I suppose I’m what you could call a ‘curious dreamer’ and I’ve spent a lot of time analysing these often dramatic fantasy journeys that live out our deepest fears when we drift off in the safety and protection of our beds.
What are dreams? Essentially, dreams are hallucinations that take us to a land of make-believe. For centuries people have believed in the power of dreams to solve problems, heal, provide insight and foretell the future.
Dreams tap into our past memories and experiences and provide new ideas and concepts for the future. This opens up a whole new world of creativity and possibility and gets us in touch with our spirituality (an awareness of other dimensions beyond the physical realms.)
They give us an alternative way of problem-solving, which may seem impossible on a conscious level. Ever woken up in the middle of the night with your heart pounding and a lump in your throat? Our unconscious mind is aware of the aspects of our personalities we are ignoring and makes it’s presence known. It speaks to you in your dream world about what it wants changed and it’s messages help to understand our true feelings and motivations.
I wrote in the ‘Tarot’ section of my blog about the archetypes of our personalities that Carl Jung identified, one of them being ‘the shadow.’ Our shadow appears a lot in our dreams, causing disharmony and sometimes shock, but it highlights difficulty. Carl Jung thought dreams were unresolved emotional issues being processed or those parts of the psyche underdeveloped.
Dreams come up a lot when I am doing both Reiki and tarot readings. For instance, if someone has picked the ‘Moon’ card, there could be deception around (because things look different in the moonlight) or their subconscious could be nagging them and giving them a wake-up call (the sea-creature emerging from the dark waters in the tarot symbology). The subconscious mind has ways of grabbing our attention, often with haunting dreams, recurring with the same scenarios until we make the necessary changes.
In some societies, Shamans were believed to be able to journey into this underworld and bring back information to heal people and make their lives more fulfilling.
Someone I know (I will keep him anonymous) used to have a recurring dream that he was wearing nothing but a string vest which didn’t leave much to the imagination, and he was in our neighbour’s garden trying to protect his modesty rather unsuccessfully behind an extremely narrow tree. Our neighbour was very conservative and stern and she would send a shiver up your spine just from hearing her voice. Woe betide me or any of the other children on our street if their ball went in her garden or if they rollar-skated too loudly passed her kitchen window!
This dream is a classic example of someone having an anxiety about how others see him. It could also be a vulnerability about his weaknesses being exposed. He could have been harbouring a trait his subconscious didn’t like so he woke up feeling ashamed and embarrassed.
One client of mine dreamt someone was stalking him in the shadows, tracking him down with the intention of killing him. The stalker was not revealing who they were. I asked “who or what are you running away from in waking life?” He then went on to tell me he had a lot of debts had a big tax bill, which he wanted to put behind him.
Another client frequently dreamt about houses. When I asked what the house was like, she said it was derelict and shabby and that she was locked inside. This confirmed to me that she was feeling insecure and creating self-imposed boundaries. When, when I gave her a Reiki treatment, I was aware of her root chakra being blocked, the centre for her feelings of survival and safety.
If you have a dream that you would like interpreted, you can email it to me at info@andrealowrey.com.au and I will email you back free of charge to let you know what it is you are being led to take notice of.
TIPS TO REMEMBER A DREAM
· Set the intention just before you go to sleep to remember your dreams.
· Keep a dream journal & pen next to your bed and write a description of the dream as soon as you wake up from it, no matter what the time is.
· Have a glass of water before you go to bed, this will result in you waking up and will help you to recall the dream
