Saturday, February 11, 2006

Interesting dream

Instead of reading tonight, I fell asleep in front of the TV after rapidly losing interest in the Olympics opening ceremony. A dream woke me up. It's the third time I've had this same dream in the last month, and it's bugged me every time I've had it. I'm sitting in a chair and I know that I'm waiting for something. The light around me dims rapidly, and the sense of expectation is high. In front of me, from left to right, walk four women, all wearing floor length hooded cloaks. Their faces and forms are not visible, but I know that they are women. From each one comes a sense of solidity, strength and power. Each one is carrying a candle. They disappear off to my right side, and I'm still waiting. In front of me, emerging from the darkness, candles start to light up, until I'm facing an endless field of lit white candles. I have neither an ominous nor comforting feeling hanging over from this dream, though my passivity in the dream bothers me. I'm also intensely curious about what this means.

In looking up the meanings of symbols, I found a few interesting things. A chair in a dream often indicates the need to contemplate and listen to the inner self. This is pretty much a natural for an introvert like me, but so much of my life lately has been about taking action. I've been so busy that I'm pretty much tired all of the time. At the same time, recognizing that my life is in serious transition right now, I know that I need more action, not less. It's that whole energy begets energy thing. An underground fear has been that I've been filling my time with motion which keeps me busy, rather than action which actually accomplishes something. Knowing myself though, I know that I will never give up my private, contemplative time, meditative time, even if, like tonight, it means giving up sleep.

I didn't look up the meaning of dimming lights, but my gut instinct here tells me that this was like lowering the house lights in a theater before a play begins, another symbol to pay attention. Women in dreams often represent the feminine side of ourselves, the nurturing, caring, comforting aspects and the mysterious, passive, and darker aspects. My dreams frequently remind of me of how powerful the traditional female attributes really are. Face concealing hoods and cloaks are a pretty basic symbol of something being hidden. Lit candles though are symbols of enlightenment, of intellectual and spiritual seeking, of hope and luck. The candles were white, and white is usually symbolic of purity. I'm wondering here if I'm going to receive some positive insight.

Since there were four women, the meaning of the number four feels particularly significant. What I found was that four has long been seen as a powerful number. It has represented to different cultures: the earth, the four cardinal directions, angels who stand at the "corners" of the earth holding back the winds, the four gospels of the New Testament, wholeness, totality, everything created, matter itself, creativity, perfection, the four rays of the cosmic wheel, the four pillars of the universe, the arms of the cross, women, infallible reason, the family, the Holy Trinity (three persons in one being, 3+1=4), the horsemen of the Apocalypse, things physical and not spiritual, choice as in a crossroads, and that was just the beginning.

I've got a lot of thinking to do on this one. This isn't a happy, little dream, but I have the feeling that it's a positive one, and getting a better sense of its meaning may be truly important.

13 Comments:

Blogger Jod{i} said...

White is also for protection.
Keep the evil at bay...Feeling a bit stressed Cyn? Hmmm maybe the inner is being protective of you right now.

Could be.

February 11, 2006 6:40 AM  
Blogger Virginia said...

Its great that you remembered such details of your dreams. Have you tried to "talk" with these women when you are awake?

Peace, Virginia

February 11, 2006 8:04 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

You know - I'm just going to have to start sending my dreams to you for analysis. I love your entries, Cyn.

February 11, 2006 8:20 AM  
Blogger Vicky said...

I am wondering about the four women, Cynthia. Maybe four aspects of yourself? The four things that are your pillars, that support you. You describe them as powerful figures, and you do not fear them, maybe because they are familiar. I think they may be you.

Thanks for your sweet comment in mine.

Love, Vicky

February 11, 2006 10:18 AM  
Blogger Nelle said...

This was fascinating. I used to have a wonderful website about dreams and I lost it in a crash. They would actually allow you to post your dream and have people analyze what they thought it meant. I have been having very detailed dreams myself lately that I remember upon waking but later forget. I need to start writing them down. One had a cloaked figure who I sensed was a man. I felt he was representing judgement. I think we work a lot of our subconscious issues out in our dreams.

February 11, 2006 1:06 PM  
Blogger Gannet Girl said...

Fascinating dream and also, as someone told me about mine, that you remember it.

It does seem that you are doing a lot of interior exploration these days, ands the four women could represent four parts of you that are emerging and that will be holy expressions of yourself.

February 11, 2006 2:40 PM  
Blogger Abadiebitch said...

Your women sound like the Handmaids in the Handmaid's Tale.

February 11, 2006 3:44 PM  
Blogger Theresa Williams said...

I am also thinking about the four temperaments and maybe your need to balance them properly: the guardian, the rational, the artisan, and the idealist.

February 11, 2006 4:52 PM  
Blogger Celeste said...

Maybe your dream is telling you that you are on the right track in your life.

February 12, 2006 9:55 AM  
Blogger Tammy Brierly said...

Fascinating and great recall. Definitely trying to send a message! Cool :)

Sweet Dreams!

February 12, 2006 1:48 PM  
Blogger Judith HeartSong said...

it is a fascinating dream. The Graces.

February 12, 2006 7:29 PM  
Blogger daringtowrite said...

Fascinating dream. What intrigued me most is that you have had the same dream three times within a month. If it was my dream, I would think something was definitely wanting to be attended to. Sounds like that is just what you are doing, so I wish you the best as you sort this out.

February 12, 2006 10:35 PM  
Blogger Globetrotter said...

A few years ago I had a significant crisis in my life that forced me to seek therapy. My therapist was a highly intelligent woman who was a bit flaky, very New Agey, but always insightful in her observations.

I believe that you have pinpointed most of the significance in your own dream, but my therapist Wanda would have probably added a couple of the following observations, too:

Your choice of the word "expectation" and the lights going down in the theatre are right on. You are waiting for something significant and exciting to occur. Your passivity is not a bad thing here. It's actually necessary at this point. You struggle to always take and keep control instead of allowing yourself to be passive because you view passivity as a sign of weakness. Wanda would have identified the women as spirit guides, the "grandmothers" ,as she called them, who are highly evolved beings that have tapped into the collective consciousness of the universe and are there to help us reach higher levels of spirituality if we are receptive to them. The additional candles flickering are additional spirit guides who you have waiting at your disposal if you only allow yourself to passively receive their gifts.

Okay. I'm done now. I hope you don't think I'm a lune. I realize all the above nonsense is totally anti-Christian and it was one of the problems that I always had with the advice she gave me. I stopped seeing Wanda because after a while I thought she needed therapy more than I did! But I do admit that I am open to any ideas regarding spirituality and the universe and there may be a great deal more to this stuff than we are capable and willing to comprehend within our limitations. So I always try to keep an open mind to the significance of dreams, the sub-conscious, etc.

Hmmm...I just noticed it's a full moon tonight. Good time for the grandmother's to pay me a visit;0)

I can't wait to read the rest of the comments now!

February 13, 2006 10:31 AM  

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