Newest Stuff
Uploaded 2024/9/17
ORDER: newest entries on top; but they may have been dreamt years ago! To search dreams by date, see the Timeline: 2023, 2022, 2021, etc.
SEE ALSO: Archives (old "New Stuff" lists) for 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2015-17, 2011-14, 2009-10, 2008, 2002-7, 2001-2000 & 1995-99; plus Authors, Sampler, Great Dreams, Best Art (updated), the Art Gallery, and 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 pages on dreamwork, shamanism, surrealism, fantasy, worldbuilding, creativity and genius. Site © Chris Wayan 2001-2022.
TORCH THE ROSE-ROT: by Wayan, 2024/7/24, surreal dream written as poem I'm a rabbit girl living in New Orleans. Humid summer. My roses all died; a rot that needs to be disinfected. So I light a torch and burn them back... CAUTION: HARSH POLITICAL INTERPRETATION |
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FLYING TO SAFETY: by JahaRa2010, c.1982, a dream of flight & teaching flight Our group's being hunted. We flee into a cave. A gulf ahead that we can't jump. We have to fly. I know how, and I teach the kids among us quickly enough, but the adults are scared to try... |
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HOT SHOWER, NO WATER HEATER: by Wayan, 2024/4/26, a self-misinterpreting predictive dream I dream I'm taking a hot shower, then realize our water heater died; this is a dream. "It means I want hot water!" I blurt (in the dream) & wake. Next day, a plumber's error gets me drenched in hot water with no new heater... |
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TOURIST TRAP: by Wayan, 2024/3/24, a nightmare of ignored warnings I bike up a Hawaiian hill toward a lava fountain. A house catches fire, but it's blocks ahead. I go a bit closer. Then a heat-shimmer shows deadly gas has crept ahead of the flames... CAUTION: FATAL MISJUDGMENT |
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SALTY DOG: by Wayan, 2024/1/24; a surreal prescriptive dream I sit on a half-flooded pier and read a dream-journal--the first ever written by a dog. But I can't interview the dreamer; the dog followed a fad diet and just died of excess salt... |
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SQUIRREL QUESTIONS: by Wayan, 2024/2/16; a surreal, cryptic dreamlet A mom & daughter caught a squirrel robbing their guaranteed rodent-proof birdfeeder. He speaks English, so they demand to know how he did it. But he knows they won't hurt him... |
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GENDERBENT LUCID DREAMS: by JHM Whiteman, pre-1961, compared to Wayan, 1979/8/29 Celia Green, lucid dream expert, claims nearly all lucid dreamers keep their waking bodies, their self-image. But Whiteman & Wayan both have genderbent lucid dreams... |
LAING SAYS: by Wayan, 1983/2/10; a cluttered, comic, goofy predictive dream |
DREAM: I run into a couple I know. I get gridlocked. R.D. Laing gives me a transpersonal message. DAY: I bump into that couple, get gridlocked, and hear R.D. Laing speak on transpersonal messages... |
O MAIDENS IN YOUR SAVAGE SEASON: by Wayan; 2024/4/15, a sex dream on... fish? |
After reading a manga and gorging on sushi, I dream a mob of little ninjas dressed as catgirls pile on me, begging to be petted. Excitement, guilt... CAUTION: PEDOPHILIA, NON-FREUDIAN INTERPRETATION |
HELL-CHESS and COMING CAUSES AMNESIA: by Wayan; 1985/3/10, twin surreal dream-poems |
Hell Chess isn't just black and white. Living women, from weak pawns to transcendent rainbow queens... Coming Causes Amnesia: reincarnation, 69, and plate tectonics all fuse in lava-hot orgasm... CAUTION: ORAL SEX IN DREAM TWO |
CIVIL AFTERMATH by Wayan, 2024/1/5, a dream I hope is not predictive |
A guy smashes homes with a duckbilled train; gunmen shoot up shops near the tracks. The ensuing civil war burns all. Years later, we live on hardscrabble farms. Global Texas! CAUTION: GLOBAL TEXAS! |
PARENTAL TOUGH LOVE: by Wayan; 2023/4/5, a dream baring a deadly pattern |
My parents, alive again, steal my car, my meds & my supplements, trapping me in their isolated house and forcing me to stay awake-- no sleep, no food. They're out to cure my silly, selfish idea I have needs... |
ENCANTO: by Wayan, 2022/4/29, a sex dream mocking Family Values |
DAY: I see Disney's new film, Encanto. Everything's about Family. You are your role. What is this, 1950? DREAM: I'm trapped in Encanto's Family. We have powers--but what powers our powers is sibling incest... CAUTION: DID I MENTION INCEST? |
INTERPRET THOSE SIGNS: by Wayan, 2024/4/16, a dream on prophetic dreams? |
An archeological dig inscribed in the Roman alphabet, Chinese characters, Ethiopian syllabics and unknown scripts. A carved egg bears news from the future, not the past... CAUTION: CALLS PROPHECY A LEARNABLE SKILL |
BLACK BLOT EYES: by Wayan, 2023/12/22, a predictive little nightmare |
DREAM: I see photos of smiling couples at the beach, but someone's scribbled on them: just black blots for eyes. Creepy. DAY: Read a fantasy novel in which a prince has a cursed double, identical except: he has black blots for eyes. Creepier... |
FLIGHT FROM A JAGUAR: by Davi Kopenawa, 1959-62, a child's recurring nightmare turns to flight |
A jaguar tracked me. I ran, but never escaped; it pounced on me and I woke crying. I tried climbing trees, but it climbed after me. The only escape was to jump from the highest branch, flapping desperately. And I flew... |
TREE, RIVER, BIRD, MOON: by Davi Kopenawa, 1959-62, a child's shamanic dreams |
I climbed a tree with a beautiful view, but climbing down I fell, and woke. I visited the people under the river. A beautiful ayocora bird danced for me. But so did the moon spirit, baring its fangs. Terrifying! |
INITIATION: by Davi Kopenawa, Fall 1983, account of a shamanic ordeal |
When I first took yãkoana, my visions were disappointing--where were the spirits? They studied me for days, until they knew I was serious. Then a few came, then a horde! Overwhelming... |
RIBEIRO'S WRONG, E.S.P.'S NOT EXTRAPOLATION: by Wayan, 2024/5/19, a dream on dream theory! |
DAY: Sidarta Ribeiro theorizes dreams are brilliant at extrapolation, which we mistake for a sixth sense. DREAM: I tell Ribeiro "Your theory explains the occasional prediction. But after your first thousand..." |
BEES' DISTRESS: by Davi Kopenawa, late Nov. 1989, a shamanic dream |
On my first trip to Europe, I found bees there live in boxes. They came to me in my dream to say "We are slowly starving, as humans kill the flowers and trees we need." They asked me to warn the white people, who are deaf... |
EUROPE'S SPIRITS LIVE: by Davi Kopenawa, late 1989/11 and 1990/10/12-16; shamanic dreams |
I visited Europe while suffering from malaria. The local spirits helped me, cooling my fever. They prefer to live high in the mountains where the air and water are still clean. White people ignore them, but they're still there... |
PARALYSIS: by Emily Y. Chan, 2016/5/3 or before; nightmare sketch |
Had sleep paralysis early one morning while trying to wake up, and "saw" this creature or woman looming over me. She had two spider legs (if more, I couldn't see) and was smiling--with no face. Terrifying. Amazing... |
POLYMELIA: by Emily Y. Chan, 2016/12/13 or before; a nightmare drawing |
I dreamed I saw this statue of a woman wearing a round hat or bowl that covered her entire head. When I got closer, a bunch of arms sprouted from under the hat/bowl, moving like spider legs... |
PINK LIGHTNING: by Emily Y. Chan, 2017/12/15 or before; dream painting |
We were trying to catch this "harpy", who looked like a 1980s angel, but she teleported away. It was freaking weird... |
AT THE DOOR: by Emily Y. Chan, 2019/3/20 or before; nightmare dream sketch |
There was a tall man wearing a mask standing at the door. At least I think it was a mask... |
DREAM JOURNAL: MONSTER: by Emily Y. Chan, 2019/7/11 or before; nightmare sketch |
There was this giant creature in the water along with a bunch of sharks. The creature turned out to be nice though, much nicer than the sharks... |
SINKING: by Emily Y. Chan, 2019/7/19 or before; sketch of a nightmare |
I had a dream that everyone was sinking, drowning, but still alive. No one could move, and it was just getting darker and darker with bodies. Lovely... |
WINGLESS: by Emily Y. Chan, 2020/12/9 or before; painting of a non-flying dream |
In this dream, everyone had wings but me. I tried. making my own cloth wings but it didn't work... |
HUNTERS: by Emily Y. Chan, c.2020/12/12, 2024/3/23, and 2024/4/13, paintings of recurrent dreams |
First I met an assassin girl who could raise dust storms; then a monster-hunted named Rho; then I was the hunter, with a futuristic hovercycle and low-tech bow and arrows... |
LÜK: by Emily Y. Chan, 2022/1/8 or before; dream painting |
A blind girl had trained for years to get revenge against a winter god named Lük or Lock, who took the form of an ice wolf. By defeating the god, she would get her sight back, but she didn't know she'd also send the world into an endless winter... |
FARM LIFE: by Emily Y. Chan, 2022/1/22 or before; dream painting |
I was working at a farm with a two-headed dragon creature as my companion. One head was very loyal and the other head absolutely hated me. I always forget which is which... |
LEAP OF FAITH: by Emily Y. Chan, 2022/2/5 or before; dream painting |
I was at the edge of a cliff and I had to jump to some pillar-like rocks. I was very hesitant though because the ocean waves were so violent... |
FLOWERS IN THE BASEMENT: by Emily Y. Chan, 2024/3/2 or before; dream painting sketch |
I had to prepare the house for a party, but the basement was flooded. I thought I could decorate it with some floating flowers anyway, but they kept dissolving or sinking... |
REFUGE: by Emily Y. Chan, 2024/3/16 or before; dream painting | I dreamed a tired soldier visited an oracle or priestess, who hummed a simple tune and provided refuge... |
WINGED DANGER: by Emily Y. Chan, 2024/3/30 or before; dream painting |
We found an injured girl with wings. We took her to the hospital and I warned them she might be dangerous, but no one listened to me... |
PORCUPINE HEAD: by Emily Y. Chan, 2024/4/20 or before; dream painting |
I had a dream I was exploring ruins in a forest, where I encountered this feral girl with a porcupine head.... |
FEAR OF FALLING: by Emily Y. Chan, 2024/4/27 or before; dream painting |
I had a dream I was climbing up a bunch of tiny shanty buildings and I got stuck. There was a wall full of giant Koi Betta fish I couldn't climb across, and when I looked down, I could only see the top of the sky... |
THE QILIN'S FOOT: by Confucius, c.500 BCE; a do-unto-unicorns dream |
I saw a boy beating a qilin [Chinese unicorn] with a willow branch, hurting its left leg. I scolded him and wrapped the leg in grass. In gratitude it spat up three books! I studied them diligently... |
KUBLAI KHAN'S DREAM: by Kublai Khan, c.1251, an architectural dream |
Coleridge's dream-poem describes a palace itself inspired by a dream! Kublai Khan dreamt of a huge yet delicate "pleasure dome", sketched it, and sent scouts to find a site matching... |
ZHUANGZI INTERVIEWS A SKULL: by Zhuangzi, c.310 BCE, an incubated dream on the afterlife |
DAY: while traveling, Zhuangzi found a skull. Wondering how it had lived and died, he slept on it. DREAM: the skull answered him! It told of death, which the skull found preferable to mortal life... |
TWO CHILDREN MENACED BY A NIGHTINGALE: by Max Ernst, an 1897 feverdream |
As a child sick in bed, Max had a fever dream that the shapes in the knots and grain in a wooden panel were children terrorized by a bird. Adult, he assembled a sort-of-painting... |
STELLAR IMPLANT: by Wang Chuna, 920s CE, a mad-surgery career-advice nightmare |
Wang dreamt a man cut his belly open and implanted a big mirror inscribed with stars. It hurt, even when he woke. For a month! But his belly now had a hunger to learn about astronomy... |
EMPEROR HEDGEHOG: by Emperor Wu Cheng, early 560s CE, a nightmare self-portrait |
The Emperor dreamt a monster hedgehog terrorized his city. On waking, he ordered the slaughter of every hedgehog in town. People started seeing him as the killer hedgehog! Soon he was deposed... |
WATER, HORSE, TWO SUNS: by Dong Feng, 370s CE, a lifesaving dream |
A murder case. But the suspect had gone to an interpreter and told of an ominous dream. The investigator saw its strange images might be puns, naming the real killer--and they did... |
EATING DIRT: by Emperor Zhi Meng, c.550 CE, a predictive nightmare |
The Emperor dreamt he was eating dirt. He feared it was a metaphor for death. Wrong. No metaphor! Soon after, his enemies suffocated him in dirt... CAUTION: BRUTAL |
STOVE: by a dwarf in the royal court of Wei (445-225 BCE); a brave truth-to-power dream |
Wei Linggong was an autocrat heeding only one minister. A dwarf bravely told him "I dreamt you were no imperial sun warming all, just a stove, and your crony hogs all your warmth..." |
DRAGON-NURTURER: by Bo Ji, 204 BCE, a prophetic dream |
Bo Ji, a minor concubine in the early Han court who'd never even met the Emperor, dreamt a dragon slept in her lap. Next night the Emperor summoned her; the child they conceived became one of China's best rulers... |
LONG GREEN DOG: by Zhang Tianxi, before 1644, a warning pun-studded dream |
DREAM: a long green dog attacked Zhang from the south. He hid in his bedroom. He woke shaken but did not act. SOON AFTER: General Gou Zhang (sounds like "Dog Long"), in a long green coat, attacked from the south... |
LI BAI'S PEN: by poet Li Bai and his mother, 700 & c.715 CE, three prophetic / career-advice dreams |
Li Bai's mother dreams of Venus shining, and names her unborn son Bai, 'white'. She dreams he'll ride a red dragon, too: greatness, but what kind? Li Bai when young dreams the answer: his brushpen flowers! |
BLACK DRAGON: by Xiao Dao, 444 CE, a prophetic dream |
At 17, Xiao Dao dreamt he rode a black dragon as the sun set. A dream interpreter said sunset meant the end of the Liao Song dynasty, and that Xiao Dao would rise to found the next dynasty... |
FAREWELL, FRIEND: by Lu Yuan Ming, between 386-550 CE; a psychic dream |
DREAM: Lu's best friend had to go away. They composed poems on the sadness of parting... DAYS LATER: Lu learned that on the night of his dream, his friend had been killed in an uprising... |
DISSECTING PESSIMISM: by Wayan; 1997/4/14, a stubbornly educational nightmare. |
A serial killer stalks our office, but our bosses deny it and do nothing. I kill him. He revives--over and over! A robot I have to disassemble... CAUTION: VIOLENCE |
FATHER'S COFFIN: by Anonymous #63, 1852/12/31, a timely psychic dream |
On New Year's Eve, I 'woke' to find my room full of light. A coffin lay on chairs; inside was my father. My watch read 12:40. I woke again. A day later the letter arrived. My father had died at 12:40... |
I DREAMT I WAS SOMEONE ELSE: by Moonlit Jade, c.2000, a child's genderbent dream |
I dreamt I was an adult, and male. I was hiking in the snow with my girlfriend or wife. I felt protective--and utterly at home in this quite different body. If dreams process our daily experience, what did this dream draw on? |
THE HIGHEST: by Stephen LaBerge, summer 1982?, a lucid transcendent dream |
Driving down a country road, I go lucid. A gorgeous hitchhiker appears. I'm tempted, but I decide to try for something higher than a sex dream. The car takes off, climbs past religious symbols into a clear sky where I find myself singing a transcendent hymn... |
GO YOUR OWN WAY: by Peter Birkhäuser; 1942-45?, three advisory dreams plus a realist painting, '44. |
Peter draws painstaking realism til his tense hand turns into a horn! An anima urges him to walk into a blue light. He & Sybelle struggle against a crowd walking the wrong way... |
THE WORLD'S WOUND: by Peter Birkhäuser; 1949-53, a recurrent dream painted '53. |
This picture of a split man was in no sense a product of my conscious will. I simply bowed to compulsion after four years of being haunted by that face in my dreams... |
THE CAT: by Peter Birkhäuser; 1949 on, recurrent dreams, painted '55? |
A mysterious old woman with cat-face and claws threatened me; she seemed to be guarding a treasure. Sometimes she appeared as a praying mantis... |
LIGHTING THE TORCH: by Peter Birkhäuser; dreamed June 1974, painted Sept. '74. |
In the dark, a dragonlike god of fire stretched out one claw to courteously light my own small torch... |
IN THE NIGHT OF 13 OCTOBER, 1942: by Peter Birkhäuser; 1942/10/13, a shamanic dream painted Sept. 1975. |
Sybelle & I climbed the cathedral spire. Bravely she kissed the monstrous guardian, exhaling blue light. My own challenge was to leap across an abyss, under the luminous eye of God... |
LYNX: by Peter Birkhäuser; Sept? 1976, his last dream-painting, facing his death |
The Lynx, my dream-god, comes for me at last... |
FARIBA AND YALDA: by Fariba Bogzaran & her friend Yalda, c.1997, shared/mutual dreams |
After 18 years of exile, Fariba in a lucid dream visits her old friend Yalda, in an unfamiliar home. That night, Yalda has a lucid dream in which Fariba visits. On waking, each writes to the other... |
ROCHAN'S DREAM: by Rochan, c.1977, a verified out-of-body dream |
At 16, Rochan dreamt she rose from her body and explored outside, seeing a white car and brown bag. She woke--and checked! White car, brown bag. Now, adult, she trusts her dream intuitions about larger things... |
ROYA'S BIRD: by Roya, before 2002, a joyful afterlife dream |
Roya's mother-in-law had a painful death. Roya dreamt she met her, a joyous bird, who had forgotten the pain of death just as we forget the pain of birth... CAUTION: NICE, BUT NOT EVIDENCE |
THROWN FREE: by Robert, before 2002, a warning dream |
DREAM: a car crash; my parents both die, though my sister & I are thrown free, unhurt. DAYS LATER: Aunt & uncle invite me on a car trip; my dad says no, I have to study. TWO WEEKS LATER: Aunt & uncle die in a head-on; their kids are thrown free... |
JILL'S CONTRASTING DREAMS: by Jill, 1990s (several years apart), two diagnostic dreams |
Jill, pregnant, got a high fever. She dreamt her child's soul was locked out of the house. That fetus died. Jill, pregnant again, got a high fever, but dreamt a chorus of children happily sang. That fetus lived... |
CLOUD OF GLORY: by Wayan, 1986/5/19, a dream on identity loss. |
Abducted as a kid by alien angels and raised in a luminous cloud, I find it hard to keep a mortal, human perspective... |
KESCIA'S NESTED DREAMS: by Kescia, 2001 or before, two false-waking sex dreams |
I'm alone in bed, but begin to see sensual bodies around me. I start to masturbate, climax, and wake. I feel loose and light-- so light I float above my bed! A beautiful woman's next to me. We caress mid-air. I come intensely, and wake again, alone... CAUTION: SEX |
LINSCOTT'S NIGHTMARE: by Steve Linscott, Oct. 1980; jailed for a dream! |
Linscott dreamt of a murder and woke to find it'd happened down the block. Friends nagged him to tell the dream to the investigators. He did. They tried him for murder... |
THE LEOPARD'S TURN: by a Brazilian woman, c.1990-'98; a see-both-sides dream |
I see a leopard chasing an Indian man who defends himself with a knife; then I wake. To find I'm still witnessing the same scene, only now I'm the leopard... |
TONSIL: by E.W. Kellogg, 1989 or before, a healing lucid dream |
Kellogg jabbed a wooden skewer through one tonsil. It got infected. In a lucid dream, he willed it to heal. In the next twelve hours, the infection vanished... |
NISROCK: by Dolores, 2001 or earlier; a predictive dream |
DREAM: a man tries to break into my house. I call for help; the operator says "Oh, that's Nisrock." DAYS LATER: I open a book on the unconscious. It says Nisrock was a Babylonian god of dreams... CAUTION: BAD MYTHOGRAPHY |
A SOUND NOT UNLIKE A BELL: by Wendy Xu, c.2021, a dream poem on... poetry itself? |
I was desperately arranging cut flowers for something important; the forces that acted upon me seemed to say "Your life depends upon this assemblage"... |
TWIN GODDESSES, or, LOGA-SHANA: by Patricia Garfield, 1980/12/26, a self-flagging psychic dream |
DREAM: at a dreamgroup, I tell a predictive dream that my artist friend's front tooth will get infected. Then we all chant "Loga-Shana!" THREE WEEKS LATER: my artist friend's front tooth gets a serious abcess... CAUTION: WILL TROUBLE E.S.P. SKEPTICS |
THUS BE: by Patricia Garfield, 1970/7/10, a worm-turns dream |
I'm overcharged at a grocery store--the checker confused my food with someone else's. I grab him, fly high up and drop him, splat. I chant "Thus be: Splat! Squashed flat..." CAUTION: DEATH PENALTY SEEMS A BIT MUCH |
THE NEW LAND: by Lynette, c.1985, as told to Patricia Garfield, a predictive dream |
The sea pours in the house, but Lynette swims and floats in the sun. When the flood ebbs, the land blooms into paradise. An oracle says "Your mom will die, but you'll help her through it"... CAUTION: SUBLIMINALLY SENSING ILLNESS, OR PSYCHIC? |
NORTH FLEET OF THE RAIN: by Wayan; 1974/7/10, an alien-invasion-solution dream |
A vast galactic fleet hovers around Earth, demanding Rain. Whaaat? I fight an alien leader, and find out what their long drought has been... CAUTION: UFO SEX |
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? |
BREAKING THROUGH HER SHELL: by Mimi c.1985, as told to Patricia Garfield, a what-if dream |
A bride flies as a ghost, invisible, inaudible, sealed in a crystal shell; a guide shows her what'll happen if she can't shatter her armor and show her love... |
THE FLYING POGO STICK: by Leah, c.1986, as told to Patricia Garfield, a comic nightmare |
Leah, pregnant, finds herself at the beach, flying on a pogo stick, just as all the seabirds do. Fun at first, but it gets out of control... |
AMERICAN FLAG: by Jasper Johns, 1954; a career-changing dream |
Johns dreamt he was painting an American flag. He woke, and did-- mixing pigment and beeswax, coating newspaper strips... |
BALLOON DRUG: by Patricia Garfield, 1974/2/3, a dream on thought-forms |
While writing about Tibetan dreamwork, I dream I'm on drugs and see myself in a mirror, first old & scarred, then young & sexcrazed. I think "This'd scare me if I hadn't been reading up on Yoga stuff!"... |
PRISONER OF DREAMS: by Margherita Guareschi, c.1951, as told by her husband; episodic dreams |
Margherita's dreamworld is lonely, empty, endless. She wanders on foot. Her husband gets her a bike, a patch kit, and when she crashes, hears her cry for help--while awake... CAUTION: MARITAL TELEPATHY OR ITALIAN HYPERBOLE? |
TIL: by Patricia Garfield, c.1986, a mystical work-advice dream |
I'm a spirit flying over the dead, blessing them. They're in mass graves, sorted & grouped only by their life-stages--kids, adults, elders. Wait... is this how to structure my book? |
RED TO GREEN: by Patricia Garfield, c.1950, a punning advisory dream |
DREAM: I see the leaves outside turning from red to green, not green-to-red as usual in fall. AWAKE: I've been dating two boys called Red and Green. Guess my dreams have chosen... |
A FAMILY VISIT: by Wayan; 1996/8/4, a dream of alarming family values. |
A yard sale in a small town turns out to be my family selling porn. But they want to push more than their sexual values on me... CAUTION: TWISTED FAMILY, ELEPHANT ABUSE |
DECLARING INDEPENDENCE: by Patricia Garfield c.1946, Fiona '51, Lenore '58 & Helen '62 |
Four teens dream their moms are monsters: Patricia sees hers as a demonic doll, Fiona finds her mom's a wolf, Lenore's is a grinning vampire, and Helen's is a bossy, punitive octopus... |
MULTIPLICATION RHYMES: by Jeff, c.1983, as told to Patricia Garfield, a problem-solving dream |
Jeff's stepson Lewis can't memorize the times tables. Jeff sleeps on it, but wakes only with a silly rhyme. But he chants it, and Lewis adds more rhymes--one per equation. He goes from class dunce to the best... |
THE GLASS MISSED ITS CUE: by Frederik van Eeden, 1904/9/9, a lucid dream experiment |
I knew I was dreaming but the world looked quite realistic. I struck a wineglass with all my strength--a risky act, if I were awake. It didn't shatter. But when I looked again, it lay broken! Like an actor who'd missed its cue... |
DON'T SLOW FOR KITTENS: by Wayan; 1986/3/8, a pointed little dream. |
I'm running along a freeway, pacing a cheetah. But that domestic cat and her kittens can't keep up. Wait, why are we slowing for them? |
HILDA'S DEATH: by Sister Begu, 680/11/17, as told by the Venerable Bede; a clairvoyant dream |
Hilda, founder of two monasteries, dies in one. Begu, in the other, 13 miles away, dreams Hilda's been taken to heaven. She tells her sisters. Messengers arrive... |
CAEDMON'S DREAM: by Caedmon, c.657, as told by the Venerable Bede; a dream music-tutorial |
Caedmon can't sing. But he dreams an angel makes him try. Soon he's the first great English poet and singer... |
FURSA'S DREAM: by Fursa, c.633, as told by the Venerable Bede; a Christian shamanic dream |
Fursa the preacher, sick, dreams flaming devils & angels are trying his case; one failure to coax a deathbed repentance gets him scorched. He wakes with burns... CAUTION: DREAM HAS PHYSICAL EFFECTS |
EDWIN'S DREAM: by soon-to-be-King Edwin, c.616, as told by the Venerable Bede; a nagging dream |
King Ethelfrid bribes Redwald to murder his guest, Edwin. Edwin dreams an angel warns him, swearing to save him if he'll convert. Redwald's wife tells him "Don't kill a guest." Once Edwin's king, that dream-angel demands his fealty... CAUTION: SHODDY SPIRITUAL BARGAINING |
EGBERT DEFIES DREAMS: by one of Boisil's disciples, c.688, as told by the Venerable Bede; a stubborn dream |
Egbert decides to go convert the Germans. A brother monk dreams twice that God wants Egbert in Scotland, but he sails--and nearly drowns. At last he gives in. Another monk sails to Germany. Two years later he returns defeated... CAUTION: STUBBORN MONK, DEITY, AND GERMANS
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UNICORNS, ARABIAN NIGHTS... STARSHIP?: by Wayan, 2023/12/3, a dream predicting 3 incompatible motifs |
I find myself on the bridge of a starship. But the décor is Arabian Nights--and half the crew are unicorns, grazing built-in flowerbeds. Some humans on board treat them as mere pets. But one's piloting the ship... CAUTION: PREDICTIVE |
SALAD DATE: by Wayan, 2023/11/10; a surreal dating dream |
I'm dating a sexy salad. But I just gobble the good bits and leave: I have an appointment in Chinatown. The salad understandably feels let down, but she's painfully familiar with guys who eat and run... CAUTION: WEIRD EVEN BY MY STANDARDS |
UNICORN PROFESSOR: by Wayan, 2024/4/7, a Star Trek dream |
DAY: the crew of the Enterprise sings about love & career(ism). DREAM: I'm taking a test at Starfleet Academy. But my teacher's a gorgeous unicorn, & my answers are filled in! I try to change one but my eraser breaks... CAUTION: MOCKS LA BERGE'S LUCID DREAMWORK? NUDE PROFESSOR, TOO |
PALACE OF GOOD POLICY: by Wayan; 2023/11/2, an anti-cynical political dream |
One night I meet a robot and an alien staring in a shop window at a photo of a Gothic chapel. They're shocked--it's a Galactic legend, the Palace of Good Policy. Pure myth! Or is it? |
JUDGE, FLASHER, PIG: by Wayan, 2023/10/22, two parallel, surreal dreams |
A pig-man hybrid--huge mouth, tiny body--happily eats trash, smirking as I pass... Then a woman bends over to flash me, smirking, as a censorious Judge glares... CAUTION: SCENE 1 GROSS, SCENE 2 SEXUAL |
THE CLOUD OVER HER by Wayan, 2024/3/2, a dating-advice dream |
A girl I like invites me to her apartment. Her personal stormcloud hovers over her. Her housemates come home and warn me "It's always there, it's her attitude," and I realize I like angsty intelligence, but I need a sunny... |
BANK RIGGED TO FAIL: by Wayan, 2023/10/2, a predictive dream |
I find myself working in a bank that won't let us do our jobs. Only one guy can disburse cash! Lines of angry customers. If management won't change the rules, I'll have to quit... CAUTION: PREDICTIVE! |
LAMEST CAR CHASE EVER: by Wayan, 2023/10/2, a dream predicting not events but emotions |
I'm caught in a surreal traffic jam--balky horses, teeny cop cars. Get so stressed that I split into a big creature guarding a small human sleeper. But even sleep is now a crime... CAUTION: PREDICTIVE? |
MY NINE SELVES: by Wayan, 2023/7/18; a dream hinting at a new phase in life |
Strangers ask me about my nine selves, and I find I know exactly what they mean! The last three are new and odd--calm quiet states that heighten paranormal senses... CAUTION: MYSTICAL |
PLANETARY EYE: by Wayan; 2023/7/9, a surreal world-building dream |
I'm building a planetary model a kilometer across, inset in Bernal Hill like an eye in a socket. My intern Silky kicks the globe, scuffing a caravan trail in a desert. Needs to be crookeder... CAUTION: FATSHAMING? OR CALLING OUT SKINNYSHAMING? |
WITCH'S BUTTER: by Wayan, 2023/5/27, a science-geek dream. |
I live in four consecutive bodies: I'm a Bose-Einstein condensate, a cloud of particles moving as one-- unless overheated. No, I'm Witch's Butter, a mob of amoeboid cells who unify into a quasi-slug--temporarily. No, I'm a person, but soft and yellow as Witch's Butter. No, I'm firming up, but still entangled... |
GUILTLESS LIAR & HONEST EXHIBITIONIST: by Wayan; 2020/9/2, a dream on sex? Or politics? |
I fall for a girl whose charm turns out to be partly her utter lack of worry and guilt--as she lies & cheats! At last I face facts, and drop her. I end up with a quieter but honest girlfriend, though she too has quirks... CAUTION: PUBLIC SEX, POLITICAL INTERPRETATION |
CANDLEPOWER by Wayan, 1987/9/15, a predictive dreamlet |
DREAM: Outage! I bike through dark streets. One bay window glows--room lit by a glowing woman reflected in many mirrors... NEXT EVE: Outage! I bike home through dark streets. One bay window glows--room lit by candles reflected in many mirrors... CAUTION: NUDITY; APPARENT E.S.P. |
WITCHES, MANHUNT, TIGER AND SHARK: by Sidarta Ribeira, 1976, child's nightmares facing loss |
After his dad's death, a boy dreams he's an orphan facing cannibal witches--every night! Therapy helps; his recurring dreams shift to a manhunt for a criminal who hides on the ceiling. The dreams shift again, to a tiger hunt. That is, the tiger hunts you. The boy jumps in the sea. Swimming with sharks... CAUTION: INTENSE NIGHTMARES, PARENTAL LOSS |
JOSEPH AND THE PHARAOH: by Joseph, a cupbearer, a baker & a Pharaoh, c.1673-1660 BCE; six surreal dreams |
Joseph as a teen dreams sheaves of his brothers' grain bow to his; then the sun, moon & stars bow to him. Eleven years later, in prison, Joseph interprets two cellmates' dreams as premonitory, and gets both right. Two years later, he interprets two bizarre dreams troubling the Pharaoh, thus saving Egypt from famine... CAUTION: BRONZE AGE FUN! NEAR-FRATRICIDE, SLAVERY, EXECUTION, FORCED MARRIAGE... |
LIU AND YI (not to mention Kong!): by Liu Bang's mom, 257 BCE, and Yi Yin's mom, c.1600 BCE; birth-related dreams |
Liu Bang's mom dreams a spirit is making love to her. Her husband sees the spirit is a dragon! Her baby grows up to found the Han... Yi Yin's mom dreams a spirit warns "if water pours from your mortar, run!" She does, and survives a flood, to help found the Shang... CAUTION: LIKELY JUST FOLKLORE |
DUMUZID'S DESPAIR: by Dumuzid, c.3200 BCE; the first nightmare, predictive dream & false waking |
Dumuzid dreams raptors prey on his flock, his hearth fire's doused, his churns knocked over; he lies dead. His sister Jestinana interprets it: "Manhunters will kill you; you must flee." He does, across the known world... |
GOPA'S NIGHTMARE: by Gopa Gautama, c.534 BCE, a breakup-warning dream |
Gopa dreams the earth shakes, stars and meteors fall. She's naked, her marriage bed is broken, her husband Siddhartha's treasures lie scattered. He says "How auspicious!"--and prepares to abandon her and their son... CAUTION: SEXISM |
THE BERKSHIRE BEASTS: by J.B. Priestley, 1927, a failed shamanic initiatory dream |
As I tour an English estate, wrinkled green elephantine creatures 20' tall peer at me through huge spectacles. I'm told "they're only kept now for their singing." I want to hear, but my guide's bored; I let her drag me off... CAUTION: CONFORMITY STIFLES SHAMANISM |
ANNE'S DREAM: by Anne, painted by Rita Wolff; 1981, a nightmare. |
A great storm causes flooding. I'm knee deep in the surge. Women flee and flounder, wearing different colors, forming a panicky rainbow. So much for God's promise... |
DEMETRI'S DREAM: by Demetri Porphyrios, painted by Rita Wolff; 1982, a nightmare. |
A great quake and fire devastate Athens; I'm up on the Acropolis, as the stone columns of the Parthenon fall... |
KEN'S DREAM: by Ken, as painted by Rita Wolff; 1979, a flying dream. |
Night. A big city. High in a tower, a man in a wetsuit and flippers is swimming in air--practicing before slipping out the open window... |
LEO'S DREAM: by Leon Krier, as painted by Rita Wolff; 1979, a mysterious dream. |
A marsh. One figure's wrapped in mummy bandages; another swims--or drowns. A ruin's being rebuilt. Out in the bay, a faint water-road leads to the open sea... |
THREATENED CITY: by Rita Wolff; 1978, a disturbing dream. |
Night. A hill town. Temples with huge stone statues. But the original figure looms monstrous over the hills. Which is the threat? The giant, or the cult appeasing it? |
TORTURE--A DREAM: by Rita Wolff; 1985, a nightmare painting. |
In a prison cell, two robed figures with horned hoods like the heads of black owls question a limp figure who looks far beyond answers... CAUTION: IMPLIED TORTURE |
WITNESSES FOR THE PROSECUTION: by Rita Wolff; 1984, a mysterious dream. |
Night. The Nile; the Pyramids on one bank; minarets and domes on the other. But if the dream's comparing antiquity to modernity... which does it condemn? |
LADY CASTLEMAYNE: by Samuel Pepys, 1665/8/14, an early lucid dream easing his fear of plague |
I dreamt, and knew I dreamt, and I made love to Lady Castlemayne, and had all my desire. If, as Shakespeere said, death is but sleep, and dreams may come, why then fear death?... |
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 |
ILARYA'S MIRACLE: by Ilarya, c.1639, a suspension of reality in order to... buy a fish? |
A cranky nun wants fish. Ilarya, the monastery's cook, sets out to buy one--a long walk, and unsafe after dark. So Ilarya asks the sun to halt! She buys her fish, cooks, feeds her patient, and forgets to tell it to set... CAUTION: PETTY, GOOFY, COMMUNITY-BAFFLING MIRACLE |
THE CHILD ANGEL by Charles Lamb, early 1823, an otherworldly dream on a worldly plight |
I meet a half-angel half-mortal child, fruit of an illicit affair. Constantly growing pinfeathers, but never mastering flight; ageless, but unable to grow up; at home neither in Heaven nor Earth... CAUTION: 19TH-CENTURY VERBOSITY |
A DREAM by Barry Cornwall, before 1819; a dream of a mytho-historical tour |
I go back 3000 years to the Judgment of Paris, then at Babylon's height see King Nebuchadnezzar, then the doomed lovers Antony & Cleopatra, then Triton and the Nereids celebrating a divine birth... CAUTION: DENSE CLASSICAL REFERENCES |
DREAM-CHILDREN by Charles Lamb, Nov. 1821, an early, eerie parallel-world dream. |
My children ask me to tell our family history, up to the death of their mother. I wake to find myself single, my late wife alive but married to another, and my beloved children, phantoms... CAUTION: 19TH-CENTURY LOGORRHEA |
BATTUTA'S DREAM: by Ibn Battuta, 1325, a predictive or career-advice dream |
DREAM: a great bird carries me to Mecca, Yemen, India, the south sea islands, China, the snowy north... AWAKE: My host says it means I'll travel the world--but he adds "in India, my brother will save your life"... |
BRUNO'S DREAM: by Giordano Bruno, 1578, a cosmological dream |
Bruno flew through space--not crystal spheres, not Heaven, not even the Copernican solar system, but interstellar space. He saw the stars were suns, those suns had planets, and those planets bore life... CAUTION: BURNED ALIVE BY THE INQUISITION |
BIRDS AT WAR: by Martín Painemal Huenchual, 1973/12/11, a warning dream |
DREAM: Millions of birds were at war, tearing one another apart. It was out of control, thousands and thousands... DAY: Pinochet's coup took Chile. Alerted by the dream, Painemal went into hiding and lived--unlike thousands... CAUTION: EXTRAPOLATIVE OR PSYCHIC? |
MY COUNTRY RIGHT OR LEFT: by George Orwell, 1939/8/22, a predictive dream |
I dream World War Two's begun. I always felt war was just rivalry between ruling elites, but now I find I'll even back Imperial Britain against the Nazis. The next day, Hitler and Stalin announce a pact... CAUTION: GRIM TIME FOR IDEALISTS |
CAESAR'S INCEST DREAM: by Julius Caesar, c.69 BCE, an embarrassing oracular dream |
Plutarch says Caesar dreamt of sex with his mother; it was interpreted as "you'll take the motherland". So he crossed the Rubicon... But Suetonius says he dreamed it way earlier, at age 33, after seeing a shrine to Alexander (who died at 33); Julius felt inferior... CAUTION: INCEST; DREAM USED FOR PROPAGANDA |
RAMANUJAN: by Srinavasa Ramanujan, 1905-09, dreams of math insights from a goddess |
I saw a red screen, as if formed by flowing blood. On it, a hand wrote elliptical integrals. I knew they were from Lakshmi. As soon as I woke, I committed them to writing... |
WALLACE'S FEVERDREAM: by Alfred Russel Wallace, Feb. 1858, an insight-dream |
Exploring Indonesia's lesser isles, Wallace fell sick with fever. He dreamed that Malthusian hunger and population pressure might explain the evolution of the species he found. He wrote to Darwin, and... |
ACORN AND PELT: by Wayan; 1983/7/19, a simple sex dream growing to a mystical extravaganza |
I fall in love, defying kidnappers, dwarf-tossers and Toulouse-Lautrec, until I become a time-traveling bunny... CAUTION: SEX, SHAMANISM, DWARF-TOSSING (LAUTREC!) |
ANARCHIST FAIR: by Wayan; 2005/4/5, a drastic dream-song, with chords |
At an anarchist fair in San Francisco, a 13-year-old punkette genius sings some shocking advice to me... |
ANGERHELM: by Wayan; 1994/11/11, a reassuring nightmare. |
In one long night I hike out of Obligation Hell all the way to Inner-Freedom Heaven... |
PURE LOVE: by Wayan; 1986/10/9, an epic time-travel dream with ego shifts |
Two shapeshifters meet, fight and love over the centuries-- and I live out scenes from both their long lives...
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PELÉE: by J.W. Dunne, April/May 1902; a predictive nightmare with a scientifically important error |
I was on an island about to explode like Krakatoa. I warned the French colonial authorities "4,000 people will die if we don't get them out!" but no one listened. I woke. The paper came. "Mont Pelée erupts, kills 40,000". I had missed a zero! But 40,000 turned out to be wrong too, implying... |
FLAYED COLUMN: by Antoine Lavalette, fall 1815; a time-compressed nightmare |
In prison, the midnight bell chimed. I dreamt I saw a cavalry column of men and horses skinned, gory, still marching. Wagons of the dead passed for hours. As the guard changed, the gate crashed, waking me--just minutes after midnight! CAUTION: PROVES NOT ALL DREAMS ARE REALTIME |
MAJOR F.'S EXPERIMENT: by Major F., Nov/Dec 1920, dream experiment urged by J.W. Dunne |
DREAM 1: On green grass, a red & blue boat with a net draped atop. Predictive. DREAM 2: Climbing a ladder with square rungs in a space w/o walls. Predictive. DREAM 3: A small boy with a toy boat. A sail's laid out flat for washing. Predictive... |
SPY WITH A BUN: by Miss C, 1918, a dream experiment urged by J.W. Dunne |
DREAM: I meet a woman with a bun hairdo, black skirt, black & white striped blouse. I think she's a spy! TWO DAYS LATER: I meet that woman--bun, skirt, blouse. And all the hotel guests here say she's a spy... |
THE FLYING SCOTSMAN: by J.W. Dunne, fall 1913; a lucid predictive dream |
Just north of the Firth of Forth in Scotland, a train fell from the track to a grassy park where small groups of people wandered. I sensed it was one of those odd dreams of mine & tried to get the date--next spring. On April 14, 1914, the "Flying Scotsman" jumped the parapet 15 miles north of the Forth Bridge and fell to the golf links below... |
SAUCER THROUGH THE RUINS: by Wayan, 2023/9/23; a happy flying dream I hope isn't predictive |
I meet two witch sisters. Little sister and I magically power a flying saucer. She gives me a tour of this vast, ruined city. My life here is happy, but it doesn't look good for civilization as a whole... |
RUSTY UNDERWORLD: by Wayan, 2023/9/23, a chthonic news-dream |
I'm in a vast cavern full of skyscrapers--sucked into the underworld. Rusty steel plates cover their now-useless windows. In the shadows, horned, fanged businessdevils scurry by... |
NIGHT-BLIND: by Wayan, 2023/9/14, a dream incubated for another |
My sister Miriel asks me to ask my dreams if it's safe for her to get cataracts removed. I find myself in her body, biking at night--near-blind. Surgery has risks, but this is riskier! |
THE OTHER LAND: by Walter de la Mare, c.1881-4; an episodic or "installment" dream series |
Age 7 to 11, I often dreamt I inhabited a consistent geography of mountains & deserts. I was an adult of dark complexion in non-European clothes; I spoke a tongue (and read a script) that I didn't recognize when awake... CAUTION: ADULT DRUG EXPERIMENT; PAST LIFE MEMORY? |
DREAM CAUSED BY THE FLIGHT OF A BEE AROUND A POMEGRANATE A SECOND BEFORE WAKING |
by Gala Dalí 1943? painted by Salvador Dalí 1944; a supposedly instantaneous dream. Dalí's wife Gala naps, but a bee wakes her--and her dream instantly magnifies bee into tigers! After all, both have fur, sharp bits, black & gold stripes... CAUTION: BREASTS; BAD DREAM THEORIES. |
FLY WITH ME?: by Wayan; 2024/1/7; a flying dream of course! But an odd one. |
DAY: I research a weird Salvador Dalí dream-painting mingling, flight, tigers and sex. DREAM: I flirt with a talking cat. Want her to fly with me. But she wants something earthier... |
MISTRESS TOOTHSMOOTH: by Yves Delage, 1915/1/20, an early anima dream |
I'm in the cellar, petting a tiger-cat. She speaks inside my head: "I'm tired of living on bread. I need meat." I make excuses--it's pricy--then see big hanging quarters of meat. I hide them! She says "Call me Mistress Touttmouss"--well, something like that--I know it's English, but can't make it out til I wake, when I see... |
SKY-BOAT: by J.W. Dunne, c.1889; a long-term predictive dream |
As a child I read Jules Verne's Clipper of the Clouds--a metal craft with many propellers on spars, not wings. Soon I dreamt I designed & flew quite a different craft, like a small boat of canvas on a wood frame. 20 years later, I was test-flying a new aeroplane with a boatlike cockpit of white canvas on a wood... |
PLANE OVER ORAIBI: by Hosteen Hal, c.1902-13; a long-range predictive dream |
Before I'd ever heard of planes, I dreamed one landed near me. A white man invited me to ride, and we flew over Oraibi. I told people but they didn't believe such a thing could come true... |
LAYANASHA'S DREAM: by Layanasha, laibon of the Maasai, c.1850, a prophecy spanning 65-70 years |
Layanasha foresaw the British would bring a great snake spanning Maasai territory, then a plague killing half the tribe, a second plague killing nearly all the cattle, and finally huge birds flying over the veldt... |
EAGLE WOMAN: by Hosteen Hal, 1914, an old-friend-becomes-anima dream |
An eagle lands near me and turns into a woman. She says "That pet eagle you had as a child? It's me!" I'm a bit surprised. She wants a turquoise bead with a hole in it, and I look for one... |
FOUR DAYS BEFORE THE FLU: by R.T., 1918; a predictive nightmare |
I dreamed that in four days a plague would hit our reservation and people would start dying. Four days later it happened just as I was warned---the 1918 flu. And my dream caused it... CAUTION: NOT JUST SURVIVOR'S GUILT, SEER'S GUILT |
MUDHOLE: by Hosteen A., 1928, a death-warning dream |
I dream my cousin and I ride out looking for his lost moccasins. Suddenly he's swallowed by mud and drowns. It's so fast. I feel sorry for him but I'm helpless. Two months later, my cousin died... |
UTE RAID: by Hasteen Hon's grandmother, c.1856 or c.1873, a possibly lifesaving dream |
When my grandmother was young her husband had a prosperous ranch. She dreamed some Indians attacked. She convinced them to hide; the Utes killed or stole nearly all their sheep. But at least they were alive... |
INDIAN SCHOOL: by Hasteen Hon, 1926, a death-foreseeing dream |
My grandmother told me dreams tell the truth. I was skeptical. I dreamed my brother came home from Indian school. He looked terrible-- skeletal, with sooty skin. Soon after, my brother got sick. He looked as he did in the dream. We brought him home. Four days later, he... |
LIGHTNING: by Hasteen Hon, 1930, a warning dream |
DREAM: the storm was strange and fierce. A voice warned me the clouds were somehow dangerous. DAY: I got caught out in a fierce storm. I dismounted and sheltered under a tree. Lightning struck, and... |
WHITE LOON: by White Loon, 1870s?, an initiation-negotiation dream |
At ten, I fasted a long tedious time. I dreamed a bird offered me showy gifts, but I kept to my grandmother's advice: never take the first offer. At last a big, strange bird from the north, a white loon, offered me long life and health; that I accepted! So now I'm called... |
MUSKRAT, OTTER, MINK: by J.P., c.1900, a trapper's shamanic-fistfight dream |
Three men chase me. I can't get away so I turn and fight, and put out one guy's eye. That makes them pause! At last they back away. As they paddle away in a boat, I realize who they are: Muskrat, Otter and Mink... CAUTION: ANTHROPOLOGISTS! |
CROW RIDE (ONE-WAY TICKET): by J.P., c.1920, a trickster dream |
A crow offers me a ride. I hang on tight and he flies me up into a beech tree where lots of other crows perch and talk. Then he flies me to another tree and leaves me. I think "How am I gonna get down?"... |
GRAVES: by J.S., 1901, a predictive nightmare |
I dreamt my wife and I lived on a farm. I was summer and all was ripe. But I found I wasn't digging vegetable beds, but graves. I woke. By next summer, my wife and child were both... |
LONGEVITY ROAD: by J.S., c.1898, a predictive life-arc dream |
I walked along a hilly road with ropes and boxes. My wife vanished in a hollow. But my path went on until the hills were blue in the distance. An old man interpreted... |
MY MOTHER & I: by J.S. & his mother, c.1910?, shared/parallel dreams |
MY DREAM: I was walking a hilly road, my uncle ahead, my stepdad behind; trying to keep them in sight. My mom appeared and I woke. MY MOTHER'S: the same. She told me hers before I told her mine. She thought it meant my uncle would die first, then me, then... CAUTION: APPARENT TELEPATHY, BUT MISINTERPRETED MEANING |
PLAYMATES: by J.S., c.1893, a childhood dream |
When I was little, two boys with strange laughs invited me to play. Their house was crowded and underground. After I came back out, I realized their home was a grave and they were ghosts. They gave me a power... |
FLU PRESCRIPTION: by Qu'lad and Togumalis, 1918, two shaman's dreams that saved lives |
Qu'lad, dying of flu in the pandemic, dreamt a wolf told him cold-water baths would save him. He staggered to the river. He lived. He told others. They lived. The shaman Togumalis dreamt his spirit helper, a squirrel, prescribed the same. A century later, hospital records show why it worked... CAUTION: ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE SHOWN AS SUPERIOR |
MISTER HALL: by εmaxu.lag.Ilis, 1923/2/27?, a psychic dream |
I was in a strange house. I met Mr Hall, a preacher from Alert Bay. He said he was different now, in the world above. I woke and told the dream. Two months later a letter came saying he died February 27... |
SPACE: by εmaxu.lag.Ilis, before 1925, an early dream of spaceflight |
In my dream, I flew upward. It was as though I was going to the place where stars are, for the stars were showing in the daytime. I saw all around our world. Then I wished in vain to go down again... |
BLUE LIPS, GOLD EYES, ORANGE JUICE: by Wayan; 1997/5/8, a warning dream. |
In a world where respectable men wear masks, an old, old man rebels in the crudest way he can... |
SOVEREIGN: by Anonymous #62, before 1921, an oracular psychic dream |
I was a missionary in South Africa, staying overnight in a remote village high in the Drakensberg. A man rode up; Six nights ago he was told in a dream to find me here in six days. He gave me a single gold coin, and left. Why?... CAUTION: FAILURE OF IMAGINATION? |
"POOR MRS TIMMS!": by JD Beresford's 4-year-old son, Jan/Feb 1918 |
Our son woke in the night crying "Poor Mrs Timms; poor Mrs Timms!" We knew no such woman, but it turned out she lived nearby. That day, her son had died in France... CAUTION: IMPLIES WE'RE TRAINED OUT OF A 6TH SENSE |
SEVASTOPOL: by Sydney Dobell: 1855/9/8, an apocalyptic, possibly psychic dream |
A friend scoffed at Biblical talk of the apocalypse, but as we spoke, the evening star came down and burned all our cities. I knew it was no ordinary dream. Next day came the news: the Russians had burned the city of Sevastopol... CAUTION: WAR CRIME |
VOLITION ON THE BRINK: by Dr William Hammond, c.1867. |
I'm on a mesa, looking down in terror. I try to pull back but a compulsion overrides my will--I crawl helplessly forward until I go over. As I fall... CAUTION: PRE-FREUDIAN DISMISSAL OF WARNING |
"IT WAS MY BABY": by Janie Legge; 1927/1/15, a nightmare after the flu? |
I admire a baby, and talk the tired mother into washing it. I go get some clean baby clothes and return to find she's roasting her baby in the oven... CAUTION: VIOLENCE, DENIAL |
THE MAN IN BLACK: by Florita Thesiger, 1930s, recurring genderbent pastlife dreams |
Each time, I'm a young Elizabethan man in a grand, new-built country house. In the main room, I find a man in black by the fire. He comes at me, and as he shoots me point-blank, I wake... |
"DEATH! DEATH!" by William Holman Hunt; 1854/1/20 (or so); a one-year predictive dream |
DREAM: Hunt's mother points at a tall figure in the shadows and shrieks "Death! Death!" ONE YEAR LATER: in Jerusalem, his hostess finds her young son dead, and shrieks... CAUTION: BEWARE THE IDES OF JANUARY? |
MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS' JEWELS: 1845, a hypnotic experiment by a Major Buckley |
Mary Queen of Scots' will (1556) was lost for centuries. In 1845, Major Buckley hypnotized a fellow officer and had him 'read' a family heirloom. He said it was Mary's! Her lost will was found in 1854 and published in 1863. Turned out the claim in the trance was right... CAUTION: MARY'S LIFE WAS BRUTAL |
"YOU'LL GROW OUT OF THAT": by Graham Donaldson, spring 1924, a rescue dream |
Wading a river at night, I fall in. I'm drowning! But my friend Edward pulls me out. "But Eddie, you're dead!" "No" he says. "You'll grow out of that!"... |
HOT FEET: by Patient 2 of William Hammond, c.1868, a nightmare--but subliminal or mystical? |
I'm in the Rocky Mountains. Gold-hungry Mexican bandits capture me and put my feet to the fire, demanding "How do you transmute copper into gold?" I scream "I don't know!", waking to find... CAUTION: TORTURE PLAYED FOR LAUGHS |
SAVONAROLA: by Mrs C., circa 1867; a dream mocking excess self-criticism |
Mrs C. dreamed she was the ascetic preacher Savonarola, who wanted to burn all vanities. In her audience she saw... Mrs C! So she, Savonarola, aimed her barbs at all of C's flaws... |
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... |
WHAT WILL THE NEWSPAPERS SAY?: by CE Lawrence, before 1939; an astronomical nightmare |
I dreamt I could clearly see the sun's corona, like a lion-mane of fire. But the corona dwindled; then the very sun dimmed, shrank, and went out. I thought... CAUTION: POLITICAL? |
WHISTLE: by Dr William Hammond, c.1865; a self-flagging predictive nightmare |
On a long steamboat voyage, a living skeleton swaps a warning for my watch; when the whistle sounds, the boiler will blow. As it does, I dive in the river and wake to discover a real whistle... CAUTION: UNCANNY SYNCHRONIZATION? |
WOLVES SITTING IN A TREE: by Sergei Pankejeff; winter 1888 or '89, a nightmare Freud made famous |
When I was very small I dreamt a pack of wolves climbed the tree outside my window and somehow got it open. Freud told me I must have seen my parents having sex doggy style... CAUTION: REALLY, DR. FREUD? |
FREUD'S UNDERWORLD: by Wayan; 2024/1/4; a comic book-review nightmare |
DAY: I reread Freud's The Interpretation of Dreams. His own dreams feel petty, devious, status-obsessed... dull. DREAM: I find Freud's bought my childhood home! I spelunk the Freudian underworld--a dark complex of tunnels, sewers and rats. Cross the rivers of muck on stepping stones. Emerge into sun at last, swearing "Never again..." |
A BUSINESS MAN'S DREAMS: by A Business Man, c.1918; four predictive dreams |
A certain intensity marks some dreams as predictive, whether they foresee a death or a crisis averted; but I keep quiet about them, writing them only in a locked diary. Once I spoke up, and was shunned... CAUTION: DISTURBING ANALOGY WITH SEX-ORIENTATION CLOSET |
ELEPHANT UPSIDE DOWN: by Xanthe, c2001, a surreal underworld-dream |
In the underworld, soldiers chase fundamentalists in underwear, as leopards stare. The upside-down elephant plugs the exit. We can only escape if we |
CONRAD'S CRASH: by Jessie Conrad, 1905?, a clairvoyant or telepathic nightmare |
Night. Rain. A hansom cab. The horse slips on the wet pavement, toppling the cab with my husband inside. I woke sure it happened. Next morning a postman tried to tell me of the crash, but I told him... |
HANGING CAR: by Frank Whitaker, Jan. 1935, three coincidences, synchronicities or psychic hits |
I grope for the name of an island. I dream I crash a car on a bridge; it hangs with one wheel over. I wake & recall a friend who moved to Canada. Breakfast. That island's on the front page. Inside's a photo of that hanging car. A letter comes--the first from my Canadian friend in years. Each might be coincidence, but what do we call it when coincidence goes on and on? |
ARSON PATTERN: by Wayan, 2023/8/13, a troubling political dream |
Fires erupt all over the Bay Area, but people I meet (and the news) just say "global warming." No! It's no warmer than normal and those fires are in lines! Arsonists are driving around, torching... CAUTION: POLITICAL READING |
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... |
SUVY & JOHN DOE: by Shawnodese, c.1970; a precognitive warning dream |
I dream my friend Suvy introduces me to a man who just took a class I'm considering. Weeks later she introduces me to him--but just as in my dream, he feels a bit insipid... |
ROWLAND'S DREAM: by R. J. Rowland, 1790s? a dream of a useful ghost. |
DAY: Rowland needed papers for a legal case, but couldn't find where his father had stashed them. DREAM: his long-dead dad told R.J. a lawyer R.J. he'd never heard of had them, 'but the man may need some reminding', and gave details of Portuguese gold and a drinking bout. Next day, it worked. But how? CAUTION: GHOST? E.S.P.? |
JANE GIFFORD: dreams drawn/painted by Jane Gifford 2001-'23 |
From the dream-sketchbooks of Jane Gifford: odd creatures, flying, coping with Covid, and cleaning the underworld (as one does)... |
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... |
NERO'S TOOTH: by Vespasian, c.65 CE, an oracular dream fulfilled alarmingly soon |
Vespasian dreamed he and his family would rise only when Emperor Nero lost his teeth. The next day, a surgeon happened to show Vespasian a tooth he'd just extracted from... |
PEARL RING: by Ruth M. Bedford, 1938; 3 predictive dreams |
I dreamt I stepped on my engagement ring and crushed its pearl. Next I dreamt ink stained it. Then I dreamt it fell in the sea, and the brine dissolved it. Then the telegram came: my fiancé... |
CLOCKTOWN: by Graham Donaldson, Dec. 1924, a surreal dream on time |
I'm lost in a labyrinth, trying to get to an appointment. What time is it? My watch is gone, and when I ask a watchman he sneers. But clock faces glare down from every wall, saying 4:10. I wake. It's... CAUTION: HOW DID I KNOW? |
SCULPTOR OR WRITER?: by Lucian of Samosata, c.135 CE, a career-advice dream |
As a boy, my family urged me to aim low and follow our trade: stonecarving. I dreamt two strong women fought over me, a grubby sculptor and an elegant writer. I sided with the writer, and she let me ride in her flying chariot... |
ARHATS IN A DREAM: by Guan Xiu, c.891, early dream paintings |
Guan Xiu, a painter in the late Tang Dynasty, dreamt that sixteen arhats or luohans (Buddhist sort-of-saints) asked him to paint their portraits-- not their earthly forms but their (rather peculiar) astral forms. He did... |
THE DEATH OF ATYS: by King Croesus c.560 BCE; predictive dream, or self-fulfilling? |
Croesus dreamt his heir Atys was slain by an iron blade; he locked them all in the armory. But Atys went hunting; his guard Adrastus's spear went astray. Did Fate kill Atys, or superstition rattling poor Adrastus? |
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 |
ELEPHANT WITH A LOTUS: by Queen Maya, 564 BCE? a prophetic Buddhist dream |
After 20 years without a child, Maya dreams devas carry her to a holy lake, wash her... and then an elephant carrying a lotus flower enters her right side. She knows it means... CAUTION: DREAM OMITS TINY DETAIL--IMMINENT DEATH |
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 |
THE MAN AT THE END OF THE PASSAGE: by John Hubbard c.1915? a surprise-ending dream |
War between a big conformist land and a small land devoted to quality. Big Land's rulers all die, but at last, sheer numbers defeat the smaller land. Now their leader, beaten and starved, awaits the sword at the end of the hall... CAUTION: POLITICAL? ACCORDING TO CARL JUNG! |
SUCH STUFF AS DREAMS ARE MADE OF: by John Anster Fitzgerald, 1857?, dream painting |
In bed asleep, the dreamer discovers this seemingly empty room hosts a fairy ball, full of luminous half-seen beings serenaded by a monstrous band... |
ANAGRAMMAGIC: by Robert Graves, 1938 or 39, a possibly telepathic dream |
DAY: Friends described JW Dunne's experiments with time. I decide to look for dream elements from the future. DREAM: I meet Oscar Wilde & other writers I dislike. A nonsense word like TELPOE or PELTOE appears... DAY: A letter arrives full of anagrams (based on my poetry) about Oscar Wilde & other writers I dislike... |
AVERELL'S FLIGHT: by Sue Averell, 2005, paintings based on flying dreams |
Action-painting cityscapes, but seen from far above--in flight. But she keeps herself out of the picture, so you'd never guess, unless... |
NIGHT OF A THOUSAND DREAMS: by Chris Massie, 1927, a chaotic multiversal dream |
I don't mind regular dreams. But when I dream a thousand dreams simultaneously, I get overwhelmed--drowning in wonders. Is my brain doing this, or is it a message? |
GLADSTONE AND DISRAELI by Edward Maitland, 1881/2/1; a character-reading dream |
The two great political leaders of the Victorian Age bare their souls to me. Gladstone's ashamed that he betrayed his ideals; Disraeli dances about, vilifying his loathed rival, but he feels no shame at all... CAUTION: VICTORIAN PROSE, BAD POLITICIANS |
DELBOEUF'S FERN by Joseph Delboeuf; 1862; the first cryptomnesic dream quoted by Freud. |
Delboeuf, ignorant of botany, dreams of feeding lizards a fern called Asplenium ruta muralis; years later he finds both lizards and fern in books he read and forgot years before the dream... |
RUNAWAY HORSE: by J.W. Dunne, spring 1904; a mixed predictive dream |
NIGHTMARE: a huge horse goes wild, leaps a fence and chases me. NEXT DAY: a horse does just that--yet every detail's different... |
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... |
EYE-SAVIOR: by an Oldham girl, c.1784; a curative (not merely diagnostic) dream |
I had gone blind in one eye. I dreamt our Savior came to me, and when I woke, I could see... |
"I SHALL HURT YOU WORSE": by Mrs B. when young, c. 1760; a predictive dream semi-heeded |
At 14, B. dreamt a stranger attacked her and hurt her badly. She said "but I'll hurt you worse." She did: a week later that man attacked and nearly killed her. She survived to identify him--and get him hanged... CAUTION: HARSH JUSTICE |
LISTEN TO YOUR WIFE: by Edward Bennet's daughter, 1757/7/11; a predictive dream |
Bennet's daughter dreamt her husband drowned after wading too deep (he couldn't swim). He promised he'd avoid deep water, but his best friend played a prank, treading water to make it seem shallow... CAUTION: WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE... |
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... |
MARCO TO WIN: by Violet Tweedale, 1893 or 4; a predictive... something |
We went to visit a well-known psychic. As an afterthought I asked about an upcoming race. The answer was firm: "Marco to win..." We made a lot off her tip. But when I thanked her later, we were shocked to learn she'd never heard me! Then who had spoken?... CAUTION: WEIRD EVEN FOR SPIRITUALISTS |
THE TEACHER: by Lord Vivian, 1874; a predictive dream he bet on... for another! |
DREAM: a stranger tells me "The Teacher" won the Handicap. AWAKE: At the track I meet the man in my dream! He says The Teacher is now called Aldrich. But Aldrich's owner discourages me. A friend trusts my dream & wins £1,000... |
BESS: by Forrest Bess, 1946, '47, '57, '67 & '70; five hypnogogic dreams |
Bess painted images that look like abstract symbols but actually flashed in front of him when half asleep... |
ASTEROID: by Forrest Bess, 1946; four abstractish REM-dream paintings |
All the Asteroids were coming together at last to form something bigger. In church, the dull-eyed preacher hadn't noticed. I led a blind man on toward the new... |
BRETON NUNNERY: by Mabel Morison, August 1911, a dream of a stranger's passing |
Touring Bretagne, I lodged in a nunnery. At 1 AM I saw by moonlight an old woman at my table. I later learned that old woman died at 1 AM that night; for many years, my room had been hers... |
A GANG OF GHOSTS: by "Mrs. Claughton", 1893/10/14, recurrent dreams of ghosts |
Mrs Claughton moved into a house known as haunted. She dreamt multiple ghosts asked her for help. She crossed England to pass messages to heirs, containing private details Claughton couldn't have known... CAUTION: ENOUGH CORROBORATION TO MAKE SKEPTICS UNEASY |
CARDANO'S DREAMS: by Girolamo Cardano, 1521 & 1547/8/15, two confusing oracular dreams |
1521: I ask a talking ape how long I'll live. "Four years" he says. "No longer?" "No." 26 years later, I'm still hoping to get truth from dream-figures--two dead guys tell me... CAUTION: JUNGIANS BEHAVING BADLY |
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