World Dream Bank home - add a dream - newest - art gallery - sampler - dreams by title, subject, author, date, places, names

Dreams by Author: S A-B, C-F, G-J, K-M, N-R, S, T-Z

RELATED TOPICS: full index of names (not just authors) - collaborative dream art/music - shared and telepathic dreams - Add your own dream! - See also the full INDEX OF SUBJECTS.

What this site is - Add your dreams! - How to read blurbs - Ratings - Copyright - Downloading - The World Dream Bank has 4000+ dreams plus 1000 more pages on dreamwork, shamanism, surrealism, fantasy, worldbuilding, creativity and genius. Site © Chris Wayan 2001-2022.


FIRST NIGHT IN FIJI: dreamed May 1980 by S---; an unheeded warning dream
Far from home, about to wed a man I barely knew, I dreamed I was a lion in an open cage I dared not leave...
NOCTURNE: dreamed 2011 & 2013/11/19 by S---; nested, incubated advisory dreams
After asking "Am I ready to say yes to someone new?" I dreamed I met my old love...
GRAVESTONE: by "Miss S."; late 1930s-1946, a recurring clairvoyant/predictive nightmare
I'm walking up a churchyard path. My hair clings to me, damp. Horses wander. I'm drawn to one graveside...
KINDERTOTENLIEDER: by Oliver Sacks; 1974, a musical dream
I dream of German dirges I don't know. I hum them for a friend, who shocks me by asking
"Have you abandoned any children, or burned a manuscript?" Right on both counts...
NIGHTMARE 1944: by Ira Sadoff; before 1981, a temptation-nightmare?!
On my side of the fence, Austrian winter--gray skies, snow. On the other, warm sun, and a frighteningly beautiful
German woman. She invites me over the border, to join her--and the terrified people being dragged off in carts to...
CAUTION: HOLOCAUST HINTS
CAT AND MOUSE: by Hervey de Saint-Denys, early 1860s?, a startling dream image
A lab. The cat doesn't mind a swim in this liquid harmlessly rendering it clear as glass. It catches
a transparent mouse I didn't even see! So now I faintly see a glass mouse inside the glass cat...
COCKEREL: by Hervey de Saint-Denys, 1846, a comic transformation dream
I meet King Louis-Philippe, but as I recall his symbol, the cockerel, he transforms to suit.
Now he cannot read the letter presented to him, so it becomes a basket of bird-seed...
CRYPTOMNESIC SHOP: by Hervey de Saint-Denys, c.1839, an early cryptomnesic dream
A charming street, a peculiar shop... imaginary, or not? Saint-Denys found it
at last, years later, in Frankfurt where he hadn't been since childhood...
DREAM FIGURES: by Hervey de Saint-Denys, dreamlets between 1835 & 1865?
Why do I treat dream-figures as real people, even in otherwise lucid dreams?
And if dreams universally suspended disbelief, how did I know, in one
recent dream, that the woman I argued with was another part of me?
OUT OF BODY TO THE MOON: by Hervey de Saint-Denys, 1860?-67? Early out-of-body dream
I rise out of my body, find I'm invulnerable, visit the moon, with its volcanic rocks, re-enter
my body, "wake" and write the dream--only to wake again and find all my notes gone!...
PERFUMES: by Hervey de Saint-Denys, early 1860s? Experiments in scent-triggered dreams
I trained myself to associate one scent with the mountains, one with an art studio. On a random
night my servant applied both secretly, and I dreamt artist & model burst into a mountain scene...
SYLVIA, OR, PUN-DREAMS: by Hervey de Saint-Denys, early 1860s? 4 dreams of French puns
A comet grows hair, a girl named Rosalie becomes a bed of roses, writing in a beautiful
hand appears on a beautiful hand, and Sylvia becomes a talking forest bird...
TWO RESCUES: by Hervey de Saint-Denys, 1836 & '60-66?, early genderbent dreams
A TAILOR'S APPRENTICE: I become her to fight back against his abuse...
DAMSEL ON THE PYRE: I become a girl being burned alive, but get
so distracted by my beautiful body I forget to escape until it's too...
YATAGHAN: by Hervey de Saint-Denys, c.1840?, a dream of rescue--and summoning
Night street. Two masked assassins attack a woman. I intervene. But I need a weapon!
I picture the Turkish sword on my mantel. The yataghan appears in my hand and I...
JUST KNOWING: by a St Louis woman; summer 1934 and 1941/11/20, two very pure ESP experiences
I suddenly knew I had to get off the bus and wait for the next. We passed the first bus, on fire...
I was at Thanksgiving dinner when I felt my mother dying two thousand miles away...
SHINY-EYED CREATURE: by Julia Saleh, 2009/9/23, a metabolic sex dream?
I find myself outdoors with my legs spread for a weird creature. I protest, but I love it. Later, after I wake...
CAUTION: SEX
RASPUTIN CLAUS: by "Sally Anne", 1990s?; a warning dream
Bob is at the window asking to be let into my house. He is dressed as Santa Claus; but I think he's really...
CAUTION: MURDER ATTEMPT
ALEXANDRINA: by Adela Samona, March 1910; a predictive dream plus apparent far memories
After the death of her 5-year-old, Adela dreams Alexandrina says "Don't be sad, I'll come back." Eight
months later Adela bears a child identical to the dead girl--and she recalls things Alexandrina saw...
SMOKESTACKS: by "D", before 1990, told by Andrew Samuels; a dream on starting therapy
"D" wants to renovate her house. A powerplant with twin stacks is ugly, but will power
the tools to get the job done. But her new therapist interprets the dream very strangely...
CAUTION: NEO-FREUDIAN PSYCHOBABBLE
BOATS: by SAO (Shawn Allen O'Neal); March 2001, a doubly predictive dream.
Were the rowdy face-boats really ghosts haunting this old house, harbingers of my future online... or both?
THE BOOK: by SAO (Shawn Allen O'Neal); October 1989, a mandala-like dream-icon
The crystalline figure on the cover of the book in my dream seemed to hold as many answers as its title...
CYMBALS: by SAO (Shawn Allen O'Neal); August 1997, a lucid dream on, um, cymbalism
Hundreds of dusty drawers, clearly not not touched in years. I open one
to find cymbals. Some part of me knows it's a dream and sees the pun...
SCIENCE IS A BUILDING THAT COMES ONLY HALFWAY TO THE GROUND:
by SAO (Shawn Allen O'Neal); March 2001, a painting of a dream-scene.
In the golden light of a primal Eden, my friends and I flock naked
through emerald glades like wild deer, until the tower approaches...
THE STYGIAN SENTINELS: by SAO (Shawn Allen O'Neal); 1970s, a recurring astral dream.
The Crocodile King & the Geisha Queen, the couple who guard
the bridge over the River Styx, seem to quarrel a lot...
THE TELLTALE HEART: by SAO (Shawn Allen O'Neal); 1970s, ominously prophetic nightmare
High up a scaffold, I was beating the chaff off a huge seed, unable to stop. I was beating my own heart...
THE TOOTH: by SAO (Shawn Allen O'Neal), 2003?, an epic, oracular, baffling dream
Psychics give me an incomprehensible reading. A book from the tree-library gives only Victorian dating advice.
At last a madman gives me a treasure-box holding a tooth that unfolds into slices carved in unreadable symbols...
PAY CUT: by Sara, 1973/6/23, a surgery nightmare with practical advice
DREAM: Surgeons cut off both my breasts--without my consent! I feel resigned, but the staff is upset...
DAY: I'm interviewing for a job offering $2,000 less than I make now. Told myself it's OK, but...
CAUTION: MALPRACTICE, MUTILATION
MMM, GOOD!: by Sarah, as told to Gayle Delaney, late 1976 or early '77, a predictive dream
Should I subscribe to Sundance Community Dream Journal? I dream I find a letter--yellowish paper, cryptic blue
lettering, a red margin. I eat it! Best thing I ever tasted. I wake and order that journal. It arrives--and the cover is...
AMATERASU'S MIRROR: by Lady Sarashina and an unnamed priest, c. 1035/3/22, two dreams of a life-choice
Sarashina dreams (again) she needs to leave court life and a spiritual path. Her skeptical mom sends a
priest to the temple to dream for her! But he too dreams the Goddess shows two life-choices--happy or sad...
AMIDA: by Lady Sarashina, 1055/10/13, a dream of a salvation-offer
Three years before her husband died and she was left alone, Sarashina dreamt
Amida Buddha stood in her garden and told her "Later I shall return to fetch you"...
REBORN AS A CAT: by Lady Sarashina's sister, April or May 1022, a dream of a friend's past life
Sarashina adopts a stray cat with oddly refined manners. Her sister dreams the cat tells of her
last life, as the daughter of a high official. The cat does seem to understand human speech...
INANNA'S RIVER OF BLOOD: by King Sargon I; c. 2335 BCE, a call-to-greatness nightmare
Sargon, a delivery man, dreams the Goddess drowns the King in a river of blood. He wakes and tells the King...
SAMUEL SAVAGE: by Samuel Savage, late 1770; a dark predictive dream
Samuel Savage dreamt he rode through a graveyard and saw a new monument--for himself!
His death-date was marked: two years in the future. He died September 1772, on that day...
ATTAHUAH: by Jamie Sawyer; summer 2015, a postapocalyptic lucid dream of vengeance
Four guys plot to enslave my girl and kill me; I have lucid powers, and kill them instead.
My girlfriend Attahuah gets poisoned, but...
CAUTION: VIOLENCE, DECEIT
WHIPPING NIGHTMARES: by Jamie Sawyer; 2014/9/3; non-lucid yet lucidlike dream
Attacked on the ground, in the air, even in space, I fight back effectively.
Not lucid, yet in my dreams I now have real power...
TRAVEL: by "SchlofM"; 2008/2/10, a dream about protection
I'm on a trip to who knows where, with my young-again mom, my dead dad, and--who's that guy?
FUNERAL FOODFIGHT: by Dan Schmidt, art by Jesse Reklaw; pre-2000; a revenant dream
As they lower me into my grave, mourners don't throw dirt but--cottage cheese? I toss it
back, starting a huge foodfight. I climb out to join the fun. Only the poor pastor looks lost...
FRESH BLOOD: A DREAM MORPHOLOGY: by Carolee Schneemann, Aug. 1980; menstruation-triggered dream
I'm with an Englishman in a taxi who seems rather calm about the fresh blood welling from his crotch...
I find a famous European Veterinarian, but his waiting room's too crowded, so I just leave a bouquet of dolls...
...and wake to find blood on my own thighs. Why does menstruation always come to me as a surprise?
INTERNAL SCROLL: by Carolee Schneemann, 1975, an embarrassing dream acted out on stage
I dreamed I was pulling a scroll out of my vagina and reading it like a tickertape. I was
reluctant to perform the dream--I knew I'd get into trouble!--but I felt compelled...
CAUTION: NUDITY
THE MADONNA SPEAKS: by Carolee Schneemann, 1971; a Goddess-encounter dream
The Labyrinth of the Madonna's Tears provoked a dream of the Goddess telling me
"My forgotten sanctuaries are all around you now. You have only to see with your own eyes...
REBORN IMMORTAL: by Reneta Scian; 2010/1/3, a three-stage flying dream
First I try to break the sound barrier like my girlfriend. Nope!
Then I fly slowly to her apartment. Nothing flashy, but I make it.
Last, I zoom back to ancient China, where I find a candle-lit shrine dedicated to... me?
NUCLEAR NIGHTMARES: by Erica DeMane, Michael, Joanne and Scott; c.1984, four creepy dreams
Erica dreams that during a protest she's caught in a radioactive flood...
Michael dreams a nuclear forcefield makes his fingertips explode and congeal into weird knobs...
Joanne dreams she meets nuclear mutants with curling black nails great for peeling potatoes...
Scott dreams the world goes silent and white, bleaching out. His hands dissolve...
CREEPINESS: by Scottopic; 2001/11/30. A hypnogogic nightmare.
I'm in bed sleepily petting my cat, when I see my cat across the room! What's on my legs? It's big.
My cat chases it off... through the wall? My room is sealed. Where did it come from, where did it go?...
THE ARMY ORGY: by Charles Scoy; late Sept. 2008, a recurrent nightmare that changed
An Army nightmare suddenly changes--my enemy kisses me, & we start doing every kind of sex...
CAUTION: GAYS IN THE ARMY? DON'T ASK, DON'T TELL!
HOPE: by Elsie Sechrist's student; c.1973, the ultimate punning dream.
A student of Elsie Sechrist reports a dream in which Bob Hope came jumping
down the street on a pogo stick, expressing the dreamer's feeling that...
BITTER TRANSFORMATIONS: by Selena; 2017/10/18, a diagnostic gender identity dream
I finally admit who I am, and the truth is bitter...
CAUTION: GENDER DYSPHORIA, MENTION OF COPROPHAGY, POSSIBLE SITCOM SPOILER
VERA AND HER PRIDE: by Bethany Sellers; 2005, a dream-portrait of an inner feline family.
I found myself in a whole pride of cat-people like me, each one representing some side of me...
PAUL PULLS THE TRIGGER: by Paul Sharits, 1969/12/16, a dream of a replayed, amplified suicide
I see myself shoot myself. Director-me decides this isn't dramatic enough to wow audience-me, so
actor-me tries again, firing half a dozen times! Maybe suicidal imagery is how I realize no-self...
CAUTION: SEVEN BULLETS IN THE HEAD
BIRD ASSASSIN: by Adam Shaw, art by Jesse Reklaw; pre-2000; a no-kindness-goes-unpunished dream
I'm a giant cartoon bird. I had to assassinate a friend--twelve times!
Eleven times I killed him, but I spared him the twelfth. He said...
BALLET CURTAIN: by Jim Shaw; c.1994, an odd double dream image
Dancers in 18th Century gowns emerged from a curtain with paintings of ballerinas in the same gowns...
CELLO CASE: by Jim Shaw; between 1987 & Jan. 1995, an odd dream image
I was going to music camp, but I didn't know how to play my cello.
A teenager and her mother slept like vampires in her giant cello case...
DEATH DATE: by Jim Shaw; 1994 (early?), a possibly predictive shamanic dream
I become a werewolf and climb into a strange attic. I find a grave marker for
an old friend--but her death date is two years in the future...
AN ELECTORAL REFORM: by Jim Shaw; c.1994, a dream-idea that came true
In between drawing devil-bunnies, I advocate letting doomed fringe candidates donate their votes
to more viable colleagues, letting voters express their real choices, not vote for the lesser evil...
CAUTION: POLITICS!
FUTURE BOOKS: by Jim Shaw; c.1994, a dream lesson on reading
In a repressive, thought-controlled future I find some old banned books;
I tell my student "Reading these makes life more interesting--and angry..."
THE GIANT: by Jim Shaw; c.1994, a dreamlet on rage about... what?
At a beach, a man attacks the genitals, buttocks and thighs of a giant who sits half in the surf, ignoring him...
CAUTION: NUDITY, MUTILATION ATTEMPTS
GOD SELLS CIGARETTES: by Jim Shaw; c.1994, a sad dream vignette
I dreamed God was naked, selling cigarettes in a nightclub...
CAUTION: MONOTHEISTIC FALL
HOCKEY: by Jim Shaw; c.1994, a flirtatious dream-scene
I'm a hockey player. A woman strips to a bikini, wondering if she's attractive. My erection says she is...
CAUTION: BRRR!
IGUANA: by Jim Shaw; between 1987 & Jan. 1995, two surreal dreamlets on water damage
In a flooded room, an indignant iguana scolds me, while
my wife Marnie checks her computer implant for water damage...
THE IRON WINDOW: by Jim Shaw; between 1987 & Jan. 1995, a grotesque dreamlet
Bearded professors call through an iron-barred window shaped like
a woman's torso, hoping to lure a nude model to fill it so they can grope...
CAUTION: CREEPY
JESUS HEADS: by Jim Shaw; c.1994, punning dreamlets of giant... mugs
In a museum I see huge Jesus heads with inset saints and figures in pain;
then, in our old back yard, huge coffee cups half-sunk in the grass...
LETTERMAN: by Jim Shaw; c.1994, a surreal dreamlet
Sharon Stone kisses David Letterman, and his head starts distorting
as she rants about the film industry's baby-actor monopoly...
LOOKING FOR LIBRIUM: by Jim Shaw; Jan. 1995?, a mutant Biblical dream
After fighting off an electrified Orson Welles, I meet the twelve
vulture-pine-politicians climbing Mt Sinai, looking for librium...
THE MAN WHO DESERVED TO DIE: by Jim Shaw; c.1994; a dream of moral rescue
I don't want to kill my friend, though his clothes say I must. But
a sculptor lets us sit on her metal trees and drink tea instead...
MY FUTURE ART: by Jim Shaw; between 1987 & Jan. 1995; a self-fulfilling dream prophecy
This woman shows me a book of my art. I'm not sure I want to see them--some pieces are from my future...
ORANGE: by Jim Shaw; c.1994; a wordplay dream?
A coy, giggling giant orange bounces onto a man's bed, trying to seduce him, and...
THE RICH WRECK THE WELL: by Jim Shaw; between 1987 & Jan. 1995, a dream of Heaven
A movie version of heaven. Souls line up for rejuvenation from a great
fountain. But fat old rich guys crash the line, demanding to be first...
CAUTION: UGLY NUDITY, UGLY BEHAVIOR, POLITICALLY PREDICTIVE
SIX DREAMS: by Jim Shaw; c.1994, a very busy night!
1: A flooded bathroom becomes 2: a glass water-piano; 3: my friend strips in a restaurant, so
4: they serve me gutted dog. 5: Dolls teach prostitution, as 6: a rhino rubs up to an elephant-bear...
SKUNK SEEKS THAILAND: by Jim Shaw; c.1994, a dreamlet of shamanic kindness
One night I meet a giant talking skunk and its pup, who asks how to walk to Thailand...
SPLITTING THE ATOM: by Jim Shaw; c.1994, an antitherapy dream?
In a dark classroom, my shrink was demonstrating atom-splitting
with a glowing ping pong ball. I was glad I wasn't in that class...
THE SUMMONERS: by Jim Shaw; between 1987 & Jan. 1995, a mysterious dream
Two nude women (drawn Wally Wood style) dance ritually in a
forest, summoning a worm-snake-dragon with a ring of fangs...
CAUTION: NUDITY
SWALLOWING NUMBERS: by Jim Shaw; between 1987 & Jan. 1995; a surreal eating dreamlet
I was late for something, so I opened my pocket watch and swallowed a bunch of numbers...
TEN CLARKS AND LOISES: by Jim Shaw; c.1994, an epic dream on... poseurs?
Hand-puppets, a devil and a witch, have sex, and implant a lunar ghost embryo
into Lois Lane; now Lois & Clarkes, ten clones each, pretend to be puppets...
CAUTION: PUPPET SEX; EVERYONE A FAKE
THROATS and SLOT MACHINE: by Jim Shaw; between 1987 & Jan. 1995, two odd dreamlets
THROATS: Men put babies into giant throats inset in a funhouse wall;
SLOT MACHINE: I see a slot machine generating random art-speak phrases...
MUTANT WEDDING: by Lisa Shea; 1991/8/3; an epic Jungian action dream!
I hide a chip of secrets from thugs, fight a running light-gun battle, and hide in my workplace's
crawlways, amid live cables and pipes. As the factory burns, I run a gauntlet of goons. A girl
leads me into the underworld. Fires glow and mutants dance. I marry the leader of the pack.
GREG'S GIFT: by Sheila and Trish, reported by Janis Amatuzio; June 1995, three dreams (?) of a ghost
A woman dreams of her boyfriend recently killed in a car crash. Unremarkable so far. But he
also haunts his ex-babysitter, two thousand miles away, who had no idea he'd died...
OJIBWAY DREAM NET: by Regina de Cormier-Shekerjian, c.1984, a dream-poem of a visiting animus
I hung the dream-net over my bed. It worked. A blue-winged man with a leg of silver came to me,
drummed, danced, offered to teach me secrets. Awake, I found a blue feather caught in that net...
SHELDON, ALICE: see TIPTREE, JAMES, below.
FRANKENSTEIN'S ORIGIN: by Mary Shelley; 1816/6/16, the (hypnogogic?) dream inspiring a famous book
I saw the pale student of unhallowed arts kneeling beside the thing
he had put together; I saw the hideous phantasm of a man stretched out...
DEJA REVE: by Percy Bysshe Shelley; before 1810, a flash of a premonitory dream
While walking in the country, a vista suddenly terrifies Shelley: he recognizes it from a dream years before...
MARIANNE'S DREAM: by Marianne Hunt c.1817, as told by Percy Shelley; a dream-poem.
A black anchor floats in the sky to the east. Impossible cities rise on mountaintops, only to erupt in flame.
The sea rises to drown them. On a plank, I ride the flood. In the ruins, I find angelic statues--who wake...
RECONCILIATION: by Martha Sherwood; 2003/6/19, a dream-parable
Even after the Resurrection, a mother and daughter still have issues to clean up...
TIN FISH: by a ship engineer's wife; 1914-1918, a precise lifesaving dream
I dreamed my husband's ship headed for India, but a 'tin fish'
sank it with just one casualty--him. I rushed down to the dock...
DESTRUCTION OF THE NIGHTMARE TOWERS: by Dustin Shuler; c.1955-1965, recurrent nightmare made performance art
As a kid, when I had a fever I always had the same nightmare: a high brick or stone wall
shaking apart, faster and faster. This scared me very much. Finally, in my teens, I...
BUDDHA'S FIVE DREAMS: by Siddartha, soon to be called the Buddha, c.528 BCE
I'm gigantic, stretching from Ceylon to Tibet. Grass grows from my navel to heaven.
Worms crawl on me. Birds flock to me and change color. I climb a mountain of dung...
CAUTION: PIOUS MISINTERPRETATIONS
SILLA KRISTOS: by Silla Kristos, c.1634; a didactic during-death vision
Silla Kristos angered Saint Walatta Petros, so she cursed him. He got sick and died. She knew she'd overdone it,
and asked the Virgin Mary to revive him. Mary grumbled, but did. While dead, Silla Kristos got wise angelic advice...
CAUTION: BRATTY SAINT, BRATTY MONK
PATCHES PAWS AT FLYING FISH-TOAST FRIENDS: by Sarah Silver; 2006/7/26, a hallucinatory image
Patches the kitten, my alter ego, paws at flying fish who are also toast-slices...
WHERE IS MY MOTHER?: by Kelly Simon; 1992?; an epic time-traveling dream of roots
I'm nine years old again. But my mom acts like a child--crawls into a hole. I follow, scared,
and find my grandfather packing to leave the Old Country before the Nazis kill us all...
CAUTION: FEAR & PERSECUTION
SEXUAL DREAMS: by Felicia, Simone, Anons 60-61 & a UCSC student; 1994 or earlier, as told by Gayle Delaney
Five short playful dreams exploring sex. Because too many therapists
get in the habit of thinking all dreams must wrestle with unhappiness...
AFTER THE FLOOD & THE PIG-EARED BABY ALLIGATOR: by Skiznot; c.1995, an oracular dream
My hometown floods. I swim after some strange fish and find
a scientific community where a scaled baby tells me who I am...
THE GLOWING CLIT: by "Allison Skywalker"; 2009/6/21, a bizarre dream-surgery fragment
I'm a revolutionary hiding in the woods. I wake to find an erect penis crudely stitched onto my crotch...
BAT AND UMBRELLA: by David Small; c. 1960/3/1, a nightmare exposing deadly child neglect
I'm an orphaned bat in an alley in a storm. I mistake a broken old umbrella's ribs & flaps
for... my Mom! I unfold Mom, and discover...
CAUTION: LIFE-THREATENING CHILD NEGLECT
WHY ME?: by Karen Smith; 1991/7/22; nested flying/oracular/tragic dreams
I flew joyfully over Sun Valley. But when I landed, I wore a uniform. As I slept in our barracks,
I dreamed--within my dream--of finding two friends in the lake, tangled in a net, long dead. I
"woke" and told a friend my dream. She said in tears "I know someone has to die, but why me?
GROTTO OF BREASTS: by Gary Snyder, 1965/7/3, a bizarre High Sierra dream
In Europe, I enter a cave-shrine. Rock walls with... breasts! I suck one. It gives milk. A plaque says...
CAUTION: WEIRD
JOURNEY IX: by Gary Snyder, 1970 or before, a dream of ascending through death
Ko said "Now we have come to where we die." I thought it looked just like the land we'd been traveling,
and couldn't see why we should have to die. Ko grabbed me and pulled me over the cliff...
CAUTION: DYING IN DREAM
SOCRATES'S SWAN: by Socrates, 407 BCE; an early prophetic dream.
The night before he met his greatest student, Plato, Socrates dreamed he nursed a baby swan who grew...
A SNAKE PROMPT: by Rebecca Solnit; before 2005, a brief but effective warning to pay attention
As I recalled what I'd dreamed the night before, a snake, I looked down and saw my foot was poised to come down on...
SOLOMON'S CHOICE: by King Solomon, c. 970 BCE; a god's dream-bargain
As his reign begins, King Solomon worries he's inadequate. He dreams
God offers him one gift, of his choice--but what would help the most?
THEFT OF THE ARK: by King Solomon, c. 960 BCE; a dream acted on too late
Ethiopian records say Solomon and Makeda, the Queen of Sheba, had a son who stole
the Ark of the Covenant! Solomon dreamt of the theft but didn't check til it was too late...
GOBLET OF GOLD: by Sophocles, between 450-406 BCE; a detective dream.
A huge gold cup was stolen from the Temple of Hercules. Sophocles thrice dreamt Hercules named the thief...
IT MUST BE SOMEONE SHE ATE: by Sorcha; 2008/10/11 and mid-Jan. 2009, a recurring comic news-nightmare
Cilda Spitzer and Hillary Clinton sentence America's bimbos to a shitty fate. But what of their cheating husbands?
THE SHRINKING POPE: by Sorcha; 2005/4/1, a Jane Bond dream
I'm the only one who can stop the plot to kill the Pope--but if he keeps shrinking like that, will it matter?
CAUTION: RECOVERING CATHOLIC
CREATING WINGS: by Robert Southey; 1805. Beauty to nightmare to flight.
Saints and devils in a sunken statuary garden turn too real for comfort; so, creating my own wings, I fly...
OLD ADAM: by Robert Southey; 1804/12/7, a comic dreamlet.
I meet the original Adam. He complains Eve neglects him, but he hopes to meet one of his cleverer descendants...
RIB-CRUSHER: by Robert Southey; 1823/10/5, a nightmare leaving traces
I was in the grave. Worse, a living skeleton was trying to crush my ribs. Though terrified, I fought back, and...
TO KEEP HIM COMPANY: by Robert Southey; 1806/1/23; a Wertheresque suicide dream-comedy
My German friend resolved to commit suicide, so I agreed to poison myself to keep him company...
YOU REALLY AREN'T LUNCH; 2012/6/11 by Maia Spencer; a cledonic dream of facing fears
Hiding in the woods I meet a Cyclops. But I'm not me, I'm the editor of the World Dream Bank...
I HAD THE STRANGEST DREAM, AND YOU WERE THERE: by Wen Spencer; c.2016;
a writer's dream comically summing up her own fantasy series.
My characters are all dancing together. Roach is flanked by friends--but they turn into elves.
As dragons, elves, tengu & robot mice join in, Roach slowly freaks...
NIGHTMARE NEXT TO MY LOVER: by Kathleen Spivack; before 1983, an outside look at dreaming
A woman unreachable, in dream, drowning in the bed, fish-gasping, scissoring, while her man oblivious...
UNDER: by John Collings Squire, c.1917; a surreal dream-poem
She tells me there's a stream under the floor, upstairs. Peel back the carpet, pry up the boards. An icy creek.
Trout. She brings me a fishing rod. But the fish say they're too young to die. I feel such guilt and grief...
DRY HUMPING ON STAGE: by Marilyn Stablein; 1968, a dream while visiting Nepal... for six years
I'm chosen to demonstrate crazy sex positions with a Tibetan lama on stage in front of a crowd...
CAUTION: GOOFY SEX
FAMINE: by Marilyn Stablein; 1968, a dream while visiting Nepal... for six years
Famine in the monastery. We add weather charts, leather laces
and walking sticks to the menu. Even the ghosts are hungry...
FLYING CARPET: by Marilyn Stablein; 1968, a dream while visiting Nepal... for six years
In Kathmandu, I'm given a flying carpet--but it skims along
only a few feet up, and ambles slower than I can walk...
THE MIX-UP: by Marilyn Stablein; 1968, an early comic dream of human-induced climate change
Tibetan prayers for good weather are answered too well. Heat wave! Tourists fly in, but planes can't land--
melting glaciers flood the airstrips. So tourists eager to sunbathe in Tibet strap on parachutes, prepare to jump...
RELIEF CARAVAN: by Marilyn Stablein; 1968, a dream while visiting Nepal... for six years
Famine. Our Tibetan monastery's prayers are answered. A caravan of yaks comes over the pass, bearing...
SEE-THROUGH BAGS: by Marilyn Stablein; 1968, a dream while visiting Nepal... for six years
I give plastic sandwich bags to people in Tibet. They go wild for them.
Shortage! An air shipment from Delhi breaks open; Tibetans with butterfly nets...
WATER BOOKS: by Marilyn Stablein; 1968, a dream while visiting Nepal... for six years
In a Tibetan monastery on an ancient lakebed, I swim through a vast sunken library.
Books open like sea anemones, letters float to the surface like kelp...
I DIED AND WALKED AMONG THE LIVING: by Starvibes, 2013/1/4, a warning dream?
My little daughter and I hardly notice when a truck kills us. Unseen, I calmly observe the alarm of the living...
SPECKLED EGGS: by Starvibes; 2008/6/16, a dream of intrigue.
I dreamed of speckled eggs, Caribbean drug traffickers and of
almost drowning near a sinking boat...
SWIMMING CATS: by Starvibes, 2012/1/20, a mysterious dream image
Tracking two cats at night, I watch amazed as they dive in and swim gracefully across a swimming pool...
FREAKY DREAM, or, HEART IN MY STOMACH: by Ratiries Steelclaw; c. 2004/3/30, a dream comic
I felt like my heart was in my stomach. My friend Lyx opened me up & said "It is." She scolded me for eating it...
CAUTION: URP
SEPTIC: by Steve (age 6), pre-1961, a recurring predictive nightmare
For three weeks he wakened screaming in fright; he said he "fell in a hole." Then, one snowy day...
U.F.O. P.O.V.: by Steve, recurring dreams, spring 1966 to 1971, as told by his friend Barry Windsor-Smith
Night. A London suburb. A UFO big as a city block looms over us. It's seen all over South England. Yet we go blank--
forget! Though not quite--for years after, Steve has recurring dreams. When he tells me one, I recall the same event...
CAUTION: INTENSE UFO EXPERIENCE
LINCH-PIN: by George Stevens; c.1895? a frustrating psychic dream
George sees a cart-crash pinning a friend. He yells to bystanders to free the wheel, but they can't hear him...
BROTHER: by Noelle Stevenson; c.2000-2012?, recurring rescue dreams
I kept dreaming of a boy in striped pajamas. I had to save him every night.
Until one night I failed. I just couldn't. I knew who he was--my brother who...
CAUTION: DEATH
STEVENSON'S BROWNIES: by Robert Louis Stevenson; 1850s-c.1887, a series of dreams
Stevenson's dreams changed over decades: from childhood nightmares into
creative collaborators dreaming whole stories...
VIVISECTION: by Bob Stickgold, c.1979, a nightmare dismissed as the brain at play
After a class where students are forced to vivisect anesthetized dogs
I dreamed I'd made a mistake; I was sawing open my daughter...
CAUTION: CREEPY DREAM, CREEPY DISMISSAL
DON'T GO TO THE MARKET: by a Stockwith woman, June/July 1757; a predictive dream unheeded
A woman in Stockwith dreamt she'd drown going to market; but her friends talked her back into the trip.
When she fell in the water, they all stood by as she drowned; not one helping her till it was too late...
CAUTION: WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE...
THE MÖBIUS STRIP OF GRIEF: by Ruth Stone, 2004-2008; a dream poem
You say you're leaving me. I go to grab an ice pick to stab you, but my hand
freezes to the ice block on the stair--I dare not even dream of murder. Since...
CAUTION: RESPONSE TO SPOUSAL SUICIDE
MOM DRIVES: by Frances R. Storey, 1994?, a warning dream--but of the future, or now?
I'm back in the suburbs, but decades have passed. My mom's really old & blind.
Yet I insist she should drive the car, not me. She pulls out in front of a huge truck...
FALADA: The Goose Girl's Best Friend: by Mardi Storm, recurring predictive dreams c.1975-79, sculpted c.2000
I had recurring dreams in which a talking horse’s head was nailed to a tree.
Strangely, this was before I read "The Goose Girl" in Grimm's fairytales...
CAUTION: GRIMM ALL AROUND
TWILIGHT ANIMA RISING: by Mardi Storm, 2005, a dream leading to artistic defiance
I dreamed of a unicorn rearing in the desert. I wanted to sculpt it and applied to Burning Man
but was rejected. So I sculpted the unicorn anyway, out of playa mud. It was a hit...
SHE IS THE SNAKE: by Sharon Stricker, 1980, a warning dream from a censored goddess
Should I try to keep Janine out of jail? But outside, she'd gotten back on drugs. That night I dreamed
a huge beautiful snake bit my writing hand, and said "Don't go to court. Stay home and write"...
CAUTION: JUNKIE, RESCUER
SPOTTED FAWN DODGES ARROWS: by Amanda Strong; 1998, a dream on the power of names
Soon after I was given the name Spotted Fawn, I dreamed I was one,
fleeing faceless hunters under the full moon. There's history in this...
PROPHETIC DREAM OF BUDDHA'S FATHER: by King Suddhodana, c.563 BCE? an uneasy dream
Suddhodana dreams of great upheavals; no courtier can interpret the dream.
An ascetic claims the upheaval will be for the good, then... turns into an owl?!
CAUTION: PERHAPS NOT ENTIRELY ACCURATE
SURRENDER TO THE WHITE BUFFALO: by Kathleen Sullivan, 1970s?; a nightmare turned shamanic
A gigantic herd of buffalo stampede toward me. I panic, then surrender in peace to what is surely my death...
CELEBRATE BOTH: by Henry Sultan, 2005/6/26, a painting that blends two dreams
At a snake-weaving party I flirt with my anima, who tells me how the
cake fell off the roof. I think "At last we're really connecting!"...
ANCIENT RUINS, AND A GIFT FROM DEEP OCEAN:
by Jenny Badger Sultan; two dreams (2016/11/19, 2017/1/18) on dreamwork, memory & amnesia
1: Ruins in India. Fascinating but age-blurred; wish I could see the carvings better...
2: Giving presents at a party, I hand a girl a vertebra from the abyss, encrusted with jewel-like barnacles...
BEAR IN THE MUSEUM: by Jenny Badger Sultan; 2009/6/7; painting in the Box of Dreams
There's a large bear wandering the museum, and somehow I feel good about it...
BLOODLINES: by Jenny Badger Sultan; 2005/7/30, 9/1 and 9/3; a compound dream-painting
A man obsessed with blood and death disturbs me, but I have to admit I share his interests...
Next the blood comes home; a surgeon wants to flay my tongue...
Next, witch-children rebel against a bloody flossing ritual and fly away on broomsticks...
BOX OF DREAMS: by Jenny Badger Sultan; 2007 to 2009, a boxed set of 19 small dream-paintings
A sequence of short dreams full of creatures. They warn I'll face leukemia...
BORN IN A CAVE: by Jenny Badger Sultan; 2007/4/20 to 2007/8/9, a painted series of rite-of-passage dreams.
I keep dreaming of awkward but successful transitions into new life, and paint them all in one landscape...
BRIGHT NICHES IN THE CASTLE WALL: by Jenny Badger Sultan; summer 2003; a series of dreams.
Dreams warning of mania and paralyzing shame alternate with calm dreams of life and growth...
CLOTHO AND THE POOL OF DREAMS: by Jenny Badger Sultan;
a 2015 painting weaving seven dreams (2014/5/4, 6/9, 7/1 & 9/4; 2015/5/23, 6/26 & 8/25)
A portrait of Clotho, the Greek Fate who spins our life-threads, by a pool woven of my dreams from this time...
THE COMING DARK: by Jenny Badger Sultan, 2002/3/2; a dream on one disaster averted, and one... not.
I climb down a cliff before night strands me; but in town, risky adolescent games cause a crash...
COMING TO THE JUMPING OFF PLACE: by Jenny Badger Sultan, 92/5/1, painting of an escape dream
Trapped on an island, spied on and controlled, we decide to jump off
a cliff and die; but as we jump, a spirit sneaks us off be reborn...
CORPSES IN THE UPPER ROOM: by Jenny Badger Sultan, 1995/1/30, a dreamlet of death/regeneration
Bodies are laid out upstairs in a dirt bed. Potatoes will sprout.
The plants won't feed on the bodies, but they will support the vines...
THE COUPLE AND THE MOTHER: by Jenny Badger Sultan, 1970, watercolor of a lost dream.
I no longer have the text of this dream, but its image anticipated and prepared me for my actual marriage...
DAD FALLS ASLEEP AT THE PODIUM: by Jenny Badger Sultan; 2008/3/8; painting in the Box of Dreams
My father is supposed to speak, but he falls asleep onstage. I rush up to try and rouse him, but...
DESCENDING THE MOUNTAIN TOWER: by Jenny Badger Sultan, 2004/7/6, a dream of grounding
The boy and I walk a spiral trail down the mountain to the caves of tears...
DREAM OF THE ARCS: by Jenny Badger Sultan; 1994/7/5, a warning dream on power
A nun-like figure shows me three arcs; two are forms of direct power,
but the third, innermost arc can lead to secrecy and manipulation...
DREAM OF THE DANCE: by Jenny Badger Sultan, 2006/10/16, a dream-painting
After our trip to Turkey, I dreamed I was dancing in
a heavy black robe like those the Turkish women wore...
DREAM OF THE DANCING GODDESSES: by Jenny Badger Sultan, 1988/12/19, a dream-painting
I sneak into a dance rehearsal. Huge colorful cloth goddesses dance,
while four fat women wearing only scarves weave round them...
CAUTION: NUDITY
A FIRE ENTIRELY WITHOUT HEAT: by Jenny Badger Sultan; 2008/9/11; painting in the Box of Dreams
On the anniversary of 9/11, I dreamed a friend was welding nude. In his careful hands, the fire was harmless...
FISH INTO SNAKE: by Jenny Badger Sultan; 1994/11/4; a dream painting
I'm talking to a friend while waiting in line, when a huge fish appears. It turns into an equally huge snake...
FLUID DREAM CONNECTIONS: by Jenny Badger Sultan; 2003/11/8 and 2007/3/14; linked dreams of pods
A pod of whales in the sky and a circle of children dressed like seed-pods both beg me to interpret them...
FOOT CREVASSE: by Jenny Badger Sultan; 2009/7/11; painting in the Box of Dreams
I dream my foot has a huge bloody crevasse. But I study it calmly...
THE FOREST BRIDE: by Jenny Badger Sultan; 1994/7/23 & 1994/12/10; opposing solstice dreams
In the midsummer dream, I'm at a wedding in the Russian forest;
in winter, I dream I hold an emaciated girl as she breathes her last...
GERMAN AT THE DOOR: by Jenny Badger Sultan; 2009/7/19; painting in the Box of Dreams
A hulking, intimidating young man is at my door, with two scary dogs. Wait, is that Carl Jung?...
GREAT GODDESS, or, SACRIFICE: by Jenny Badger Sultan; 1970; an epic painting of a troubling dream
I'm a priestess standing on a stone terrace, holding a ritual axe. Before me kneels a sacrifice to the Goddess...
GREEN, GREEN, SPIRIT OF THE SPRING: by Jenny Badger Sultan; dreamed 1991/2/3, 1995/8/13 and 1995/11/10
I meet a girl with a plant growing out of her head...
Someone prays to the spirit of a spring to heal me...
I watch people practice exercises with the ritual feel of voudun or candomble...
HANK AND THE BENGAL TIGER: by Jenny Badger Sultan; 2009/2/27; painting in the Box of Dreams
At a party, I go hunting for my husband and find him on a terrace facing a Bengal tiger...
HERM: by Jenny Badger Sultan; 2009/9/8; painting in the Box of Dreams
In a domed tower, we all look up bewildered by a statue like an ancient herm, floating in mid-air...
HUGE OVOID SHAPE: by Jenny Badger Sultan, 1999/8/13 Magrittesque surreal sci-fi dream
A huge white ovoid like a tethered cloud hangs over a city street. We enter it and search for the crew...
LATER IN THE DAY, WE'LL CROSS OVER: by Jenny Badger Sultan; 2009/7/16; painting in the Box of Dreams
I know we will cross the water surrounding the heart of Jerusalem, but not yet...
LAURA: by Jenny Badger Sultan; 2009/10/24; painting in the Box of Dreams
As we climb down the steep mountainside, clutching bushes to keep from falling,
I ask Laura "Do you want another child?"
LITTLE BROWN RABBITS IN THE MEADOW: by Jenny Badger Sultan; 2009/3/20; painting in the Box of Dreams
I visit a friend's ramshackle cottage--trees grow through the walls. But glorious meadows! Spring at last...
"LOOK UP, JOE!": by Jenny Badger Sultan; 2009/10/17; painting in the Box of Dreams
A waterfall leaps from a mountain so huge, steep and distant its base is lost in the haze...
MAGIC WEB: by Jenny Badger Sultan; 1984, a lost dream
A colorful magic web I saw in a dream and painted; but I've been unable to trace the dream so far in my journals...
THE MAN WITH THE SNAKE: by Jenny Badger Sultan; 2002/9/3, dream of an aborted shamanic duel
I stood in the desert preparing for a contest with a man and his snake. But he cheated! Then my cat Lulu intervened...
MANDALA DURING A TIME OF WAR AND DISINTEGRATION:
by Jenny Badger Sultan; Jan-Feb 2003, painting of a dream-series
My dreams were troubled by war. So I painted them in concentric rings--lotus, fire, children, animals, and nightmares...
MANDALA OF THE EIGHT DREAMERS: by Jenny Badger Sultan; 2007/9/16, painting of a group's dreams
Our dream-group's dreams had a lot of imagery in common: circles, groups, meditation. I fused them into this piece...
MARY MCBRIDE AND THE SPIRITUAL EARTH MOVEMENT: by Jenny Badger Sultan; 2011/11/26, dream of a kindred artist
I met a woman whose art (and her love for the Earth) inspired me to start a series of paintings with creatures hidden in landscapes...
MOON AND FIRE RISING: by Jenny Badger Sultan; dreamed c.1994/3/10 (+ earlier dream images, one from 1969)
A dragon-woman showed me a cache of art. When I painted her face I recalled seeing it in a dream decades ago in a mirror...
CAUTION: DRAGON BREASTS
MOVING IN THE LANDSCAPES OF MY DREAMS:
by Jenny Badger Sultan; 14 dreams (mostly Jan-Mar 2011) painted on one canvas
A dream urged me to paint a big landscape with cutout movable (magnetic) dream figures
and liftable flaps revealing hidden dream scenes...
MUSHROOM-SHAPED ROCK: by Jenny Badger Sultan, 2000/4/14, a happy dream
I climb a huge mushroom-shaped rock rising from a hotspring and prepare to dive in...
MY DESIGN FOR THE DOME: by Jenny Badger Sultan; 2009/5/1; a painting from an advisory dream
At first no one seems interested in my mural-design for the inside of the City Hall dome, but...
MY RITUAL BEHEADING: by Jenny Badger Sultan; 1996/3/24, painting of a nightmare
We stood meekly in line to be beheaded. I tried to accept my fate and commended myself to God...
CAUTION: READ THE TITLE!
NAOMI, CAVES, AND LEMON TREES: by Jenny Badger Sultan, 1995/10/4, a joyful dream
I swim with my daughter Naomi in a desert pool amid lemon trees. She may be able to help me...
NEST, EGGS AND LEGS: by Jenny Badger Sultan; l993/9/7, a comic mystical dream
Two friends send energy through me, transforming me. Now that
my legs are detachable, I can sit comfortably on my eggs...
NIBBLING FRUITS: by Jenny Badger Sultan; 2009/2/3; a painting from an advisory dream
I am given a gift of "Nibbling Fruits" which only I may eat--because I've been feeding everyone but me...
ORACLE--SEA CHANGE: by Jenny Badger Sultan; 1999/5/6, dream-based painting
At the beach, wading with my fellow dreamworker Stephanie.
The waves are getting bigger--are they a hazard, or can we ride them?
PANGOLIN: by Jenny Badger Sultan, 1995/8/1, painting of an exploited creature
While visiting a friend in New Orleans in my dream, I saw a pangolin. I was very excited...
PEGGY'S CAKE: by Jenny Badger Sultan; l998/10/26 , a nightmare plus surrealist painting.
At a party I meet a friend I thought was dead. She's become a small talking rabbit made of cake, and I...
CAUTION: UGH
PIGEON WITH A HEAD LIKE QUEEN VICTORIA: by Jenny Badger Sultan, 2010/7/26, painting of a pest
A pigeon with a head like Queen Victoria's keeps fastening onto
my clothing with its beak, and this nagging feels familiar...
THE PLACE OF SPROUTING CORN: by Jenny Badger Sultan; 1989/1/10 & 1989/6/28, twin initiatory dreams.
I'm shown corn plants growing from skulls, and it seems like I must plant some skull-corn myself...
THE PRIMEVAL ANIMAL and the Survival of the Earth: by Jenny Badger Sultan; 1999/4/28; an epic dream
A huge spiral nautilus needs healing; its coils are coming undone, and if it dies, all on earth may die with it...
RADIANT LIGHT: DREAMING IN THE HYPOGEUM:
by Jenny Badger Sultan, 1999/5/15, 6/12 & 7/14, a painting based on 3 dreams
I'm in the Hypogeum, an ancient Maltese dream-temple. I join some women
staging a ritual; a little girl draped in a web plays the role of an insect...
RED OCHRE, CLEAR LIGHT: by Jenny Badger Sultan; 2003/4/2 & 4/21; two possibly premonitory dreams
Mt Everest is snowfree and red; in the next dream I redden a sandstone cave with ochre. I feel uneasy...
SAINT BRIDGET: by Jenny Badger Sultan; between 1963-68, a dream on adversity's uses.
In a Scythian church, a painting says:
"Little St Bridget was bound so hard that when they released her she flew"...
SNAKE PACKAGE: by Jenny Badger Sultan; 2007/5/27
I am given a dehydrated package of dried snake to insert in my vagina. Inside it will unfold and come to life...
CAUTION: KIDS, DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME!
SNAKE POD TREE: by Jenny Badger Sultan; 1989/3/16, painting of a vivid dream image
In a desert, I find a tree with red purselike pods. But they all seem empty,
and I know they should each contain a vivid yellow snake...
SNAKE TREE: by Jenny Badger Sultan; 1989/10/31, a dream revisioning Eden
A woman up a tree has white flaky stuff camouflaging her.
It cracks and peels like snakeskin. What tree is this, exactly?
SPEAKING ABOUT ART WITH THE AFRICAN BEINGS:
by Jenny Badger Sultan; 2002/1/19, a dream-painting of a dream about dream-painting!
I'm teaching an art class full of strange masklike beings. We debate art
as spontaneous process, versus art as planned product...
SPIDER TOILET: by Jenny Badger Sultan, 2000/2/7 hypnogogic image and 2000/2/17 nightmare
First a lone image on waking, of a woman cradling a skeleton; ten days later,
a nightmare of spiders swarming out of my toilet, covering me...
SPIRIT FACE: by Jenny Badger Sultan, 1988/4/25 dream of a huge art project
I'm at the beach, collecting stones to make a gigantic face viewable only from the air...
SUBMERGED IN THE WAVE: by Jenny Badger Sultan, 1988/8/3, a comic nightmare
I'm holding a pornographic novel, trying to keep it dry, as huge waves
flood the room. The book and I are both going to get drenched...
SUN SINKS BENEATH THE EARTH--REMAINS OF MEN AND WOMEN:
by Jenny Badger Sultan; 1997, a collage on a dream-idea
A phrase from a dream, "the remains of men and women," led to this image
of a black sun in the underworld amid strata of time and the psyche...
TONY DIGS UP THE RED EARTH: by Jenny Badger Sultan; 2008/2/23; painting in the Box of Dreams
It's Thanksgiving but my brother won't come in; he's digging up red earth. In our family he always digs up...
TWO-FACED LAPIS AND THE MOTHER: by Jenny Badger Sultan, 1992/7/6, a distractable dream
I'm shown a mysterious two-faced carving;
I shush loud people disturbing my therapy;
I'm told of a documentary on the archetypal mother...
TWO GORILLAS IN THE FIELD: by Jenny Badger Sultan; 2008/12/5; painting in the Box of Dreams
I see two gorillas in the field. One waves at me and approaches. I feel excited but a little scared...
THE VEGETABLES OF SHADOW: by Wayan; 1999/10/4. Nondream surrealist art technique.
Make silhouettes of your beloved vegetables; then listen to the spaces between...
CAUTION: LEWD SQUASH
THE VERDURE IS ACCOMPLISHED: by Jenny Badger Sultan; dreamed 1996/4/21 and 5/11
A dream voice announced "The verdure is accomplished." Green is a healing color for me...
In the next dream we sat round a green pool, talking of healing. But the snails troubled me...
VERITY'S WINGS: by Jenny Badger Sultan; 2009/8/21; painting in the Box of Dreams
My friend Verity's given a beautiful set of wings. I'm envious until I consider what angel wings imply...
VIEWFINDER: by Jenny Badger Sultan; 2000/5/31, a dream-ritual declined
A friend explained she planned to be a human viewfinder, bendng into
an arch for a male spirit to dive through. I didn't want to risk it...
WARM MOTHER: by Jenny Badger Sultan; 2001/3/24, 3/29, 3/30 & 4/1; dreams
I dream my mother takes over caring for my sick daughter; I feel pushed aside.
When I wake, I try to paint a more positive image of mothering.
For a week, dream after dream has opportunities for patience and letting go of jealousy...
WEAVING MATS: by Jenny Badger Sultan; 2009/3/15; a predictive dream from the Box of Dreams
In a camp, women wove mats. I was tempted to try. But it was
months before I learned what they'd really been weaving..
WHEN BLOOD FLOWS, THE DANGER IS PAST
by Jenny Badger Sultan; 2000/3/23 & 2000/4/19, twin dreams of carved women
A woman is knifed by the sea. I cradle her, but she's probably dying...
For my intitiation-ordeal, I have to cut designs in my own back! I can't reach, so...
WHITE-HAIRED WOMEN: by Jenny Badger Sultan, 2002/5/4, a dream painting
I'm in a ring of seven white-haired women, our arms all interlocking.
When I woke I had fun working out the pattern of those interlinked arms...
THE WHITE SNAKE: by Jenny Badger Sultan, 1998/4/1, a dream painting
DAY: we're preparing for a trip to Malta to see ancient sites.
DREAM: Hiking, I discover a gigantic white snake. It feels like a good omen...
THE WHITE WAVE: by Jenny Badger Sultan, 1988/8/3, a comic nightmare
I'm holding a pornographic novel, trying to keep it dry, as huge waves
flood the room. The book and I are both going to get drenched...
WILL I BE BITTEN?: by Jenny Badger Sultan; 2009/3/15; a predictive dream from the Box of Dreams
A friend who's fought lymphoma invites me to sleep in a cave, but I fear a rattlesnake will bite me...
WINTER DREAMS: by Jenny Badger Sultan; winter 2004/2005, a painted series of color-dreams.
After teaching a class on color, I had a series of vivid dreams
about color, and tried fusing them into one painting...
WINTER SNAIL: by Jenny Badger Sultan, 1994/1/22, twin dreams of renewal fuse in a painting
At the beach, a barrel of huge snails somehow heal my legs.
In the next dream, back on the beach, I give birth to our son...
THE FACTORY: by Sunshine; 2015/9/25, a metaphorical dream
Elegant, ancient, the tower rose into the clouds. Inside? Smoke & darkness. Workers roast meat...
HOMEBOUND: by Sunshine; 2015/3/21, a dream posing an ethical dilemma
Elves are making humans grow tree-doors back to Faerie. But are they invasion-scouts, or just going home?
CAUTION: GUNFIGHT, MIND CONTROL
ISLAND LOVERS: by Sunshine; 2015/9/14, a horror-film dream gone soft?
They sneak off from a party to have a thresome, but monsters try to harvest their organs! Inept monsters...
CAUTION: SEX (OFFSTAGE)
LEATHER BOYS: by Sunshine; 2015/3/17, a Lovecraftian dream
Leather boys flap down from the sky, feeding from giant mustard pots. We fight them with honey & boomerangs.
THE ONION: by Sunshine; 2015/3/16, a magical dream voyage
My love and I steal the only onion in the world! To make our getaway we sail off the edge of the earth...
BROMAN'S DOG: by Emanuel Swedenborg, 1744/4/5, a dream of a man-serpent-dog
Swedenborg fights a worldly acquaintance, then his dog, who turns into a serpent...
CAUTION: FIGHTING, SCORNS MATERIALISM
DENTATA: by Emanuel Swedenborg, 1744/10/9, a dream of a toothy vagina--yet not a nightmare
Swedenborg's in bed with a woman, but finds she has teeth in her vagina. He interprets it not as revealing some
fear of women but as advice about pacing his scientific work. And the surrounding dreams hint he may be right...
CAUTION: ALMOST-SEX
FLYING, FIGHTING, LOVE: by Emanuel Swedenborg, 1744/4/23, a dream of... oh, guess!
Swedenborg fights a flying woman over a lake, then is in bed with another. After some
language and privacy problems, all goes so well he thinks they've made a child...
CAUTION: VIOLENCE, SEX
HEADSMAN: by Emanuel Swedenborg, 1744/4/17, a cannibal nightmare prefiguring Jung
Swedenborg meets an executioner who cooks the heads he chops off,
and eats them. Yet in context, the nightmare may be constructive...
CAUTION: VIOLENCE
IN THE FORM OF WOMEN: by Emanuel Swedenborg, 1744/7/3, the earliest recurrent dream-symbol?
Swedenborg tenderly says goodbye to a lover. A few nights later he realizes his dream lovers
repeatedly represent scholarly fields! An avid scientist, he find research as sexy as, well, sex...
THE KING'S LANGUAGE: by Emanuel Swedenborg, 1744/4/24, a dream on the language of dreams
Swedenborg struggles to grasp the King's broken French. He wakes to realize he's trying to learn
a greater King's difficult language. Still relevant today, for he saw the problem's twofold: the
difficult language of images, but also issues the waking mind missed--or wants to deny!
MUSCULAR STUDY: by Emanuel Swedenborg, 1744/4/14, a sexy dream of work advice (no, really)
Swedenborg jokes with his cousin's new girlfriend as she grows bigger and
stronger and bigger and... Oh. He needs to study the muscles!
POLITICS BITES: by Emanuel Swedenborg, 1744/4/13, a dream of... read the title!
Swedenborg's in bed with a woman, but she has teeth down there. Oh, now and she's not a woman, but
his political buddy Johan! Well, maybe it means not to get involved with women, or men, or... politics?
CAUTION: JUST WEIRD
SAVED TWICE: by Emanuel Swedenborg, 1744/5/19, maddeningly brief mention of two predictive dreams.
Swedenborg dreamt of danger on his London trip, twice. Both situations then came true, but he was prepared...
CAUTION: ANNOYING TO E.S.P. SKEPTICS
SHAKING: by Emanuel Swedenborg, 1744/4/6, a dream of the physical side of spiritual struggle
Swedenborg shakes uncontrollably all night, releasing or discharging some strange energy.
He frames it in religious terms, but it's a phenomenon even secular writers have reported...
CAUTION: WEIRD
SWAB'S DOG: by Emanuel Swedenborg, 1744/4/8, a warning dream
Swedenborg cuddles a talking dog who asks after its old master, Swab, and then kisses
Swedenborg, grossing him out. But he wakes knowing just what his doggy pest represents...
SWEDENBORG'S VISIONS: as reported by Immanuel Kant, 1759-61; three solid ESP hits.
Philosopher Immanuel Kant's detailed and deeply ambivalent report on Swedenborg's
three very public displays of extrasensory perception, and their implications...
CAUTION: WILL UPSET E.S.P. SKEPTICS
SWORD AND BOAR: by Emanuel Swedenborg, 1744/4/30, a dream warning of excess.
A boar attacks Swedenborg's late brother, alive again. He tries to help, but the pig
eats his brother's head. That's what you get for drinking, partying, and gluttony...
CAUTION: VIOLENT DEATH
SWORDLESS: by Emanuel Swedenborg, 1744/8/4, a dream warning about bragging
Swedenborg gets in a duel, but his beautiful silver hilt has no sword attached. Uh-oh...
Then he's in bed and realizes he's been sexually boasting...
CAUTION: PHALLIC SYMBOLISM
UNSWEPT HOUSE: by Emanuel Swedenborg, 1744/4/1, a flying-searching-unreadiness spiritual dream
Swedenborg flies on horseback through a house seeking someone. One room's clean, lit, full of people, but
most are empty and dirty. Longing to meet God is not enough! He's only cleaned up one aspect of his life...
WINGED BEAST: by Emanuel Swedenborg, 1744/4/7/29, a dream of fighting one's own flaws
Swedenborg fights a monster but lacks strength. Yet later, on a higher plane, he learns the beast did die...
CAUTION: VIOLENT
HEART AND LUNGS: by Claire Sylvia, 1987-88, recurrent dreams as told by Patricia Garfield
After heart-lung surgery, Claire had dreams of her donor that told his name, his appearance and some of his
behaviors. She contacted the donor family and verified these. Can dreams access nonbrain cellular memory?
WHITE-FACED: by John A. Symonds; 1861/7/3, a mutation nightmare
My face was leprous white like parchment; my eyes shone with
a cold blue eerie light. I shrieked "Papa, don't you know me?"...
IN PRAISE OF DREAMS: by Wislawa Szymborska; c. 1992, a paean to why dreamwork's fun
Yes, dreamwork can be heavy, but remember all you can do in dreams...

A-B, C-F, G-J, K-M, N-R, S, T-Z

This topical list is one of many. See the full LIST OF TOPICS currently indexed.

World Dream Bank homepage - Art gallery - New stuff - Introductory sampler, best dreams, best art - On dreamwork - Books
Indexes: Subject - Author - Date - Names - Places - Art media/styles
Titles: A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - IJ - KL - M - NO - PQ - R - Sa-Sk - Sl-Sz - T - UV - WXYZ
Email: wdreamb@yahoo.com - Catalog of art, books, CDs - Behind the Curtain: FAQs, bio, site map - Kindred sites