In 86.7, Ra answers to question about the use of dreams in aid of polarization.
According to Ra, dreams can be used to benefit with any level of polarization.
Ra mentions three different usages for dreams:
- Blockages in lower charkas appear in dreams as the repetition of recent catalyst
- Precognitive dreams may help entity to go through a tough catalyst
- The use of dreams by an adept for learning and further polarization
I have read through the Ra material a few times and remember taking note of this
issue, but then I have forgotten about it again. Sometimes I kept a dream
journal when experimenting with lucid dreaming. Lucid dreaming exercise included
affirmations to wake up right after dream ends. So it meant sometimes waking up
several times a night. But it always seemed to be too much effort to start
writing right after waking up and I ended up dropping the habit.
Considering the possible benefit of knowing what is the important catalyst for
ones polarization, I guess it would really be worth the effort to start paying
attention to dreams again. I think I will renew my efforts on using dreams by
writing down the main subjects from dreams in the morning (assuming that I
remember something) and going through them during the day.
It would be interesting to hear experiences if some of you have been using
dreams in this fashion. What is your method? Do you write down dreams, or
just note them in the morning and go through them immediately in your mind?
- SilentThought
Writing down is the best way to start (for me at least), you'll just have to keep doing it, even if it's much work. You "tune" your mind to dreaming. In time, you won't need to write down to remember much, for an increased amount of time too. But you always forget your dreams. For they are not really made for the "awake" part of reality. We are in space/time. Real dreams seems to be in time/space.
I use lucid dreaming as a reminder sometimes, of what I am supposed to do here. I picture a perfectly harmonized world, with unconditional love, and I always wish to stay there...
I don't think lucid dreaming is time/space though, since I can manipulate the dreams. Real time/space dreaming is to experience the past/present/future.
This is a very hard subject to speak of since it's extremely subjective. There is no real common ground. I only say what I've observed and concluded.
Thanks for your comments ayadew. I have never had too good success with lucid dreaming. Sometimes I have managed to get lucid, but I always seem to wake up pretty soon.
I guess writing down is the only way to start. At least I don't I usually remember a thing about dreams one minute after I have waken up.
Hey guys, I'm a psychology student and I'm kind of into Depth Psychology, a school which has branched mainly from the work of Carl Jung and those who followed after him and continued his line of thought. While I'm still not that far along, I can tell you that dreams definately are important. Jung's school of thought says that every aspect of a dream is a part of yourself. So, much in the same way that we are, in a sense, the one infinite creator dreaming of itself unaware that it is itself, when we go to sleep and dream the same thing happens in a microcosmic sense. It's really quite a fascinating subject that I can't really cover here, but an excellent website for explaining the concepts and the terminology of interpreting dreams from the Jungian perspective (which I think is very useful) as well as a dream dictionary, is:
http://www.mythsdreamssymbols.com/dda.html
Anyway, from my own experience, dreams are absolutely fascinating and helpful, like having a relationship with your soul. In fact, that's just what it is really. You go to sleep and some aspect of your consciousness arranges experiences for you that, if you learn their language, let you in on what's going on at deeper levels of your consciousness, that level which is symbolic. In response to your comments about how to record them, I don't think it necessarily matters unless the person has an individual preference. Personally, I began by writing them but then one day I treated myself to a small tape recorder, which has proven to be MUCH more convenient, resulting in many more of my dreams being recorded. What the dreams also do is give whatever current issues are going on in your psyche, or you could say catalyst, a sort of mythology, a symbolic representation. So, it's like your dreams produce you your own individual mythology by which to understand your catalyst, which is often much more interesting and novel and stirring than your normal waking awareness of it. The soul speaks in the language of images, and that which is only words to your conscious mind comes to life in your dreams. For instance, one thing that I need to learn in this life is how to go through experiences and open to my feelings and not just analyze them, and also not to analyze that part of my experience having to do with my spirituality, so one reocurring theme in my dreams is that I am measuring water or aquatic creatures, which represent the unconscious, emotional energy, sometimes life and spirit. Consider also how simply amazing it is that dreams happen at all, I mean they're really like a miracle when you think about it. I've had a few slightly precognitive dreams, and also paying attention to your dreams often leads to a greater realization of the syncronicity that's going on all around you, or possibly causes more of it to happen? Anyway, I think they're very important, and I think that even if you can't lucid dream then they are DEFinately worth the while to record. In fact, lucid dreaming to me seems only like it would be useful if it gave you a greater ability to face the things that your dream is trying to tell you; but simply to have a good time defeats the whole point of dreaming, to me. It is to learn, to be guided, to be enriched and to add depth to your life as you know it.
Oh, and another good website with more symbols is
http://www.dreamhawk.com/d-dic.htm
Thank you for the links MisterRabbit, I have never really thought of interpreting my dreams so that it could mean something. I will try doing this.
Yeah, it's also important to know which symbols are personal and which have a more collective meaning. If you're a writer, for instance, then a pen would probably have a very personal meaning, but if you dream that something happens to your hand while you're writing, then you may have to go to the dream dictionary to learn that the hand is a collective or somewhat-universal symbol for the ability to do, create, articulate, etc.
I've had one lucid dream in my life, and got so overwhelmed by the fact that I just jumped off a cliff that I immediately woke up. But the fact that it felt "real" at the time of it happening, as well as the fact that it is still a memory I vividly recall 20 years later is quite amazing. I have gone on to read many books on lucid dreaming, and read "Dreams in Consciousness" by Seth, which goes into some great analysis of the dreamworld. MisterRabbit, have you read Seth's stuff at all? (Authored by Jane Roberts, who channeled Seth, for those who are unfamiliar)
I've tried reminders, writing in my journal the next morning, waking myself up 5 times a night (which is torture! lol), and using affirmations. I've also tried taking a nap during the day, or sleeping next to a radio or television to hear the background noise and possibly slip into recreating what I hear, realizing I am doing it consciously. None of it worked for me!
It got to the point that I was writing tons of dreams in my notebook, but I couldn't figure out what any of them meant. I couldn't find any suitable answers to the "symbols" that came during dreams, and they hardly ever seemed to apply to any emotional or physical state I was in. So over time it felt like I was just writing for the sake of writing, and reading about these dreams were nothing more than a cheap past-time.
It would be great to be able to get more out of my dreams, but everyone has so many opinions about what they mean, that Ayadew's comment is perfect--there's no real common ground, and everyone's symbol interpretations can be completely different from one another because of the subjective nature of dreaming.
I'd also be interested in hearing what people get out of their dreams. I would love to make better use of them!
Steve
I work on recording dreams from time to time. I wake up from dreams several times a night normally. So, when i record them i start to wake up constantly which gets tiring.
One school of thought is that there's not a lot of benefit to trying to interpret most dreams. However, the act of recording dream assists in becoming more aware during dreams and while asleep in general. And yes, you can even become more aware during sleep (search Sleep Yoga). Once you become more aware, then less interpretation is needed since the experiences are clearer and more direct.
In fact there are many types of experiences that occur during sleep. Some of those are standard symbolic dreams while others are memories of more "advances" experiences. For instance, I have fairly regular "lesson" dreams that convey information quite directly. It may be a voice, visual, or a direct experience of some type. While I call these dreams since they happen while i'm asleep, their source is probably not my subconscious.
Regardless, the more awareness one can bring to any activity allows that activity to be more spirit driven.
- thorne
Hi Everyone,
Since this is a topic close to my heart, I’ll break my silence to offer my perspective:
Dreams are specific and direct dialog, which originates within ‘Sub-Consciousness’ for the purpose of understanding Waking Awareness. Although they appear to the relative aspect of mind as so, they are not merely random symbols, pictures or gestures replaying them selves as is commonly expressed. The topic of dreams is made complicated because the Waking or Relative Aspect of Mind is unable to interpret the language of Sub-Consciousness for this is not it’s purpose and indeed, not it’s function.
Dreams are not relative in nature as is the Waking Aspect of Mind. So-called “Dream Dictionaries” are relative perceptions of common objects within experience filtered through the personal, family and social understandings within the Waking Aspect of Mind of an author, of such material.
I do acknowledge some commonalities of representations of objects within dreams however; those are specific to the individuals’ relative external experience. In other words, what a chair means to me is not what a chair means to you; what a pen means to you is not what a pen means to me.
As an Ontologist skilled in the Art of Hypnotism, Dream Work is a very powerful tool within my tool bag that I’ll use with my clients. I am very skilled and versed in the promotion of the creation of dreams by my clients’ Sub-Consciousness. Dreams cannot be correctly interpreted outside ones Self - that is for the individual to discover within. I will ask a clients’ Sub-Consciousness to create specific dreams, regarding the clients’ concern or query. I further direct the Sub-Consciousness to make it very clear and powerful and when all has been communicated to wake the individual so that he/she may record it. Once it is written down, the client and I will review it word for word. Often, this review spurs more information to recall and subsequently added. Once completed, the client is returned to trance and I’ll begin a dialog with Sub-Consciousness, reading what the client has recalled and Sub-Consciousness will then translate/explain the meaning, line for line or scene for scene. After each scene is understood, then the Dream is read back in its entirety and asked for the meaning and purpose of the whole. There are often multiple meanings within dreams, yet usually only one purpose, which is specific to the individuals’ experience of The Process. Dreams are, as stated, a wonderful, magical and fascinating, experience all too often overlooked, disregarded and/or misunderstood. Dreams are a connection with ones Self. As a facilitator, Dream Work is not only a truly beautiful experience to witness and be apart of the Joy one experiences within the Light of Understanding but more so a great honor. For me, they are sacred experiences.
To become more involved in ones dreams, it is most beneficial to begin with an exercise in the recall of ones dreams through the use of Intent. For example, “Tonight, after each dream, I will wake up, easily recalling (to waking awareness,) every detail.” You should record your dreams written or verbal as this adds purpose to your intent. You may or may not find similarities in your dreams. Once you are able to easily recall, two dreams per night for a consecutive period of say 10 days, that should be sufficient to proceed to lucid dreaming practice. To begin dreaming lucidly, you should develop an anchor. This anchor is what will signal your awareness within the dream state. An anchor may be, say for me, your right hand or it may even be a specific place, say a room. Once you have chosen your anchor you can then begin each night similarly, “Tonight, when I am dreaming, I will notice my right hand and be completely aware within my dream.” When you begin this process, several times throughout the day, become aware of (or within) your anchor and ask yourself, “Am I dreaming right now?” Look around you? What do you notice? Test to see if you may be dreaming by attempting to easily fly as it is in a dream. Read something, look away and re-read it – text is never read the same twice in a dream. Bring to your awareness a recent dream.
With Intent, one should easily achieve lucid dreaming. There are no limits to potentiality with lucid dreaming.
I appreciate you allowing me to share and may you find your way back to the highest and truest of your Self.
TTR
(02-02-2009, 10:33 PM)Bring4th_Steve Wrote: [ -> ]it got to the point that I was writing tons of dreams in my notebook, but I couldn't figure out what any of them meant. I couldn't find any suitable answers to the "symbols" that came during dreams, and they hardly ever seemed to apply to any emotional or physical state I was in. So over time it felt like I was just writing for the sake of writing, and reading about these dreams were nothing more than a cheap past-time.
It would be great to be able to get more out of my dreams, but everyone has so many opinions about what they mean, that Ayadew's comment is perfect--there's no real common ground, and everyone's symbol interpretations can be completely different from one another because of the subjective nature of dreaming.
I'd also be interested in hearing what people get out of their dreams. I would love to make better use of them!
Steve
Hi Steve
I have been keeping a dream journal since 1982! I can't believe it is over a quarter of a century but there you go. I never look at my old dreams but they are up there in storage in one of my cupboards.
Dream work is difficult - there is going to be a slight resistance to working with dreams because they are roads to the unconscious, and the ego doesn't like being woken up. You have to amplify a dream image through associations. So if you dreamt of driving in your car, sit down with a pen and paper and write down all the associations about driving. Your feelings about driving, about cars, about your car, maybe something happened the day of the dream when you were driving. Who is with you in the car, your feelings about them etc.
It is also good to consider the feeling in the dream as a whole.
The other thing is that quite often dream images are redundant. That is they are saying the same thing, just cloaked in another way to drive the message across
hope this helps. I am sure there are many websites on dream work.
Please pardon my reply, lvxseeker however, it would be far more positive and beneficial, let alone more accurate, to state that Dream Work is NOT difficult at all. Dream Work simply requires Intent. Further there isn't really any resistance to or from the 'unconscious' as you've described here. With further clarification, it is the 'ego' which assists in the Dream Work, not hindering it.
(04-21-2009, 11:43 PM)TaoTeRazz Wrote: [ -> ]Please pardon my reply, lvxseeker however, it would be far more positive and beneficial, let alone more accurate, to state that Dream Work is NOT difficult at all. Dream Work simply requires Intent. Further there isn't really any resistance to or from the 'unconscious' as you've described here. With further clarification, it is the 'ego' which assists in the Dream Work, not hindering it.
Hello TaoTeRazz
You are right I should be giving myself (and others) the positive suggestion that dream work is not difficult. I have taken up your suggestion in your earlier post of stating my intention to myself each night to recall my dreams easily and wake up after each dream to write them down. Both nights since I started doing this I have woken up and recalled parts of the dream I had just had.
My experience is that I do find it hard to recall most of a dream - that at best I can only capture a snippet and the rest disappears in a flash. In my experience many times I do find it hard to understand what a dream might be saying to me.
One of the theories given for the reason as to why we dream in symbols is that if the message from the unconscious was more direct, then we would continually wake up from our dreams. As I understand Jung's paradigm, dream content can come from the shadow, where repressed elements of ourselves that we don't want to look at, are stored. This is what I meant by ego resistance to the dream's message. Perhaps ego ambivalence might be a better term - we want to understand ourselves more, but it can be hard to accept the parts we don't like.
I assume you mean that the ego assists in the Dream work through Intention, but maybe in other ways. I would be interested to hear.
I have worked registring most daily dreams for every day since 2001.
So I have plenty of books and sheets of papers with these.
Dream work can be easy, but it needs sustained intent.
THE WAY TO REMEMBER DREAMS:
There is a barrier as you all know, between the awake state and dream state.
Most dreams are not that deep, so as you awake, without still with eyes closed, try to recapitulate the most important dream details, one of twice (with close eyes), while you are still in that limbo, between the two states. But this should only take 10 seconds not mote. So, therefore only remember fastly the key things.
You could easily fall asleep again (unless you are on those people that jumps from the bed) or you can start standing up. My advice is: never stand up, since that removes fast the dreams from your concious memory.
Therefore, have a paper and pen (or mobile phone: it works for me best) and write the key parts (after remembering the dreams one or twice for a few seconds).Then, you can while in bed, relax, and all the other details will come to your head, since the memory is still fresh. The important is to remember the key facts to the all dreams (usually they are 3 to 5 to me), and then the details will come within that one minute you write the dreams.
You will never again forget the dream after you write it in detail.
Even years after , you will remember and recapitulate the dream again.
Concerning lucid dreaming, I think we are not "supposed" to force it, or to have frequently (well at least thats what I conclude for me). Therefore, I have a few (about 2-5) in a year, and I don't care about that.
Lucid dreams tend to happen if we awake for a while and then go back to sleep, usually in weekends.
Ah, another thing! If you wake up at 5 or 6, remembering a package of dreams, write then, then go back again to sleep. You will have another pack of 2-3 dreams, that usually are long and more vivid. That, happens once in a while for me.
And yes, there are a few days, every 5 or 6 days, that there is a night that I dont remember dreams so well, as they are more diffuse and "not so important".
You will also realize that you have more precognitive dreams than you think, and may guiding dreams. Others are just emotional outlets.
Two important things: I dont drink coffee or alchool. I sleep always about 7-8 hours. Sleeping less or taking any kind of drug affect dream recall a lot.
hope it helps for you
Any question, just mailme or send me a private message or reply here
Hello SilentThought and All as One,
I enjoyed reading this thread and the group here has all given such great input! I appreciate the opportunity to share some of how I’ve been “using dreams in this fashion”. I have been actively working with dreams, OBE, or what I call “Journeying” for two decades now. I would call it my “primary path” or tool. I hope what I share is valuable to others. I apologize in advance for the long post, but wish to share what I can and won’t likely have time to write in detail later.
As to the uses mentioned by Ra, I think I’ve had many experiences with all of them…but I’m not sure I understand what he means by the first one, but I think I do. As I read it, and understand it, I guess I’d put it more simply as: “Issues/blocks and lessons you are learning in life appear in symbolic dreams.” Many replies to your post talked about how to work with these and there are many books of course. I’ve read quite a few books on dreaming. I was once going to write a book about dreaming until I read one that was so incredible and great that I thought, “He’s written all I wanted to and much better than I could.” I looked for it so I post it, but it’s at another house…I will endeavor to get the title and post it at a later date. IMO it makes all other books on the subject nearly obsolete.
Personally, in working with dreams I do things similar to what has been mentioned by others. A big help is to keep your eyes closed when you first awaken from a dream and review it…replay it in your mind’s eye and watch it all again. Sometimes you’ll start at the middle and then get the parts before that you didn’t recall at first. Go through it several times and try to watch and remember all of it you can…but I agree that it’s best to basically “review fast”. Certainly do not engage your mind at all in trying to make any sense of it at all at this point. Just review or replay. Also, this in-between state of awareness can sometimes help you recall dreams from previous nights that you’d lost…also be aware you can get to this same limbo state as you are falling asleep (if not too exhausted). I’ve had times I was going to sleep and actually recalled over 10 different dreams I’d had in the past weeks and had forgotten all of them. One time while replaying a dream in the morning I recalled that I’d been having the exact same dream for 3 nights in a row but had just kept forgetting it.
If it’s in the middle of the night write down a few sentences, as a summary to jog your memory in the morning or a tape recorder would be better. If it’s in the morning, after replaying it in your mind with eyes closed and not moving when you wake, grab your morning tea/coffee or whatever and go write it down. When I do this part I first close my eyes and watch it again and try to look at all the details. I do this review a bit slower then than the one in bed. Next I write it down and include every single detail I can recall. This takes a while, but it’s amazing that many times the key to understanding will be in the details. They can make a huge difference in interpretation. In other words, a symbol like house may represent your consciousness…but noting that the upstairs carpet was dirty, old, and didn’t reach the edges of the room anymore may be telling you that you higher consciousness (upstairs) has changed and expanded and it’s time to let go of some old beliefs and put in some new ones to fit your expanded awareness. So, sometimes the details provide huge clues for interpretation. As I write down the dream in detail I’m focused only on that…no attempt to ponder or analyze is made.
When that’s done, I do a very important step. I think about the type of dream or experience it was. I very much have had the same experiences and understanding as Thorne mentioned. Simply put: There are many types of experiences we can have during the night. Only one of which is what people mean when they say “dreaming”. Even within “dreams” there are differences. So, I try a first guess at what really may have happened. I think of categories as basically: STORAGE DREAM – your brain is filing away information from the days events…who cares, SYMBOLIC DREAM - to understand subconscious/ego issues (lower chakra blockages current catalysts trying to clear) so these need interpretation, HEALING EXPERIENCE – sometimes our guides, soul, or other beings can do energetic work with our various levels of being, especially if we request/ask for it prior to sleep (hint) so these usually don’t need interpreting but more just gratitude. Although often you’ll find events that day or week where you’ll continue that healing so it’s good to kinda be “informed”. Usually I find that you don’t recall the actual healing, but instead basically get a translated movie of what happened…which appears to you as a dream. PRECOGNITIVE DREAMS – Which are really more of an experience event because your awareness is journeying outside linear time/space and/or you are connecting with higher levels of self to receive this information. JOURNEYING EXPERIENCES – which can be from astral travel to journeying in the 5th density in your etheric/light body, or beyond, in higher bodies such as the spiritual or soulic. These journeys of your awareness/consciousness can be made either to the inner kingdoms or to other actual worlds/densities. These relate to “accessing the gateway to infinity” and using “dreaming” as a gateway or portal to travel/journey. GUIDANCE – These can be many and varied as to the source and type…we can get guidance from our council of guides, our own higher-self, our soul, our spiritual friends, masters, and teachers, etc. They can sometimes be like dreams, but the character is an actual entity/guide, or sometimes nearly just like a direct conversation…usually telepathic…with no visuals at all or very few…I’m reminded of what Thorne described here and have definitely had these…they are precious!
So then, at this point I’ve written it down and try to figure out if it was a symbolic dream or not in the first place. For me, it’s silly and pointless to try to analyze healing experiences or journeys…they are what they are on face. Often they are so distinct there is no confusion. Other times, I’ve found that journeys can actually appear to be dreams because I believe what happens is that as our awareness returns from higher places…basically we “encode” or “translate” the experience into more “worldly” or “normal” images and experiences. I think this is done in part to aid in recall, and in part so that we can make sense of it using our minds visuals, language, etc. If I’m confused, I’ll first try to interpret it as a symbolic dream and only if it just plain makes no sense at all that way I’ll chalk it up to being a journey. Most journeys I have are so different than dreams it’s just really obvious.
If I think it’s symbolic, I go with the basic premise that everything is a symbol of something about me, my life, or an aspect of me. Every character or person, every object…everything is to be taken as a symbol about you. It’s always all about you. Just ask yourself, “What are my thoughts/feelings about this person/thing.” And there you have the meaning. If the character is a guy you know whose a fear based skeptic, then maybe it’s referring to the part of you that’s like that…say your ego/lower self. Go through all the details and see what the symbols mean…I write a whole different section after the details for the analysis. I start at the beginning and write the meanings for it all. Then I re-read the dream now knowing the meanings and it all just sort of “clicks” and makes sense what it’s about…then I basically write that up as the summary or “moral of the story” sort of analysis. Then I ponder what to do about it if anything. Usually I’m just left with a much clearer understanding of what’s already going on in outer experiences and I have a better understanding of why I’m creating and using those catalysts. Don’t get tempted to think your dream characters are actually about them the real person. Now, if it’s a journey or a precognitive dream they certainly are about that person! That’s why it is critical for me to understand clearly if it was a symbolic dream, precognition, journey, etc.
Experiences I’ve had recently have been: I was having many journeys to some very great places in both the outer and inner worlds. Concurrently, I was having precognition dreams that were odd in that every night I’d have one, but they were more about lessons/guidance/wisdom in general. But, what was odd was that amazingly, the next day that is exactly what I’d have experiences in my life be about. It was bizarre in that I would experience it on that level at night, and then the exact same thing during the day. The difference being that at night it was the general wisdom or distilled knowledge of the experience, but during the day I lived through it and saw all the details that led to those wisdoms being gained. Ra talks about how the higher-self is a gift projected back from the 7th density to the 6th by the soul as sort of “consolidated” wisdom from all experiences. We here are still in linear time yet experiencing them…that is why the higher-self can guide and know and give the precognitions…from it’s perspective, it’s already happened or known. This happened for weeks and actually gave me both a lot of laughs and comfort as I watched every day unfold in details/experiences already knowing what I was learning through them, and kind of a very spooky de ja vu that just went on and on. The past two weeks it’s shifted to precognitions that are from 3-6 days in advance of events. These have been hugely beneficial as I’ve been dealing with very powerful catalysts and experiences…the effect is that as I’m going through the experiences I kinda have a comfort, hope, or clarity of how it is actually good, perfect and will work out fine…especially because when I’m in the midst of that it really doesn’t look like that at all. So, you get to kinda have hope and a foreknowledge of what it’s about and how it will turn out to nearly “hold your hand” as you go through the really tough stuff. Awesome and very appreciated.
The last purpose Ra mentions then is the use of dreams by the adept. That is exactly what I was talking about with “journeying” and using nighttime experiences (“dreaming”) as a portal or gateway…a portal for going through the gateway to infinity. Truly a topic/thread unto itself. Naps are great for working with that intentionally.
I know this has grown long, so I’ll close with just saying again what Thorne said that is really important and key…both to dreaming/journeying…and any other spiritual path: The more activity, awareness, intention, attention and focus of will you put into it…it will radically increase, beckon spirit, and manifest powerfully accordingly. Actually, writing down dreams and working with them each morning is better at increasing recall and their power as a path than maybe what you’ll find written on the paper…so it works unto itself! Another key I’ll share is: Each night to pray or state your intent to dream, journey, or have healing whilst you rest…as you wish. Your stated intent, choice, and asking for assistance is incredibly powerful indeed!
short answer to your question SilentThought is that I’ve had the most incredible and powerful experiences and gains by working with dreaming…as I said, it is what I would call my primary path or way…The Way of the Dreamer…it is an inner path and requires no outside tools to walk. In time, the two worlds, or dreams, actually blend into one…and the Dreamer can barely tell the difference…and when he leaves his body for the last time on this planet…he flies in awareness freely where he will, and just keeps on dreaming as though nothing at all had happened to his little shell.
I wish everyone wonderful dreams, journeys, and recall of them J
Following the advice (and example) of David Wilcock, I began working to remember my dreams immediately as I woke up, and had found that I was able to interpret some of them. (I should add, parenthetically, that I'm not often able to do this...only occasionally, during moments of unusual mental clarity....) Here are some examples from the night of 12-01-07……….
1st dream--
This was a long and convoluted dream, and contained some very personal things, so I'll just skip to the end of the dream, which contains the important parts. I was at the house of a family to whom I am close, and have many attachments. In the dream, the house had no resemblance to the design and location of their real house. In the last scene of the dream, I am outside the house, on the street in front of it. The house is beautiful, and the neighborhood is beautiful---large old all-brick homes with ivy covered walls, huge trees in the yards, and brick walls around the yards. The neighborhood looked like one of the finer neighborhoods one finds in cities of the piedmont regions of North Carolina or Virginia (if you've ever been in one of the ritzier older neighborhoods of Winston-Salem, Chapel Hill, or Charlottesville, you'll know what I mean). I am standing on the sidewalk across the street from the house, looking at the brick wall surrounding the yard. I notice that it was built in stages, each one of bricks, each layer about 14-15 inches high. It is clear that the first 3 layers were built into the original wall, but that it was added to successively over time, and there are several more layers in most parts of the wall, so that it is now about 6 feet high in parts; some other parts have more layers, and the wall curves up to heights of 10 or 12 feet at its highest parts, which are parts that screen the picture windows of the house from the road. Except for the first 3 layers, the bricks in each later layer are different from those in each other layer, which is how I know that the layers came in stages.
Standing next to me on the sidewalk is the youngest daughter of the family, Christy. In real (current) life, she is now in her mid-30's, married with two children, but in the dream she is the same innocent 5-year old child I grew up next to.
The family's house is on the corner of a 3-way intersection. Christy points to a house on the other side of the crossing road, diagonally across the intersection from her house. It, too, is a beautiful old brick home, this one in the Colonial style, but curiously, it has the first names of the owners in neon lights around the door, along with the "Subway" restaurant logo. The owners apparently are running a sub shop in their basement. Christy says, "They sell a meat called 'Sub' in there. I have to explain to her that "sub" is a type of sandwich, not a type of meat.
Interpretation:
As I said, I am very close to this family. I am in the same soul group as its members, and we have had many incarnations together. Their beautiful old home in the dream is a Mansion, and is a reference to Cayce's "many mansions" comment, comparing ones body in a physical incarnation to a mansion. The different layers in the walls represent our mutual incarnations. The fact that the wall has more layers in some parts, and less in others, reveals that my number of mutual incarnations differs with different members of the family. That it is shown as a wall indicates our karmic burdens, and the fact that through our incarnations, we have been putting up barriers to reunification (spiritual reunification with The One), rather than coming closer together. It is also a metaphor for the general spiritual condition of humanity.
The representation of Christy as an innocent 5-year-old signifies the group's naiveté toward our spiritual mission, and our true natures. The 'sub' in the basement of the neighbor's house represents our true selves, our true natures that underlie our 3rd-density physical shells. My remark about the "sub" sandwiches means that I will have to explain to them our true natures and our spiritual path.
I might add that I have had, for a couple of years, an "issue" with several members of this family, which has caused us all some pain. (Update...this has been mostly resolved.)
2nd dream:
I have a good friend named Chad who is a hunting and fishing guide, and I have hunted and fished with him often. Several years ago he married a lovely woman named Liz, and they have a home on Maryland's Eastern Shore. In the dream, I am in their kitchen (as with the previous dream, the house bears no resemblance to their real house). The kitchen is horribly cluttered; every surface is covered with stuff....pots, glasses, cutting boards, etc, most of which are used and in need of washing. I am desperately craving some hot tea. I try to find a clean vessel to make it in, and a space on a burner of the stove to heat it up, and have a difficult time with both tasks, due to the overwhelming clutter. It takes me a very long time and I finally have to settle for a 500-ml laboratory beaker that isn't quite clean.
I go to the sink to put some water in it, and notice that there is a spider adhering to the end of the spigot. (Spiders are the only thing in life that I find really creepy). I don't want to have my water wash over the spider, or have the spider fall into my beaker, so I grab a fork and try to knock it off, which doesn't work; then I try a knife, and still fail; I spend a frustratingly long time trying to get the spider off the spigot, and fail, so I have to settle for water run through a spider. So finally, after what seems like an eternity, I manage to make some tea, but the dream ends before I can manage to drink it.
Interpretation:
The tea represents my goal, spiritual enlightenment. The clutter in the kitchen represents my material attachments, which are getting in the way of my spiritual advancement. The water represents underlying true self. The spider is the "internal dialogue" (Castaneda's term), which keeps interfering with meditation, and which is a barrier to connection with the true self. The lesson is that I must work on removing material attachments, and on stopping the internal dialogue, before I will be able to reach my goal.
3rd dream:
(Preface): When I was in college, I was in a traveling troupe of dancers, and we performed all over the eastern United States and in Europe. It was a great experience. Oddly, though, besides our loves of dance and music, I had little in common with most of the other members of the troupe, and have not remained in contact with most of them after graduation.
In the dream, I am reunited with them, and our director. We are at a camp, the kind of summer-camp that children go to. There is a hill with a building on it, and on either side of the hill, at the base, are ponds, which drain into a nearby river. At the outlet to the larger pond, there is a concrete culvert, and on the pond side, at the base of the dam, is a large iron wheel which is connected to a valve and pump, that allow the ponds to be filled with water pumped in from the river. Standing next to the wheel is Terry, one of the dancers. Our director is standing next to me on the pond dam, and tells Terry to turn the wheel and flood the ponds with river water. I know, without having to be told, that the ponds contain very large fish, but since the ponds are at normal water level, and thus relatively shallow, all the big fish are out in the middle of the ponds, in the deep water and on the bottom, so they are not available to us. If the ponds are flooded with water, the water level will rise, and the big fish will move into shallow water to feed, and be catchable (this, by the way, is what happens in real life).
So Terry turns the wheel, and the ponds fill rapidly with river water, almost to the point of overflowing, and I have to signal him to shut the water off, so the ponds don't overflow and wash out all the fish. We then proceed up the hill to the building, where we will find rods and reels for fishing. Now, I love to fish, and I especially love to catch big fish, so I am very excited, and can hardly wait.
We enter the building, and find that it contains many racks holding hundreds of rods and reels, most of which are not attached to each other. The rods and reels are large and stout, built for handling very heavy fish, and when I notice this, it only increases my excitement. The building is also filled with people, and I realize that the ponds will be crowded. Some people are already assembling the rods and reels, and handing them out to others, so instead of doing this for myself, I patiently wait my turn. Most of the people in the building clearly are novice fishermen, and while waiting for a rod, I show some of them how to tie rigs, how to bait hooks, etc.
However, very quickly, before I can react, most of the people, and most of the equipment, are already down at the ponds. I rush to the window just in time to see a kid down at the smaller pond land an enormous catfish. I go back to the rack of rods to see what's available, but can't find a reel type that I like. I look around, and by the time I have made a circuit of the racks, all of the reels are gone, and there are only rods with no reels or line, and a few puzzled and frustrated people, who, like me, have no way to partake of that fantastic fishing down at the ponds. My frustration and consternation are unbearable.
Interpretation:
This one was a real puzzler, and I had to think about it a long time before coming to a conclusion. The big fish in the ponds are the prize--spiritual advancement. The act of flooding the ponds represents opportunity to advance. The various rod & reel combos represent pathways to spiritual advancement, and their abundance signifies that there are many paths open to us. The fact that I don't manage to get one on time represents my own hesitation. The lesson is that many people are advancing, through many paths, and that I will "miss the boat" if I don't plunge in and start; and that I shouldn't wait for a path that is "just right", but should go ahead and work with what I have now.
Way of the dreamer... That appeals to me!
One thing I've noticed is that as I've had more interaction with guidance and some invisible friends in waking (or maybe I should call it non-sleeping, kind of dipping into a deeper layer of awareness with my eyes open), I seem to have fewer dreams of that kind. Does seem that as we get more "awake", reality becomes more dream-like.
Once I set the intent to remember all dreams, and got thoroughly exhausted from waking up after every single dream, of course learning that most of them were exasperatingly mundane. So I just trust that if I have an important dream I will remember, but I know I don't always do that. Will try some of the ideas in this thread...
Sweet dreams, y'all.
There is a practice called Dream Yoga that may offer dreamers opportunity to expand their dreaming skills. One of these practices is called clear light dreaming, that may seem not so unlike a waking state clear light meditation experience. My impression is that this type of dreaming, like its meditation counterpart, can help the dreamer with "learning and further polarization" in some way or another. Some consider this a form of secret Tantra, that can in some cases result in enlightenment in a relatively short period of time.
paddy