How do you interpret dreams?

[Psychonaut1984]

I record my dreams every night I have been doing this for some time. I rarely lucid dream, but I figured if I am still recording the dreams anyway, I might as well do something with it. I don't know where to even start as far as interpreting my dreams. It seems like a simple task, I review my dreams every once in a while and its all Greek to me. Occasionally its really obvious but usually its not. Any suggestions?

[ButterflyWoman]

I record dreams when they seem significant (I can tell when a dream has some value or meaning and when it's just random junk being sorted out. There's something different in the quality of the dream, it's got more "depth" or something, hard to explain.)

Many of them made no sense at all to me until some time after the fact when I looked back and the symbolism was totally obvious.

Sometimes, just writing it down will cause some "ah hah!" moments. Sometimes not. I still have some recurring dream symbols that are partly mysterious to me, actually. Eventually they'll be made clear, I'm sure.

[Korpo]

Hey, Psychonaut.

Reading about dream interpretation helps - sometimes by giving your soul a hint which symbols you would understand. Your soul *wants* to communicate with you, so it adapts its language to your needs.

Here's an excellent series of articles that help me a lot in interpreting my dreams:

http://www.kurtleland.com/content/category/3/4/128/

I had good results with that.

What I find generally very helpful is loose association. By taking major symbols from the dream I start to make chains of association. Speaking them out loud also helps - this way it is easier to find puns.

Why don't you share some "best of" of yours with us and we all try to figure out the symbols?

Take care,
Oliver

[Psychonaut1984]

Hey, Psychonaut.

Reading about dream interpretation helps - sometimes by giving your soul a hint which symbols you would understand. Your soul *wants* to communicate with you, so it adapts its language to your needs.

Here's an excellent series of articles that help me a lot in interpreting my dreams:

http://www.kurtleland.com/content/category/3/4/128/

I had good results with that.

What I find generally very helpful is loose association. By taking major symbols from the dream I start to make chains of association. Speaking them out loud also helps - this way it is easier to find puns.

Why don't you share some "best of" of yours with us and we all try to figure out the symbols?

Take care,
Oliver

Thanks I will check that link out tomorrow.
After reading Otherwhere it made me start thinking if my dreams actually had some significance.
Its a little after 4 am, I'm taking a break before I attempt another trance session, but off hand I can tell you I dream about tornadoes almost every night or every other night. I can't tell you how long this has been going on for I want to say at least a year. Lately I have been dreaming about Cape May or the beach. I have zombie dreams very frequently though not as frequently as I used to. The zombie theme has been going on for longer than the tornado dreams, but less frequently. I also used to have a lot of shark dreams, more specifically the Great white shark. I did actually just have one last night, a guy was eaten by a great white while installing a fountain at this shady restaurant. The restaurant had a "cave" in the middle of it, and this all took place after a tornado watch was issued. The restaurant was in the woods and was rumored to have treasure buried underneath it. There were human remains all over the woods.
One thing that all of these things have in common is that they are things I love. I have always been very fascinated with tornadoes and thunderstorms, [I still seriously entertain the idea of becoming an amateur storm chaser/photographer one day] I used to be obsessed with sharks when I was a kid, I love zombie movies, and I love the beach.
Thats all I can say for now, I will check over my journal to see if there are other things I have been dreaming about frequently.

[Korpo]

It would be helpful if you write out whole dreams. Symbols need context, and can sometimes take on other meanings if the context requires it.

It is good that you wrote out how you feel about the symbols. Continue with associations. What feels right, what feels good? What does a symbol mean to you? How would you relate to the symbols in waking reality?

For example - what do you admire about sharks? Their strength, their sleekness, how they move, etc. What do they stand for to you specifically.

I mean, usually people find spiders icky, and when they dream of spiders they are a negative symbol. But to a spider enthusiast they might mean a lot of different things, and not icky. The soul knows that and speaks to you in your language.

Some thoughts on the symbols:

Zombies - not dead, not alive, not quite alive. Maybe about qualitify of life?
Tornado - raw power, turmoil, destruction, the power of nature, disruption.

Oliver

[Korpo]

I did actually just have one last night, a guy was eaten by a great white while installing a fountain at this shady restaurant. The restaurant had a "cave" in the middle of it, and this all took place after a tornado watch was issued. The restaurant was in the woods and was rumored to have treasure buried underneath it. There were human remains all over the woods.

So, symbols are: restaurant, cave, tornado watch, fountain, woods, human remains, great white shark, hidden treasure.

The restaurant is shady. The treasure is below it and hidden.

What were the human remains like? Where did they come from?

Oliver

[Korpo]

Restaurant - nutrition, service, social interaction. The juice fast maybe? ;)
Human remains - "what remains human", "remaining human"? Maybe "humane"?
Restaurant, fountain - nutrition + drink?
"cave in the middle" - "cave in in the middle"?
Shark - Animal nature, needs of the body?
Tornado watch - watch out?

Oliver

[Korpo]

Shady restaurant - "malnutrition"?
The promise of hidden treasure - your personal object of desire

"Watch out that the fluid malnutrition does not get disruptive, remain humane. The animal nature strikes out against it." Maybe? Can't say.

Just guesses. It would be easier if I did this for myself, because I can query myself what connects and what does not. Also it would be my symbols. But this is the general process that I apply to my dreams.

Oliver

[Psychonaut1984]

I usually associate: pure awe, beauty, power, and destruction with tornadoes. Sharks particularly the great white I associate primal instinct, fear, sleek, perfection. Zombies: death, decay, rebellion, apolcalypse, unaware, cannibalistic.

As far as the other dream I can tell you the whole dream:
I was in the car with my dad on the way to Montclair. We heard all these sounds coming from this wooded area. I went up to investigate. It was really overcast and I heard on the radio a tornado watch was issued. I got a visualization of the dopper radar. I went up to see what the sounds were. I figured it was high school kids having a party, but as I climbed up to this clearing at the top of this hill it turned out to be little toddlers running around. I remember looking up at the sky again to see if I saw anything. It was foggy and overcast but I did not see anything tornadic. The sky almost seemed to touch the hill we were on. I walked down from that clearing into the woods. As I walked I passed this stream and climbed up a little rock formation and noticed there were human skulls and bones in the dirt. They were all over. I went to take one for a souveneir but it occurred to me that it might be criminal to do so. I walked into this restaurant. Part of it was really classy looking, and then in the middle of it, it looked like a cave, the floor and ceiling was all dirt and roots, with a few stone Roman statues. I was with someone but I don't know who it was. There was no one in the restaurant and it was all open, its was not totally inside. There was an italian guy making some pizza in the kitchen. The person I was with dared me to go in through this door down in the basement. Just was he pushed me by the door, the italian guy asked me if I wanted anything. I said no and walked out the back. As I was walking around the back, I noticed two men working on this fountain. They reminded me of the three stooges. One of them slipped with a wire and they both got electricuted. Without skipping a beat they continued what they were doing and a huge shark head came up and bit one of them in half. The other guy was juggling body parts while the fountain filled up with blood. I continued walking.

Last night I had another dream about sharks I was watching this documentary in my dream, and two tiger sharks were mating and the male opened up in half and slid over the female. The narrator mentioned that the male usually but not always, dies or gets devoured by the female.

[Korpo]

Some dream symbols:


depths, or going downward--shadow's perspective.[...]

fountain, spring--source of life force. [...]

]hill--fighting an uphill battle (if the hill is hard to climb); or an attempt to achieve the soul's perspective (view from the top of the hill).

Blood can also be synonymous for life force.

Some dream characters:


Soma: a representation of the body consciousness, often appearing as an animal, such as a horse or a dog [...]
Participant: the part of you that acts in the dream--the hero
Counterpart: reflections of you in other people, including past, present, and future selves, also your essential selves (those associated with activities that are related to your life purpose or are especially important to you), close friends, people you admire, etc.--this is the largest category of dream character
[...]
Shadow: the portion of consciousness that resists the learning required of you by the soul, often represented by a criminal type, an antagonist, a dark or sinister person, a dictator, etc.

The shark would be the Soma (or a symbol), you are the Participant, the person with you seems to be the Shadow (tries to "get you down", is pushy) and all others are Counterparts.

Oliver

[Korpo]

If the hill indeed was "an elevated perspective" or a soul one, then it is interesting that what you first viewed as more evolved (older - adolescent) was indeed not (toddlers). That the sky nearly touched the hill might be another sign of an elevated perspective. The fogginess might indicated that this perspective is not clear for you - yet.

The idea that picking up the skulls might be criminal might have been your every-day logic intruding on the dream.

Juggling body parts... juggling is not only the artistic skill, but also a metaphor for managing many things at once. Like multi-tasking. Juggling with body parts - coordination. Body coordination. Also the other guy slipped - a lack of body coordination. All together with the shark symbol - given your interest in sharks quite possibly your personal symbol for your body consciousness.

Oliver

[Korpo]

Was the guy that slipped the one that got bitten or the other.

To electrocute someone - to shock someone.

Shocking two men - something about the topic from the other thread?

The shock did not last long.

Wire - connection. "The connection of two men came as a shock"?

Oliver

[Psychonaut1984]

Wow thats pretty good. I will have to think that over. Most of the things I would say feel like they make sense to me, except the ones with the men, and the juggling. I don't remember which guy slipped, I know the guy that was eaten was on the right and the guy on the left was wearing a white outfit, something a house painter would wear. I know left guy was holding the wire but I don't know if he was the one that was holding the exposed end. I almost feel like this has something to do with me being shocked out of staying in some really ♥♥♥♥ty jobs/going against the grain in my life. I now am making real progress in making money with doing things that I like doing, using my strengths as opposed to doing things I am not meant to do. Maybe that was me being eaten by the shark when I went against my strengths. The guy in white maybe was symbolic of my higher self, shocking me into embracing myself and the strengths I was born with even if it was painful. The juggling of the body parts for some reason feels like it has something to do with juggling my spiritual goals with my physical and monetary needs. All of them are parts of me.

I am getting major deja vu, did we translate another dream before? I had deja vu in my dream last night right before I woke up too. In the dream I experienced deja vu right before this priest gave me an exorcism, I forgot the words to the Our Father and Hail Mary, the priest fed the words to me then I woke up.

[Korpo]

Wow, Psychonaut1984, you did it! You figured out your own symbols! 8)

The way you say it it makes sense and seems to be true to yourself. And that counts. If you *feel* you resolved a symbol, then you are right. Good stuff! :D

Oliver

[Korpo]

PS -

Doppler radar = guidance?

In Germany we say "we have something on our radar screen" when we are aware of something.

Oliver

[Psychonaut1984]

PS -

Doppler radar = guidance?

In Germany we say "we have something on our radar screen" when we are aware of something.

Oliver

I feel like that might be a prediction to something powerful then. Something that I could not get a visual on at the time but is a likely event. To most people I feel like this would mean some kind of destructive turmoil but I feel like in my case this feels like something really good. In my dreams tornadoes are always something awe-inspiring, exhilarating and beautiful, I never get any negative feelings from them even if they appear dangerous. This change might be a destruction of things that were holding me back, like self doubt, low self esteem etc... The fact that I have been having tornado dreams ever since I took this positive turn in my life last January is starting to make me think that tornadoes mean something good, possibly related to achieving my dreams, or connecting with God.

Thank you for reminding me about the Dopplar that totally made everything click with me.

I do not feel like the shark symbolism is fully resolved though. I feel like it works well in this dream but I don't think that would work in my other dreams. The shark is a common figure in my dreams so whatever it ends up meaning probably has to be consistent.

Maybe the shark has to do with fear, fear will consume me, and ultimately rip me to shreds?

[Korpo]

Symbols are often multi-facetted. The more they mean to you, the more often they will be used in different contexts.

Tornados are a force of nature. They are destructive, but also a fact of life. They are certainly awe-inspiring. I actually have to be careful - lately a lot of things I want manifest, and ever since watching "Twister" I somehow think of maybe wanting to se... better be careful! :mrgreen:

As far as I understand them they carry things upward, yes? Like an upward moving force? Maybe they then stand for "being lifted", "being elevated"? Just like the sky nearly touching the ground could mean "the sky's the limit".

I did not understand what you meant with the shark splitting in half in the other dream?

It's very good use of your intuition that you recognised that the shark is not resolved yet. You're really good at getting the clues and using your intuition once you get going. :D That's why I find associations so helpful. You're getting somewhere, and your intuition can guide you in many ways.

Oliver

[Psychonaut1984]

Symbols are often multi-facetted. The more they mean to you, the more often they will be used in different contexts.

Tornados are a force of nature. They are destructive, but also a fact of life. They are certainly awe-inspiring. I actually have to be careful - lately a lot of things I want manifest, and ever since watching "Twister" I somehow think of maybe wanting to se... better be careful! :mrgreen:

As far as I understand them they carry things upward, yes? Like an upward moving force? Maybe they then stand for "being lifted", "being elevated"? Just like the sky nearly touching the ground could mean "the sky's the limit".

I did not understand what you meant with the shark splitting in half in the other dream?

It's very good use of your intuition that you recognised that the shark is not resolved yet. You're really good at getting the clues and using your intuition once you get going. :D That's why I find associations so helpful. You're getting somewhere, and your intuition can guide you in many ways.

Oliver

Yes tornadoes carry things upwards, usually in a counter-clockwise direction. (Maybe this means I will be carried upwards in a non-conventional direction)
The shark in the other dream... yea it was really bizarre. In the dream I was watching a documentary, first I noticed I was looking at a congregation of Tiger sharks. There was a large group of them swimming around in circles. I noticed I as I was watching the documentary I was in there with them, but when I realized this I had a sense that they were not interested in me or could not see me. The narrator then pointed out two sharks. The male had a slit down the middle where his belly and private parts would be, he opened these flaps basically splitting itself in half and covered the female. The narrator said something about the male usually not surviving this type of mating but in rare cases they do survive. The narrator said that if the male is weakened the female usually will just eat it when she's done mating with it.

[ButterflyWoman]

I can only once remember having a tornado dream. In the dream, it came and picked up my house (i.e., my psyche, my self, me, whatever) and turned it perfectly upside down and set it on the ground on the point of the roof.

I thought it was bizarre at the time (still do, actually). Shortly after that, I began a lengthy and rather painful transformation process that ended up with having my house completely demolished and slowly rebuilt.

I'm not saying that tornadoes are always going to mean that, but certainly tornadoes are symbols of change and often destruction. Oh, and in American symbolic culture, tornadoes are also associated with powerful cleaning (due to year of advertising that has seeped into the cultural consciousness). :)

[Psychonaut1984]

I can only once remember having a tornado dream. In the dream, it came and picked up my house (i.e., my psyche, my self, me, whatever) and turned it perfectly upside down and set it on the ground on the point of the roof.

I thought it was bizarre at the time (still do, actually). Shortly after that, I began a lengthy and rather painful transformation process that ended up with having my house completely demolished and slowly rebuilt.

I'm not saying that tornadoes are always going to mean that, but certainly tornadoes are symbols of change and often destruction. Oh, and in American symbolic culture, tornadoes are also associated with powerful cleaning (due to year of advertising that has seeped into the cultural consciousness). :)

I was thinking before that a lot of things lately seem to be pointing towards a Kundalini awakening. I don't know if that is too premature to start thinking about, I'm only 25. Was that what you were refering to?

[Korpo]

Maybe you're just going to Oz... ;)

Kundalini does not need to be traumatic - but it certainly is a force of nature! Maybe you got it "on your radar"?

Oliver

[ButterflyWoman]

I was thinking before that a lot of things lately seem to be pointing towards a Kundalini awakening. I don't know if that is too premature to start thinking about, I'm only 25. Was that what you were refering to?
Yes, actually. I was thirty when it started. Some people experience Kundalini awakening at quite young ages. I've read about it happening in your teens. It appears to be a very individual thing.

Oh, and Korpo is correct, Kundalini doesn't need to be traumatic. It was for me, but that was me, and there were reasons for that which may not (and probably don't) apply to other people. Lots of people report a pleasant or at least non-traumatic Kundalini awakening and transformation.

It's kind of like childbirth. Sometimes it's surprisingly easy, sometimes it's really difficult, but in all cases, you have a better experience if you're prepared and you don't fight the process. ;)

[Astral Explorer]

http://www.dreammoods.com

Search for the keywords and there you have it...I used to use this for entertainment because I believed dreams ment nothing, until the interpretations used to be fairly accurate based on what happened during that day. I used to have a lot of death dreams which interpreted that part of my ego was dieing and it was true as I was going through a HUGE transformation for a very long time.

[Alaskans]

I once got to the point where i saw my dreams as reality because I got so used to thinking of them all as symbols of real things. Like a man in a bear costume. He might not REALLY be a bear, but he is still a man under it and can beat the crap outa you! After that I could use dreams as an interface to change real things. And a place to daydream and get better at flying and stuff. That was neat.

[Korpo]

Psychonaut1984,

I had some twister dreams, too, after this. I saw one in another town as observer, one approaching my "house" as myself with my family, and one from inside when staring down into the vortex from a weird platform.

Then I opened my email when getting up, and a friend had recommended me a movie called ... "Vortex"! ;)

Oliver

[Psychonaut1984]

Psychonaut1984,

I had some twister dreams, too, after this. I saw one in another town as observer, one approaching my "house" as myself with my family, and one from inside when staring down into the vortex from a weird platform.

Then I opened my email when getting up, and a friend had recommended me a movie called ... "Vortex"! ;)

Oliver
What do you think your dream was trying to tell you?

I have had several interesting things happen to me this past week. One of them was, I think I finally made contact with my higher self. The other night I had a dream, and it was not quite disturbing but the entire dream had this unlying feeling of paranoia. It was not like my normal dream consciousness, everything in the dream resembled a super amplified version of my waking consciousness. When I woke up, I thought about the dream and thought "wow why was I so paranoid?" and then something clicked and I realized how this wasn't much different then my waking reality... Then I realized that if I looked at it a certain way my dream was almost a parody of myself, it was actually kind of funny. I started writing down my interpretation of the dream but then it was like an extended version of started talking to me. Basically telling me to snap out of it, chill, and treat myself nicer. This "voice" reminded me of how much energy I put into certain behaviors because I constantly moniter myself as though I am always being judged. I wrote down this whole dialogue to myself... Afterwards I just got still and all these answers to many questions I had both past and present started coming to me, along with a short glossary of dream symbols. At the end this short feed of information a non auditory voice whispered "I love you, Matt."
Tornadoes were left out, I think that was because we already decoded that.
Here is the brief glossary of terms that was "given" to me:
*Shark - predator out to get me; my ego, my fears, self sabotage, my own distorted fear based perceptions, my assumed enemies/dangers/threats. Sharks are fear provoking animals, though not all are maneaters.
*Ocean - the world, my physical reality. The ocean is vast, beautiful and filled with unknown dangers. It is made of water, therefore it is fluid.
* Crystal Skulls- Clear mind, a divine magical jewel. Highly saute after.
*Shark Repellent- clouds water/minimally effective. Wards off sharks but does not kill them or guarentee they are not around. Any type of crutch that prevents growth.
*Carrie (fictional Stephen King character)- Repressed feminine energy. Angry, vengeful, destructive, powerful, yet ironically, hurt, sad, and vulnerable.
*Datura - Embodiement of universally repressed feminine energy, deadly poison, doorway to the spirit world, vengence, lust, seductive, beautiful, has some medicinal value. (very similar to Jim Dekorne's explanation).
Note: I have a hobby of growing several species of Daturas and Brugmansia, hence my avator pic. They are truely stunningly beautful plants, but ironically my fascination with these plants started around the peak of my "repressed feminine energy" phase, the start of my interest in the spirit world, and metaphysical endeavors. I don't know if that actually means anything...

[Korpo]

That's really awesome! 8)


*Datura - Embodiement of universally repressed feminine energy, deadly poison, doorway to the spirit world, vengence, lust, seductive, beautiful, has some medicinal value. (very similar to Jim Dekorne's explanation).
Note: I have a hobby of growing several species of Daturas and Brugmansia, hence my avator pic. They are truely stunningly beautful plants, but ironically my fascination with these plants started around the peak of my "repressed feminine energy" phase, the start of my interest in the spirit world, and metaphysical endeavors. I don't know if that actually means anything...

Nah. Just one of these things were the Universe really rubs it in. ;) :D

Oliver

[Antoine Le Fou]

That's exactly it! YOU DO!there are countless books, tapes, blah blah blah's out there telling you what your dreams mean. Only you can really configure your dreams

[Psychonaut1984]

Maybe you're just going to Oz... ;)

Kundalini does not need to be traumatic - but it certainly is a force of nature! Maybe you got it "on your radar"?

Oliver

We were right about the Kundalini, it started yesterday morning at approx 6:45-7am. It was not traumatic by any means. I am including my Kundalini logs with my AP logs now. Its ironic because on another forum someone else interpreted tornadoes as "spiritual upheavel" /kundalini awakening and they were right too. I sent them a link to this thread.

[merita]

[/quote]

I did actually just have one last night, a guy was eaten by a great white while installing a fountain at this shady restaurant. The restaurant had a "cave" in the middle of it, and this all took place after a tornado watch was issued. The restaurant was in the woods and was rumored to have treasure buried underneath it. There were human remains all over the woods.
One thing that all of these things have in common is that they are things I love. I have always been very fascinated with tornadoes and thunderstorms, [I still seriously entertain the idea of becoming an amateur storm chaser/photographer one day] I used to be obsessed with sharks when I was a kid, I love zombie movies, and I love the beach.[/quote]

One of the things I do in my work as a medium and psychic advisor is dream interpretation. I don't use books or dream dictionaries though, just my own intuition and 'radar'. A restaurant is somewhere you go to get food, which is sustenance for the body. The woods indicate the natural environment, not man made. Water, rivers, streams and fountains in dreams always indicate the flow of spiritual life. The whole dream could be interpreted thus: Look for your sustenance, both physical and spiritual in a deeper understanding of the world as a living entity, the natural world as a spiritual being will bring you what you need to find that place deep within that contains your greatest treasure - yourself as a spirit.

Tornadoes and storms are symbolic of change and turmoil, zombies are a symbol of that dark side of ourself that must be balanced in order that it does not 'take us over' and consume us, and the beach is a symbol of the need for retreat and spiritual recuperation.