Dream
The
Meanings of Dreams
AZTEC (Mexico)
In
Nahuatl, the language spoken by the Aztecs and still spoken in many
parts of Mexico, the word for dream is temictli; it means "the edge of
death."
In many Mexican communities
today, sleep is considered a dangerous
time. It is believed that during dreams, the soul leaves the body and
goes wandering about, If, In its wanderings, something should happen to
the soul, the sleeper may never again awaken. By the same token, a
sleeping person should never be aroused too suddenly fro sleep lest the
soul not have enough time to
reenter the body. Dreams were, and are, a means of foretelling the
future
and then, as now, the interpretations were based on the principles of
like
causing like.
The following dream
interpretations are taken from a series of texts
called "First Notes, "which were gathered by the sixteenth century
ethnographer
Fray Bernardino de Sahagun. And are the only known Nahautl
text on dream
interpretation in pre Hispanic times:
He who dreamed, who saw
in his dreams, that here was singing in
his house, they said would die soon .
He who dreamed of an
eclipse of the sun, they said would soon go
blind, or else he would sell himself into slavery.
He who dreamed that a
wild beast was devouring him, they said
would soon die.
He who dreamed he was
flying, they said would soon die in battle.
And there are other dreams we
do not know about, for there are
many different kinds of dreams.
The soothsayers interpreted
the dreams. They read in the books of
divination and ordered that offering be make in payment to the
gods. And they burned the offerings; the offerings were paper, incense,
and rubber..
INDIA and CHINA
Hindu and
Chinese medicine for centuries has been
looking to dreams for information as to the diagnosis of illness. In
their system dreams are divided into five classes which correspond to
the five great
viscera: - the heart, the lungs, the kidneys, the spleen and the liver.
Each class is sub-divided according to two normal conditions of the
organs.
The normal condition of all these organs induces no dreams of any
kinds.
These principles having been stated, the following gives and example of
this Asiatic science, as summing up of the various dreams which denote
the
bad functioning of each viscera:
1.) Dreams of ghosts,
monsters, terrifying figures - sign of bad
functioning of the heart (vessels choked), repletion. Dream of fire,
flames,
smoke, light - sign of bad functioning of the heart (giddiness due to
weakness
of the blood current and slowing down of the rhythm), inanition.
11.) Dreams of fights, wars,
weapons, soldiers- sign of bad functioning
of the lungs; repletion. dreams of plains, sea, country, difficult
roads and
journeys - sign of bad functioning of the heart; inanition
111.) Dream of excessive
fatigues, pain in the kidneys - sign of bad
functioning of the kidneys; canals over full. Dream that one is
swimming with difficulty and is in danger of drowning - sign of bad
functioning of the kidneys; inanition.
1V.) Dream of songs,
festivities music, pleasure - sign of bad
functioning go the spleen.; repletion of the canals starting form it.
Dream of dangers, battle, dispute, meals, - sign of bad functioning of
the spleen ; inanition.
V.) Dream of inextricable
forests, steep mountains, trees - sign of bad
functioning of the liver; repletion, Dream of grass, lawns, bushes,
fields - sign of bad functioning of the liver, inanition.
Finally, dream of brooks, or
murmuring springs of waterfalls, is a sign
of anemia; and dream of murders, hanging, strangulation is explained by
asthmatic suffocation.
SENOI (Malay Peninsula)
The
Senoi claim there has not been a violent crime
of an intercommunal conflict (in their jungle society) for a space of
two or three hundred years. ....
....They believe that any
human being, with the aid of his fellows, can
outface, master, and actually utilize all beings and forces in the
dream universe.
His experience leads him to believe that, if you cooperate with your
fellows
or oppose them with good will in the day time, their images will
eventually
help you in your dreams, and that every person should and can become
the
supreme ruler and master of his own dream or spiritual universe...
The Senoi believe and teach
that the dreamer - the "I" of the dream-
should always advance and attack in the teeth of danger, called on the
dream images of his fellows if necessary, but fighting by himself until
they arrive.
In bad dreams the Senoi believe real friends will never attack the
dreamer
of refuse help. If any dream character who looks like a friend is
hostile
or uncooperative in a dream he is only wearing the mask of a friend.
If the dreamer attacks and
kills the hostile dream character, the
spirit or essence of this dream character will always emerge as a
servant of ally. Dream characters are bad only as long as one is afraid
and retreating from them, and will continue to seem bad and fearful as
long as one refuse to
come to grips with them.
According to the Senoi,
pleasurable dreams, such as of flying or sexual
love, should be continued until they arrive at a resolution which, on
awakening, leaves one with something of beauty or use to the group. For
example, one should arrive somewhere hen he flies, meeting the beings
there, hear the
music, see their designs, dances and lean their useful knowledge.
SAORA (India)
The
Saora of Orissa, India, create a sacred art on
the walls of their homes using information obtained in dreams, The
pictographs , called ittal (writing),
are made to honor the dead or to
cure disease.
They establish and commemorate situations in which the inhabitants of
the
spiritual worlds communicate with the people of this world. The theme
of
the ittal is usually a
"house" represented by a rectangle or square, a
two-dimensional home of a spiritual being. The miniature temple
constitutes a sacred space on a wall which previously functioned merely
as the boundary of a mundane area where everyday activities occur. The
ittal transforms the wall,
reducing the opacity of the border between
the spiritual worlds and the material
world.
Anyone may paint an ittal. The householder may do so,
following
instructions given in a dream, but if the dream does not specify the
form the picture
is to take, a recognized specialist, the ittalman, will be asked to
prepare to receive this in a deliberately sought dream. Until such a
dream occurs, the artist may not eat, and will sleep by the wall where
the picture is
to be painted. As soon as the dream has taken place, the ittal is
quickly
drawn, and when the first draft is complete a shaman is asked to invoke
the being in whose honor it was made. The shaman, in trance, speaks
with
the spirit's voice, criticizing or praising the accuracy of the
artist's
work, and suggesting modifications which are incorporated in the final
version
or the ittal.
ANCIENT EGYPT
The
Egyptians believed that the divine powers
frequently make known their will to them by means of dreams, and they
attached considerable importance to them; the figures of the gods and
the scenes which they saw them in dreaming seemed to them to prove the
existence of another world
which was not greatly unlike that already known to them. The knowledge
of
the art of procuring dreams and the skill to interpret them were
greatly
prized in Egypt as elsewhere in the East, the priest or official, who
possessed
such gifts sometimes rose to places of high honour in the state, as we
may
see form the example of Joseph (Genesis, 40-41), for it was universally
believed that glimpses of the future were revealed to man in dreams. As
instances of dreams recorded in the Egyptian texts may be quoted of
Thothmes
IV, kind of Egypt about BC 1450, and Nut-Amen, kind of the Eastern
Sudan
and Egypt, about BC 670. A prince, according to the stele which he set
up
before the breast of the Sphinx of Gizeh, was one day hunting near this
emblem
of Ra Harmachis, and he sat down to rest under its shadow and fell
asleep
and dreamed a dream. In it the god appeared to him, and having
declared
that he was the god Harmachis-Khepera-ra-temu, promised him that if he
would
clear away the Sphinx, his own image, the drift sand in which it was
becoming
buried, he would give to him the sovereignty of the lands of the South
and
of the North, i.e. of all Egypt. In due course the prince became king
of
Egypt under the title of Thothmes IV, and the stele which is dated on
the
19th day of the month Hathor of the first year of Thothmes IV proves
that
the royal dreamer carried out the wishes of the god.
The
religion of Aborigines centered on
stories of their origin. They referred to the time of their origin as
Dreamtime or the Dreaming. In Dreamtime, spirits
called Dreamings awoke
from a long sleep and began wandering through a featureless land. In
their wanderings, these spirits created all natural features of the
land, animals, and plants, and the people and their culture.
In ceremonies, Aborigines
would assume the character of a Dreaming and
act out the wanderings of this spirit. The paths that Dreamings
followed
and specific places they visited had great spiritual significance to
Aborigines
and also marked the territory of a clan (group of families connected by
a
common ancestor).
Every Aboriginal clan had an
ancestor figure, or totem. A totem took
the form of one of the creatures, plants, or natural features
associated with one or more Dreamings. Certain group members could
encounter totemic spirits and learn their stories by such acts as
entering a trance or a deep sleep. Stories of the Dreaming and totemic
characters often served as the subjects for paintings or other works of
art.
Young Aborigines learned
stories of the Dreaming through initiation
ceremonies and in gatherings of secret initiation cults. Initiates went
through a ritual death, and in this state encountered the Dreaming.
Prospective shamans (spiritual healers) went through a similar
initiation by their peers, who symbolically replaced the body organs of
the initiate to give him special powers in his new life.
Aborigines regarded death as
an event caused by an angry spirit or a
curse from another person. In extended rituals, group members
encountered and
pacified spirits or symbolically killed the offending person, ensuring
the
return of the spirit of the dead to its totemic home.
Each night all humans on this
earth, from the tiniest child to the most
aged adult in the last hours of life, will drop off to sleep and there
let
go to the dreams which come.
Some time in the early hours
of the morning we all awake to the new day
and begin to focus our awareness on what it is we have to do to survive
mad fulfill ourselves in a world not always friendly to us. We take
charge of our lives. No one knows exactly why sleep Is it because we
are pshyciologically clogged up with waste products and need time in
which to renew ourselves? our bodies renew themselves constantly, awake
and asleep,, so the answer seems
to be No.,
On the surface it would seem
as if sleep is a state of physical and
mental rest, yet in different ways we are as active asleep as when
we're awake.
A dream
takes place during a
biological
state of its own.
Two clearly distinguishable states of sleep exist.
The first state, called S-synchronized sleep, or NREM-sleep
(non-rapid-eye-movement sleep), occupies most of the sleep period and
is associated with a relatively low pulse and blood pressure, little
activation of the autonomic nervous system, and few or no reports of
dreaming. The second type of sleep, known as D-sleep (dreaming, or
desynchronized, sleep), or REM-sleep (rapid-eye-movement sleep), occurs
cyclically during the sleep period and is characterized by activation
of the
autonomic nervous system, rapid eye movements, and frequent dream
reports. Typically, a person has four or five periods of D-sleep during
the night, whether the dreams are remembered often, rarely, or not at
all; they occur at intervals of about 90 minutes and altogether
constitute about 25 percent of the nights sleep (as much as 50 percent
in a newborn child). Evidence indicates
that a dream period usually lasts from 5 to 20 minutes.
Such stimuli as sounds and
touches impinging on a dreamer can be incorporated into a dream if they
occur during a D-period. These stimuli, however, do not initiate a
D-period if one is not
already in progress, so that, at least in such cases, dreams do not
protect sleep in the way that Freud suggested. Although mental activity
may be reported during NREM-sleep, these are usually short, fragmented,
thoughtlike experiences.
Brain Waves, electrical activity
in the brain that is measured and displayed by lines drawn on paper or
on a computer
screen. Brain waves are used to diagnose nervous-system diseases and to
learn
more about how the brain works, especially with regard to wakefulness,
sleep,
and dreaming. Brain waves do not indicate what a person is thinking.
Many dreams collected in sleep
laboratories are rather ordinary, but most people have at least some
bizarre dreams. At the start of the 20th century Sigmund Freud proposed
that a mental process quite different from that used in the waking
state dominates the dreaming mind. He described this “primary process”
as characterized by more primitive mechanisms, by rapid
shifts in energy and emotions, and by a good deal of sexual and
aggressive content derived from childhood.
Johnny: “I
don't know whether I'm alive and
dreaming or
dead and remembering.”
From Johnny got his gun. Cannes Film Festival Grand Prix Special
Du Jury, 1971
Dreams, according to Freud, were the royal road to
studying the unconscious, because it is in dreams that our unconscious,
primal desires manifest themselves. The incongruities in dreams, Freud
believed, result from a struggle for dominance of ego and id. In
attempting to access the real workings of the mind, many surrealists
sought to approximate the nonsensical quality of dreams. Chief among
these artists were Salvador Dalí from Spain, and René
Magritte and Paul Delvaux from Belgium.
© 2001 Foundation
Gala-Salvador Dali / VEGAP, Madrid / Artists
Rights Society (ARS), New York./Bridgeman Art Library, London/New
YorkThe Persistence of MemorySalvador Dalí’s painting The
Persistence of Memory (1931) ranks as one of the most famous paintings
of the 20th century. A surrealist, Dalí referred to his work as
“hand-painted dream photographs,” and claimed that his imagery often
came directly from his own dreams. The strange form in this painting’s
foreground, however, is based on an image from Hieronymus Bosch’s The
Garden of Earthly Delights (about 1505-1510).
dream influence art
Morpheus,
in Greek mythology, god of dreams, the son of Hypnos, god of
sleep. Morpheus formed the dreams that came to those asleep. He also
represented human beings in dreams. The name Morpheus is derived from
the Greek word for
“shape” or “form.”
Lucidity is
knowing you are dreaming while you are in your dream
Dreams and
Dream Interpretation
Some great
books about dream interpretation can be bought directly from
the Association for the Study of Dreams or second hand on line. I have
many
many dream books for sale: Books for
sale
Here is a list of dream books
from ASC. Also see their website at ASC
Dreams And What They Mean To
You by Migene Gonzalez-Whippler - Everyone
dreams, but not everyone remembers their dreams. Now you can learn how
to
recall your dreams so that you can solve daily problems and gain a
better
understanding of your deepest feelings. This book explores the nature
of
sleep, dreams, the human mind and consciousness, and then analyzes the
different
types of dreams that people often have. $4.99, 217 PP. S (0.3 lb.)
Dream Cards by Strephon
Kaplan-Williams - The package contains 66
beautifully illustrated Dream Cards depicting over 550 symbolic dream
images in full color;
66 Wisdom Cards with wisdom statements that reflect the symbolic
meaning of
the corresponding Dream Cards imagery. $24.95, 160 PP. Dream Cards book
with
detailed instructions. (2.5 lbs.)
The Mystical, Magical,
Marvelous World Of Dreams by Wilder B. Tanner -
This book presents a proven method for using dreams to heal, solve
problems, and attain guidance for health, wealth, happiness, and
understanding. Contains an extensive encyclopedia of dream symbols and
how to find the meanings that are right for you. Shows how to recognize
dreams, which contain teaching and
encouragement for Your Higher Self. $19.95, 362 PP. S (0.7 lb.)
I began
writing down my dreams or feelings upon waking in when I was
very young (grade school).. I began keeping Dream Journals in 1996 and
have over 1,600 dreams recorded and many worked with. either by
interpretation methods, art, or other forms of bringing the dreams
wisdom into waking consciousness.
I have them on disks and in unedited longhand. So, you can see it can
become quite an active part of life.
I began
trying to become lucid in my dreams by becoming aware of my
hands. This was the trick Carlos Castaneda used in his practice to
become a "dreamer"
Later in his book "The Art of
Dreaming the following statements about
dreaming are written:
"Dreaming is the sorcerers' practical way of putting ordinary dreams to
use."
"(Dreaming is) the art of displacing the assemblage point at will from
its habitual position in order to enhance and enlarge the scope of what
can be perceived."
"Through Dreaming we can
perceive other worlds..."
"...the dreaming attention
comes into play when it is called, when it
is given a purpose. Its coming into play is not really a process, ...
It is rather
an awakening. Something dormant becomes suddenly functional."
-The Art of Dreaming
Our dreams
are typically populated by various figures chosen from our
life, our memories and popular culture. Whilst such figures may even be
well know to us in our outer life, they often represent unknown,
unrecognized or undeveloped aspects of our own selves.
How
figures from our life come to represent aspects of ourselves is
known as the psychological mechanism of projection. Through projection
we see in others what we fail to see in ourselves.
One may
have a positive or a negative projection. Figures upon whom we
have a positive projection we tend to admire and love, those upon whom
we have a negative projection we find loathsome and irritating. Yet,
either way, for
the sake of psychological wholeness, we are required to recollect our
projections
and integrate that aspect of ourselves which we see in the other.
Negative Projections and the
Shadow
Negative
projections stem from the projection of one's own shadow. The
adventurer, who sees himself as free and wild, will often project his
own undeveloped shadow on to such a figure as a headmaster or policeman
(whom he sees as a
regimented and repressive character). Yet, on deeper inspection, the
policeman would also reflect his own undeveloped civility and capacity
to live within the confines of established society.
Similarly
the strong and independent business woman may project out her
own unlived maternal nature onto the mother or housewife (whom she sees
as
weak and dependent), whilst the caring and supportive housewife will
project
her shadow upon the business woman (who see sees as hard and callous).
Yet,
inevitably the adventurer will dream of the policeman, the
business woman of the housewife and the housewife of the business
woman. And the aim of these dreams is to help integrate that which is
projected.
I would
estimate that over ninety per cent of what turns up in one's
dreams must be owned and integrated. Only occasionally does a dream
address that which belongs truly outside of one self. During the
initial stages of dream analysis one must often withdraw several shadow
projections and own that which
is flawed and unrefined in oneself. This means recognizing the faults
in
others as belonging to oneself as well as questioning where ones own
attitude may be limited and lacking in balance.
Owning
your own shadow is a humbling experience. At the same time, the
integration of the shadow is a major step towards wholeness. Owning
one's shadow serves to ground and balance the individual. No longer can
we remain proud or righteous. Our experience of the shadow teaches that
there is a whole lot more which we may become.
Guboo Ted
Thomas, Australian Aboriginal Tribal Elder
"I was in dreamtime.
I seen this great wave going.
I tell people about this wave.
It wasn't a tidal wave.
This was a spiritual wave.
So, to me, I believe that the Dreamtime is going to be
that.
I believe the revival is going to start in Australia
when we're
Dreaming.
It's the hummingbee that I'm talking about.
And love.
We've got to learn to love one another.
You see, that's really what's going to happen to the
earth.
We're going to have tidal waves.
We're going to have earthquakes.
That's coming because we don't consider this land as
our Mother.
We've taken away the balance, and we're not putting it
back.
I look at the bush, and those trees are alive.
They're not dead, they're alive.
And they want you to cuddle them."
Learning to interpret and remember your dreams
is
not really that difficult - it just requires a disciplined approach and
the
ability to go beyond the face value.
Although many of our
dreams can be very vivid, much of what we
encounter in dreaming is symbolic. In fact, what we think we are
perceiving, is simply the rational mind's interpretation of a
message for which it has no other frame of reference.
What helps enormously is to
set our intent on remembering your dreams
before you go to bed., and then to start recording your dreams as soon
as you wake up. If you do this, you will find that you can recall not
only more about the details of the dream, but also other aspects such
as the sequence, and the feeling that the dream has produced.
It is
important to note the feeling of the dream, since this will
indicate whether the symbols should be interpreted in a positive or
negative sense. You should also note the story line - the opening scene
in every dream provides the actual message, while the sequence in which
the dream unfolds supplies the details.
Note
carefully the dream symbols. If any are not included in the list
of universal symbols, then they can be taken at face value. However,
should unknown
symbols be encountered, then start to get a feeling for what this
symbol
means to you personally., but do not take your interpretation as a fact
until
you are skilled in dream interpretation.
Dream Journal:
1. Record your dream in
a dream diary or on a recorder
2. List symbols in the symbol section of your journal
People..
Males & females
Places
House/home
Building
level ( up or down)
Hallway
indoors
outdoors
city
country
roadway/path
Objects
tools
weapons
cloths
furnishings
car/other mode of transportation
art
book
animals
trees/flowers
Self
role played (active or
passive)
choice involved
problem resolved
enemy
confronted
at dream's conclusion state
feeling such as: fear joy, sadness, satisfaction, anger, other
3. Define symbols in the
Dictionary section
Note definitions should be as
complete as possible
People:
position in life
relationship to you
traits
feelings/memeories evoked
possible
archetype application
places
relationship to the present
relationship to the past
feelings/memories attached
objects
positive
negative
use in dream/real life
feelings /memories attached
4. Analyze the dream in the
analysis section apply the defined
symbols
to the dream scenario.
State possible messages the
dream may be giving
STUDIES
Results of recent studies carried out in sleep
laboratories around the world show that subjects can learn to "wake up"
in
their dreams and even control some of the imagery. Amazingly evidence
has
been recorded which shows that sleeping subjects can signal to
researchers
who are able to record these messages.
Is
it possible that we are dreaming all the time? Perhaps we are
experiencing
spontaneous imagery day and night, whether asleep or awake, but losing
our
awareness of those imagery experiences because of the intrusion of
other
dynamics? This was C.G.Jung's observation when he said we are probably
dreaming
24 yr. a day. What are the possible solutions as to why we sleep?
"To sleep, perchange
to dream," to quite Shakespeare's famous line, we sleep in order
to
tune into the dreamtime.
DREAM GROUPS..
I belonged to a dream group in Colorado. We called
ourselves
the Steele Street
dreamers.
We met once a week (although
this changed to 3 times a month) at the
library.
We had gotten together through a list obtained from a foundation we
were all interested in.
We were contacted, and asked if we would be interested in
starting
a Dream group. All of us discussed the expectations of the group and
how
to run a group. . We had 6 people that remained in the group throughout
the
7 months we met. (other groups I have known of (and been part of)
have as many as 30
persons)
The group lasted about 2 hours, but sometimes longer. (up to 3.5 hrs)
Setting up the group-
Descide on a facilitator.
(either one person who always takes this role
or
a different person each meeting,
How it might work:
The facilitator asks
if there's anyone who Needs to have a dream worked
on.
If not, asks if anyone wants to have a dream discussed. The group must
decide
how to proceed. One guideline to keep in mind is the importance of
focusing
on a dream of each group member as frequently as possible In a 2 to 3
hour
meeting there is usually time to explore at least 2 and sometimes as
many
as 3 or 4o dreams in some detail
Once a dream is chosen, the
dreamer is asked to tell the dream again so
that
everyone can get it firmly in mind. Then the members of the group are
invited
to ask questions
Group members are now asked
to assist the dreamer by pretending that
this
is there own dream while the dreamer sits back and listens or takes
notes.
If this were my dream I would
feel_______________ at such and such a
point
in the dream.The facilitator keeps track of the comments. Then the
dreamer
is
now invited to respond to the groups efforts.
If the dreamer consents, the
group can help further by making further
comments, drawing upon what the dreamer has just shared .. Although the
group
discussion
ends here the dreamer may continue to process.
Some groups like to use art
work, and acting, singing, dancing or other
such
forms of interpretation to bring the dreams message into life.
We had a lot of success with
art projects. Working with old magazines
and
glue or with color-pencil and paper. Dream images were brought to life
and
their
message became clearer.
I wanted to become lucid
while dreaming. That was my focus and my
fascination
with dreaming came from there.
To be lucid in a dream you
must first record at least one dream a
night.
Become aware of your cycle of dreaming and then talk yourself
into
becoming aware that you are dreaming. The first time a realized I was
dreaming
I got so excited I woke myself up..
With practice you can learn to stay in the dream and even control, or
be "mindful" of events and your ego in the dreaming. It is the
ultimate! I don't like controlling my dreams as much as I
like being mindful and sometimes directing where to go or what to ask
my inner self or dreamer ... sometimes I incubate an issue to dream
about, thus finding healing or some form of an answer or solution to my
question or situation.
I love dreaming. Email me if you would like to share a dream and we can
chat about what it could mean to you..
Enjoy..
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