I thought that it would be great to share some of our dreams. Heres one that I had that I thought might interest you all. One night I dreamed that I was in a room full of what appeard to be dead plants, All I could see was pot after pot of withered brown leaves, except for one plant that still showed some signs of life and greeness. As I looked at this plant I realized that it was a good friend of mine, who's name is Patty. A door opened and in walked a being in long white robe, with white beard, whom I reconized as God. God searched the room for any signs of life, and seeing the greeness on my friend patty(the plant) he began to water her and trim off any brown leaves on her. Her picked up Patty the plant and said some words to her, something like , you shall grow and thrive. When I awoke I was very surprized at my dream and wondered what it was soppose to mean to me, the God that I envisioned in my dream was much more the God that my friend Patty envisions then the God that I envision. As we often do around here, I shared my dream with my husband, he told me that I should call Patty and tell her about this dream. So I called her and before I got a chance to tell her about the dream, we were making small talk and I could tell that she was down and trobled, as I listened to Patty and the things that she had been going through I was surprized to hear her say that she was feeling all dried out and withered, and she felt like all the people around her were spiritualy dead. Wow, a shiver ran through me as I realized that my dream was indeed for Patty, I told her about it and it brought her to tears, she said that she needed to hear those words and the very thought of being watered by God lifted her up for some time. I wondered why I had seemingly had Pattys dream for her and her reply was that we were to help and encourage each other and that it was Gods way of making that happen.

-- Anonymous, April 10, 2001

Answers

Trendle: I'm so happy you got to this board. I recall an e-mail exchange with you and was wishing you'd posted more often but I understand why you didn't.

Its nice to be able to talk about this stuff without getting flamed. I know dreams can be a marvelous teaching/learning tool. Sadly tho, I usually get in their way as I get too "busybody" with them. I'm trying to learn to simply ovserve without involvement.

Do you do anything to bring these kinds of dreams on or do they happen spontaneously?

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2001

WWhoa Tren thats pretty neat!!! Mostly I don't remember my dreams but about 5 times in my life I've had this really weird experience of like waking inside the dream state and actually being able to have some control over it! I swear its true! It just happens once in a while and I don't know why. Ever had one of those?....Kirk

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2001

John and Kirk, Hey ,thanks guys for the feed back. John I thought that was you but I wasn't sure. Glad to know that you are are here also! John you asked if I do anything to bring these dreams on, no but I do pay attention to my dreams, often writing them down upon awakening, I have my share of mumbled up confusing dreams, but If I have one that seems to contain some kind of message like this one did, then I will write it down while it is still fresh. sometimes I can go back to my journels and a dream that made no sense to me at the time will make sense in retrospect and considering what was going on in my life at that time.I think that the more that you pay attention to your dreams then the more you remember them. I love sleeping and dreaming, maybe it's because in my dreams I can be free, I can go where I want and do what I want. I have had many dreams of flying. I love those. Sometimes I think I have been guitly of enjoying my sleep life much more then my waking life. But I am working on that! I remember being really surprised when I found out that everyone doesn't dream in color. I can't imagine! My dreams are soooo colorful and real. Kirk, I only can remember one dream that I had that I awoke within a dream. I have read since then that to awaken within a dream is slipping into another realm. Please do tell me what you remember about these dreams. I have read that dream mystic's believe that these dreams are very powerfull. I do know that the one that I had is very special to me, it was beautiful beyound words. But I will try.

Crystal Palace

I smelled sweet meadows, heard sparrows singing,

a bell rang from beyond.

I awoke amidst blankets of sheer satin and lace

on a bed which was angled sideways

in a triangular room.

Antique hats posed atop marble busts.

Hats complete with feathers and velvety cloth.

I sat up absorbing the lushness.

I must have been in a crystal palace, as crystal

hung like paneling upon the walls.

Sunlight filtered through from the

other side, sparkling and clean.

I heard a bell ring from beyond.

I smelled sweet meadows,

heard sparrows sing.

then I awoke,

or did I sleep?

Ever since I had this dream I have had an interest in crystals and antique hats! Kirk the fact that you have had 5 of these dreams and you have control over alot of your dreams, says that you are an advanced dreamer! Please do tell us some!

Does anyone else have a dream within a dream that they will share? to me this is fascinating.

When I die I plan to awaken within that crystal palace again, I just know that something wonderful awaits me there. And I was trying to decide which hat I was gonna wear!

O,K. I know there will be some who will label me crazy for this. But oh well, Hey, Happy Dreams!!!! Love tren

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2001

Tren, have you read the book "Where People Fly and Water Runs Uphill"? It's about dream analysis. I used to belong to a woman's group that would get together once a week and analyze each other's dreams, it was pretty interesting. One of the things I learned is that those dream dictionarys you see in the bookstore are only guides. We each have our own individual dream language, the fun of dream analysis is trying to figure out what a particular dream symbol means to you.

Back a few years ago when I was going through my "spiritual identity crisis" I had a really powerful dream that has stayed with me. I was in a large library. The library was built into the side of a hill and the front wall was completely open onto a beautiful wildflower meadow. Parts of the library flowed out into the meadow, and part of the meadow grew into the room. What I took this to mean is that there is only so much learning that can be gotten from books and that nature is equally as important as a teacher. I had been spending too much time in the library, I needed to get out in the meadow and put some of that knowledge to practical use. There was a lot of other symbolic stuff in it that only makes sense to me, so I'll spare you all the details. :-)

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2001

What beautiful dreams!! the great spirit speaks in mysterious ways...

My kids are much better at dreams than I am. They often come to me in the morning and tell me these long, detailed elaborate dreams they had last night. It always amazes me how they remember the tiniest detail! I am often able to intrepret them pretty well too, probably becuase I know them so well. I'm thinking maybe one reason they're so in touch with their dreams is that sharing them was always welcomed here, so they have grown up knowing their dreams are valuable. I'm quite sure had I tried to share my dreams with my own parents when I was a child, I would have been chastised for cavorting with the devil.

My oldest girl knows how to control herself in her dreams..... there's a name for this, but its escaping me right now....not all the time of course, but she has done it several times. Apparently people really into dreaming/dream anaysis and its use in their lives often consider this skill something to work toward, and that it can be taught. I know it starts with suggesting to oneself before you retire that you will remember your dreams when you awake, and writing them down right away. From there it goes to suggesting that you can somehow manipulate your dreaming. Very interesting and beautiful stuff.

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2001

Hi All,

First, a tip of the hat to Jim Morris for inviting me here. From reading other threads, I believe I might find some kindred spirits.

Now on to the response. It will be two posts; the mechanics of my dream experience, and the dream itself. ******************** In high school, I could vividly remember my dreams. So much so, that I played with them. They took two forms. Serial dreams and themes and variations. In serial dreams, I would get so far in a dream before waking up. During the day, I would concentrate on the path I wanted the dream to follow the next night. I would progress a little more during the dream and then lay the ground work for the next night, and so on.

In theme and variations, I had a core dream. During the day I would lay out possible variations for the dream to follow and dream through the variations. But each night I would always start with the core dream.

I joined the Navy out of high school and the first night in Boot Camp I woke up in a cold sweat. I remembered NOTHING. My dream world collapsed. It wasn't until many years later when I had buried both my parents (old age, peacful departure, nothing traumatic) that I started to remember my dreams.

And one dream in particular grabbed me in such a way that I was able to "play" with it, the same way I had in high school. Only this one was for keeps. Next post.

(:raig

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2001

The Dream...

I am a doughboy, a World War I infantry kid in the Allied trenches in Flanders, Belgium. I am newly arrived with a crisp uniform, shined boots and well oiled rifle. The sergeant, who turns out to be my father barks "Over the Top" and we scramble out of the trenches into no-man's land. I look up and down the ranks and see people my own age. All with fresh uniforms and gleaming bayonets. The people next to me are my sisters. My parents are in the rank in front and my grandparents in front of them. Close by are aunts, uncles and cousins. There are advancing infantry as far as the eye can see, all headed toward the enemy trench at a walking pace. There is the dull boom of distant artillery and the occasion zing of a bullet going by, but nothing too frightening. Several ranks ahead I can see a few bodies crumple to the ground. The pace picks up to a fast walk. My uniform is now dusty, my bayonet has lost some of it's polish and there aren't as many people in front. The pace quickens to a trot. I look behind me and another rank has formed up. I see my daughter there in her crisp uniform, polished boots and gleaming bayonet. She gives me a friendly wave and a smile. I look ahead and my grandparents have fallen. Almost their entire rank has gone, leaving my parent's rank to fill the gaps in front. The sounds of battle are intensifying. More and more people are falling, clutching their hearts, their heads, some just withering before my eyes as if some invisible plague had consumed their bodies. My mother stumbles, then my father. He hands me his wallet to carry with me. "Go, Damn it. GO! And he is gone.

Our rank is moving at a dead run. We are in front. Ahead lies the trench of eternity. I look behind me and I see a flash of fear in my daughter's eyes. I give her the thumbs up, face forward and charge with grim determination toward the enemy trench. A roar of defiance comes from our rank as we speed towards our destiny. My hair is gray, my uniform tattered, but I'm running like the wind. I know my duty, my purpose, my very reason for being.

A lone soldier rises from the enemy trench. I'm close enough to see the smile on his face. And I know he can see me smiling at him. I'm running straight at him with bayonet pointed at his chest. He levels his rifle at me and takes dead aim...

...and then I wake up.

(:raig

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2001

I believe that dreams are one of the ways in which we are able to access the spiritual dimension and receive information. As someone mentioned already, you must interpret your own dreams because dreams are symbolic but the symbols are different depending on each person. It is helpful to get dream symbol books when you are first learning because they give you ideas of possibilities of what your dreams may mean.

Remembering dreams is something you have to train yourself to do because although we originally had the understanding as children of the importance of dreams, we lost that understanding as we grew up and have to rekindle it. But once you retrain yourself to remember your dreams, they can be very helpful.

One of the ways to retrain yourself is to consciously tell yourself as you are falling off to sleep, that you will remember your dreams when you wake up. Also, keep a notepad on your bedside and as soon as you wake up write down anything you can remember. As you write, more will come back to your memory. If you discipline to do this every night, you will soon find that you are remembering more and more of your dreams. Also, at the same time you will have a journal of your dreams to read back on and they will sometimes be clear to you in their meaning when you read them a few weeks or months later when they weren't clear to you originally.

I belong to a spirtiual group that meets every Tuesday and we discuss a lot of things and occassionally we will discuss dreams and their meanings and it is so facinating to hear what people dream and how they interpet them.

I have one interesting thing that happens to me as it relates to dreams but I have to admint I am still not sure what it means. Wheneven I have a dream and it involves using a phone, I am never able to get the call to go through. And the dreams can be very different and the reason for the phone call not going through can be very different. I can be trying to call to report my house on fire or just trying to call a friend and I find I keep dropping the quarter instead of putting it in the phone or I can find that the number I am calling is the wrong number or I get a recording that the phone is not in service or a zillion other reasons why I can't make the call go through. I have NEVER had a dream where I was able to sucessfully place a phone call. I just think this is really strange. I have a feeling that it has something to do with communication but I can't quite define it yet. Someday I will understand what it means.

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2001

Controlling your dreams is call "lucid dreaming". I've heard it suggested that you can change a nightmare by "redreaming" it while awake -- going through the dream in your imagination until you reach the point where you work up, then continuing the dream as you want it to go. For instance, if you're being chased by a monster, you can turn and face the monster and deal with it as you chose. Perhaps you will shout "NO!", perhaps you will reason with it, whatever -- but you are in control. And you can learn from what you choose to do.

I usually have jumbled up dreams, or ones that are merely anxiety driven (like dreaming that I missed my plane when I'm trying to get ready to go somewhere). Occasionally, I have one that I think it significant. I wonder perhaps if I don't have many signigicant "unconscious" dreams because I try to actively pursue issues that are occuring in my life.

I have been learning Core Shamanism (as developed by anthropologist Michael Harner), which is distilled from the Shamanic practices of many indigenous peoples. If you are unfamiliar with it, it involves making journeys into other "worlds" by deliberate shift of consciousness, usually done to the monotonous beat of a drum.

I really am hardly more than a neophyte, but it is fascinating. It certainly has helped me in a number of areas. One of the most fascinating (to me) is "soul retrieval". Pieces or aspects of the soul "leave" or get lost, frequently due to trauma or shock of some sort (but not always), and the Shaman will journey to find the parts and persuade or guide the missing parts to return.

I'm not experienced enough to do that yet. Most of my journeys are to obtain information for myself.

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2001

That's really interesting Joy. Did you take one of Harner's workshops to learn the technique? If so, what did you think of it? I have the book "The Way of the Shaman", as well as some books on Celtic Shamanism by Tom Cowan and John Matthews, but I haven't really taken the time to get too deep into the subject. It's on my to-do list, along with about 50 bajillion other things! :-)

BTW, are you anywhere near Kenosha? I had some friends that were going to the UW branch there. I went up to visit them for Beltaine last year, it was very pretty in that area.

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2001

Many years ago, my best friend had lost her husband (very young) to cancer. I had a dream one night where he came to me and was very insistant that Jan needed help. I woke up and got out of bed and drove to town at 2 am, to find her sitting on the floor of her living room. She asked me if I would watch her two young children for her - she wanted to go drive around. I refused, but told her that her husband had sent me to stay with her. She admitted that she had been planning to drive to the cemetary and take an overdose of drugs. Funny thing is - her husband and I never got along very well at all. Guess he knew where to go for help though.

I have so often had dreams - where I would be in a certain place and doing a certain thing; and then would actually find myself IN that place and DOING what I had dreamed - sometimes months later, sometimes just hours. A lot of the time, it would be somewhere I had never been, or doing something I had never really thought of doing. And I always know what to do, because I have worked it out in the dream. I don't know if it is the spirits trying to get you to move in a certain direction, or what; but I probably would never have even thought of going to nursing school if I hadn't kept seeing myself in dreams helping people. Nursing has turned into one of the joys in my life. I am always happiest when I let the spirits lead me - OR - maybe I am such a happy person BECAUSE I let the spirits lead me.

Nope, I don't think you're a flake!!

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2001

WOW!!! First - let me say how absolutely refreshing it is to be here!!! Maybe I should have posted my note to Sherri on the board afterall -

Earthmama - aren't kids wonderful?? They have never been taught that dreams (etc) are meaningless, so they don't supress them!

I don't remember many of my dreams, though I have tried lucid dreaming... Wish I did. But, as with all other things, hopefully - practice makes (near??) perfect...

There are two WONDERFUL books out for those who want to work with lucid dreaming. Both are by (Stephen?????) LaBerge. One is simply called "Lucid Dreaming" and the other is "Working with Lucid Dreams" or something to that effect... Been a long time...

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2001

Sherri, I'm about two hours, maybe more, from Kenosha. I've never posted exactly where I am, as I don't want to leave information like that anywhere on the 'Net for all and sundry to find. I'm sure we don't have hostile eyes here yet, but eventually, some will find us.

I've taken two workshops with a member of FSS (Foundation for Shamanic Studies -- Michael Harner's group) and am waiting to hear if there's still room in another (this one would be for a one-year intensive) with the same person. I also am fortunate to have access to a group of Shamanic drummers. They meet fairly often and I go as often as possible. I actually learned the "beginner" techniques in that group, but I am finding the more formal teaching of benefit to me as well. >P> I have read some of Sandra Ingerman's books and have a few others that I want to read. I can post sites if more people are interested; or if it's just you who is interested, you can email me and we'll take it from there.

This is an interesting piece about one woman's experience with explaining Shamanism to her daughter: LINK

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2001

As I am sure everyone on this particular thread knows dreams and/or visions have been a central part of Native teachings from time immemorial. I have worked with limited sucess on lucid dreaming, and taking one from the old Carlos Castenada series(anyone else here even remember him) have suceeded in flying in dreams , but never on command. My wife and I a few yearsback achieved a shared dream, which at the time was most "cosmic" , especially since for some time Me thinks me wife thought me a little "loopy" . Since beginning meditation the subconscious realm seems far more "attainable" . All of this aside , I still sometimes finddream messages a bit confusing but believe all things are as they should be.

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2001

Dan: I was just thinking of mentioning Casteneda before I got to your post. The Art of Dreaming by Casteneda is good. It offers some good tips to becoming conscious during dreaming. Also, Silva Mind Control offers some good methods or tools via auto suggestion for setting up dreams before you go to sleep.

Craig: Really glad to see you here!

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2001

Goodness everyone this has all been sooooo interesting.!

Polly you acually saved a life through your dreams!

Sherri , I will look for that book the next time I go to the librairy, I loved your dream about the meadow and the librairy, what a good message for all of us!

Colleen, your dream of not being able to place a phone call, reminds me of the dreams that I have where I am waiting tables on an endless room, and no matter how fast I work I can never get to them all.

Dan- A shared dream , how awesome, I remember reading about the native americans doing that.

John and Dan. Yes, Carlos Castenada, I remember reading that back when I was a teenager.

Hasn't this been fun. I had a very funny dream last summer, I was busy canning up the peaches all day. That night I dreamed that I preserved my little 7 year old daughter up in a can of peaches, I can still see her little face pressed up against the jar looking at me with questioning eyes. Those of you who have children will know why I wanted to preserve her at the precious age of 7.

-- Anonymous, April 12, 2001

Trendle,

I'm a dreamer, and it is not uncommen in my experience to have dreams "in a nick of time", as I call it. For instance, you had a dream, called your friend, and she needed you and the inspiration it offered. Only you could have had that dream and told her those things and had it work out. Sounds like your close spiritualy and emotionally to your friends.

It seems to me sometimes that the Higher Power (AKA God) uses other folks alot to reach out to the dear children. (US) I've heard it's becasue we have skin, and he doesn't. I don't know, but it's nice to be useful, isn't it?

Good to see you here.

-- Anonymous, April 12, 2001

Tren: My lucid dreams were real simple and short. I notice I'm aware and that I'm dreaming then its like tight rope walking! If you don't pay attention your asleep again or you wake up. They seemed to last like 30 seconds or so in the dream. The actual dreams are pretty boring just walking around. In one I tried walking thu a wall which worked. In one I was in a garden with a beautiful lady that I couldn't get to talk to me. But I'll say one thing its a fantastic feeling! I have no control of them or any insite as to what they are or why they happen. ....Kirk

-- Anonymous, April 13, 2001

Oh, yes, Carlos... I have started a collection of all his books however, I have only read about 3 of them...

dreams are interesting and by what I read in these posts... I'm not alone in what I experience...

I'm still curious how so many different folks can interrupt the same dream differently... course, that is what makes it so exciting!!!

-- Anonymous, April 13, 2001

Hi everyone! This is so interesting! Trendle you are such a gifted lady in so many ways. I had to respond when I read about your daughter canned with the peaches. I have a 7 yr. old daughter and picturing that made me just burst out laughing.

I've been trying to discover my dreams lately using the technique of telling myself I will remember before I go to sleep. It works pretty well considering I've rarely remembered my dreams before.

I had one that struck a chord just the other night and I was able to interpret it very well because as has been said I understand my own symbolism. My husband I had sold our house and it was mostly empty except for a few things the new owner had moved in. My husband was talking to the man and I was over by this huge fireplace trying to keep the fire going. But no matter how hard I tried it the fire kept getting smaller. It wasn't helping matters that the new people had several pit bull type dogs that I was afraid of and was throwing fiery logs at. Eventually my fire was just a smolder and the only way to get away from the dogs was to get inside the fireplace that just happened to have a huge wood door. Well guees What! The door didn't fit flush and they crawled right in with me. Then I woke up.

I was writing all this down and my husband asked about the dream. I was so emotional that I said how could you just keep talking while I'm having all this trouble. He said,"Why didn't you ask me for help?". Good point!

Well this has been a breath of fresh air! I'll look forward to visiting again.

-- Anonymous, April 13, 2001

Hey, dreamers, you might want to check out this URL:

Dream Hints

-- Anonymous, April 13, 2001

It's me again!

Craig, I've read your dream over and over. Its soooo deep. What is your interpretation of this dream? It seems to say so much! It sound s like you have a really awesome dream life!

Marty I love your name Mrs. Puck. sounds like your the wife of a little elf.

Denise and Marty. Thank you for the kind words , you made my day.

Kirk. that dream where you were in the garden trying to talk to that lady, well she couldn't hear you because you were in spirit form, isn't that cool.

Joy, thanks for the dream hints site. Interesting!

Gosh I can't wait to go back to bed and dream some more! I remember reading somewhere that the Native Americans believed that life is the dream, and our dreams are the reality! Happy dreamen Tren

-- Anonymous, April 14, 2001

Well, after reading all those, I'm a little embarrassed to haul mine out...I don't know how deep they are, or how prophetic (I HAVE had prophetic dreams, but they are of things that come true in the future and are very mundane. Merely as if I had seen an event -- for instance, a dinner in a restaurant I'd never been to or heard of at the time I dreamed it, with people I wouldn't meet for six months -- in advance, but nothing dire ever came of it. Sort of like a time bend.

Most my dreams -- the ones that aren't just sort of feel good adventures and what not -- make me wake up and think "Now what the hell was that??"

I dreamt that I was rollerskating in an enormous ampitheatre. It was so huge that you could not see the other side, and it was dark as well, which made it harder to see. I could see where I was skating at any one time well enough, and I was skritching carefully along on my skates (I've always been a bad skater), trying not to fall. I could hear a ponderous, repetetive rumbling, arcing noise off to one side. When I looked over there (not often, too busy watching my feet and where I was going and trying to stay upright) there was an ENORMOUS figure rollerskating alongside of me. So enormous that all I could see were the feet with the skates (must have been 8 or ten feet high) and the hem of a white robe, swirling ponderously along as well. The noise was the sound of the skates, solemly skating alongside of me, but not passing me up for the enormous size and strides. The figure itself was lost in the overhead darkness that extended up beyond vision, so that all I could see were the feet and the robe. There was another figure rollerskating wildly (but competently) off on the far side of the gigantic figure that I would see occasionally, but then it would veer off into the dark, only to reappear, still skating wildly later on. (he had a suspiciously archtypical Jesus Christ look to him, you know, the long hair and white robe thing? But I was dating a guy who'd fit that description too, so I can't say)

Some people have told me that this could mean walking over difficulty with a spiritual guide...or in the grace of God....all sorts of things like that.

But what I remembered vividly of the dream was that during the whole thing, aside from being very careful as I skated to not fall, that I was worried about the big figure skating along side of me would fall and I'd be flattened under God's fanny.

Like I said. I have these dreams and wake up wondering 'Now what the hell was that?"

Then there was the one about the dwarves in baseball uniforms throwing radioactive mashed potatoes.

-- Anonymous, April 14, 2001

To Quote Chuang Tsu: I dreamt I was a butterfly, flitting around the sky; then I awoke. Now I wonder: am I a man who dreamt of being a butterfly ,or a butterfly dreaming that I am a man?

-- Anonymous, April 14, 2001

Okay Julie what were you smoking just before you hit the sack!!! Ha!!....Kirk

-- Anonymous, April 16, 2001

Julie, I really liked your dream, It made me think of how we are all a little afraid that God is really gonna mess up!

-- Anonymous, April 16, 2001

Ok Julie, I'll be silly and presumptuous enough to take crack at your dream.....

Let's say the large figure next to you was God, whose presence loomed large and steady, but rather impossible to see. The Jesus figure symbolizes your toying with, or history of (?) a relationship with Christianity, and how it is always there at least in the back of your mind, because it may have been ingrained in you as a child.

Possibly ring any bells?

I really want to hear more about your adventures with the dwarves though! (what are you growing in that garden?)

-- Anonymous, April 16, 2001