What a weird dream!

[Guest Brute3]

ehh... we were talking about this stuff in chat, so I thought I'd post it in here. This is a dream I had some time ago that I remember clearly to this day. There've been others.....

 

Darkness

 

The dream starts. I am alone in an old and dark house, a place of shadows and hidden recesses. The walls and floors are made from a rich and dark wood. I am bewildered for a moment, afraid to venture forth through this unknown. Then, a voice whispers to me. I cannot see who speaks, but I hear a soft and neutral voice that tells me that this house represents me.

 

I ask the voice, which seems to me to be a guide of sorts, what lies within the shadows. The voice informs me that the darkness I see everywhere is a part of me that I either have not discovered or am too afraid to acknowledge. The voice instructs me to descend into the lower levels of the house, as I am on the upper levels at the start.

 

As I (we) descend, I encounter a shaft that appears several times throughout the house. It is found in odd places, sometimes in the middle of rooms, the wooden planks of the floors sheared off where it appears. Theses shafts are simply pure darkness. Again, I question the voice. “What does this have to do with me? What are these shafts for?” The voice answers me and tells me that my questions will soon be revealed. It leads me further downwards. Soon, I approach what I sense to be a basement. The voice whispers in my ear that I am to go alone into this last part of the house. It cannot aid me in any way here. As I step through the threshold of the last room, a furnace room it seems, I see a large mound of bones, with a throne of bone and skulls upon the mound. In the throne sits a huge red-skinned beast. The beast resembles a human in that it has the basic human shape, but the resemblance ends there.

 

It’s horrid face is twisted in rage at my intrusion. In it’s taloned hands, it holds a book and a scepter. These both instantly disappear when I see them. The beast has wings of pure darkness, huge and shaped like a bat. It shouts at me and it’s voice is pain. Pain overwhelms me and all goes black for a moment, save a fuzzy, yellow word that I cannot make out. The beast falls silent, waiting, perhaps for an answer to his question. I am reeling, and cannot speak for a moment. Angered, it speaks once more.

 

The pain is intense beyond anything I could imagine. Again, I can see nothing from the pain but the single word, now a blazing gold and readable. It is a name. The beast ceases his words of agony and I recover before he can continue. I utter the word, his name aloud, and he is struck with utter disbelief. In a rage, he shouts at me, but it no longer hurts. I command him now. He bows and ask what my desire for him to do is. I tell him simply to leave me. With a powerful leap, he springs into the air. The shafts that I had discovered earlier all lead directly above his throne, allowing him access to the upper levels. He spreads his massive wings, and leaves the house. The house shakes and trembles with his passing.

 

Shaken and afraid, I leave the basement and exit the house immediately. Outside the house, and in the safety of the sun, I walk aimlessly. Soon, I come upon a village in smoking ruin. Bodies lay scattered like leaves, broken and burned. Horrified, I run through the village. A fear slowly creeps into my mind; I am the cause for this. I almost run over an old man tending the dead. He is injured, but alive. I ask him what has happened, and he confirms my fears.

 

Pointing back at the house I came from, he tells me that a great and terrible demon flew from the house in a rage and fell upon the village. The old man is the only remaining survivor. He turns away in grief and asks me to leave him alone.

 

*Dream ends*

 

Brute

O Drunken One

[The Portrait of Zool]

The book and sceptre often symbolize law, expectation or demand. A misshapen person or skull can represent the psyche. I of course have no way of placing context for the rest.

 

Very interesting dream!

 

~Zool~

Ancient, The Pen is Mightier than the Sword.

Bard of Terra, Patron Saint of Aspiring Bards.

Elder than dirt, more foolish than a jester, able to trip over the smallest logic in a single step. It's... Oh, you know.

[Guest Hydrus]

In most cases, skulls represent a death wish for someone. Bones however usually mean something old or forgotten. The dark areas you talk about a lot sometimes mean your subconcious (spellings wrong, i know), but may be something differant.

 

That's a remarkably accurate dream, very interesting indeed.

[Guest Rezure]

Are dreams really symbolic? I don't think so. Still, I definitely don't envy you that dream at all. Good of you to share, though.

[The Portrait of Zool]

Yes Hydrus, a skull is symbolic of impending death, but a misshapen skull has a different twist, if I may say so.

 

Rez, I do believe that the mind, in it's sleeping mode, strings contextual clues to subconscious desires and concerns. I suppose you might call me a Jungian. I really can't go as far as he did, stating concretely the metaphysical aspects behind dream archtypes, though I am at a loss to explain any other way the conclusions of his research.

[Guest Brute3]

I've tried before to analyze what that dream meant, but what I came up with never made sense, so I just kept it in "storage" simply because it's a neat dream. And incredibly vivid.

 

I've had other dream as disturbing, you might say, and each of them was just as realistic. I once woke up from one of them reaching to my side where, in the dream, I was injured. It still hurt several minutes after I lay awake.

 

But by far, the best of the absolute best of dreams are those realistic ones where I'm Flying!!

 

Brute

O Drunken One

[The Portrait of Zool]

The key to reading any dream is in decoding the meanings of the various elements. Once one has a context set by the elements the meaning of the various actions will usually become evident.

 

Well, actually, it is of course not that easy. Many dreams can have multiple meanings, and there are usually multiple ways of reading a dream. A dream may reveal a mental wounding, or may have been caused by something you had for dinner - the same question is valid, however - What is it that is wounding you?

 

I have had a dream that took me 4 years to decode. The meaning was obvious, in hindsight, and it was an important dream, which I had thought at the time because it was so strong, so vivid.

 

Flying dreams are common, though the more realistic and vivid dreams can run into the realm of lucid dreaming or so-called OOBEs (Out Of Body Experiences). It is hotly debated what these experiences really are, wether they indicate the existance of a spiritual realm or if they are just strong imaginations. There are good arguments on either side, but from the dream analyst perspective it is less important what dreams may say about the world, and much more important what the dreams say about the dreamer.

 

Brute, or anyone, if you really want another opinion about what your dreams may mean, you may ask me here or email me the dream and I will email it back. I must warn you though, I am no expert, I've just done a bit of reading on it. Also, I have no choice but to take a dream at face value according to exactly what you've written down. It is quite likely I will be totally wrong on some counts - but that's okay. The point of the exercise isn't for me to divine truth, it is to explore possible relationships about yourself and your life from your dreams through dialog and alternate opinion.

 

I would be glad to help in whatever small way I can.

 

~Zool~

Ancient, The Pen is Mightier than the Sword.

Bard of Terra, Patron Saint of Aspiring Bards.

Elder than dirt, more foolish than a jester, able to trip over the smallest logic in a single step. It's... Oh, you know.

[Guest Morganex]

rofl

my flying dreams usually have me lieing flat and makins fluttery motions with my hands that send me flying

Morgy

[Guest Belizean1]

I get those a lot Brute, but they usually occur during the day..... I'm such a day dreamer it isn't even funny!

 

 

 

 

 

[Falcon2001]

My coolest flying dream involved me putting on a white robe, putting a tire around my waist, calling myself Moses and flying around a city created out of pixels.

 

Go figure, eh?

 

Cioden Darkeye

Quill-Bearer - The Pen is Mightier than the Sword

President of the Peredhil Fan Club

Owner of the Reply Raven - Enemy to all those who never post responses

Ashaman - WoT - Blitz II

Council - The Hunters - Blitz II

Leisure Officer - SFV Ultima - Beta

[Guest Rezure]

Unlike Zool I am not a Freudian. Why would dreams have symbolic meanings if it could just express it in a literal way? I mean, just for example, I've had dreams where I'v tried to kill people, so why would it need to be covered up by symbolism in another instance?

 

I've never had a flying dream =( lots of fleeing, but not very much flying... sounds fun, though

 

Oh, and what falcon said has to be the funniest dream I've heard of that wasn't mine.

 

By the way, just two days ago I had a dream where I bought two baseball gloves paying $20 and receiving $13.57 in change even though one glove cost $4. What's more they were "John Halama" brand gloves. Now you can't tell me there's any symbolism in that beyond that I want to buy a baseball glove (subconsciously?)... [yes, that is the most boring-sounding dream I've ever had as well, although in its duration it was very happy]

[Guest Brute3]

hmmm lemme see now. The dream in which I was wounded wasn't that exceptional. It was vivid, as much as the other I mentioned, but it seemed a bit outlandish to me. Wait...the other was a demon that lived in my "basement". Well..maybe not so outlandish, I guess.

 

Anyway..this dream started in an odd way. I remember becoming aware of the dream while standing in what appeared to be a large glass tube of sorts, somewhat like a telephone booth, but round. It was translucent and glowed a pale white. Outside of it, I could see several other such tubes with people inside them. Beyond the other tubes lay a very dark and foreboding terrain.

 

I had noticed that the other people were naked for an instant, then they had simple robes on. Looking down, I discovered that I had the robes on myself. For some reason, I felt that I should not go out with nothing but simple robes on. As this thought crossed my mind, my body glowed a pale white, and armor was formed from the light. A shaft of the light remained in my hand like a staff, waiting for me to form it however I wished. The walls on all of the tubes then suddenly opened, and we stepped out. There were, perhaps, six or seven of us altogether.

 

Oddly enough, only one other person had formed something other than the robes. He also carried a shaft of light in his hand. As the gentle light from the tubes rapidly faded, we stood together mutely in some confusion and fear. We were standing upon a ridge with a steep drop to either side of us. The land, which was dark, yet with barely enough light to see by as if from the full moon, sank down to both sides of us in bowl-shaped depressions.

 

At the bottom of the depressions, boggy clearings ran for a sgort length, the ended abrubtly as a wall of trees on each side stood menacingly. The trees seemed to hold something...evil. Ahead of us, the embankment ran for perhaps thirty yards, the split right and left. Beyond the split was another steep drop then a depression like to either side of us.

 

A overwhelming feeling of fear crept into me. Not sdo much fear for myself, but fear for these fools who had stepped out of the tubes unprepared for whatever would surely come from the trees. I looked down at the shaft of light in my hand and it instantly formed into a wicked axe of pale white light, yet it had substance. That was about when we first heard the howling.

 

I spoke then, to try to calm the other, for they panicked upon hearing those awful and evil sounds. I quickly told the other fellow to help me and motioned to my axe. the bar of light in his hand shaped into that of a large club. I told everyone that we must run along the narrow (forgot to mention how narrow it was. Perhaps about three to four feet wide.) embankment without slipping down the face of it. I fealt that falling down there would prove to be bad. AS we got everyone moving and the howls grew louder, I confirmed my fears by looking down and seeing shapes of huge wolves bounding from the treelines toward us. Many ran loping on all fours. Some ran on two legs.

 

I fell back to the rear and told the other armed fellow to stay behind the others but keep them moving. I would try to slow the things down, as they were quickly climbing the walls of the embankment. He failed to do what I wanted him to do, but rather stayed with me. I looked to the others and saw that they were almost to the point wher the embankment split. THen dark movement on both sides of me as the beasts gained our high ground. To my horror, I discovered they were like werewolves. Thin, yet powerful, they leapt at us two. Long arms ending in terrible talons raked at us. I desparately swung the axe at one, and it took the creature full in the chest, killing it instantly.

 

The other fellow bashed in another's head that had gotten behind me. At that point I heard screams and turned to look at the others. I saw more of the nightmare creatures floodong up the ridge where the path split, blocking their way. I yelled to them, then heard something in my ear. Before I turned, I knew a beast was on me. I could smell it's rank breath and feel the long hairs that covered it's body brush against my skin as it came on me. I tried to get the axe up, but it did no good. The creature sank it's talons deep into my side and raking out. The darkness closed in on me instantly and I awoke.

 

I opened my eyes and as my mind began the thought,"God, what a weird dream," I felt the pain in my side. It HURT. The pain lasted for about ten minutes before it subsided and I fell back to sleep. (oh...the other guy, the one who had the club....it was weird. He was wearing what I believe to be as bdu's ...the typical army uniform you see soldiers wearing in the field. )

 

Now....did I dream these other people, specifically the other guy up to fulfill a certain aspect of my dream" and if so, why did I put him in bdu's??

 

the werewolf thing, that's easy. THey scare the bejeebers outta me. THat's the critter I was always scared of as a kid.

 

oh..one more thing...I have had recurring dreams of snakes for a long time. Sometimes it's a huge one that tries to eat me, but mostly it's swarms of poisonous ones that literally cover the ground in a writhing mass. I've never in my life been afraid of snakes.

Maybe in the next dream I tell, I'll explain how I found out that falling and landing while dreaming doesn;t kill you. Not me, at least.

 

Brute

O Drunken One

[Guest Hydrus]

Snakes usually represent enemies, I know that much.

 

About the Baseball cap dreams, I dont really have an answer, other than I've heard that there are two kinds of dreams. One, is the 'real' subconcious deal, your mind is trying to tell you something using symbols or messages while you are asleep. The other kind is a 'garbage removal dream'. They are collections of useless memories or thoughts that your mind is removing by dreaming. This kind of dream is often experienced while day dreaming, or in a light sleep.

 

I can only offer that perhaps the Baseball cap dream was of the second type.

[The Portrait of Zool]

Peredhil31 IRC; (Quit (Sleep - and perchance to dream (and have it explained by Zoolio))

 

There it is folks! Peredhil as good as promises to give me his next dream for my analysis! I can't wait!!

 

To be fair I'll give the dream I had last night.

 

But first;

*Zool slaps Rezure with Freud's cigar* "How DARE you call me a Freudian! READ the post! Jungian! Jungian!" Zool feels much better. "Also, just because I can't do calculus doesn't mean I doubt that it exists."

 

My dream;

In this dream I am eager to move into my new house. I am driving a twisted road through green foothills. I go down into a flat desert. It is a neighborhood of spacious tract homes. None of them are finished, including mine. As I drive toward it I begin to wonder how I am going to turn on the power - I could do it, but I am afraid that the unfinished homes will spark a fire because of exposed wiring.

 

Then I find myself moving in. It is rather odd. Though a pretty, peaceful place, many of the walls and furnishings are incomplete. After I take up occupancy in the house there comes an entourage of people which I can best describe as 'the neighborhood'. Some of the neighbors come by, and begin to help unload the boxes. Everyone is smiling, though there are a few looks of concern at the open signs of construction. I go to the store to buy something to BBQ.

 

On the way back I get lost. It seems that at this phase of construction, every house looks alike. I drive for many miles, looking at identicle houses, unable to distuinguish one from another. Finally, I see people I recognise, and they wave me in.

 

Once back home, I am in the back yard trying to BBQ dinner for everybody. Lights are on in the home, but my concern is for the fire I am cooking with. I am sitting in a lawn chair with a hose. Every minute or so, the fire somehow spreads to the sparse dry (it is green, but burns easily) vegetation that covers the desert floor. Each time it does, I put it out with the hose, keeping the fire to the one open fire-pit. Everyone goes on helping inside.

 

Have fun!

 

_____________

 

~Zool~

Growth is NOT funny! Well, usually...

[The Portrait of Zool]

Wow Brute, that is a very detailed dream. I really do not think I will be able to extract a specific meaning, but I will 'break it down' as best I am able, and then maybe you will be able to correlate it with other events in your life.

 

Snakes can have nearly opposite meanings. There is the biblical snake, who is an agent of evil. In the rest of the world though, the snake is a symbol of renewal. You would really have to supply an entire dream to try to establish a context for the snake in your particular paradyme, and the meaning in a particular dream.

 

I should have something for you by the end of tomorrow.

 

~Zool~

Ancient, The Pen is Mightier than the Sword.

Bard of Terra, Patron Saint of Aspiring Bards.

Elder than dirt, more foolish than a jester, able to trip over the smallest logic in a single step. It's... Oh, you know.

[Guest Rezure]

Sometimes a Cigar is Just a Cigar, eh, Zool? Well, maybe sometimes a dream is just a dream. In fact, I say, always.

 

Jungian - same thing but without all the penis envy and Oedipus stuff, right?

 

Hydrus - baseball GLOVE, not cap. Who the hell would be dumb enough to buy two exactly same baseball caps? Even in a dream? And that being said, if it was garbage removal, it didn't really work, cause I still want one.

 

And again, Hydrus, if the brain was really trying to tell me something, why wouldn't it just come out and tell me. And don't say it doesn't want to disturb me and make it unpleasant, cause I've had plenty of dreams like that (including one where I am the last person on earth) so I just don't see it making any sense.

 

Calculus isn't a thing (well, except for the tooth-calculus, but call that plaque in this case), so it doesn't exist either.

 

Dream interpretations - one can interpret dreams, but have no way of seeing whether you are correct. Because, as Zool himself said dreams are highly personal. And if you look at it not from a personal perspective but from a third-person one, you can attribute anything to be a symbol of almost anything (just look at the normal words that have perverted connotations. Although this doesn't apply in this case, it pretty much shows how easily things can be associated with each other.)

 

Even as Zool said the snake can be both an agent of evil and have the meaning of renewal. I can also think of the celtic snake thing and say snake is a symbol of self-destruction. And I know of the snake also being a symbol of wisdom. And of course of 'poisonous' attitudes towards others.

 

So while interpreting dreams may involve a lot of story telling ability and thus talent, such as Zool's, but ultimately it's just a cool story, which the dream is by itself anyway.

 

Finally, Final tomorrow, wish me luck (please???).

[Guest Hydrus]

That's a good point Rezure, about the symbolism, and that's why it's usually a good idea to either interpret a dream yourself, of by someone who knows you well.

For example, a person might think of a snake as a symbol of self destruction, but a snake handler by profession would get quite a different meaning.

 

And about the fact that your brain just dosen't "tell you" the meaning, well, that's the million dollar question. I would imagine it's for the exact same reason that your brain just dosen't "tell you" the answer to a question you should know, or when you forget something obvious. If you were in an exam for example, and a question came up about say (trying to think of something american here) the Declaration of Independance. Now, just last night you studied that question, but for whatever reason, at that moment, you can't remember what year it was signed. Five minutes later, you remember. Why didn't your brain just tell you? Who knows.

 

Speaking of tests, good luck in the finals!

[The Portrait of Zool]

LOL! Well said Rezure. I suppose all I can add is; What are we, in the end, if not a cool story of our own making?

 

Good luck on your finals.

 

~Zool~

Ancient, The Pen is Mightier than the Sword.

Bard of Terra, Patron Saint of Aspiring Bards.

Elder than dirt, more foolish than a jester, able to trip over the smallest logic in a single step. It's... Oh, you know.

[Guest ArawnD]

"Dreams are secret wishes." a little bird.

 

I disagree with the birde, in most cases dreams are made of memories, the events of the day, or subconsious thoughts.

 

"And sometimes a cigar is just a cigar"

 

Sometimes there is symbolism, and other times we just play out things as we wish they could have happened.

 

 

The Mad King

[Ozymandias]

I know of no evidence that the subconscious mind can ever or will ever have an agenda of its own. That being said, from what I've learned from others and my own experience, I'd say dreams contain both direct but jumbled imaginings that the brain puts together from memories as well as symbolic elements. The proportions simply vary from dream to dream, and the symbolism runs from the simple to the complex also on a regular basis.

[Peredhil]

Peredhil thinks Brute's dreams are uber-mondo-cool

[Aardvark]

I'd post one of mine, but my subconscious' agenda is to deny the rest of the world the pleasure, myself included

 

I considered retribution, but I have no desire to stab myself in the head

[Vigil StarGazer]

Hail brute, son of Satan the fallen angel of pride and the great adversary, and the vessle of the great beast call Babylon. Within him he shall cleanse(undo)/spawn all sins. The great devour of worlds beholds his name and Brute, the anti-christ shall release the demon/angel surpressed within himself to save/destroy the universe and all that is good within. The army of darkness shall follow him, the four bikers of the apoclypse kiss thy feet; every fallen angels rally to his name and every sins bow before their primogenitor. The great progeny of darkness, bringer of the eternal end, and the bearer of the final judgement. Halt thee unto.

 

Beware the last of the seven waves... the end is near.

[Lelu_Asana]

Wierd Dreams? Well, I know how that goes. I have wierd dreams all the time. Thanks to a very wise teacher, I learned a great amount about dreams. The first one, I see the skull and bones as something old and as for the demon, well.....that could be an enemy(and I have a general idea of who it might be. )

 

When it comes to the snake thing......that could be your worries and fears. The big snake could be your biggest fear is just tearing you apart, since you mentioned that it's eating you.

 

I've had plenty of wierd dreams and I don't think all of them have meanings. Some do and some don't...some are just so wierd that they are hilarious. I laugh just thinking about why I even dreamed of it. Anyway, if you have any other questions on dreams, you're more than welcome to ask questions, I'll help the best I can. Always willing to help the "Matrix Man".....