can check for resonance between your dream and those of the rest of the group. Did anyone dream about your costume? Did you dream of anyone else's? Or maybe you dreamt about the galleon or the journey or having fun...
A summary report of the Halloween Costume Ball will be printed in the next issue of _Electric Dreams_.
The Halloween Costume Ball is sponsored by the *Fly-By-Night Club*. Check out our web site for more ideas and information.
http://members.aol.com/caseyflyer/fbnc/fbnc01.htm (Fly-By-Night Club)
=================================================================
AOL Chat Room
Friday, October 31st
Meet in the "DreamSwarm" chat room at 6:00 PST (We'll be on-line until 8:00 PST or so...)
We'll discuss spooky, funny dream characters and psychic dreams.
Bring a dream as your "trick or treat" gift. Come in costume!
Your host, LucidFlier (Costume for Linda Lane Magallon)
Questions ahead of time? Contact CaseyFlyer@aol.com (She'll be transformed into LucidFlier only for the duration of the chat).
Sponsored by the *Fly-By-Night Club*
http://members.aol.com/caseyflyer/fbnc/fbnc01.htm
=================================================================
DreamBat13 will be unfolding his dream wings and flying though cyberspace on Halloween.
We'll be visiting new dream web sites to do a little networking and visiting old dream sites to do some updates with friends. Dreambat will also be experimenting with alternative Net communication channels, dropping in on AOL with Linda, and experimenting with IRC, ICQ and Web Message boards & splat rooms. Dreambat will leave info on these swarm activities on Usenet, alt.dreams and also on
www.dreamgate.com/swarm/
=================================================================
The Halloween Swarm is co-sponsored by the *Fly-By-Night Club*, *Electric Dreams*, and *DreamGate*
http://members.aol.com/caseyflyer/fbnc/fbnc01.htm (Fly-By-Night Club)
www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~mettw/edreams/ (Electric Dreams)
www.dreamgate.com (DreamGate)
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Join the Next Dream Group Online!
DreamWheel 23 Begins November 3 Monday after Halloween
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Join today to participate in a relaxed exploration of dreams via email!
If you are new to Electric Dreams, or the dream community online and would like to see a sample of a Dreamwheel in action, go to
www.dreamgate.com/asd-13/2lb12.htm and take a look or read the article on email dreamgroups by Chris Hicks at www.dreamgate.com/dream/library
If you would like to participate, send a request to Richard Wilkerson at rcwilk@aol.com
and say something like;
"Hi, please put me on the list for the next Dream Wheel Dream Group and send me instructions!"
The Electric Dreams Dream Wheel Dream Groups now have an automated mail list that makes joining and participating easy! By simply sending an email message to our automated system you are put on the list for the Dream Wheel. Once this is done all you need do is check your mail for Dream Wheel related messages!
And, when you are ready to directly participate by sending in questions for the dreamer or comments all you do is send them to a single email address. Any messages sent to this address are automatically *re-mailed* to everyone that has joined the Dream Wheel! Simple!
If you have any questions on how the Dream Wheel Dream Group operates or how to participate, please feel free to email Richard Wilkerson at <rcwilk@aol.com>
Dream exploration is a fascinating process, almost always enriching, often surprising, but above all, fun. As the Dream Moderator for Dream Wheel #24, I look forward to you joining in.
Contact:
Richard (Dream Group Moderator)
rcwilk@aol.com
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From Richard III
I.iv.8:CLARENCE O, I have pass'd a miserable night,
I.iv.9: So full of ugly sights, of ghastly dreams,
I.iv.10: That, as I am a Christian faithful man,
I.iv.11: I would not spend another such a night,
I.iv.12: Though 'twere to buy a world of happy days,
I.iv.13: So full of dismal terror was the time!
I.iv.14:
I.iv.15:BRAKENBURY What was your dream? I long to hear you tell it.
I.iv.16:
I.iv.17:CLARENCE Methoughts that I had broken from the Tower,
I.iv.18: And was embark'd to cross to Burgundy;
I.iv.19: And, in my company, my brother Gloucester;
I.iv.20: Who from my cabin tempted me to walk
I.iv.21: Upon the hatches: thence we looked toward England,
I.iv.22: And cited up a thousand fearful times,
I.iv.23: During the wars of York and Lancaster
I.iv.24: That had befall'n us. As we paced along
I.iv.25: Upon the giddy footing of the hatches,
I.iv.26: Methought that Gloucester stumbled; and, in falling,
I.iv.27: Struck me, that thought to stay him, overboard,
I.iv.28: Into the tumbling billows of the main.
I.iv.29: Lord, Lord! methought, what pain it was to drown!
I.iv.41: And mock'd the dead bones that lay scatter'd by.
I.iv.42:
I.iv.43:BRAKENBURY Had you such leisure in the time of death
I.iv.44: To gaze upon the secrets of the deep?
I.iv.45:
I.iv.46:CLARENCE Methought I had; and often did I strive
I.iv.47: To yield the ghost: but still the envious flood
I.iv.48: Kept in my soul, and would not let it forth
I.iv.49: To seek the empty, vast and wandering air;
I.iv.50: But smother'd it within my panting bulk,
I.iv.51: Which almost burst to belch it in the sea.
I.iv.52:
I.iv.53:BRAKENBURY Awaked you not with this sore agony?
I.iv.54:
I.iv.55:CLARENCE O, no, my dream was lengthen'd after life;
I.iv.56: O, then began the tempest to my soul,
I.iv.57: Who pass'd, methought, the melancholy flood,
I.iv.58: With that grim ferryman which poets write of,
I.iv.59: Unto the kingdom of perpetual night.
I.iv.60: The first that there did greet my stranger soul,
I.iv.61: Was my great father-in-law, renowned Warwick;
I.iv.62: Who cried aloud, 'What scourge for perjury
I.iv.63: Can this dark monarchy afford false Clarence?'
I.iv.64: And so he vanish'd: then came wandering by
I.iv.65: A shadow like an angel, with bright hair
I.iv.66: Dabbled in blood; and he squeak'd out aloud,
I.iv.67: 'Clarence is come; false, fleeting, perjured Clarence,
I.iv.68: That stabb'd me in the field by Tewksbury;
I.iv.69: Seize on him, Furies, take him to your torments!'
I.iv.70: With that, methoughts, a legion of foul fiends
I.iv.71: Environ'd me about, and howled in mine ears
I.iv.72: Such hideous cries, that with the very noise
I.iv.73: I trembling waked, and for a season after
I.iv.74: Could not believe but that I was in hell,
I.iv.75: Such terrible impression made the dream.
I.iv.76:
I.iv.77:BRAKENBURY No marvel, my lord, though it affrighted you;
I.iv.78: I promise, I am afraid to hear you tell it.
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Nightmares - an Introduction
Richard C. Wilkerson
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from the cyber-dream Library, topics area.
Www.dreamgate.com/dream/library/
There are a wide range of events during sleep and wake that are often referred to as "nightmares" and it is wise to learn to distinguish between them. Most of what we call nightmares are simply extreme reactions and fear that accompany uncomfortable dreams that occur from time to time in most everyone, usually towards the end of the sleep cycle. Often we are awakened by a nightmare and there can be strong feelings of sadness, anger or guilt, but usually fear and anxiety. Often we are being chased, and its not unlikely for children to be chased by animals and fantasy figures, while adults are often chased by male adults.
Night terrors usually occur during the first hour or two of sleep. Screaming and thrashing about are common. Tthe sleeper is hard to awaken and usually remembers no more than an overwhelming feeling or a single scene, if anything. Children who have night terrors also may have a tendency to sleepwalk and/or urinate in bed. The causes of night terrors are not well understood, though it appears that night terrors are from a distinctly different stage of sleep. Children usually stop having them by puberty. They may be associated with stress in adults. A consultation with a physician may be useful if the night terrors are frequent or especially disturbing.
Why do we have nightmares?
Nightmares may have several causes, including drugs, medication, illness, trauma or they may have no related cause and be spontaneous. Often they occur when there is stress in one's waking life, and when major life changes are occuring.
What can be done about nightmares?
The Association for the Study of Dreams notes that "It really depends on the source of the nightmare. To rule out drugs, medications or illness as a cause, discussion with a physician is recommended. It is useful to encourage young children to discuss their nightmares with their parents or other adults, but they generally do not need treatment. If a child is suffering from recurrent or very disturbing nightmares, the aid of a therapist may be required. The therapist may have the child draw the nightmare, talk with the frightening characters, or fantasize changes in the nightmare, in order help the child feel safer and less frightened ."
Nightmares also offer the same opportunity that other dreams do, to investigate the symbols and imagery for life enhancement. The challenge in the last few decades for the dreamwork movement has been to teach a variety of methods that replace the old phase "It was just a dream." In American schools, people like Jill Gregory and Ann Wiseman teach children coping mechanisms that allow the child to come into relationship with the dream monsters and fears in a novel and related manner. Ernest Hartmann and other researchers are finding that those who have "thin" personalities, or sensitive, receptive individuals, are more likely to have nightmares than "thick" personalities. Pioneers like Linda Magallon, Stephen Laberge and Jayne Gackenbach are teaching people to take control of their dreams and have the outcomes they wish rather than becoming the dream's victim.
The Association for the Study of Dreams offers some advice and books on nightmares and you will find among its members the top researchers in the field.
NIGHTMARE BOOKS RECOMMENDED BY ASD
Wiseman, Ann Sayre (1986, 1989). Nightmare help. A guide for adults and children. Ten Speed Press.
Krakow, Barry, and Neidhardt, Joseph (1992). Conquering bad dreams and nightmares. Berkeley Books.
Hartmann, Ernest (1984).The Nightmare: The Psychology and Biology of Terrifying Dreams. Basic books.
MORE ON NIGHTMARES
Cushway, Delia, and Sewell, Robyn (1992) Counseling with dreams and nightmares.Sage publications.
Kellerman, Henry (Ed.) (1987). The Nightmare: Psychological and Biological Foundations. Columbia University Press.
Lazar, Moshe (Ed) (1983). The Anxious Subject: Nightmares and Daymares in Literature and Film.Undena.
Downing, J., and Marmorstein, E. (Eds.) Dreams and Nightmares: A Book of Gestalt Therapy Sessions. New York: Harper and Row, 1973.
Do you have some favorites? Send them to me! Richard Wilkerson rcwilk@aol.com
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DREAM TREK
By Linda Lane Magallon
Psychic-Creative Dreaming
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I started recording my dreams in 1982 but it took over a year for me to realize that I was having psychic ones. A couple of them were useful; a few were intriguing. But others were confusing and some were downright disturbing. I discovered that, in the latter case, I had lots of company. In this culture, the most often reported psychic dream is a negative one. It's a dream of danger, disaster or death.
As the years progressed, I became increasing active concerning my dreams. I was engaged in what Patricia Garfield calls "creative dreaming" That is, I was doing deliberate dreaming, dreaming with intention. And I soon learned that many dreamworkers have problems with the idea of "controlling your dreams." They believe it has dangerous results for your psyche. At the very least, they think, you lose the benefit of pristine messages from your Inner Self. At the most, well, nobody has ever actually said that you might go crazy...but a few pundits do threaten that intentional psychic dreaming means you've left the straight and narrow path to Spiritual Good.
Under other circumstances, I might have come to the conclusion that, by bringing intention to the realm of psychic dreams, I had opened up Pandora's Box. Surely terrible consequences waited to leap out and grab me like some phantom of the night.
Yet, here I sit, safe, sane and spirited, writing a course about the subject. So, is there anything to the idea that psychic-creative dreaming is bad for you?
Let's step back a bit and look at the big picture. Human beings are not perfect. That means that we are capable of making mistakes, being unprepared and generally screwing up--in every field of human endeavor. We are especially prone in those fields characterized by extreme lack of knowledge and experience. Add emotional immaturity and lack of practice and unwillingness to do our homework, and yes, that can be a recipe for trouble. Fold in mental instability, and the angel cake is guaranteed to fall.
For far too long, psychic dreaming has been a troublesome prospect. For far too long, we have assumed there was nothing we could do about it. Being a helpless, hopeless victim of nightmarish dreams was our fate. So, yes, it's quite possible to collect horror stories about psychic dreaming. And profitable, too: consider how many TV shows are looking for examples. If you want to convince yourself that psychic dreaming can be a problem, it doesn't take much to do it. If you want to scare yourself silly in the process, be my guest.
But I've been through that phase, and, as exciting and dramatic as it can be, in the end, it's just not very much fun. After a while, even trauma gets boring. How exciting, how revealing it was to find out that there is such a thing as an upbeat creative psychic dream.
Nowadays, there's a growing contingent of folks who are beginning to discover that deliberately programming a dream can bring them *more* information from the Inner Self, not less. They are also placing psychic dreams in a safer context; putting psychic and creative together to good effect. The dream net may have been a dream catcher of monsters from the sea of unconscious in the past. But that is changing. The explorers of the leading edge are learning to distinguish between sea serpents and giant squids; between mythic creatures and real dolphins and whales. Life inside the dream is evolving into a better experience because these folks are acting to make it so--on their own. And together.
The strongest reason to bring intention to psychic dreaming is to help co-create user-friendly dreamspace. The creation of the playground of the mind is a crucial step that been lacking in our culture. We need a place to develop and practice psychic skills where we are not intimidated and manipulated by tidal forces we don't understand. In calm waters, we give ourselves the opportunity to befriend those talents and abilities so that they work with us, not against us. Once we establish a safe, sane bay in which to strengthen our psyches, we can launch into further adventures without feeling overwhelmed by the mysteries of a deep sea voyage.
Now, if you stand at the boarding ramp of a new journey, what might your first action be? I can tell you mine. At heart, I'm a scaredy cat. I rarely launch into any new endeavor without considering all the angles and weighing all the odds. On the other hand, I've got Alice's curiosity and a bit of her wonderland lust. I'm willing to heed the call to adventure, as long as it's an acceptable risk. So I looked high and low for all those elements that would make the journey an acceptable risk.
Whether you stand at the dock, cheering on the folks who are intentionally creating user-friendly dreamspace, or whether you join them and become a participant in the process, your dreams will appreciate the fresh new wind that's blowing in from the sea of unconscious. When some night you find that you've activated the dream net, know that there's playground of the mind where you can go to practice psychic skills in a supportive environment. We really do have a choice about the direction we travel, the dreams we build, the nightlife we live. And the sort of company we keep.
(Excerpted from *Psychic-Creative Dreaming,* the Internet course by Linda Lane Magallon. To obtain further information on this course go to http://members.aol.com/caseyflyer/fbnc/fbnc01.htm (Fly-By-Night Club)
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Dreams that Survive after Death.
By Alfred
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.
I went for a walk with a gal at the Shaman conference during an evening talk It was at the Santa Sabina center at Dominican College in San Rafael Just below the Center is a huge abandoned white mansion. She said it was haunted, I went along. She said, "See? Up in the window in the attic there is a shadow of a ghost looking down at the people, watching."
She said the house was also full of about 12 other ghosts partying downstairs. Then she said she was picking up telepathic signals from the ghost I said "Kewl, let's try something." So, I began a Reentry through her with the ghost. I asked her who she was, etc. She was a young woman who committed suicide She was hanging around to complete a lesson. Something she had to get.... or learn before going on. She had to watch people to get it. I asked her to go forward in time to when she learned it. Then asked her if there were those on the other side who loved her. She said, "Yes, family members." I asked if she could tune into them. At this point my friend saw a column of white light. And the gal disappeared up the column. My friend and I looked at each other.
At that moment a shooting star shot over the peak of the house in the sky A real one.
A day or two later, I started to tell a woman who I was doing a Dream Reentry session with about it..... Only a few words into my story she said "Stop. I dreamed that last night." I said "YOU dreamed what?" She said " I dreamed that I was attracted to go to a large white mansion. There was a party of a dozen or so ghosts in one area having a great old time. There was also a woman separated from the rest, who I didn't want to look at." As we were leaving the house the night or two before I asked my friend if we should work with any of the others. She tuned in and said "No, they like it where they are." I had also been reading a book "Letters from the Light" about a judge in 1914 who channeled a series of letters to a student about life on the other side. The editor of the book was at my workshop in Reno. The editor who republished it recently that is. I am also reading a book now "What Survives?" About life after death. It is also a coincidence that my given name means "The one who watches over the dead of all generations." My given name is Alfred. Alfred: The one who watches over the dead.
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Big Dreams and Nightmares:
A Journey through the Night Forest.
By Geoffrey H. Smith
copyright 1997
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Oh fearful nature! oh tremendous bond!
Of the wood that grows with the ideal
contemplated!
The goddess bathes in the starlit gulf!
Wild nudity of the dark Diana
Who, seen from afar and through the darkness,
Causes monstrous tress to grow on the brow of the rocks!
Oh forest!
Victor Hugo
`Le Satyre'
The Witch in the Woods: A Nightmare
It is night. I wander through a forest, alone, not knowing where I'm coming from or going. After a long time, an old woman suddenly appears in my path. She is a witch. Glaring at me, she says that when the moon is full and high overhead, at midnight, she will come for me. As suddenly as she appeared she disappears. I wander on. Much later I come across a circular clearing in the forest. I go to the center of it where there are some large rocks. It is then that I notice the full moon, straight overhead, and remember the crone's words of warning. I am terrified. I notice how utterly exposed I am in this clearing, with nothing but dense forest surrounding me. My terror becomes so great that I start to think, How can I get out of here? Then I remember I am dreaming, that "I" am lying on the top of a bunk bed, my brother in bed below me. "I have to wake up," I think. I decide if I hit the rock hard enough my brother will notice me having a nightmare and will wake me up. I begin hitting the rock. Then I awaken.
End Dream
The dream above was a Big Dream. A Big Dream differs from ordinary dreams. Ordinary dreams seem to have something to say to us about our attitudes, feelings and behaviors around the time we have the dream. By that I mean it pertains to a few days, weeks or months before the dream and possibly after it as well. But a Big Dream informs us about our entire life, including past, present and future. Like a birth chart in astrology, it speaks to our destinal pattern. It has a prefigurative quality about it often not recognized until months or years later that impart to it a numinous, archetypal quality. For many years now I have felt that this one dream has a special significance. I keep returning to it and each time I always find new and richer meanings in it. But though I had this nightmare 27 or 28 years ago, it was not until the last several years that I had an "Ah-ha" experience an intuitive flash of understanding about it. What follows is some recent amplification of this nightmare I had when I was 10 or 11 years old, the only dream I have never forgotten. I don't the foregoing forth as a final analysis; nor am I even certain I have found the single, most important meaning of this dream. The dream is a sort of delightful labyrinth which I can explore again and again, each time taking away some new facet of meaning.
The Dream Ego
The first and most obvious element in the dream is the dream ego, the "I" figure. In most cases, the dream "I" feels the same age as the waking ego, and that was true this case as well. I was 10 when I had this dream, and so the dream ego too is a boy of 10. The fact that he does not know where he is going or where he is coming from indicates that he is totally lost. He is not hiking or strolling or walking he is wandering. This gives us a clue to the state of the dreamer and dovetails with the locale of the dream: the forest.
The Forest
The forest is often referred to as an apt symbol for the unconscious. In it lurk all types of creatures, some wild and threatening. In myths and fairy tales, it is sometimes a place of loss or misfortune. Dante wrote in his famous work, The Divine Comedy, of having gotten lost in the "wood of err"; it was in the forest that Little Red Riding Hood was eaten by the Wolf; and numerous fairy tales feature the forest as peopled by witches. In this case the forest would seem to represent the unconscious, particularly in its more menacing aspects, full of unknown creatures and creeping, crawling things. In many legends and fairy tales the forest is populated by strange and menacing creatures, (witches, dragons, giants, bears, etc.) "symbols of all the dangers with which young people must deal if they are to survive their rites of passage and become mature, responsible adults."1 [Biedermann, Hans. Dictionary of Symbolism (New York: Penguin, 1992), 141.] In dreams the "dark woods" can represent a disoriented period, or simply the unconscious, which is populated with myriad energies and archetypes which often "dis-orient" (run counter to) the ego's habitual attitudes and behaviors. Often the forest represents the feminine as perceived by a young boy or man: a disturbing territory as yet unexplored. The forest contains many creatures like the ocean (another symbol of the unconscious) harmless or dangerous, which may yet enter our conscious (dayworld) personality.
The Crone-Witch
As a small child, some years before I had this dream, we used to have an au pair who would tell us that if we were not in bed and asleep at midnight a witch would come and get us. The au pair had apparently caught my brother and I on one of our late night kitchen raids for crackers and sought to dissuade us from this activity. But the witch became a threatening figure early on for me, one I associated with midnight. Later, much later, I would learn that midnight has been called "the witching hour" because it is presumed to be a time of special psychic power, when witches can more effectively cast their magic spells. The Witch in his dream was an old woman. In traditional (European) witchcraft, the crone represents the Goddess in her destructive aspect, also known as Hecate destroyer of men as well as the Goddess of crossroads and magic. As the goddess of crossroads she holds special power over mens destinies. Traditionally, pagans would leave an offering to her at a crossroad, that she would bless them with a safe journey. Most Jungians have viewed the Witch as representing the negative mother archetype, i.e., the unnatural mother who clings to her children, is overprotective and somehow smothers or disables them with her love. Certainly this is one way of explaining the frequency of the witch appearing as a negative or scary figure in dreams and fairy tales. On the other hand, Clarissa Estes has seen in the Witch a "wild woman" archetype which is essentially positive for women and which they should embrace as a positive manifestation of female power. I embrace this latter view. I view the Witch as healer, midwife and priestess, not as a wicked devil worshiper. However, the witch in my dream was terrifying from the point of view of the dream ego. This is important. Whatever "The Witch" might represent to me today, she was perceived as threatening in the dream.
In many myths the hero or heroine is called to adventure by a transcendent being. The call symbolizes the crossing of a threshold, an initiation, which typically involves a death and a rebirth. The death aspect letting go of the old ways is often if not always perceived by the ego as dangerous and threatening.
Like every dream symbol, the Crone-Witch has a negative and a positive side. She is a wisdom figure, a guide the Wise Old Woman; yet she can be a negative mother who captures and binds her children. One is naturally reminded in this vein of Ananke, a Neoplatonic-Pythagoroean title of the Goddess who governed the world according to karmic law another name for Fortuna or Fate. "Stoic philosophers made Ananke . . . the supreme all-ruling principle, with authority over even the gods."2 [Walker, Barbara. The Women's Book of Myths and Secrets (New York: Harper, 1983), 28.] Interestingly, the Buddha taught that karma fate accruing from our actions over innumerable lifetimes was prior to all gods, and that even the gods were subject to karma.
The Circular Clearing
The clearing is definitely man made it's shape is too circular, and the earth too hardened, flat and devoid of vegetation to occur naturally. This suggests it is a place of ceremony, especially since the circle has traditionally been used for ceremonial purposes, in Native American, Western Magical, Native European and other traditions.
The circle constitutes an age-old symbol for wholeness and unity. Jung often interpreted circles and mandala figures as symbolizing the Self the authentic self which often opposes the ego, seeking to augment or enlarge the ego's necessarily one-sided viewpoints. It is interesting that the symbol for the Sun is a circle with a dot in the center, which, when viewed from above, perfectly describes this dream circle. Thus we have a symbol for the Sun on the ground, amidst the dark forest, and above, at the zenith, is the Full Moon. However, the circle can also represent the uterus, hence The Mother. This interpretation accords more with the feminine symbolism of the rest of the dream. It would be better to call the dream circle a place of power, of ceremony and initiation.
The Stone
Stones, mythologically, have often been viewed as embodying special power. As a child, I loved exploring the granite boulders near Frog Lake, in the Sierras. There was a majestic, solid quality about them. Stones are still placed over graves to symbolize respect for the dead. They are often viewed as reservoirs of spiritual energy, for example, Stonehenge in England. Probably their durability makes them apt symbols of immortality. Their significance may be linked to the fact that upon touching them the dream ego "woke up" within the dream.
The Full Moon
The Moon has, in the West, long symbolized the original matriarchate: the feminine realm of life including feelings, intuition, The Mother, psychic powers, the unconscious, Eros. Because women's menstruation cycles occur in rhythm to the cycles of the moon, women were viewed as especially linked to the Moon. Also, symbolically, the Moon is associated with water and with the earth elements traditionally viewed as feminine while the Sun was associated with fire and air traditionally viewed as masculine. Astrologically the Sun represents the Self, the Moon the Unconscious. The Sun is God, the Moon, the Goddess. The Full Moon is viewed by witches as a time of fulfillment and great psychic power. The Full Moon represents the Goddess as Mother, Selene or Diana.
The Bed
Henceforth I had not considered the bed as an element in this dream, but since the dream ego was aware of being in bed during the end of the dream, the bed must also be viewed as part of the dream.
The bed is a place of rest and restoration as well as a mysterious place where we enter the underworld of dreams every night. In the latter sense it is a sort of cauldron of regeneration out of which we are reborn every morning. Later in life, the bed comes to symbolize sex as well.
My Brother
My brother, Michael, must also be considered a part of this dream, since the dream ego was aware of him toward the conclusion of the dream. A brother is often viewed by Jungians as a Shadow figure. In this context, the brother is viewed as one who could possibly intervene and liberate the dreamer from a nightmare. Michael, as a Thinker type, also stands for Logos; while I myself, a Feeler, am more identified with Eros the realm of poetry and the imagination. Yet this realm can be overwhelming, so I must have adequate recourse to a tough, highly developed intellect, so as not to get overwhelmed in feeling.
Midnight
I did not come to my first big insight into the prefigurative quality of this dream until at least 20 years later, after I had done a lot of dream work. I knew intuitively that the number 12 was very significant in the dream, because the witch had told me she would come for me at midnight.
As I contemplated midnight and the number twelve, I realized that midnight and the number 12 were particularly significant in this dream because:
it was at age 12 that I entered puberty, crossing the threshold of sexual awakening;
12 midnight is when the new day begins;
12 midnight is the "witching hour,"a time of spell-casting and enchantment.
It is around age twelve or thirteen that many cultures have coming-of-age ceremonies for youngsters. This age is a significant milestone marking end of childhood, probably in large part because of the awakening of sexuality. When I combined all these elements awakening sexuality, midnight as the witching hour, and the association of the number 12 with transformation (i.e., both when the new day begins and when a child becomes an adult), I realized that the crone in the dream was referring to a psychic event which was to happen when I turned twelve. The dream was both a prophecy and, perhaps, a warning.
What happened when I turned twelve? I was horrified by the emergence from my unconscious of an overwhelming compulsion to wear my mother's clothes. I was shattered. Week after week I indulged in what seemed a degrading ritual: putting on my mother's clothes. A spasmodic act of pleasure was followed invariably by waves of shame and guilt. I could not understand my desire. It was like being possessed.
By the time I made this interpretation of the dream, I had for years pursued a fascination with witches. I considered historical witches as persecuted victims of a sexist and life-negating Church; and I viewed the re-emergence of the witch since the rise of contemporary feminism as a positive force in our world. Among the goddesses I studied, Diana was and remains my favorite. She has long been associated both with forests and both the waxing and full moon. She was also considered an aspect of the Trivia or Triple-Goddess: The Maiden (Diana), Mother (Selene) and Crone (Hecate). Diana was known from ancient times as Queen of the Witches.
Another aspect of this dream must be considered: the fact that I never forgot this dream. Most dreams are written, as it were, in disappearing ink; they are difficult to remember for a few minutes, let alone a few hours, and the great majority are forgotten entirely after a few days or weeks unless written down. This dream appears particularly portentous when I realize that I could not have forgotten this dream if I wanted to. It was as though it were engraved on my psyche, permanently branded into the neurochemistry of my brain so as never to be forgotten. (It took twenty and more years for me to see the obvious link between these two facts.) In a very real sense, I felt possessed when I snuck into my mother's room and "borrowed" one of her satiny slips. And after enjoying a solitary act of spasmodic pleasure I felt an enormous shame. Who was I, that I found this enjoyable? Some kind of freak? Yes, the Goddess had come for me. I was hers. Every pretty girl I saw was no mere girl but the original Maiden Goddess.
In Care of the Soul, Thomas Moore, an archetypal psychologist, discusses the notion of the Wounding Healer. He states we should not view our psychological symptoms as diseases requiring a cure but deities masquerading as symptoms. Rather than try to eradicate symptoms, we should discover their meaning. I believe this approach makes the best sense, not only of this dream but of many events in my life.
All human symptoms and problems, when they are taken to their depth and realized in a soulful way, find their ultimate solution in a religious sensibility (75).
The notion of divinely inspired dreams is steeped in antiquity. While some Greek writers, including Democritus and Zenophanes, dismissed the importance of dreams, most Greek writers believed all dreams were of divine origin. But this was not only a pagan belief. The Bible is replete with examples of dreams that were taken by the dreamer as messages from God, such as Jacob's famous dream of the ladder (Gen. 28:12). I have come to believe that the Goddess visited me in the form of the crone in my dream to give me a message. As in most dreams, The Mother speaks in riddles. She does not speak the language of the linear mind but the rich poetry of the soul with all its images and feelings. Why did she come as a crone? Probably because a crone is a figure symbolic of women's wisdom but also of death and rebirth. While all witches have mythological associations with metamorphosis and transformation, the crone especially connotes a metamorphosis involving a death and rebirth, a theme which is involved in initiation ceremonies the world over.
In a very real sense, the Maiden took possession of my psyche when I turned twelve. I still wear women's clothes. I am 38 years old and may soon live full time as a woman. Attempts to "purge" or "cure" my condition have long since proven futile. Did the Goddess send this dream to give me a clue I could later use to unlock the mystery of my identity? To reassure me that my feminine gender identity was destined and disabuse me of any notion that it was a "personality disorder" subject to "cure"? I believe so.
But the ultimate source and purpose of this dream will remain shrouded in mystery. It is better that it should remain so. Its imagery and emotion are so rich and evocative that I may return to it again and again, like a pilgrim to his vision of god, for guidance along life's journey.
END
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Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and bad dreams
Harry Bosma
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August 1994 a doctor diagnosed me with mono. Apart from sometimes literally paralyzing fatigue during the few hours I didn't sleep, I suffered from neurological problems like short-term memory loss, not being able to read, not able to speak very well or understand what other's were saying, and so on. As most doctors - at least in the Netherlands - believe that mono can't take longer than a year maximum, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) seemed to be the next-best name for the disease. Unfortunately most Dutch hospitals have the policy of not doing CFS diagnoses.
During most of the disease disturbing dreams seemed to confirm that something was wrong. Compared to my dreams before the disease I've suddenly gotten very many dreams with aggression aimed at the dreamer as well as well as relatively contained violence to large scale civil wars.
The first wave of violent dreams had the most impressive dreams in which I was personally attacked. That could be with the use of all kinds of weapons: canons, guns, knifes, swords and so on. The worst were the backstabbing dreams. The first two backstabbing dreams somewhere in 1995 did hurt a lot. Let nobody tell me that you can't feel pain in dreams!
There isn't much to tell about these early dreams. Back then my dreams seemed rather short, like very small videoclips appearing and immediately disappearing in the dark. I got stabbed, it hurt and that was it. The last backstabbing dream I've had is a relatively mild dream as it seems to offer some explanation as well.
Murder attempt
(february 18 1997)
I'm poor, look poor. I live in a big but old worn-out building. There is no furniture, perhaps a bed in one of the rooms. A friend of mine leaves and should get a taxi. We go outside. I draw my wallet and I'm greatly surprised by the huge amount of money I have and also that I'm showing this openly. I give my friend a few 10 bills.
To someone (my friend in the taxi?) I call out we will get this mess beyond us someday.
Inside again, another friend wants to exchange his belt with mine. I think it's a bad trade, I like mine better, his has a big ugly buckle. But I don't care that much and if he likes it... He also wants the trousers to go with it. "The green one?", I ask. Yes, of course. It makes sense, I feel the belt and green trousers are one piece too.
I tell him I'm going to shower. I walk to the opposite side of the building, over a kind of wall or ridge, something rather unusual to have in a building. Just when I want to enter the bathroom, my friend stabs a knife in my back. He wants to murder me. I shout for help as loud as I can. I'm even afraid that my sleeping body is shouting too (although this isn't a lucid dream). I now realize that the other murders were done by him too. I always had some suspicion, but never really believed the rumors. While waiting for help I look disembodied at people in the environment of the building. They've heard me, help it on its way.
[end dream]
Almost since the beginning of the disease I've had dreams were the dream people were fighting each other. The scale of the fights seem to have gotten smaller over the years and somehow it's like I've been able to interfere in this myself. In a dream of september 17 1996 one of my dreamfriends almost begs me to enter a room because they're on the verge of a fight again. I do so reluctantly because I'm tired of it, I can't stand it anymore. But I enter the room and everybody stays calm.
One of the worst dreams was one where even the peacekeepers started killing.
Police killings
(september 19 1996)
[...]
In the street beyond me somebody gets executed by the police. They even brag about it among eachother. Having witnessed this I don't feel safe. I run into a small alley but notice being followed by a woman connected to the police. I climb over a fence. The woman is on the other side and turns into cloth resembling a huge bat. The cloth climbs the fence sideways towards me. When I climb down on the other side (the side of the cloth), I see myself at the back. She / the cloth has overtaken me and covers or better buries me completely.
[end dream]
For the last 6 months the frequency of this kind of bad dreams has been reduced much. Which I find promising of course. Recent dreams seem to focus on keeping a balance between activity and rest. If you have no choice but to sleep 15 hours a day and stay at bed the other 9 hours, it's perfectly clear what you can do. I've improved a lot although I still haven't anything that comes close to a social life, let alone that I can hold a job. Compared from where I'm coming from I know feel not really ill nor really cured. To finish, here's one of my latest nightmares that reflects the disease in its violence and my uncertainty in my delayed action.
Boy drowns girl
(August 8 1997)
I'm in the kitchen. To my surprise the water is as almost as high as the window. (When did that happen?!) Children now swim very near to our house. Right beyond the kitchen window swim a boy and a girl. The girl wears glasses. The boys snatches her glasses and breaks them, throws the pieces away. She apparently didn't see what he did because she looks for her glasses floating around. The boy then pushes her under water. I can't believe my eyes. Is he now trying to kill her as well? No, this is no joke, he doesn't plan to let her go.
I open the window to lift the boy out of the water. I think I lack the strength to do so. Besides, ain't I too late already?
(The house I'm currently living in is at a canal to a nearby small lake. If the water is high it floats the lower terrace)
[end dream]
http://www.xs4all.nl/~hbosma/index.html
About Healing Dreams
For more about dreams, nightmares and CFS I invite you visit the Healing Dreams site. Healing Dreams was launched for exchanging information on the combination of sleep, dreaming and chronic diseases. Especially CFS patients are painfully aware of the various interactions between sleep and health and they often report nightmares and vivid dreams as well. Most visitors of Healing Dreams however turn out to be healthy people just interested in dreaming. For those there are book suggestions, software reviews and many annotated links.
For those who visited recently there will be little new to see. I'm planning to do a large work-over soon, involving amongst other the results of the informal survey, some articles on healing techniques, more book reviews and the new and greatly enhanced version of the dreamkeeping software program Alchera.
The Dreaming Room of Healing Dreams:
http://www.xs4all.nl/~hbosma/healing_dreams/drmwelc.html
More nightmares:
http://www.xs4all.nl/~hbosma/healing_dreams/cfs-drms.html
http://www.xs4all.nl/~hbosma/index.html
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OVERCOMING NIGHTMARES
Stephen LaBerge and H. Rheingold
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[From: S. LaBerge & H. Rheingold, (1990). EXPLORING THE WORLD
OF LUCID DREAMING. Chapter 10, Overcoming Nightmares.
New York: Ballantine. ISBN 0-345-37410-X]
Reprinted by permission of the Lucidity Institute, Inc.
Many thanks to Keith Garcia and Stephen LaBerge in allowing the Chapter into the public realm via Electric Dreams.
WHAT ARE NIGHTMARES?
I began to try to recognize my dreams as products of my mind, even as I dreamed them. The breakthrough came one night soon after a nightmare. I decided I could not live fully while I let my fears roam about on their own power, so to speak. I entered the dream state determined not to yield. I had read somewhere that a fear could only be dissipated by friendliness and trust. Anger, threats, aggressiveness were out. These reactions were actually fearful reactions. So I made up my mind to be friendly.
The dream evolved, and I barely had time to remind myself to smile before the nightmare began. This time it was an almost childish nightmare, in which my collective fears took the shape of a large, nebulous but very scary monster. I quailed and almost turned tail, but by sheer will (I was really scared) I stayed and let it approach. I said to myself "it's my dream, and if I forget this, I'll have to go through it again," and I smiled as sincerely as I could. What's more, I spoke as calmly as I could, a big step since waking or sleeping terror leaves me speechless. I said something like "I'm not afraid. I want to be friends. You're welcome to my dream!" and almost as soon as I said it, the monster became friendly, delightedly so. I was ecstatic. Needless to say, I awoke quickly, still saying "I did it!" [T.Z., Fresno, California]
I know that I can change a frightening situation in a lucid dream, so I don't let myself get scared or panic. I never run away from things or persons in my dreams anymore. And the strange thing is that in waking life I don't run away either, anymore. I face things head on and don't drag situations out forever. My lucid dreams have changed the way I look at life. People think I've changed through the years, but the fact is that this is the real me coming out. [V.F., Greensboro, North Carolina]
Nightmares are terrifying dreams; dreams in which our worst fears are brought to life in fully convincing detail. Whatever horrors you personally believe to be the worst things that could happen--these are the most likely subjects of your nightmares. All people, in every age and culture have suffered from these terrors of the night. People's understanding of the origins of nightmares has varied as much as their understanding of dreams. To some cultures, nightmares were the true experiences of the soul as it wandered another world as the body slept. To others, they were the result of the visitation of demons. Indeed, the word nightmare comes from the Anglo-Saxon mare, for goblin or incubus. (An incubus is a demon who comes in the night to steal the sexual favor of ladies, and has its female counterpart, the succubus.)
In Western culture today, most people are content to say of nightmares that they are "only dreams," meaning they are imaginary and of no consequence. Thus, when a successful business executive awakens with his heart pounding from a dream of being pursued by zombies through the jungle, he is grateful to be able to recite the comforting refrain, "Thank God, it was only a dream," get a glass of water and return to bed. However, when just a few minutes before the stinking corpses with eyes like pits to hell were breathing down his neck, the executive had no doubts about their reality. The zombies may have been imaginary, but the terror was real. So, to lightly dismiss the real terror of horrific dreams as illusory seems like an error that leaves us with no choice but to submit ourselves again and again to the greatest fear we are likely to ever experience.
What gives nightmares their special terror? In dreams, anything is possible. This limitlessness can be wonderful, since it allows us to experience delights of fantasy and pleasure unachievable in waking life. However, turn over the stone, and anything you can imagine that you would not like to experience, however unlikely in waking, can happen as well.
In nightmares we are alone. The terrifying worlds we create in our minds are populated with our fears. We may dream that we are accompanied by friends, but if we doubt them they can just as easily turn into fiends. If we run from an axe- wielding maniac, he can find us no matter where we hide. If we stab a devil with a knife, he may not even notice, or the knife may turn to rubber. Our thoughts betray us; if we think, I only hope he doesn't have a gun--lo! he has a gun. It is no wonder we are grateful to return from nightmares to the relative sanity and peace of the waking world.
Thus, it is understandable that people in the midst of nightmares who realize they must be dreaming frequently choose to wake up. However, if you become fully lucid in a nightmare, you realize that the nightmare can't really hurt you, and you don't need to "escape" it by awakening. You remember that you are
already safe in bed. It is better, as we will discuss below, to face and overcome the terror while remaining in the dream.
NIGHTMARE CAUSES AND CURES
Studies of frequencies of nightmares among adults show that one third to one half of all adults experience occasional nightmares. A study of college students found that almost three-quarters of a group of 300 had nightmares at least once a month. In another study, five percent of college freshmen reported having nightmares at least once a week. [1] If this rate applies to the general population, then we might find that more than ten million Americans are plagued by wholly realistic horrifying experiences every week!
Some factors that seem to contribute to nightmare frequency are: illness (especially fever), stress (caused by situations like the difficulties of adolescence, moving, hard times at school or work), troubled relationships and traumatic events, like being mugged or experiencing a serious earthquake. Traumatic events can trigger a long lasting series of recurrent nightmares.
Some drugs and medications can cause an increase in nightmares. The reason for this is that many drugs suppress REM sleep, producing a later effect of REM-rebound. If you go to sleep drunk, you may sleep quite soundly, but dream little, until five or six hours into sleep. Then, the alcohol's effect has mostly worn off and your brain is prepared to make up for the lost REM time. As a result, you will dream more intensely than usual for the last few hours of your sleep time. The intensity is reflected in the emotionality of the dream, which often will be unpleasant. There are a few drugs which seem to increase nightmares by increasing the activity of some part of the REM system. Among these are l-DOPA, used in the treatment of Parkinsonism, and beta-blockers, used by people with some heart conditions. Since research has shown that lucid dreams tend to occur during periods of intense REM activity, [2] I believe that drugs that cause nightmares may also facilitate lucid dreaming. This is a topic I plan to research in years to come. I think that whether an intense REM period leads to dreams that are pleasantly exciting or terrifying depends on the attitude of the dreamer.
Thus, it is to the dreamer's attitude that I think we should look in seeking a treatment for nightmares. For example, people rarely experience nightmares in the sleep laboratory, because they have a feeling of being observed and cared for. Likewise, children who awaken from nightmares and crawl into bed with their parents feel safe from harm and thus are less likely to have more bad dreams.
I believe the best place to deal with unpleasant dreams is in their own context, in the dream world. We create our nightmares out of the raw material of our own fears. Fears are expectations--why would we fear something we thought would never happen? Expectations affect our waking lives, but even more so, they determine our dream lives. When in your waking life, you walk down a dark street, you fear that someone will threaten you. However, for some dark figure to actually leap out at you with a knife depends on there really being some knife-bearing thug hiding in an alley nearby waiting for a victim. On the contrary, if you dream of walking down a dark street, fearing attack, it is almost inevitable that you will be attacked, because you can readily imagine the desperate criminal waiting for you. But, if you had not thought that the situation was dangerous, there would be no thug, and no attack. Your only real enemy in dreams is your own fear.
Most of us harbor some useless fears. Fear of speaking in public is a common example. In most cases, no harm will result from giving a speech, but this fact does not prevent many people from being as frightened of public speaking as they would be if faced by a life threatening situation. Likewise, to be afraid in a dream, while understandable, is unnecessary. Even when fear is useless, it is still quite unpleasant, and can be debilitating. An obvious way to improve our lives is to rid ourselves of unnecessary fear. How is this done?
Research on behavior modification treatment for phobias shows that it is not enough for a person to know intellectually that the object of their fear is harmless. Snake phobics may "know" perfectly well that garter snakes are harmless, but they will still be afraid to pick one up. The way to learn to overcome fear is to face it--to approach the fearsome object or situation little by little. Each time you encounter the feared thing without harm you learn by experience that it cannot hurt you. This is the kind of approach we propose for overcoming nightmares. Many anecdotes demonstrate that the approach is effective, and can even be used by children.
None of our proposed treatments for nightmares require that you interpret the symbolism of the unpleasant images. Much fruitful work can be accomplished in dreams by working directly with the images. Waking analysis (or interpretation while in the dream) may help you understand the source of your anxieties, but will not necessarily help you outgrow them. For instance, consider again the fear of snakes. The classical interpretation of snake phobia is that it is a disguised anxiety about sex, especially regarding the male member, and in fact most snake phobics are women. A much more plausible biological explanation is that humans come into the world prepared to easily learn to fear snakes, because avoiding venomous snakes has obvious survival value. However, providing this information doesn't cure the phobia. What does help, as mentioned above, is for the phobic to slowly become accustomed to dealing with snakes. Likewise, dealing directly with dream fears, learning they cannot harm us, can help us to overcome them.
THE USES OF ANXIETY
According to Freud, nightmares were the result of masochistic wish-fulfillment. The basis of this curious notion was Freud's unshakable conviction that every dream represented the fulfillment of a wish. "I do not know why the dream should not be as varied as thought during the waking state..." [3] wrote Freud, tongue-in-cheek. For his own part, he continued, "I should have nothing against it...There is only a trifling obstacle in the way of this more convenient conception of the dream; it does not happen to reflect reality." If for Freud, every dream was nothing but the fulfillment of a wish, the same thing must be true for nightmares: the victims of nightmares must secretly wish to be humiliated, tortured or persecuted.
I do not see every dream as necessarily the expression of a wish; nor do I view nightmares as masochistic wish fulfillment but rather as the result of maladaptive reactions. The anxiety experienced in nightmares can be seen as an indication of the failure of the dreamer to respond effectively to the dream situation.
Anxiety arises when we encounter a fear-provoking situation against which our habitual patterns of behavior are useless. People who experience anxiety dreams need a new approach for coping with the situations represented in their dreams. This may not be easy to find if the dream results from unresolved conflicts which the dreamer does not want to face in waking life. In severe cases, it may be difficult to treat the nightmare without treating the personality that gave rise to it. But I believe that this qualification applies mainly to chronically maladjusted personalities. [4] For relatively normal people whose nightmares are not the result of serious personality problems, lucid dreams can be extremely helpful. However, if you are to benefit from our method of overcoming nightmares, you must be willing to take responsibility for your experiences in general and in particular, for your dreams.
To illustrate how lucidity can help you work through anxiety- provoking situations, consider the following analogy. The non-lucid dreamer is like a small child who is terrified of the dark; the child really believes there are monsters there. The lucid dreamer would perhaps be like an older child--still afraid of the dark--yet no longer believing that there are really monsters out there; this child might be afraid, but would know that there was nothing to be afraid of, and could master the fear.
Anxiety is a state of uneasiness composed of two emotions: fear and uncertainty. It results from the simultaneous occurrence of two conditions: one is fear in regard to some (possibly ill-defined) situation we find threatening; the other is an uncertainty about how to avoid an unfavorable outcome. In other words, we experience anxiety when we are afraid of something, and have nothing in our behavioral repertoire that will help us overcome or evade it. Anxiety may serve a biological function: it prompts us to scan our situations more carefully and re-evaluate possible courses of action--in search of an overlooked solution to the situation-
-in short, to become more conscious. [5]
When we experience anxiety in our dreams, the most adaptive response would be to become lucid and face the situation in a creative manner. In fact, anxiety does seem to spontaneously result in lucidity fairly frequently (for example, in a quarter of the 62 lucid dreams I had in the first year of my records). [6] It may even be the case that anxiety in dreams would always lead to lucidity if we were instructed about this possibility. With practice, dream anxiety can become a reliable dreamsign, no more dangerous than a scarecrow, pointing to where you need to do some repair work. There is no cause for fear in dreams....
FACING THE NIGHTMARE
In the midst of a lucid dream I saw a series of gray-black pipes. Out of the largest pipe emerged a black widow about the size of a cat. As I watched this black widow, it grew larger and larger. However, as it was growing I was not the least bit afraid and I thought to myself 'I am not afraid' and I made the black widow vanish. I was very proud of my achievement since I had always been terrified of black widows. The earliest nightmare I can remember was about a large black widow which I couldn't escape. For me, black widows were a very strong symbol of fear itself. [J.W., Sacramento, California]
About twenty years ago I realized that the monster in my nightmares couldn't really hurt me. I told it I wasn't afraid any more and it changed into a toothless, whimpering witch and went away. Yesterday I read the article about your work in Parade magazine, and last night the monster returned. This time, knowing I was dreaming, I enjoyed the intricacy of detail, changing from one revolting, menacing shape to another, second by second. I remembered the black kitten you had described from one of your dreams and I told it to smile. I was stunned as I watched the bulging eyes recede, the snarling mouth try to relax into a smile. It didn't know how. The shark teeth changed into horse teeth and it beamed. It was the silliest damn thing I ever saw, and I woke up laughing my head off. I feel like a 67 year old kid with a new toy. [L.R., Jacksonville Beach, Florida]
"There is no cause for fear," wrote Sufi teacher Jalaludin Rumi seven centuries ago: "It is imagination, blocking you as a wooden bolt holds the door. Burn that bar...." [7] Fear of the unknown is worse than fear of the known, and this seems nowhere more true than in dreams. Thus, one of the most adaptive responses to an unpleasant dream situation is to face it, as can be seen in the following account of a series of nightmares experienced by the 19th Century lucid dream pioneer, the Marquis d'Hervey de Saint-Denys:
I wasn't aware I was dreaming, and I thought I was being pursued by frightful monsters. I was fleeing through an endless series of interconnecting rooms, always experiencing difficulty in opening the dividing doors and closing them behind me, only to hear them opened again by my hideous pursuers, who uttered terrible cries as they came after me. I felt they were gaining on me. I awoke with a start, bathed in
sweat.
...I was all the more affected on waking because, when this particular dream came upon me, I always lacked, through some curious twist of fate, that consciousness of my state that I so often had during my dreams. One night, however, when the dream returned for the fourth time, at the moment my persecutors were about to renew their pursuit, a feeling of the truth of the situation was suddenly awakened in my mind; and the desire to combat these illusions gave me the strength to overcome my instinctive terror. Instead of fleeing, and by what must indeed under the circumstances have been an effort of will, I leaned against the wall and resolved to contemplate with the closest attention the phantoms that I had so far only glimpsed rather than seen. The initial shock was, I confess, strong enough; such is the difficulty that the mind has in defending itself against an illusion that it fears. I fixed my eyes on my principal attacker, who somewhat resembled the grinning, bristling demons which are sculpted in cathedral porticos, and as the desire to observe gained the upper hand over my emotions, I saw the following: the fantastic monster had arrived within several feet of me, whistling and cavorting in a manner which, once it had ceased to frighten me, appeared comic. I noted the claws on one of its paws, of which there were seven, very clearly outlined. The hairs of its eyebrows, a wound it appeared to have on its shoulder and innumerable other details combined in a picture of the greatest precision--one of the clearest visions I have had. Was it the memory of some Gothic bas-relief? In any case, my imagination added both movement and color. The attention I had concentrated on this figure had caused its companions to disappear as if by magic. The figure itself seemed to slow down in its movements, lose its clarity and take on a wooly appearance, until it changed into a kind of floating bundle of rags, similar to the faded costumes that serve as a sign to shops selling disguises at carnival time. Several insignificant images appeared in succession, and then I awoke. [8]
That seemed to be the end of the Marquis' nightmares. Tholey has also reported that when the dream ego looks courageously and openly at hostile dream figures, their appearance often becomes less threatening. [9] On the other hand, when one attempts to make a dream figure disappear, it may become more threatening, as in the following case of Sparrow's:
I am standing in the hallway outside my room. It is night and hence dark where I stand. Dad comes in the front door. I tell him that I am there so as not to frighten him or provoke an attack. I am afraid for no apparent reason. I look outside through the door and see a dark figure which appears to be a large animal. I point at it in fear. The animal, which is a huge black panther, comes through the doorway. I reach out to it with both hands, extremely afraid. Placing my hands on its head, I say, "You're only a dream." But I am half pleading in my statement and cannot dispel my fear.
I pray for Jesus' presence and protection. But the fear is still with me as I awaken. [10]
Here the dreamer uses his lucidity to try to make his frightful image disappear. There is little difference between this and running from dream monsters. If, upon reflection, Sparrow had recognized that a dream panther could not hurt him, the thought alone should have dissipated his anxiety. Fear is your worst enemy in dreams; if you allow it to persist it will grow stronger and your self-confidence will diminish.
However, many novice lucid dreamers may at first tend to use their new powers to find more clever ways to escape their fears. This is because of our natural tendency to continue in our current frame of mind. If, in a dream in which you are fleeing from harm, you realize you are dreaming, you will still tend to continue escaping, even though you should now know that there is nothing to flee from. During the first six months of my personal record of lucid dreaming, I occasionally suffered from this sort of mental inertia until the following dream inspired a permanent change in my lucid dreaming behavior:
I was escaping down the side of a skyscraper, climbing like a lizard. It occurred to me that I could better escape by flying away, and as I did so, I realized that I was dreaming. By the time I reached the ground, the dream and my lucidity faded. The next thing I knew I was sitting in the audience of a lecture hall, privileged to be hearing Idries Shah (an eminent Sufi teacher) comment on my dream. "It was good that Stephen realized he was dreaming and could fly," Shah observed with a bemused tone, "but unfortunate that he didn't see that since it was a dream, there was no need to escape."
I would have had to be deaf not to get the message. After this dream lecture, I resolved to never use my lucidity to avoid unpleasant situations. But, I wasn't going to be content to passively avoid conflicts by doing nothing. I made a firm resolution regarding my lucid dreaming behavior: anytime I realized I was dreaming, I was required to ask myself the following two questions: 1) Am I now or have I been running away from anything in the dream? 2) Is there now or has there been any conflict in the dream? If the answer was yes to either, then I was honorbound to do everything I could to face whatever I was avoiding and to resolve any conflict. I have easily remembered this principle in almost every subsequent lucid dream and have attempted to resolve conflicts and face my fears whenever it was called for.
"Escaping" from a nightmare by awakening only suppresses your conscious awareness of the anxiety-provoking imagery. You may feel a certain relief, but like the prisoner who digs through his prison wall and finds himself in the cell next door, you haven't really escaped. Moreover, aware of it or not, you are left with an unresolved conflict which will doubtless come back to haunt you some other night. In addition, you may have an unpleasant and unhealthy emotional state with which to start your day.
If, on the other hand, you choose to stay in the nightmare rather than waking from it, you can resolve the conflict in a way that brings you increased self-confidence and improved mental health. Then when you wake up you will feel that you have freed some extra energy with which to begin your day with new confidence.
Lucid dreaming gives us the power to banish the terror of nightmares and at the same time to strengthen our courage--if we master our fear sufficiently to recognize our most disturbing images as our own creations and face them.
SLEEP PARALYSIS
The first experience of this terror of being awake but not in control of my body was when I was young, sick with a fever, and in my mother's bedroom. I saw a black shadow pass the window, enter the room and try to take the covers off of me. Inside I was screaming and frantic, outside I knew that nothing was happening. I was dreadfully scared of people coming in through that window, and this somehow helped me realize that it was a black shadowy figure, not a person. I fought it off and woke up. In the past year I have had a repeat of that dream complete with the feeling of flesh on my shoulder--I was terrified. Also recently, in another such dream, something awful was trying to kill me. I remembered something my husband had told me he'd done in the same situation when he was dreaming, so I turned and faced the "thing," and essentially challenged it to go ahead and kill me asserting that I was not afraid. I felt strongly that it could not hurt me if I put out my strength and began summoning up an image of goodness and purity (God) and praying. The "thing" was defeated and I woke up feeling very good. [K.S., Etobicoke, Ontario]
The experience of sleep paralysis can be terrifying, as in the example above. In a typical case, a person awakens, but then finds he cannot move. It may feel like a great weight is holding him down and making it difficult to breath. Hallucinations may appear, often loud buzzing noises, vibrations in the body, or people and threatening figures nearby. The dreamer may feel things touch his body, body distortions, or "electricity" running around inside him. As the experience progresses, the surroundings may begin to change, or the person may feel he is leaving his body--either by floating up or by sinking through the bed. Quite often, the dreamer knows the experience is a dream, but finds it very difficult to awaken.
The probable cause of sleep paralysis is that the mind awakens, but the body remains in the paralysis state of REM sleep. At first, the dreamer actually perceives the environment around him, but as the REM process takes over again, strange things begin to occur. Anxiety seems to be a natural concomitant of this physiological condition, and it is worsened by the dreamer's feeling that he is awake, his belief that these peculiar things are really happening, and the sensation of being unable to move. If the dreamer goes more completely into REM sleep, he loses the awareness of his body which causes him to feel paralyzed. At this point, he may experience the sensation of "leaving his body," as his mental body image is freed from the constraints of perceptual input from his actual body. [11]
Sleep paralysis experiences are likely to be the cause of some of the strangest night phenomena, such as visitations by demons, incubi, and succubi, and out-of-body experiences. They don't need to be terrifying, however, if you reflect as they are happening that they are dreams and that none of the bizarre events are dangerous. People in these states commonly try to cry out for others to awaken them, or to force themselves to move in order to awaken. This usually only makes matters worse, however, since it increases their feelings of anxiety. Anxiety itself may help to perpetuate the condition. A better approach is to 1) remember it is a dream and therefore harmless, and 2) relax, and go with the experience. Adopt an attitude of intrepid curiosity. Dreams that proceed from paralysis experiences are often quite intense and wonderful.
PRACTICUM FOR OVERCOMING NIGHTMARES
I was on top of a mountain at the edge of a cliff. I seemed to be a prisoner of two guys who had a dog and a lion with them. I felt they were going to throw me off the cliff, so I rushed them and knocked the two guys off the cliff along with the lion but I went over too, into the water. I was alright and now my hands were free. I swam to the side and started to climb up the mountain but the lion was in front of me and he was angry because I pushed him into the water. He would not let me up so I tried to scare him by throwing water and rocks at him. He just got angrier. He started to get closer to me and I moved back into the water. He started to roar, and jumped in after me, but I jumped to the rocks. Now I was on my back and knew I couldn't get away, so I faced him, and as he attacked I said, "Come on." I put my hands out and suddenly I realized I was dreaming. In mid-attack his expression changed from rage to friendly and playful. When he landed on me I hugged him and we play wrestled and rolled. I kissed him and he licked me. I felt really great that I was lucid and playing with a lion. Then he rolled over and turned into a naked black woman. She was beautiful with large nipples on her breasts. I started to play with her, and was getting excited, but I had this feeling that getting back to the top of the cliff was more important, so I said, let's go back. As we started I woke up. [D.T., Lindenwold, New Jersey]
I had a fear of death, but cured it through a lucid dream. I was walking through a Hell-like environment and realized that this could not be, as I was asleep in my bed. At that instant, I was stabbed in the back. 'Feeling' the pain, I decided to see what 'dying' would be like. I felt myself in a catatonic state. I willed my dream 'soul' to depart from my dream 'body.' It was a strange feeling to see my dream 'body' beneath me. I also had a sense of all-pervading peace and calm. I said to myself that if this is what dying is like, it isn't so bad. From that day forward, I have had no fear of dying. I even remain calm in life-threatening situations.
[K.D., Lauderhill, Florida]
Anyone who ever suffers from nightmares can benefit from using lucidity as a response to severe anxiety in dreams. Readers who have nightmares frequently will be able to put the advice we provide here to use right away. But others would do well to study these materials and have them ready in mind for the next time they find themselves in a frightening dream.
A few differing approaches to dealing with unpleasant dream experiences appear in the literature. They can all be assisted by lucidity, because when lucid we are sure of our context (dreaming) and know that waking world rules don't apply. One of the first proposed systems for overcoming nightmares was that attributed to the Senoi people of Malaysia by Kilton Stewart in his paper "Dream Theory in Malaya." [12] Patricia Garfield brought Stewart's ideas to the public in her inspiring book Creative Dreaming. [13] The basic principle of the Senoi system is to confront and conquer danger. This means that if you encounter an attacker or an uncooperative dream figure, you should aggressively attack and subdue it. If necessary, you are advised to destroy the figure, and thereby release a positive force. Once you have subdued the dream figure, you must force it to give you a valuable gift--something you can use in your waking life. Another suggestion is that you enlist friendly and cooperative dream characters to help you overcome the threatening character.
People have reported positive, empowering results with the "confront and conquer" approach. However, as Paul Tholey has found, attacking unfriendly characters may not be the most productive way to handle them. The reason for this will be discussed in detail in Chapter 11, but in brief, the idea is that hostile dream figures may represent aspects of our own personalities that we wish to disown. If we try to crush the symbolic appearances of these characteristics in dreams, we may be symbolically rejecting and attempting to destroy parts of ourselves.
Another idea associated with the Senoi is valuable to keep in mind regarding nightmares. Falling is a very common theme in anxiety dreams. The Senoi system proposes that when you dream of falling, you shouldn't wake yourself up, but go with it, relax and land gently. Think that you will land in a pleasant and interesting place, especially one that offers you a useful insight or experience. As a next step, it is suggested that in future dreams when you are falling, you should try to fly, and fly somewhere intriguing and worthwhile. In this way, you can turn a frightening, negative experience into one that is fun and useful.
Tholey, who has researched the efficacy of various attitudes towards hostile dream characters, concludes that a conciliatory approach is most likely to result in a positive experience for the dreamer. [14] His conciliatory method is based on the practice of engaging in dialogs with dream characters (see exercise below). He found that when dreamers tried to reconcile with hostile figures that the figures often transformed from "lower order into higher order creatures," meaning from beasts or mythological beings into humans, and that these transformations "often allowed the subjects to immediately understand the meaning of the dream." Furthermore, conciliatory behavior towards threatening figures would generally cause them to look and act in a more friendly manner. For example, Tholey himself dreamt:
I became lucid, while being chased by a tiger, and wanted to flee. I then pulled myself back together, stood my ground, and asked, "Who are you?" The tiger was taken aback but transformed into my father and answered, "I am your father and will now tell you what you are to do!" In contrast to my earlier dreams, I did not attempt to beat him but tried to get involved in a dialogue with him. I told him that he could not order me around. I rejected his threats and insults. On the other hand, I had to admit that some of my father's criticism was justified, and I decided to change my behavior accordingly. At that moment my father became friendly, and we shook hands. I asked him if he could help me, and he encouraged me to go my own way alone. My father then seemed to slip into my own body, and I remained alone in the dream. [15]
To have a good dream dialog, you should treat the dream figure as being your equal, as in the example. The following questions may open up fruitful lines of dialog with dream figures:
"Who are you?"
"Who am I?"
"Why are you here?"
"Why are you acting the way you are?"
"What do you have to tell me?"
"Why is such-and-such happening in this dream?"
"What do you think or feel about such and such?"
"What do you want from me? What do you want me to do?"
"What questions would you ask of me?"
"What do I most need to know?"
"Can you help me?"
"Can I help you?"
EXERCISE: DIALOGING WITH DREAM CHARACTERS
1. Practice imaginary dialogs in the waking state. Choose a recent dream in which you had an unpleasant encounter with a dream figure. Get a piece of paper and pen to write down the conversation you imagine. Imagine yourself talking to the dream character; visualize the character before you. Begin a dialog by asking questions. You may choose a question from the list above or substitute any personally relevant question. Write down your questions, and the responses you get from the character. Try not to let critical thoughts interrupt the flow, such as "this is silly," or "I'm just making this up," or "That's not true." Listen, and interact. You can evaluate later. Terminate the dialog when it runs out of energy or when you achieve a useful resolution. Then evaluate the conversation and ask yourself what you did right and what you would do differently next time. Once you are successful with this, try the same exercise on another dream.
2. Set your intention.
Set a goal for yourself that the next time you have a disturbing encounter with a dream character you will become lucid and engage the character in dialog.
3. Dialog with problem dream figures.
When you encounter anyone with whom you feel conflict, ask yourself whether or not you are dreaming. If you find that you are dreaming, continue as follows: Stay and face the character, and begin a dialog with one of the opening questions from the list below. Listen to the character's responses, and try to address his, her, or its problems as well as your own. See if you can come to an agreement or make friends. Continue the dialog until you reach a comfortable resolution. Then, be sure to awaken while you still remember the conversation clearly, and write it down.
4. Evaluate the dialog.
Ask yourself if you achieved the best result you could. If you feel you did not, think about how you could improve your results next time. You could use Step 1 to relive the dialog to attain a more satisfying result.
(Adapted from Kaplan-Williams [16] and Tholey [19] )
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In contrast to the positive results of conciliatory dialog, Tholey found that when dreamers attacked dream characters either verbally or physically, the dream figures often regressed in form, for instance from a mother, to a witch, then to a beast. We might assume that the other characters in our dream worlds are more helpful as friendly humans than as subdued animals, so the aggressive approach may not be the best choice most of the time.
I say most of the time, because in some instances it may not be advisable to open yourself to a dream attacker. The circumstances which might make this true are in cases of dreams which replay real life events in which one was abused by someone--say, a rapist or child molester. In such cases, a more satisfying resolution may result from the Senoi approach of overcoming, destroying, and transforming the dream attacker. However, in many instances, Tholey's research has shown that aggressive attacks on dream characters can result in feelings of anxiety or guilt, and the subsequent emergence of dream "avengers." So, I would advise avoiding such behavior unless it truly seems to best option.
I have a few suggestions to add to these ideas for how to resolve nightmare situations. One is an extension of the "confront and conquer" approach. Though I cannot wholly recommend conquering dream characters, the intention to confront all danger in dreams is fully in accordance with my conception of a constructive dream-life. Remember that nothing can hurt you in dreams, and consider if there is any reason why you should not allow yourself to experience the things you are trying to avoid in the dream. An excellent example of enduring the dreamed danger is provided by Garfield:
I was in a subway like the London tube system. I came to an escalator. The first three or four steps weren't going. I figured I had to walk up. After I got up the first few steps, I found that it was working. I looked up toward the top and saw all this yellow machinery above the escalator. I realized that if I kept on going, I would be smashed by the machinery. I became frightened, and started to wake up. Then I said to myself, "No, I have to keep on going. I have to face it. Patty says I can't wake up." My heart began pounding and my palms sweating as I was carried nearer and nearer. I said, "This is bad for my heart," but I kept on going. Nothing happened. Somehow I passed it and everything was all right. [20]
In another case, a woman dreamt she had difficulty avoiding being struck by cars as she crossed a busy street. As she had an unusually intense fear of traffic in waking life, upon becoming lucid, she decided to directly confront her fear and leapt into the path of an oncoming pickup truck. She described that she felt the truck pass through her and then she, in an ethereal form, rose heavenwards, feeling elevated and amused.
This "let it happen" to you approach may not be best when dealing with dream characters, however. In Tholey's research, "Defenseless behavior almost always led to unpleasant experiences of fear or discouragement." [21] Hostile dream figures would tend to grow in size and strength relative to the dreamer. The reason for this may be that dream characters often are projections of ourselves, and by giving in to their attacks, we may be allowing untransformed negative energies within us to overpower our better aspects.
Chapter 11 discusses this idea in greater depth and proposes another method for placating hostile dream figures: You simply open your heart and accept them as part of yourself. This may not require any words at all, and can have an astonishingly positive effect.
PRESCRIPTIONS FOR NIGHTMARES
The following is a list of some of the more common nightmare themes, with suggested methods of transforming the dream to achieve a positive outcome. Make yourself a goal that whenever you next find yourself in a nightmare, you will become lucid, and overcome your fear. If the nightmare features one of the following themes, try the suggested responses.
1. Theme: Being pursued
Response: Stop running. Turn to face the pursuer. This is in itself may cause the pursuer to disappear or become harmless. If not, try starting a conciliatory dialog with the character or animal.
2. Theme: Being attacked
Response: Don't give in meekly to the attack or flee. Show your readiness to defend yourself and then try to engage the attacker in a conciliatory dialog. Alternatively, find acceptance and love in yourself and extend this towards the threatening figure (see Chapter 11).
3. Theme: Falling
Response: Relax and allow yourself to land. The "old wives' tale" is false--you will not really die if you hit the ground. Alternatively, you can transform falling into flying.
4. Theme: Paralysis
Response: When you feel trapped, stuck or paralyzed, relax. Don't allow anxiety to overcome your rationality. Tell yourself you are dreaming and the dream will soon end. Let yourself go along with any images that appear or things that happen to your body. None of it will hurt you. Adopt an attitude of interest and curiosity about what happens.
5. Theme: Being unprepared for an examination or speech
Response: First of all, you don't need to continue with this theme at all. You can leave the exam or lecture room. However, you might enhance your self-confidence in such situations by creatively answering the test questions or giving a spontaneous talk on whatever topic suits you. Be sure to enjoy yourself. When you wake up, you may want to ask yourself whether you should actually prepare for a similar situation.
6. Theme: Being naked in public
Response: Who cares in a dream? Have fun with the idea. Some find being naked in a lucid dream erotically exciting. If you wish, have everyone else in the dream remove their clothes. Remember, modesty is a public convention, and dreams are private experiences.
RECURRENT NIGHTMARES
After waking up from the nightmare, I would go back to sleep while thinking of a point in the dream before it went bad. I would go back to that point and re-dream the dream, changing it, recreating it so that it would turn out well and end up as a good dream. [J.G., Kirkland, Washington]
From a friend I received the advice that to just "stand there" in a dream could change its course. At that time I was having frequent terrifying dreams. I would wake up screaming for help--thus ending the dream. And, of course, the overtones of helpless fear carried over into the day. So before I went to sleep I began to say to myself that whatever happened in my dreams, I was simply going to stand there and meet the danger and just see what the dream would do about
that.
An example of what happened is the elevator dream. I was stuck in an elevator. It wouldn't go up or down and I couldn't get out. Finally, I climbed out the top and while I was on the roof of the elevator, it began to go up very quickly and I would have been crushed against the top of the elevator shaft. Instead of screaming for help, I simply responded as an observer and recognizing that this was a dream, I said to the dream that I was going to sit there on the elevator. "Now, how will you handle that?" The elevator stopped short of the top. No harm was done. Not only that, the dream was no longer out of control. Until that time the elevator dream had been recurring. It never returned. [V. W., Lincoln, Nebraska]
Since I was three years old, twice a month, I have had nightmares about tidal waves engulfing me; the details varied but the feeling was always the same: terror and helplessness. Until...in a half-awake state I determined to have a lucid dream about diving into a big wave. I did it! With my heart beating wildly, I ran toward the stormy sea, chanting that it's just a dream. I dove in headfirst. For a fearful moment I felt water in my lungs, but then began to enjoy the sensation of bobbing about in the powerful currents and waves. after several (very pleasant) minutes of this, I washed up on shore.
I had one other lucid dream about facing the wave and enjoying being underwater. Since then, I have had no more nightmares of tidal waves. [L.G., San Francisco, California]
When thinking about a nightmare becomes so painful that we avoid it, it is not surprising that it recurs. However, even the most terrible images become less frightening when we examine them. I believe Saint-Denys sheds light on the mechanism of recurrent nightmares, in the following comment on his living gargoyle dream, quoted earlier in this chapter:
I don't know the origin of the dream. Probably some pathological cause brought it on the first time; but afterwards, when it was repeated on several occasions in the space of six weeks, it was clearly brought back solely by the impressions it had made on me and by my instinctive fear of seeing it again. If I happened, when dreaming, to find myself in a closed room, the memory of this horrible dream was immediately revived; I would glance towards the door, the thought of what I was afraid of seeing was enough to produce the sudden appearance of the same terrors, in the same form as before. [20]
I believe nightmares become recurrent by the following process: in the first place, the dreamer awakens from a nightmare in a state of intense anxiety and fear; naturally, he or she hopes that it will never happen again. The wish to avoid at all costs the events of the nightmare insures that they will be remembered. Later, something in the person's waking life associated with the original dream causes the person to dream about a situation similar to the original nightmare. The dreamer recognizes, perhaps unconsciously, the similarity, and thus expects the same thing to happen. Thus, expectation causes the dream to follow the first plot, and the more the dream recurs, the more likely it is to recur in the same form. Looking at recurrent nightmares in this way suggests a simple treatment: the dreamer can imagine a new conclusion for the dream to weaken the expectation that it has only one possible outcome.
Veteran dreamworker Strephon Kaplan Williams describes a technique for re-dreaming the end of a nightmare; he calls it "dream re-entry." The technique can be practiced with any dream that you feel unsatisfied with the outcome of, but it seems especially apt for recurrent nightmares, in which you are stuck time after time with the same set of disturbing events.
Dream re-entry is practiced in the waking state. Dreamworkers begin by selecting dreams to relive, and then come up with alternative ways of acting in the dreams to influence the progression of the events towards more favorable or useful outcomes. Then they relive the dream in imagination, with the new action. They continue to visualize being in the dream until they see the result of their alternative behavior.
Williams offers an example of dream re-entry from his own experience. He had dreamt: "I am in this house and there is something scary to confront. I don't want to do it and am all alone. I'm quite afraid. I wake up." He resolves to re-enter the dream and face the fear. In this case, he actually fell asleep as he was practicing the re-entry process, which added to the intensity of his experience:
This time I make myself enter the bathroom where the source of my fears seems to be. I am so afraid, so afraid that the flow of images stops. But through sheer will I make myself enter the bathroom ready for anything. I think of taking my machete and thrashing around with it if I am attacked. But I decide against this because I want to confront my fear by willing myself to stay with the situation no matter what.... I am ready to face that which could overwhelm me and exist
with it rather than try to defeat it.
...When I do [enter the bathroom] , there seems to be a hulking luminescent figure there. It does not attack me but changes into a dwarf-like figure, long arms, roundish head, like Yoda. We face each other. I have stayed with the situation. No attack comes. My fear goes away when I experience what is there behind the door, and has been there so many years going back to childhood. What has been there behind every door and scary place is fear itself and my inability to fully deal with it. [21]
Several years ago, I used a similar approach with someone suffering from recurrent nightmares. A man telephoned me asking for help. He feared going to sleep, because he might have "that terrible dream" again. In his dream, he told me, he would find himself in a room in which the walls were closing in threatening to crush him. He would desperately try to open the door, which would always be locked.
I asked him to imagine he was back in the dream, knowing it was a dream. What else could he do? At first he was unable to think of anything else that could possibly happen, so I modeled what I was asking him to do. I imagined I was in the same dream and I visualized the walls closing in. However, the moment I found the door locked, it occurred to me to reach into my pocket where I found the key, with which I unlocked the door and walked out. I recounted my imaginal solution and asked him to try again. He imagined the dream again--this time he looked around the room and noticed that there was no ceiling and climbed out.
I suggested to him that if this dream should ever recur, he could recognize it as a dream, and remember his solution. I asked him to call me if the dream came back, but he never did. Unfortunately, we cannot be sure about what happened. But, I think that having found some way to cope with that particular (dream) situation, he had no need to dream about it again because he no longer feared it. As I have hypothesized elsewhere, we dream about what we expect to happen, both what we fear and what we hope for. I believe that the approach I have outlined can provide the basis for an effective treatment for recurrent nightmares, and look forward to it being tested clinically.
Some evidence has appeared in psychotherapy literature indicating that rehearsal (i.e., re-dreaming) can help people overcome recurrent nightmares. Geer and Silverman successfully treated an otherwise normal patient who suffered for fifteen years from a recurrent nightmare with five sessions of relaxation followed by seven sessions of mentally re-experiencing the nightmare (rehearsal). [22] The frequency of nightmares decreased only after the third rehearsal session, when the patient was instructed to say to himself "It's just a dream." After the sixth rehearsal session, several weeks later, the nightmare disappeared. Marks described a case in which a recurrent nightmare of fourteen years' duration disappeared after the patient relived the dream three times while awake and then wrote three accounts of the nightmare with triumphant endings. [23] Bishay treated seven cases of nightmares with simple rehearsal of the nightmare and/or rehearsal with an altered ending. [24] A one-year follow-up of five patients in the latter study showed complete relief from nightmares in the four patients who successfully imagined masterful endings, and marked improvement in a patient who was only able to imagine a neutral outcome.
Rehearsal re-dreaming is done while awake. However, a similar technique can be practiced during the recurrent nightmare, if the dreamer is lucid. Instead of imagining how the dream might turn out if the dreamer tried something new, while lucid the dreamer can try the alternative action right there in the nightmare. The resultant resolution should be all the more empowering, because of the enhanced reality of the dream experience. Practicing altering the course of recurrent nightmares both in waking and dreaming may be even more effective. Sometimes, the waking re-dreaming exercise is enough to resolve the problem created in the dream so that it never recurs again. However, if the dream does occur again, then the dreamer should be prepared to become lucid and consciously face the problem. The exercise below incorporates both re-entry techniques.
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EXERCISE: RE-DREAMING RECURRENT NIGHTMARES
1. Recall and record the recurrent nightmare.
If you have had a particular nightmare more than once, recall it in as much detail as you can, and write it down. Examine it for points where you could influence the turn of events by doing something differently.
2. Choose a re-entry point and new action.
Choose a specific part of the dream to change, and a specific new action that you would like to try at that point to alter the course of the dream. Also select the most relevant point before the trouble-spot at which to re-enter the dream. (If it is a long dream, you may wish to begin at the part that immediately precedes the unpleasant events).
3. Relax completely.
Find a time and place where you can be alone and uninterrupted for between ten and twenty minutes. In a comfortable position, close your eyes and relax as described in EXERCISE: PROGRESSIVE RELAXATION.
4. Re-dream the nightmare, seeking resolution.
Beginning at the entry point you chose in Step 2, imagine you are back in the dream. Visualize the dream happening as it did before until you reach the part at which you have chosen to try a new behavior. See yourself doing the new action, and then continue imagining the dream until you discover what effect your alteration has on its outcome.
5. Evaluate your re-dreamed resolution.
When the imagined dream has ended, open your eyes. Write down what happened as if it were a normal dream report. Note how you feel about the new dream resolution. If you are not satisfied, and still feel uncomfortable about the dream, try the exercise again with a new alternative action. Possibly, achieving a comfortable resolution with the waking exercise will be enough to stop the recurrence of the nightmare.
6. If the dream recurs, follow your re-dreamed plan of action. If the dream occurs again, do in the dream what you visualized during waking re-entry. Remember that the dream cannot harm you and be firmly resolved to carry through with your new behavior.
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CHILDREN'S NIGHTMARES
I learned as a child of five or six to control nightmares. For example, a dinosaur was chasing me, so I inserted a can of spinach into the plot, and upon eating it gained Popeye's strength and "vanquished" my foe. [V.B., Roanoke, Virginia]
I had this lucid dream when I was ten years old: Feeling like a frightened victim, I am high in a stone tower with my younger sister Diane. A witch has tied us up and is about to stuff us into gunny sacks and throw us out the window to drown in the water far below. My sister is crying and near hysteria. Suddenly my panic turns to lightness and wonder. I laugh. "Diane! This is only a dream! My dream! Let her throw us out the window because I can make us do anything we want!" The witch is now background material, no longer the imposing "control." We laugh as we fall through the air, gunny sacks melting away. The warm, friendly water gently supports us to the shore where we run, giggling, in the grass. For days after that dream I felt an inner strength, a sense that fear is now what I'd let it be up to that point. [B.H., Sebastapol, California]
As a child I participated in and controlled many of my own dreams. My own lucid dreaming started when I was about nine or ten years old. One night I had a dream in which I was being chased by an evil giant. In the dream I suddenly remembered my parents telling me there are no such things as monsters. It was then that I realized I must be dreaming. In the dream I stopped running, turned around and let the giant pick me up. The outcome of the dream was good and I awoke with a pleasant and confident feeling. Over the next two years I developed more skill at lucid dreaming, so much so that bedtime became exciting because of this new world I had discovered where anything was possible and I was the Boss. [R.M., Toronto, Canada]
Many people have reported discovering lucid dreaming as a means of coping with childhood nightmares, as in the cases above. Children tend to have more nightmares than adults, but fortunately, they appear to have little difficulty putting into practice the idea of facing their fears with lucid dreaming.
In her book Studies in Dreams published in 1921, Mary Arnold- Forster mentioned having helped children overcome nightmares with lucidity, [25] and I can relate a similar experience myself. Once, when I was making long-distance small-talk with my niece, I asked her about her dreams. Madeleina, then seven years old, burst out with the description of a fearful nightmare. She had dreamt that she had gone swimming, as she often did, in the local reservoir. But this time, she had been threatened and terrified by a shark. I sympathized with her fear and added, matter-of-factly, "but of course you know there aren't really any sharks in Colorado." She replied, "Of course not!" So, I continued: "Well, since you know there aren't really any sharks where you swim, if you ever see one there again, it would be because you were dreaming. And, of course, a dream shark can't really do you any harm. It is only frightening if you don't know that it's a dream. But once you know you're dreaming, you can do whatever you like-- you could even make friends with the dream shark, if you wanted to! Why not give it a try?" Madeleina seemed intrigued. A week later, she telephoned to proudly announce, "Do you know what I did? I rode on the back of the shark!"
Whether or not this approach to children's nightmares always produces such impressive results we do not yet know, but it is certainly worth exploring. If you are a parent with children suffering from nightmares, you should first make sure that they know what a dream is and then tell them about lucid dreaming. For more information on children's nightmares and how to treat them, see Garfield's excellent book YOUR CHILD'S DREAMS. [26]
That lucid dreaming promises to banish one of the terrors of childhood seems reason enough for all enlightened parents teaching the method to their children. In addition, an important bonus of the lucid dreaming approach to children's nightmares is that it results in an increased sense of mastery and self-confidence as can be seen in all of the examples above. Think of the value of discovering that fear has no more power than you let it have, and that you are the master.
REFERENCES
[1] E. Hartmann, THE NIGHTMARE (New York: Basic Books, 1984).
[2] S. LaBerge, L. Levitan, and W. C. Dement, "Lucid Dreaming: Physiological Correlates of Consciousness during REM Sleep," JOURNAL OF MIND BEHAVIOR 7 (1986): 251-258.
[3] . S. Freud, "Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis," in Standard edition of the COMPLETE PSYCHOLOGICAL WORKS OF SIGMUND FREUD, Vol. 15 (London: Hogarth Press, 1916-17), 222.
[4] Hartmann, op. cit.; A. Kales et al., "Nightmares: Clinical Characteristics of Personality Patterns," AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRY 137 (1980): 1197-1201.
[5] J. A. Gray, "Anxiety," HUMAN NATURE 1 (1978): 38-45.
[6] C. Green, LUCID DREAMS (London: Hamish Hamilton, 1968); S. LaBerge, LUCID DREAMING (Los Angeles: J. P. Tarcher, 1985).
[7] I. Shah, THE WAY OF THE SUFI (London: Octagon Press, 1968), 79.
[8] . H. Saint-Denys, DREAMS AND HOW TO GUIDE THEM (London: Duckworth, 1982), 58-59.
[9] P. Tholey, "A Model of Lucidity Training as a Means of Self- Healing and Psychological Growth," in CONSCIOUS MIND, SLEEPING BRAIN, eds. J. Gackenbach and S. LaBerge (New York: Plenum, 1988), 263-287.
[10] G. S. Sparrow, LUCID DREAMING: DAWNING OF THE CLEAR LIGHT (Virginia Beach: A.R.E. Press, 1976), 33.
[11] See LaBerge, LUCID DREAMING, chapter 9, for a discussion of out-of-body experiences.
[12] K. Stewart, "Dream Theory in Malaya," in ALTERED STATES OF CONCIOUSNESS, ed. C.Tart (New York: Doubleday, 1972), 161- 170.
[13] P. Garfield, CREATIVE DREAMING (New York: Ballantine, 1974).
[14] Tholey, op. cit.
[15] Ibid., 265.
[16] S. Kaplan-Williams, THE JUNGIAN-SENOI DREAMWORK MANUAL (Berkeley, Calif.: Journey Press, 1985).
[17] Tholey, op. cit.
[18] Garfield, op. cit., 99-100.
[19] Tholey, op. cit., 272.
[20] C. McCreery, PSYCHICAL PHENOMENA AND THE PHYSICAL WORLD (London: Hamish Hamilton, 1973), 102-104.
[21] . Kaplan-Williams, op. cit., 204.
[22] J. H. Geer and I. Silverman, "Treatment of a Recurrent Nightmare by Behaviour Modification Procedures," JOURNAL OF ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY 72 (1967): 188-190.
[23] I. Marks, "Rehearsal Relief of a Nightmare," BRITISH JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRY 135 (1978): 188-190.
[24] N. Bishay, "Therapeutic Manipulation of Nightmares and the Management of Neuroses," BRITISH JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRY 147 (1985): 67-70.
[25] M. Arnold-Forster, STUDIES IN DREAMS (New York: Macmillan, 1921). [26] P. Garfield, YOUR CHILD'S DREAMS (New York: Ballantine, 1984).
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The Lucidity Institute, Inc. * tel: 650.321.9969 * fax: 650.321.9967
lucid@lucidity.com * ftp://ftp.lucidity.com * http://www.lucidity.com
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The responsibility to nightmare is to wake up. ***Michael Harper, American poet, _Images of Kin_ (b. 1938)***
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Madame Aionia's Astrological Dreaming Series:
Dreaming Through the Houses: 10th House
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Have you ever wondered how dreams and astrology are connected?
There are many ways we can connect dreams to astrology, and many don't require that you know all about your Natal Chart. In this column we will be exploring the symbolic rather than predictive aspects of astrology. Symbolic astrology attempts to use the images of astrological to give meaning to one's life and empower choices rather than predict paths. We do this by imaginal overlay. In this process we impleach, (poetically interweave)dream, image, feeling, life and symbol in a way to evoke a felt sense of the dream's imagery and its position in our life.
This year we are focusing each month on a different House.
The inner circle of the Natal or Birth Chart is divided into 12 distinct regions know as Houses. They relate to everyday activates. One will be about physical appearances and temperament, while another relates to possessions, for example. Planets and signs fall within these Houses and influence the areas of focus. We will be watching for images of planets, signs and other celestial events and hopefully begin to see the emergence of an astrological chart that dips into birth charts, dreams, and our waking life.
Tenth House: Saturn in Capricorn. Aspirations, ambitions, public standing, matters out side the home, social staus, responsibilities, discipline, personal image, role in life.
Dream: I am at a social function, its someone's graduation and I'm going to be giving the graduation speech. I walk up from a building through some gates onto a lawn where the reception will take place. People come up and introduce themselves to me. I can tell they are really just saying hello to the selected speaker and not me. There is a large table of food and I begin handing it out to people as they go by, feeling I can use my authority to start the reception early.
The Tenth house can be seen on a mundane level as the outward expression of the home and 4th House. Outside, the persona one projects and the role we inwardly feel we have are dominant.
Look for dreams where we appear in society, have roles in groups, function in outward movements. But also look for the purpose we identify with when we consider our deeper reason for being.
Dream: I'm walking to work downtown when I see some other women get out of a cab. A man in another car stops and jumps out with a knife. I shout at the man that he'd better take off, or we'll have to sick the dogs on him. When I woke up, I realized how my role in the dream was like my role at work, continually protecting people from attacks of others and developing guard-dog programs.
Occasionally a dominant parent is seen connected with this house. It might be useful to ask which parent most shaped our social attitudes and ethics. But is may also be the hidden ambitions of that parent which manifest in the child and the dream. Look less for the inner need to achieve than the need to prove these achievements to others.
Dream: We are building a giant housing complex and the plans call for this to be just 4 or 5 stories high. I am talking with a group of workmen and trying to convince them to keep going. I feel that if we double the height of the buildings they will be seen by the investors in the bank down the block and they will accept up into their neighborhood. One of the men from the bank drives by and I see my mother in the car. I think it is odd that my mom would have an account with this bank.
These achievements my be pushed on other as well lived out by oneself. In a dream it is difficult to separate our own self from others, but this fogginess may serve to allow the self-other identity to shift back and forth in transformative and insightful ways.
Dream: I am babysitting my uncle's kids again. We are in a park near a stream. The little boy J. and girl K. are trying to build a boat that will float down the stream. The girl keeps tiring of the game. I keep telling her to keep trying, and tease her that important people are across the stream watching her progress. The girl finds a newspaper with a blueprint on it and tears it in half. Part of it she makes into a sail boat, and then she eats the other part.
Due to the intensity of public attention, issue of public exposure and hiddenness can be viewed as Tenth house concerns. The following dream combines this with the need to rise above others.
Dream: I'm racing up a ladder outside a large building. There are other ladders next to mine, maybe 5 or 6, each 4 or 5 stories high. I don't know why we are racing but I feel it is very important to stay ahead of the others. The ladder keeps catching the fabric and I'm concerned about the people below me looking up my skirt and have to keep pulling it in with my hands. I'm surprised that I'm not at all scared of the heights, just of being passed by and exposed.
This outward movement can lead to values that transcend the need to be seen as successful.
Dream: I'm in a space ship that has been trying for many centuries to reach a star in the Vegan sector. We are the great- grandchildren of the original explorers. My family is like a guild that controls the speed of the vehicle and I'm very proud that we have contributed to speeding up the ship to nearly twice the original speed. But now the Vegan system is approaching and I realize our family will no longer have its function and status and tell my sister who is working at a very large motor, like one that would be found on a submarine, that our success has ruined us. She isn't worried at all and tells me about all the other skills our family has learned in working with others. I think about our family becoming an ambassador like guild on the new plant.
M. Aionia
Next month: 11th House: Friends, acquaintances, clubs, societies, intellectual pleasures...
Send in your 11th house dreams to
M. Aionia at aionia@dreamgate.com
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Reflections on the Tenth House
Island
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When I thought about framing tenth house dreams in my mind, my gut reaction was, "I probably don't usually remember tenth house dreams." Then I clucked to myself. Saturn, the natural ruler of Capricorn and the tenth house, is a great defender of psychological turf, that is, until the mask proves too brittle, shattering into millions of fragments. Meaning for me that feelings which threaten me, undermine my defenses, depress me, cripple me, bring me pain, make me feel weak, limited, restricted, and so on, I repress, suppress, control the feelings as best as I can. Thinking, however, beyond my gut reaction, I realized I have had dreams where a mirror, or image, shatters, or millions of tiny bits of papers have blown helter skelter onto a yard, and I am left, sorting through the debris. I have seen my face multiplied ad infinitum before an audience, who cannot know which face is authentic. In dreams, I
have been on stage, playing the female version of Hamlet, wondering how the audience responds to the role I play? My dreams have been peopled with celebrities and dead Presidents, famous writers and others of public renown, bosses and employers, the elderly. My dreams have also been filled with masks, bones, crystal, canes, clocks, climbing and falls, ceilings and walls, workloads, carrying bodies on my back, winter, delays, frozen foods, stones, ordeals, mud, monuments, skeletons, scaffolds, all potentially resonating with tenth house concerns. A few years ago I used a computer program to index all words appearing in my dreams, simultaneously performing a word count, on seven years of dreams. Heading the list? Mother and Daddy. Also tenth house, where the jury still seems to be out on which parent is fourth house and which tenth.
The conclusion to a tenth house dream I had 20 years ago which changed the direction of my life was simply, "I stand before an applauding audience. They see only a beautiful face, yet they do not see my real, hideous face, which bears the mark of all I've experienced." In the last year or so, I've begun to spend a great deal of reading time on just that painful incongruency -- public image versus private Self -- so I've taken to reading women's journals, longing to immerse myself in the authentic beingness behind the mask, or persona. I've noticed lately that if I experience even one hint of disapproval or disappointment from my partner, I unfairly retaliate, "You cannot expect anything of me," really only an outcry for him not to assign me any role. Just this week, I caught a glimpse of a half hour show called, "Hollywood Diaries." I was struck by the words Marilyn Monroe wrote in her private journal, especially because there was nothing in her public life and image that hinted at what real depth of feeling and insight this woman possessed. Yesterday, someone phoned, in despair. He's struggled for years, teaching himself to play the piano, because he loves music, and now he plays quite well. When he was a child, his parents were told by a music teacher not to give him music lessons since he was tone deaf. He thinks and feels with childlike simplicity, and burst out with, "if the world would recognize my gifts, then I wouldn't be such a bad guy after all," a arrow released straight into the center of his tenth house. The following dream, I feel, expands on his tenth house concerns:
I am in the middle of a tornado. I see an owner and his dog, a Doberman pincer, walking. The owner lets go of his dog, something that I have always hated, and I am afraid the dog will come toward me, but the dog runs past me instead. There is a fisherman's net which I move away from during the tornado but, as the winds grow worse, and the storm howls, I find myself having to lay down as I can't stand up, the winds are so fierce. Huge objects, like cars, whirl above me, so I grab the fisherman's net and find that it is concrete (not moving). So I say, "Thank you, God, for giving me something to hold onto, for safety." The storm dies quite suddenly and, as I awaken, I see a moving train flash before me.
Because the tenth house is traditionally associated with the parent of greatest influence, usually the parent who mothered us and whose ambitions we may live out unconsciously, then I suspect dreams of that parent will help us to fathom what roles we play in the world, whether unconsciously, because expected, or by choice. Some of the questions I have asked myself are what is my attitude to the world? How do I participate in it? Do I feel that I am a daughter or son of the Universe and have a right to be here, or do I feel alien, outcast? How do I define and preserve my boundaries? How do I respond to authority? To regulation of any kind? Do I assume responsibility for things I cannot control? Do I carry burdens that are not mine? If so, why? Do I equate self-worth with power and status? How will I be remembered? In what manner do I wield authority, delegate responsibility?
Ultimately, I feel that, for me, dreams which seem to relate loosely to "tenth house" concerns, admittedly, a rather nebulous concept and difficult for me to grasp, shed light on my reason for being on earth. My sense of purpose, my ambitions, social status, whether I count myself or am counted by others as a success or failure - and, more to the point, how I respond to life's limitations generally, surface routinely in my dreams, I suspect. Generally, though, I feel my tenth house dreams are dreams of compensation. Though I may dream of figures of power and influence, in reality, I feel my influence is that of a tiny ripple, rather than a huge wave. One of my all time favorite songs is "Dust in the Wind," because it resonates deeply with my sense of Self, and I'm not sure I would want to feel otherwise, though my dreams may actually be asking me to balance things out a little more.
So to place a wide angle lens on the tenth house, I would like to share the following quotations taken from an excellent book of quotations, _The Whole World Book of Quotations: Wisdom from Women and Men Around the Globe Through the Centuries_ compiled and edited by Kathryn and Ross Petras (Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Reading Massachusetts, 1995).
Image Presented to Public . . .
Life as it proceeds reveals, coolly and dispassionately, what lies behind the mask that each man wears. It would seem that everyone possesses several faces. Some people use only one all of the time, and it then, naturally, becomes soiled and wrinkled. These are the thrifty sort. Others look after their masks in the hope of passing them on to their descendants. Others again are constantly changing their faces. But all of them, when they reach old age, realize one day that the mask they are wearing is their last and that it will soon be worn out, and then, from behind the last mask, the true face appears. ***Sadiq Hidayat (1903-1951) Persian writer, _Buf-i Kur (The Blind Owl)_)***
A Noble Ruler Who Bore Great Responsibility . . .
You have said to me when I was still young and could hope, that in difficulty I could send a voice four times, once for each quarter of the earth, and you would hear me. Today I send a voice for a people in despair. You have given me a sacred pipe, and through this I should make my offering. You see it now! >From the west you have given me the cup of living water and the sacred bow, the power to make life and to destroy it . . . and from the south, the nation's sacred hoop and the tree that was to bloom . . . At the center of the sacred hoop, you have said that I should make the tree to bloom. With tears running, O Great Spirit, m Grandfather -- with running eyes I must say now that the tree has never bloomed. A pitiful old man, you see me here, and I have fallen away and done nothing. Here at the center of the world, where you took me when I was young and taught me; here, old I stand, and the tree is withered, my Grandfather. ***Black Elk (1863 - 1950) Oglala Sioux holy man, song to Wakan Tanka, the Great Mystery, at Harney Peak, in the Dakota Black Hills (1912)***
Achievement . . .
We must leave our mark on life while we have it in our power; it should close up, when we leave it, without a trace. ***Isak Dinesen, Danish writer (1885 - 1962)***
On Exercising Caution . . .
Take Care
then, mother's son, less you become
a dancer disinherited in mid-dance
hanging a lame foot in air like the hen
in a strange unfamiliar compound.
Pray
protect this patrimony to which
you must return when the song
is finished and the dancers
disburse.
***Chinua Achebe, Nigerian writer, "Beware, Soul Brothers" (b. 1930)***
On Experience . . .
I wanted to be born at the
farthest limit of the world.
I'll explore it, I said to myself,
biting big chunks from it.
And when I want, I'll go
straight to the core.
This is the way of the world I
thought in my innocence,
round and around the layers of peel
until the taste becomes certain.
***Abba Kovner, Israeli poet, "Observations at the End of a Journey" (b.
1918)***
Greatness . . .
The great man is one who never loses his child's heart. ***Mencius, Chinese philosopher, _Meng-tzu_ (c. 390-305 B.C.E)***
We can do no great things - only small things with great love. ***Mother Teresa, Yugoslavian missionary, _Life in the Spirit_ (1910 - 1997)
Rulers . . .
Of myself I must say this, I never was any greedy, scraping grasper, nor a strait fast-holding prince, nor yet a master; my heart was never set on worldly goods, but only for my subjects' good. ***Elizabeth I, English queen, to a deputation from the House of Commons (1601) (1533 - 1603)***
Must! Is must a word to be addressed to princes? Little man, little man! They father, if he had been alive, durst not have used that word. ***Elizabeth I, English queen, to Robert Cecil, from her deathbed (1533 - 1603)***
I never give answers. I lead on from one question to another. That is my leadership. ****Rabindranath Tagore, Indian writer and philospher (1861 - 1941)***
Some people have wondered if I didn't have a feeling that I was a man of destiny and that great forces were at work on me. No, I never had that feeling. I was ashamed. I wanted to do what was good rather than what was bad. *** U Nu, Burmese politician and first prime minister of Burma (b. 1907)***
Power . . .
Power immobilizes; it freezes with a single gesture - grandiose, terrible, theatrical, or finally, simply monotonous ù the variety which is life. ***Octavio Paz, Mexican writer (b. 1914)***
Power . . . is the supreme end for all those who have not understood.*** Simone Weil, French philosopher, _Gravity and Grace_ (1909 - 1943)***
On Success . . .
To have realized your dream makes you feel lost. ***Oriana Fallaci, Italian journalist, _Letter to a Child Never Born_ (b. 1930)***
I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed. ***Booker T. Washington, American educator, _Up from Slavery_ (1856 - 1915)***
On Time . . .
Who is moving in the distance?
It is the clock's pendulum,
Hired by the god of death
To measure life.
Gu Cheng, Chinese poet (b. 1957)
Island
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G L O B A L D R E A M I N G N E W S
October-November 1997
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This Month's Features:
NEWS
- Dream-Quest Cards
- Dreamwork with Jeremy Taylor, Salt Lake City, Utah
- Dream work Amid the art and culture of Bali
- New Mailing List for Anamolous Experiences
- Halloween Costume Ball Group Dreaming Project
RESEARCH & REQUESTS
- Dreams Needed for Book on Princess Diana
- Dream Symbols and Popular Culture
- White Light Dreams
- Mutual Dream Survey
- Lucid Dream Study on Fears
- Life Changing Dreams
- Diana Dreams
WEBSITE & ONLINE UPDATES
- Psychic Creative Dreaming: An Explorers Guide to the Dream Net
- Sports Betting & Precognitive Dreams
- Halloween Chat on AOL
LATE BREAKING NEWS
-The Everything Dreams Book
- Myth and Dream Tour in Greece
- Continuing Education Program and the ASD Hawaii Conference
DREAM CALENDAR for November-December 1997
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N E W S
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<<<<< Dream-Quest Cards >>>>>
ISBN 0 9681981 0 4
Published by DreamQuest Project, Inc.
Whether you are an experienced dreamworker, or a relative newcomer to decoding your symbolic night language, DreamQuest Cards can offer you new insights and perspectives. DreamQuest is comprised of seventy cards, each containing a different set of questions, revolving around a particular theme of collective value or experience, such as "Love", "Victim", "Power" or "Journey". After recording a dream, the dreamer shuffles the deck, and selects three cards in succession. By working with the open-ended questions on each card, the dreamer can begin to explore a particular area of the dream in greater depth. Operating on the theory of synchronicity, or meaningful coincidence, the themes represented on the cards selected tend to be highly reflective of the dreamer's most significant life events or issues, and so can provide a meaningful opportunity for personal revelation in a gentle, non-intrusive way. Since the cards ask questions, rather than providing interpretations, they are appropriate for use alone, with a partner, or within a dream group context.
DreamQuest Cards were developed by two professional dreamworkers in Ontario, Canada, Kathleen Meadows and Gloria Nye. Dr. Meadows holds a doctorate in clinical psychology, and conducts dream-study workshops, groups and classes. Ms. Nye holds a bachelor's degree in Psychology and is a certified practitioner in Neuro Linguistic Programming who facilitates workshops and works creatively with her dreams through writing, painting and collage.
The Cards include an introductory guide discussing methods for recording dreams, using the cards, working in a dream-study group and general benefits of dream work. For more information, contact DreamQuest Project, Inc., 17A-218 Silvercreek Parkway North, Suite 306, Guelph, ON Canada N1H 8E8, www.dream-quest.com or email dreamquest@golden.net.
<<<<< Dreamwork with Jeremy Taylor, Salt Lake City, Utah >>>>>
Friday evening, November ~4 and Saturday, November 15, 1997, Holiday Inn, Salt Lake City' - Downtown. Sponsored by The Stress Reduction Clinic, Peg Hunter, LCSW.
Friday evening Lecture: Every Dream is an Invitation to Intimacy...
What are dreams and why do they matter to us? How can we get in better communication with the deepest, most intriguing parts of ourselves? Dreams speak a universal language and come in the service of health and wholeness, and only the dreamer can determine with any certainty what the multiple meanings of his or her dreams may be. We'll look at some fundamental assumptions about working with our own dreams and the dreams of others.
Saturday Workshop: Dreamwork and the Spiritual Path...
We all have a deep longing to live more consciously in a universe that makes sense - to participate in life with feeling and actions that have importance and meaning beyond mere personal comfort or ego satisfaction. Our dreams regularly come to help 115 discover this greater spiritual possibility. The sacred scriptures of the world's religions are unanimous in their testimony that we have the opportunity to commune with the divine in a direct way. Modern psychological insights and research have contributed to our knowledge of how to explore the multiple layers of meaning in dreams and discover the divine archetypal creative impulse that animates and can transform our lives. The hardest thing to do is see one's own dream with fresh eyes. Each time we share and work with dreams in a group setting, we deepen awareness of our deep, shared common humanity, a doorway to divinity that animates us all.
About the Presenter
Jeremy Taylor is a Unitarian Universalist minister and a professional dream worker. He has taught techniques of working with dreams, along with such related disciplines as pastoral counseling, world mythology and archetypal psychology in the San Francisco Bay area colleges and universities for more than 25 years. He is president of the International Association for the Study of Dreams. He and his wile Kathy lead Myth and Dream tours to Europe and the Mediterranean every' other year. He is the author of numerous articles and books, including Where People Fly and Water Runs Uphill and Dream Work, Techniques for Discovering the Creative Power in Dreams.
Lecture & Workshop Details
Fees:
$65 for lecture and workshop
$75 for lecture and workshop for late registration (after November 6)
$60 each for groups of five or more registering together before November 6
$15 Friday evening lecture only (limited space available)
$60 Saturday workshop only
$50 Students (include copy of current ID)
Mail with your check to money order to:
Peg Hunter, LCSW, PC
P.O. Box 521585
Salt Lake City, Utah 84152-1585
phone: 801-699-6796
<<<<< Dream work Amid the art and culture of Bali >>>>
April 15 - 26, 1998
Bali -- a tropical paradise . . . an island of art and culture . . . a place where spirits are said to come out and play in the moonlight . . .a place to dream . . .
Dr. Ingegerd Hansson of Hudiksvall, Sweden, who has worked with Dr. Montague Ullman for many years, is planning an International Dream Group seminar in Bali April 15-26. In addition to daily dream group sessions using Monte's process, the seminar will feature taped interviews with Monte. Numerous excursions and cultural activities are included. Dr. Hansson is one of the organizers of the Dream Group Forum, an association in Sweden dedicated to spreading dream work and training leaders in Monte's group process.
The fee for the dream work, cultural activities and hotel accommodations is $1,650 and includes: 12 nights (double occupancy) at a first class hotel with breakfast included; Welcome at the airport and taxi to the hotel Palmgarden in Sanur; Welcome dinner first evening with Balinese dance performance; One-day excursion around the island to see some of its many beautiful and interesting sites; includes lunch, entrance fees and a barong dance theater presentation; Short excursions to see artists at work and there will be other surprises as well!
We will have a Balinese guide all the time to help us with history and practical matters. A competent and reliable person in his own right, he belongs to the family of a former king. For more information call or fax Dr. Ingegerd Hansson at +46-650-13188 or Wendy Pannier <dreams@chesco.com>c/o Dream Appreciation. Or contact, by snail mail: Wendy Pannier, 487 West Street Road #1W, Kennett Square, PA 19348 or Dr. Ingegerd Hansson, Kvarnbacken 18, S-82440 Hudiksvall, Sweden. Space is limited, so please confirm your participation as soon as possible.
Dec. 1: Indications of interest with nonrefundable $50 deposit due
Jan 15: Deposit of $600 due
March 1: Balance of $1,000 due
<<<<< New Mailing List for Anamolous Experiences>>>>>
A new mailing list is available for email subscription, devoted to the discussion of Sleep Paralysis, Awareness during Sleep Paralysis and the experiences to which this phenomenon has been linked: Lucid Dreaming, Alien Abductions, Old Hag Attacks, Incubi/Succubi Attacks, and so on. Awareness during other forms of physical inertness such as coma, anesthesia, trance and apparent death (as in the Near-Death Experience) is also open for discussion. To subscribe simply send a message to <nightflyer@mindspring.com> with the word 'Subscribe' in the SUBJECT: field. This list is maintained by the Trionic Research Institute and you may want to visit their website to get an idea of the range of viewpoints open for discussion before you decide whether to subscribe. Trionic Research Institute http://www.trionica.com
<<<<< Halloween Costume Ball Group Dreaming Project >>>>>
You are invited to a Halloween Costume Ball on the Magallon-Galleon dreamland cruise. The cruise ship boards nightly at the Gate of Horn between October 25th and October 31st. The route will take us second star to the right and straight on 'til morning. How to join the cruise: * Decide what costume you will wear to the Ball before you go to sleep. * Picture yourself in costume, then climb into your own ship of dreams. * Set sail as you drift into sleep. * Sleep and dream yourself to the Ball. Pay especial attention to the characters in your dreams...the fellow revelers you will meet this night. * Wake and record your dreams. * Decide whether you want to be known to your dreaming partners by your waking name or whether you'd like to use a dream or cyber name. * Send your dreams to CaseyFlyer@aol.com or Linda Lane Magallon, 1083 Harvest Meadow Ct, San Jose, CA 95136. * Deadline for dream reports: the sooner, the better, but November 2nd is the very latest. Dreams will be re-distributed to all Halloween Costume Ball participants. Then you can check for resonance between your dream and those of the rest of the group. Did anyone dream about your costume? Did you dream of anyone else's? Or maybe you dreamt about the galleon or the journey or having fun... A summary report of the Halloween Costume Ball will also be printed in the next issue of *NightFlyer* (newsletter of the Fly-By-Night Club) and in *Electric Dreams* .
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R E S E A R C H & R E Q U E S T S
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<<<<< Dreams Needed for Book on Princess Diana >>>>>
Robson Books Ltd of London is putting together a tribute book about Diana, princess of Wales. This book will consist entirely of dreams the public had about Diana both before and after her death. The idea is to produce a book entirely written by the public which will be both a surreal tribute to Diana and an examination of the role she played in the national (and international) consciousness. A percentage of the proceeds is being donated to the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund. The woman behind this project is Rita Frances. In order to make the book work she needs dreams. She already has many but will need more...and more. She is thus appearing in radio interviews across the UK and generally trying to gain as much publicity as possible but deadlines are pressing and the message has yet to catch on in a big way. She can be contacted at www.webshack-cafe/dreamingofdiana, or for more information, contact dominic streatfeild-james <106431.20@compuserve.com>
<<<<< Dream Symbols and Popular Culture >>>>>
We are a general trade publisher with a focus in the area of symbolism and popular culture. Currently, we are working on a major series of books which focus on the synchronicity between the top products of popular culture (films, TV series, songs, books, songs, etc.) and collective unconsciousness. We feel products are the key modern symbols and are asking if there is a connection between them and collective unconsciousness. We are looking at the products which occur at the same time and seeing if there are patterns between the products and other cycles in culture. This goes against traditional methods of investigation which focus on causal connections. We are looking at simultaneous (synchronistic) events. We would be very interested to know if anyone tracking dreams has found correlations between the most popular symbols of dreams and events in popular culture. We would really appreciate your comments on the above idea. Is the above type of research being done by anyone today? Do you feel it is a worthwhile area of reasearch? Is it feasible to do this? Please send your thoughts to: John Fraim, President
The GreatHouse Company, 167 Oak Drive, West Liberty, Ohio 43357, 937-465-5400, email <jfraim@bright.net>
<<<<< White Light Dreams >>>>>
For a college research project, I am collecting descriptions of what I call "White Light" dreams in which a brilliant sparkling light illuminates an object, the environment, a person, and/or you.
If you think you have had one or more of these such dreams & are willing to share them with me, please write a description of the dream(s) with specific attention to anything about the white light plus any emotions you experienced. If you can remember any relevant life circumstances around the time of the dream, add those as well. Include your age and gender along with the description. No names please. Send it to cmlemieu@colby.edu. I look forward to hearing from you and until then, sweet dreams!
<<<<< Mutual Dream Survey >>>>>
Participants needed to complete questionnaires for a research project on mutual/shared dreaming. If interested, please contact: Julie Keyser, Rt 1, Ferryville, WI 54628
<<<<< Lucid Dream Study on Fears >>>>>
The purpose of the study will be to find out whether a group of experimental subjects could show a significant reduction in the impact a feared object has on them. Experimental subjects should have at least some experience with lucid dreaming and one fear they want to eliminate, while control group subjects would be good normal-dream recallers. The long-range purpose of the study is to contribute to the fear literature by evaluating the effectiveness lucid dreaming can have on the fearful situation in reducing fears. If fears could be emphatically eliminated, using self-learned, self-controlled techniques such as lucid dreaming, time could be freed up and used to address other personal issues. This study will address the following specific research questions: 1. Can individuals who have anxiety provoking fears be taught to consciously use their dreams therapeutically? 2. Can lucid dreams (LD's) be harnessed to eliminate specific fear? If you are interested in participating in this study, please contact RWMyst@aol.com.
<<<<< Life Changing Dreams>>>>
Do you know of someone who had a dream that completely altered their life? Like a doctor who had a dream that caused him to chuck his profession and become a farmer. Or a stockbroker who became a priest or something to that effect? Or someone who left his or her family? Let me know. I'm in contact with someone who is filming a TV show on dreams and wants to use this kind of story. Stephen H. Kapit, <shaman@dreamtime.net>
<<<<< Diana Dreams >>>>>
DreamThread InterActive is calling for dreams on the Death of Princess Diana. We have a special page dedicated to the impact of this global event at http://www.dreamthread.com/archive/gath997.html
We have posted the dreams and should have a bulletin board set up for comments soon. For more information, contact ariadne@dreamthread.com (ariadne)
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W E B S I T E & O N L I N E U P D A T E S
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<<<<< Psychic Creative Dreaming: An Explorer's Guide to the Dream Net >>>>>
http://members.aol.com/caseyflyer/fbnc/fbnc04.htm
Psychic Creative Dreaming is an email dream course designed to activate and enhance your creative and psychic abilities through dreams.
Copyright 1997 Linda Lane Magallon
Have you ever had a dream come true? A dream that leapt forward into the future? A dream that stretched sideways to a place you'd never seen? A dream that reached out to touch a person you had not yet met?
These dreams are news flashes from the dream net. They're messages and memories of travels through the night. They are the clues to a hidden highway in the depths of slumber.
In, out, forward, past, or sliding to places unknown, dream consciousness roams the corridors of time, space and beyond. Most times it may seem that we hover quite close to home. Our dreams are like our own private bedroom world, a virtual space within our personal computer mind. But other times our dream mind is attuned to incoming information from the psychic telephone line.
Content to be dream couch potatoes, we can watch our dreams like a TV screen or computer monitor. But sometimes our consciousness rises to hitch a ride into virtual dreamspace.
The dream net is always active, whether we are aware of it or not. We can remain "off-line," wrapped up in our own private dream cloak, accessing images from our personal databank of memory images. But sometimes the alarm goes off and we switch our focus to the social channel.
The real news from dream land is that there is a whole universe to explore. There's a dynamic network of events which you can tap into. And you can learn to dial up the dream net deliberately.
When you activate the dream net, you reach out to fellow on-line partners. And the most important partner is the one you meet even before you tap into the dream net. It's your very own dreaming self--the person who already knows the wonderland of dreams from the inside-out.
The psychic dream is the product of the mind's free play. We take advantage of native playfulness of our dreaming selves by making deliberate dreaming a game. Team spirit between partners creates favorable rapport and helps us discover our links in the net.
The elements in psychic-creative dreaming
Understanding the world of spontaneous dreams
Uncovering psychic dreams in your life
Learning the lessons of the past
Planning dreams ahead of time
Deliberate dream play with partners
Decoding psychic-creative dream results
Creating virtual dreamspace
What happens when you decide to dream with other people in the partnership paradigm? This course is designed to help you answer that question. It covers social and creative dreaming but places the accent on the psychic potential in our dreams.
The course will survey psychic-creative dreaming out in the field of dreams and through research findings in the lab. It will feature the social dreaming concepts of partnership and reciprocity. It directs attention to journal keeping, incubation, lucidity, interpretation, detection and dreamwork techniques which benefit psychic dreams. Dream Aerobic exercises are provided to help you improve your dreaming potential.
Psychic-Creative Dreaming is about being a deliberate dreamer with an eye on manners, relationships and creativity. It's about having fun in the playground of the mind.
Contents Outline
Part I-Basic Building Blocks
1.Lurking in Psiberspace
2.Creative Dreaming
3.Beyond the Dreaming Norm
4.The Social Dimension
Dream Aerobics Recall, recording, journaling, inventory
Part II-Lessons From the Past
5. Verification and Validation
6. Dream Psi in the Scientific Mode
7. Browsing the Field of Dreams
Dream Aerobics Experimentation & Verification
Part III-Up Close and Personal
8. Switching from the Disaster Channel
9. User-Friendly Dreamspace
10. The Playground of the Mind Dream Aerobics Shadow Work
Part IV-Fun and Games
11. Inviting the Child to Play
12. Network Games
13. Game Results
Dream Aerobics Incubation
Part V-The Nature of Dream Reality
14. Virtual Dreaming: Encounters in the Mysterious Dream World
15. Reality Creation: Dream and Waking
16: The Unfinished Highway
Dream Aerobics Fly-By-Night Club Games
Prerequisites
Bare minimum: Ability to recall dreams. Experience in recording dreams. Willingness to upgrade journal habits. Highly recommended: Basic knowledge of dreamwork. Willingness to try out new ideas, methods and techniques. Very useful, but not required: Creative dreaming experience, especially incubation and lucid dreaming.
Cost $20, made payable in U.S. funds to: Linda Lane Magallon , 1083 Harvest Meadow Court, San Jose, CA 95136.
Linda Lane Magallon is a dream researcher of telepathic, flying, lucid and mutual dreams. She brings people together locally and face-to-face as well as internationally, via snail mail and the Internet. Through projects and experiments, she encourages people to share dreams, dream together and practice social and psychic dreaming skills in an atmosphere of play. She is also the author of Mutual Dreaming, and is the founder of the Fly-By-Night Club and publisher of NightFlyer, the club's newsletter.
<<<<< Sports Betting & Precognitive Dreams >>>>>
http://www.starpost9.com
This Web site is dedicated to proving the validity of precognitive dreaming through the vehicle of legal sports betting (this being the only consistently monitored and verifiable phenomenon available for such use in America today). In Boyd's Free Sports Picks, you will find up front predictions, and the dreams that led to them, which will be tabulated and analyzed in Boyd's Won-Loss Record. The site also offers a self-hypnosis tape designed to enhance one's ability to have precognitive dreams.
<<<<< Halloween Chat on AOL >>>>
If you are a member of America-On-Line, you can join the Halloween chat on Friday, October 31st. Head for the "DreamSwarm" chat room at 6:00 Pacific Standard Time. (We'll be on-line until 8:00 PST or so...) We'll discuss spooky, funny dream characters and psychic dreams. Bring a dream as your "trick or treat" gift. Come in costume! Your host is LucidFlier (Costume for Linda Lane Magallon) Questions ahead of time? Contact CaseyFlyer@aol.com .
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L A T E B R E A K I N G N E W S
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<<<<<< The Everything Dreams Book>>>>>>>
_The Everything Dreams Book_ (Adams, 1997), is now available and includes chapters on Shamanism and Dreaming, Lucid Dreaming, Out-of-Body Dreams, Past Lives and Dreams, Incubating Dreams, and much more.
The trade paperback book is available in bookstores for $12 or can be ordered from us via e-mail for $10 plus $3 shipping.
Rob & Trish MacGregor mac111@ix.netcom.com
<<<<<<< Myth and Dream Tour in Greece >>>>>>>
July 2-16, 1998. Starr King School for the Minsitry and Jeremey & Kathy Taylor will be exploring the subltel and profound inward relationshiops between dreams and waking life, with emphasis on the mythological dimensions. Mainland Greece, the Islands, Crete, Ephesus and Turkey will all be part of this adventure.
Reservations need to be in by DECEMBER 1 1997. $3400 per person.
Myth & Dream Tour : 10 Pleasant lane, San Rafael, CA 94901. Call 415/454-2793
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/hompages/starr_king_school
<<<<<<<<Continuing Education Program and the ASD Hawaii Conference >>>>>>>>
From Alan Siegel October 25, 1997
RE: CE PROGRAM FOR THE HAWAII CONFERENCE
With the deadline for submission rapidly approaching (12-1-97), I am putting out a request for submissions to the conference that would potentially be eligible for CE credits. I am encouraging submission of symposiums, events, and workshops that would have content relevant for post-graduate and professional training especially for psychotherapists and educators. These symposiums, workshops etc. can also be relevant to everyone else and will not necessarily be limited to those professionals attending the conference and seeking CE units. In particular, I would like to see offerings in the area of Jungian, Psychoanalytic/Psychodynamic, Transpersonal, etc, theory and technique, as well as offerings emphasizing all forms of psychological and biological dream research, nightmares, posttraumatic issues, gender, recovery, lucidity, etc (this is not intended to be an exhaustive list). Even events in anthropology/cross-cultural, literature and the humanities may qualify for the CE program if they have substantial academic content and/or are justifiably relevant to professional practice and training. C.E. presenters should be licensed clinicians in the behavioral sciences with 3 or more years post-graduate experience or have substantial academic background including publications on the topic of dreams and/or 3 years teaching experience at an accredited university or college. All potential C.E. offerings MUST pass muster with the program committee and must include a vita or resume and a short additional information form giving 3 goals of the presentation and 3 learning evaluation questions. Please consider presenting a workshop or symposium or customizing a proposal you have sent or are sending so that it may qualify for the CE track of the program. Some or most of C.E. oriented proposals will be grouped together in the program.
If there are any questions, please contact, Alan Siegel. 510 527 7929
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D R E A M C A L A N D E R
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Nov 1 in Northridge, CA
"Integrating Dreamwork into Your Psychotherapy Practice" .Sandy Ginsberg, M.S., M.F.C.C. will be presenting a workshop at CaliforniaState University, Northridge from 9:00 to 1:00. For additional information regarding registration, please call the coordinator of the Centers in Educational Psychology Workshops, Estee Diamond, M.S. at (818) 677-2549.
Nov 1 in San Francisco and Marin, CA
Groups and Workshops for Sharing Dreams and Learning New Approaches for Interpretation9:30 am - 2:00 pm
for group information and workshop topics, please call
Debbie Watson MFCC 415-441-2926
Nov 1 in Walnut Creek, CA
All Day Workshop with Jeremy Taylor, 9am-4:30pm. Contact Jan Schaub at 510-938-5454 for more information.
Nov 4- Dec 9 in Concord, MA
"Opening Sacred Ground: Experiential Dreamwork for Helping Professionals", six Tuesdays from 8:30am-12:30 pm. For more information, contact The Dreamwheel, 191 Sudbury Road, Concord, MA 01742-3423. Telephone 508-369-2634. Email Dreamwheel@compuserve.com
Nov 6- Dec 18 in Marin, CA
Dream Group, Thursdays 7-9:30 pm with Jeremy Taylor. Call Kathy to sign up, 415-454-2793.
Nov 7 & 15 in Melrose, FLA
"Dreamwork for Psychotherapists", 9am -3pm. For further information, contact Gail K. Ellison, PhD 352-475-2220 or Diane Farris, PhD 352-375-7996, or ellison@afn.org
Nov 7-9 in Birmingham, AL
Dream Workshop with Jeremy Taylor. Contact Marion Johnson-Wesley at 334-382-8050 for more information.
Nov 8-Jan 4, 1998 in Mountain View, CA
"Sufi Dreams", Watercolor paintings by Susan St. Thomas at the East-West Bookshop Gallery, 324 Castro Street, Mountain View. For more information, call 800-909-6161 or email to info@eastwest.com.
Nov 12 & 26 in Pittsburgh, PA
The Dream Workshop here in Pittsburgh will be meeting
at 7 p.m. on the following Wednesdays: October 8 & 22, ~ November 12 & 26 , and December 10 at 4836 Ellsworth Avenue (Friends Meeting House), Pittsburgh 15213 fax (412) 241-1451; or e-mail netcadet@nauticom.net
Nov 14-15 in Salt Lake City, UT
Dream Workshop with Jeremy Taylor. Contact Peg Hunger at phunter@medprev.com for more information.
Nov 15 in Lake Oswego, OR
Understanding Nightmares, a-one day workshop offered at
Marylhurst College by Gillian Holloway. For
information call Marylhurst college at: 1-800-634-9982
Nov 21-22 in Oakland, Ca
Jeremy Taylor's Dream Class at the University of Creation Spirituality. Contact Marlene DeNardo at 510-835-4827 for more information.
Dec 5-7 in Lexington, KY
Dream Workshop with Jeremy Taylor. Contact Paula Raines at 606-226-0130 for more information.
Dec 10 in Pittsburgh, PA
The Dream Workshop here in Pittsburgh will be meeting
at 7 p.m. on the following Wednesdays: October 8 & 22, ~ November 12 & 26 , and December 10 at 4836 Ellsworth Avenue (Friends Meeting House), Pittsburgh 15213 fax (412) 241-1451; or e-mail netcadet@nauticom.net
Dec 14 in Concord, MA
"Dream Council & Solstice Celebration" and community solstice potluck, hosted by Dick McLeester. For more information, contact The Dreamwheel, 191 Sudbury Road, Concord, MA 01742-3423. Telephone 508-369-2634. Email Dreamwheel@compuserve.com
Dec 28-31 in Seattle, WA
Dream Workshop with Jeremy Taylor. Contact Clancy Kelly at 360-574-1454 for more information
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The Global Dreaming News is Directed by Peggy Coats,
pcoats@dreamtree.com
Keeper, THE DREAM TREE
http://www.dreamtree.com
P.O. Box 3047, Santa Cruz, CA 95063-3047
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== D R E A M S S E C T I O N == ED V4 N10 ==
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **
D R E A M S SECTION INDEX BY BOB K. (For ED V4N10)
Hi there! Welcome to ELECTRIC DREAMS - DREAMS SECTION for
Vol. 4 Number 10.
Highlights from this issue: Happy Halloween to those who celebrate this event. This issue is full of interesting dreams with a focus on fear and nightmares in honor of Halloween - a time of facing many masked creatures of the night. Have you ever had a return dream visitor? Read The Celtic Warrior in REPETITIVE DREAMS. Can you help this person? There are a couple LUCID DREAM references, and linked dreams - as one flows into another seemingly unrelated vision. Under DEATH, a tragedy at sea snatches a new life before it is born, and a skeleton dies again.
Ghosts and a variety of ANIMALS (good and evil) make their presence known. A weird Piano and a Paul Klee Painting demand some attention. Rock and Roll literally with the JELLY BABY dream. Captain Picard, Q, and other Star Trek characters make a guest appearance on our pages under PERFORMERS. Lady DI still evokes deep feelings within which are yearning to reach out under CELEBRITIES. The categories of RELATIONSHIPS, ROMANCE, VEHICLES AND WATER had multiple contributions this month, and have a way of weaving into many of our dreams. Morphing creatures and things transform themselves before our very eyes. A special extravaganza this month is provided by Stan, with a unique spinoff somewhat reminiscent of Jurassic Park. You will be glued to .. the tank?? FEAR dreams were the focus for this month of October, and the dreamers responded. Torture, entrapment, escape and tears abound. Even a toilet makes an appearance. As your heart begins to pound faster, tension begins to build, and sweat appears on your body out of nowhere, what are you to do? What if these were your dreams, er..nightmares? Enjoy your visit to the pages of Electric Dreams.
NEW CATEGORIES:
This month brings a few new categories to the ever expanding list:
AMUSEMENT PARK [A place to relax and enjoy, another reality]
COMEDY [With an accent on puns, funny situations or jokes] - but sometimes what is hilarious in dreams, doesn't translate well into waking reality.
FIRE [Flames bring light, heat and destruction/transformation]
EDITORIAL: WHY AM I DOING THIS?
Why are you spending so much time on something you aren't getting paid for, and that creates so much tension? This was a question asked by my 21 year old daughter yesterday. Once again, I was facing the daunting task of putting together the Dreams Section for the monthly Electric Dreams issue - a sixty six pages venture this month. Good question!
In our materially oriented society, it would seem that pursuing a venture with no immediate or even potential future possibility of monetary compensation is a waste of ones time. However, where I come from and how I was raised, perhaps a reflection of my Puerto Rican heritage, part of the culture is that there are things in life that money can't buy or put a value on. Some things are far more important than appearances and material possessions. Sure my practical side is always challenging my "dreams" side to keep a balance that makes sense in my life. This is a balancing act we all walk a tightrope on from time to time to one degree or another.
As a voluntary project, this ELECTRIC DREAMS venture is a non-profit one which is sustained by the efforts of its voluntary staff and supporters. I admire what Richard Wilkerson has done to save an ezine that was about to disappear several years ago. He has transformed it into a vibrant presence in waking dreamdom on our planet. What brings our staff together is a love of dreams and dream wisdom. For me, being able to share in the expansion of dream knowledge and the sharing of dreams on a worldwide scale is a special opportunity. It is an opportunity to add my small share into making the world a better place, by helping others understand themselves better, and by helping people know that others are experiencing similar concerns. The solutions we are looking for are already out there. Alternate paths we can also use in our own lives beckon to us through our collective dreams.
By editing the Dreams section, I HAVE to read all the dreams and commentary which by itself enriches my life every month. The challenge of putting the issue together stretches my abilities in organizing and processing information, skills which I can use in other areas as well. New developments keeping dragging me deeper and deeper into the internet world of email and web pages. So I do benefit from this venture in many ways which help me keep coming back for more. Yes, it's a hassle sometimes, but it's a commitment I have made. I want to be involved in this field that offers much promise to expanding the realm of human understanding. This is the best way I can be involved right now.
The future ... who knows? Maybe this editing experience, and my Toastmaster speech training will converge somehow, some day. Until then, I will Dream on and continue adding value where I can. Thanks for reading!
Bob Krumhansl
Dreams Section Editor
THANKS
Thanks to all the dreamers (Nutcracker, Kes, Stan, Mermaid and Island along with all the new contributors) who share their gems with the Electric Dreams community, and the dream appreciators who share their insight. Special thanks to Bob C. and Cathy who always have some keen insight, as well as to Heratheta and his efforts - a dream appreciator with a unique though often hard to understand directional perspective(see DIRECTIONS). Join in the fun and send us a dream or comment for the next issue!
FEEDBACK FROM THE DREAMERS
COMMENTARY ON DREAMS FROM PREVIOUS ISSUES
(Up all night? Can't go to sleep? Read one of the old issues and send us your commentary - what if it were your dream? What does it tell you? The issue might even help you go back to sleep!!)
== Commentary by Jean on Jelly Ghost (9701009) ==
NEW DREAMS:
PRECOGNITIVE/FUTURE DREAMS [Stories from past experiences, or send them in before it happens, if you can]
REPETITIVE DREAMS [Significant by nature]
** Dream: " Celtic Moon Visitor" by Solo (971026) **
DREAM TRACES IN WAKING LIFE [The effects of external stimuli on our dreams or is it the other way around - our dreams leaving a trace on our physical reality?]
DEFYING CLASSIFICATION [Your stumpers may not be so mysterious to others]
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
LINKS TO STAGES OF LIFE
BIRTH [Starts]
CHILDHOOD [Early development]
ADOLESCENCE [Maturing, testing]
ADULTHOOD [The main event for most]
OLD AGE [Wisdom, Approaching the Journeys end]
DEATH [Endings]
** Dream: "R.I.P." by Nutcracker (970805) **
** Dream: Death on the Sea by Dee Aliss (970807) **
COMMUNICATION WITH THE DEAD [Beyond our terrestrial limits]
(See CELEBRITIES)
========================================== ==========================================
AGGRESSION [By us or against us- crossing others paths]
** Dream: White Chrome Gun Dream by Callan (971009) **
ALIENS [Visitors or visited - creatures from other dimensions]
** Dream: "Aliens" by Nutcracker (970604)**
AMUSEMENT PARK [A place to relax and enjoy, another reality]
** Dream: "Lost Souls" by Nutcracker (970731) **
== Commentary by Cathy on "Lost Souls" by Nutcracker (971016) ==
ANGELS [Visitors from Spiritual dimensions]
ANIMALS [Basic Instincts]
[This month brings us: Coyotes, horses, snakes, armadillos, see a Shark dream under DEATH, visit with a hadrosaur under the technogorgon dream in FEAR...]
** Dream: The Coyote by Nobody (971019) **
** Dream: 'Morphing 'Dillos' by Nutcracker (9703 ) **
** Dream: 'Astro Cat' by Sally (971026) **
== Commentary by Bob C on Astro Cat by Sally (971026)==
BATHROOMS [Maintenance, Cleansing and Elimination]
** Dream: "Death and Cleaning" by Nutcracker (970321) **
BELONGING [What we are associated with or wish we were]
BRIDGES [How we get across an obstacle or go from here to there]
CELEBRITIES [The well known - famous and infamous]
** Dream: Diana In The Dining Room by Mermaid (970908) **
CLOTHING [What we wear tells us about ourselves and the events we participate in]
COMEDY [With an accent on puns, funny situations or jokes]
** Dream: "Football and Barbecue" by Kes (970925) **
COMMUNICATIONS [From telepathic to devices to signs & symbols]
COMPUTERS [Extensions of our minds, mind tools, communication]
** Dream: "Rotation" by Kes (971009) **
== Commentary by Cathy on "Rotation" by Kes (981012) ==
CULTS [Somewhere out there ...]
DIRECTIONS [Ever stop and ask for directions? North, South, East, West, up, down, ahead, behind, straight, turn, right, left, make a circle, cross, go through, open, close, mix, add, boil, cook, simmer, but most of all - follow these instructions carefully...and don't be shy about asking someone else down the path, except, of course, for the Big Bad Wolf!!!]
== Commentary by Heratheta on Amusement Park Dream (971016) ==
== Commentary by Heratheta on shaman's di drm (970910)==
== Commentary by Heratheta A Trick or Treat Bag (971018) ==
== Commentary by Heratheta on Gang & Accident Dream (971007) ==
== Commentary by Heratheta on Gun Dream (971008) ==
== Commentary by Heratheta on 2flms(971009) ==
== Commentary by Heratheta on Capt. Drm and Ftbl Dream 970925) ==
== Commentary by Heratheta on dreams not taken care of(971019) ==
== Commentary by Heratheta on Klee & Gummie Bear Dream(970928) ==
DISCOVERY [New insights and unexpected developments]
DREAMING [Dreams about dreaming]
** Dream: Framing Paul Klees Drawing by Dragon (970927) **
DRUGS [Healing or Hurting?]
EATING [Getting nourishment for maintenance, growth and pleasure]
[For the strong stomached only - Check out Harrison's Head in Performers for an unusual a la Halloween morsel performance]
ELEVATORS [Going UP or DOWN - Push the right button or else...]
ESCAPE [Get me outta here!!!]
EYES [The organs of sight...the window to the soul...]
FEAR [What scares us]
** Dream: Smoking Monstrosity (a F.Kafka Dream)(1914-23?) **
** Dream: "Not Quite Rescued" by M (971011) **
** Dream: "A Pot of Trouble" by T (971016) **
** Dream: The Witch in the Woods: A Nightmare by 12 yr.old (971016) **
** Dream: the technogorgon by Stan (971003) **
** Dream: 'The Stalker' by Nutcracker (970324) **
FOOD [The source of our physical nourishment]
FIRE [Flames bring light, heat and destruction/transformation]
** Dream "Two Flames" by K (970109) **
** Dream: 'Garden Flambe' by Nutcracker (971019) **
FLYING [Confidence, Power, Freedom & Perspective]
GIFTS [Offerings to or from others]
** Dream: 'The Pretender' by Nutcracker (970331) **
** Dream: 'Missing Egg' by Nutcracker (970329) **
HOBBIES [Our interests and desires]- COLLECTING THINGS
HOLIDAYS [Time off to ...]
HOSPITAL [A place for treatment, healing and repair]
HOUSE [Where our lives take place]
** Dream: 'No, It Isn't Santa...." by Nutcracker (970301)**
** Dream: 'Shambles' by Nutcracker (970302) **
HOTELS [Temporary Dwelling or Special Event location]
JOURNEYS [Missions away from our home base -explorations]
** Dream: 'Have Gun Will Travel' by Nutcracker **
LOST [Disorientation or abandonment]
(See the Lost Soul's under AMUSEMENT PARK)
LOTTERY DREAMS [Sudden Wealth - Randomness favors the dreamer]
LOVE [All around us, yet so hard to find and keep]
LUCID DREAMING [Knowing you are Dreaming when you are Dreaming]
** Dream: Little Girl by Kes (971001) **
** Dream: Just A Dream by Kes (970929) **
== Commentary by Heratheta on kes TV dream(970930) ==
== Commentary by Heratheta on re kes dream reply (970930) ==
== Commentary by Heratheta on kes and wlf drms (971011) ==
== Commentary by Heratheta on Kes drms and Wlf dream (971011) ==
MEMORY [Remembering ...In dreams we often struggle with the issue of memories and remembering a dream which by definition involves the process of recollection.]
MIRRORS [Reflection of Self]
MUSIC [Melodies of the land within]
** Dream: "Stone Cold" by Nutcracker (970323)**
NUDITY [What you see is what you get]
** Dream: 'What To Say To A Naked Man' by Nutcracker (9703 )**
PERFORMERS [Entertainers]
** Dream: "Captain Von Trapp" by Kes (970923) **
** Dream: Harrison's Head - A Friend's Dream submitted by AR (970930)**
** Dream: 'Fly Me' by Nutcracker (970314) **
PROBLEMS [Situations or difficulties sometimes present choices]
POLITICAL SCENE [Public issues through positions of power]
RELATIONSHIPS [Other parts of ourselves including family which constitutes the first and earliest of our relationships, often influencing how we relate to the outside world]
** Dream - Tricycle Dream by Rider (971005) **
== Commentary by Bob C.on Tricycle Dream by Rider (971005) ==
** Dream: "Long Lost Lover Crashes" - by TK (971007) **
** Dream: Two Jet Black Church Spires Against a Jet Black Night by Island (971024) **
** Dream: 'Betrayed' by Nutcracker (970314)**
** Dream: 'No Weddings and A Funeral' by Nutcracker (970320) **
** Dream: 'Rejection' by Nutcracker (970326) **
RELIGIOUS RELATED [The Ritual and the Spiritual]
ROMANCE [Thrills and Chills, lost in another]
** Dream: Jelly Baby by Kes (970927) **
** Dream: 'Monogamy for One' by Nutcracker (970301)**
SCHOOL THEMES [Learning and learning related trials]
SOLUTIONS [The answers to problems or quandaries]
STAIRS [Bridges between levels, between the upper and the lower]
TEETH [Ok, losing teeth is one of the top ten dreams people have questions on. Theories on what they mean range all over the spectrum of possibilities.]
TORNADOS [Pretty well defined destructive power of nature]
TRAPPED [Temporarily helpless- Sometimes we are paralyzed or imprisoned by jobs, relationships or expectations]
VEHICLES [Means of transportation, reflection of lifestyle]
** Dream: "Auto Accidents" by Third Strike (971016) **
== Commentary by Bob C on Auto Accidents Dream (971018)==
** Dream: 'Traffic Jam' by Nutcracker (970305)**
WATER [A magical earthly fluid, nourishment, cleansing]
** Dream: Water and Mother by LisaV (971009) **
** Dream: Illumination Dream by Nutcraker (971023) **
== Commentary by Heratheta on mermaid and motherdream (971024) ==
WORKPLACE [Where we make a living]
WRITING & WRITERS [Communication and creativity]
== == == == == == == == == == == ==
DREAM SERIES
(None this month)
== == == == == == == == == == == ==
Well, that's all for now Folks. See you in ED 4.11.
Hasta La Vista!
Bob Krumhansl
bobkrum@erols.com
== == == == == == == == == == == ==
FEEDBACK FROM THE DREAMERS
COMMENTARY ON DREAMS FROM PREVIOUS ISSUES
(Up all night? Can't go to sleep? Read one of the old issues and send us your commentary - what if it were your dream? What does it tell you? The issue might even help you go back to sleep!!)
== Commentary by Jean on Jelly Ghost (9701009) ==
[From RW -
Hi Jean,
There a generally two options for dream comments. The first is to send them (with pen name or name) to the ED dream editor, bob Krumhansl at bobkrum@erols.com The second is to send them back into the ed-core list, if you want comments on your interpretations or reflections. (highly recommended, though rarely done!)
Sometimes, if the dreamer sends an E-mail you can respond directly, but we like to keep things public as possible as a safety value. You obviously don't need this kind of watch dogging as you are clearly sensitive to dream imagery, but not everyone is. By the way, great questions and reflections. Have you tried a dreamwheel? on these groups we focus on one dream, ask questions of the dreamer, who usually responds and then make "if this were my dream..." comments.
contact linley joy for instructions on joining the next group. maidai@webplus.co.uk
I'll cc: this to bob. keep a copy of his address - also the ED staff addresses are on copies of ED.
We are lucky to have you in our community!
-Richard]
Richard:
Here's a response to the dream entitled "Jelly Ghost". Please let me know if there is someone else I need to forward this to. Some questions I would ask the dreamer:
what significant events happened in your life when you were 12 years old? positive or negative period of life? could there be something that is unresolved from this period of life? what significant events happened in your life 12 years ago? positive or negative period of life? could there be something that is unresolved from this period of life?
what is a dining room? if it were my dream, I'd associate it with nurturance, with eating, with needing some emotional, spiritual, or intellectual food.
what is a basement? if it were my dream, I'd associate it with the underneath, the unconscious
what is your relationship like with your mother? what part of yourself, the nurturing mother part, are you calling out to? how can you get some nurturance in your life? how can you nurture yourself?
if it were my dream, the open door would mean an openness to something new, a door to some personal growth has been opened
was the jelly ghost threatening? what behavior did it exhibit that made you scream? is there a way that you could face the jelly ghost is waking life
talk to it, befriend it?
if it were my dream, I'd do a dialogue with the jelly ghost, using my dominant hand to speak for myself, using my non-dominant hand to speak for the jelly ghost
ask it questions, like "Who are you? What do you want? Why are you here?, etc." Then let the jelly ghost speak for itself with the non-dominant hand.
did you have any favorite stuffed animal when you were 12 years old? or as a younger child?
there's a contrast between the jelly ghost and the lamb - the lamb is just sitting there inactively, the jelly ghost is being active; if it were my dream, I'd ask what part of myself is comfortable being inactive, what part of myself needs to be more active?
if it were my dream, I'd see the screaming as my subconscious trying to get my attention; maybe I need to speak up more to get more attention; maybe I need to be more assertive;
there seems to be a comfortable side of the dream (bed, mother, chair, doll)
the uncomfortable side of the dream (jelly ghost); I'd ask myself if I am too comfortable in life
do I need to take more risks into the uncomfortable side of life (doing something new, making a change in my life)?
sleeping in the dream may signify a part of myself which is avoiding a particular problem or situation; I'd ask myself if I need to wake up and face something in my life;
the nighttime may suggest an emotional darkness, a depression, which is usually caused when I don't face what needs to be faced.
Jean
NEW DREAMS:
PRECOGNITIVE/FUTURE DREAMS [Stories from past experiences, or send them in before it happens, if you can]
REPETITIVE DREAMS [Significant by nature]
** Dream: " Celtic Moon Visitor" by Solo (971026) **
When I was five years old, I woke up one evening at about quarter of twelve in the evening. It was dark, and the only light that was coming in my room was the moon. I'm not sure why I woke up, but I did, and I looked at the end of my bed. There, standing at the foot, was a man.
He was a rather average height man, not too short, not too tall. He had black hair that fell shoulder length, and in his hair was weaved some laurel. His eyes were hazel, and very sad. I though he was going to cry, but I knew that would have been impossible, because he looked like a warrior, and warriors don't cry.
He was wearing scale mail (it looked like little square shingles on his breastplate), and a scarlet cape with gold embroidery on it. In his hand, he was holding a sword. The hilt of the sword was a solid gold cross. He looked like a Celtic warrior, except for that cross-hilted sword! When I was
looking through a Spanish magazine (me being bilingual and all), I saw the same cross sewn onto the robe of the Prince of the Asturias. It was some type of heraldic symbol for aristocratic Spaniards. But this man had been Celtic.
He pleaded with me, "Help me." And I asked him, "What do you want me to do?" He didn't reply. Then I asked, "Who are you?" Again, nothing. "Please, just help me!" But he would never tell me what he needed, or who he was. I felt so helpless. Then he left.
I wasn't frightened by his presence, in fact I felt quite natural around him, like I had known him for years. He came back when I was ten, and again when I was fifteen. I am seventeen now, and am anticipating him when I am twenty. Every time he comes back, he is more incessant that I help him. But how? He never answers my questions, he never tells me what he needs.
Sometimes, I think he is my guardian. I know he doesn't just stay resigned to being some shadow in a dream, but he makes himself known even in the daylight hours. Once, he knocked a bunch of papers of my desk in my room. No chance that was wind, the windows were shut. I've gotten used to him trying to hurry me up, but I just ignore it. What can I do, if he can't make himself clear?
Can you tell me anything about this? What could he possibly need that is so all fired important?
DREAM TRACES IN WAKING LIFE [The effects of external stimuli on our dreams or is it the other way around - our dreams leaving a trace on our physical reality?]
DEFYING CLASSIFICATION [Your stumpers may not be so mysterious to others]
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
LINKS TO STAGES OF LIFE
BIRTH [Starts]
CHILDHOOD [Early development]
ADOLESCENCE [Maturing, testing]
ADULTHOOD [The main event for most]
OLD AGE [Wisdom, Approaching the Journeys end]
DEATH [Endings]
** Dream: Death on the Sea by Dee Aliss (970807) **
I dreamed that I was in the ocean with 4 other people (3 men and 1 woman). We were on a boat and I was just swimming around with 2 of the men. The other man and woman were on the boat and the woman was pregnant (I don't think I was pregnant in this dream). None of us were related except that the woman was a close friend of mine (no one in real life) and the men I was swimming with were co-workers. The other man on the boat owned the boat and knew one of my male co-workers.
There was a long rope that went up to the mast of the boat and we took turns climbing it to see how strong we were. I seemed to climb it with no problem and took great satisfaction in that. When you got to the top, you were supposed to jump back down to the water and pull the dingy toward you (it was on the other end of the rope) and get in. When I jumped, I kept thinking I would hit the bottom of the water, then realized I was in the ocean and I couldn't. So I started going back up to the surface. All of a sudden, I felt great panic and, though I could not see them, sensed that sharks were near by. I swam as fast as I could back to the dingy and went to the boat and got on. I
yelled that everyone should get out of the water. But it was too late. The pregnant woman had decided to jump in and swim. I tried to get her back on the boat, but a shark came up and took a huge bite out of her stomach (the baby).
She made it to the side of the boat and begged me to call her husband. I was so upset and shocked that I couldn't remember their last name (yet I know she was a good friend). She kept trying to tell me, but I couldn't get the phone to work or I couldn't find the husband or something. A huge great white shark came and ate her in one bite. I was devastated. I cried and cried. I knew that I had to go back home and tell her husband.
When I got there, he was ecstatic and was showing me their nursery, etc. and was talking about how great his wife was and how wonderful their baby would be. I had to leave because I started crying uncontrollably. I tried to find my mother to tell her and get advice on what to do, but I couldn't speak because I was crying so hard.
** Dream: "R.I.P." by Nutcracker (970805) **
I'm at a cemetery. I don't know if I'm 'with' this particular group of people, or if I'm just watching them. They're digging up a grave. The soil covering the grave isn't comprised of dirt and grass; it's some kind of red loam with pea gravel mixed in. It looks bizarre. I watch them dig and dig. As they get nearer to the body, I'm afraid to look, but at the same time I can't help myself. They finally reach the body, which isn't in a coffin or anything, just au naturel in the earth. The body has decomposed and it's now just a skeleton. The person digging has cut the head off with the blade of the shovel. They then lift the body out of the grave, leaving the skull behind. (8/5/97)
COMMUNICATION WITH THE DEAD [Beyond our terrestrial limits]
========================================== ==========================================
AGGRESSION [By us or against us- crossing others paths]
[This is not exactly an aggression dream, but the potential shootout - defensive or aggressive is the underlying theme in this dream -BK]
** Dream: White Chrome Gun Dream by Callan (971009) **
I will relate it as best as I can. It mainly revolves around a gun. It was "white-chrome" - a handgun, with a "clip", not a revolver. It was an extraordinary gun, in that it could fire ammunition of differing sizes (quite impossible, of course) It had, in it's clip 4 small bullets 2 larger bullets. In the clip-back breech it had a HUGE bullet - Steel tip, with a shiny copper barrel. It was ~1/3" in diameter, and about 1.2" long - HUGE, in other words. I seem to remember that might have an exploding tip. It was a real NASTY bullet. I remember I was at a Reynolds (work) do - we all needed a gun - most of them were different. We were at a Bistro after we had needed the guns, and they were all on the table, just like yuppie execs with their mobile phones. I remember being really concerned about the gun, particularly as I knew the safety catch didn't work. I latched back the breech, and cycled the big bullet for one of the smallest ones, just for safety (I didn't think to remove the clip!)
We then went from this Bistro to another one, and I remember once getting there that I left this gun at the table of the last Bistro - I was about to go back to pick it up, when I woke up.
Feel free to bounce this dream around in your dream forum..
I thought it strange, as I usually don't have either as vivid dreams, or remember them as well. It is not recurring, in fact I only dreamt it once.
ALIENS [Visitors or visited - creatures from other dimensions]
** Dream: "Aliens" by Nutcracker (970604)**
I met three other kids (boys/girls) at an old barn to discuss what we'd discovered...that aliens were taking over our town. B. showed up too. We had no time - we had to hide. We crawled a wooden ladder to the upstairs of the barn. The barn was being remodeled and the framework for the second floor had been installed. We each lay down inside the framework and were motionless.
A male and female alien are now up there looking for us. It's as if they can't see us, but know we're there (like a T-Rex who can't see you unless you move). They then passed a tricorder over us to see (where we were and) if we were alive. Everyone passed the scan (as not being alive) except me.
Something metal that I was wearing gave off a signal. They were going to kill me with a laser gun. I sat up, kicked the male and bit the female in the face. (6/4/97)
AMUSEMENT PARK [A place to relax and enjoy, another reality]
** Dream: "Lost Souls" by Nutcracker (970731) **
I'm at an amusement park, in some turnstile or gated area (like at Disney World). The park is situated on a hill. I'm walking up some stairs and see before me a shadow of a man, he's invisible. He walks right through me. It's the ghost of someone trapped on this plane. I keep going.
Now ahead of me are a herd of stampeding horses. The lead horse is black and furious. I stand there frozen, but want to turn and run until I realize that they too are ghosts. I stand aside and let them pass.
Following the horses are some confederate soldiers. I must be in a vortex for lost souls. Then across the way, I spot him. A serial killer. He's young and preppy; tall and slim. He spots me as well. He's a good 100 yards away from me. I watch as he takes something from his pocket. It's a plastic zip lock bag. He's got a gun or a knife in it. He starts coming towards me. I turn around and run down the stairs to the street below.
Fifty...sixty steps. I run across the street and into an antique shop. The clerk is a young girl with long dark hair. "Hide. Hide," I yell. "He's coming." I grab her by the arm and we run into a fake store front display to hide. He comes in and hides in the store front next to ours. We're afraid to move a muscle. My heart is beating so fast and so loud I'm sure he'll hear it. (7/31/97)
== Commentary by Cathy on "Lost Souls" by Nutcracker (971016) ==
This dream by Nutcracker is fascinating because it is a nightmare that keeps escalating until it is frighteningly real.
The dream opens in a place that can be both fun and anxiety-provoking--an amusement park. The dream begins with a simply threatening shape--it is dismissed by the dream as no threat. Then a more serious threat occurs--again, no problem. Finally, a threat that spooks the dreamer into retreat. The dreamer flees down--In Sigmund F's Interpretation of Dreams he sees flying down stairs as orgasmic release which seems odd in conjunction with the fear of the dreamer. If wild down descents are somehow positive on one level, what could this mean? A sense of release that the enemy is at least recognized and can be evaded? As verses the "lost" souls and lost dreamer in the amusement park? As soon as the dream recognizes the true threat, the dreamer acts, even gets help. This could be a dream about coming to realize what is and isn't a genuine concern to the dreamer's goals.
Cathy
ANGELS [Visitors from Spiritual dimensions]
ANIMALS [Basic Instincts]
[This month brings us: Coyotes, horses, snakes, armadillos, see a Shark dream under DEATH, visit with a hadrosaur under the technogorgon dream in FEAR and other sprinkled throughout.]
* Dream: The Coyote by Nobody (971019) *
I dreamed I was riding a horse to somewhere important and all around were tall chicory plants. All of a sudden, I saw a coyote looking at me from amid the weeds, then he disappeared. This happened two more times the same way. Then it happened a fourth time only this time the coyote was taller and had a mane, kind of like a bushy fox has. Then I was suddenly on the ground trying to grab the tail of a grey-green snake. The tail had large fleshy scales and was as thick as my leg. I could only see the snake's tail. The rest of the snake was hidden by the bushes it was slithering into. The dream was vivid and tugs at me like it means something important.
** Dream: 'Morphing 'Dillos' by Nutcracker (9703 ) **
I was living in my grandparent's house. They no longer live there. I was outside planting bulbs in the flowerbed along the front side of the house. The bulbs were huge and looked like gourds (skinny neck with fat bottoms). There was some guy standing there telling me how to plant them.
A trench had been dug and the bulbs were lying in it. He said that if I stood one on top the other and leaned them toward the house they would grow better because of the heat radiating off the house. I did it this way about every three feet or so. Some of the bulbs were new and some were years old. There was one extremely large one that had been there for a while. It was several feet long and ran lengthwise along the house. I tried to pull it out to stand it upright, but then as I got closer to the far end of it, I noticed two armadillos. Their outer shell looked more like an opossum. The guy who told me how to plant them was a Professor. I called to him, "Look, armadillos." He had an associate with him who was up to his chest in the trench. They were studying the armadillos. The armadillos had made a home inside a hollowed out tree stump, which was in the trench.
I was afraid of the armadillos and knew of the damage that they could do to house and yard. I wasn't sure whether to just leave them alone or to shoo them away. I opted for the latter, throwing bulbs at them. The associate said he could feel them bumping the sides of the tree stump. What I did made them mad and they began to attack, taking aim at the associate. He couldn't get out of the trench fast enough and the Professor and I had to draw them away from him.
Only now the armadillos are cavemen. The Professor ran past me, into the backyard. I throw some more bulbs at the cavemen and they start chasing me. I run after the Professor. My jeans are too tight and are restricting my ability to run. I make it to the gate (red, wooden, short) which separates the front and back yards. I slam it shut behind me, hoping to slow down the cavemen. The Professor runs into the alley and keeps on going.
I run into the house, locking the door behind me. What a flimsy lock on this door (only a simple push button lock inside the door handle). My five-year-old sister is in the kitchen as is my teenage brother. I yell at them, "Run, run, run, run (meaning upstairs)." My sister stops to grab the list of emergency phone numbers from the pad by the phone. (3/22/97)
** Dream: 'Astro Cat' by Sally (971026) **
[from a post of alt.consciousness to Electric Dreams - RW]
Yesterday morning my cat was killed by two dogs and he litterly died in my arms. That night I had this dream.
In my dream I am outside with my husband and I see "MIKEY" sitting on an old 5 gallon paint can that's next to our storage shed. I say "look John there is Mikey and I start toward him. Just before I get there he turns and jumps off the can and goes around the shed out of sight. While all this is taking place I'm asking myself if I'm on the astro plane because I know Mikey is dead, but here he is looking very much alive.
This is all I remember of the dream.
Sally
== Commentary by Bob C on Astro Cat by Sally (971026)==
The dreamer's dead cat in the dream may symbolize some aspect of the dreamer's life that she previously thought was "dead." Possibly there is a buried aspiration or hope that is consciously "dead" or out of sight in a mental "storage shed." The dreamer's subconscious could be suggesting that the aspiration or hope could be brought back to life if the dreamer perceives it from a different or higher perspective; i.e., an "astral
plane."
If the dreamer disagrees with the above interpretation then it is wrong. Only the dreamer knows. Bob C.
'What we do in dreams we also do when we are awake: we invent and fabricate the person with whom we associate - and immediately forget we have done so.'
FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE
BATHROOMS [Maintenance, Cleansing and Elimination]
** Dream: "Death and Cleaning" by Nutcracker (970321) **
I was in an apartment, in the bathroom. The bathroom had just been sheet rocked and wasn't completed. There was a murder next door and blood was seeping through the walls of sheetrock. Suddenly, the floor gives way beneath me and I find myself in the bathroom below. Judith Light (Who's The Boss) lives here. I land (with a thud), with my face darn-near in the toilet. While I'm on the floor I notice that the toilet bowl is removable. On top of the tank is a pop-up box (like Kleenex) of plastic netting for cleaning the toilet. There's a bottle of liquid gel cleanser nearby. I decide as long as I'm there, I might as well clean it. When I'm done I get up to wash my hands, only to find there's feces on the container of liquid hand soap. (3/21/97) #181
BELONGING [What we are associated with or wish we were]
BRIDGES [How we get across an obstacle or go from here to there]
CELEBRITIES [The well known - famous and infamous]
** Dream: Diana In The Dining Room by Mermaid (970908) **
As I awoke this morning I knew I had to write to the group.
The above title "came to mind" as I began putting pen to paper, so there it stays for now.
During the dream the light and birdsong of dawn broke through the earlier fuzzy darkness.
Diana was just "there".
She, my mother and I were in the kitchen of my mother's house. We three were leaning on the bench, happily chatting as though we were old friends. She was encouraging me to go ahead and be positive about being loving, despite all the negativity dished out on public kindness and generosity. She reminded me that everyone needs hugs regularly.
In the dream, we were trying to relax enough to make everyone around feel loved. The idea that charity begins at home shone through.
She was not in a huge hurry to leave. She had with her a sky blue handbag with a golden clip. She undid the bag and from it handed me a white business card with a telephone number in Avalon. She wore a white short-sleeved shirt.
I was at Mum's waiting to meet an old friend, who was due to call about the time Diana arrived.
This old friend was a man with dark hair. He had been trying hard to call, but had encountered a series of broken lines. Mum was getting hassled about her plans being put out and was therefore putting the pressure on, as though I were deliberately holding her up.
I cannot now remember the man's name, but know that in my dream Mum had met him too, but I suspect only tolerated him because he was a friend of mine.
Diana had to leave, which is why she gave me the card. I gave her a kiss on the left cheek and a hug.
The dream ended.
******
There was also an "energy" propelling me towards writing all of this down. I need to "speak" more of humanitarian love, irrespective of "religion".
mermaid
CLOTHING [What we wear tells us about ourselves and the events we participate in]
COMEDY [With an accent on puns, funny situations or jokes]
** Dream: "Football and Barbecue" by Kes (970925) **
I'm going along something like an ordinary switchback escalator in a department store, but a little like a road too, as well as something else altogether different that doesn't actually go anywhere. As I get off the "escalator" and go around to get on the next one, I notice that I seem to be followed by a woman carrying a screaming baby. They seem always to be going the same way I am, as I try once to outpace them to no avail. Finally I turn around and face them, waiting for them to go on ahead of me, but they just stand there looking at me.
"I will not be FOLLOWED by this screaming baby!" I tell them firmly. They don't go on ahead like I was hoping, but I don't seem to notice them anymore. Now I'm standing at a place that resembles a chain-link floor mat about four lanes wide and of indeterminate extent. The floor mat is about an inch thick and makes a clink, clink sound when I walk on it. The floor mat has a feeling of going somewhere without actually moving. The woman and her baby, grown now, stand side by side a few meters away, regarding me placidly. There are a few other people as well, standing upon this "place". The surroundings are featureless and the floor mat appears to be resting upon nothing, although it isn't situated at any altitude either. It makes me nervous to look down.
"Are you all right?" says my companion.
"I'll be all right if you'll hold me," I reply, not knowing if this is true but too proud to simply say "No I'm scared out of my wits."
He comes up behind me and puts his arms around me, and right away I feel better. I turn a bit and look in one particular direction, not knowing why but feeling that it's important. Whenever I try to deviate from this orientation I feel a little weird and dizzy.
I have my "ticket" in my hand. It has something to do with a class of some kind that I'm supposed to be going to. Something like a math class. I know there are really no such thing as classes or lessons, but I retain the ticket anyway, playing along, and humming to myself. I have torn two or three pieces off the ticket which have fallen to the floor, like green plastic or leaves but not really.
Another man approaches and wants one of the "ticket-pieces" from me. I know it will make me scared and dizzy to move from my fixed orientation and pick it up off the floor, but I screw up my courage and steel myself to bend down and retrieve the ticket, when suddenly my companion bends down and picks it up for me, and hands it to the other man. My companion somehow manages to do this without either moving me or letting go of me.
The other man looks at his "ticket" and then at me, and from the twinkle in his eye I know he's about to make a joke. "How 'bout our English boys - football and barbecue!" he quips, and the mental image conjured up by this is vastly amusing, as well as the pun on words. I'm trying hard not to laugh out loud but it's difficult. I snicker, pause, and then counter, "How 'bout our 'MERICAN boys - football and barbecue!!" Finding my own joke even funnier I can no longer restrain myself. "Hahahaha!!" We are starting to attract notice. Some people are grinning.
He looks at me with appreciation and then I have the feeling my joke is about to be one-upped with something even funnier. "SUBDIVISION," he declares. I get it, I get it! I'm completely taken in. "Hahahahaha!" Everyone joins in, "Hahahahahaha!" And now, and now... "MULTIPLICUTION!" I add, punning on "queue," "cue," and other things too obscure to enumerate. We are both fairly ready to pop, and the crowd howls in appreciation.
COMMUNICATIONS [From telepathic to devices to signs & symbols]
COMPUTERS [Extensions of our minds, mind tools, communication]
** Dream: "Rotation" by Kes (971009) **
The local drama club is putting on A Christmas Carol and I go try out. I find to my great surprise myself cast as Mrs. Cratchitt, the second-longest speaking part, although I'd really rather be the Ghost of Christmas Past. The actor playing Scrooge is going into the hospital for hip surgery but they still think they can pull it off. After two rehearsals I realize that I never want to be Mrs. Cratchitt. I resign. They don't like it. Now for sure, the play will never happen. Scrooge, who also wrote the play, is unhappy. He tells me I'm the best actor among them all. I think this is very strange because I never had an acting part before.
These people follow me into my next dream. Even though I'd resigned, they are holding rehearsals in my grandmother's house, where I live. I tell them I'm not in it. The tell me they hope I will reconsider. I wake up a little, very annoyed with them. In my mind I tell them that I'm not in the play, go find another way. My grandmother (I'm dreaming again) volunteers to join them. In fact, she simply takes over. They all go across the street to the Loeschers' house (although there isn't a house anymore) to do their rehearsals.
Suddenly, in the dining room of my grandmother's now-quiet house, I remember the dream "before" this one, which I hadn't been able to remember the first time. The dream before was: I'm sitting at my computer. I'm entering some commands that rotate the innards of the computer by pi/2 radians (90 degrees). I have gotten it rotated now a total of 7pi/2 (630 degrees, or 1 3/4 complete rotations) when I decide to start unwinding it. I get it back to 2pi (360 degrees, or, one rotation) and I pause. This is equivalent to zero rotations. It ought to be indistinguishable from zero rotations, and I consider leaving it here. I wonder if it is really indistinguishable. I wonder if the computer's innards will "feel" the 2pi twist. I decide to unwind it the rest of the way.
I'm still sitting at my computer. The space immediately in front of my keyboard is inverted, exactly like the little mirror in front of the keyboard of a performance piano. I reach my left hand into this space, and then to the space immediately to the right of it, which is likewise inverted from the second space like in a mirror, thence bring my hand face to face with another hand at another keyboard in the space immediately to the right of that one, the space which would be occupied by someone sitting next to me in the space to my right. There is no one actually seated to my immediate right - if I stuck my right elbow out, it would encounter empty air. But going through the three inversions (or a rotation of 2pi), there is.
I bat playfully at the hand in the other space as I would to entice a kitten to play, coaxing it out of its space. The hand bats back. Playing pattycakes like this, the other hand follows mine through the remaining space, which now is like a regular space without mirrors, and as it does, it turns into a half-grown black kitten.
I pull the kitten out and cuddle it to my face, kissing it and stroking it, very happy. My grandmother is standing nearby now and we are more or less in the dining room of her house, or the kitchen, or the wall between the two, it's hard to say. She has another cat and a kitten which she had been planning to give me. Holding my black kitten close, I remember telling myself that if I ever got another kitten, I'd "just know" it was the right one. (My cats have all died and I haven't got myself another one, but that's what I've always told myself.)
"No Mama... THIS is the one that I want," I say.
== Commentary by Cathy on "Rotation" by Kes (981012) ==
I'm fascinated by the Christmas Carol segment of Kes' dream. The dream seems to deal with the issue of Charity and responsibility -- the big issue in Dickens's tale. The dreamer has discovered a new, useful (in fact to the rest of the actors, essential) skill. The skill is a difficult one (so many lines) and one the dreamer is unsure of (are they telling me the truth, I am really great at this?).
The dreamer must decide if the skill is worth pursuing or not. Others (the grandmother) seize the rejected choice. The connection to the rotation seems to be that the choice not to use the new skill is good or bad depending on the "rotation" or perspective. Is it just abuse my the other actors who want the dreamer to do the hardest part? or is a chance to really develop a new skill that is challenging but promises some feedback later (the performance, acclaim)? I suspect Kes is at some crucial crossroads and the dream reflects the pressure of the mind faced by important choices.
Cathy
CULTS [Somewhere out there ...]
DIRECTIONS [Ever stop and ask for directions? North, South, East, West, up, down, ahead, behind, straight, turn, right, left, make a circle, cross, go through, open, close, mix, add, boil, cook, simmer, but most of all - follow these instructions carefully...and don't be shy about asking someone else down the path, except, of course, for the Big Bad Wolf!!!]
== Commentary by Heratheta on Amusement Park Dream (971016) ==
"situated" is a good word to let you know traveling to the right or left of that amusement park is the route of your soul path. But, who am i to Hekuba?
== Commentary by Heratheta on shaman's di drm (970910)==
it reads like you were advised to get away from it all for awhile to some place where you could breathe easy and relax away from "very". when we do fall asleep our clinging self conflicts are taken away with the momentum of life and for a time we sleep peacefully until we refocus on what the world's conflict looks like. clearly, without the part of our selves (see above)that had been blurring our world outlook but now is away, we see then early in our sleep or let's say the earliest part of our dream what is coming from the farther parts of our lives and as the time we're resting passes the momentum of our away self peaks swinging back toward our resting bodies and begins to cloud the clarity of the world dream with our old conflicts. this self cloud also begins to bring some of that far world back with it, back to us like a huntress coming come from the kill making the returning imminent proximity close enough for us to awaken feeling its presence simultaneously saying hello to a new day only to be nearly blinded by the sunlight or lamplight as we go about the next 24 hours. somewhere in the new day some of us can see some of the dream and recognize it still there . how we react to it is as fateful as why it happened at all.
== Commentary by Heratheta - A Trick or Treat Bag for 5 Dreams (971018) ==
auto dream-SUDDENLY is not your bag
stay to the right or left of that bridge before you get on it alien dream-OLD is not your bag
stay to the right or left of that barn help! dream-UNKNOWN is not your bag
stay off streets of that ilk witch dream-UNKNOWN is not your bag
stay out of the woods to the right or left rip dream-BIZARRE is not your bag
stay to the right or left of the grave yard
the above drm interpretations are only for the time between those dreams and the dreams that followed though when dreamers don't heed the above they end up ground hogging.
== Commentary by Heratheta on Gang Dream and Accident Dream (971007) ==
gang dreamer your spiritual stress is "gigantic" while 'very" is the accident dreamer's. these stresses are incarnate in a place not indirectly oblique to the locations in the dreams.
== Commentary by Heratheta on Gun Dream (971008) ==
this dream tells it's time to get away indirectly from the extraordinary to a safer place to the right or left of the location mentioned until your next dream
== Commentary by Heratheta on 2flms(971009) ==
avoid indirectly, preferably in a direction to the right or left of your door leading from the garage into the house, "sulphur". sulphur for many who enjoy symbolism is the dragon or brimstone in much literature.
== Commentary by Heratheta on Capt. Drm and Ftbl Dream 970925) ==
the key word in both these dreams is "like". the word "like" is signaling that it's time to be what jung constantly tried to encourage, individuation. there is a path on which the individual travels and that discussion can be found in heratheta commentaries in the most recent back issues of the e-zine electric dreams. i saw a video last night of some people who had heard of a place in new guinea, a valley, where no man was known to have traveled where the video characters sought refuge from being like society wanted them to be. but, as you may have read in my commentaries there is a continuum soul- valley of peace which passes through you and through which you may journey eternally individually.
== Commentary by Heratheta on dreams not taken care of (971019) ==
nutcracker got to ease into things to let this "suddenly" pass by instead of back into your personality preferably to the right or left of the coyote
got to get out and around away from the restaurant to the right or left somewhere not enclosed try looking up toward the heavens at least for a while
both of these dreamers need to reread kes' account of the Leap of Faith
== Commentary by Heratheta on Klee Drm and Gummie Bear Dream (970928) ==
klee, your word to beware of is "realize" especially incarnate while the gummie bear's word is "ah"especially incarnate.
DISCOVERY [New insights and unexpected developments]
DREAMING [Dreams about dreaming]
** Dream: Framing Paul Klees Drawing by Dragon (970927) **
The Dream I have a drawing by Klee which I am taking to the framer, to be framed. It is a tall narrow format, however we are sticking it in a square frame. This requires that we fill the space with a mat, or mask.. As we do this, I realize that the color of the mat is causing the picture to disappear. I take a red crayon and start coloring on the mat, which again brings out the vividness of the picture.
The picture which is a stick figure of a man, coming over the horizon, holding a kite string, or a string which lays on the ground reaching to the foreground. I study the picture, and admire the beautiful curve of the string, which curves to his left, then back, which seems to me to be perfect. At the bottom termination of the string is, either/or, some broken sticks of a kite, or a balloon, which I am unable to focus on, or identify. The man cannot keep the object in the air. The mans head is perfectly round, but I know that behind it is a light, brighter than anything, that is concealed by the head. I know it is there, but it is eclipsed by the head, and may damage me anyhow if I were to look directly at it.
Analysis I was puzzled by the dream meaning, although I felt it was a *big* dream. I thought that even if I don't know what it is about, I was fortunate to be given such a picture to draw. I drew it as I remembered it and took it to my dream group. They made attempts at discovering the meaning, none of which hit. As we went to other's dreams, the picture remained on the wall, in my line of vision. It occurred to me that it was a Mandala with two sides, north and south, missing. The bottom, or east, was a reflection of the top, or west, the bottom sticks and balloon, being a broken figure of the man.
I went home and redrew the picture. The line became the division of yin and yang. The string became two snakes coming into a caduceus. I had to signify the light behind the head, by allowing it to become visible on one side, which formed a moon on the side of the head. (Oddly, about a month later I saw a picture of a stained glass window which the artist solved this problem in exactly the same way.) So the dream is a symbol of wholeness with parts missing, a paradox for certain. Perhaps it is more accurate to say covered by a mask,. A whole man tied to a broken man. The light of god eclipsed by the head, leaving the symbol of the goddess. The only color which seemed to be emphasized was the red, which made the picture reappear. I took this to be a pun, red/read, and an encouragement to continue my quest through study. Also the Klee/clay pun could be advice to keep grounded, good advice if dream intended or not.
DRUGS [Healing or Hurting?]
EATING [Getting nourishment for maintenance, growth and pleasure]
ELEVATORS [Going UP or DOWN - Push the right button or else...]
ESCAPE [Get me outta here!!!]
EYES [The organs of sight...the window to the soul...]
FEAR [What scares us]
** Dream: Smoking Monstrosity (an F.Kafka Dream)(1914-23?) **
I may have already sent this in, but I found it again as I was putting together ed4-10 [RW]
"A dream: two groups of men were fighting with each other. The group to which I belonged had captured one of our opponents, a gigantic naked man. Five of us clung on him, one by the head, two on either side by his arms and legs. Unfortunately we had no knife with which to stab him, we hurriedly asked each other for a knife, no one had one. But since for some reason there was no time to lose and an oven stood nearby whose extraordinarily large cast-iron door was red-hot, we dragged the man to it, held one of his feet close to the oven until the foot began to smoke, pulled it back again until it stopped smoking, then thrust it close to the door again. We monotonously kept this up until I awoke, not only in cold sweat but with my teeth actually chattering."
The Tiger garden: A Book of Writer's Dreams.London 1996, p.125. Kafka's dream is reprinted from The Diaries of Franz Kafka 1914-1923m edited by Max Brod, translated by Martin Greenberg, with Hannah Arendt (Secker Warburg,1949)
** Dream: "Not Quite Rescued" by M (971011) **
I start out in this dark tunnel. It seemed like I was in an empty dark building with lots of long narrow hallways. Anyway, I remember walking down the hallway and all of the sudden this ominous feeling comes over me. I'm suddenly petrified be the feeling that I'm being watched by something horrible. I remember turning around and seeing this big black creature with little red glowing eyes. I guess I can only describe it as a wolflike creature but I know it wasn't a true animal. I could feel the evil and hatred emanating from it. I knew that if I didn't get away from it that I would die a painful horrible death. So I started running down the hallway. I just kept running and the hallway seemed to be endless. The creature kept getting closer and closer. Finally I came to a door and I managed to go through and shut the door before the animal could get me. Suddenly this man appears. I have no idea who he is but I feel like I've known him my whole life. He's my protector. Anyway he looks down at my legs and notices that I'm bleeding. My legs are cut up from the creatures razor-like claws and it's attempts to grab me. We hear the creature trying to break down the door and he takes my hand, we run down another seemingly endless hallway. I can see my man running in front of me and I can feel claws cutting deeper and deeper into my skin. The man seems to get farther and farther ahead of me and I can see him reaching for my hand but I can't quite reach him. He calls my name and he pleads with me to go with him. I can see the pain and loneliness in his eyes. Everything seems hopeless and I begin to cry. We're still running and the next thing I hear is my mystery man screaming 'NO!' I see an expression of anguish on his face and I feel a sharp pain.
.....That's when I woke up in a cold-sweat. I was completely terrified. I was convinced that the creature was in my room with me. I could hear it breathing and I felt the coldness that surrounded it. I laid in my bed for almost 2 hours without moving a muscle, I was so scared I couldn't move. I could hear myself screaming inside myself but I couldn't make a sound in my throat. I never want to feel like that again. I have no idea what it means. I'm still trying to figure out who the man in my dream was. I know it's someone I haven't met yet but I will eventually. This is the end of my letter.
Sincerely, Not Quite Rescued
** Dream: "A Pot of Trouble" by T (971016) **
Okay, lately (at least a month, probably longer) I have not been having normal, nor pleasant dreams.. Just nightmare after nightmare and my memory of each nightmare will be erased after the next night when I have a new one (Which I should start writing down). But before I sleep tonight (Its almost time) I'm going to post my last nightmare with fuzzy details... This dream is so warped it would make one question my sanity... Okay heres how I can remember it starting off. Me and some friends (Some people who aren't really my friends... in fact I can only stand one of the people who I can remember being in my dream) we're ridding out bikes down a unknown street when Bryce (The only one I can stand.. The other two being Dustin who I hate, and Matt who annoys me) Bryce say's "I hope this is real marijuana" So I looked at it... And it was not real at all, had a Morning Glory flower growing out of it.. He then gave two small conners of a bag that was tied into a knot with a little weed! in it to me and Dustin. We get to Dustins place (Which was not what his place really looks like, but Its been in my dreams before) we try smoking some of it.. I could not smoke it... Next thing I remember Dustin was all drunk beating people up (Note this part may and probably did happen before we tried smoking it) Then I re looked at the pot, and some of it was real and really high grade. Then Dustins Dad got home (And he really doesn't live with his dad) and started yelling at people, so I ran out of the house (Ohh I forgot to mention, it was the fourth of July, and earlier in the dream I had made plans w/ my mother to watch the fire works at Piolet Butte - a land mark in Bend Or were the fire work show is). So after I ran out of the house I went to the pay phones on the side of his hose. There were 5 phone booths I think. And three we connected, and the fronts were coming out of the ground.. They were like leaning back. I really can't explain it. So I put in the quarter, and! I heard a voice in the phone, it was like a preview for a ! movie, in fact it was a preview for a movie in my dream. Saying something like "Only males who use these phones, after they deposit their coin its to late. They have entered their nightmare" or something to that extent, I can't remember exactly. Then the call went through and it was a pager or something. Then a operator... Saying our number did not exist.. And I was feeling so scared at the time (Note this dream takes place in bend, Or when about 2 weeks ago we have moved to Oceanside Ca.) Then I went into some Horror Fantasy world, where it was like Japanese Cartoons or something, and some weird animated man like thing holding a coke can, the can turned into some weird weapon and came after me, and that's the last I remember. This is one of the strangest. And I need answers. I want these damn dreams to stop. I will book mark this page, and post daily. Someone please help me.. am I going sub consciously crazy? Let me know.
** Dream: The Witch in the Woods: A Nightmare by 12 yr.old (971016) **
Note: bob - this dream is extracted from an article in ed4-10, so there is no need to repeat it in the dream section (unless you want to) - though you may want to reference it if comments come up as: (See Geoffrey H. Smith, Big Dreams and Nightmares: A Journey through the Night Forest)
The Witch in the Woods: A Nightmare (approx age 12)
It is night. I wander through a forest, alone, not knowing where I'm coming from or going. After a long time, an old woman suddenly appears in my path. She is a witch. Glaring at me, she says that when the moon is full and high overhead, at midnight, she will come for me. As suddenly as she appeared she disappears. I wander on. Much later I come across a circular clearing in the forest. I go to the center of it where there are some large rocks. It is then that I notice the full moon, straight overhead, and remember the crone's words of warning. I am terrified. I notice how utterly exposed I am in this clearing, with nothing but dense forest surrounding me. My terror becomes so great that I start to think, How can I get out of here? Then I remember I am dreaming, that "I" am lying on the top of a bunk bed, my brother in bed below me. "I have to wake up," I think. I decide if I hit the rock hard enough my brother will notice me having a nightmare and will wake me up. I begin hitting the rock. Then I awaken.
** Dream: the technogorgon by Stan (971003) **
Stan requests that his name an address remain with his text. -Richard
<< I believe I sent you a dream a few weeks back for your amusement. perhaps I forgot. anyway, at the end of this dream there is a curious, semitransparent half dream that happened after I was awake. I have not read of this happening in the literature anywhere and I do not recall it my years of dreamlogging before. have you seen this before? *)
DATE : 3 October 1997 04:14
DREAM : the technogorgon
=( just a slow night. I did not do much work, watched PBS on the tube but nothing interesting. went to bed early, read some more of _decline and fall_ and to sleep just after midnight. )=
as I walk with the director of the advanced genetics institute through the tall wet grasses near the woodlot, I enjoy the rich green of the vegetation. there is little they can not do with living matter these days, but engineered plant life still needs to sustain the green color of chlorophyll if it is going to extract its life energy from the sun. there is talk from the nanotechies about developing other chromolight extracting molecules to compete with the chlorophyll genes of nature, but that development always seems somewhere in the future. so the plants remain basically green, with a little reds and yellows to back up the green machine.
"there's one now," whispers the director,"be quiet as she is very shy of strangers." he is pointing through the trees at the edge of the grassland.
"I see it," I reply, making out an indistinct shape standing upright and still with the thin trunks of some saplings. "its a hadrosaur, I believe." the mottled skin of the beast changes color briefly like a chameleon, a rash of brown and red spots wandering over its belly, trying to blend with the wash of cloud swept sunlight through the slight canopy of leaves. no one really knows if the paleoancient duckbilled dinosaurs really had chameleon skin abilities, but I recall the sims which indicated that their survival factor increased dramatically to near the estimates of the fossil record if we added those genes. I had run those studies myself.
the director and I approach very softly. the hadrosaur coos quietly when she sees his familiar face. me she is somewhat startled by and does not break the holding freeze posture as she scans me with her eyes. I know the best behavior in such a circumstance is to pay inordinate attention to the surrounding plant life and not look directly at the suspicious creature. modeling the behavior of other herbivores in the area is the quickest way to reassure her that we are not predators here to devour her. nearby a family of durante pigs breaks into our vicinity. these primitive mammals show little hesitation about bustling up to humans, having heavy doses of the domestication gene blocks. these animals are mostly nose. the mother pig comes up to just above knee high, and she looks like a large down turned human nose (not the usual pig snout) with a small mouth tucked under the ventral belly, and curious expressive eyes mounted back on the rump. huge functional nostrils run along outside the rib cage which wheeze slightly every time the creature inhales. four small spindly legs propel the nasodon through the bush. this one has a litter of maybe six smaller young clustering around her legs. the durante pigs are from purely speculative genomes, having nothing ancestral in the past.
I playfully scratch the top of the nose, where a head would usually be in natural body designs. the mama pig snorts appreciatively, and all the little ones now include me in their grouping, swarming around my ankles. this acceptance seems to reassure the hadrosaur, who now relaxes and begins to feed on some small plants at her feet. none of these creatures required genetic material from amber frozen mosquitoes like in _Jurassic park_. the building blocks of morphology are all around us in the biosphere and merely need sculpting into any design.
suddenly, the mama pig makes a squeak and all the tribe of durantes vanish into the shrubs. the hadrosaur localizes her head in the opposite direction, then she too starts her curious loping stride with haste back toward the institute buildings. "uhoh," says the director beginning to jog off after the dinosaur. "whatever has scared a hadrosaur into flight response is not something to wait and see." so I run after him.
the institute is on the edge of a small city. it is mainly the support facilities for a high tech think tank, but dealing in living organisms, they need a lot of personnel and environmental space for their prototypes. so a boom town has sprung up around the activities of the gene masters. just as I reach the first building, the last of the general exodus of the woodlot, I hear something ravening through the small forest that we just left. as I pull the glass doors closed behind me, I see a large shape, very black and white, push over a couple maple trees in its path.
oh, no. a gorgon. I hope she did not catch sight of me.
inside, the people are obviously preparing as best they can. through the vestibule is a large empty room like a gymnasium or cafeteria cleared of tables except a few around the edges. the few people are hastily gathering on the far wall away from the approach of the solitary wails and clanking sounds coming from the forest edge. there are fewer windows on the far side of the room, having a small raised stage, so most people are heading that way to press against the concrete wall. as I dash across the open area, I pass a black woman standing near a window. she is looking at the rest of her colleagues with contempt. "I don't know what you all are behaving like this for." she addresses everyone loudly. "if she come, she comes. that's all. nothing you can do can stop her."
while she is talking to the group assembled along the far wall, her back is toward the large glass windows on the side which extend from the floor up about ten feet. in the first window, the torso of a young woman descends from the top to peer into the clear glass. her hair is black and her breasts are naked, wobbling with vibration. everyone along the wall, seeing her, gives out with a collective moan. the black woman, paying no attention, keeps on with her bravado. silently creeping along, the rest of the gorgon passes the first window, then the second, then the third, giving me a moving glimpse of her anatomy like peering through a whirling zoetrope. she is a cross between a panzer tank, a dump truck, and a woman. her body, at least her human part, mounted from the waist on the nose of the tank turret where the cannon would ride, is constantly shaking in vibration of the tremendous energy output of her technical parts. at present, the tractor treads are tightened, running in a stealth mode for minimal silence. the entire back half of the tank body is an open truck bed, very deep. this is essentially her feeding mouth where tons of organic matter are dumped to sustain her power needs which are considerable.
finally noticing the fright on everyone's face, the black woman stops her tirade. "what are you staring at?" she asks. turning to the nearest window, she sees the face of the gorgon looking in at her. the gorgon smiles a wicked grin as her eyes lock onto the woman. the glass shatters as the gorgon's arm comes through, lengthening toward the black woman who lets out a shriek. Instead of being frozen there like most would be, she runs to a side door emergency exit. The alarm goes off as she hits the releasing bar, and everyone starts to run in aimless panic.
Unfortunately, the only emergency door which she used opened into the street just in front of the gorgon. She tries her best to get up the speed running, but very few ever escape the gaze of the titan once it has decided on its prey. the black woman gets maybe 25 meters down the alley before the monstrous tank catches up to her. the gorgon's human part has swollen from its normal personal dimensions to about four times that size. one giant hand reaches out and plucks the fleeing black woman by the waist. the other hand has its fingernails extend into sickle blades which sequentially pass through the woman's body cutting through gristle and bone with little resistance. her index finger passes straight through the head. the gorgon carefully catches the top of the cranium with her thumb and middle finger before it can topple into the dust of the street. turning the skull cap over like a cup containing the still living brain, she tosses the rest of the corpse sliced like a pickle into the dump truck bed over her shoulder. it lands with a meaty splat as the grinders on the bottom start crunching the bones into a pulp. the human part in front deflates to more normal size as she picks bits of the fresh brain into her mouth, savoring the flavor. having finished her appetizer, the panzer engines fire off with a joyous roar. no stealth now. the treads turn the tank's breast below her human waist into the side of the building which cracks open like an egg. people start running out like ants as the building comes apart in big chunks. the gorgon grabs a few as they pass and toss them whole into the active meat grinders in the truck bed. the female head is watching the pattern of the people escaping, choosing where the greatest density are headed for her next direction of rampage. the noise and the terror are considerable.
I have tried to escape with the rest, thinking no clearer than anyone in the circumstance. but as I run into the open, the enlarged hand catches me up by the waist. but instead of being thrown into the churning bloody maw which I see over her shoulder, the gorgon pauses and looks directly into my eyes. I have heard that this is when she is at her worst, taking any personal notice of her prey. god knows, I have no power to resist the power of her gaze.
she smiles a little. her head is now about half the size of my body and she brings me up close to her face. I expect to be bitten in half by the human mouth rather than the meat grinder. but instead, she sniffs me a couple times then inhales deeply. she smiles a bit broader and she turns and slaps me up against the outside of the dump bed instead of into it. I can not explain why, but I hang on the side for dear life as she continues her movements culling the human tide before her. there is no adhesive sticking me to the outside of her chassis, but I can not release my grip to escape behind her. I find there are indentations along the side where I can place my feet to take my weight like running boards. this makes it easier on my hands. I think looking into her eyes did something to my mind that made escape unthinkable. after about a half hour, she has torn her way through the institute compound and arrives at the outer fence separating the civil parts of the town from the activities of the company.
her dump bed is now sloshingly full of blood and torn flesh and body parts all churning around with the grinder action below. no longer are any of the parts still moving, trying to climb out of the vat of gore. so she pauses to digest the contents of her open stomach. across from me, there are hanging two other men who were also selected for whatever special fate awaits us. we exchange worried glances across the choppy sea of clotting blood between us. dessert, perhaps. while the blood level slowly recedes into the bowels of the vehicular parts, she is up front combing her hair with a hand mirror she took from some compartment. back to normal human size, she has become amazingly attractive as she hums a little merry tune while her dump bed grinds occasionally when bones or a skull pass through.
when her hair is to her satisfaction, she turns to one of the men across the way from me and gestures for him to come. after a moment of panic, he climbs clumsily over the intervening structure to her. since she is normal size and mounted from the waist to the tank turret, he towers over her human part when standing on the turret part. directly in front of her face, he now kneels on both knees to more approximate her eye level. but I do notice that her torso imperceptibly lengthens a bit to achieve exact equality of eye contact.
after a few cold minutes of silence and looking over his trembling body, she looks away. "you," she says in the first human speech I have heard from her. "you may go." the man almost falls off the front of the tank into street below. he gets up in a very shaky manner and staggers away aimlessly into the ruined buildings behind us. I can see where his bladder and bowels let go as he walks away, staining his dirty khaki trousers.
I observe the other man summoned forward and similarly dismissed after a shorter period of examination. my turn comes quickly. perhaps because I have seen this ritual with the others, I am more prepared and come forward with less stumbling. when I kneel before her, I go down on one knee only being able to keep my balance better than the two before me. she notices this with a sweet smile as she lengthens to reach my height. her eyes hook into mine and I think I have never seen a woman even half as beautiful as this awesome creature. she reaches forward with her now delicate hand to caress my cheek. her breasts are small and perky like a young athlete. I notice her skin has no tendency to tan even though it is constantly exposed to the sun, a milky white now looking soft. I see the pulse pumping in the arteries of her neck. "you may not know this," she says in a soft husky feminine voice. "my two sisters and I are virgins, having no male members of our race." and I am immediately afflicted with a growing hardon in my jeans.
she laughs demurely at my discomfort. "but first I want to wash down all this protein." she pulls me over behind her as the engines fire with a muffled blast. I have to sit with my legs around her waist and she guides my hands to grip her nude shoulders as we start off into the town. riding double behind is a treat compared to hanging on the dump bed side watching terrified people being thrown to their deaths and struggling in the vat of growing gore.
the breeze in now fresh and her hair gently tickles my face as we wheel down the highway between the city buildings. we roll through a couple police barricades, her treads mashing the black and white police cars. I notice many of the swat team firing rifles at us, but all the bullets whiz by, never striking anything, not even a ricochet off her armored side panels. I do not think it is a forcefield or any energetics beyond her gaze. she is glancing constantly around, taking in any threat and once they have seen her their tactical value is totally neutralized.
I wonder that none of them try the perseus trick and aim through a mirror, or use a radar or heat seeking missile. but no weapon seems capable against her. a couple bazooka like discharges merely follow a straight trajectory by us and she appears to enjoy the show of the larger ordinance as it passes in pyrotechnic display. she is merciful to these soldiers, not taking any to eat and only grinding down any foolish enough to stand in her path.
once past the trivial defenses of law enforcement, she selects a warehouse in the agricultural end of town and with the engines firing up to rampage level, she rips the end off a grain storage bin. white soy beans start to flow from a loft and she backs her dump bed into the stream. it does not take long for the bed to overflow and I hear the grinders happily munching the more wholesome supply of clean nutrients. apparently she enjoys a balanced diet more than straight carnivore pleasure. while she is consuming the grain, she pulls me in front of her with a satisfied look. she leans back and the turret floor morphs upward around her, forming a bed like structure covered in a soft mottled green fabric that stays continuous with the armor plate of the floor. this completely covers her body up to the neck. under the cover, I can see the outline of legs come up from below, joined to her waist in the manner of human females. I get the idea that it is time to do something about her virginity. I start by gently exploring her feet legs with a sensitive massage. this is new anatomy for her so I am careful, but I suspect I could not injure her with an axe. still, she responds with a contented sigh. between the consumption of the grain with the now slow, monotonic turning of the grinders and my tentative gropings, she gets a slightly glazed torpid look about her face and I feel the compulsive attraction slip a bit. she falls into a peaceful sleep, apparently weary from the activity of the morning.
I release my hold on her and pull my legs back under me. no notice. quickly I slide over her armor and across the tread over her wheels. still no reaction. I start to run. across an open lot I see a freight train slowly picking up speed, leaving the area. I figure I have better chance to secure my escape on that than by running, as I am tiring quickly. it has been a difficult morning to say the least. hanging on to the side of the box car is strangely more tiring than hanging on to her dump bed. I suspect the latter was enhanced by her powers of compulsion, while this requires mere mortal strength. still, I do not let go. every small bit of effort here helps put distance between me and her. a mile or two passes. the closeness of buildings beside the train tracks opens up into prairie like environment.
just as I start to feel safer, I hear a concussion toward the back of the train, followed by a grinding vibration. I swing over the side of the box car to see down the length of the train. my heart almost stops as I see the black and white pattern of the gorgon's armored sides seemingly attached to the end of the train. as I watch, she seems to shake the final car, lift it, and throw it aside into the plain. she has matched the speed of the train and is going through it car by car, apparently searching for me. shit. what can I do?
she has not seen me yet, nor I her hypnotic face. I swing over to the other side, but she is still visible from there. if I jump off and do not break any bones doing it, there is still not enough time to hide before she passes. she will see me. besides, I think she is tracking me by scent. the smell seemed to be the deciding factor she took when she spared me from her death vat while feeding on human flesh. when she got to this car and found my smell stopped here, she would know to backtrack. can not go up top as that would put me face to face, which no one can do with a gorgon. I do not think I can get under a box car and hang on while she discards it... I never get the chance. her face and naked shoulders show above the gap between the cars where I am hanging. I see her eyes light up with pleasure as she scolds me with her grinning lips. I can not hear what she is saying with the noise of the train and her engines running full out. our mating dance has just begun anew.
I wonder just how long a mere man can keep a gorgon content in a relationship and if divorce and devour are equivalent to her species like mine.
=( it is 04:11 on the clock when I awake. before I get up, I have something like a dream, but I am awake, like a day dream. I am in a university library, having draped a green bedspread over me since I sleep without garments. I go over to the computer I use for my dream records but some girl with a camera is there, not using the computer but doing something with a young man. I ask to use the machine to record this dream, but she says this other girl is waiting to use it before me. rather than pull rank and use it anyway, I turn away. then I get out of bed (in real-time now) and go out the den where I fire up the mac. this day dream was not very visual, the people and library having a hollow transparent look to them. I think I was awake with my eyes open while this leftover state provided a dreaming about me seeking out a computer for data entry. it did not seem to effect the vivid recall of the complete gorgon dream. )=
stankuli@gulf.net
=== qui non est hodie cras minus aptus erit
| | who not is today, tomorrow less suitable will be
--- -- Ovid _Remedia Amoris_ I 94 >>
** Dream: 'The Stalker' by Nutcracker (970324) **
I was a midshipman (female). The ship was coed. There was one guy in my class (Jim Cary/Liar, Liar) who held a particular dislike for me and who would harass me at every turn, but I never reported him. The shop was getting ready to dock and everyone had been granted shore leave. One of our (female) superiors told us all to grab our duffel bags and take them with us as we left the ship.
At the same time, there was a Tsunami taking place and we were all going to have to get into a rubber life raft and row to shore. For a second, I thought if we had a submarine, we could submerge and be safe from the Tsunami, but that isn't the case since Tsunamis are caused by underwater earthquakes. I worried about getting my new white walking shoes wet and thought about changing them. All of our duffel bags were kept in a particular closet. I had packed mine and put it on the top shelf, right hand corner. I was one of the last ones to leave the ship, along with you-know-who. I went to get my bag and he was there. His bag was now where mine used to be. "You son-of-a-bitch. What did you do with my bag?" I screamed. All the while he feigned ignorance. He leaves and I'm thinking about all of my civilian clothes that I now have to replace. I'm so pissed off. My superior comes by as I'm slamming the door shut and kicking and hitting it too, but she doesn't reprimand me.
Now those of us who got off of the ship are in a school. I'm walking through the halls. I see my best (girl) friend coming toward me. She's walking strangely (to be funny). She walks right past me and over to her boyfriend who's sitting against the wall, behind me. Oh well. I continue walking and there's a tall, stocky guy a few feet behind me, trying to ask me a question. I think he's going to ask me if I'm a midshipman because he sees my class ring, but instead he asks, "Are you Indian (as in Native American)." "Yes," I answer as I walk into the ladies room. Well, it wasn't a total lie. I am at least part Indian, or so my grandmother says.
I'm in the bathroom and it's nearly empty. There are four rows of stalls, two against the walls and two in the center, back to back. A girl I know is in the bathroom also. She stops to talk and then leaves me. You-know-who is there also. I don't see him, but I know he's here. He has attacked the girl I was talking to and has killed her. At least I think she's dead. He's placed her body over the top of one of the stall doors, face up. There's blood all over her shirt. I panic and back quietly to the exit door. A lady in a blue dress is coming out of one of the stalls. I start screaming. I'm afraid she'll think I killed the other girl. (3/24/97) #187
FOOD [The source of our physical nourishment]
FIRE [Flames bring light, heat and destruction/transformation]
** Dream "Two Flames" by K (970109) **
As I step back into the house from the garage, I smell an odor of sulphur in the air. In the kitchen, in a spot out in the middle, I tend a bright blue flame. I adjust the large bulb-shaped flame as I would an oxyacetylene torch, making the mix very rich until the flame fairly roars. Then like a light that on the surface of a sheet of plastic is reflected, when that surface is bent, separates into two, so across the room did the flame streak, grazing my back as it flew and taking up a second position a short distance away, the two flames remaining connected by the tendril that spawned the second one. As the flame grazes past me, startled, I let out a "Yeep!" and wake up. But I still have time to adjust the second flame as well, which burns as brightly as the first.
** Dream: 'Garden Flambe' by Nutcracker (971019) **
I was at an outdoor restaurant. The place was enclosed by a four foot high brick fence with six foot high brick pillars placed on top of it, every fifteen feet. In between the brick pillars were lengths of wrought iron fencing, old and rusty, red in color with pointy arrow shaped tips. About a foot or so down from the top of the fence was a (wrought iron) garland that wove in and out through the fence. In the center of the restaurant was a shamrock shaped fountain, Celtic in it's design. The fountain wasn't very large, maybe 10 x 10 feet. From the middle of the fountain rose a
verdigris pyramid. It was made of copper, but had been etched to look as though it were made from bricks. On each dining table was a vase filled with live flowers. This wasn't one of those restaurants that put white Christmas lights in their trees for ambiance, this place was a flaming garden. Soon the trees and shrubs lit up. The pyramid burst into flames, even though sitting in water, and as people tossed coins into the fountain, the coins also burst into flames. The garland on the wrought iron fence as well as the flowers on the tables were aflame, yet there was no fear of being burned. Each flaming object seemed to be self-contained. (10/17/97)
(this dream was brought about by a chat group I was in the night before, hosted by Jesse Reklaw, ED's art director. We all vowed to collectively try to have a dream about a 'flaming garden'.)
FLYING [Confidence, Power, Freedom & Perspective]
GIFTS [Offerings to or from others]
** Dream: 'The Pretender' by Nutcracker (970331) **
Nancy and I met two of her Internet newsgroup women. We were all in the car talking. I knew one of the women only by her screen name. I had brought each of them a small gift (of friendship). The one I knew by name only, opened hers and then tossed it on the floor of the car. At first I thought, "How rude," but later thought she might not care for material possessions.
Later, we were standing outside some apartments. On the ground I saw some colored shells (like mini conch shells). They were in colors of deep red and deep rose. They had black dots (like ladybugs) and were edged in beige. They were polished to a high gloss finish. I thought they belonged to the woman I only knew by her screen name, but as I handed them to her I noticed a small garden of them nearby. These shells were in a small plot of dirt, dangling from narrow sticks (like sticks of incense). Some of the shells had fallen and these were the ones I had picked up. I wondered why if she knew they weren't hers, why didn't she just say so? (3/31/97)
** Dream: 'Missing Egg' by Nutcracker (970329) **
I was with Jane Z. We were in some gift shop. The sales counter was shaped like a square. The counter top was completely covered with items for sale. I saw Jane pick up an (ostrich size) egg that had mosaics around the perimeter and some kind of holy scene in the center. I went over to get a better look at it. By the time I reached her, she had put it down. I asked her where it was and she picked it up to show me, but it wasn't the same one she had been looking at. This one was white and pink frosted glass that formed flower shapes. I described it for her again and we went around and around the counter looking for it, but couldn't find it. (3/29/97) #198
HOBBIES [Our interests and desires]- COLLECTING THINGS
HOLIDAYS [Time off to ...]
HOSPITAL [A place for treatment, healing and repair]
HOUSE [Where our lives take place]
** Dream: 'No, It Isn't Santa...." by Nutcracker (970301)**
I'm Chevy Chase (SNL). I'm up on top of the roof of my house to remove a Styrofoam cover. The cover is supposed to keep animals out of the vents and chimney. It is the dead of winter. I manage to remove the cover and toss it off the side of the house where it falls to the ground below. I see a squirrel in the chimney and another in one of the vents at the opposite end of the roof. The cover seems to be useless at doing its job. I'm home alone and don't have a ladder to get down off the roof with. I carefully make my way down the length of the roof, trying to keep to the inside where the peaks and valleys meet. I take care in stepping over the patches of ice and snow trapped in these gullies. The roof is high pitched and oddly shaped. I make it down to a spot where I'm only one story off the ground, but it's still too far to jump, especially onto ice and hard packed snow. The next door neighbor's daughter comes out and helps me. I can jump to their back porch without too much trouble. Now I AM the girl from next door. I go inside the house. My two siblings and I want to go out and concoct a story to tell our dad so that he'll let us. Our mother is gone (dead?). I go from room to room through the house doing something (cleaning?) when I end up in my father's bedroom. I came in one door as he came in another. I tell him I need a few minutes to finish cleaning up. (3/1/97)
** Dream: 'Shambles' by Nutcracker (970302) **
I was at home and for some reason I checked out the closet that the water heater was in. I could see the top of the ceiling from where I stood and could see that termites had eaten through the pressed board ceiling. I was sick to have discovered this.
I went out to the den and there was a large rectangular cutout in the wall (though the cut out piece was still in place). The sheet rock was peeling away from the cut out piece. What was going on here? Why was the house in such disrepair all of a sudden?
I was looking in a cabinet for something and came across a tube of caulk and a container of ceiling spackle (the kind with the tiny Styrofoam pieces in it). It was left over from when my brother had come to visit and fixed the ceiling in the hallway for me. But I thought the stuff he used came in a spray can?
It was late afternoon and I debated when or whether to call B. and tell him the bad news about the house. I decided to do it now and get it over with. I called his office, but someone strange answered his phone (some guy from India). He repeated B's phone number to me. Then he told me that B was at lunch. At this time of the day I thought? Then I could hear someone else telling the guy that B. was out with his wife. "I'm his wife," I said. Then I said, "Never mind. I'll call him later." I hung up the phone and went outside to get the mail. I came back into the house via the garage.
There is a male and a female in the garage (people I know in my dream, but not in real life). I drop the mail and stoop to pick it up. The female is talking about strawberries and how she loves them so and that her mother sends her a crate of them whenever they come into season. (3/2/97)
HOTELS [Temporary Dwelling or Special Event location]
JOURNEYS [Missions away from our home base -explorations]
** Dream: 'Have Gun Will Travel' by Nutcracker **
I was at the movies with B. and Nancy. I'm sitting next to a stranger (male). He brought a rifle to the movie, as did I. He brought his in covered in a blanket. I walked in with mine uncloaked and no one said a word. We weren't supposed to have them. I think I brought mine not to shoot anyone, but more for protection. There are two or three rows of seats missing directly in front of us. I see the guy hide his rifle under the seats ahead of us. I do likewise. There's another guy (cocky) sitting near us. He keeps taking my rifle out from under the seat and standing it up against the wall so everyone can see it. There is a single round of ammo in the chamber which I wish I had removed before coming. If I get caught, it could mean the difference between going free or going to prison. I don't necessarily want to be strip-searched. The guy moves my rifle several more times. Finally there's an intermission and we start to become friendly. The movie screen is a 25" TV and we change seats to get a better view. The guy sees a popcorn maker on top of a refrigerator around the corner from where we're sitting and goes to help himself. Now all of the ushers are bringing people free food and drinks. I thought I had requested a Coke, but get a glass of milk instead.
I leave the theater to run an errand and leave my rifle behind. By the time I return, the movie is over and everyone is gone. B. is waiting for me in the parking lot. There are only two cars left. The ticket taker is waiting on me also. B. told her that I left something behind. She hands me a ticket so I can get back inside. I suppose it's too much to hope for that Nancy took my rifle home with her. She had a blanket with her at the movies; she could have wrapped it in that. What if I can't find it? How do I sneak it out if I do find it? What if the management found it? The cops will find the serial number and come and arrest me. There's a kid with me (the cocky guy turned friend who is now a child). I tell him to go use the bathroom, but say this only because the usher is listening. I really mean for him to go find my rifle. Now the theater is the size of three football stadiums (3 theaters) each filled with people waiting for the next show to start. I can't remember which theater we were in or where we were sitting. Everything's changed so. I rush into the first theater. It doesn't look the least bit familiar. I then rush into the second one. This one is strange to me too. Now, as I run from one to the other, I'm outside, running down city streets. As I run to the third theater, there's a group of men behind me (mostly black). They're walking as fast as I'm running. I keep looking behind me to see if they're after me. It appears they aren't. I'm just being paranoid. I then meet this older black woman (in her 60's). I ask her if she knows where the third theater is. She's going to take me there and walks with me for a while. We come to an area that is like a covered bridge. It's like a tunnel in the middle of the street. It's dark and about 20' in length. I put my arm around her as we walk through it. As we pass through this totally blackened area, there are flashes of light about every five feet or so. We make it to the other side and are greeted by rows and rows of houses. It reminds me of Chicago. They are all three-story brick homes, cramped side by side with only several feet between them. These are nice homes with well-kept yards. As we walk, I tell the woman about a strange thing that happened to me a few days earlier. I told her how I had gotten sick and as it is against my nature to throw up, I must have strained so hard to avoid doing so and in the process, broke some blood vessels which resulted in my face looking like it had blood blisters all over it. Especially and most profusely around my eyes and emanating down my neck. I then removed my sunglasses so that she could see for herself. We came to a corner and it seemed familiar to me. I think we need to go left here. Sure enough. She pointed down the street and said the theater was inside the fair grounds. I asked her if I needed to enter where I could see people getting in line to ride the train and she said yes. I thanked her for her help and told her I'd walk back through the tunnel with her. I didn't want her to go by herself. We headed back that way. There were some people on the sidewalk ahead of us, working. A woman was pushing a dolly, which she had used to unload a keg of beer for the establishment to our left. She was in our way and we couldn't get around her. Once past, we walked back through the tunnel. As we reached the other side, I could see my grandparent's house. I told her this is where they lived. As we stood there for a moment, a white car pulled into the driveway. I thought it was my Uncle Jim, but then I saw that it was my grandparents. My grandfather was driving. He looked so different. Younger. His hair was still gray, but he was much longer and had sideburns and he was wearing a red beret. It reminded me of the hairstyles from the TV show McMillan & Wife. He looked 70 instead of 95. Grandma was with him, but she looked 85 instead of 95. I went over to greet them. Where were my manners? I was slow to introduce them to Betty, but finally did. Grandma was saying something about two shiny objects lying on the brick patio. I looked down and spotted two large, loose diamonds. They looked to be about 2 carats each at least. They were lying in the cracks between the bricks. She left them there. She wasn't interested in their monetary value any longer. We all went inside. (3/7/97)
LOST [Disorientation or abandonment]
LOTTERY DREAMS [Sudden Wealth - Randomness favors the dreamer]
LOVE [All around us, yet so hard to find and keep]
LUCID DREAMING [Knowing you are Dreaming when you are Dreaming]
* Dream: Little Girl by Kes (971001) *
I've just been to something like a church service, and now I'm standing at this sort of bookcase, putting a book back on the shelf. It is a book of poetry, I think. Then the book turns into a red dictionary, then I see that it is The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Vol. 1. The place I'm in is like a house but not, sort of open and multi-purpose, and other people are here as well.
I go over to another area, where a class is being held on art, or, people are just doing stuff. I open my folder, which for a moment seemed like the Shakespeare book, and I now I see a colored-pencil drawing, a study of flowers and roses. The woman next to me has done these drawings and the folder is hers, and I see where she has taken some care to emboss the petals on the soft paper to give an illusion of dimensionality. The drawings are incomplete but still beautiful. I recall the pencils I have used, and I hear the voice of the inventor of the pencils say that the colors are ephemeral and like to fade, and I'm thinking, What right has he got to tell me what line of colored pencils to use? for I know that his other line of pencils is light fast. He says that some of the colors will fade after only an hour or two.
While all of this has been going on, I've been hearing two old men over in the next "room" (where the bookcase was),talking. One of them would say "Sealy." Then the other one would say "Sealy." And this has been going on for quite some time when suddenly they seem to snap out of it, and one says to the other, "What have we been doing? Just standing around saying Sealy, Sealy?" And they put down their collection-plate and go away. I go over there to take a look, and see that the churchmen have set down their collection plate on a table that's decorated with yellow and white paper. The money has already been put away. The silver plate is of truly large proportions and has "Sealy" embossed in caps all over it. I think to myself, Boy they must be mighty proud of their town.
Back at the place where the folders were, the collection of flower pictures is also a book on lucid dreaming, and the author has said various things about it. One young man or woman has been reading it and asks me questions. Out in the middle of the main "room" is an enormous bed and we get into it, and I tell him in some detail what I know of lucid dreaming. Possibly more than I know now, for I chatter on in great depth illustrating with various examples. The flower-drawings were somehow involved in this.
Now he asks a question about something particular, and I tell him how to get out of the bed when you realize you are dreaming. I say "Some people call it an out-of-body-experience but it's just another lucid dream." I have him lay down next to me and I illustrate, using my hands, two bodies oscillating 180 degrees out of phase, and say "You just go back and forth along like this..." (he's lying next to me like two peas in a pod but I still have room to illustrate rolling back and forth) "... and you get up enough steam and tumble right off the edge." And I do so, as an illustration, and land with a soft thump on the floor.
"Are you all right?" he asks in concern, peering over the edge of the bed and I say "Of course" and get back into bed. "You won't just go zook, clunk, because you'll be lighter. You'll go more like..." and I gesture a gentle arc in the air with my arms "...nnnnnyarum." In an open space in the middle of the room, people are doing various performances, all very home-brew amateur style. A man and a woman have their little daughter stand up, a blond-headed girl, and I think, Not Czech. They're singing, to the tune of Happy Birthday, "Little Girl, to you. Little Girl, to you. Little Girl, Little Girl, Little Girl, to you." As they sing, they're combing her bangs down over her forehead. She frowns and brushes the bangs back. I see she has a high forehead like mine, and I think, Not German.
** Dream: Just A Dream by Kes (970929) **
I've been walking through the living room while a TV show is on, something like a Hercule Poirot drama. It seems to me that Marsha is in it, something about Cynthia and Marsha. I pause to see the scene to its end, but then decide to go on out and get my mail in.
I go out the front door. It is nighttime. On the doorstep (which is a landing rather than steps) is something fluffy and yellow like a replacement dustmop mop. It's something I was expecting, and somebody like an Avon Lady brought it and left it. I decide to leave it there and pick it up on my way back in. The wind is blowing from the South, which is strange because we just got us a little cool front in and I find it hard to believe the wind can have changed direction so quickly. Also the southerly breeze is not warm and humid, which is also strange. I feel the breeze blowing my clothing, a long hip-length vest with a heavy weighted hem. The wind blowing in my face makes me think that I can fly, and with a truly loud YEEE-HAH! I fly up into the air, thinking even as I do so that it sounds very silly, but not caring. At first I don't want to fly because my next-door neighbor is in his front yard and might see me, but then I tell myself he will see me only if he believes in it, and if he doesn't, he won't, so either way it won't matter. I fly down the driveway toward the mailbox at the street, then materialize myself neatly in front of the mailbox, and open it.
I'm in my bedroom, and I notice that the room air conditioner installed in the wall is running. I wonder why I'm running the air conditioner at night this late in the season, and I'm going to turn it off when I see that the condensation is already running off the coils into the pan so I decide to let it run for now and turn it off later. As I watch, I see little tiny white flowers of frost abruptly forming on the condenser coils, making little ping! ping! ping! sounds as they come into being. Now I'm dust-mopping underneath the bed. I have pushed most of the dust beneath the bed out towards the edges and I've started around the bed when I notice a dark place or discoloration on the floor immediately beneath the air conditioner. Uh-oh. I inspect it closer and see that the linoleum flooring is starting to buckle and come loose from the floor. "No-o-o-o!!" I groan in dismay. This is the same spot where there had been water damage before, when the drain from the central air conditioning unit had come apart under the house and got the joists wet, and I'd had to get the linoleum replaced.
But that leak was fixed, the drain now being well-cemented together. So that couldn't be it. Now I see a tiny trickle of moisture coming down the wall from where the room air conditioner is installed, although it doesn't make sense and I'm not really sure the moisture trickling down the wall was there before. I touch it with my finger and it feels wet. My mind flies to the task of contacting George Rehak to repair the linoleum again. Suddenly it occurs to me that I'm playing into the hands of this calamity. I recall the termites that I'd thought I'd seen in the soil outdoors the other day, but without seeing any actual tunnels going up the foundation, and I had decided not to play along and told myself that the termites I thought I saw were not real, that it was just a dream.
So right now, I turn away from the supposed calamity and say "It's just a dream." At this point I come awake inside the dream, and I continue with dustmopping around the bed, rounding up the dust-bunnies and singing "Just a dream, just a dream, just a dream / All my plans and all my schemes, all my schemes." My voice sounds a tad remote, as it sometimes does when I sing in lucid dreams.
In the midst of this singing, I suddenly notice that I'm wearing a NovaDreamer lucid-dreaming mask on my face. This is very strange because I have never owned a NovaDreamer, and I think back on the preceding events, trying to recall seeing the lucidity cue. A blinking light, a flashing sign, a curtain of red light? I know what to look for because I have read about NovaDreamer, but I can't recall seeing anything that could possibly have been the lucidity cue. Nope, I got lucid when I decided to de-realize the calamity. I wonder if I've joined someone else's lucid dream. And it's true what they say, you can see right through this thing. I can see my hands on the dust mop, as well as see and feel the mask over my eyes. I notice the dark blue/black of the mask and I feel it on my face. It feels puffy, and bulkier than I expected.
I'm still singing, but when I get to the third line of the song, I don't know how the words go. "Da da da da da, dreamed in vain" and I feel a little loss of lucidity when I cannot sing the actual words. I don't know the fourth line either (though I seemed to know it in the dream) and by the time I've gotten near the door and "Your picture, doo-doo-doo-doot, is always with me" (the bridge), I have started to wake up.
I wake up in bed, not realizing that the bed is on the west wall, the "wrong" orientation. (My own bed is on the south wall, more or less, which correlates with this room rotated at 90 degrees. Or with the entire house rotated at 180 degrees, where the wall air conditioner that I've got in the garage correlates with the room air conditioner a little above and to the left of this bed.)
Now I'm in my own bed, the "right" bed, and only now do I realize that I was in the other bed just before. I've wakened up in that other bed often enough, and I know whose it is. But it is with some effort that I recall what I have on the wall a little above and to the left of my own bed now, in the spot where the air conditioner would be in that other room. A framed Mucha poster, "Eclat du Jour".
Now, pretty sure where I am, I take notice of my body. I'm lying flat on my back with my mouth open. Unusual for me, a side-sleeper, except I'm often like this when I've waked up in that other bed. There is one thing new however: I still feel the touch-memory from the lucid-dreaming mask upon my face. Rubbing my face briskly makes it forget.
== Commentary by Heratheta on kes TV dream(970930) ==
this dream is telling you to there's been too much "something like" in your life. take a break from that for at least until your next dream. try to the left or right of your television for best results.
== Commentary by Heratheta on re kes dream reply (970930) ==
thanks so much for your spellbinding tour into that part of the soul path to the left and right of your television. I am truly heartened that someone has responded to my occasional question about how you dreamers out there might find that real place (soul path) 90 degrees to the left or right of the dream's geographical location. I don't know if you had read rcw's comment that he had very few takers to that suggestion among the people he may have mentioned it to. he had mentioned it was in one of his jogging plan alterations. I had seriously considered not writing any more commentary feeling if at a world wide distribution such as electric dreams there was so little response writing more was seemingly futile. but I too took the faith leap today to check in and read your narrative. as rcw also said once about the degree thing he asked if it was being what he had heard in a story called "6 degrees of separation" which I had not seen or read. I too have finished writing lyrics for a make over of the old song "to sir, with love" so it might fit a memorial service here for a late mayor , Harold Washington. the opening up as you mentioned in your narrative of one thing to another in a different way is also what Wagner used his e7sus4 for in Tristan and to great success musically but not politically. I recently revised some of my older works written in the body style of the dream's direction and rewrote the lyrics and bent the melodies toward the soul's direction. that project became a blues trilogy. sometimes when I don't remember the word I had taken from my own dream as the mysterium conjunctionus I try to transcend for the day, I do remember the geographical location of the dream and explore it knowing I'm headed in the direction I want until I might recall the word. being blinded by the word to the extent that I cannot find my way out of it far enough to recognize it has been experienced by me desolately. your story made my day. thanks also rcw and the electric dream
== Commentary by Heratheta on kes and wlf drms (971011) ==
thanks to kes' earlier dream on his television we were narrated an actual strategy out of the dream's path considering that path to be destructive. the strategy was to move a few feet to the right or left of the television, which was the dream, and though this is helpful it is playing things rather close to the vest. take for example the wolfman dream breathing in the dreamer's room while the dreamer lay terrified in bed for 2 hours. that dreamer by slowly turning in bed towards either the left or right of where the breathing was coming from could have begun to alleviate the pressure of that dream and begun moving away without being chased BUT Oooo that's also playing things very close to the FLESH. could either of these dreamers with practice exercise the above options farther in the directions described even to the point of leaving their residences toward the right or left of the dreams' locations in their residences? yes! breaking the grip of inertia was marvelously told by kes in an earlier narrative and the wolf dreamer's faith in the reality of dreams being thick enough to manifest coldness and breath gives me faith that the wolfman dream dreamer will also break the grip of inertia EVEN IF ONLY the LITTLE kes started out with. dreams take on people if people don't take care of their IMMORTAL SOUL. RCWILKS said he was going to put up some scary dreams this month so let's substitute the word POSSESION for inertia and call a GHOST a GHOST, GHOUL a GHOUL.
== Commentary by Heratheta on Kes drms and Wlf dream (971011) ==
the kes drms are telling there has been too much 'wonder' and "surprise" and that it is coming back to haunt the dreamer. spending some time to the right or left of the local playhouse to get a break from the surprise will help and to the left or right of the computer also helpful though only in the time following those dreams until the next dreams. the wlf drm tells us "suddenly"is coming and the dreamer is right to be ready for it though I like to be ready in a position to the right or left of the house where the dark hallway was so that I may see that suddenness only out of the corner of my eye rather than in my face all over me. avoiding the incarnation of any of the above quoted words respective of whose dream they belong to would be an equally important action toward individuation.
MEMORY [Remembering ...In dreams we often struggle with the issue of memories and remembering a dream which by definition involves the process of recollection.]
MIRRORS [Reflection of Self]
MUSIC [Melodies of the land within]
** Dream: "Stone Cold" by Nutcracker (970323)**
I was having a discussion with B. about an upcoming trip to Paris. I was telling him we should go to the Musee de l'Orange this time and also to Notre Dame, when suddenly, I found myself (already) in France.
My father was a government official (US or French?). He, my mother and I lived in a mansion. We had a guest (for dinner or staying with us). We were all in formal attire; the men in tux's and us women in evening gowns. Our guest's name was David. I'm not sure if he was my boyfriend, a guest of my parents or someone they were trying to set me up with.
After dinner we retired to the conservatory on the third floor. It had a baby grand piano. Sometimes it appeared to me as white, and sometimes as black. The evening before we had discovered that David was quite an accomplished pianist. I was both shocked and surprised. I've always admired and am envious of anyone who can play. I stroll around the entire piano. There appear to be three sides with keys. On two of the three sides the keys are facing a different direction than normal and I can't figure out how to play it. The piano mocks me as a reminder that this is just one more thing that I can't do. I walk from side to side to side, running my hands over the keys. They feel cool to my touch. I imagine myself playing. In my head I can hear the song I'd play if I could.
The room is cold and sterile. I don't mean cold temperature wise, but more in the way there is no warmth, no coziness. This isn't a room to take comfort in. By sterile I mean there isn't a speck of dust to be found. Perhaps, austere, would be a better word to describe it. No one has spoken a word all evening. My parents just sit there, drinking their martinis. I look to David for conversation, but am ignored till I think I shall go mad. I find myself choking on the silence.
David begins to leave the room and walks toward the stairs. The spiral stairway is very elegant. The banister is narrow and hand carved out of mahogany. The spindles are narrow at the top and bottom and thicker in the center. They are painted white. I follow David down the stairs. He's about fifteen feet ahead of me. He stops and looks back at me. His eyes are cold and empty. "What? I'm not following you," I say, in a half-truth at best. Can't he see or feel the pain I'm drowning in here? Doesn't he care? I can't take it anymore and run past him and down the hall of the second floor. The hall is very wide and extremely long. It's carpeted in an enormous Persian rug (deep blues and reds).
I run as fast as I can, holding back my tears. I burst into one of the rooms at the end of the hall. It looks like a 'war' room, lots of tables, but exquisitely furnished. I lean against a desk and break down sobbing. (3/22/97)
NUDITY [What you see is what you get]
** Dream: 'What To Say To A Naked Man' by Nutcracker (9703 )**
Lauralee Bell (Cricket/YR), a black woman, a man and myself. We're in town on business. The four of us had a hotel room together. There were six twin beds or cots. Four of them had been pushed together to form two double beds.
The black couple was in one and Cricket was in the other. These were side by side with a table between them. The other two single beds were on the opposite end of the room. I look for a place to move the bed.
The guy gets up to make a phone call (the phone is near me) and he's completely naked. I moved one of the beds so that I could see the TV better. I moved it into the small narrow hall that led to the bathroom. Above me to my left was a small open closet. They all had their clothes hanging up in it. I see this large louvered door to my right and get up to investigate it. I think, I'll put one end of the bed in there and sleep with my head at that end.
When I open the door it's like a small room or closet. Maybe it's where the maid keeps cleaning supplies. There is a sliding glass door and through it I can see the central vacuum system and a set of stairs that go from right to left. There is no lock on the door. This worries me and I tell the others to come have a look. I tell them anyone could come in and kill us. They get up to look. We open the sliding glass door and discover there is another door outside of it that does have a lock, it was just pushed to the side so you couldn't see it. The lock looks like a wedding and engagement ring set. Diamonds in a silver band.
The stairs now lead to the outside. The black couple are now gone and an older white woman is now with me. Cricket goes up the stairs, the old lady and I go down the stairs. There are all kinds of bungalows on either side of the steps.
It's daytime. We reach the bottom and I see someone is building an old two-seater airplane in their front yard. I say, "B. would like to see this." Now we're back in the room (the original four of us and it's as though they're all on the soap YR). The others are all sitting up in bed and everyone's naked. I can tell Cricket had a boob job. I'm also having a hard time believing that they're showing nudity on daytime TV now. (3/9/97)
PERFORMERS [Entertainers]
** Dream: "Captain Von Trapp" by Kes (970923) **
I wake up from a dream, finding myself in a house much like my childhood home, and proceed to tell the dream to my brother.
"It was a Star Trek dream, and I was Jean-Luc Picard..." "As usual."
"... as usual, and Captain Von Trapp from The Sound Of Music (Christopher Plummer) came up to me... say, didn't he play a Star Trek guy too?" "Yeah, the Shakespeare-quoting Klingon." "Well he wasn't a Klingon. So, Captain Von Trapp. And he came up to me, and I was in the shower... my shower, not Jean-Luc's... and he started talking to me like Q, you know, smart-ass know-it-all, and I was looking at the drain and looking away, and every time I did this, I could tell I was shifting a universe. I mean, the drain and the shower and the loofah sponge and all that stayed the same, but I could tell the universe changed."
"Wait a minute, I want to get this down," says my brother, and gets up to get a mike. "And Captain Von Trapp said to me," I continue as my brother gets the mike, "tut Jean-Luc, you're getting it all wrong, can't you tell? Some of those times you just came back to the previous universe, and he laughed that irritating laugh. And I could tell, too. The times I got nervous."
My brother has returned with a mike on an overhead boom which he dollies over the bed, and asks me to tell it again. So I tell the whole dream over again. But the second time is in the kitchen.
** Dream: Harrison's Head - A Friend's Dream submitted by AR (970930)**
[Hi everyone. A friend of mine had this weird dream last night. It's kind of gross. But if anyone has any comments, she'd love to hear 'em. Thanks. AR]
Jamie and I and Jeanne and Barri (or was it Steve?) drove into parking spaces for the fair. (Wish I could remember the name of the man who rented us the spaces--I think it was significant.
S something, sounded middle eastern). Our spaces/cars turned into beds and the lot (on grass) turned into an RV park. I didn't like my bed -- my head was crushed up against a vanity.
I cooked dinner -- Harrison Ford's head. I 'roasted' it in a large plastic tub with a plastic lid. It kept slipping backwards and the eyes would open--necessitating the lid. I thought hmmmm Jamie will heave if he sees those eyes open. Harrison didn't seem too upset to be without his head. Once it was finished, I sliced the neck area and commented to Jamie that human heads have much more neck meat than chicken necks. It tasted like a lamb steak. Jamie made a comment on how tasty cannibalism was. Then I sliced the tongue. The slices were brightly colored, resembling a photographic rendition of a brain scan--different colors representing different parts of the tongue. It tasted like tongue, good but somewhat bland.
Jeanne and I decided to check out the fair. I didn't want to drive since we already had such good parking spaces but Jeanne insisted. We drove for a few blocks to a dead end. Just as I suspected, it's easier to ride around the fair (which still resembles an RV park--or the flea market parking lot at Canton) than it is to drive. We got out our bikes. Jeanne gave me a new pair of shorts with little side pockets at the calf. Barri was riding with us in a pair of Michael C's bike shorts. She was quite annoyed that the clerk at a store wouldn't let her try on her shorts without underpants. We discussed the merits of riding without undies. Barri ended up buying shorts that didn't fit.
** Dream: 'Fly Me' by Nutcracker (970314) **
I'm on a plane and find myself sitting next to Bono (U2). We get to talking and he offers to fly me (for free) to Ireland on vacation. I tell him how generous that is of him, but that I couldn't possibly take advantage of him like that (no matter how desperately I wanted to visit there). Then I start thinking to myself, "well, maybe I could go and pay him back later," but then I decide against that, you know, the best laid plans and all... . I tell him how much I want to see his country, but that it'll have to wait till I can afford it on my own. He leaves his seat and goes up front. When he comes back we find out he's chartered the plane we're on and we're all flying directly to Dublin. (3/14/97)
PROBLEMS [Situations or difficulties sometimes present choices]
POLITICAL SCENE [Public issues through positions of power]
RELATIONSHIPS [Other parts of ourselves including family which constitutes the first and earliest of our relationships, often influencing how we relate to the outside world]
** Dream - Tricycle Dream by Rider (971005) **
I dreamed that my best friend and I were riding on a tricycle together. We passed a group of guys, and she jumped off and left me behind. Later she just ignored me and hung out with those guys
== Commentary by Bob C.on Tricycle Dream by Rider (971005) ==
The dream appears to be an abandonment dream. Possibly a close friend has become involved in a romantic relationship and the dreamer feels deserted. The tricycle may indicate that abandonment feelings from the dreamer's childhood have resurfaced. If the dreamer disagrees with the above interpretation it is wrong. Only the dreamer knows.
'What we do in dreams we also do when we are awake: we invent and fabricate the person with whom we associate - and immediately forget we have done so.' FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE
** Dream: "Long Lost Lover Crashes" - by TK (971007) **
I had a very bad dream last night which was early in the morning. I saw my old friend had a very bad car accident and doctors amputated both of his legs. Still I couldn't believe it. It seems for me real because he lives very far away from home, I do too. We can't see each other any more I don't know his address, and he doesn't know mine either.
** Dream: Two Jet Black Church Spires Against a Jet Black Night by Island (971024) **
97.03.22 Journal Entry By 12:30 I was tired. The cold has me worn down. On the way to the Post Office I listened to a part of Marion Woodman's tape on dreams. I long for a return to remembering dreams and so hope by my cutting back on work that dreams will return to memory. It was a little while before I could even drop off to sleep and low and behold, I dream of Mother, probably the best and most vivid since her death. She was still alive, but sick, and I had such high hopes that she didn't have to die. In fact, I was sure she wouldn't. We were in a big house, and we were all younger. Daddy was there, as well as youngest brother. I don't remember my deceased brother or my oldest brother being there. Oh, and my husband was there. In fact it was just him at first.
Two Jet Black Church Spires Against a Jet Black Night In the dream I was not working and during mid-day I turned on the television and suddenly became caught up/inspired by something Disney was putting out, so much so that I wanted to call them immediately to tell them that I must work for them in any capacity on that one show. I was totally floored as I was reading the script. Somehow they were discussing planets in houses, only in a way that you weren't aware that the writer of the script was an astrologer first, but he was; otherwise he couldn't have scripted it. Something that corresponded to Pluto ruling the second house -- only it wasn't Pluto's name, nor even the second house -- but I'm thinking how right that all is. [NOTE: Pluto is now transiting Sagittarius, which is on the cusp of my natal second house].
I get out some books and turn the pages of each down halfway -- as I read each in turn -- to know where to return. I set these books on a portable folding book stand against a mantle on a wall, on the right of the living room -- not over a fireplace, as is the usual location. It was as if this wall was divided in half, but I was not aware of what was a part of the upper half, so focused am I on the wall with the books. I placed the books flat against the wall at first, then turned them vertically on the shelf and book stand. I return to watching TV and am seized by some guilt -- my husband has come home midday and found me watching TV, something I never do anyway, instead of working. He's off in another room, watching another show himself. I don't know what it is that I am seeing on the TV that is so awesome -- it isn't so much vivid scenes as it seems to be happening on a mental, inner landscape.
Then I'm talking quietly with Mother. She is sad, but is trying not to appear so. She shows me a church which I believed was in Ireland -- two very narrow, tall black spires -- sort of like the Twin Towers in NYC, sitting side by side -- but much taller and narrow -- very black, against a night sky. There are many tiny windows that suggest openings, and I want to look in them, but when I pierce a window -- it merely makes an indentation against the flat two-dimensional surface, as if it were made of rubber, making me feel that I am viewing a computer graphics or something of that nature. At the base of one of the spires, I see a shop front, entirely open, where a woman is inside. I am appalled at the cluttered nature of the shop -- there is no spot without some object of some kind, even on the walls, and everything is black -- a miscellany of pots, pans, kitchen utensils, stove, things taking up all available space, but nothing I could make out clearly. Very pristine, as if in a tiny doll's house, or a part of an earlier century, straight out of a Dickens's, Hardy, or Hugo novel. Very strange. But the whole scene was both magical and mysterious. Mother said something quite lyrical about the whole scene, revealing a side of herself I was only intuitively aware of, but had never seen surface while she was alive. I begin to talk to her, though I think she had already left my side and gone to sleep. So it's almost as if I'm talking to empty air and hope that she will hear. I'm saying to her, "Oh, Mother, I know you would like to travel. Maybe you will get well, and we can travel together. It'll be something for you to feel hopeful about, something for me to look forward to!"
About that time, Daddy was talking to my youngest brother on what seemed to be an enclosed porch in the back, heatedly. Cops had pulled up, were questioning some incident. I wanted to escape to the front yard where there was a bench beneath of grove of trees and write my dream down -- and I'm debating, wondering if I can be perceived by the cops or any other bystanders as entirely outside this current mayhem -- when, suddenly, my youngest brother says, "Daddy wants to talk to you." I say, "But I want to enter something on the computer." Then I thought better of it, as Daddy says, "Go ahead," and I say, "No, but what did you want to say?" He begins to tell me of how Mother said something sweet and romantic to him, and he was his insensitive self, not responded so to her, brusquely waving her aside, and now he's going on about it. So I say, jokingly, trying to soften his guilt, "Just like you, Daddy, right? Isn't that right?" while all the time aware that Mother had gone to sleep, quite possibly because of just that kind of harsh disappointment she experienced from his rebuff. The feelings in the dream? Nostalgia -- reaching back to a time where things were still possible and tentative -- not the cold, hard fact that she is now dead, and the bitter truth is all that remains. But the two tall slender spires against the night sky? Such an haunting, Gothic image...
** Dream: 'Betrayed' by Nutcracker (970314)**
I was at my parent's house. They had just moved into a different house. I was outside, mowing the grass. Some of it had overgrown and was now spreading into the street.
As I mowed the grass in the street, I heard someone calling my name. It was my brother Steve. He was up in a tree, yelling at me. Then my mother comes out of the house and says to me that she has an incriminating letter that I had written and sent to Ruth and Del (former coworkers of mine) about my grandmother. I demanded to see the letter and followed her inside the house.
I had never been in the new house before now. I stood in the dining room while she went to get the letter. To my recollection I had never sent a letter to them. I looked at it and said, "I didn't write this. Of all the letters I've ever written you, have I ever used this type style? Or two different colors of ink? (orange and black...looked like fire/flames). My brother Joel backed me up. I follow my mom around the house yelling at her, trying to make her see my side, but she believes Ruth over me. Unable to sway her, I go outside.
On top of all that, apparently I've caused yet another transgression - had an affair, which I hadn't. Now I have to try to repair this too. Aside from being wrongly accused on all counts, I'm also afraid I'll no longer get financial support from my family to attend school.
There's a small boy, Hank (he's 5), sitting on the steps. I go over to explain to him. I sit down next to him and start by saying, "Hank..." but then I get up and go around the corner of the house to cry. I put my hands over my face. I sense Hank is standing next to me, but now he's 18. He wants to hold me and comfort me, but I'm too upset to remove my hands from my face so he can hug me. (3/14/97)
** Dream: 'No Weddings and A Funeral' by Nutcracker (970320) **
My siblings and I had gathered at a relative's house for his funeral: my Uncle Jim. We were there to exchange family heirlooms, not of his, but of our parents.
I had gone into one of my sister's bedrooms and we mentioned the heirlooms in passing. What I would have liked was the red wool jacket she had, but she didn't offer and I didn't ask for it. I then went into another sister's room. She also had a coat I wouldn't have minded having. It was orange suede. I took it out of the closet to look at. I thought she could have taken better care of it, it was mom's after all. There were two spots that looked faded and worn. I took out an orange crayon and colored them in. Now I've made her mad. "I suppose you expect me to give you that coat," she groused. I didn't respond. It seemed to me there was an unspoken promise that when I was older, the coat would revert to me. She took yet another coat out of the closet and threw it on the bed next to me. What was this? A joke? She really didn't expect me to wear this did she? I was about to say something derogatory about how ugly this second coat was until I realized it was *her* coat (tan cloth with a multi colored knit insert).
I held my tongue and she stormed out of the room. On her way out she said or did something to piss me off and I got up and went to the door, yelling after her, "Well, I'm sorry Jim's dead, but we're all just born to die you know!" And as if that wasn't enough, I added, "and if you'd stop propagating the planet (she had 3 kids) we wouldn't have this problem (of people dying)." I myself was childless, by choice. I plopped back down on the bed where a third sister was laying. She looked like she was afraid to agree or disagree with me.
I got up and went down the hall. My aunt silently motioned for me to go into another room, presumably to make up with my sister. I wasn't quite ready to do that. I went to the living room instead. It's upstairs in a loft type area. There's a white wooden railing overlooking the ground floor and a sitting area off to the left of that. There I found my girlfriends from high school, Barb, Susie and Brenda. I notice that Brenda's still kept the weight off that she had lost years ago. She looks great. I plunk myself down on the loveseat, next to Barb. The furniture reminded me of hotel furnishings (blue/green/red plaid).
Brenda is smoking a cigarette. Jokingly they ask me if I want a Salem. I say, sure why not. That was a running joke from high school, everyone smoked, but me. Though I did try it once and they couldn't believe their eyes. Me, Miss goody-two-shoes, smoking. Brenda got up to get me a cigarette. It wasn't a Salem, but some foreign brand. They were in a silver box on the shelf. The box was compartmentalized, so each cigarette had its own space. She tossed one to me and one to Barb. I said to Barb, "I didn't think you don't let anyone smoke in your house." This (my uncle's house) was now her house. She just sort of raised her eyebrows at me, like there was nothing she could do about it.
Now I'm with my sisters again. They're all getting ready to leave. I'm sitting at the coffee table coloring a map of Alaska, using yellow/orange colored crayon. The crayon goes on so smoothly and very thick so it's very rich in color. I like the way it looks and feels. Another friend from high school is with us, Mary T. She points to the map and tells us this is where she went to college in Alaska. I keep coloring, then all of a sudden I notice little, black, almost minute specks of dust blowing left to right across the bottom of the map where I haven't colored yet. I said, "Look Mary. A dog sled race." There appeared little (animated) match stick men with little (animated) match stick dogsleds, racing across the page.
I asked Mary and my sisters if they wouldn't consider staying overnight. I suggested we go out drinking. They were all pretty much set on going home. I, myself, had a four-hour drive that I wasn't looking forward to. I was feeling quite tired in fact. (3/20/97)
** Dream: 'Rejection' by Nutcracker (970326) **
I was on trial for child abuse (not physical abuse, but for not keeping a watchful eye). I wasn't being held in jail and could come and go as I pleased and had to show up in court every day.
I was at my Aunt Betty's house. She told me that she had been on trial once too. One of her sons and one of her daughters were there as well. I asked (my cousin) Randy if he's been home (stayed) since our class reunion (in August) or if he had gone back to Phoenix and then returned for a visit. He said he was just back for a visit.
I'm trying to wash my hair (in the kitchen sink). I keep using more and more soap, but I can't get it to lather. The soap is brown and thick, almost gelatinous, like brown gravy. It smells rank. While sitting on the couch, I massage it into my hair. Some of it drips off my head and falls between the arm and a cushion. I wonder how best to wipe it off without leaving a stain. I go back into the kitchen and put my head under the faucet and try to rinse out the shampoo. There's a cushion from the couch in the sink, but it doesn't get wet. I remove it and then see that the bottom of the sink is rusted out. It's a disgusting sight. The hand sprayer malfunctions and starts spraying water all over the room. Randy, who's sitting directly behind me, gets soaked. I dry him off with my towel. (in between all of this going on, I have flashes of myself in jail where it's dark and dreary)
Now, as I'm getting ready to leave the house to go to court, everyone (family members) has gathered outside to see me off. I'm handcuffed. Behind me on the ground I spot something and reach down to pick it up. I hand it to my husband. He looks at it and throws it back on the ground. It was a brand new luggage strap (in a plastic bag). The person next door sells them and must have dropped it. It's now time to leave. I go over to hug my husband goodbye, but he only fakes hugging me. Then I go over to hug my brother, the cop. He takes a step back, away from me. I feel so depressed and alone. (3/26/97)
RELIGIOUS RELATED [The Ritual and the Spiritual]
ROMANCE [Thrills and Chills, lost in another]
** Dream: Jelly Baby by Kes (970927) **
I watch as the Doctor, oblivious to the grumpy mood of the posturing planetary official, reaches into his pocket and pulls out a handful of candies.
"Gummi bear?" he offers, grinning with innocent enthusiasm. Ah, think I, jelly babies are gummi bears, gummi bears are jelly babies.
A discontinuity -- and now I find myself flying at a good rate of speed past a being seated at a desk. I recognize it as a species of psychologist, the kind who helps you get rid of parts of your psyche that get in your way, and I think "Oh! This is the one who helped him to kill the negative voice inside of him." I wonder to myself what part of my psyche the being is going to help me kill off. Another discontinuity -- and I'm in bed, awake in my dream, and I feel a rocking sensation, like two conterminate bodies oscillating back and forth out of phase with one another. Having felt this before, I begin gently rocking along with it, hoping to roll one body out of the bed. I remember going to sleep on the left side of the bed, but I want to roll out on the right side, that being the side nearest the door, and I wonder if I'll have to roll entirely across the bed first, or if the right edge of the bed will simply occur in what would otherwise be the middle. I rock a little, then go back to sleep.
Awake again, and the same thing happens again, and this time I roll entirely over, face down and then onto my back again. I tell myself that the covers, if any, did not get tangled up. I didn't roll off the bed, I notice, but just from the left side over to the right, and I'll have to do it again if I want to get out of the bed. I lie quietly and feel the oscillations begin again, and I sway along gently with them. My skill over the rocking body isn't what I've been used to in earlier lucid dreams, it's more like what happened a couple of weeks ago. Still rocking gently, I recall that time: When I'd finally managed to roll out of the bed, I'd tumbled gently onto the floor, and I'd wondered if the "clunk" made by my limbs upon the floor would wake my companion who was still in the bed. Then, on the floor, I had slithered like a puddle of protoplasm past the bath, where I'd picked up a calico kitten, and into the kitchen, where I was greeted by my deceased calico cat Penny, now alive and well.
In that dream, I hadn't wondered about the companion I had so taken for granted, still in the bed. Now, however, I think that I'd really rather be in his arms than to go wandering around the house greeting deceased pets, no matter how glad I'd be to see them. Unfortunately, all I seem able to do with this body is rock it. So I rock it, and as when I'd rolled across the bed earlier, now I roll off the right edge. But instead of landing on the floor as I expect, I seem to hang in mid-roll, and another discontinuity occurs. Now I find myself lying on my back and gazing into the loving face of my companion. (It didn't occur to me at this point, but I have now gotten my wish about what I'd rather do.) As I gaze contentedly into his eyes, I can hear the voice of the aforementioned psychologist-type speaking to him, urging him to forget, forget the mistrust and anguish seen in eyes from the past, look instead at the innocence and acceptance in her eyes. As we gaze into each other's eyes, I don't know if that is what he's seeing in mine, but what I'm seeing in his is simple happiness, and it feels wonderful. I notice that his pupils are very tiny, as if he's looking directly at a bright light. I hope he knows that I cannot move my body at all, having only barely been able to rock it. All that I'm able to move are my lips, and I put them up to be kissed. Still looking into my eyes, he kisses my lips once, twice, again. I feel happy and wonderful. Then feeling another shift, I'm in bed, my ordinary bed. Belatedly and with some surprise I realize that his eyes were not brown but grey-blue like mine.
** Dream: 'Monogamy for One' by Nutcracker (970301)**
Harry Hamlin and I were lovers. We were at home (which was beachfront property). The inside of the house was dark wood. Harry was lying in bed eating macaroni salad. The bed was built into a corner of the room and had a royal blue comforter. I jumped up on the bed. Harry sat his salad down, on the corner of the bed. I moved it and set it on the nearby table so it wouldn't spill. I took Harry's face in my hands and kissed him passionately. Then I said to him three times, "I love you, I love you, I love you." I truly felt happy and in love. He sat up in bed. I stood on the bed before him. He reached for the zipper on my jeans. "No," I said. "Let me undress for you." He sat back and watched. I slowly undid my zipper and then shimmied out of my jeans.
Next we were off the bed, I guess so he could undress. Then he began chasing me around the room, hitting me with his belt. But this wasn't foreplay. Though he hit me three times with the belt, it didn't sting. Yet I was concerned by this turn of events (his actions). I said, "Harry, stop." He did, and the encounter ended there.
Now Harry, myself and another woman are in the car. I flirt and tease him, running my hand through his hair to let him know that I'm not mad about him hitting me (never was). He runs his hands through the other woman's hair. This hurts me. The other woman is my age, average in looks. She has blonde/brown hair, which is styled in those spiral curls. She is Harry's wife. As am I. She also has another husband. I am monogamous. Harry tells her that if she wants to be with her other husband, she has to give him six months advance notice. She argues with him and I tell him that he can't change the rules after the fact. I say, "What if I decided to take another husband or she a third? The discussion ended there.
We're now at a mall. The other woman goes off one way; I go the other way. Harry and a friend are somewhere behind me. The friend is a tall, thin guy in his 20's. A grunge/geek type of guy, yet very cordial. I go into a shop. It's very eclectic in its furnishings. I look at several items, planning ahead to Christmas, which is 10 months away. I'm looking for something for my friend Nancy. Inside a glass display case is a set of candles. The box contains a set of 12 zodiac candles, all hand carved, each with it's own history. Hmmm. That's something to think about. There are all kinds of other handmade candles as well. I was looking at one in particular. Then another lady asked the clerk to see it. I moved further on down the counter. There I found a sandcast candle sitting on a pewter holder. The holder had a base like a small saucer. On top of the saucer sat a pewter cup. The cup, which held the candle, had been intricately cut out with a design. There was a long curved handle attached to the side of the cup and the saucer. Then I noticed they had earrings of the same design and also a smaller version of the candle holder. I thought about getting the earrings for my sister-in-law Judy. Harry and his friend have come into the shop.
I move down the counter to see what else is in the case. There in the left hand corner are dozens of old and rare Pez dispensers. They all seem to be the softhead (rubber head) variety. There's a Wolfman, a Frankenstein, all of the Superheroes and a few of their foes, The Penguin, The Joker. Now with Harry nearby, I feel rushed, like I can't take my time to look around. (3/3/97)
SCHOOL THEMES [Learning and learning related trials]
SOLUTIONS [The answers to problems or quandaries]
STAIRS [Bridges between levels, between the upper and the lower]
TEETH [Ok, losing teeth is one of the top ten dreams people have questions on. Theories on what they mean range all over the spectrum of possibilities.]
TORNADOS [Pretty well defined destructive power of nature]
TRAPPED [Temporarily helpless- Sometimes we are paralyzed or imprisoned by jobs, relationships or expectations]
VEHICLES [Means of transportation, reflection of lifestyle]
** Dream: "Auto Accidents" by Third Strike (971016) **
This is a dream my friend had just a few days ago. It was quite disturbing to her and she thinks that it's trying to tell her something.
My friend was driving in her car, a silver Toyota Corolla, with me and our other friend. While she was crossing a steel bridge, the car suddenly lost control hitting one of the posts and the car fell into the river. We were all OK but she was frantic as to what to tell the insurance company. That was her third accident and she said that the insurance company won't believe it.
Incidentally, the steel bridge looked a lot like the Great New Orleans Bridge although she has never set foot there before(we live in another country). She did meet someone who lives there just a few days ago here in our country. The first two car accidents did actually happen to her in real life but the third one was the accident in the dream.
Back to the dream. When we looked down, we saw that the river was full of fallen cars from the bridge. There was a crane on the riverbanks picking up the cars and at that moment, we saw it pick up her car. Despite the crash, the car had only 3 dents, all on the driver's side. It was then that I told her, "It's OK, at least it's already the third. It's finished now (translated from our native tongue)." Our other friend told her, "Yes, that's right. Now, you can move on."
The scene then shifted and there, she saw her sister. She asked her not to tell their father, who's already dead, or any of the other family members of what had happened to the car unless they go looking for it.
The next day, she and her family were walking on a cemented road with trees and plants on their right side. Her dad then suddenly asked her, "Oh yeah, where's the car?" At that point, she broke into tears and said, "I'm really sorry, it wasn't my fault." Her dad initially looked irritated but later on, he comforted her by saying, "Don't worry about it. It's OK. You can stop crying now. At least, it's the end since it's already your third."
We hope that someone out there could translate this dream for us. Thank you very much.
== Commentary by Bob C on Auto Accidents Dream (971018)==
The dreamer is crossing a bridge. This may indicate that she is trying to cross over some kind of border or barrier into new experiential or behavioral territory. She doesn't make it and the car falls into the river. The other cars in the river may symbolize that the "crossing over" experience has been tried by many others who have also fallen or failed. The fact that so many others have fallen may indicate that the "crossing over" symbolizes a common experience; school, a new job, a new relationship, etc.) The support the dreamer is given in the dream seems to indicate that friends and family (her "insurers" or emotional supports) are telling the dreamer it is okay to give up. When the dreamer's car is pulled out of the river it appears okay except for three dents on the driver's side. Perhaps the dreamer's subconscious is telling her she would be more successful if she took herself out of the driver's seat and became a passenger (i.e. accepted help in her endeavors).
If the dreamer disagrees with the above interpretation it is wrong. Only the dreamer knows.
'What we do in dreams we also do when we are awake: we invent and fabricate the person with whom we associate - and immediately forget we have done so.' FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE
** Dream: 'Traffic Jam' by Nutcracker (970305)**
B. and Nancy were in his convertible with the top down. I'm walking and see them drive past me and turn the corner to get onto the freeway.
I turn the corner and see that the D.O.T. is still working on the road. Traffic is bumper to bumper. I catch up with B. and Nancy who are stuck in traffic. They're on a road that's just been asphalted. It's soft and squishy beneath my feet. I climb into the backseat, stepping over the door (rather than opening it to get
in). I get one leg and my body over then have to lift my other leg into the car. I'm barefoot.
I notice how tan Nancy is, but then I notice that I am too. I tell B. we need to get out of line and turn around or we'll be stuck here for hours. We pull over to the right as other cars are doing. We're situated on a small hill. Nancy tells B. to spin his tires so he'll slide. He does and the car slides down the hill.
Now we're driving behind some office buildings, going through alleyways. B. turns and whispers to me that I should look for Marlboro packs to get the miles (Nancy collects them too). I was already doing that. As we drove past a porch or loading dock, I saw a lot of empty cigarette packs, but they were different brands. We drive past another building and B. and I go inside.
We had a reason for going through the building, but I don't remember what it was. It's a school or library. We walked through from one end to the other. I spotted a bowl of candy and took two pieces. They were like Valentine candy (with the writing on), only round and they had people's names printed on them. One of the pieces I took said 'Kay'. When we got to the other end I saw another bowl of candy and put the two pieces I had taken, back. I thought, what if they had security cameras and saw me take it?
As we reach the front door and we're on our way out, a man came to see what we wanted. B. said, "Nothing, we were just looking." The man then walked outside with us. (3/5/97)
(Comments by Nutcracker: the fact that I dreamed the word 'Kay' on the candy is eerie as my friend Nancy has since found a writing mentor, and her name is Kay)
WATER [A magical earthly fluid, nourishment, cleansing]
** Dream: Water and Mother by LisaV (971009) **
I have had a succession of dreams involving water. Mostly, floating on water with my mother. Sometimes in ships, sometimes in cars, etc. What does the water symbolize? Why is my mother seemingly always with me? We never seem to have a particular destination... (LisaV...)
** Dream: Illumination Dream by Nutcracker (971023) **
I was on an island in the South Pacific. I don't know if I lived there or was just visiting. One night after dark, I took a stroll along the beach. To my amazement, the entire ocean floor looked to be illuminated by 1000 floodlights. I was curious, yet apprehensive about getting too near the water, yet it seemed to be calling me by name. I waded in a few feet. The water was warm and inviting. I walked in up to my waist and finally found myself fully submerged. Like a mermaid, I was able to breathe naturally. There was no fear of poisonous stings or attacks from any sea creature. The water was crystal clear. The fish and dolphins swam with me. All I could see were beautiful things. There were chests of sunken treasure everywhere. You were invited to look at it, touch it and even try it on, but you weren't allowed to take any of if. There were gold and silver coins peeking up through the sand, glistening as you swam by. I wasn't the only person here. As if through ESP, I discovered only those with the heart of a child were allowed to venture here. While there were others like myself here, we were all invisible to each other, to respect each others privacy and so there would be no prejudice against those who were unlike us. A dolphin came and took me to the center of the ocean where the light was emanating from. All of this illumination came from a single source; a 100 carat diamond which was nestled inside an open, giant clam shell. Another truth told to me that evening was that for every soul whose ashes were scattered or lost at sea, they became pearls. (3/6/97)
== Commentary by Heratheta on mermaid & mother dream (971024) ==
Nutcracker, did you take a holiday from "amazement" to the left or right of the water in your dream after you dreamt it? mother dreamer, did you take a holiday from "high" to the left or right of the place your mother was in that dream after you dreamt it? it is you who have something to tell us when you return from travel to those places dreamers, the rest is trick or treat.
WORKPLACE [Where we make a living]
WRITING & WRITERS [Communication and creativity]
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DREAM SERIES
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Well, that's all for now Folks. See you in ED 4.11.
Hasta La Vista!
Bob Krumhansl
bobkrum@erols.com
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Attach your own web page to Electric Dreams. Do you have an idea for a dream page, but no web site? Send that page to Matthew Parry. If you need help with creating the web page, contact Matthew for about classes. <mettw@newt.phys.unsw.edu.au>
ELECTRIC DREAMS HOME PAGE ON WEB:
Thanks to Matthew Parry:
http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~mettw/edreams/home.html
From here you will have access to information about Electric Dreams, back issues, FAQ and other online dream resources.
NEED A COVER for your issues of Electric Dreams? We now provide them and you can download them at
http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~mettw/edreams/home.html
or, if you have a black&White printer, you can in Netscape choose the "Print..." option while on the page you wish and get B&W copy that is adjusted to your paper size.
Backissue covers are available at:
http://www.nonDairy.com/ED/covers.html
BACK ISSUES OF ELECTRIC DREAMS:
WWWEB:
http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~mettw/edreams/archives/archives.html
or if you can't get through there, send your browser to:
http://www.dreamgate.com/dream/ed-backissues/
CURRENT ISSUE OF ELECTRIC DREAMS ---- URL:
http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~mettw/edreams/ ed-current.html
Also available via Delphi and
America On Line:
Keyword: writer
\writers club library
\writers club e-zines
Available via Delphi
UK and both versions are
available on Dan P.'s BBS:
PsychoNautica BBS +44 0181 764 1446.
Thanks to ONIROS for mentioning ED in your Magazine in France!
Thanks to Compuserve New Age Forum for ED info Posts.
To access the New Age B Forum From CompuServe Information Manager 1.4 :
1) In the CIM program, pull down the Services menu
2) Select Browse
3) On the Main Services Menu, click the Home /Leisure icon
4) Then, Click: Special Interests icon
5) Then, Click: Religion option
6) Then, Click: New Age B Forum option (also referred to as NEWBAGE)
7) Then, Enjoy.
Thanks to John Labovitz for putting us on his e-zine list:
http://www.meer.net/~johnl/e-zine-list/zines/
electric-dreams.html
Thanks to Todd Kuiper for listing us on his e-zine list:
http://www.merak.com/~tkuipers/elists/elists.htm
Thanks for the listing in The eZines Database Collection:
Zines@Dominis.com
<URL:http://www.dominis.com/Zines/>
Thanks to the Dream Network Journal for mentioning the Electric Dreams project. dreamskey@sisna.com
Thanks to the Usenet newsgroups for mentioning us in the
FAQ files at alt.dreams and alt.dreams.lucid and for other Usenet Newsgroups for allowing us to continually post messages.
Thanks to our many web links!
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The Electric Dreams Staff
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Peggy Coats - News & Calender Events Director
pcoats@dreamtree.com
http://www.dreamtree.com
Linley Joy - Dream Group Moderator
maidai@webplus.co.uk
Robert Patrick Murtha - Media Management
psiguy@castles.com
http://psi-app.com/index2.html
Bob Krumhansl - Editor & Dream Editor
bobkrum@erols.com
Matthew Parry - Web Master
mettw@newt.phys.unsw.edu.au
Nutcracker - Dream Journals & Dream Reaper
Myst@ix.netcom.com
Victoria Quinton- Questions & Answers Editor
mermaid 8*)
mermaid@alphalink.com.au
http://daemon.apana.org.au/~mermaid
Jesse Reklaw - Art Director & cover Designs
reklaw@nonDairy.com
Lars Spivock - Research and Development Director
lars@dreamgate.com
Cover this month by Jesse Reklaw
Richard Wilkerson - General Editor, Articles & Subscriptions
rcwilk@aol.com
www.dreamgate.com
+ The wonderful anonymous Core who respond each issue to your dreams!
+ The generous authors of our articles
+ The delightful dreamers and commentators
+ Special thanks to Catherine Decker & Jay Vinton
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All dream and article text and art are considered (C)opyright by the writers, artists and dreamers themselves. Anyone other than the authors may use or reprint the text for non-commercial use, but all other use by anyone other than the author must be with the permission of either the author or the current Electric Dreams dream editor.
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DISCLAIMER
Electric Dreams is an independent electronic publication not affiliated with any other organization. The views of our commentators are personal views and not intended as professional advise or psychotherapy.
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NOVEMBER 12, WED deadline for submission
FOR Next Electric Dreams vol 4(11)
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