posted
After reading Joseph Campbell's "The Power of Myth" and "The Hero With a Thousand Faces" I've continued to look into character archetypes that have appeared in various stories all throughout history. I've been listening to Carl Jung's "Man and His Symbols", and his work into the psyche and character archetypes. It's really interesting!
It's made me curious about whether I've dreamt any of these so called archetypal characters, and what that means to me. I'm not sure where the psychological world is in terms of this kind of interpretation of the human psyche, or current theories etc.
I'm not sure how many of you are familiar with anything Jung, however, I'm interested in hearing from you guys any particularly notable dream that you'd be willing to share, and your own thoughts/interpretation. I am assuming of course, that there's something dreams are saying that is somehow meaningful. Do any of you keep dream journals?
So any kind of dream, it doesn't have to be meaningful, just something that stood out a little bit, or that you remembered the rest of the day.
So I'll start, because I wrote this down.
I don't remember the details per se, but the dream was some kind of weird Harry Potter/LOTR blend. It was like a really bad fanfiction. There was some kind of computer on top of a tower, and I used some weird magical tether/bracelet thingy to "hookshot" around.
Whilst, at the same time, a company of heroes jumped in a large barrel and floated out of a large stone (minas tirith?) city. Seemed reminiscent of some Hobbit scenes And "the enemy" was trying to construct something "eeeeevil" in some large field...with a hill giant guarding it. We collided and there was some crazy crossover battling.
So that was notable.
And then as a quick one, because I still remember the image to this day, and because I think it has a character archetype, "The Animus" or "The Divine Child", I'm not sure which yet. (more reading!)
I'm in a golden Egyptian-esque room, that is only light by torches. A figure approaches me...he reminds me of that "god/human" from the Stargate movie, but I can't make out his face. His eyes are blazing a blue/green color, so much that his face is obscured. I feel happy/yearning.
Is the italicizing too much? I wanted to keep things legible.
Anyway, those are the recent notables. I am curious to know as well, if anybody has had recurring themes/nightmares at any point of their lives.
Posts: 1236 | Registered: Mar 2002
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posted
Glad to hear you're enjoying Jung! I took a class on his works my freshman year of college. For the whole semester we were asked to keep dream journals. Then on two occasions we were asked to bring three of our most vivid or puzzling dreams and share them with a small group of classmates who used Jung's theories to attempt to find meaning.
On a quick note, if you're interested in keeping a dream journal, its best to do each entry first thing in the morning while the dream is still fresh and to not self-edit. If you mispell a word or say something awkwardly, leave it. It may be your subconscious trying to clue you in on something. And always make note of how the dream makes you feel. Even if the emotion doesn't match with the imagery (feeling "scared" by what some people might call a "happy dream" if you described it to them.)
To summarize one of my dreams that we reviewed in class and which continues to stick in my mind...I had this dream that I was wandering through a village built into a hillside. Each family home had several rooms which were inhabited by gods. They were very ancient, Greek-like gods. One room looked like a real forest. In another, a dark woman growled at me over her door (a split door where you can open the top half.) The gods, for unknown reasons, were contained in these rooms but one day they broke out and began to destroy the city. The villagers gathered a few belongings and evacuated (with carts and mules and such.) We crossed this desert plain headed for a sheer cliff face which offered shelter. Halfway there, all the woman decided to turn back. I followed the men. At the cliff, I found several shelves cut into the rock like a library. I grabbed a Bible and handed it to alittle boy and told him, "This god will never destroy you."
A very weird dream for an atheistic ex-Catholic girl.
My professor at the time wanted me to focus in on the evil woman goddess. To do some work with that image. To tap in my mind and ask her questions. If I could reconcile with the "evil witch" archetypal figure, I could perhaps gain some insight.
Still, I wonder most about the split between the sexes in the desert. I know Jung talks about looking for an opposite-sex figure in your dreams as someone to speak with, but I have very few male figures in my dreams. Maybe that means I've integrated my Animus or something. But with this dream, I'm still fascinated by the fact that I felt ashamed of the women, knew the terrible fate that awaited them, and chose to follow the men and share knowledge with them. I don't know what this dream means, but I have the feeling that I'm not ready to know yet.
I have the feeling that this is my BIG DREAM. My professor used to talk about this dream he had as a child and it wasn't until he began his studies in philosophy and discovered the joys of teaching that he was able to look back at that dream and understand the symbology. I think the imagery in my dream is perhaps too literal, but I did go on to concentrate my studies in religious philosophy and am writing my thesis on Satan (on which I've heard some interesting Jungian theories.)
Posts: 1733 | Registered: Apr 2005
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posted
Wonderful dream accounts Shanna! I'm not sure, but I think the "mean old lady/witch" is a common image world wide, I know I've had a couple of nightmares involving her.
What about Satan? I'd be interested in reading that thesis of yours.
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I once dreamed of meeting God. Not God as in the Christian God... it looked like this huge staircase with statues ascending into light. I was so happy.
I've also had strange recurring dreams of a demon that paralyses me and tries to take over my body... with visions of a giant destroying cities when it would come into its full power. Ick... *shudder*
I had another dream where my point of view would change (as it always does in dreams) from the personification of Nature, in the form of this silver and red sprite, to some lord in the capital city of the land near the sea/end of the world. The sprite somehow became sick and twisted, and as it crawled its way toward the capital everything around it would die. I remember very vividly being the sprite, putting my hand out in the grass, crawling.
Then I would be one of the lords and debating how to heal/stop the sprite. The dream ended with us on the roof of the palace watching this wave of death approaching...and as soon as it hit I woke up.
Posts: 4953 | Registered: Jan 2004
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I had a disturbing dream last night...about my best friend who I've loved for years, he loves me too but only as a friend. In the dream we declared our love for each other. It seemed so real...often I realize that I'm dreaming but this time I was fooled. I've never been so happy...nor so disapointed when I felt myself waking up and knowing it wasn't real.
Posts: 4953 | Registered: Jan 2004
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Awwww. Maybe it's true in some way we don't understand.
I've had perhaps half a dozen really important revelatory dreams in my lifetime. I think something important is going on with dreaming, but I don't know what, exactly. I wish I could study with the australian aborigines about the dreamtime. They say we dream like children, because we don't train ourselves to dream the way they do... like productively or something... effectively.
Did anyone read The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. LeGuin? I love that book.
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![[Wink]](wink.gif)
There was some kind of computer on top of a tower, and I used some weird magical tether/bracelet thingy to "hookshot" around.![[Smile]](smile.gif)
And "the enemy" was trying to construct something "eeeeevil" in some large field...with a hill giant guarding it. We collided and there was some crazy crossover battling. 
