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Electric Dreams Volume 13 Issue 04
E.l.e.c.t.r.i.c D.r.e.a.m.s
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E.l.e.c.t.r.i.c D.r.e.a.m.s
Volume #13 Issue #4
April 2006
ISSN# 1089 4284
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Electric Dreams: http://www.dreamgate.com/electric-dreams
Cover: http://dreamgate.hypermart.net/ed-covers/ed13-4cov.jpg
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C O N T E N T S
++ Editor's Notes
Richard Wilkerson
++ Global Dreaming News
Harry Bosma
++ Cover : Joy Hellman
http://dreamgate.hypermart.net/ed-covers/ed13-4cov.jpg
++ Column: An Excerpt from the Lucid Dream Exchange
Lucy Gillis - Editor
++ Dream: Butterfly Surgery
Stan Kulikowski II
++ Article: The Dilemma of Deep Dreaming
Linda Lane Magallón
++ Column: Making Use of Nostalgia
DreamRePlay with David Jenkins, PhD
++ Article: Ancestral Knowledge in Lucid Dreams
Ryan Dungan Hurd
++ DREAM SECTION: Kat Peters-Midland
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D E A D L I N E :
April 16th deadline for May 2006
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Post Dreams and Comments on Dreams to:
http://www.dreamgate.com/dream/temple
Send news, events, workshops, conferences& reviews to
Harry Bosma <ed-news@alquinte.com>
Send Articles, news and other items to:
Richard Wilkerson: <rcwilk@dreamgate.com>
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Editor's Notes
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Welcome to the April 2006 issue of Electric Dreams, your portal to dreams and dreamwork online.
If you are new to dreams and dreamwork, there are a few e-lists where Electric Dreams people seems to congregate that might interest you. One is
dreamchatters@yahoogroups.com
Subscribe by going here and registering
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dreamchatters/
.. and another is the IASD bulletin board. Please, no dreams interpreted here, just discussion of dreaming and dreamwork topics.
http://www.asdreams.org/subidxdiscussionsbboard.htm
This is a busy month for dreams and dreamworkers! If you haven't planned for the 2006 Bridgewater Conference being put on by the International Association for the Study of Dreams, this is a great time to register! asdreams.org/2006
This month in Electric Dreams:
Lucid Dream Exchange editor, Lucy Gillis catches up with Amit Goswami, Ph.D., a theoretical nuclear physicist and author of numerous books for an interview on lucid dreaming. If you saw the movie "What the Bleep Do We Know?" you may recall Goswami, and his unique views on dreams, life, universe and everything. Interview from the "What the Bleep" conference held in Vancouver, BC this past August.
Linda Magallón, dream pioneer and author of Mutual Dreaming, offers a selection from Dream Flights called "The Dilemma of Deep Dreaming ." Typically dreamworkers will jump to conclusions about flight in dream meaning flight away from the issues in our life. But Magallon looks more closely at flying styles and how each may indicate or even inspire life-affirming forces.
Stan Kulikowski II offers as selection from his unique dream journal, "Butterfly Surgery." If you have dreams you would like published, please enter them in the form at http://dreamgate.com/forms/dream_flow.htm
David Jenkins, PhD. has started DreamRePlay, and you can sign up for weekly dream pulses. Here in the April issue of EDreams he is offering a sample called:
"Making Use of Nostalgia! This essay explores how to bring those precious dreams from the past into the present.
We are very fortunate to have a selection from Ryan Dungan Hurd this month. Ryan synthesizes his anthropological background with lucid dreamwork and opens a door for the return of reverence and the autonomous call of others in our dreams. Be sure to read this doorway for the culture in "Ancestral Knowledge in Lucid Dreams."
What are exploding bats with only using hands, lady bugs helping to cut spider webs and killing spiders, people pushing a house and angry furry shadows lunging? The EDreams Dream section with Dream section editor Kat Peters-Midland
Janet Garrett archives past issues so you can search out specific articles and authors in an easy-to-access format. These articles contain a wide range of information for dreamers and dreamworkers. You can see her work progress and view hundreds of article on dreams at: http://www.improverse.com/ed-articles/index.htm
Harry Bosma searches around the world for news on dreams and dreaming, which you can read about in the Global Dreaming News. If you have any dream news, conferences, books, workshops, and especially any online meetings or events, be sure to send that information to Harry by the 15th of each month at ed-news@alquinte.com
Cover by Joy Hellman
http://dreamgate.hypermart.net/ed-covers/ed13-4cov.jpg
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For those of you who are new to dreamwork,
be sure to stop by one of the many resources:
http://dreamgate.com/electric-dreams
http://dreamgate.com/dream/library
http://dreamunit.net/news-en/
http://www.dreamtree.com
Electric Dreams in PDF: (thanks to Nick Cumbo)
http://electric.dreamofpeace.net/
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From the Dream Dimension,
-Richard Wilkerson
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G L O B A L D R E A M I N G N E W S
April 2006
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Got news? Email Harry Bosma at his special ed-news@alquinte.com address.
Online:
- Lucid dreaming at Dream Views
- Website Kirsten Borum
- News from Sawlogs
- World Dream Group Directory
Physical world:
- Berkeley: the Dream Institute
- Lifelong Dreamers - Classes with Patricia Garfield, PhD.
- Dreams and Literary Studies
Books, movies, research:
- Veronica Tonay: The Creative Dreamer
- Tony Crisp: Lucid Dreaming
Reminders:
- Dreaming in Bridgewater
- Ritual DaFuMu for Peace
- The Precognition Game
- Comparing Lucid and Non-Lucid Dreams
* * * ONLINE * * *
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- Dream Views
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This website provides information on lucid dreaming, controlling dreams, the stages of sleep, dream recall, dream signs, and more. It is written to be easily understood by those just starting out; the information and techniques provided are also beneficial for those who already have some ability. Tutorials are provided to further help those in their attempts, and an active message forum is available for those seeking help or wanting to provide it.
www.dreamviews.com
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- Website Kirsten Borum
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Kirsten Borum tells about dreaming in Denmark, that has its own tradition thanks to among others Jes Bertelsen and Bob Moore. Both men are more interested in meditation than in dreams, but use dream work as a way to reach out to people.
Main entrance:
www.kirstenborum.com
English pages:
www.kirstenborum.com/SummaryInEnglish
www.kirstenborum.com/LectureInEnglish
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- News from Sawlogs
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This Week's Spotlight: Five Features of Dreaming
J. Allan Hobson, in his excellent book The Dreaming Brain, describes five features that characterize dreams. We include a recent dream from Sawlogs that represents each below.
* Intense emotion: I Couldn't Save the Girl in Pink and Blue by LeeAnn Garrett
* Illogical content: Tooth by Joe Tait
* Uncritical acceptance: Water Eats a Camera by Justin Lynn
* Activated senses: Smoky Building by Mary Teel
* Difficult to remember: Car Wreck and Ice Cream by Arin Miller
www.sawlogs.net
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- World Dream Group Directory
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Help the IASD Develop a directory of active dream groups, worldwide. Would you like to list your group on the IASD website? The IASD would like to learn more about how many dream groups are active, how many people are involved, and how the IASD can help group members and leaders. Please contact the IASD Board Secretary Gary Goodwin to learn more about this project.
Email: gegood@yahoo.com
* * * PHYSICAL WORLD * * *
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- Berkeley: the Dream Institute
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The Dream Institute of Northern California
1672 University Ave
Berkeley, CA 94703
1-510-845-1767
Also see: http://tinyurl.com/9xv5l
The Dream Institute offers the following during April and May 2006.
* The Royal Road - Seminars For Professionals *
An introduction
Sunday April 9
10 am2 pm
$85
4 ceus
Dreams easily deepen the therapeutic process, yet training programs rarely teach therapists how to work with them. Dr. Thorpe gives an overview of how psychoanalytic dream theory has changed over time and then presents examples of dreams from the beginning, middle, and end of treatment. These illustrate how well dreams portray unconscious dynamics and can guide our interventions. This interactive seminar invites participants to engage with material presented.
Jan Thorpe, Ph.D., has had a psychotherapy practice in Berkeley and San Francisco for fifteen years; her dissertation gave a labyrinth-matrix model for clinical work with dreams.
* Dreams about the Therapist, Dreams about the Client *
Fridays, April 28, May 5, May 19
46 pm
$125
6 ceus
Dreams client and therapist have about each other go to the heart of the healing process. We will look at the subjective, objective, and inter-subjective dimensions of such dreams, beginning with the fascinating examples cited by Freud and Jung. Emphasis is less on interpretation than on crafting thoughtful inquiries to foster interactive dialogue. Reading material from contemporary authors is provided. Participants are invited to bring in dreams for discussion.
Meredith Sabini, Ph.D., has specialized in Dream Consultation for therapists for twenty years and just completed a three-volume anthology Dreams Within the Dyad.
* The Royal Road - Seminars For Professionals *
A six-week seminar
Thursday afternoons, May 4, 11, 18, 25, June 1, 8
4:456:15 pm
$175
9 ceus
This seminar focuses on clinical understanding of dreams and their use in treatment. Questions of how dreams are reported, their transference implications, and functions of a given dream will be explored. The process of dream formation and symbolization will be illustrated with examples of typical dream themes. Emphasis is on ways of using the dream in an intervention to further the therapeutic process. Open to licensed practitioners of any experience level and orientation.
Barbara McSwain, L.C.S.W., Training and Supervising Analyst, SF Psychoanalytic Institute and PINC; Board Certified Diplomate in Clinical Social Work in private practice in Berkeley.
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- Lifelong Dreamers - Classes with Patricia Garfield, PhD.
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Lifelong Dreamers Course at Dominican College (Bay Area California)
Tuesdays, April 18-May 23, 2:00-4:00 pm, Aegis of Corte Madera: 5555 Paradise Drive
During each session following the introductory one, participants will examine at least two of the most common negative dreams around the world, as well as their positive versions. Well discuss the usual meanings of these dream themes and explore individual variations. Discover how these themes are portrayed in your dreams, especially in senior issues such as retirement and bereavement.
In addition to gaining knowledge about specific dream themes, participants learn some ancient and modern cultural methods for preventing and banishing nightmares; practice methods for inducing dreams on specific topics; and explore how to use dream content for creative purposes, with inspiring examples from famous dreamers.
http://www.dominican.edu/academics/adult/osher/sprg06course.html
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- Dream studies at Literary Conference at Princeton - Bernard Welt reporting
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For those involved in the creative use of dreams, the recent American Comparative Literature Association at Princeton University was interesting and useful. Each morning I attended a seminar on "Other Dreams," which invited humanities scholars to propose alternatives to the Freudian tradition in dealing with dreams in literary texts. Papers were presented on medieval dream visions in the lives of saints, on dreams in the contemporary Italian novel and the non-fiction classics In Cold Blood and The Perfect Storm, on proto-Surrealist French poetry, the Dream Novella of Freud's contemporary Arthur Schnitzler, on the play Angels in America and the film Waking Life. Participants expressed an interest in staying in touch, exploring the International Association for the Study of Dreams (IASD) and its future conferences, perhaps reviving the IASD e-study group on the humanities, and proposing papers for Dreaming to extend its address of topics in humanities scholarship. For more information on IASD E-Study groups, see www.asdreams.org/study
* * * BOOKS, MOVIES, RESEARCH * * *
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- Veronica Tonay: The Creative Dreamer
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In this revised edition of THE CREATIVE DREAMER, psychologist Veronica Tonay blends classical dream theory with a fascinating analysis of universal themes, trends, and elements of dreams that can inspire creativity in waking life. Includes exercises for interpreting and using dreams to expand and enhance creative potential, work through blocks, and form a creative community. Analyzes the dreams of extraordinarily creative, successful people, such as Stephen King, Maya Angelou, Maurice Sendak, and Anne Rice.
Expected in April:
www.amazon.com/gp/product/1587612682
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- Tony Crisp: Lucid Dreaming
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To awaken during sleep and exercise full control over what happens in dreams is one of the most amazing adventures a human being can have. Lucid dreaming offers a direct link to the deepest parts of the mind, the emotions, and the imagination, allowing us to release the enormous potential within us. It is also a doorway into a new awareness of hidden aspects of waking reality. Tony Crisps practical exercises and step-by-step instructions explain how to become fully conscious while dreaming to use dreams for self-exploration, problem solving, enhancing self-confidence, learning new skills, fostering creativity, and strengthening relationships.
Expected in April:
www.amazon.com/gp/product/1841812900
* * * REMINDERS * * *
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- Dreaming in Bridgewater
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23rd Annual Conference of the International Association for the Study of Dreams
June 20 - 24th, 2006
Bridgewater State College,
Bridgewater Massachusetts
Invited speakers include noted Jungian psychologist, Michael Conforti, Ph.D, dreamwork pioneer, Montague Ullman, M.D., and Sci-Fi and fantasy author, Orson Scott Card.
Special note for artists: TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS in prizes will be awarded by an anonymous donor for the best Dream Art in June, '06. 1st prize: $l000, two 2nd prizes of $500 each. Any medium is acceptable including photography, videos or DVDs, computer art, book art, installation or any combination of the above. The dream or the significant part of the dream must be included. The criteria for selection will be originality, integrity, universality, and relevance to building bridges. The awards will be presented during the Art Reception in June, '06.
Join dreamers, clinicians, researchers, educators and artists from all over the world for four days of workshops, lectures, exhibits, and events examining dreaming and dreamwork as presented through traditional and innovative theories and therapies, personal study, scientific research, cultural tradition and the arts. Over 100 workshops and events on all aspects of dreaming are planned, with topics and events of interest to the general public as well as professionals. Special events include an Opening Reception, a Dream Arts Exhibition and reception, a solstice visit to a Native American archaeoastronomical site, a Dream Telepathy Contest, various other social events and the ever popular closing costume "Dream Ball".
More information at the website of the IASD:
http://asdreams.org
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- Ritual DaFuMu for Peace
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The World Dreams Peace Bridge, on the 15th of each month, is holding a monthly DaFuMu - a collective dream of good fortune - to support peace.
For more information go to:
http://www.worlddreamspeacebridge.org/dafumumonthly.htm
To join the World Dreams Peace Bridge discussion group, just send an e-mail to worlddreams-subscribe@yahoogroups.com .
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- The Precognition Games
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Experiments starting in April, running for several weeks each:
* April 1/2 - Predicting the news *
Dream about future news. Aim at something that will become known within the next week. Something small will do, allow your dreaming all the room it needs to find something that appeals to your interests. It can be newspaper news, or trade specific news, or anything else as long as it can be objectively verified.
* April 15/16 - Getting involved *
Have a dream to prepare for a future situation in your immediate environment. Suggestions for such a future situation include events in your own future, events in the life of people you know, or events in your neighborhood.
More information available at the IASD Discussion Boards, and you're welcome to add your special dreams to the Dream Registry at any time.
http://dreamunit.net/registry
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- Comparing Lucid and Non-Lucid Dreams
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More participants are welcome.
In order to further our understanding of the extent to which lucid dreams differ from non-lucid dreams in other ways than (obviously) whether or not the dreamer knows it is a dream at the time, we have designed a new questionnaire study, a revision of an earlier pilot study. In short, we are asking you to fill out a web questionnaire and report form four times; Two of these reports should be lucid dreams, and two should be non-lucid dreams.
The Lucidity Institute
http://lucidity.com/dreams4.html
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Cover Artist: Joy Hellman
http://dreamgate.hypermart.net/ed-covers/ed13-4cov.jpg
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As an artist I am constantly learning exploring and challenging myself to continue growing and I love the sheer joy of creating! I believe that creating is a magical process. My media is constantly changing and I enjoy using non-art material, recyclables and found objects. I do not consider myself a watercolorist but I use watercolor, acrylics, as well as pastel in my mixed media along with fabric, fibers, handmade paper and other collage material. I am always experimenting with the possibilities. As an artist we must always trust our own process and be open to the unexpected spontaneity of our muse.
My work is more intuitive than planned and I really do not have a clear idea of what the results will be when I begin one of my collage pieces. The material that I add tells me what to do next. It is a very magical process that is sometimes like listening to a very still small voice within.
I believe that the most important thing that an artist can do in order to continue growing and expanding in their creativity is to trust their own process. I also believe that when an artist meets a point of satisfaction in their work, that is when it is time to make a change. If I am stuck in an area, I change material or explore a new technique or even a new style. This can usually jolt my creativity and start me into a new direction. Sometimes writing in my creative journal or sharing my feelings in an art group can also give me the encouragement and reinforcement that I need. I think that the most wonderful thing about being an artist is to participate in the creative process. Even if I were not a professional artist I would continue to create for it is a passion and a joy in my life.
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An Excerpt From The Lucid Dream Exchange
A Chat with Dr. Amit Goswami
By Lucy Gillis
(Responses (c) Amit Goswami)
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Amit Goswami, Ph.D. earned his doctorate degree in theoretical nuclear physics from Calcutta University in 1964. Author of numerous books including The Self Aware Universe: How Consciousness Creates the Material World, The Physics of the Soul, The Visionary Window: A Quantum Physicist's Guide to Enlightenment, and Quantum Doctor, he has also appeared in the sleeper hit "What the Bleep Do We Know?". For a while he was the resident quantum physicist at the Institute of Noetic Sciences.
I was fortunate to meet Dr. Goswami at the "What the Bleep" conference held in Vancouver, BC this past August. During our conversation I discovered that he is no stranger to lucid dreaming. He graciously agreed to do an interview for The Lucid Dream Exchange, and has also proposed an experiment for LDE readers that he describes at the end of our chat.
Lucy: Hello, Dr. Goswami and thank you for taking the time for this interview. During our conversation at the "What the Bleep" conference in Vancouver, you mentioned that you had your first lucid dream around a time when you were struggling with a particular equation. Would you describe the dream? What made you realize that you were dreaming? Did you intend to have a dream (lucid or otherwise) to help with solving the equation or did it occur spontaneously?
Dr. Goswami: This was a long time ago in the nineteen sixties but the memory is still quite vivid. It was about mathematical equations, so the subject is a bit technical. You probably know about superconductivity. I was trying to find a way of applying some aspects of superconductivity to solve problems of the structure of atomic nuclei.
In the dream, I found myself thinking equations, writing them down on what seemed to be a blackboard. But then I realized I was dreaming, something about the board was not quite right. Whatever I was thinking, whatever change in the equation I was making in my mind, it was simultaneously appearing on the board. It was a delightful way of thinking of equations because I could see them without actually having to make notes. Upon properly waking, it took me only a few minutes work to recapture the equation.
Lucy: I have read that your book The Physics of the Soul, was inspired by dream. Would you describe this dream and the circumstances leading up to it?
Was it a lucid dream? Do you think you would have written this book eventually anyway, without the impulse from the dream?
Dr. Goswami: I don't know if it was a lucid dream proper because I woke up as the dream was becoming lucid. I recall that I was hearing a voice, and the voice was more and more becoming like an admonition. Then I heard it clearly, "Tibetan Book of the Dead is correct, it is your job to prove it,"
as I woke up.
I don't know if I would have taken the subject of soul and reincarnation seriously enough without this dream. The truth is, in SAU (The Self Aware Universe), I had the correct picture of the relationship of consciousness and matter, but I still did not understand the relationship of mind and brain. I was holding on to the illusion that mind is brain. The dream inspired me to find the truth - that mind is a different beast altogether, that mind processed meaning, and the brain made representations of mental meaning.
Lucy: You have been described as a proponent of "monistic idealism" and it's interpretation regarding quantum physics. Could you briefly explain this and explain how dreaming (and in particular lucid dreaming) fits into this model?
Dr. Goswami: Monistic idealism holds that consciousness is the ground of all being. To a quantum physicist, this means that matter, mind, etc. all must be quantum possibilities of consciousness. They become actual events of our experience only when consciousness makes a choice by recognizing one of the possibilities.
When we dream, the physical stimuli are the brain noise much like Rorschach (ink blots); the mind makes a meaningful picture out of the Rorschach. So the meaning of all the symbols we see in the dream is the meaning I attribute to it. Therefore, in some real sense, all the characters are me.
So the mental ego is quite distributed, and has little control in shaping the dream.
This changes in a lucid dream in which we are aware that we are dreaming within the dream. So the dream ego is boosted by the waking ego in some sense enabling us to guide our dream in certain intended directions. So using this vehicle of the lucid dream we can study the equipotency of our waking and dream lives. Now who but Australian aborigines would believe that our dream life is as potent as our waking life?
Lucy: There are many lucid dreamers who are interested in healing via the lucid dream state and several claim to have observed positive results from their efforts. In your recent book, Quantum Doctor, you discuss how the mind can cause and cure health issues. You mention the "bliss body" and "creative sleep". Would you explain that for us? Does "creative sleep" involve lucid dreaming? Or is it something else?
Dr. Goswami: I think that lucid dreams have great potency for precipitating creativity; therefore, certainly, they can be used for creative healing.
The bliss body is our undivided consciousness, consciousness is one with its possibilities, no separation, no experience. So the bliss body is beyond both waking and dreaming. In deep sleep, we are in the bliss body; yet when we awake we remain the same, showing that the ego-conditioning is still controlling what possibilities we process while we are in blissful inseparateness with our whole being. So creative sleep is sleep in which our ego-control gives way and quantum-consciousness, you can call it God, can process new possibilities, possibilities of which creative experiences are made of. When we have such sleep, we wake up highly creative, bubbling with creativity.
This is quite different from lucid dreaming, but maybe we can call it "lucid sleep".
Lucy: Dr. LaBerge had experiments performed in the lucid dream state that indicated that the lucid dreaming mind could affect (even if minimally) the physical sleeping body, and there were also indications that lucid dreaming a particular task (according to activity monitored in the brain) was more like actually doing the task than just imagining doing it. How does this information fit in with "quantum healing" if it does at all?
Dr. Goswami: Quantum healing consists of quantum leaping and healing the diseased structure of the mind. This healing, then, heals the vital energy blocks, which finally, heals the physiology of organs. It is anybody's guess if the creative shift of mental perspective does or does not percolate to the body physiology during a lucid dream. It is certainly possible, theoretically speaking. We need data. Very good question.
Lucy: Have you had a particular lucid dream that stands out from the others?
Perhaps one that made an impact on you?
Dr. Goswami: Yes, and this is where I could use some of your participants'
getting involved. The theory we have says that all the symbols in my dream
really represent "me". They are me. In my dream, I knew this because I was privy to the inside experience of my characters, not only what they were
saying to me, the image with which I explicitly identified in the dream.
And I was aware that I was dreaming, so it was a lucid dream. It was very much like the mystical realization in waking awareness that we are all one.
So I invite all of you out there to try to guide your next lucid dreams to experience your identity with all of your dream characters. Happy dreaming!
Thanks.
Lucy: Thank you for talking with us at LDE!
So how about it folks? Give the experiment below a try and please send your results to LDE!
The Thoughts of Your Dream Characters
Dr. Amit Goswami, quantum physicist, author, and "What the Bleep Do We Know?" celebrity has a question/experiment for readers of The Lucid Dream
Exchange:
Have any of you, while in a lucid dream, found that you knew all the thoughts of your dream characters, "from the inside"? In other words, have you ever, in a lucid dream, been able to "hear" or "just know" what other characters in your dream are thinking?
If you haven't, why not give it a try in one of your next lucid dreams?
Program yourself (using whatever dream incubation method works best for you) to be able to "hear" your dream character's thoughts, or somehow get inside his/her head and know what he/she is thinking.
What thoughts did you hear? Were they coherent? Did they sound like your own? Did they sound/feel very "not-your-own"?
If you already have an experience of this sort, or when you try the experiment, please send a description to LDE and we will pass it on to Dr.
Goswami.
Thanks, and Good Luck!
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The Lucid Dream Exchange is a quarterly newsletter featuring lucid dreams and lucid dream related articles and interviews. To subscribe to The Lucid Dream Exchange send a blank email to:
TheLucidDreamExchange-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
You can also check us out at www.dreaminglucid.com
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The Dilemma of Deep Dreaming
© 2006 Linda Lane Magallón
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In the affliction of these terrible dream
That shake us nightly.
(William Shakespeare)
Are dreams healing? Can they be used for healing? These are common ideas. I have another question to add. If dreams are actually linked with healing, well, then, how do you know when you are healed? How can you tell if you are returning to health or have reached that holistic goal?
Here's one answer: your dream life changes. The number of nightmares goes down, as do confusing, frustrating and worrisome dreams. Instead of a boatload of King-Kong-sized monsters, your dreams begin to contain problems to be solved and resolved. They may even give you a respite from problem solving and substitute recreation, instead. Rather than a rusty bucket, you upgrade to a cruise ship. So how can you attain this healing transportation? Well, I'll tell you what I do. I turn in my frequent flyer miles.
The dream that led me to greater understanding of the situation was, indeed, a story of travel. Or, rather, a tale of arrested travel, because I never figured out how to launch the journey. In the dream, I am at a motel with my two children. It's the last day of our stay and I have virtually no money, nor any car, to get us home. It's much too far to walk. Hitching a ride with another departing guest may not be safe. I doubt the motel management will allow us to stay one more night. I awaken very concerned about my kids, with my dilemma unresolved.
Of course, when I fully regained waking consciousness, quite a few solutions presented themselves. The most obvious was that, in waking life, I had a husband who could help us out. I didn't have to go it alone because, in physical reality, caring for the children was a shared endeavor. But that simple fact was not available to me as I slept. It was as if a part of my brain had been sliced off, and was only gradually reconnected as I woke.
I recognized the sensation. It was the same feeling that occurs during episodes of deepest depression. All the resources that I have when I'm in a normative state of awareness disappear. I can't remember them. I can't even remember that they have ever existed. They are just not there. I am cut off from past and future. I exist in a "now," but it's the antithesis of enlightenment. A huge nothingness is squeezing me flat, into a smaller and smaller sense of being. I am forced to rely on the only resource available at that point: me. Or, I should say, what's left of me.
Fortunately, in the waking version of depression, I usually retain a vague, muffled awareness that there is something other than what I am now experiencing. I may not know exactly what it is, but it's there, at the periphery of my perspective. I need to hold onto the frozen present, but be alert to the slightest hint of movement or change. Only when that single point of consciousness begins to expand again, and I begin the slow climb out of my nadir, do I gradually rediscover there is more than one option available to me. I find that have choices. I no longer have to think, act or be a bare flicker of existence. I am growing, my consciousness is growing into a multiplicity of self-awareness. The world unfolds into a grand panorama of possibilities. Life becomes complex, detailed and rich with resources once more.
I had hoped that my breakthrough dream would signal the automatic conversion of my hapless dreaming self into a super dreamer. But such was not to be. Although I had been given a couple of previews of her potential in brilliantly colored dream environments, it was soon back to victimhood and dimly hued nightmare land again. There had been a change, though. In addition to my terrifying Titanic nightmares, I began to remember the less extreme conflicts and anxieties of sleep, such as the motel dream. Since I wasn't sure what I needed to do next, I decided the more information I had, the better. I read everything I could get my hands on and I began recording every dream, no matter what its theme or emotional intensity. I also continued to run my long-term fantasy in the theater of my mind just prior to sleep. There didn't seem to be much else to do.
I soon learned that some people could have certain nighttime events, called out-of-body experiences, on purpose. Because my breakthrough dream had had some OBE characteristics, I attempted to induce this sort of nocturnal experience. In effect, I was utilizing my waking ego to influence the dream state. Spontaneously, as a result of the energy of conscious attention, I started to have lucid dreams. With awareness of the fact that I was dreaming came the chance to resolve some of those nightmares.
Lucidity certainly was a help when I finally managed to have out-of-body experiences. The borderlands between waking and sleep could be very scary, since sleep paralysis and bedroom strangers were common there. Being lucid meant I'd realized I was in an altered state when these events occurred. I remembered to relax rather than tighten up and fight the sensations or churn up so much anxiety that I'd wake out of the very state I was attempting to prolong. Within the virtual reality of the regular lucid dream, lucidity ensured new options in times of trouble. I learned to fly away, literally. I could will the scenario to change or face up to danger, standing my ground. I could transfer screams into dialogue and struggles into hugs. If I was lucid. But what if I weren't?
All the riches of the waking state were not available to my darkly dreaming self. Even if I deliberately sent the gift of lucidity her way, it would not penetrate the shallows. The very nature of lucidity requires it to swim close to the surface of waking consciousness, like a snorkeler still breathing in the salty air. Any attempt to dive deeply is swallowed up by the current of non-lucidity. No waking breath can survive in those depths; the pressure is just too great. Think of the task of collecting the fish that live in the Marianas Trench: bring them to the surface and they collapse, like fragile dreamlets do when you try to reel them into the waking state.
Granted, my worries were relatively minor in the motel dream, but the troubled feeling was strong enough to last long after I rose from bed. Thinking of logical solutions to my dream problem helped dissipate that sensation, but it was soon replaced by sadness and frustration. Frustration that my dreaming self was so out of reach of my waking ego assistance. Sadness that she had to endure the anxiety that I knew I had sent her way. Not only did I have to live out family concerns during the day, so did she, and with much less assistance at hand.
I believe and experience that effective healing is a cooperative effort of both inner and outer self. To leave one or the other out of this reciprocal arrangement defeats the healing intent. When I eventually learned dreamwork and interpretation techniques, I found I could relieve fearful feelings and resolve burdensome dilemmas...after I woke up, that is. In the meantime, my dreaming self had to live a life that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. Not only did she have to battle the current of minor anxiety dreams, she would be overwhelmed by the tide of Titanic nightmares. Sure, I could drown my waking anxieties in a flurry of after-dreamwork methods that purported to provide increased understanding of my situation. But in the bottom of the subconscious sea, they were still alive and engulfing the life of my dreaming self. My dreaming self was being forced to serve me at her expense. It didn't seem fair; it sure wasn't healthy. For either of us.
So, if I couldn't construct a diving bell of lucidity to penetrate the depths, what could I do? Helpful others were nonexistent. Dream characters were likely to be either a burden preventing successful resolution or the actual source of the problem. The bottom line was that my nonlucid dreaming self, like my depressed self, was being forced to rely only on what was available in her present moment. Herself. And that wasn't enough. At the depths of dream, there is gut instinct and little more.
In the deepest dreams, my dreaming self was very impotent, with no choice but to take whatever was dished out. The perfect passive victim suffocating from lack of air. Exactly the model that served me so poorly in waking life, and fared worse when I slept.
When she did become reanimated, the flight-or-fight instinct would kick in, the urge to basic survival. My dreaming self almost never chose the "fight" option: for her it was flight all the way. Not a very prudent choice, since whatever was pursuing kept up the chase and even caught her at times. But sometimes, something befitting dream reality happened. In the course of a nightmare, "flight" became flying through the dreamscape. An inept form of flying, though. Too slow, too low to the ground to avoid grasping hands.
But this was first clue to the fact that, while dream reality had grave handicaps, it also had some great advantages. One of them was the capacity of my dreaming self to overcome the gravity of the situation in a way far more literal, for her, than was possible to me in waking life. Linda's waking resources may have been light-years away, but my dreaming self had a potential super power close at hand. It was a quality native to her in-dream existence. Eventually it became clear to me: waking solutions work best for waking purposes, but resolutions in dream reality require taking advantage of the unique properties of that state. My dreaming self needed to access activities that were natural to her, in her state of being, whether I, as waking ego, could realize them or not.
The problem was how she could connect with the knowledge that she had super talents. Forgetfulness is a hallmark of deep dreaming. There didn't seem to be any gut instinct to get her out of this dilemma. But there was something that could act in an instinctual manner. Habit. My dreaming self was in the habit of thinking and acting like a waking self might do, should I ever be faced with terrors and worries while under the influence of a drugged sense of self-awareness. Her knee-jerk reactions were not nearly enough. In the deepest nightmare, my dreaming self had fantasy-sized problems but only a small percentage of waking-sized resolutions at her disposal. The wrong tools for the job.
The solution was to substitute one habit for another that would better serve her, no matter how mundane or monstrous her troubles might be. And my waking ego could help. If I could figure out a way to accustom my dreaming self to successful flying, into thinking of herself as a super hero, she would have a fighting chance to resolve most of the problems in her life. While I still slept. A win-win situation.
How could I help her secure a new sense of self? The solutions began to emerge as I realized the impact of my long-term fantasy on my dreams.
http://members.aol.com/caseyflyer/flying/dreams.html (Dream Flights)
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Dream: Butterfly Surgery
Stan Kulikowski II
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DATE : 21 mar 2006 06:57
=( yesterday was a monday. i got very little meaningful work accomplished. i seem to be in a time between productive tasks which usually indicates to me that something is brewing down in the subconscious which needs the time before it can take more tangible form. at least that is what i tell myself, hoping for more productive times to come i suppose. mother watched reruns on television which she can not remember having seen a few months ago.
there were storms in the counties north of us apparently driven by a heat wave from our south meeting colder air coming down. it was rather too warm for me to sleep easily but cooler weather is forecast in the next couple days. i got to sleep about 01:30 with a fan running in the window. )=
my uncle is once again grousing about anything and everything. he has gray hair and a heavy mustache. this condition of ill humor indicates to me that he is at last sober enough to perform the surgical interventions. i have been waiting for several days for his recovery before we could attempt this.
from my heavy backpack i remove two small containers. inside them are a couple of injured butterflies that i have collected. i remove the lids of the containers carefully. neither of them can fly enough to escape.
both butterflies are black swallowtails. the smaller one is a female and she can still fly a little but with difficulty. when she takes flight, i can easily catch her in my hand and return her to the container. her right upper wing has a laser burn hole, collateral damage from being too close by hand to hand combat. two of her stiff veins must be repaired with a synthetic polymer then the cell gap can be filled with a cellophane covering.
the larger butterfly is a male and his injuries are more severe. the bottom half of his left underwing has been crumpled, crushed by something heavy. he can not fly at all. fortunately, the ridge vein of the wing is intact but about ten of his stiff veins must be reinforced, some of them broken in several places. once the structural strength of the underwing has been replaced, it will take some time to restructure the cellular material with synthetic replacement that must be much lighter than the smaller amount of cellophane we can use with the female. it will take several days of confinement for the male and probably some physical therapy before he will be strong enough to regain his flight.
i realize that people do not usually worry about the injuries of butterflies. their lives are so short and simple that there seems to be little benefit, even for the victims, to attempt an intervention.
by the time they recover they have such little life expectancy remaining that it seems hardly worth the effort. my uncle is not happy to have his skills used so, but my work with the rehabilitation of disabled fairies was achieved only upon the condition that i also use the prosthetic technology they gave me on other ethereal creatures like this.
=( awake at 06:45. i do not know this uncle in waking life. there
may have been a bit more of this dream when i awoke, but i have lost it by now. there seems to be tangential events like the laser battle which injured the female butterfly or the work with fairies that is understated here and may indicate other dream material that is not directly evident in this content. background understandings like this often happen in my dreams it seems. somehow the details of the structural problems in repairing the butterfly wings seemed very important in this dream, but the significance of such now escapes me.
even in the dream it seemed like a somewhat tedious task, but i suppose it says something about our human condition that someone would care to labor over mishaps to such simple creatures. fairies are not so simple and it seems to be their concern for the butterflies which compelled me to entertain these operations. i have seen a few black swallowtails this spring come to my orange tree in the few days it was blooming. it helps me that they have such delicate natural beauty, but i suppose someone more enlightened than me might also engage in the improvement of life for leeches or cockroaches. )=
--
.
=== the arts which help all mankind
| | cannot help their master stankuli@etherways.com
--- -- john dowland (1604)
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DreamRePlay
with David Jenkins, PhD
Making Use of Nostalgia
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There are dreams that are so exquisitely, wrenchingly wonderful that you dont want them to end. These are special dreams and you dont have to leave those great feelings behind in the dream world. When loved ones who have passed away come back in your dreams, this weeks technique shows you how to bring them into your waking life.
Johns dream:
This dream took me back to the pure innocence of my childhood: I am in my grandmothers apartment. My sister and I are playing tag. We are running and hiding everywhere and Grandma lets us do that. We had so much freedom to be our wild and wacky selves with Grandma. We run in and out of the garden. Each time we go back in, I notice that the furniture has changed. Every time it is different. I feel a little bewildered. I wake up feeling warm and fuzzy and missing my childhood.
Thats a wonderful dream even though there is something bittersweet about the memory. One technique I use is to bring the loved one into the present. I suggested that, just for a day, every time John remembers this dream, he should imagine showing his grandmother his life as it is now.
If you are grateful to these dream characters, if they hold fond memories for you, then hold imaginary conversations with them in which you tell them so. It will make a difference.
Sometimes the dead appear in our dreams for a purpose. If so, pay special attention.
Frans dream:
I dream that my aunt (who passed away last year) has come to visit me. In the dream, I dont realize that she is dead but I am taken aback by her visit. I know I didnt invite her. I ask her why she has come. She says she heard that I needed to reorganize my life and shes come to help. In the dream, I think Ill need to reorganize my study so she can use it as a guest room and sleep there.
Your aunt offered to help you! Take her up on the offer! As with the first dream, take her around with you and show her your present life. Fran should ask her, How does my life need to be reorganized? (Hint: Fran already had a clue that it concerns her study.) Even though this is all imaginary, Fran will find that her aunt has thoughts and ideas about her life that she would never have come up with on her own.
I encourage you to take dreams as highly meaningful. You dont need to believe in reincarnation to recognize that this dream has, in a manner of speaking, told Fran that her life needs reorganizing and her aunt is someone to help with that.
Sometimes the dream makes a pointed statement that calls for completion.
Davids Dream:
Here is a dream of my own that happened around the anniversary of the death of my father.
I am on the stairs of my house. Its not really any house I know. My father is behind me and 'my' son is in front of us. My son is angry at me, but it is a teenage tantrum and I know it will pass. I look back to my father and shrug my shoulders helplessly. What can I do? He looks at me and smiles as if to say, 'Now you know what I had to put up with.
In waking life I have two daughters and no sons. >From the dream, I took my father around with me and held conversations with him. Specific incidents from when I was 17 and fighting with him all the time flooded back; The teenage certainty that he was the person preventing me from living my life came through with embarrassing clarity. But the sense of his loving glance at me on the dream-stairs told me just as clearly that he was doing his best, and between us we really had done well even though Id begrudged him a thank you for many years. He finally received that thank you as a result of this dreamwork.
It goes, almost without saying, that this is a technique to use with people who have your best interests at heart. It has to be a loved one, someone who, underneath it all, wants only to support you the best they can. So many dreams are stressful. Be sure to enjoy the magical moments of dream life and replay them into your waking world.
Visit DreamRePlay
About Dream Of The Week:
Dream Of The Week is an experimental email from David Jenkins. It has the goal of explaining the benefits of this unique way of working with dreams to as wide an audience as possible. Each email shows one of the many techniques I use and is intended to show the reader how I worked with a particular dream. Please forward this email to anyone who might be interested. (And unsubscribing information is at the bottom of the email.) If you have any feedback for me about Dream of the Week, please send me an email.
Best wishes ,
David Jenkins
Dream RePlay
email: davidj@dreamreplay.com
phone: (510) 644 2369
web: http://dreamreplay.com
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Ancestral Knowledge in Lucid Dreams
By Ryan Dungan Hurd
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These days, more and more people are discussing collective levels of dreams. Jungs collective unconscious is reawakening through growing interest in group dream sharing, as well as experiments in mutual dreaming. What about the community of beings in the dreams themselves? We often talk about them, but how often do we address them directly? I would like to invite this community to the table, through an appreciation of ancestral knowledge in lucid dreams. A dream will be offered up to the reader, as it was offered up to me, without interpretation. My aim is to explore how contact with the Others can stir the deep cauldron of living within all of us.
A note on lucid dreaming
Soul just asks to be scratched. We know it when we do it right. There is soul in dreamwork, but only when the dream is approached like a bottomless well. For me, this work sometimes comes in the form of spontaneous lucid dreams. They are unbidden, and can be terrifying. In my early twenties, I tried to possess too much and almost lost my bearings in the waking world. A natural turning away from dreams occurred over the next five years, and I sought comfort in the material world. I trained as an archaeologist, digging graves and measuring the width of thin flint blades. Slowly I convinced myself again of our real, biological nature. But the dreams came back, with a reality of their own, until I could no longer ignore them.
More careful now, with more respect, I have begun to peer down the well of souls again. So when I use the term lucid dream I want to make clear that I am only speaking of a dream in which I know I am dreaming. There is not an attempt to control the dream matrix, or engage in pre-ordained tasks. Over time, I hope to find a way to incubate without control, and to intend without dominating, but for now I experience lucid dreaming simply as a spontaneous self-awareness within the folds of the dream itself. This is how my soul currently scratches its itch.
Reverence
Last year, I read a stunning article by Pam Colorado, in which she describes her experience of self-awareness in dreams. I was drawn to a quality of her dreamlife that is usually absent in my own: reverence. In her dream, a great white shark threatens her in the ocean waters. Without hesitation, she rolls over on her back, floating motionlessly. The shark, a powerful animal spirit in her native Hawaiian cosmology, responds by swimming under and around her body, wrapping me in vivifying intelligence and power (1995). This reverence is mirrored in her waking life. Colorados next move is to honor the dream in the waking world by making an offering of gratitude at the ocean shore, where she glimpses a shark fin in the distance. Her powerful experience, then, is not only a tale of right action, but also an example of a life that is intertwined with thanksgiving.
In the context of lucid dreams, reverence can be acted out, or embodied, with ritual in the dream. This thought has been distasteful to me in the recent past, because I had decided that going with the flow was the only way to prevent the domination of the analytical mind in the dream. Lucid come from the Latin word luce light and after-all, it is the nature of light to banish the shadows. And it is the shadows from whom we learn the most in dreams.
However, willpower is crucial during numinous meetings. We usually maintain our boundaries in dreams, and should recognize the heightened magic of transference that operates here. So the paradox is: how to wield our power in conversation without crushing the dreaming Others?
The Western, postmodern viewpoint has historically concentrated on the change of consciousness during an altered state. Aldous Huxleys Doors of Perception is a classic example of Western letters approach to altered states. The shift is what is noted, and the comparison of one state to another. This can be seen of most academic research into lucid dreaming, in which the states uniqueness lays in its double-consciousness or meta-knowledge. In fact, some researchers definitions of lucid dreaming require this meta-knowing; not only must the dreamer realize she is dreaming, but she also must know simultaneously that she is laying in bed in a darkened room (Gackenbach, 1991, p. 111).
Shamanic counselor Jurgen Kremer puts this seeming paradox into perspective. From an indigenous holistic viewpoint, Kremer suggests that the focus seems less on the alteration than on the spontaneous or ceremonial encounter with power or spirit(s) (1994, p. 90). Rather than focusing in an endless self-referential loop of meta-knowing (arent we clever?), a traveler can concentrate on the situation at hand. And in the meeting of spirits or entities in the dream, reverence is highly recommended.
Roots and Blood
I have roots in Brittany and Gaul. Remnants of my ancestors cosmology are carved into the rocks along the shorelines, into gold interred in earthen mounds, and inked into words, much later, by Christian monks and Romans. In these Celtic traditions, the Otherworld is where the spirits of the dead reside, as well as gods and assorted demons. Timeless, eternal, and just around the corner, the Otherworld wavers at the boundaries of consensual, social reality (Green 1993, p72). As agricultural people, the Celts were bound to the seasonal Gods of fertility, death, and rebirth. Sacrifice in blood was the way. In short, Celtic worship was a bloody and brutal affair, and the gods were not happy about being ignored. As Rome conquered Europe, in commerce as well as cosmos, the gods of the Celts shrank in proportion to the populaces lesser belief (Pennick, 1997, p45). The Little People of Ireland are an artifact of this reality. Often maligned by the Church, but never forgotten by the people, the little gods still affect daily life in Brittany.
I had an intense dream recently in which elements of my ancestors way of life came alive.
A dream
I enter a spiral stairwell and walk down the steps. I am aware Im dreaming, nervous and excited. The banister is also a snake, winding its way down. I feel a sudden surge of humility as I walk down, knowing I am close to a source of power. The staircase becomes a round tunnel and I slide down quickly, enclosed but not restricted, emerging on a platform. I look down and am horrified to see that I am bleeding profusely from my chest and abdomen. Blood splatters the floor and I am simultaneously holding a box in front of me that is also bleeding. I feel I am close to something powerful. I hurriedly make one more downward turn, where the axis of the staircase winds tightly into a standing column of blood and light. It is alive, transparent, and pulsing with energy. I hold up my box and it fits into the column at about chest level. Suddenly, I feel relieved, and am no longer bleeding. Still lucid, but unsure how to proceed, I am struck with a pang of humility again. I fall to my hands and knees, prostrating myself in front of the source. I thank it for this opportunity and feel very emotional, both ecstatic and sorrowful. I feel a compassion for myself (in my own thoughts) and I know that I am safe.
This dream is the first of a series of reverence dreams I have experienced since I began to concentrate on ancestral ways of knowing. This dream vision had an intense quality of more-than-realness that Anthropologist Lee Irwin calls apodictic. The powerful column of energy and blood was terrifying to behold. I felt that I was seeing something that I was not meant to see. Irwin, in Dreamseekers, describes this numinous feeling as it manifests in Plains Indian vision states: The threshold experience is described as a sudden feeling of an overwhelming, often frightening presence
is that of mystery, power, and the unknown (p. 128). The comparison Im drawing here is merely thematic; a gulf of experience and cultural transmission separates the Plains visionaries from my dreaming self. Regardless, in my dream the power of the Other is the central focus of the experience, not my clever lucid witness. As soon as I framed this experience as a meeting, I was overcome with the need to ritualize my actions. And with this spontaneous action came an outflowing of thanksgiving and compassion.
Abandon all Hope?
From a Celtic-shamanic perspective, dreams can be seen as visits to the Otherworld. Although this realm is sometimes describes as the Happy Otherworld, it can be a dangerous place for mortals to visit. King Arthur almost dies there, and the legendary hero Cu Chulainn encounters monsters and terrible visions (Green, p73). Unwary humans who return safely from the beyond transform instantly into old men and women upon their return. It is fair to say that bringing back the fruit of the Otherworld to the lands of everyday life could be a misleading quest.
I often feel the same way about dreams and their interpretations. James Hillman warns about this false alchemy in his work _Dreams and the underworld_. He suggests that we honor dreams for their own expressions and view the gurgitations that come up in dreams without attempts to save them morally or to find their dayworld use (1979, p. 40). This is a radical view of dream experience; perhaps Hillman has taken too seriously Dantes admonition to give up all hope. However, concerning the journeys of dreamlife that take us into the murky underworld of spirits, ancestors, and mythic creatures, this is warning enough for me. The archetypes and the gods live out their lives on the periphery of our daily life. By reducing their expressions to daily concerns and personal trauma, we may be dishonoring our ancestors.
The future is the past
The schism in my Western mind is deep and troubling. I derive a lot of enjoyment out of the analytical skill set, and I am invested heavily in words, constructs, and my own self-deception. Separating the linguistic mind from the kinesthetic knowledge of the soul flows the cold river Styx. I am ready to pay the ferryman, but at the same time Im afraid hes going to shortchange me. The analytical gaze I bring with me often crushes the delicate expression of my deeper self and it happens without my knowledge. I sense that the ancestral work that begun this season is a pathway to a truer identity. Without a past, disconnected from my ancestors, I am exactly what my culture dictates: a loose constellation of selves all set out to oppress each other. My work with lucid dreaming is attempting to expose the oppressive cultural riders that come with the gift of the intellect, while giving the Others a forum to meet me, on hallowed grounds. For this work to truly take hold, I can only continue to say thank you.
References
Colorado, P. (1995) Remembrance, an intercultural mental health process. First Reading. Vol.13, no.3 ESPC
Gackenbach, J. (1991) Framework for understanding lucid dreaming, in Dreaming, vol1, no2.
Green, M. (1993) Celtic myths. Austin: University of Texas Press.
Hillman, J. (1979) The Dream and the underworld. New York: Harper press.
Huxley, A. (1954) The doors of perception. New York: Harper & Row.
Irwin, L. (1994) The dream seekers: Native American visionary traditions of the great plains. University of Oklahoma Press.
Kruger, J. (1994) Looking for Dame Yggdrasil. Falkenflug Press.
Pennick, N. (1997) The Sacred world of the Celts. Rochester: Inner Traditions International.
Ryan Dungan Hurd is a student at John F. Kennedy University, working towards his MA in Consciousness Studies. Contact him at http://www.dreamcrisp.blogspot.com
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** DREAMS ** DREAMS ** DREAMS ** DREAMS ** DREAMS ** DREAMS
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Dream section editor Kat Peters-Midland
Here is this issues collection of dreams for the Electric Dreams E-zine with exploding bats with only using hands, lady bugs helping to cut spider webs and killing spiders, people pushing a house and angry furry shadows lunging.
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Dream title: LOST
Dream date: Too Many
Dreamer name: SA
Dream text: I keep dreaming that I am lost and cannot find the people I was with in the dream. I also keep on dreaming that my husband keeps telling me he was out of the marriage. He is either telling me or most of the time he is showing me with either his body language or attitude towards me. This last dream my daughter was in it and I felt as if she was also denying me but it was because of my husband, not because she wanted to deny me. I can't explain the feeling but all I can think of is that I felt lost and unloved. I also had dreams that I actually lost my husband and could not find him.
Dream comments: I've had this type of dream quite often. My husband has had 2 heart attacks and has overcome cancer. Are my dreams showing me that I can lose my husband very easily? Or are they telling me that I am unhappy in my marriage? I can't tell the difference but I think both are true.
Dream title: Employer Lovelust
Dream date: March 25, 2006
Dreamer name: cdforanswers
Dream text: I am invited to an
employers home who I have not seen in years. He has asked for me to come and take a look at his new home (as I used to clean his home and grocery shop for him).
Upon my arrival to his new home, I see the place is gorgeous and many people are there, who are mostly women. They are very attractive and look like models. They are of various ethnicities. I brought my dog with me to his new place.
I'm wondering the entire time why am I there with all of these people. The rooms are colored in loud, bright, happy colors and the furniture is his usual, upscale, costly, modern furniture.
Christmas decorations are up and the lights are gorgeous, so I guess he hasn't been there in a while and some of the women are taking down the decorations. My dog tears down the thin, fake Christmas tree and a plump, wealthy sounding, fellow, sitting in a recliner says its okay, it needs to be thrown away because it is hideous.
I am taken into several rooms which looks like dorms in his house (actually his home is an apt. home/condo) with a upper and lower level. Unbeknownst to me these people have planned a surprise party for my past employer. The guests don't know who I am or why I'm there and I don't tell them because I may feel belittled. I overhear one of the women saying she's been trying to set him up with an attractive lady for sometime now and I feel rejected because I always liked this man (past employer).
When he arrives, we all come out and surprise him. He notices me immediately and kisses me on both cheeks (very unusual). I notice my dog is in a black garbage bag, which is to keep her from barking or making any noises. But once he arrives, I can let the dogs head out so she can breathe. I also don't want to get hair on anything because I may have to clean up after all these people and my dog.
Before I know it, he is telling the lady (match maker) he isn't interested in any of the women. One of his pals suggests that he keep at least a few hanging around.
Then we all go downstairs and it turns into a swanky restaurant and we have a round table. For some reason, I know he is getting ready to propose to me. I really want him to but with all these gorgeous women around, I don't want to be belittled.
As we 6 or more women are sitting at this high, round table top, my former employer tells us he wants to give all of us something very special but he will give one of us the ultimate gift. I continue to turn around and look back at him. His back is turned away from all of us and he is wrapping something with the assistance of the match-maker, while 2 of his buddies look on and his favorite server looks on. The server continues to look at me and the women, but he definitely notices me. H and isn't very excited about seeing me there.
The server and I are of African American heritage. Then my former employer hands me and another girl gifts. Mine happens to be an envelope with a picture of an island on it. The envelope is postcard size, but thick, and I pull out an airline ticket and look at him. He says that he's loved me since we first met and he wants me to be his wife.
I'm feeling the same way but I'm wondering if he has divorced his wife because I'm still with my husband and I want to leave him but I don't want to get into another marriage where sex falls off the radar.
Dream comments: This dream is scary because I really want to see this past employer again and I found out where he works. But I'm having marital problems. I woke in a dream state and just so dreamy which I'm trying to fight. Because I want this to be real but I know it isn't. I had several opportunities to date my employer and went on one date and then I decided it wasn't right to date my employer. Eventually he went through a dating service and met a woman and got married. The woman is very jealous of me (he mentioned this in an email to me). I still want this man.
Dream title: Free from spiders
Dream date: 2/03/06
Dreamer name: NA
Dream text: I was trapped by spider webs with spiders inside. Then lady bugs helped me to cut the webs and killed spiders.
Dream comments: none
Dream title: weird
Dream date: march222006
Dreamer name: red
Dream text: I was looking for my boyfriend with 2 guys. We went through some big buildings, and then we got to where there was a lot of people selling stuff. Then one of the guys left and I was left with the other guy. He wanted to buy something but I said no because we have to look for Jose. Then we started walking; then he got me some sex toys. I was playing with my self .
Dream comments: none
Dream title: "Fighting a problem"
Dream date: 03/23/06
Dreamer name: Bluey253
Dream text: Yesterday I dreamt something really strange. I was in my house and it was dark. It was just me and my little sister. I didn't know where my family was. It was just my sister and me. The roof was very dark. Then I saw there was a group of bats sleeping in my roof. I got scared. I didn't want to wake them, so I tried to get out the house. My sister started crying, and then a bat woke up and started to make a screeching sound. The bat was about to attack us when all of a sudden I exploded it with my hands. I don't know how it happened, but it just happened. I had some kind of power in my dream. It was really weird. So my sister kept on crying and all of the bats woke up. I lifted up my hands again and they exploded. I was so glad I could do that with my hands. Just aiming at something and I could explode and send something flying. So I could do that, big deal. But then the whole roof broke down. Millions of bats were coming in the house. I kept on trying to explode them, but there were too many. My sister kept on crying and yelling. All of a sudden she disappeared. One of the bats bit me. That's the end.
Dream comments: I could never figure out what the dream was, but I guess it had to do with my family problems. I just wanted everything to get out of my head and that the family problems were over. Maybe when I was fighting the bats meant that I was fighting my problems. I just wanted to fix them with a simple blast from my hands.
Dream title: aunt and uncle
Dream date:
Dreamer name: Glo
Dream text: I keep dreaming about dead relatives, nothing bad, Im just doing things with them.
Dream comments: perhaps I just miss the past.
Dream title: The house moving
Dream date: March 20, 2006
Dreamer name: AI
Dream text: I dreamt of these people pushing a house about 8 inches. Their reason for moving that house seemed to be because they wanted it to fit better to something. Perhaps the heaters were not fitted right. Something didn't fit right. However, since they moved the house over the 8 inches, it fit perfectly.
Dream comments: I don't know what the dream means. I thought a house represents your self. I can't make sense of the dream.
Dream title: The visa
Dream date: 20March2006
Dreamer name: Senai
Dream text: I was to marry my dead boyfriend... *he wasnt dead in the dream*... I said "it will be good, we will get this visa..." But I kept it to myself that I cared nothing for the visa. I just wanted to be with him. He said he would be back...
Dream comments: In waking life, we lived on the same street.
Dream title: Deepest fears
Dream date: 3/1/06
Dreamer name: TT
Dream text: I began in my friends living room, watching TV. I turned to my girlfriend and noticed cuts on her wrist. I asked her if she had been cutting and she said yes. She took out a paint chipper and began to cut in front of me. I yelled at her to stop, and everyone else just stared.
Dream comments: Both my girlfriend and I used to cut. She used a paint chipper. Neither of us has cut in a long time.
Dream title: Angry Shadows
Dream date: 2/15/06
Dreamer name: Bill
Dream text: I had this dream that small, shadowy creatures lived in the odd, dark corners of my house. Nobody else was aware of them or ever saw them. But, in my dream I was sleeping and then woke up, and I could just FEEL them. Little skittering chills crept over me, and I could sense their stares fixing on me from the shadows. A sense of deep dread rose up inside me, because I knew that they were coming for me. Then they emerged and circled me, their eyes like red coals and their fur stretching back into the darkness. I could not move at all...I just had to wait in terror until they suddenly lunged at me from all sides...and then I woke up, screaming.
Dream comments: Not a fun dream!
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