Electric Dreams Electric Dreams Electric Dreams Electric Dreams Electric Dreams Electric Dreams To subscribe to Electric Dreams Send from the address you want to subscribe to electric-dreams-request@lists.best.com And put in the body of the e-mail only subscribe your-email To unsubscribe from Electric Dreams Send from the address you want to unsubscribe to electric-dreams-request@lists.best.com And put in the body of the e-mail only: unsubscribe your-email Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z E L E C T R I C D R E A M S Volume 6 Issue #12 DECEMBER 1999 ISSN# 1089 4284 Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z Electric Dreams on the World Wide Web USA www.dreamgate.com/electric-dreams Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z Send Dreams and Comments on Dreams to: Richard Wilkerson Send Dreaming News and Calendar Events to: Peggy Coats Send Articles and Subscription concerns to: Richard Wilkerson: For back issues, dream groups, editors addresses and other access & Staff see ELECTRIC DREAMS ACCESS INFORMATION at the end of this issue Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z DownLoad a Cover for this Issue! http://www.dreamgate.com/dream/ed-covers Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z=Z C O N T E N T S ++ Editor's Notes ++ Notes to the Editor The Cyberdreams Community: cyberdreams@lists.best.com Deborah Leech ++ Column: Dream Trek: My Dream Spirit Is a Feminist Linda Lane MagallĒn ++ Event: Dreaming in the Millennium Lars Spivock ++ Article: Spirituality in Dreams Jean Campbell ++ Article: A Spiritual Collective Dream Margo Elaine Castagna, Ph.D. ++ Article: Dreams and Western Religion Richard Wilkerson ++ Article: An Excerpt from the Lucid Dream Exchange Lucy Gillis ++ Interview: Electric Dreams Interviews Richard Wilkerson about his new CD-Rom, _A Brief History of Dream Sharing_. Lars Spivock ++ Article: Dream Reentry and On-line Chat An Experience of Synchronicity and Resolving Loss in a Chat Room Setting Fred Olsen, M.Div. G L O B A L D R E A M I N G N E W S - Peggy Coats NEWS * RESEARCH & REQUESTS * WEBSITE & ONLINE UPDATES * * DREAM CALENDAR for December 1999 * ASD News Update! D R E A M S S E C T I O N : dream-flow.v001.n179 - dream-flow.v001.n196 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX December 15, deadline for submission FOR Next Electric Dreams vol 7(1) Theme: The Future of Dreamwork XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Editor's Notes +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Jeremy Taylor noted at the 16 Annual conference for the Association for the Study of Dreams that spirituality is really the only category of dreamwork that is protected by the constitution of the United States. Even psychotherapy doesn't share this high degree of protection. Not that dreams need the US Constitution to enjoy spiritual aspirations. Spiritual dreaming accounts are found in our earliest writings and by some definitions of spirituality, interpenetrate all dreaming. Now there is a renewed interest in spirit and dreams and it seems only fitting to finish off the last Millennium with an issue on the topic. One wonders, though, if there really is a renewal, who let the subscription slip? I look into a few clues on this in an article tracing the major trends in "Dreams and Western Religions." Jean Campbell explores this split in religion and spirituality and uses dreams and the bell symbol to ring in a little sense and synchronicity. Read about this experience in "Dreams and Spirituality." Linda Magallon returns in her Dream Trek column this month and takes us on a special kind of spiritual dream journey where dreams themselves peel back the illusions of the everyday and allow the feminine spirit to fly. Be sure to read "My Dream Spirit Is a Feminist." Margo Elaine Castagna, Ph.D. ups the ante and shows how dreams can be used for spiritual guidence, and to inspire and deepen our sense of ourselves in relation to the whole of creation. Read more about this in "A Spiritual Collective Dream." For many years, Ruth published the Lucid Dream Exchange, a collection of people's lucid dreams. Now that Ruth's schedule has become increasingly busy and she has become involved with other projects, Lucy Gillis is continuing the project. Please read about this and how you can contribute. And, enjoy the lucid dream stories! To practice what we preach, Lars Spivock is offering a special event for December 25++ Event: Dreaming in the Millennium This mutual dreaming project will allow us to flow from one period of time into another and use our dreams to facilitate the meaning and value of the future. Read the instructions and mark your calendar! Please note: If you would like enjoy the flow of dream people we get at Electric Dreams, why not become part of the Friends of Electric Dreams WebRing? For more information, Contact Victoria Quinton e-mail: mermaid@alphalink.com.au http://www.alphalink.com.au/~mermaid Peggy Coats has makes it easy for you to find the best dream events online, globally and regionally. Whether you want to meet with a local group or fly to a Hawaiian volcano for the Millennium, the Global Dreaming News has the events for you! Special note: Come chat with me online in real time THIS Wednesday, DEC 1st at 7:00pm Pacific Time, 10:00 Eastern. I will be discussing the future of dreaming in Cyberspace and have some special topic discussions. Don't miss out! Send an email NOW for information to chat@asdreams.org for an automatic instructions. See you there! As many of you know, I was busy developing a dream information CD this summer, but just haven't had time to promote it much. So I am thankful for the interview that Lars Spivock conducted with me as it gave me a chance to spell out a little more what the CD is about. It is a CD for PCs that includes the DreamGate History of Dream Class plus tons of resources, called _a Brief History of DreamSharing: Theory, Techniques and Cyberspace_. Wow! See the interview below. Fred Olsen was one of the early pioneers in online dreamwork and has been teaching Dream Reentry for decades. If you had any questions about how touching and moving an online dream session can be, you really need to read "Dream Reentry and On-line Chat. An Experience of Synchronicity and Resolving Loss in a Chat Room Setting." NEXT MONTH: The Future of Dreamwork. What will dreamwork be like in the 21st Century? Will it provide techniques and processes completely unrecognizable to us, or will the basics we have already developed continue to serve the needs of those sharing and exploring dreams? Send me you opinions, essays, articles and links before DEC 15 for the first 2000 Electric Dreams. If you would like to join one of our futuristic dream groups, simply send a note to our DreamWheel moderator, Kathy Turner at kathyturner@bigpond.com or stop by http://www.dreamgate.com/dream/temple/ -Richard +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Dream Airing: News, Notes and Events +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ ERRATA: Last month I incorrectly assigned the wrong editors to the new book Dreamscaping. Here is the correct information: An anthology called _Dreamscaping_, put out by Mark Waldman and Stanley Krippner. See http://www.dreamgate.com/dreamscaping.htm ____________________________________________ Speaking of dreams and spirituality, have you read Kelly Bulkeley's _Visions of the Night, Dreams, Religions and Pyschology_. This 1999 book from SUNY press is quite a mindful and is mindful of dreams and their psychospiritual dimensions. Kelly explores how dreams can provide access to more thatn the surface, to something beyond ordinary, waking consciousness in a set a very well constructed essays from several fields. Dream sharing is valorized. "From one perspective, dreamsharing groups can be seen as resisting and even overcoming the spiritually destructive effects of modern secularized society....dreamsharing groups offer the means to a re- enchantment of the world, to a renewal and revival of authentic spiritual experience with contemporary society.: Pg 34. Richard ___________________________________________ The Cyberdreams Community cyberdreams@lists.best.com Deborah Leech - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - WHY I LIKE GROUP DREAMS: Note: the cyberdreams info file explains terms I refer to, like coded scenario, target, host, etc. http://www.dreamgate.com/dream/cyberdreams/ I love these dream weekends. I feel like I get a triple gift. First the gift of the dream. Then when I see the decoded scenery, I get a second gift, as suddenly all the dreams seem to mesh together in a way that I hadn't seen before, and I see my own dream in a new light. In between group dream journeys, we talk about any subject related to the world of dreams. We love hearing about each other's dreams. It is amazing how our dreams can be connected to each other's dreams, as well as to our waking life, and current events. Over time, we've seen some notable themes emerge in our dreams. This is a learning process. RECURRING, GROUP-CREATED SYMBOLS AND ARCHETYPES. CREATING CORRELATIONS BETWEEN DREAMS, NOT NECESSARILY RELATING TO THE GROUP SETTING: Our current format places the emphasis on precognitive, "psychic" elements of dreaming. So our discussions seem to be about finding "hits" or links. Interestingly, even in this format, we always have a second story of themes and connections that run parallel to the host's dream scenario--as if our collective dreambodies have plans of their own! One aspect of dream theory is about discovering the unique language of your dreams, within the universal themes that we all share. It seems as if we are, as a group, developing our own set of recurring symbols, generated independently of the structured format of our group dreams. Over time, our dreams have expanded upon the shared themes and symbols that have come up from time to time (i.e. numbers, dogs, theatre performances). As we assign meaning to those shared symbols, we could even eventually develop a group dream vocabulary. With each dream project, we continue to use previous themes in new ways, and to build on themes that seem to be group-created, though seemingly separate from the chosen scenario. Even though we take great care to plan to be dreaming on the same nights, I am convinced, however, that these dream journeys take place outside of the boundaries of conventional time and space. We have had many demonstrations of this. The most recent was when we had dreams related to the Aztec calendar and its history before the Aztec dream weekend was even announced! It seems that each dreamer's intent to connect to the group and the magnetic power of the host's image are dynamic focusing forces. Somehow they bring us together without our physically being in the same place, or doing the same thing at the same time. THE ADVANTAGE OF GROUP DISCUSSION AND SHARING OF DREAMS: I love it when we have a group discussion of the groups dreams. I think we have all seen, through each of our own unique perspectives, a demonstration of group interactivity during each of our group dreams. Group discussion on the connections and meanings of the group dreams adds to our understanding of the dreams. As well, it probably amplifies the dreamtime relationships we have developed in the imaginal realm, and engages our conscious selves in this subconscious process. Many forms of dream work that encourage dream skills such as recall and lucidity, emphasize solidifying conscious intention by processes such as journaling about or discussing dreams with others. I assume that the reason our process has evolved the way it has, with rotating hosts doing the facilitating and analysis, is primarily a matter of convenience, due to limited time by list members. One of the advantages of this method that has developed, in my mind, is that we have been able to see the unique ways that different people view and interpret the dream world. I have received much insight from each one of our dream excursions. Even the times when I couldn't remember my dreams, I have eagerly looked forward to each host's dream analysis. A COMMENT ON OUR PARTICULAR METHOD: (Note: our method is explained in the info file--i.e. the coded scenario, guessing a target, etc.) As I see it, the "blind" experiments are a left-brain, scientific protocol imposed on our dream project, as a way to _test_ our right-brain, psi or intuitive abilities. I think this protocol has given us some very valuable insights. I believe my primary attraction to this group is the opportunity it gives me to enlarge the context of my dream journeys by collaborating with others and to also creatively _develop_ my dream skills, and _discover_ aspects of dream reality and the process of conscious dreaming. However, I know from experience with myself and others that sometimes the pressure of being tested can be daunting and impede the intuitional process. Nonetheless, the desire to communicate and connect in our dreams seems to invariably overcome possible impediments that usually obstruct more conscious approaches to intuition. -- Deborah Leech dleech@mail.coin.missouri.edu ________________________________________ I'd like to suggest a site that is still in the process of expanding located at http://www.queenofdreams.com It is the website of Heather Valencia, a highly regarded artist, teacher, writer and dreamer who works in the ancient Yaqui tradition of the Fifth World Dreamers. Heather lived for many years on the Yaqui reservation in southern Arizona with her husband, Anselmo Valencia, the spiritual head of the Yaqui nation. Heather gives workshops and leads dream circles around the world and is the author of the book "Queen of Dreams: The Story of a Yaqui Dreaming Woman" published by Simon & Schuster. Best regards, Megan Whilden =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= DREAM TREK By Linda Lane Magall›n My Dream Spirit Is a Feminist =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= I met God. "What," he said, "you already?" "What," I said, "you still?" ~~~Laura Riding, Collected Poems, 1938~~~ Dream: The Second Level God A huge giant is chasing me and two others. We run into the forest to escape him, then climb a mountain. Toward the top of the mountain is a ranger station. At the door the ranger bids us, "Come in." As the giant threatens to come ever nearer, a flash of light goes off, temporarily blinding him. He stumbles back. One of the others with me says, "He (the ranger) has set up square reflecting plates to scare the giant away." The ranger replies, "HE?" She takes off her mask, smiling, to reveal a blonde-haired woman. The ranger explains that she is a "second level god" and has come back to earth to help others (to the god level). She leads us out the door and down the path, around the mountain. On the other side of the mountain we see a large valley. The ranger says, "Just a moment," requesting the three of us to wait here. Then I suddenly co-exist with the ranger. She/I spreads her/my arms and leans over, allowing the air to buoy her/me up. One of "us" exclaims, "She's flying!" She/I smiles and flies toward the top of the mountain as a vantage point from which to watch the giant. "The Journey (of women becoming) is itself participation in Paradise." ~~~Mary Daly, Gyn/Ecology: The Metaethics of Radical Feminism, 1978~~~ Dream: Goddess on a Pedestal I'm inside a small chapel with a pointed, arched roof. There are no people around and I want to get out of this scene to be with others. Spotting a hole in the wall, I go through it. On the other side, I am disappointed to find only a long corridor. Briefly, I see a woman in a head shawl walking toward me. Because she reminds me of a Madonna, I think of "gods" and "goddesses." I go back into the chapel and walk up on to a pedestal shaped like a diving board. I want to feel what it would be like to be a "goddess." I stand at the end of the diving board for a short while. It seems rather lonely with no one else in the chapel. Then I sit down and begin to read something that looks like a picture-book Bible, which features a geographical map of the United States. I seem to be listening to a record as I read along. I can hear a male narrator saying, "...and God made America...and swimming pools." "Swimming pools?!" The thought is so absurd it makes me laugh out loud. Amused, I think, well, yes, "He" did make swimming pools indirectly, through us human beings. "The unfolding of God...involves the creation of new space, in which women are free to become who we are, in which there are real and significant alternatives to the prefabricated identities provided within the enclosed spaces of patriarchal institutions." ~~~Mary Daly, Gyn/Ecology~~~ Dream: I'm the Levitating Third God, Tabor I'm high atop an enclosed platform on stilts (like a fire lookout station). I am dressed in a heavy robe and long grey hair, mustache and beard to look like a patriarch. Surrounded by a group of swarthy men in grey suits, I step outside to the edge of an attached platform made up of wooden slats, with spaces between. When I look down, I see that my feet are right at the edge, and there's no railing. A crowd of men standing below roars at my appearance. My robe is lined with shaggy white fir that wraps around at the edges, but otherwise is burgundy in color. Because of the reddish color, the crowd recognizes me as the "third god." "Tabor! Tabor!" they chant. As if on a PA system, a male voice begins speaking in Arabic, and I mouth the speech, pretending it's me doing the talking. Extending my right arm I wave it back and forth over the crowd, down and right as a blessing, and left and right to tell the men to sit down. Most of those in the front do sit down. I do one more full sweep so those in back get the message, too. Telepathically, I overhear one of my entourage think a word in English which is a translation of what I've been parroting. The word is "insurrection." I suddenly know the purpose of this speech is to incite the crowd of men to riot. With than realization, I stop, turn around and go inside. Pretending to be a god is fun, but I refuse to be the cause of an uprising. Inside, there are no men in view, but because the front is open to the crowd, and there's an open doorway on the left, I scrunch into a corner as I change out of my clothes. Will the people figure it out? I wonder. I turn the robe inside-out so only the lining shows and place it into a large straw purse to sling over my shoulder. This way I'll appear as a poor peasant girl, part of the entourage. The people won't suspect me because I'm female. I also take the white makeup off my face. Then the scenario repeats with a new variation. This time I levitate off the platform, still standing atop the wooden porch which is as large as a doormat. Gliding overhead, I wow the crowd. The scenario repeats yet a third time. From the edge, I levitate to where a young boy is seated on the peak of a single-story house, watching. I extend my hand. He's scared but finally takes my hand and steps onto the wooden mat with me. We take off flying above the crowd. http://members.aol.com/caseyflyer/flying/dreams.html +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Dreaming in the Millenium Copyright 1999 by Lars Spivock +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Artists, executives, and engineers are often delighted to find inspiration during their sleep. You do not have to wait for dreaming wisdom to come to you. You can simply ask for it! Here are two simple ways to gain insights about the millenium: INDIVIDUAL MILLENIUM DREAM QUEST --------------------------------------------------------- At night -- * If possible, pick a day when you do not wake to an alarm clock. * Keep a pen and paper at your bedside. * Do only relaxing things in the hour before bed. * After closing your eyes, ask your inner self for a millenium message or symbol. * Also tell yourself that you will remember your dreams in the morning. * Keep asking for a message and affirming to remember it as you fall asleep. The next morning -- * As you realize you are waking, keep your eyes closed and stay still. * Calmly review what you were just dreaming. * Open your eyes and immediately write out and make drawings of your dreams. When journaling dreams, write down and draw everything you remember, even small fragments. You can wonder about their meanings after they are safely recorded in your journal. Keep your pen and paper with you to record dream memories that are triggered during your daily activities. You are the expert when it comes to interpreting your dreams. Spend a little quiet time with your journal and you will discover messages that may be disguised as puns, metaphors or roles played by you or other characters. You can repeat the above practice as often as desired. Have a relaxed attitude of acceptance and sooner or later you will be rewarded with some gems. COMMUNITY MILLENIUM DREAM ----------------------------------------------- Many of us will be staying up past midnight on December 31 or have friends in other time zones who will enter the year 2000 many hours before us. For this reason and to avoid weekdays, our mutual dreaming experience will be on December 25, 1999. Follow the same general guidelines for the INDIVIDUAL MILLENIUM DREAM QUEST. Before going to sleep Saturday night, December 25 -- * Prepare your writing materials and relax for an hour. * After closing your eyes ask your inner self to join with thousands of other dreamers to reveal the mysteries of the millenium. * Keep repeating your request and telling yourself that you will remember your dreams in the morning. Upon awakening, Sunday morning, December 26 -- * Without changing the position of your body or opening your eyes, calmly review your dreams. * Journal your dream with as much detail as you can recall. Please send email to y2k@dreamgate.com with the results of your dreams and I will send you a summary of everyone's dreams. Those without email may send a letter to Lars in care of [this publication]. Participants will remain anonymous. I wish you wonderful dreams! ____________________________________________________ About the author-- Lars Spivock is an international technology consultant and an original member of the DreamGate team. He has been a lucid dreamer since early childhood. He free lances for The Wisdom Channel, Electric Dreams, and America Online's Alternative Medicine Forum. Lars has contributed to outreach and education projects for the Intuition Network, Institute of Noetic Sciences, Association for the Study of Dreams, Bay Area Dreamworkers, and the Dream Library and Archive. Lars may be contacted via y2k@dreamgate.com. +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Spirituality in Dreams Jean Campbell +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ When I first heard that the word *yoga* and the word for joy came both from the same Sanskrit root, meaning "to yoke", or to join with the Universe, I nodded my head. Yes, that seems right. Sometimes, I believe, we mistake religion for spirituality. And though it's true that religion can be spiritual, or lead to spiritual experience, the two are not the same. Instead, I think, the spirit is our connection with the greater universe, the ineffable, the unknowable; and dreams, like some yoga practices, can open this connection, join us to our joy. When I began to dream lucidly, back in the early seventies, my dreams many times involved the sound of bells-- *It is dawn, I rise from my straw pallet on the floor of a bare, stone room, go out to the still-warm tiles of the church roof overlooking the plaza, and pull the enormous wheel attached to the deep-voiced bell in the belfry. Bbongg, bbongg. I ring in the day with joy.* In another dream, I am floating at the ceiling of my apartment living room, riding the sound of a dozen different bells. "Bells, bells, bells, bells," I chant, laughing and flying. In both of these dreams, the sound of the bells filled me with joy which surely touched my soul. The sound of the bell has been used world over, and throughout time, from Tibetan monasteries to Catholic cathedrals, not just to summon the pious to prayer, but also to signify "pay attention," and to lift our hearts. "Make a joyful noise unto the Lord," the scriptures say. Another time my dreams involved the bells, I was traveling in Switzerland where, led by a dream, I recorded the sound of a Sunday drive across the Alps to Salzburg. This trip actually began with a dream, when Jungian philosopher, Dr. Marian Pauson, announced a class trip to Switzerland. Of course I couldn't go, I thought. I had a full time job and no extra cash. A week or so before the registration deadline, I dreamed that I went to Marian's office. One entire wall of this office in the dream was covered by an enormous metal sculpture, a copper sunburst which chimed like a gong when touched. Touching the sculpture, sending a thrill of sound down my dream spine, Marian told me I would be going to Switzerland. And then an old friend offered to give me a check to cover half the trip, but only if I promised to go. A few weeks later, at sunset, I was on my way up the mountain from Montreaux to the inn at Caux where the class would be held. My friend, June, was at the wheel of the little red Renault rental car. I turned my head to take one last look at Lake Geneva before it was lost in the curve of the mountains. Suddenly time stopped. I remembered my dreams, one in particular, from my teenage years. In this particular dream, I am part of a line of young women, dressed in peasant garb of long stockings, mid-calf skirts, and embroidered woolen vests over long-sleeved white blouses, making my way down toward a shining lake and a group of young men. We are all happy and laughing. The language we speak is French. I realized at some point in my life that, prior to my meager college studies of the language, in many dreams I had been speaking in French. What an oddity, I had thought. Maybe I had a lifetime in France. Then, quite suddenly, as I looked at Lake Geneva, I was aware of *being* the young woman in the dream. I *remembered* going down to the lake, and I remembered the convent life which followed. The paper assigned for this class in Switzerland was to take a symbol from a dream during the class and analyze it deeply, examining the hermeneutics of the symbol. I knew before leaving that I would take the symbol of the bell. On the last evening of the class, filled with a spirit of nostalgia for all that we were about to leave, we students solemnly circled the inside of the tiny chapel next to the inn, each bearing a long, white taper. At breakfast that morning, Dr. Marian had sat down wearing a puzzled expression. "I was dreaming hymns all night," she had said. "I wish I could remember the words." Hum the tune, we told her. We had gathered around her at the circular table on the patio, listening as she hummed. "Oh, that's easy," June, the musician, had said. "I know it." So did others of us. "Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of Creation," we sang. Now, marching twice around the chapel, holding our candles against the twilight, we sang, "Oh my soul praise Him, for He is our strength and salvation." The old German hymn spilled easily from our lips, a paean to all the creative joy we had experienced. "All ye who hear, now to the altar draw near. Praise in profound adoration." The King of Creation seemed to grace this Jungian effort at understanding creativity. Like specks of creativity thrown off by the light of the larger flame, we stood in the twilight door of the chapel, the sky outside the doorway fading from blue to purple against the fire of sunset on snow capped peaks. The next day, after saying goodbye to our friends, June and I left to drive across Switzerland, across Austria to Vienna, where we would spend a few days before our return to the United States. That was Saturday. On Sunday I woke with a smile. Now is the time, I told June, to begin recording the bells. Almost the minute I pulled the tape recorder from my pack, church bells began to ring from near and far, echoing against the mountain. Nearby, the clank of a cow bell joined the cacophony. In Salzburg we visited the upstairs apartment in which Mozart began his life. It was easy to understand from here why the music of bells was so important to Mozart since nearby, close enough to see and hear, is the famous Salzburg Carillon, rising above a cobbled square. We went to the square and sat on the edge of the fountain there, waiting to hear the bells. Now, this is a world famous instrument, on which it is possible to play any tune. A crowd gathered to hear it play. On the stroke of one, the bells rang out: "Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation...." June and I looked at each other in disbelief. Wow, wouldn't Marian be impressed when we told her this. Talk about synchronicity. We elbowed each other and laughed. The mighty Carillon finished the hymn, paused for a moment and began again. Like an echo of our earlier walk around the candlelit chapel, the bells began to play, "Praise to the Lord, the Almighty...." And again, a third time, the carillon played the same tune. By this time, June and I were howling with laughter, tears streaming from our eyes, weakly holding onto each other, much to the concern of some others in the crowd at the base of the bell tower. Crazy Americans. The final mystery of this trip came not long after I returned home. I was awakened early one morning from a dream. All that remained in my consciousness was a voice saying to me, "The monastery is gone now." Whether or not this series of dreams had to do with another life, and whether or not they had to do with a Christian life, I feel that the *gestalt* of the experience is clear. In order to reach our joy, in order to connect with our spirit, no particular religion is necessary: no monastery, no church, no building or physical location. Only a willing heart, and a spirit ready to en-joy the world, to listen to our dreams. _____ Jean Campbell is the author of _Dreams Beyond Dreaming_ and one of the first members of ASD and one of its first conference presenters. At that time she was the director of a consciousness research organization, Poseidia Institute, in Virginia Beach, Virginia, where, among other things, she conducted dream research. After pursuing doctoral studies at The American University in Washington, D.C., . she is now working on her second book about dreams _Group Dreaming: Dreams to the Tenth Power_. Jean also has interests in teaching people how to utilize body consciousness while working with dreams and conducts sessions and workshops in DreamWork/BodyWork. You can also find Jean hosting the Bulletin Board as the Association for the Study of Dreams: . http://www.asdreams.org/subidxdiscussionsbboard.htm +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ A Spiritual Collective Dream Margo Elaine Castagna, Ph.D. +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ While all dreams offer the possibility of integration of unknown personality elements within our psyches, thus expanding our self awareness, spiritual dreams also have the capacity to guide, inspire and deepen our sense of ourselves in relation to the whole of creation. In our modern secular society where do people seek and find direct spiritual experience? In ancient times ritual provided the container for myth and contact with the Self or Godhead. Today collective dreams provide the path and opening to a direct experience with numinous symbols or transpersonal realms. This transpersonal bond is the foundation for the ego or self. Image, symbol, and mythic dream themes weave us into the fabric of humankind throughout the ages. This sense of orientation, so lacking in our present time, quiets the anxiety and quells the depression that is so prevalent in today's society. Collective dreams offer meaning and richness to one's personal life path. In short, spiritual dreams have the properties to compensate for the emptiness of modern day life. A particular dream coming out of a collective source leads and inspires a group. When a group of people gather with the intention to dream a collective dream, the heavens open with joy and shower us with archetypal images, symbols and mythic themes. I am always astonished at how with only an intention and an open heart so much is given. Even so, it has been my experience that our present societal values and interests aim to entice us and distract us from the inner life. There is much to entertain us on the material plane, pretending to offer us happiness and contentment. But we neglect our spirituality at our own peril with the result of narrowing and possibly losing our sense of self and our connection with the guiding Self. We can problem solve, change this and that, attain our goals, but if there is neither guiding images, nor numinous symbols, there is no bedrock for the transformation process. Spiritual dreams and rituals can provide these essential spiritual experiences. Let me offer an example of a collective spiritual dream and the interpretations (keeping in mind that there are many levels and types of dream interpretation). This summer a group of women journeyed to Bali, Indonesia on a spiritual quest. Rather than have a tightly structured study schedule, we trusted that our group psyche would lead us and teach us through dreams, of course being in a foreign country in itself is also a great teacher. In addition to meditation and contemplation on the goddess, Saraswati, our main thrust was to follow the collective dreams. As the leader I had meditated beforehand on the energy of the Balinese Hindu goddess Saraswati, the "flowing one" and goddess of creativity, arts, and education. I am going to share the first dream of the journey that was chosen randomly from the dream basket trusting that it would be our guiding dream, not only addressing the deepening of our group soul but of humankind as a whole. The seminal dream of our journey was the following: Lillie's Group Dream We are together. There is another woman with us. She has dark hair. She is talking to us about what "flowing " means - a deeper level. She is asking us to ask ourselves what's the meaning of flowing. We are inside a space-not this rooms (the meeting room in Bali). The scene changes and the group are around me. I am aware that we are all here. There is another woman they're looking for bones. There are plants, rocks, and statues on the path. I lift up a bag that I can see through and I can see bones in it. I say, "Oh we've found the mother's bones. Now we have to find the father's bones". We continue on the path. This is a spiritual collective dream because the images are mythic and transpersonal. The mythic images and symbols that appear are the teacher, the flowing water, the path, the mother, the father, the bones, and seeking or questing for an object. The dream begins with the woman with dark hair. The women felt that this woman was an image of Saraswati whom we had invoked to be with us on this journey. Saraswati originally came down to earth from the heavens as the mighty Saraswati River. This connects the image of "flowing' with water, and the directive comes from the heavens or transpersonal realms. Saraswati is not a fertility goddess, but rather she promotes fertility and creativity with her regenerating waters. In her aspect as the "flowing one" she blesses, purifies, and cleanses. For this particular group of women, who were experienced in their own inner work, the goddess's requirements were to draw upon their own wisdom and knowledge, not to project authority onto an outer figure to tell them the answers. Because this question is not being asked by an ordinary individual but by a goddess, the emphasis is on a transpersonal connection. As for our group, we opened our hearts and minds to be observant to the culture of Bali, to the spirit of Bali, and to the movement of the light and the dark forces. We vowed to flow in the Middle Way between the opposites -- keeping the directive of "flowing" ever present in our thoughts. The Next scene concerns the bones and the path. Bones are the structure of the body. They relate to ancestors and lineage. In this case they are the essence of the mother and father. As women we carry the essence of the mother in our bones. This group of women have in various ways found a spiritual connection to the feminine through direct experience in ritual, myth or dream. Now integration of the father's "bones" would be our directive in this journey. What is the essence of the father - both dark and light? This was the question we then considered as we set out on the path. The path suggested a seeking for integration and wholeness - the joining of the essence of the mother with the essence of the father. Each subsequent dream addressed this question from many aspects. While seeking the father's bones, we became like a holy river connecting ourselves to the heavens and the earth. We meandered, moved swiftly and deeply, became caught in eddies and whirlpools of emotions and human foibles all the while keeping the intention of centering at the heart level. The path being the metaphor of the way to the Self was before us. Even though we have left Bali, we are still journeying on the path to the Self. These experiences of the sacred through dream and sacred sites work on us long after we leave the traveling group. ----------------------------------------------------------------- ------------- ---------------------------------------------- Margo Elaine Castagna, Ph.D. Transpersonal Psychology, has conducted research on the effect of ancient ritual on modern woman in transition and led numerous groups focusing on dreams, rituals, and mythology. Currently, she is leading dream groups in Palo Alto, CA. +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Dream and Western Religion Richard Wilkerson +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Although every major religion began with dream sharing, the practice was eventually banned or restricted to a small group at the top of the hierarchy. Mohammed, for example, banned dream interpretation, but asked his followers to tell him their dreams. In Christianity, only saints were allowed to interpret dreams. Esoterics sporadically revived and experimented with dream sharing, but at their own risk & peril. It was not uncommon, for example, for women to be burnt as witches during the Spanish Inquisition for dream sharing. This story repeats itself in all the axis religions East and West. Is this mass condemnation a coincidence, or is there something essentially evil about dream sharing? The simple answer seems to be that there is something about the sharing of dreams that initially participates in transformational socio-religious movements, but then once the movement becomes structured, the dreams threaten the interpretive authority of the orthodox hierarchy. More complex reasons emerge as we study each movement more closely. Dream sharing is now being re-discovered by many religions, but it has mostly been mediated by the use of dreams in psychology. Esoteric religious practices are now so common place its hard to really call them esoteric anymore. What then can be lifted out of all these secular practices that will define spiritual dreamwork from other forms of dream sharing? The lion's share of this work is still to be done, but there are some pioneers that have begun setting up outposts. Dreams and the Children of Abraham =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+==+=+=+=+ A Hebrew Dream Story =================== Morton Kelsey made the observation that the Old Testament often makes little distinction between visions and dreams. Seen this way, the number of significant dreams increase dramatically, even if just "night visions" are considered. As Kelly Bulkeley point out in _Spiritual Dreaming_, even if these dreams were rhetorical or literary devices instead of actual dreams, the fact that dreams could be used as rhetorical devices points to the obvious conclusion that they were being used all the time in as mediums of the Divine. God spoke to Abraham through dreams and through dialogue between them Abraham led the Hebrews out of the obscurity of the ancient Tigris-Euphrates River Valley and into a prominent place in history. Dreams continued to guide the people until the time of David, and such stories as Joseph and Pharaoh and Jacob's dream of reconciliation with God are well known, though hundreds more dot the starry landscape of the Bible. But by the time of David, false prophets were a problem and some forms of dream interpretation were punishable by death. (Deuteronomy 13:1-5) The test of true and false prophesy was rather harsh. Basically anyone could be a prophet and dream interpreter, but if you were wrong just once, you got stoned to death. Even the kings, as they got more and more into trouble, ceased recording their dreams. By the 6th Century B.C., recorded discussions had begun again about dreams and any prophet worth his/her salt was expected to be open to the divine though them and to be able to interpret them. The key to distinguishing true from false dreams and interpretations had to do with whether of not the Spirit of God was in them. Thus from this time we get Joel's 2:28 famous dream quote: "Your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions." Soon the law passed from inspiration by God to an evaluation by the group. If the dream interpretation was about turning away from the God of Israel, it was simply wrong - and you were put to death. Generally it is felt that part of this law was to protect the Jewish people from the surrounding pagans and other interpreters who used dreams to tell people what they wanted to hear. The dream interpreter had to be one who was open to God's revelation and stood a little above the rest of the crowd and could interpret the significance of the vision. The revelations were available to all, but now it took a prophetic personality to see it. When the Hebrews were enslaved by the Babylonians, it is clear that dream interpretation practices in this culture surrounded them. But the story of the failure of Nebrechadnezzer's court interpreters and the success of Daniel's interpretation speaks to a strength of the traditions that the Hebrews brought with the into captivity. The richness of interpretation suggests, says Leroy Howe, that Daniel had a whole community tradition to draw from, though the final interpretive source was God. If the Apocrypha can be our evidence, then dreams continued to be of value through the time Christ. They were considered doorways to another world, though superstitious interpretation and pre-occupation were discouraged and mocked. The official dream interpreters were now only the most learned and powerful of the leaders, though it is said that secular dream interpreters were so highly valued that unlike other professions, they nearly always got paid. The Talmud continues commenting on dreams from 200 to 500 A.D. separating good and bad dreams, though even bad dreams could be inspirations for reform. From the Talmud comes the famous saying: "An uninterpreted dream is like an unread letter" Rabbi Hisda The Great Jewish Hellenist of Alexandria, Philo, wrote several books on dreams as well as the highly influential Maimonides, who felt that those who were prepared would receive visions in sleep as the grip of consciousness slackened and the divine was allowed to flow through the imaginative faculties. Writers right up to present time can be found in the Jewish tradition, but the general art of dream interpretation seemed to have been kept to the most learned, and followed by an isolated intelligencia. The only exception to this is a magnificent flowering of esoteric ideas that came from the Jewish community in Spain between 1150 and 1490 in Kaballistic literature. The first bloom, around 1260, saw the development of the symbolism of the Tree of Life (the Sefierot) which was closely tied with gnosticism and neo-platonic thought, as well as influences of the surrounding Islam. The most popular book, the Zohar, appears and pulls together two channels of thought. The first was the concern with the problem of evil which was unfolded in a rich demonology, and the second a concern with inner mysticism & prophecy with ties to Sufism, Yoga, Byzantine Mysticism and the Rabbinical tradition. The Zohar uses a method of interpretation that allows for multiple levels; literal, moral, allegorical and mystical. The symbolic unfolding of the Tree of Life and general interpretation of Everything includes dream imagery. The Tree of Life is a metaphorical structure of the way God manifests through all things and how they interrelate. Dreams contain symbols that can them be related to the Seiferot so that the participant may come into alignment with God. While the Kaballistic movements dissipated with the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492, the influence through poorly translated and watered down Christian versions were the most influential forces on the occult philosophies that began to emerge in Europe in the 16th Century. Though drastically missing the spirit of the work, the influence of the Kaballa on esoteric thought is undeterminably deep. One can see this clearly by looking at the structure of a modern Tarot deck. This mysticism was revived in the 20th Century by Gershom G. Sholem who was at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem between 1923 and 1965. See his 1941 Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism. A Christian Dream Story ================== One might guess that the Christian dream story starts around the First Century AD and could be traced to the present as a variation of Hebrew traditions. But in fact, Christianity was a Greek project, and early on the focus was on the Greco-Roman world. The influx of Greek thought on dreams would present the church with such tension filled questions that it eventually banned dream revelations rather than deal with these questions. What were these Greek Influences? In the Homeric Greece, popular dream theory seems to be a mix of influences. There was the idea that gods and demons visit us in dreams and there was a shamanistic, Indo-European overlay, (Orphic) of the wandering soul during dreams. To enter Apollo's temple and speak with an oracle (or oracle's attendant) one first had to sleep on the steps and have an appropriate dream. Many dreams required interpretation, and examples of this are found in Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. Those that were clear still posed a problem. Odysseus's wife Penelope explains the core dilemma that will haunt the Christian Church in later millennium; "...in truth dreams, do arise which are perplexing and hard to understand, which in men's experience do not come true. Two gates there are for unsubstantial dreams, one made of horn and one of ivory. The dreams that pass through the carved ivory delude and bring us talkes that turn to naught; those that come forth through polished horn accomplish real things, wherever they are seen. Yet through this gate come not I think my own strange dream" Odyssey 19.559ff. Other Greek ideas on dreams include the cult of Asklepios, the philosophers and dreams as dramatic devices in writing and plays. Around the fifth and sixth century B.C. there arose the Cult of Asklepios, whose priers maintained dream sanctuaries for those who needed healing. Those in need would come to the spa and try to have a healing dream, usually of being touched by the god Asklepios or one of his images such as the snake or dog. These sanctuaries spread throughout the Aegean and Asia Minor and lasted into Roman times. Dreams were also important in Greek Drama, and there is some evidence (skimpy) that dreams may have been acted out in amphitheaters, originally as part of orgiastic group dances that were tamed into scripted drama. Finally, the Early Church was influenced by Plato, and the idea that knowledge could come from the irrational as well as our senses and reason. The story of New Testament begins with dream sharing, in an angel coming to Joseph in his sleep and instructing him to stick with Mary even though she is pregnant with someone else's child. Although there are no recorded dreams of Jesus per say, visions surround his life and there are many dreams recorded by the apostles. These dream visions continue into the literature that surrounds the New Testament, such as the Apocrypha, the Shepard of Hermas and the Martyrdom of Polycarp. Morton Kelsey makes the point that while dreams were seen in both the New and Old Testament as pathways to and from God, there were discussed more in the Old Testament. He speculates that this is due to the Old Testament being written by those who were surrounded by pagan dream practices and wanted to distinguish the unique Hebrew experience from the Babylonian surroundings. The early Christians simply accepted dreams a route that God could speak. Dreams and visions were good or bad depending on the ability of the person having the dream to be able to tell the difference, what Paul calls the discernment of the spirits. Bad dreams came from the false prophet or demons. By 150 AD Christianity had a score of intelligencia, including the likes of Irenaeus, Tertullian, Clement, Origen, Ananasius, Augustine, Gregory of Nyssa, Chrysostom and others. These church fathers were heavily influenced by Greek dream practice & Plato, and saw the dreams as a medium of communication between man and the divine. After Constantine's dream to use the Christian Cross symbol on the shields of his warriors and the 313 Edict of Milan, Christian persecution all but stopped and the Church began to develop it own orthodoxy. For awhile the dream remained in favor and a means of contact with the divine. Delightful theories on dreams were forwared by Neo-Platonists like Macrobius, imaginalist like Synesius of Cyrene, Augustine, Gregory of Nyssa and others. Still, there was growing concern about who had the authority to determine if a dream were sent by God or not, as evidenced in the writings of Tertullian where he finally concludes in De Anima that because they are so difficult to interpret, only saints should do so. The Dark Age of Dreams Jerome was asked in the 4th century to produce a Latin version of the Greek Bible and in doing so translated the Greek "You shall not practice augury or witchcraft." into "You shall not practice augury nor observe dreams." Dreams interpretation became classed with soothsaying and witchcraft. Since Jerome himself was led back to the Church from paganism by a dream vision, this act is more difficult to understand. However, Jerome was continually shifting back and forth between pagan and Christian thought, and this job of translation was obviously during a Christian swing. It may be he wanted to personally set aside any practices that he knew to be pagan influenced. Whatever the reason, the Vulgate translation would eventually lead to the people (usually women) being accused of witchcraft for dream sharing. If this weren't enough, Rome fell to the barbarian kings and the general education of the leaders dipped for a millennium, or more accurately, shifted to the East. There were exceptions, such as the dream recording monk John Cassian of Marsailles (5thC), Gregory the Great (6thC), Isidore fo Seville and the demonic dream Sententiae (6thC) , and Bede the Venerable (7th C), but they all pretty much felt that dream interpretation was not for the common man and only for the most learned and saintly. The Greek test of the gate of false ivory or the true gate of horn became too great a tension for the Church to bear. Individual vision and the use of imagination could no longer be tolerated by the fragile papal authority. The world was ugly and getting uglier, and the split between evil natural and godly achieved further severed dreams from the orthodox church. Except for the esoteric alchemists, Christianity would not practice dream sharing again until the end of the 20th century. The Dreams of the Prophet =================== Meanwhile, in the deserts of the East in the cave of Hira near Mecca, a man had a dream. In Mohammed's dream the an angel told him to read, to which he replied he could not. He awoke and went outside to another vision where Gabriel told him of his selection as Allah's messenger. Why then did Mohammed ban the interpretation of dreams? The most common thought on this is that dream interpretation was a fairly well know occupation at the time and some people at first thought Mohammed was a dream interpreter. To separate himself from this, he forbade his followers to interpret dreams. Though he did ask them to tell him any dreams they had. After the time of the Prophet, Major revelations were still banned, but dreams of the prophet were considered valid and out of study of the Prophet's dreams themselves grew a whole host of literature and writing. As Jean Lecerf suggests, it was just one professional group of vision interpreters that were banned. Generally, the old Bedouin traditions were replaced with the new Islamic theology. Many of the Greek texts that were lost by the Christians were saved and translated into Arabic, such as the philosophies of Aristotle and the dream works of Artimedoris. This great flowering of dream studies took on a "scientific" flavor, with immense classification systems being developed. Interpretation could depend on such particular factors, for example, as which member of the Royal family you were. Just as the Hebrew faith gave birth to the mystic Kaballa, so too did Islam give birth to mystic Sufism. Sufism sought direct experience of God in a mystic love relationship and provided an alternative to the legalistic orthodoxy. It is said that life is one long journey towards the Beloved. Even Heaven and Hell are set aside as inconsequential relative to being in relationship with the Lover. Each country developed its own visions and variations, from Egypt to Turkey to India to Spain. Though Westerners rarely hear anything more about Sufism than the Persian Whirling Darvishes, Sufism produced a fabulously large and rich body of literature, poetry, cannons, rituals, ecstatic practices and organizations. An elaborate hierognosis, a hierarchy of visions, unfolds the levels of visions in dreams and waking states. (See Henry Corbin) The significance for us who are studying the history of dreams and religion is this: For the Sufi to find the Beloved, to Return Home, there must be a guide, a messenger, a teacher of truth, a companion and spiritual friend who points the way. Mohammed closed legislative prophecy & dream vision, but individual revelation continues and the divine bestows upon his faithful initiation in to the friends of God. Thus sufi dreams tend towards initiation dreams and gateways to the fabulous Mundus Imaginalis, the imaginal world inhabited by spiritual beings as well as other autonomous forms, genii, deamons and images. This world of images, the alam al-mithal, would develop into another fabulously rich outpouring in late medieval Islam. (see Fazlur Rahman). But one had to be careful to distinguish the Imaginal World from the mere imaginary fantasy. Mere fantasy takes one away from the concrete world, whereas interaction with the imaginal world transforms the concrete world and gives it understanding and meaning. In spiritual dreamwork, we might ask, when are we merely explaining away a dream, and when are we allowing the visionary power of the dream to take form in the concrete world? As mentioned, though Sufism is widespread and continuing to grow, there are few in the West who seem to know very much. One current writer who has been heavily influenced by Jung has written of some guideposts along the way. Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee speaks of the "Psychology of the Beloved" : >The Fools of God: Those who follow the beloved learn to still the yackityak mind and tune into the wisdom of the Self, which can be rather crazy. Note in dreams where normal things aren't working, books hard to read, cars brakes not stopping, telephones not dialing or connecting. These are places we are called to hear a different drummer. >The Longing of the Heart: When we are called by the divine, we are given a little sip of poison and then nothing but the Beloved can content us. In our dreams we can see this in the sufferings, the poisonings, the hiding and running away, the wishing and desire to be somewhere other than we are. But since this process is larger and beyond the ego, its not so much what we do to correct it, but what we can allow to happen inwardly. What we learn is how to cooperate with the process. Part of the Sufi path is learning to wait for the Beloved. >The Transformation of the Shadow: Darkness and Redemption often reside in the same image. What was once our enemy can become our new source of energy and power. When in dreams we are chased and pursued, our relation to our shadow is one of flight. Other times we go too far the other direction and continually fight with the adversary. Confronting these pursuers without fighting or backing off, finding out what they are doing, what they want and why, begins to open the door to transformation. These shadows may come in dreams in the form of animal, family and a wide range of other unknown characters. Usually we see them in life as "morally inferior" and would rather die than find out someone thinks *we* are like that. The key to their transformation is learning to stick with them until the situation is changed by the intercession of the Divine. > The Seductive Guide: More powerful than what we fear, is what we desire. The inner Seductive Guide both draws out of us enormous energy and yet can at the same time crashes that energy on cold stones. Two confusions take place, the person sees the beloved in another person or sees the beloved in an imaginal state and longs for them literally, which brings ruin. The key here is to recognize that the Seductive Other is our guide to the Divine, not the Divine Itself. >The Call and the Echo: Because of the difficulty of the journey, Sufism has provided a mediating relationship, the teacher. The teacher, having been where we are headed, can not only guide us, but encourage us that there really is something on the other side. Eventually the heart of the teacher and student become one. Vaughan-Lee notes that a real live teacher is important, but eventually they must point the way back in to the inner teacher, and this is often revealed in dreams in both true and false teachers, dreams of tests and trials, as well as old wise men and women. > The Poverty of the heart. Beyond the the mind is the heart. Eventually even the desire for spiritual progress is a limitation. When the seeker accepts there is nowhere to go, nothing to do, then there is freedom. Dreams of travelling and roads speak to this, but dreams of being happy in the moment more closely touch this, as well as images of the divine or inner child. Here the world revolves around us, not in the sense that everyone wants our attention, but in that a complete freedom exists between the two and the Infinite unfolds in all directions. Late Christian Dream Mysticism in Alchemy =============================== "Imagination is the Star in Man." Paracelsus When Thomas Aquinas put Aristotle and the Bible together in his Summa Theologica, there was a problem with dreams since Aristotle though they were nothing and the Bible thought differently. His resolution was like the Medieval Church itself, avoid the issue and downplay any form of knowledge or inner experience that might speak to an irrational connection with the divine. Though Aquinas finally had a person vision which changed his own mind, his works went on to deeply influence Western Civilization. However, Christianity had its own mystical side, which was evidenced in Alchemy. Alchemy is usually seen by moderns as an early dead end attempt on the part of pre-scientific types to make gold chemically. But those who did do this were seen as charlatans and "puffers" by the real alchemists. The idea was that Lead, left on its own, would eventually become Gold, just as sinners eventually would come back to God and obtain immortality. Alchemy was an attempt to quicken the process, and the boundaries of physical matter and spiritual essence overlapped. Imagination (the trained imagination) and dreams played significant roles in all aspects of the alchemical process. The general goal of the Alchemist was to produce the Philosopher's Stone, an item/thing/no- thing/concept/red tincture that could transform mortal into immortal, lead into gold, base substances into finer materials. The general process was to locate the matter to be transformed, the prima materia. This material had a real physical side, and a spiritual side in the adept performing the work. The Alchemist would first know they were on track when the project failed. Having followed the secret messages of previous alchemists, the matter would go into what was called the Nigrado, or Blackening. All that they worked for fell away and a corresponding depression would ensue. Only for those that stayed with the process would experience the first evidence of a major transformation, the Albedo, or whitening. Some small spark in the darkness would appear and if the Alchemist could stay with this spark, there would eventually be the final transformation into material reality, the rubedo, or reddening. The Alchemists spent centuries elaborating and expanding the visual, literary and practices of the alchemy. Though I'm unaware of a set of specific doctrines on dreams that came out this, dream did figure into each of the stages of transformation and the rich exploration of symbolic realities. The use of alchemical symbolism would be revived by Jung in the 20th Century as a way of studying and transforming the religious impulse in humankind within the context of analytic psychology. Dream and Religion in the Late 20th Century ================================ The practice of dream sharing began returning to the religious communities through their slow but continuing acceptance of various psychological practices. With this revival came the shift from dreams as prophecy to dreams as revealing the inner life of the individual. The general idea was that God speaks to us in dreams, but in much the same way as other parts of our lives. However, even this stance is sometime hard won in a congregation. The Baptist Minster Herman Riffel, who began feeling that special spiritual knowledge could be had from dream sharing, was eventually asked to leave his parish. Because psychoanalytic work was introduced to America via Freud, it has often been seen by religious groups as atheistic or medicinal rather than spiritual. Had Jung been more popular, things may have been quite different. Morton Kelsey, for example, has inspired whole generations of Christians to talk another look at dreams, and this was due in part to his deeply held Jungian views. John Sanford, a Episcopal minister, has had a similar influence on millions of people with his Jungian-Christian approach. As far as I can tell, the Jungian literature and approaches are the most well developed spiritual approaches to dreams, and have influenced the re-visioning of Sufi and Hebrew dream traditions as well as Christian. The Dream Work of the Spiritual Community Some of the other areas that dream sharing is and will be re-entering the spiritual community are discussed by Kelly Bulkeley in his 1996 _Spiritual Dreaming: A Cross-cultural and Historical Journey_. Dreams often intensify around the death of family members. Dreams about dead family members may allow not only a psychological or emotional processing to occur, but also help the individual find his or her own alignment with mortality and immortality. Animals in dreams, when regarded from a spiritual point of view, can reveal the "ambivalent nature of the sacred, its capacity to be a force of joyful creativity and violent destructiveness in human life." (pg 19). Suffering, pain, illness, misfortune and death define a large category of areas where religion struggles to help find meaning and value. Use of dreams relating specifically to the suffering and to suffering in general can open up channels of communication & experience that allows us access to the deep spiritual realms where meaning is found in a close encounter with the sacred. Other areas are simply waiting for development, including the use of dreams in moral development, the exploration of the nature of the divine and the relationship to humans, the idea of sexuality in dream as a draw toward the sacred, flying in dreams as a path for the development of our sense of wonder, lucidity and our development of general liberation and becoming conscious. Jeremy Taylor in _Where People Fly and Water Runs Uphill: Using Dreams to tap the Wisdom of the Unconscious_ explores the use of spiritual dreaming in a social context and unfolds ways that a whole community or congregation may use dream sharing for spiritual development. With the introduction of the Internet into society, these congregations may form very rapidly and a collective wisdom may be shared across long distances. The continual mixing of spirituality with sociology, with psychology and psychotherapy seems to be releasing a whole new set of co-mingled values where dreams can again become a vehicle for the divine. Whether you see spirituality in some grand sense of alignment with the Infinite, or simply in terms of meaning and value, spiritual dream exploration now offers a heavenly feast. +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ An Excerpt from the Lucid Dream Exchange Lucy Gillis +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ In keeping with Electric Dreams' current topic of Dreams and Spirituality, I'd like to present a spiritual lucid dream, from the quarterly newsletter, The Lucid Dream Exchange. (A lucid dream is one in which the dreamer knows that he or she is dreaming while still in the dream.) Note in the account below that the dreamer indicates when he realizes he is dreaming and what alerted him to this fact. ----------------------------------------- "Bowling Alley God" I am in a place like a bowling alley with five or six lanes. Maybe five or six people are there. Some of them are my old friends - ones that I used to talk to about spiritual matters. We're having a conversation about religious topics, but we're also playing a game simultaneously. The game is an odd one - in it, you roll a ball down the lane and try to split an apple at the far end. I think it is easy and tell everyone "I'll show you how it's done." Then I roll the ball and the apple splits in half. Suddenly, the varnish on the wood lanes seems to shimmer and the whole thing strikes me as odd - I realize that I'm dreaming! As I look around lucidly, I am standing next to a young, petite blonde-haired woman. She is looking at me and so I ask her, "What is God?" I ask her again with a demanding tone, "What is God?!" Then she looks directly at me with extraordinarily clear, compassionate eyes and a hint of a smile, and shows me an apple split in half. As I look at the apple and this woman, I begin to feel an incredible force like pure love and caring coming from her heart to mine - it is tangible, I can feel it coming to me, enveloping me! I think 'this is (an experience of) God." The energy is too much and I wake up with my heart pounding. Note: In the morning, I took an apple and split it in half and began to look at it. When I did this, it was like a symbolic revelation. I could see the apple seeds, symbol of future life and growth, and around them is the faint outline of a butterfly in the transition from the core of the apple to the apple, a symbol of metamorphosis, and finally there is the fruit of the apple, a symbol of our sustenance in the present. I was amazed to see this - I have never noticed it before. There are obviously symbolic associations with the apple being symbolic of the 'Tree of Knowledge' in the Garden of Eden, etc. The most interesting thing though was the transfer of 'feeling energy' - that was profound. Robert Waggoner, April 1986 --------------------------------------- The Lucid Dream Exchange (LDE) is a quarterly issue of lucid dreams contributed by lucid dreamers. Over the years, Ruth Sacksteder, creator of the LDE, has compiled 12 issues of lucid dreams; creating a forum for interested individuals to share their experiences and learn from those of others. It is in no small part due to her efforts that my lucid dream life has developed and grown. Reading about the lucid experiences, techniques, and adventures of other lucid dreamers served to inspire, challenge, and enrich my own lucid dreaming abilities. I am still in awe of the incredible potential lucid dreaming (and lucid dreamers!) has to offer. Like Robert's dream above, some lucid dreams may be spiritual, touching the dreamer in profound ways. Others may be playful, or used for problem solving, rehearsal, or whatever. The possibilities are indeed endless. Now that Ruth's schedule has become increasingly busy and she has become involved with other projects, I am pleased to be able to continue The Lucid Dream Exchange, (with the valuable help of Robert Waggoner), and I invite you to join us! -Lucy Gillis For more information about The Lucid Dream Exchange contact Lucy Gillis at lucy@turbotek.net +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Electric Dreams Interviews Richard Wilkerson about his new CD-Rom, _A Brief History of Dream Sharing_. +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Richard Wilkerson is an Bay Area dream educator and a pioneer & leader of the now extensive online Dream Movement. His online work includes bringing the Association for the Study of Dreams online, developing the Electric Dreams community and the online magazine of the same name, and running dream education classes on the Net in conjunction with online dream groups via DreamGate.com and other educational institutions, for which he has become internationally recognized. Richard has written hundreds of articles on dreams and regularly writes for Electric Dreams, the ASD Dream Time, Self Help and Psychology and other forums. He contributed the chapter "Dreaming In Cyberspace" to the Mark Waldman and Stanley Krippner Anthology _Dreamscaping_. His most recent project is a CD that brings together his years of experience with dreamwork and computer mediated communications. The 1999 CD, _A Brief History of Dream Sharing: Theory, Techniques and Cyberspace_ is available through DreamGate.com at http://www.dreamgate.com/books Lars Spivock for Electric Dreams [LS]: Hello Richard, good to see you again. Having worked with you on the CD I'll be asking questions mainly for the benefit of our readers. Richard Catlett Wilkerson [RCW]: That's fine Lars, go ahead. [LS]: Richard, before I ask you about the content of your CD I want to clarify what kind of multimedia it is. [Teasingly] That is, just what *is* your CD, a book, a computer program or a web site on CD? [RCW]: I would say all three. I wanted to provide a lot of information as well as a lot of illustrations and I wanted these to all be easily useable any linked together. The problem with books these days is that if you want to use any of the information, you have to copy it or retype it. Putting the information online is fine if the illustrations are kept to a minimum, but very taxing for larger pictures. With a CD approach, the information can easily be copied and pasted into any format, and appears very rapidly on the screen. [LS]: How does someone start up the CD on their computer? [RCW]: As simple as opening any program. The CD will automatically open your browser on most computers and away you go! The options immediately appear. [LS]: What are the main areas covered by the CD? [RCW]: The core of the CD is course on dreamwork. I've also included an enormous bibliography of thousands of dream books and article titles, as well as special essay collections, including several years of the Cyberphile column, an Internet and Dreams column for the Association for the Study of Dreams, a collection of Postmodern Dreaming Essays, resources on dreams and dreaming and a History of Dream Sharing in Cyberspace collection. [LS]: [Overwhelmed] There are so many different sections to your CD, let me ask you about them individually! What is this core course? [RCW]: The course is a 12 module section on dreamwork from a historical perspective. This course has been developing over the years online from the "History of Dream Sharing" Course, which got rave reviews from some dream titans such as Robert Van de Castle, author of Our Dreaming Mind, Rita Dwyer one of ASD most active presidents, and Roberta Ossana, who has been the editor of the DreamNetwork for many years. [LS]: What makes this course unique? [RCW]: Besides the historical overview, I look at each approach and give the dreamer a way to use that perspective for personal growth and insight. So with Freud, we look at how free association and the dream-work can be used outside of a clinical setting to explore our hidden desires. With Gestalt, I explore how dream drama can be an effective way of developing inner potentials hidden in sub-personalities. That is, with every perspective there are useful exercises which bring the theory to life and empower the dreamer to use these insights in everyday life. [LS]: I noticed that there are topics you offer that are not often included in dreamwork courses, such as dream science and dream anthropology -- and also a guide to lucid dreaming by yours truly! [RCW]: Right, I feel that every field of study has something to offer dreams and the dreamer. Dream science offers new approaches to dream recall as well as challenging theoretical assumptions. Dream anthropology give us whole new vistas of dreamwork and dream worlds that have generally been cut off in our culture. Now the Internet is offering dreamwork a whole new field to play with. [LS]: You mentioned that Cyberspace was also a resource on the CD and there are other essays included? [RCW]: [Thoughtfully] My focus for the last 5 years has been dreamwork in Cyberspace, though I prefer to call it "dream sharing" to get rid of the Protestant Work Ethic, move the dream from the couch to culture, and emphasis the social aspects of dreaming. Linda Magallon and the Fly- by-Night club have helped me a great deal to voice this change in attitude. My major vehicle for this exploration has been the Electric Dreams community, though lately other groups have been showing a growing interest in dream sharing and cyberspace outside of clinical practice. In 1997 I also began managing the Web site for The Association for the Study of Dreams, and had been developing the Cyberphile Column for their magazine since 1995. I took the resources I have been gathering, as well as many of the ongoing articles related to this topic and included them with a very large set of annotated dream links. [LS]: How do the dream links work on the CD? [RCW]: The links to other dream sites that are on the CD will work as long as the reader is online or connected with their internet service provider [ISP], such as AOL or Microsoft Network [MSN] or a local ISP. [LS]: What can people get from these Cyber-dream articles and resources besides your many years of experience? [RCW]: These articles really provide the tools to understand and explore the world of dreaming online. For those just curious about what is going on, I feel that the fabulous stories of the dream Web sites and Net Dreamwork projects make for great reading. For those who want to go online and share dreams, I explain where and how this is done. Some people like to share dreams in via e-mail, and for them I talk about the Electric Dreams DreamWheels and John Herbert's SeniorNet projects. For those who like real-time-chat or IRC, I guide them on how to get connected and where the resources are. Others are ready to begin developing their own Web sites as an expression of their dreams, and I give many suggestions for this and a tour of the many forms that this has occurred, such as dream journals, dream art galleries, dream book sites and lucid dream clubs and organizations. And of course, I always encourage people to join Electric Dreams. [LS]: And people can actually join an online dream course via the CD? [RCW]: Yes, I recommend that people start out with the Electric Dreams DreamWheels. This gives them a grounding in the popular "If this were my dream..." approach as well as giving as kind of cultural ethic of caring about the dream and the dreamer that goes along with it. From the DreamWheels, there are many other dream groups available. [LS]: The bibliography you have provided on the CD is like no other I have seen. It's really huge! Do you have every dream book and article on this Bibliography? [RCW]: [Laughs], No, hardly. What I have done is collected together articles and books on dreams that I feel would compliment dreamwork theory and practice. Since my approach is that just about anything can support dreamwork if seen from the right perspective, the list *is* quite long. [LS]: What I find really nice about the bibliography is that I can quickly copy and paste whole titles of articles that I'm quoting, and this saves me tons of time when I am writing. I notices as well that the dream and anthropology section is fantastic! [RCW]: Right. Also, the Bibliography is searchable, either by bringing it up in a word processor, or by using a Web Browser and selecting FILE/FIND. [LS]: How does that work with the AOL browser? [RCW]: Its a little different. Just select the EDIT drop down menu and select "Find in Top Window" [LS]: As I recall the bibliography is available on the CD in three useful formats -- plain text, Microsoft Word, and as a web page. That should make it easy for anyone. [RCW]: Right, Lars. [LS]: Why do you have so much information on this CD? Wouldn't just presenting one simple technique be more effective in learning dreamwork? [RCW]: It's true that mastering one technique will give a depth to one's dreamwork that may be missed with a spectral approach. I spent hundreds of hours with Jungians and wouldn't trade that experience for the world, but I eventually felt left out of the rest of the dreamwork world. There was always a particular course of study of dreams I wanted and couldn't find. That was an overview of the whole game. While several good books have come out in the past few years, there was really nothing online for cyber-dreamers. I developed this CD and course to satisfy that need and blur the boundaries between book and practice. To have a full spectrum of dream education and ground cyber-dream sharing in the developing grassroots dreamwork movement online provides people with the fullest range of self expression and discovery reasonably possible at this time with multimedia. And since the course connects with active groups online, dreamers get the added advantage of exploring dreamwork on the Internet as well. [LS]: Isn't there some controversy about doing dreamwork online? [RCW]: Originally there was. When I proposed a cyber-dreamwork exhibition at the 1996 ASD Berkeley Conference, the Board of Directors were very concerned. To address this, I asked Dr. Sarah Richards to set up a discussion panel and invited dreamworkers who were well known and had been experimenting with online dreamwork, including Jeremy Taylor, Jayne Gackenbach, John Herbert and myself. The unanimous feeling was that dreamwork was not only safe online, but in many cases preferable to face-to-face dreamwork. [LS]: I remember. That was right after Jeremy Taylor reluctantly agreed to facilitate dreamsharing for AOL -- and within 30 days was completely convinced of its value. Has there been much discussion since then? [RCW]: This year, at the 1999 ASD conference at UCSC Santa Cruz, Peggy Coats brought these people back and the enthusiasm for online dreamwork has only grown. [LS]: Why do you feel this is so? [RCW]: There are several reasons we have identified. The first is anonymity. People feel free to express and share personal material when there is less fear of these group members gossiping around town. In face-to-face dreamgroups, emotion is the dominate factor. Feelings are important online as well, but they are tempered by time, distance and insightful interventions. [LS]: Do people try to substitute dreamwork for psychotherapy? [RCW]: No, and this is a key point. Grassroots dreamwork really tries to move from couch to culture. That is, there is a growing push to see dreamwork as something that may be used by psychotherapy, but has much broader and wider goals. Healing and Wholeness are still part of dreamwork, but not all dreamwork is about healing and wholeness. [LS]: This comes out very clearly in the CD. I noticed that while you are comfortable talking about various kinds of dreamwork in psychotherapies, the emphasis is always on what the dreamer can gain from these theories outside of psychotherapy. [RCW]: That's right. I teach people to not be afraid of theory and to use it to their own advantage and for the development of their own dreamwork. This is the end-goal of any good therapy as well, to have people empowered enough to be the final authority on the interpretation of meaning and value in their own lives. [LS]: You also talk about dream sharing that is rooted in spirituality and creativity and other forms of expression outside of therapeutic dreamwork. [RCW]: There are so many new wonderful forms of dreams sharing that are taking place. Our culture is just at the beginning of recovering these forms, such as dream inspired art, dream inspired writing, mutual dreaming, lucid dreaming, dream psi and various forms of shamanic dreaming. To try and lock dreamwork into therapy would be a step backwards. I do feel we are deeply indebted to Freud, Jung and many other psychotherapists for returning value and meaning to dreamwork. And dreamwork will continue to be a major tool of therapies aimed as wholeness where imagination is part of the process. However, theraputic dreamwork now takes its lead from grassroots dreamwork, not the other way around. [LS]: What do you feel is the most important value that dreamers will get from your CD? [RCW]: Creative experimentation as the best way to relate to dreams and the world at large. I develop the notion of the "Improverse" or the improvisational universe, as a platform from which to develop one's dreamwork. The model comes from playing music. In improvisational music, the musician has to learn to listen and respond in a unique but relevant and related way rather than playing pre-described patterns. Its important to know and use the pre-described patterns, but as the event-song develops, it takes on a temporary structure & life of its own. The individual musician can add to this newly synthesized event-song, but it quickly begins to transcend his/her individual contribution while relying upon it at the same time. Dream sharing is much the same. We can learn the chords or structures passed to us from our teachers and in this way participate relevantly in a sphere of cultural reality. Then as we begin to use these dream work techniques, a door opens to a whole new realm unfolds. The old techniques can quickly become repressive if used at the wrong time. The event-dream now has a life and flow of its own. We are free to contribute or distract from this event-dream. [LS]: I see, and so that's why you offer such a variety of dream work techniques, they are the chords of dream sharing? [RCW]: Right. With lucid dreaming, the chords we initially learn have to do with awareness of one's life space (Am I dreaming?). Later, we learn more sophisticated chords (can I spin and thereby maintain my lucidity?) but the dream-event takes on a life of its own. In one lucid dream I may best participate by running with a pack of wilderbeasts, while in another I may feel called to enter into a mirror. When interpreting dreams for life-enhancement, I learn the game of functional association, and how this dream-car is my psychological vehicle or that burglar is really me, stealing from my own life. But once we actually start using these techniques, there emerges a special event-dream which may call for something quite different than having the dream used to explore one's own psyche or how to be a better person. [LS]: And so there is more than one dream-event for every dream? [RCW]: Yes, and this really becomes clear once people start sharing their dreams with others. In the old model, there was one dream, one dream journal, one therapist, one interpretation. With the advent of the Dream Movement, people began sharing the same dream in a variety of situations, at the office water-cooler, at a local dream support group, with a friend over the telephone and at breakfast with the family. Now, with the advent of the Internet, one can post and send dreams in a variety of new venues. In fact, the Net has become a kind of dream journal, and many people send their dreams into the Net each morning to be distributed throughout cyberspace. [LS]: Then does the dream become something different in each venue and with each sharing? [RCW]: Kind of. Like a song that improvisational musicians play over and over, the dream maintains some kind of internal consistency while at the same time participating in a unique dream-event. [LS]: With so much information online, why would someone buy your CD? [RCW]: There is just so much going on in Cyberspace, that a collected guide is essential. Imagine a library that gets sixty-thousand books - and hour. Now imagine that this library has no staff! Or better, that this library has millions of volunteers, each with his or her own agenda about how this material is to be organized. What is needed is a bridge between the classic book and the new Net-text. This CD provides that bridge, a kind of hired guide to the Cyber-Jungle. [LS]: As always its been a pleasure hearing your thoughts on Dreamsharing. [RCW]: Thanks Lars, I'm looking forward to working with you during the coming millennium. Lars Spivock is an international technology consultant and an original member of the DreamGate team. http://www.dreamgate.com/lars He has been a lucid dreamer since early childhood. He freelances for The Wisdom Channel, Electric Dreams, and America Online's Alternative Medicine Forum. Lars has contributed to outreach and education projects for the Intuition Network, Institute of Noetic Sciences, Association for the Study of Dreams, Bay Area Dreamworkers, and the Dream Library and Archive. +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ Dream Reentry and On-line Chat An Experience of Synchronicity and Resolving Loss in a Chat Room Setting Fred Olsen, M.Div. Copyright 1999 +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+ In the fall of 1994, I purchased my first 14.4 kbs modem for my Atari ST computer. I signed up on the Well.com server in Northern California and forayed -- with some nervousness and anticipation -- into my first on-line chat session on the internet. It was a sunny Saturday mid morning in San Francisco. After a few false starts, I found myself in a live chat room. There, like magic, I witnessed live dialogue scrolling down my computer screen. What was even more amazing to me as a dreamworker was the first lines of text I saw displayed before me that day. (Note: screen names are changed for the obvious reasons.) Duggan: How are you feeling today? Bravo: I am really bummed out this morning. Duggan: Why is that? Bravo: I had a nightmare last night that is really bothering me. Bingo. Here in my first chat room sesion, I find myself in the opening lines of a spontaneous dream sharing. I had that familiar, but nevertheless, amazed response when a synchronicity happens in life. I felt both playful and honored at the magical timing of this moment and typed my first line of live on-line chat in response. Dreamtrack: THAT'S GREAT !!! Bravo: Why is that great? Dreamtrack: Dreams are such gifts to help us to understand ourselves and to resolve our inner issues. Bravo: It didn't feel great to me. Dreamtrack: I know and that's okay. It's just that I am so involved with the power and value of dreams, I couldn't help but respond. Duggan: Are you a psychologist or something? Dreamtrack: I am a dream worker and have a dream center in San Francisco. Duggan: Really? Dreamtrack: Yup This is my first time in a chat room and I appeared right when you mentioned your nightmare. I couldn't resist responding. I hope that's okay. I was the intruder. Duggan: Ohhh. Dreamtrack: I was simply amazed at the coincidence. Dreamtrack: Are you still there Bravo? Bravo: Yes, I am here. Dreamtrack: Would you like to tell us the dream? Bravo: Sure, it made no sense to me. It left me feeling really depressed. Dreamtrack: Do you feel okay sharing the dream content with us? Bravo: Sure. In the dream, I was at my father's grave. The grass was dry and brown. It was very barren. In real life the grave is very lush. Dreamtrack: Did your father die? Bravo: Yes, he died a couple of years ago. There was a very spooky feeling in the dream, like there was a presence. Dreamtrack: Can you feel yourself in the dream now? Bravo: Yes, it is very clear, like I am right there now. Dreamtrack: In the dream, how old are you? Bravo: The same age I was when my father died. Dreamtrack: Okay. And what are you wearing there? Bravo: The same clothes I had on then, just casual clothes, nothing special. Dreamtrack: And what are you feeling in the dream? Bravo: I'm feeling a heavy weight of guilt and shame. Dreamtrack: Where does that heavy weight live in your body? Bravo: I feel it in my heart and in my stomach. Dreamtrack: Good. Go to that place in your body where the heavy weight lives and tell me what you see. Bravo: I see my father in his bedroom like he was when we found him. Dreamtrack: And where are you in the picture? Bravo: Standing in the doorway to his room. Dreamtrack: What do you see in the picture? Bravo: What was happening then was that my father had been disabled and bed-ridden for a long time. We all had to support him. We were pretty poor.. He got all of the attention and I was angry with him before he died for not being a real father to me and getting all the attention. Dreamtrack: I see. Bravo: Off and on people would bring Dad money in small amounts and give it to him. Just before he died, he called for me. I didn't respond. I was too upset with him at the time. When we discovered his body the bed was covered with the money. He had wanted to give it to me as a gift. Dreamtrack: Wow. And he wasn't able to give it to you because you didn't respond when he called. Bravo: That's right. I felt so terrible. Dreamtrack: What did you do then? Bravo: We spent the money on his funeral. I have felt so bad ever since that day. I go to his gravesite often. Dreamtrack: And last night you were there at the gravesite in the dream and it was dry and barren, right? Bravo: Yes. I feel so bad about what I did to Dad. Dreamtrack: When you go back to the dream right now, what is the feeling? Bravo: There is a wind. a presence there. It is spooky. Dreamtrack: You are there right now. What are you feeling? Bravo: I feel the wind, it seems to want to communicate with me. Dreamtrack: What happens when you listen? Bravo: I see my father. Dreamtrack: What is the picture? Bravo: He is there in front of me. I see only his face. He wants to tell me something. I am afraid.. Dreamtrack: What is your response? Bravo: I feel so ashamed. I can't look at him. Dreamtrack: What does he want to tell you? Beachbum: Hey room, what's happening? Duggan: Shhhh, this is really interesting. Beachbum: Hey, I was at the beach yesterday and met these really hot girls. Duggan: Quiet, this is really important what is going on here. Beachbum: I'm staying. Who wants to talk about the girls? Instant Message: Dreamtreck to Bravo: Want to continue this in a private room? Bravo: Would you? This feels really important. Dreamtrack: Of course. Meet me in room Dreamtrack. I set up a private room and Bravo shows up. Instant message from Duggan to Dreamtrack: Man, that was awesome. I understand that you can't stay in the room, but I sure hate missing where this is going. Instant message to Duggan fromDreamtrack: Thank you. You know Bravo, right? IM Duggan: Yes, we're friends. IM Dreamtrack: He can share what he wants with you later. Take care. IM Duggan: Thanks. Bravo: Are you still here? Dreamtrack: Yes. Duggan was feeling left out. Do you want him to join us? Bravo: No, he'll be all right and I'll fill him in later. Right now, this feels too important. Dreamtrack: I agree. Bravo: Where were we? Dreamtrack: At the grave site. Your Dad appeared to you and wanted to tell you something. Bravo: Oh yeah. Wow! Do you think that was real? Or was it just a dream? Dreamtrack: How did it feel to you? Bravo: It felt and feels as real as life, maybe more real. Dreamtrack: I think so too. Can you see him now? Bravo: Yes. I see him in bed as he was before he died. Dreamtrack: Good. What do you want to do now, in the picture? Bravo: Take him to all the special places he loved. We lived on the big island in Hawaii, that's where I live now. He loved the island. Dreamtrack: Good. You are there. What do you need in order to do that? Bravo: His wheelchair and the family car. Dreamtrack: Good. What happens now in the picture? Bravo: I am driving him around the island. Dreamtrack: You feel that? Bravo: Yes. It feels really good. He seems so happy. We never did this together in real life. Dreamtrack: What are you feeling as you do this with your father? Bravo: I feel so much better, to see him happy. Dreamtrack: What' happening now? Bravo: We are back in his room, before he died. He wants to give me the money. I can't do that. I can't take the money. It belongs to him. Dreamtrack: What is his response to you not receiving his gift? Bravo: His is very sad. He really wants me to take it. I just can't do that. Dreamtrack: Where do you feel blocked about receiving his gift? Bravo: I feel it in my head. Dreamtrack: Okay, go to that place in your head where you feel that block. Bravo: Okay. Dreamtrack: What do you see? Bravo: I see a block of steel. It is like a cage. I am inside it. Dreamtrack: How old are you there? Bravo: Young. I feel trapped. Dreamtrack: What do you need there? Bravo: I need my father's love. Dreamtrack: Okay, What do you want to do in the cage to get your father's love? Bravo: I don't know. I guess I have to call for him. He seems so distant and far away. Dreamtrack: What happens when you call for your father to love you? Bravo: He comes and opens the cage. Dreamtrack: What's happening now, in the picture? Bravo: We are hugging. It feels so good. Dreamtrack: Notice that feeling in your body. Bravo: Okay. It is very warm. We're both crying. Dreamtrack: Good. Now bring that feeling back to the room with your father. Bravo: I feel better, but I still have a hard time taking the money. I don't feel I deserve it. Dreamtrack: Do you think he can use the money? Bravo: LOL I guess not. He is dead. He can't use it where he is. But it is already spent anyway. Dreamtrack: You see your father now? Bravo: Yes. He is smiling. He wants me to take the money. Boy, this is hard. Okay, Dad. I accept the money. Dreamtreck: What's happening? Bravo. I'm crying. It is like we are really hugging and I feel his love. Thank you. Dreamtrack: Thank you. Bravo: Is this what you do for a living? Dreamtrack: Yes. Bravo: Then I must owe you a lot of money. This was a long session. Dreamtrack: LOL You didn't ask for this work did you. Bravo: No. But you still did the work. I can't take it for nothing. Dreamtrack: Guess what? Bravo: What? Dreamtrack: What was the lesson in this session? Bravo: I'm not sure. Dreamtrack: It was about you learning to receive a gift. Consider this time a gift, a part of the lesson. LOL Beside's, you gave me a gift today. Bravo: Really! What was that? Dreamtrack: You gave me the opportunity to do my work in a new medium. I have never been in a chat room before, let alone to lead a dream session in one. You let me know that I could do my work on-line. That is a gift to me. Thanks. Bravo: Wow. Thank you. Dreamtrack: My pleasure. Bravo: Maybe I'll see you again on-line. I feel better than I have for a very long time. Dreamtrack: I'm glad. Take care. Bravo: Bye Dreamtrack: Bye. _____ Since that first on-line chat session in 1984, I have had the opportunity to share dream-processing on many occasions in the privacy and anonymous realm of cyberspace. On a few occasions, I have developed telephone client relationships for a short time, but mostly, the sessions have been simply a spontaneous gift. In each case, the dream processing emerged naturally out of a chat session where a person was feeling troubled, confused, in pain, or simply curious and adventurous about my approach to inner dream or soul travel. On-line dream work, as any dream work, can -- and in my point of view -- should become as natural as any other avenue for human expression and communication in everyday life. So often we rehash our problems, conflicts, and concerns over and over again, without really going to a level where deep healing and transformation is possible. Fred Olsen was a co-founder of the Bay Area Dreamworker's Group in 1985, he then founded and directed the San Francisco Dream House from 1986 to 1995 and is known for his process of Dream Reentry Healing which was more recently named Soul Tracking and Cellular Transformation. He can be reached on-line at Dreamtreck@aol.com. <<<<<<<<<<<<<<|||||||>>>>>>>>>>>|||||<<<<<<<<<<<< G L O B A L D R E A M I N G N E W S DECEMBER 1999 <<<<<<<<<<<<<<|||||||>>>>>>>>>>>|||||<<<<<<<<<<<< If you have news you'd like to share, contact Peggy Coats, pcoats@dreamtree.com. Visit Global Dreaming News online at http://www.dreamtree.com/ This Month's Features: NEWS - Dreaming the New Millenium - Dreamscaping - a New Anthology - Winter Shamanic Dream Circle in California - Dream Time Live - Chat with Richard Wilkerson - College of Dreams now online - Dream Class from Sharon Packard -Different Approaches to Dreams - Lucidity Institute in Maui for the Millennium - Tibetan Dream Yoga Meets Western Power Napping: an Experiment - ASD Call for presentations deadline extended to dec 15, 1999. - HBO Special on Children's Dreams December 6, 1999 at 730 ET/PT - Get ASD news any time via e-mail RESEARCH & REQUESTS - An Invitation to Join the Lucid Dream Exchange WEBSITE & ONLINE UPDATES - A Visit to Dream Flights DREAM CALENDAR for December 1999 -January 2000 <<<<<<<<<<<<<<|||||||>>>>>>>>>>>|||||<<<<<<<<<<<< N E W S <<<<<<<<<<<<<<|||||||>>>>>>>>>>>|||||<<<<<<<<<<<< ________________________________ Dreamscaping: New Techniques for Understanding Yourself and Others Check out this new book, an anthology of dream wisdom on the cutting edge of dreams and dreaming, featuring Oliver Sacks - Marie-Louise von Franz - Jeremy Taylor - Robert L. Van de Castle - Gayle Delaney - Richard Wilkerson - Robert Bosnak - Eugene Gendlin - Kelly Bulkeley - Montague Ullman - Stanley Krippner - Mark Waldman - Fraser Boa and many, many others! BACK COVER FOR DREAMSCAPING "We are such stuff as dreams are made of . . ." Since the time of Shakespeare, dreams have fascinated women and men, shaping the lives of professionals and nonprofessionals alike. But in the last few years, dreams have re-emerged as a potent grassroots force. Throughout this country and abroad, thousands of individual groups have formed to creatively experiment with their dreams: in therapeutic encounters, in cyberspace, in dream appreciation seminars, and in the literary and visual arts. Dreamscaping brings together world-renowned authorities on dreams, providing readers with innovative methods for working with themselves, their partners, and groups. In this anthology, you will learn how to better recall your dreams, decipher their hidden meanings, create imaginative dialogues with dream characters, construct dream diaries, understand recurring dreams and nightmares, and apply dream messages to your life. You will also learn how dreams can be used to process the final moments of life. Dreamscaping also explores the most recent developments in research and theory, showing how dreams can be used to diagnose brain disorders, explore the stages of death, and even provide scientific evidence of the reality of telepathy and other psychic phenomena. From chaos theory to the Internet, from spiritual awakenings to psychological insight, Dreamscaping reflects a changing landscape that is beginning to reshape social consciousness throughout the world. You can get a copy of Dreamscaping directly from Amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0737302682/associaforthest u%3e ________________________________ WINTER SHAMANIC DREAM CIRCLE "We dream to awaken to life." - Strephon Kaplan-Williams "Dreams are a way to Spirit." - Ramiro, Achuar shaman Interested in exploring your dreams as a healing and spiritual path? Then come join us in a unique, powerful Winter Dreaming Circle. Meets one Saturday per month and includes: * a dreamwork workshop, teaching you specific tools; * shamanic journeying to meet your spirit guides; * live shamanic drumming; * a dream sharing circle, in the indigenous tradition; and * a potluck dinner to build community. All-Night Dream Circle In addition, some Dreaming Circles will also feature an All-Night Dream Circle in which participants will enjoy the benefits of group dreaming and a shamanic dreaming circle Sunday morning to start the day, as indigenous peoples do worldwide. Dates: Oct. 16, Nov. 20, Dec. 11, Jan 15, Feb. 17, Mar. 24 Location: Emeryville, CA Cost: $30-60 sliding scale per circle. No one turned away for lack of funds. Please mark your calendar now. Call to RSVP and hold a spot. Facilitated by Taylor Kingsley, CTC, dream researcher and author of the upcoming book, Dreamjourneys. Taylor is a shamanic healer and teaches meditation at Kaiser Permanente. (510) 653-7293 ________________________________ ASD Dream Time Live December 1, 1999 at 7:00 PM PST Richard Wilkerson"Dreaming in Cyberspace" You can participate in this chat by going to http//www.asdreams.org/subidxdiscussionschat.htm For more information, simply send an e-mail to chat@asdreams.org and you will receive the full scoop on the event and how to sign on. The Association for the Study of Dreams is offering a series of monthly online chats with writers, researchers, dreamworkers and other guests who study and work with dreams. This exciting opportunity to speak directly with these individuals takes place via the ASD Web Chat Room. Participants can ask Richard Wilkerson questions in real time. Additional information about the topic will be made available before and after the chat time Be sure to come a few minutes early to sign on to the chat room: 1. How to get there: Use your favorite browser and type in the URL http://www.asdreams.org/subidxdiscussionschat.htm Mark you calendar today! For updates, send an email to chat@asdreams.org ________________________________ College of Dreams http://www.collegeofdreams.com.au College of Dreams is a school without walls open to all people of all ages who are interested in dreams and dreamwork. It aims to share information, encourage questions and to contribute to the vast dreaming knowledge pool. What's in a name ? The sites' name "College of Dreams" was chosen as a way of reflecting the directors view that dreams themselves are a much higher place of learning than the traditional day to day learning establishments and methods that we usually pursue. It was chosen as a name which embodies its mission to invite people to learn about dreams and dreamwork. College of Dreams (COD) primary philosophy is respect for the inner wisdom and needs of individuals. While the diversity of dream practices and dream beliefs is recognised and reflected in its information and services, COD also believes that our night time and sleeping visions provide people with unique opportunities for greater understanding and unity with each other. Research! Committment to research and developing and providing a forum for dreamwork knowledge is also of central importance to COD. Volunteers are sought to participate in two major research projects - The Australia Dreaming Project and the " Dreams and SETI project." With all eyes on Australia for the olympics next year - The Australia Dreaming Project is exploring the prevelance of Dreams of Australian Flora and Fauna or Aboriginal artefacts and symbolism, in non indiginous populations both within and outside of Australia. In the "Dreams and SETI project" the impact of dreams of extra terrestrial intelligence on peoples waking philosophies is being examined. Controversial? College of Dreams is somewhat unique in that it provides both a professional approach and also a more popularist and generalist approach through providing a dream interpretation service. COD is interested in accessability, and remains committed to a diverse and eclectic approach to dreamwork. For instance even if people want to explore dreams for simply entertainment purposes than this should be seen as no less valid than those exploring them for scientific or other pursuits. However COD Practitioners have a policy of always making it clear that any interpretations are as a GUIDE only and limited by the practitioners own understandings They also endeavour as part of the interpretation to give tools and techniques to the person so that they can gain greater awareness and independence. Through this people asking for what seems a simple dream interpretation are being gently invited to expand their awareness and develop their own trust and autonomy to ultimately explore their own meanings more. Information The website provides free information on dreams and health, symbolism, dreams and creativity, as well as nightmares. In addition CODS own audio tapes such as Dream to Heal, Transforming Nightmares & Recurrent Dreams and Understanding Dream Symbolism are able to be purchased on line. There have been some teething problems with submitting forms but it is hoped that secure forms can be provided for this purpose shortly. Also planned for early next year are dream groups on line. Professional Support and development After numerous discussions with her colleagues , the director, Carolyn, saw a real need to provide counsellors, health workers or others interested in working with peoples dreams, some basic training and support specifically in dreamwork. As well as specific groups and workshops, COD also aims to run a Diploma in Dreamwork course by the beginning of 2001. - About the Director Carolyn Groth is based in Sydney Australia and is a qualified Social Worker and Clinical Hypnotherapist. In addition she is a freelance documentary producer and writer. (Producer of "Sacred Dream " on Encounter for - ABC Radio National as well as the award winning "The Buddhism of Backpacking" also on ABC Radio National.) She most recently completed a Diploma of Dreamwork Analysis through the British School of Yoga and is a Member of the Association for the Study of Dreams. http://www.ASDreams.org. Carolyn can be contacted at carolyn@collegeofdreams.com.au ________________________________ Different Approaches to Dreams - Class Instructor: Sharon Packer There are many approaches to dreams, each reflecting the values of the society from which it emerged. We explore different approaches, starting in ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, Rome, India, Africa, Australasia, and continuing through Medieval, Renaissance, Enlightenment, Romantic, and pre-modern Europe, before entering 19th- and 20th-century sleep laboratories and psychoanalytic sessions. We encounter dreams as religious revelations, sexual secrets, collective unconscious, medical miracles, creative catalysts, and/or mental manure! We compare dream interpretations of philosophers, psychoanalysts, and psychopharmacologists to private dream depictions in art, film, photography, literature, poetry, ballet, opera, and theater, using webmuseum links, home-video viewing, and music, as well as the written word. We discuss contemporary channels for dreamspace, such as cyberspace, sci-fi, kiddie lit, occultism, and creativity. We analyze little-known 19th-century data about drugs, dreams, and delirium tremors, before musing about the prognosis for psychoanalytic dream interpretation at a point when psychopharmacology takes center stage. (3 Credits) http://www.dialnsa.edu/coureg4a_fr1.htm Sharon Packer Fall 1999 Course(s): Different Approaches to Dreams M.D.Physician and psychiatrist. Bechinat Yerushalmit certificate in orthodox Jewish education. Editor of the Bulletin of Psychiatry and Judaism. http://www.dialnsa.edu/ |Cost $650.00 ________________________________ *DREAMING & AWAKENING IN PARADISE, MAUI, DEC 30, 1999 - JAN 6, 2000 Retreat with Stephen LaBerge, Alan Wallace, and Friends. Note date change! Airline tickets are going fast, so if you are considering participating, please let us know right away so we can include you in a group fare. http://www.lucidity.com FOR INFORMATION OR TO REGISTER CALL: +1 650 321-9969 or 1 800 GO LUCID (1 800 465-8243) daalf@lucidity.com * http://www.lucidity.com/DAAP99.html WARNING : If you attend this program, and the Y2K bug causes the collapse of civilization, you might be stuck in Maui for the duration. Whether you view this as a dream come true or a nightmare, ineither case, you can expect to wake up the next morning to the world as usual. Meanwhile, consider it a dream-sign. TIBETAN DREAM YOGA MEETS WESTERN POWER NAPPING: AN EXPERIMENT (Due Date: December 1, 1999) If you are interested in participating, please send an email to files@lucidity.com with the following subject: "send LR3060.pdf" and a robot sandman will email you a copy of the experiment. The sandman is not too bright, and extremely literal, so please make sure that the email address is exactly as above and that the subject contains exactly the words in quotation marks (exact same case, without the quotes) and nothing else. You will receive an email with the experiment file attached (LR3060.pdf). Please print the Adobe Acrobat format file, read, follow instructions, and return when finished. If you don't already have it, Acrobat reader is available free from Adobe at the following URL: http://www.adobe.com/prodindex/acrobat/readstep.html ______________ Deadline Extended to 12-15-99 For Call For Submissions For The ASD Millennium Association for the Study of Dreams CONFERENCE July 4-8, 2000 in Washington, DC. Dreaming in the New Millennium. See the Fireworks and stay with ASD at the Loew's L'Enfant on the Mall near the Smithsonian, the Capitol and many museums. 1) View or Download the call for submissions at the following URL http//www.asdreams.org/asd-17/asd17_call99.htm or send an e-mail to call@asdreams.org _______________ Set Your VCR for the HBO Special on Children's Dreams Premiers on HBO December 6, 1999 at 730 Et/pt.(And Will Be Repeated Several Times) Goodnight Moon and Other Sleepytime Tales Alan Siegel served as creative consultant to this entertaining feature which features kids talking about their dreams as well as a full animation of the children's booksGoodnight Moon, Tar Beach and There is a Nightmare in the Closet. Celebrity voices singing and narrating include Patti LaBelle, Aaron Neville, Tony Bennett, Natalie Cole, Lauryn Hill, Billy Crystal and Susan Sarandon. For parents, teachers, those interested in children dreams or children's literature, set you VCR to record this special. HBO will sell it in home video format in the spring of 2000. If you miss it, I have received permission to air the film at the July 2000 ASD conference. ______________ ASD News via e-mail The Association for the Study of Dreams has several ways to find out about ASD dream events. The most popular way is to become a member and get the Dream Time Magazine and ASD Newsletter. You can also now send an e-mail any time to news@asdreams.org and get the latest scoop. For those who prefer to browser, stop by the What's New? page at http://www.asdreams.org/idxwhatisnew.htm <<<<<<<<<<<<<<|||||||>>>>>>>>>>>|||||<<<<<<<<<<<< R E S E A R C H & R E Q U E S T S <<<<<<<<<<<<<<|||||||>>>>>>>>>>>|||||<<<<<<<<<<<< An Invitation to Join THE LUCID DREAM EXCHANGE Are you interested in lucid dreaming? (A lucid dream is a dream in which you know you are dreaming, while you are dreaming.) Would you like to share your lucid experiences and read about those of others? If so, then *The Lucid Dream Exchange* is for you! We are a group of lucid dreamers who enjoy sharing our lucid dreams with others and we welcome your input! How it works: Readers send their lucid dreams via email to lucy@turbotek.net or via snail mail to Robert Waggoner at PO Box 11, Ames, IA 50010. The dreams are compiled and copies are then sent out to subscribers. You do not have to be a lucid dreamer to receive *The Lucid Dream Exchange* (LDE), and you do not have to send any dreams if you don't want to. Also, if you want to send dreams, but wish to remain anonymous, you may do so, or use a pseudonym. Sometimes there is a theme to each issue, for instance, lucid flying dreams may be the current topic, but always a variety of lucid dreams are welcome. Remember, it must be a lucid dream (or Out-of-Body Experience) and you should indicate at what point you became lucid and what triggered your lucidity. Lucid dream related poetry and articles are welcome too, as well as suggestions for experiments. The present topic is simply "any of your interesting lucid dreams of the past year." (In other words, whatever lucid dreams [or Out-of-Body Experiences] you'd like to contribute.) For now, *The Lucid Dream Exchange* is operating on a donation basis. Monetary contributions as well as postage stamps are encouraged for assistance with printing and mailing costs. Submission deadline is November 15, 1999, and the mailing date for LDE is December 1, 1999. Please join us, as we explore the fascinating worlds of lucid dreams and expand our awareness of consciousness. Sweet dreams, Lucy Gillis (lucy@turbotek.net) <<<<<<<<<<<<<<|||||||>>>>>>>>>>>|||||<<<<<<<<<<<< W E B S I T E & O N L I N E U P D A T E S <<<<<<<<<<<<<<|||||||>>>>>>>>>>>|||||<<<<<<<<<<<< Do you know of interesting new websites you'd like to share with others? Or do you have updates to existing pages? Help spread the word by using the Electric Dreams DREAM-LINK page www.dreamgate.com/dream/resources/online97.htm. This is really a public projects board and requires that everyone keep up his or her own link URLs and information. Make a point to send changes to the links page to us. ----------- UPDATE: Please update your Myths-Dreams-Symbols URL http://www.mythsdreamssymbols.com New e-mail for Jerry Gifford is j-gifford@home.com ------------- A Visit to DREAM FLIGHTS, the Flying Dream Web Site You can explore the world of flying in your sleep at the new web site, *Dream Flights.* Just posted is the first FAQ (frequently asked questions) on flying dreams and more facts besides. In progress is a web page on the meanings of flying dreams. At *Dream Flights,* you'll already find examples of mutual and lucid flying dreams and the beginning of a web page on the astral aspects of dream flight. Want to know how to fly? Check out the page on the incubation of flying dreams. The site is filled with dream art and creativity, and plenty of links to other general, lucid, paranormal and flying dream sites. There is no longer a Fly-By-Night Club web site, although most of the old FBNC information is now posted at *Dream Flights.* Please note that this is a brand new URL: http://members.aol.com/caseyflyer/flying/dreams.html ______________________ Dreams and the Paranormal Dr. Ed Kellogg hosts the new Dreams and Paranormal Phenomena Forum on the ASD website. Stop by and read the report on the Dreams and Telepathy contest from the last conference. http://www.asdreams.org/telepathy _______________________ The Dream Vortex, maintained by Nicole J. LeBoeuf http://www.geocities.com/BourbonStreet/7728/Vortex/ "This is where we come to dream..." Features a Perl-driven, interactive page where you can submit your dream or interpret someone else's. Also includes tips on keeping a journal, methods of interpretation, suggestions for dreamplay, and a few of the author's own illustrated dreams. "...Here our dreams interact." __________________________ Commercial: Dream Catchers by Native Americans http://www.dreammagic.net/ <<<<<<<<<<<<<<|||||||>>>>>>>>>>>|||||<<<<<<<<<<<< D R E A M C A L E N D A R November 1999 <<<<<<<<<<<<<<|||||||>>>>>>>>>>>|||||<<<<<<<<<<<< December 1, 1999 at 7:00 PM PST Chat online Richard Wilkerson"Dreaming in Cyberspace" December 1, 1999 Due Date for Tibetan Dream Yoga Meets Western Power Napping: an Experiment http://www.lucidity.com December 1, 1999 Mailing deadline for Lucid Dream Exchange. See News Above Lucy Gillis (lucy@turbotek.net) December 6, 1999 at 730 ET/PT HBO Special on Children's Dreams. December 15, 1999 ASD Call for Presentations for July 4-8, 2000 Conference in Washington DC http://www.asdreams.org/asd-17/ or send an email to call@asdreams.org December 25, 1999 Dreaming the New Millennium Mutual dreaming vision quest for the new millennium See the article in December Electric Dreams or contact Lars Spivok at y2k@dreamgate.com December 15, 1999 Deadline for Electric Dreams 2000 Send in articles and dreams about dreamwork in the future. rcwilk@dreamgate.com ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ** DREAMS ** DREAMS ** DREAMS ** DREAMS ** DREAMS ** DREAMS ** ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ dream-flow.v001.n144 through dream-flow.v001.n178 Hello and welcome to the DREAM SECTION of Electric Dreams. This section is edited by the DreamEditor, a software creation of Harry Bosma, author of the Dream interpretation and journaling software Alchera (homepage: http://mythwell.com) The Electric Dreams DREAM SECTION includes dreams and comments from the DREAM FLOW, a project to circulate dreams in cyberspace. Many mail lists participate, including dream-flow@lists.best.com DreamingWorld@onelist.com dreamsandvisions@onelist.com dreamz@onelist.com dreamstream@topical.com DreamsRus@onelist.com The Dream Sack http//www.deeplistening.org/ione If you would like to send in single dreams for the flow, you can leave them at http//www.dreamgate.com/dream/temple If you have a mail list or would like to contribute dreams and comments on a regular basis, you can subscribe to the dream-flow by sending an E-mail to TOdream-flow-request@lists.best.com In the body of the E-mail put only subscribe your-email please substitute your real email address with "your-email" You may get a note back to verify the subscription. Simply hit the return or reply key, change REJECT to ACCEPT in the subject field and send the note back. -------------- BEGIN dream-flow.v001.n179 -------------- 001 - Anonymous - Sacred Rock Dream 002 - Heratheta - Re: Digest dream-flow.v001.n178 --------------- DREAM dream-flow.v001.n179.1 --------------- From: Anonymous Subject: Sacred Rock Dream Date: Tue, 26 Oct 1999 15:08:49 -0700 Sacred Rock Dream - by Jessica This dream was one of the most powerfully spiritual night visions I have had. It came to me the first night I slept in San Francisco having moved from New York a month ago. For three weeks I had been exploring canyons and mountains in Utah, Wyoming and Montana, and I believe this dream was my final synthesis of all I had experienced during this intense time of death and rebirth-- My (unknown) male partner and I are waiting at the bottom of a canyon for an impending storm. We are both afraid not knowing what will happen to us when the storm arrives, but we are too excited to let our fear overcome us. We knew we were waiting for the "master" to come and reveal the secrets of the storm. The wind was picking up and I realized that we were amidst an ocean of chi-- it was an energy storm. I clung to the rocks in an ecstatic embrace and rode orgasmic waves of energy flowing through the canyon. At last the master's presence was felt and we heard a voice tell us the mystery of the canyon: the key to surviving the storm was to become one with the rocks for the rocks only existed to create the sacred spaces in between-- By becoming one with the rocks, you too become the sacred space through which the storm can flow through without harm. I understood and woke up enlightened. I found this dream particularly interesting because of the "master" symbol that appeared as a prominent figure. I had recently had a discussion with a friend about the search for a master/guru, and I had a hard time agreeing that one must find such a person. Although I believe there are innumerable teachers from whom we can all learn and gain insight from by observing and honoring them through devotion, I hold firm to the belief that the highest teacher resides within one's own self. So although the "master" was a disembodied male voice, every piece of one's dream is none other than one's self, and therefore, the master is also none other than one's self which extends out to all beings and things, including the sacred canyon rocks. --------------- DREAM dream-flow.v001.n179.2 --------------- From: Heratheta Subject: Re: Digest dream-flow.v001.n178 Date: Tue, 26 Oct 1999 20:33:15 EDT --------------- END dream-flow.v001.n179 --------------- -------------- BEGIN dream-flow.v001.n180 -------------- 001 - Anonymous - jack 002 - Anonymous - Jennifer...The Basement 003 - Anonymous - Dream 004 - Anonymous - Tropical Island --------------- DREAM dream-flow.v001.n180.1 --------------- From: Anonymous Subject: jack Date: Thu, 28 Oct 1999 10:04:40 -0700 --------------- DREAM dream-flow.v001.n180.2 --------------- From: Anonymous Subject: Jennifer...The Basement Date: Thu, 28 Oct 1999 10:02:13 -0700 Dream Last night I dreampt that I was at a university, I'm not sure which one, but there was a group of us that heard about a basement in one of the buildings that had a jacuzzi in it, so we decided to look for it. We found this really skinny door and went through it, and down some really steep stairs. Once we got down there, we saw a professor that told us what we were searching for was easy to find, but we would get lost trying to get back. So he just showed us to a lounge area that had a bunch of people studying, and a few aquariums. Most of the aquariums had dead fish in them, and the ones that were alive were surviving off of the flesh of the dead fish. A girl ran in and said that it was her job to take care of the fish, but she had been gone all summer, and just let them go. After that, I woke up. I have a history of dreaming about fish, and they are usually alive, but in aquariums. I also have a big fear of the water, I don't know where it stems from. Can you help? Comments by Dreamer Permission to Comment yes_share_comments --------------- DREAM dream-flow.v001.n180.3 --------------- From: Anonymous Subject: Dream Date: Thu, 28 Oct 1999 10:05:04 -0700 Dream Title Car with no Brakes By; The Scorpion Date of Dream Multiple days, at night Dream I dream that I enter in a vehicle and find myself with no brakes at all. I try to stop but can't. Later I find myself driving through tall downtown buildings at a high velocity and then I fall from the high building. My car falls apart but I am not hurt. Then I enter into another car and my worries start all over again. This dream is reoccurring. I've dreamt it more than once. Comments by Dreamer Permission to Comment yes_share_comments Permission Comments Anyone can read my dream and I would like to know what my dream is telling me. Is there any hidden meaning in the dream. Thank you. --------------- DREAM dream-flow.v001.n180.4 --------------- From: Anonymous Subject: Tropical Island Date: Thu, 28 Oct 1999 10:02:29 -0700 Dream In this dream I won an island. So my friends and I went to my Island so I could show them around. I don't know how we got there, but I began showing them around, then we took a seat in a cafe (the only thing on the Island). We were talking and I told one of my friends (Lewie) that I had won the Island. He siad "you did not" and I replied "I did really I did" and my younger sister backed me up and told this guy "she did win this Island". I then told him that I have given everyone some land on my Island so we can all build houses, and everyone will have a boat so we could sail back to the mainland for supplies. I then pointed out my friend Jim to the others and said "Jim is building his house over there, he's just won 10 million dollars, so he's building a house for Tanya and himself". Then I said to Lewie "do you want to come and have a look around the Island?". He said he didn't want to, and David (another friend) said he would stay in the cafe and keep Lewie company. So afew of us went for a walk and found a little lagoon. The water was crystal clear - you could see colourful fish in the bottom of the lagoon. So we went in the water. It was so calming, and warm. We were all swimming, I went under the water - and it was as clear as it was out of the water. The I came up from the water - stepped out of the lagoon and woke up. Comments by Dreamer A very pleasant dream, no fear. Just calming - excpet for the friend who I had most conversation with (Lewie). He didn't believe me, and seemed disinterested if not pissed of that I have an Island. Permission to Comment yes_share_comments Permission Comments do what you want with it, it was a nice dream. --------------- END dream-flow.v001.n180 --------------- -------------- BEGIN dream-flow.v001.n181 -------------- 001 - Anonymous - morte 002 - Anonymous - Dream Title "Running" 003 - Anonymous - "Second Coming-I Saw God --------------- DREAM dream-flow.v001.n181.1 --------------- From: Anonymous Subject: morte Date: Sat, 30 Oct 1999 12:31:04 -0700 --------------- DREAM dream-flow.v001.n181.2 --------------- From: Anonymous Subject: Dream Title "Running" Date: Sat, 30 Oct 1999 12:42:09 -0700 Dream I don't quite remember the entire dream, but I vividly remember the last fragment of the dream. My three cousins and I were running in a field. This was a field where I felt comfortable, almost like a childhood play area (although in reality, there is no such place). We were running to a certain area in the field into the woods. We were laughing and screaming as we ran. It appeared as if we were a few years younger, with the exception of my youngest cousin. My youngest cousin was struggling to keep up with us. I grabbed her hand and was pulling her ahead. My eldest cousin was carrying an apple pie in both her hands and extended it away from her body. I felt a sudden urge to take the pie and did so. I continued running while everyone was chasing me into the woods. When I finally reached my destination, I found myself in a dark green thicket filled with water up to my knees. I waded into the middle of the thicket and waited. My cousins watched me from the outside of the thicket. Suddenly, frogs poured out from all around the thicket in my direction. The movement was gradual, and I became frightened (I am not afraid of frogs). I wasn't scared for my safety; actually, I was concerned that the frogs would eat the pie, which I realized at this point that it was an apple pie. I heard a voice (it might have been my oldest cousin) telling me that I shouldn't be afraid of the frogs, they were just trying to help me. Soon the frogs slowly exited this thicket, and I was left with the pie in my hands. All the water that was in the thicket had disappeared. It was at this point that I woke up. Comments by Dreamer I don't understand why I have such unusual dreams. At times, my friends and I share our dreams, and mine always seem the most eclectic and extraordinary. Their dreams seem more realistic (every day occurences) than mine do. And when my dreams do in fact seem normal, there is often a certain characteristic that is attributed to them (ie: black and white, only in one color, a different language- sometimes one that I don't speak, only bottom half of the picture). Permission to Comment yes_share_comments Permission Comments Please email me responses or comments to my dream (if possible). I am interested in knowing what people think of them --------------- DREAM dream-flow.v001.n181.3 --------------- From: Anonymous Subject: "Second Coming-I Saw God Date: Sun, 31 Oct 1999 12:42:21 -0800 Dream In the first dream, I was at the lake with some friends, and all of the clouds that had been in the sky disappeared. A few moments later, the sky was filled with clouds again, but they all began to take the form of crosses. I was spinning so fast, and all I could see was plain crosses. Then, suddenly, I stopped spinning, and there was one cross larger than the others and Christ was on it. Everyone became frightened, but I was so filled with joy! I tried to spread the word as to what it meant (I knew it was signaling the Second Coming), but no one would listen-they would just panic. The next day I got married, and 10 months later, I had a baby, then Christ returned. In the dream immediatly following, I was standing before God, and he was holding my hands so lovingly! (He looked like any other man-we really are in His image!) I was crying, but not a lot. I asked "When", and He replied, "Soon, My child, soon." And that is where these "visions" ended. Comments by Dreamer These dreams gave me a inner peace. A year ago, they would have scared me. But in the past year, I have become so close to the Lord, and knowing that He was returning soon made me so happy! Permission to Comment yes_share_comments --------------- END dream-flow.v001.n181 --------------- -------------- BEGIN dream-flow.v001.n182 -------------- 001 - Heratheta - Re: Digest dream-flow.v001.n179,180,&181 002 - Anonymous - Frustrating information --------------- DREAM dream-flow.v001.n182.1 --------------- From: Heratheta Subject: Re: Digest dream-flow.v001.n179,180,&181 Date: Sun, 31 Oct 1999 22:03:32 EST 179 rock drm-peace had alin to the right of the canyon if you had avoided becoming frightening 180 jack drm-peace had lain to the ri[ght of the circle if you had avoided becoming young jennifer drm-peace had lain to the right of the door if you had avoided becoming really car drm-peace had lain to the right of the car if you had avoided becoming "at all" tropical drm-peace had lain to the right of the island if yoiu had avoided becoming won running drm-peace had lain to the right of the field if you had avoided becoming "almost" 2nd coming drm-peace had lain to the right of the lake if you had avoided becoming "all of a sudden" more at www.dreamgate.com./dream/dubetz/ --------------- DREAM dream-flow.v001.n182.2 --------------- From: Anonymous Subject: Frustrating information Date: Sun, 31 Oct 1999 22:47:02 -0800 Dream I am with a tall, male, patient of mine. He seems very familiar to me. He is dying of cancer (& knows it) & has bloody urine. I am explaining to him that there is blood because of irritation to the bladder wall. Something about my words is irritating him & I ask him what it is -- how can I tell him what he is asking. He begins to tell me about blood in his stools & that he has already checked it. He is talking about preventing constipation. I am thinking that we need to sit down together at his table & talk frankly. I am thinking that I have been being open & honest with him, but he is unsatisfied. He almost seems not to believe me. -- Dream interrupted & I am awakened by my cat. Comments by Dreamer I am a Hospice nurse, so it would not be unusual for me to be having this conversation with someone. But, just before I lay down for the nap, I had been doing a reading asking for insight on my difficulty with dream recall. I feel no fear about this dream. I have a feeling that is is addressing the dream recall question. Permission to Comment yes_share_comments Permission Comments comments welcome --------------- END dream-flow.v001.n182 --------------- -------------- BEGIN dream-flow.v001.n183 -------------- 001 - Heratheta - Re: Digest dream-flow.v001.n182 002 - Anonymous - Honeybee --------------- DREAM dream-flow.v001.n183.1 --------------- From: Heratheta Subject: Re: Digest dream-flow.v001.n182 Date: Tue, 2 Nov 1999 21:04:05 EST --------------- DREAM dream-flow.v001.n183.2 --------------- From: Anonymous Subject: Honeybee Date: Wed, 03 Nov 1999 21:23:30 -0800 --------------- END dream-flow.v001.n183 --------------- -------------- BEGIN dream-flow.v001.n184 -------------- 001 - --------------- DREAM dream-flow.v001.n184.2 --------------- From: Anonymous Subject: Out of body experience Date: Thu, 04 Nov 1999 20:54:40 -0800 Comments by Dreamer This date it was the last day that I had this dream but I am pretty sure I will have this dream over and over again. Can anyone tell me the meaning of this dream?... Permission to Comment yes_share_comments Permission Comments Everytime I have this dream or other dreams I see alot of vision of myself, I mean I see alot of me in my dreams. It sound crazy, but the first time I had this dream I was 7 yrs old. --------------- DREAM dream-flow.v001.n184.3 --------------- From: Anonymous Subject: Comments on : Good Water/Bad Water Date: Fri, 05 Nov 1999 03:26:47 -0800 Dream >my dream began in a tropical setting. swimming in beautiful warm clear water >with a white sand bottom. i was swimming nude with another person who was faceless. this dream was one of the most sensuous dreams i have ever had. we were swimming intertwined when all of the sudden the person disappeared and i was suddenly fully clothed with heavy boots and heavy jeans on. the water was no longer the ocean and turned suddenly into a dark and murky lake with a deep muddy bottom that was making me sink. Note what is happening at the same time: the scene changes with exchange of the faceless animus figure (probably) for clothes. When you come on scene, you must come on in costume-- identified, since once on stage, you must act out of your character; some would say, you must _be_ her. At that point, if I were to ask you which are you: who you (unconsciously) are, or who you (consciously) think yourself to be, perhaps it will cause a moment's doubt. With clothes/ without clothes, you see? Some have for that reason called clothes "mental forms," and in an analogous way we may take the animus figure more superficially to represent emotion; but this first state intimates a union of opposites probably more profoundly, while we have named but two. there were old rusted out junk objects in the lake, cars and washers and dryers. Yet in another sense, the dreamer has no difficulty with the unconscious; in that sense, a healthy spleen is indicated by the fact that one knows absolutely nothing about it, to perceive which nonetheless is grace-- but the unconscious was quite different to Freud than to Jung, though the same unconscious; the universe was quite different to Newton than Einstein, but the same universe; once identified with the conscious, possibly everyday, mental sense of oneself (clothed), the dreamer has lost the oceanic bliss, and gained for context the unconscious as a muddy dump for discarded junk, in which swimming is hard work. i had to trudge to the dock and very slowly pull my self up onto the dock. once off the dock, in order to get to land, i had to crawl through a very long twisty and curvy tunnel that was very small. throughout the course of the tunnel i had to open all kinds of chutes that were stuck and it took me several times of trying to open them per chute. That does seem to resemble a woman putting on clothes... i finally saw sunlight and was so relieved to see the sunlight and be out of the tunnell. this was the end of the dream. Often the dream tunnel is a tight fit, or proceeding the other way at any rate, clothing (insulation) must be discarded, but this part is somewhat redundant to the muddy pond. I am reminded of one of the sybelline comments, apparently unsolicited, from a woman suddenly telling me of a sailing trip in which she went overboard, and weighted down by winter clothes, she realized she could not surface, just sinking down, when her husband's had reached down and fetched her up. Husbands are occasionally good for something, you know; but then sometimes it doesn't work, in which case it is probably best to know how to swim. Comments by Dreamer due to a long term verbally abusive relationship, i have great fear of one on one relationships, dating, etc. i have recently begun extensive therapy to be able to let bad memories go and start trusting and dating again. A feminist friend told me of her appreciation for a recent book which noted that when an animal hears a snarl outside its burrow, it does not reason with itself, "You know, that must have been my imagination; there is really nothing to it... " Sometimes it is wiser to trust that feeling in the gut than socially accepted platitudes? i'm a little apprehensive about the order of the dream. it seems to me that i should have had the bad part first, and the good part last. People do not have so much difficulty with subjective information, nor with objective information, but where the two are confused, confusion generally reigns-- no, the opacity is aptly in between. maybe i'm looking at this in the wrong context. Quite possibly. The temporality of dreams is completely different also. - Tom --------------- DREAM dream-flow.v001.n184.4 --------------- From: Anonymous Subject: M HEARS MY OM MAN Date: Fri, 05 Nov 1999 03:40:04 -0800 I am standing at the end of a concrete block wall. I notice that a broken slab from another concrete block has been shoved into the earth beside the wall. My brother, M, sits, cross legged, on the ground uphill of the wall. He signals for me to proceed and I start chanting Om Mani Padme Hum. At first it comes out low and mumbling and I am worried that M will be bored, then I start gaining volume and as I do the deep vibrations of the mantra build and literally shake my body and make my head buzz. The Om Mani is a mantra to liberate all sentient beings. I woke from this dream with a deep feeling of well being and the sense that M, through his devotion to R, is himself becoming "an advanced life form". --------------- DREAM dream-flow.v001.n184.5 --------------- From: Anonymous Subject: ADVANCED LIFE FORM Date: Fri, 05 Nov 1999 03:39:56 -0800 #40 ADVANCED LIFE FORM - Hugh In the midst of another dream my brother, M, appears and tells me, most emphatically, that his wife, R, is "an advanced life form". "She may not be able to talk and she may not be able to eat," he says, "but she is an advanced life form." I feel so very sorry for him but, of course, since she is "an advanced life form" I mustn't show it. After waking the sorrow that I felt for M eased as I saw that, though caring for "an advanced life form" might not be fun, it is a meaningful way to live. Later I learned from Tulku Bhagwan Rimpoche that in Tibetan Buddhist tradition people, such as R, whose lives seem to end before their physical death are regarded as particularly meritorious, having managed to work out their karmic burden and joining Nirvana while incarnate, thus becoming, in a sense, "advanced life forms". --------------- END dream-flow.v001.n184 --------------- -------------- BEGIN dream-flow.v001.n185 -------------- 001 - Heratheta - Re: Digest dream-flow.v001.n183&184 002 - Anonymous - Pursuit --------------- DREAM dream-flow.v001.n185.1 --------------- From: Heratheta Subject: Re: Digest dream-flow.v001.n183&184 Date: Sat, 6 Nov 1999 10:41:34 EST --------------- DREAM dream-flow.v001.n185.2 --------------- From: Anonymous Subject: Pursuit Date: Sat, 06 Nov 1999 23:12:42 -0800 Dream I have twice had a dream that I had a pursuit, and the one who wants to catch me was a giant. He did never catch me because I was faster then he was. In the first dream he was pursuiting me and a girlfriend of me in a wood. We reached our home earlier then he. But he was already in the house and I talked it out. In the second dream there was another giant that was pursuiting me ALONE in a factory, were there made carpets or something... I climbed up to the roof, and he couldn't catch me because I was meditating, something I don't do in normal life. After that I escaped outside and he pursuited me again. He was faster so I waked up. I didn't suscripe this dreams as nightmares. I am from Holland, and male. I just want to know what this means. Comments by Dreamer I am not a shy person, and have good friends. I am a HBO student. I hope, this is enough info. email adress: goodlife@dds.nl Permission to Comment yes_share_comments Permission Comments my email adress is: goodlife@dds.nl You can use it. --------------- END dream-flow.v001.n185 --------------- -------------- BEGIN dream-flow.v001.n186 -------------- 001 - Anonymous - Fish and flowers 002 - Heratheta - Re: Digest dream-flow.v001.n185 --------------- DREAM dream-flow.v001.n186.1 --------------- From: Anonymous Subject: Fish and flowers Date: Sun, 07 Nov 1999 22:05:49 -0800 Dream Title Fish and flowers NiteShade Date of Dream 11/2/99 11:30 pm apr Dream In this dream I am walking on a side walk in a surburban type area. Everything seems normal except there are these Chinese fighting fish hoveirng over tiny, red, four petaled flowers eating. I am not in water nor are they. I can't figure this one out. I am not sure on the name of the fist but I know the fighting part is right it may be Simmoan tho. Comments by Dreamer wondering why fish were eating off of flowers and hovering in air Permission to Comment yes_share_comments Be sure to drop off your dream at the research page that is requesting fish dreams --------------- DREAM dream-flow.v001.n186.2 --------------- From: Heratheta Subject: Re: Digest dream-flow.v001.n185 Date: Sun, 7 Nov 1999 19:37:28 EST --------------- END dream-flow.v001.n186 --------------- -------------- BEGIN dream-flow.v001.n187 -------------- 001 - Anonymous - It won't stop --------------- DREAM dream-flow.v001.n187.1 --------------- From: Anonymous Subject: It won't stop Date: Mon, 08 Nov 1999 23:44:18 -0800 --------------- END dream-flow.v001.n187 --------------- -------------- BEGIN dream-flow.v001.n188 -------------- 001 - Anonymous - The English Patient --------------- DREAM dream-flow.v001.n188.1 --------------- From: Anonymous Subject: The English Patient Date: Wed, 10 Nov 1999 00:22:25 -0800 --------------- END dream-flow.v001.n188 --------------- -------------- BEGIN dream-flow.v001.n189 -------------- 001 - AngstRidn - re: fish and flower dream 002 - Anonymous - Unfulfilled Revenge --------------- DREAM dream-flow.v001.n189.1 --------------- From: AngstRidn Subject: re: fish and flower dream Date: Thu, 11 Nov 1999 09:51:24 EST >Dream Title Fish and flowers >By NiteShade >Date of Dream 11/2/99 >11:30 pm >Dream In this dream I am walking on a side walk in a surburban type area. Everything seems normal except there are these Chinese fighting fish hoveirng over tiny, red, four petaled flowers eating. I am not in water nor are they. I can't figure this one out. I am not sure on the name of the fist but I know the fighting part is right it may be Simmoan tho. >Comments by Dreamer wondering why fish were eating off of flowers and hovering in air >Permission to Comment yes_share_comments >> >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> COMMENTS TO DREAMER: I've had dreams in which a fish bowl was broken and fish were swimming in the air. We figured that meant it was the end of Pisces analogy. the red, four petaled chakra is the root chakra... Maybe this will help: Color: Red. Attributes: Grounding, good health, survival instincts, vitality, sexuality (for men). When Unbalanced you may experience: Violence, anger, constipation, survival fears. To Awaken and Balance: Spend some time each day sitting directly on the earth. Dance! >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Note that the fighting fish were eating of the petals... and the petals represent violence and anger. See how fitting that is. Perhaps it is indicative of a relationship that is not all that great recently, or heading in that direction. It's also the story of the nation of china right now. Hope that helps in some way. Dee --------------- DREAM dream-flow.v001.n189.2 --------------- From: Anonymous Subject: Unfulfilled Revenge Date: Fri, 12 Nov 1999 14:19:48 -0800 Dream I had a dream about wanting to shoot my ex-boyfriend. It was so weird because in the dream I was sitting with a guy I am currently dating and we were looking at photos of myself in a bikini when suddenly a gun appeared on the table and my ex was on a boat climbing out of a window and I picked up the gun and aimed it at him. I wanted to shoot him so bad, but the guy I was with convinced me not to and said it wasn't worth going to jail for. I found this dream very disturbing because I would never shoot anyone. Comments by Dreamer I would like some insights on what this could mean. Permission to Comment yes_share_comments --------------- END dream-flow.v001.n189 --------------- -------------- BEGIN dream-flow.v001.n190 -------------- 001 - Anonymous - the three head baby 002 - Anonymous - Crush/crushinggrl 003 - Anonymous - "Bloody Mary." Jax --------------- DREAM dream-flow.v001.n190.1 --------------- From: Anonymous Subject: the three head baby Date: Sat, 13 Nov 1999 13:26:21 -0800 Dream I felt I am pregnant. My belly was very big, it was very hard to walk for me. one moment after I felt myself walking up stears in the university, which was in another city, than I am living. in my hands I had some papers, which I had to fill in to enter the university. Walking up the stears I met my mother and I could'nt understand how had she appeared there. After a moment I felt that baby is coming up. I began to bear and after a moment gave birth to my baby. At first look he was normal baby, but suddenly I noticed he had three heads. I was so scared and confused... And then I Woke up. Comments by Dreamer I haven't any comments, but I can't to forget it. I feel it has some very important message for me, but I can't understand it. Permission to Comment yes_share_comments --------------- DREAM dream-flow.v001.n190.2 --------------- From: Anonymous Subject: Crush/crushinggrl Date: Sun, 14 Nov 1999 11:05:41 -0800 Dream I dreamt that it had snowed out and the snow was very deep. I was rolling down it and my new neighbor and crush, Ryan, was there and so was my brother. When I would sled, I would go under the snow and I felt stuck and was afraid that I would suffocate. But I kept doing that. Ryan was watching me, so I felt happy. Then I dreamt that I was at my grandma's house and Ryan, who's a year younger then me, was there with his family. His uncle came up to me and said that Ryan was going to ask me out and I had to tell him yes. I like him so this was okay. Then I was in a room and he came in and sat down on the chair with me. My brother came in and went to sit down also, but Ryan and I told him that we needed to talk. He left the room and we started kissing. Later in the dream my brother was making fun of me and my mom heard him say that I was thinking about my boyfriend Ryan. My mom got angry and said,"We'll have to talk about that." and I kept repeating, he's a freshman, don't worry. Then I was in our school's auditorium and I saw him with another girl and I was so jealous. But all I could think about was our kissing. Comments by Dreamer I felt great because I've had a crush on him since we moved and he's really cute. Even after the dream was over, I felt tingly thinking about it and the dream(the kissing part) kept repeating in my mind. Permission to Comment yes_share_comments --------------- DREAM dream-flow.v001.n190.3 --------------- From: Anonymous Subject: "Bloody Mary." Jax Date: Sun, 14 Nov 1999 11:06:38 -0800 Dream "I am sitting on a cliff with my crow sitting upon my shoulder. I turn and begin to walk into the forest. Then next thing I know I am walking there a dark hallway that leads to a large dark and somewhat damp cathedral. I stop before entering and my crow glides off my shoulder and sits upon the alter. After hesitating for a few I began to walk to the alter. My boots echo on the hard Marble floor. When I reach it my crow caws at me then tilts it's head side to side then glides to my shoulder. I then turns to the right and walked over to the marble figure of Mary. As I stood there looking up at her I heard piter pattering of small naked feet of the floor along with faint laughter. I turn to see if I can see it but no luck. Then it faded so I turned back to Mary only to find that there is something on her cheek. I looked closer only to find that it was a faint trail of blood coming from her eyes. Then I heard the same laughter again and this time when I turned around I saw a small child running through a doorway on the far end. My crow glided off my shoulder and went in the same direction of the child. I didn't hesitate one-second and took off in a made dash after my crow and the child. I ran down the hall way only to exit in the area of the cliff in where I started from. I heard the child again but this time it was crying. I walked to the cliffs edge and looked down only to look backover my shoulder and there stood this woman. I couldn't see her face nor make and shape except that she was wearing a long black or gray I don't know but it was dark and I could see very well because the next thing I knew I was being lifted into the air by my throat. I tried to break free but to only have the grip tightened. She carried me over to the ledge and then smiles with a fanged grin then dropped me." Comments by Dreamer H E L P! ! ? ! ? Permission to Comment yes_share_comments Permission Comments Yes_yes_respond w/ any thought, please?!?! --------------- END dream-flow.v001.n190 --------------- -------------- BEGIN dream-flow.v001.n191 -------------- 001 - Anonymous - susan 002 - Anonymous - Getting married 003 - Anonymous - prediction dream:Witch --------------- DREAM dream-flow.v001.n191.1 --------------- From: Anonymous Subject: susan Date: Sun, 14 Nov 1999 14:24:16 -0800 Dream 10 years ago I was visited by my guardian angel. Prior to visual confirmation, I was unable to open my eyes and move my body. After considerable effort I slit my eyes to behold the above. Recently and quite frequently I have been dreaming of being unable to open my eyes, often in a work situation or within my bedroom. I am curious as to what the meaning of this might be. Am I experiencing another visitation or does it have other meanings. My most recent is today. Comments by Dreamer The dreams frighten me, only because I cannot open my eyes Permission to Comment yes_share_comments --------------- DREAM dream-flow.v001.n191.2 --------------- From: Anonymous Subject: Getting married Date: Sun, 14 Nov 1999 17:51:18 -0800 Dream Okay, before I tell you my dream I must explain partly what's going on with some of the people in it. Okay, the guy I've been going out with is an alcoholic, and he tends to think we are going to get married. So anyways, here it is... Well, he and I are out on a date, and we are kissing, all of the sudden we aren't in the car anymore, and we are standing beside my dad, yet we are still kissing. My dad has this really odd expression on his face, yet he doesn't say anything to me. Later on when I get home my mom tells me that she never wants me to go out with that loser again. I disobey her, and my dream flashes ahead, and we are out on another date, and we are talking seriously about something that has to be important judging by our faces. He then pulls out the most gorgeous ring I'd ever seen, and asks me to marry him. I know that the ring must have been way out of his budget, but I keep it in my hand. The dream doesn't show that I say yes, but it quickly flashes by and we are getting married. Both of us are extremely happy and we leave after the wedding to a beatiful place. Then my dream flashes back and I see my parents crying. It is right after we have left, but I can see them asking eachother where they went wrong. Then it immediately flashes ahead again and I have 3 babies under 4 years old, and I am pregnant with another. He comes home from work, and we are both really happy still. Everytime I see another flash of my life it will show me, and then show my parents both wishing I had married someone that went to our church. And then the next time it shows us, we are going to church, and my parents are really happy. My life keeps flashing and soon I see all of my kids graduating, getting married, and starting their own lives. I end up having 8 kids. I then see me and my husband when we are getting old, and we are sitting in a garden that we had both put together, and we are still really happy, and we seem just as happy to be together as we did when we started. Then it shows him in a hospital bed, and I am crying. I stay there for many days, and then my life flashes ahead again and I am sitting in the same garden, except this time my husband is not sitting by me. My children come back and visit constantly, but now it doesn't bring the same happiness as before, and I feel as if I am dead myself. I feel like I have nothing left to look forward to because he's not there to experience my life with me. This dream was so wierd when I dreamt it because it came at such a wierd time. It was when I thought my boyfriend was tired of me, and didn't want to be around me. The day after I had this dream, he told me that whenever he thinks of where he will be in 5-10 years, he sees us being married and having a perfect little life, and he basically told me the exact things that I had dreamed! What does this mean? --------------- DREAM dream-flow.v001.n191.3 --------------- From: Anonymous Subject: prediction dream:Witch Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1999 13:30:01 -0800 Dream I dreamed that i was going to a witch to take classes about magick.I was with two friends but in real life i don't know them. The witch lived in a old building on the third floor. She was very friendly,whe had alot of fun, i liked be with her. When the class was over, and whe went away, she shaked my hand. But suddenly she pulled me close to her, looked me right in the eyes and said, "don't let the 5 holding you back" Then 1 of her eyes lighted up. It was very strange, because then i knew i was dreaming. Then she pulled me up with one hand, and then she let me fall. I was frightend, but suddenly i stopped falling and i floated a few centimeters above the groundfloor of the building.I opend my eyes, but i was still dreaming, because i saw the door from the building. Then i woke up, but i wasen't like i woked up after a nightmare. It was very strange, i still think about the message, and i'm sure i know that woman, but i don't know who she is. Very strange, that's why i want help because i want to know what that woman wanted to tell me! Comments by Dreamer Permission to Comment yes_share_comments --------------- END dream-flow.v001.n191 --------------- -------------- BEGIN dream-flow.v001.n192 -------------- 001 - Anonymous - frecklesct 002 - Anonymous - A LESSON IN A MOSQUE 003 - Heratheta - Re: Digest dream- flow.v001.n186,187,188,189,190,191 --------------- DREAM dream-flow.v001.n192.1 --------------- From: Anonymous Subject: frecklesct Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1999 09:23:02 -0800 --------------- DREAM dream-flow.v001.n192.2 --------------- From: Anonymous Subject: A LESSON IN A MOSQUE Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1999 09:22:05 -0800 Comments by Dreamer * Citadel cadet uniforms, it might be noted, have stiff, upright collars. N.D., I recently discovered, survived ovarian cancer. Permission to Comment yes_share_comments --------------- DREAM dream-flow.v001.n192.3 --------------- From: Heratheta Subject: Re: Digest dream-flow.v001.n186,187,188,189,190,191 Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1999 20:48:51 EST --------------- END dream-flow.v001.n192 --------------- -------------- BEGIN dream-flow.v001.n193 -------------- 001 -