So the next topic of the Priestess Path is Dreams. I am always curious about dreams and what they can mean because I don't feel like I remember a lot of my own dreams unless there is a message that I absolutely need to hear or acknowledge in my waking life.
When I wrote that, I hadn't ever attempted to keep a dream journal and this was the "homework"/challenge that Emily asked us to do at the end of the Divination Ritual. I actually ended up remembering quite a few dreams in the 2 weeks between then now. I was using a notebook that I had previously used for "random" notes but I wanted one that was just to be used as a Dream Journal and I found a little one in a well-known UK stationery/craft/hobby shop (The Works) that has now become my proper Dream Journal. It was mentioned at this lesson meeting that dream journals don't have to be written as they can be drawings, or even audio clips (voice recordings of yourself describing the dream) but I find it easier to communicate or describe something using words.
Anyway, in my preparation for the ritual meeting about Dreams, I was reading through the resources provided and my curiosity was piqued so, being the Capricorn-Aquarius that I am, I went off and did a bit of research. Researching any topic is like falling down a rabbit-hole: there are many possible other tunnels that I could end up wandering down and getting myself lost in unless I keep myself very focused on the initial topic.
Throughout history, including myths and legends, "visions" are mentioned as being used for guidance, prophecy or even story-telling. Even before modern science had evolved to allow us to understand what our brains undergo during sleep, dream-time/space was a place in-between, not of this world but not quite entirely of the Otherworld either. In our modern times, we know that sleep is when our bodies power down to heal and rest after the days events but we also know that it's the time when our minds become more expansive.
Emily mentioned that Buddha called sleep "the small death" but during my extra research, I discovered that when Buddha is shown lying down in any form, he is on his right side with his head resting on a cushion or his right elbow. This was done to show that all beings have the potential to be awakened and released from the cycle of death and rebirth. This was fascinating to me that there is always a cycle to what is happening within our lives because even in sleep we have a cycle of REM, deep and light sleep.
Homer called sleep "Death's Little Brother". I think it's interesting that death and sleep are, or were, so closely interconnected. Death and sleep were, and to some extent still are, natural yet mysterious cucles that are out of our control and make us lose body consciousness.
The Greek philosopher, Heraclitus of Ephesus, wrote: "Those who are awake have a single and common world, but in sleep each person turns away from this and enters their own world." This is true for all of us whether we believe that messages can hold messages for us or not, because we all dream but we have a tendency to forget our dreams very shortly after waking up.
Dreams can be how the mind processes each day, the information and emotions we've experienced. They can be completely fictional based on recent events or they can be a story of the past, or even the future. At the same time, dreams can be so much more due there being so many different types of dreams:
Standard/Release - where the brain sorts through the day's information and interactions, may also hold visitation aspects
Lucid - where you know you're dreaming and you have some semblance of control over the events
Nightmares - sort of self-explanatory
Recurring - dreams that repeat through a person's life, during a specific period of life; they can be caused by traumatic events but not always
Visitation - where passed loved ones (people or pets) visit; some accounts of dreams also have visits from aliens and angels
Prophetic - where you receive information about the future through fragments or an entire sequence of events; they are usually about the not too distant future
Divinatory - where you receive an answer to a question
It was mentioned that having a set ritual to do before bed is considered to aid the stimulation fo the dreamworld and nourish the bridge that exists between consciousness and unconsciousness. I try to have one but can't always managed to do it every night.
During the "lesson", we did an exercise where we each shared a dream and the other Priestesses would intuitively find a message of sorts within the details given. I will share my dream and the messages I received from the other Priestesses here today.
I had this dream on Tuesday 15th February. I was wandering around a town that I don't know in my waking life and using buses to travel for the most part. I was also with a couple of other people, one of whom found a wallet on the pavement after getting off a bus. They didn't seem sure of what they were going to do while I confidently said that there would be an ID inside it so that it could be returned to the right owner. There was an instant change to a new "scene" where myself and the same group were travelling to a private school that didn't feel like a normal state school, walking through a wooded area to enter the building and sit what seemed like an entrance exam.All I remember of this was that I sat down to take the exam and started writing before the "scene" changed abruptly again. After the exam, which wasn't a part of the dream itself, we all ran through the wooded ground and discovered a lot of squirrel bodies on the ground.
The messages I received was that I had done the right thing with the wallet and that I had passed a test as a result of this. It was also suggested that I was surrounded by people who may not have been the best examples to others. With regard to the squirrels, it was suggested that they represented something was coming to an end, just like with the test, and I felt this resonated with my social situation because in the last couple of years, I have been able to remove certain persons from my friendship circle and making a transition to enjoying my own company and finding myself again. The situation with the ID and me suggesting returning it suggested that I quite happily take on a care-taker role within my life, which I must admit that I do, but that this interaction was showing that I appeared to be the only person with any kind of sense and moral compass, which I do not disagree with at times. According to one of the other Priestesses, the school felt to her like it was Hogwarts and tying into my more fanciful, possibly child-like, self. This sort of mirrored another dream I had where I was teaching students about how to practice magick in their daily lives but the roles were reversed.
This was a whole new experience for me as when I've previously done dream interpretations, I've used Google to learn what certain things meant. But moving forwards, I think I'll use my intuition to discover what messages the dreams have within them and further my inner growth.
I hope this inspires you to explore your own dreams and start your own Dream Journals to further your communications with Spirit.
Peace and love to all!!
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