Chat file opened 07\/26\/89 17:20:42
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DREAM INTERPRETATION AND SYMBOLOGY<\/p>\n
Raymond Buckland
\n Typed in for PAN
\n by Lewis
\n (508)\/795-7628<\/p>\n
You have probably spent countless hours of trying unsuccessfully to
\ndecipher the seemingly senseless riddles of your dreams. You are puzzled when
\na dream of attending Aunt Minnie’s funeral proves not in the least prophetic
\nas, ten years later, Aunt Minnie is still going strong. You’re totally
\nbaffled at intimate exchanges with people you wouldn’t normally go near. You
\nare amazed at dreamaing of doing things that are physically impossible in your
\neveryday life. You end up with total frustration in youur attempts to make
\nany sense of the strange goings-on in your elusive dreams. Yet you still feel
\nthat somewhere there must be an answer… but where? What is the key?<\/p>\n
As an element of the Universal Consciousness your super-conscious
\nawareness is totally versed in Universal Symbolism. Since the super-conscious
\nmind tends to speak in its own language, your dreams can be expected tocontain
\nsome of this language of Universal Symbols. But even though it has its own
\nlanguage the super-conscious mind is aware that you will respond best to those
\nsymbolds with which your conscious mind is most familar. Therefore, it will
\nuse terms and symbols from your everyday life. Oftimes it will use the
\nsymbolism from recent events that are fresh in your memory. These impressions
\nfrom your personal physical life are called Personal Symbolism. <\/p>\n
Universal Symbolism includes those things that remain true for all
\nhumankind throughout the ages. Inclued are colors, numbers, form and sexual
\nideniity (ie: male and female) They come from the super-consciousness and
\ntherefore are timeless. A case in point is transportation–the universal
\nsymbol of spiritual advancement. As material technology has advanced, the
\napplication of symbology has kept pace. So transportation may take one of the
\nmodern forms of conveyance, such as rockets, planes, steamships, trains or
\nautomobiles, or one of the timeless modes of riding on the back of and animal
\nor walking.<\/p>\n
It would be impossible to list all the universal symbols here but a
\ngeneral sampling is given in the file titled “universal symbols”<\/p>\n
INTERPRETING YOUR DREAMS<\/p>\n
The eminent psychologist arl Jung once stated: “No dream symbol can be
\nseparated froom the individual who dreams it.” Keep this thought in mind as
\nyou study the following concepts. Notice that almost all of the universal
\nsymbols have various shades of meanings. The interpretation of such symbols
\ncan only be done by YOU, the dreamer, through consideradition of your own
\nfeelings towards the dream, the symbol and your own intuition.<\/p>\n
The dream is a comples and almost limitless combination of symbols. it
\ncan be analytical, judgemental or therapeutic in nnature. The majority of
\ndreams are analytical. That is, they provide a means for the higher self to
\ncomment on your everyday life and your spiritual development. It will analyze
\nhow you aare relating to your enviorment and your fellow man and woman. A
\nsmall percentage of your dreams are of a prophetic nature, to warn and prepare
\nyou for future eveents (the percentage of prophetic dreaams vary greatly from
\none personn to another but it is estimated that perhaps one dream in twenty
\nconcerns the future) Don’t imediately jump to the conclusion that what you
\ndream about brother Bob, or cousin Mary is an indication of something that is
\nabout to happen to him or her. It may be but far more likely is not. Along
\nwith this incidently it should be noted that invariably the pricciiple
\ncharacters in your dream are actually representing YOU–or some aspect of you.
\n So when you dream of your sister Suzy arguing with you about something, you
\nare actually seeing a representation of an inner conflict+– one part of you
\nat odds with another part (perhaps your male aspect agaiinst your female
\naspect) with the image of sister Suzy being used simply aas a recognizable
\nform that you can accept.<\/p>\n
Again depending on the individual, the number of therapeutic dreams
\nvaries from person to person. It simply deepends on the need of the
\nindividual. If a person has a strong feeling of inferority, their therapy may
\nbe to dream of being a powerful, capable and attractiive person. In this way,
\nthe Higher Self is compensating for the dreamers psychological lack. If a
\nperson has a strong feeling of superiority they might be taken down a peg or
\ntwo by a dream that depicts him or her as a weak defenseless and inferior
\nperson. Thus the dream often attempts to overcome character defects.<\/p>\n
Prophetic dreams will only occur when the indivual needs to be prepared
\nfor an event in the future. Even though you may not consciously remember it,
\nthe dream prepares you, subconsciously for the shock that it to come. Not all
\nprecognitive dreams are of signigcant events: some may even appear quite
\ntrival. But they are important just the same. They program and prepare the
\nsubconscious and conscious minds over a period of time, to deal with the
\nfuture events and situations in a proper manner.<\/p>\n
REMEMBERING DREAMS<\/p>\n
The obvious first step in dream interpretation is to remember them. If
\nyou have trouble in remembering your dreams, the probable reason is that your
\nhave ignored them for so long that the subconscious no longer tries to bring
\nthem to your conscious memory. If this is the case, you must program yourself
\nto remember. This can be done through affirmation. During meditation annd
\njust befopore going to sleep tell yourself very firmly, “I WILL REMEMBER MY
\nDREAMS”, Do this three times. Release the command. Then again tell yourself
\nvery firmly three times “I WILL REMEMBER MY DREAMS”. Release the thought.
\nThen for the third timerepeat the three commands “I WILL REMEMBER MY DREAMS”.
\nSo you instruct yourself 9 times in all.<\/p>\n
The second step in interpretation is recording the dreams. Place a pad
\nand a penciil by your bed for this purpose. This very act, in itself,
\nreinforces the command to remember. Whenyou first awaken–evenn before that
\neye-opening cup of coffee–jot down notes on what you remember. Don’t worry
\nabout trying to get everything in perfect order at this point. The important
\nthing is to capture what you can, even if you only have time to make a few
\nbrief nots. You will find that later on you will be able to recall more of
\nthe details of the dream. Then write down all the details that you can
\nremember. Describe the people, their identities, occupations,clothes, the
\nstate of their emotions and their activities. Note your attitude towards them
\nand their attiudes towards you. Describe everything you see, feel and hear.
\nPay special attention to the numbers of things and their colors. It is all
\nimportant. Then try to arrange your notes in the order in which they were
\ndreamed.<\/p>\n
Once you have completed your notes and organized them you can begin the
\ntask of interpretation. First of all, examine the dream to see if it fits any
\nof the events of the preceding day. This will explain a few of your dreams.
\nIf this test fails then you must determine whether the dream is literal or
\nsymbolic.
\n A LITERAL dream is one in which the main dream character or image is a
\nreal person or thing in your life or on your mind at the time. If the literal
\ninterpretation makes sense, you may have found the key. When the literal
\ninterpretatioon fails to make sense the dream is obviously symbolic.<\/p>\n
A SYMBOLIC dream is one in which the dream character and images cannot be
\ntaken literally as a real person or thing. Then the image is that of an aspect
\nof you, the dreamer. Then the ancient wisdom of the Universal Symbols should
\nbe applied.<\/p>\n
As you first begin to work with symbology, you may still have diffculty
\nunraveling the tangled threads; you may only decipher part of the mystery.
\nDon’t worry about this for it is quite natural in the beginning. Continue to
\naffirm that you will remember. Continue to faithfully record all of the
\ndetails that you can. As you do you will find that the symbols will gradually
\nbegin to clear as you and your higher self develop a dialogue that you can
\nconsciously understand. The hidden symbol in one dream will suddenly be
\nrevealed in another. When this begiins to happen yopou should start to
\ncompile your own personal Dream Dictionary. Take a notebook that is not used
\nfor any other purpose and divide it into alphabetical sections. As you
\ndiscover the meanings of new symbols, write them down. Soon you will find
\nthat youu have an extensive set of personal symbols which will permit nearly
\ntotal interpretation of all your dreams.<\/p>\n
PERSONAL SYMBOLS<\/p>\n
Many published books on dream interpretation provide the reader with
\nhundreds of symbols and simplified interpretation. Other than listings of
\nUniversal symbols, such books are totally misleading. Each of us has his or
\nher own unique personal symbology, hased on our experiences in this life. For
\nexample, two eldery ladies dream of a cat. One of the ladies has lived a
\nspinster life shared with a successionof cats that she has loved and pampered.
\n The second lady has a very traumatic memory of a wild cat which scratched
\nher severly during her childhood. It is obvious that a single
\ninterpretationof “cat” will not satisfy moth dreamers. To the first lady, the
\ncat is a warm, loving, companion. To the second, the cat is an evil,
\ndangerous creature that brings pain. Therefore, it is neccessary for the
\ndreamer to analyze the symbol from the standpoint of his or her own personal
\nfeelings.<\/p>\n
THE REPETITIVE DREAM<\/p>\n
Many dreams are repeated in order to emphasize their meaning or to insure
\nthat they are noticed. This may or may notbe obvious to thedreamer. Usually
\ndreams come in a series of three. Sometimes their symbology will be quite
\nsimilar. At other times you may record three dreams of entirely different
\nsymbology but upon their interpretation find that the underlying theme for
\neaach is almost identical. In either case the source of the dream is
\nattempting to insure that the message gets through and is understood. A dream
\nrepeated over days, weeks or perhaps months, indicates something that you have
\nnot taken action on. Oncce you understand and respond to, the dream, through
\naction or a change in attiude, the dream will cease to occur.<\/p>\n
Generally the recurring dream is one of the following:
\n A) Precognitive or prophetic
\n B) Compensation for an improper attiude
\n C) The result of a traumatic incident which has left a negative
\nimpression.<\/p>\n
GROUP DREAMS<\/p>\n
Among the more spiritually advanced is an occasional tendency to actively
\nshare or participate in a dream with someone else. In these cases, the two
\npeople ar very much in tune with one another on a psychic of emotional level.
\nIt does not mean that they are “soul mates” destined for one another. Rather
\nthey are in harmony at some levels in this particular time of their lives and
\nare undergoing similar adjustments on the spiritual plane. Interpretation of
\nthe dream should be done the same as with an ordinary dream but with the other
\noerson in the dream interpreted as an aspect of yourself.<\/p>\n
DREAMS versus OUT OF BODY EXPERIENCES<\/p>\n
The memory of out of body experiences (OOBE’s)has the same elusive
\nquality as the dream. Consequently it is often difficult to separate the two.
\n One marked difference is the sensation of awareness. In a dream. the visual
\nawareness of theself is in one direction only. As with physical sight, you
\n“see” only what is in front of you. in the OOBE, however your awareness is
\nall-encompassing. You see not only what is in front but also what is behind,
\nabove, below and on the sides–all at the same time. Do not attempt to
\ninterpret an OOBE as you would a dream.<\/p>\n
