If I can't teach you anything else during your visit to my cottage
here, I hope I can teach you this:
Every character in every one of your dreams is an aspect of
yourSelf!
Some of the native people had a teaching that said that we all, each
one of us, regardless of gender or age, have four "shields" or "masks"
with which we deal with the world around us. They are our inner male and
female aspects, as well as our inner chilren, a little boy and a little
girl. Each of these, if we are using our shields in a balanced way,
helps us deal with any situation we might encounter in life.
Unfortunately we tend to focus on and use only one of these, and that is
where not only problems but nightmares can come from!
There are also some teachings which state that we also have within
each one of us an inner Old Man and Old Woman, and that when we begin to
achieve a certain level of spititual growth, we will also begin to dream
of these as well.
I will attempt, below, to describe a little bit of what each sort of
person or mask in your dreams represent within your own Self.
Men in dreams are representative of our own "masculine" qualities,
whether we are male or female. These are our tendency, or lack thereof,
to be active in our own lives (this is NOT by any means meant to imply
that it's strictly a male characteristic to take action in one's life,
simply that it has become such a "norm" in society for men to be active
and for women to be passive, that when our mind searches for a symbol of
the active principle, it almost always clothes it in a male face.)
Women in a man's or a woman's dream represent the things we
as a species associate with femininity, such as the ability to relate to
others, nurture, and create. (Again, this does not by any means mean that
men don't or can't relate, nurture, or create - just that it has not been
something our society has associated with male energy for a long, long
time, so that this symbolism has become ingrained in our subconscious.
Maybe someday - and maybe not in the too-distand future! - tis will
change!)
A Little Girl in a dream is our emotions, especially our
powers of unconditional love and forgiveness. It can also be our wish
that someone could be there to take care of us, if only once in awhile.
A Little Boy in a dream is our determination to live and
to have all our dreams come true. He is also our anger when this does
not happen!!
Old People in dreams are our Inner Grandparents or our own
personal gods and goddesses. They have words of wisdom to deliver to us,
that come from our own Higher Selves. Always pay very close attention to
anything an old person says to you in a dream! They may come to you
dirty and disheveled and disgusting, but if you can give them respect,
you have passed a very important test.
Infants are potential new aspects of yourself, budding new
talents or opportunities!
The people in your dreams may be strangers, or they may be persons
familiar to you. This doesn't matter, they are really still facets of
yourself.
The people in your dreams may be friendly or hostile toward you. You
may like or dislike them. They may be weak or strong. This shows how you
relate to this part of yourself. You may struggle
with them or flee from them, you may become quite
intimate with them. These kinds of dreams can be
very upsetting, for they often make us fear we "secretly" feel that way
about the person concerned, but that is not usually the case. If you
dream for instance of having sex with your brother, this does not mean you
are sexually attracted to your brother! It means you are trying to
assimilate (and generally it means you have succeeded in doing so) the
more active, "take charge" aspects of your own self. If you
really "secretly" wanted to have sex with your brother, you would
probably dream instead of riding in an elevator with someone who only
incidentally reminds you of your brother!
Special Dream People:
There are a few special kinds of dream masks that "real" people
(not aspects of yourSelf!) can take on:
Celebrities and Important Authority Figures usually represent your
parents.
A child with a funny hat or with especially golden hair, may be a
child-visitation from the Christ.
Crowds can represent many things, if they are rowdy and out of
control this means that the many aspects of your own personality are in
too much conflict and failing to all rally 'round you in any organzed
fashion. If they are simply all staring at you they may represent the
world of people outside yourself and how you fear they may percieve you.
And there are those who say that a gallery of people whose faces seem
inexplicable familiar even though you know you've never met them, is
actually all of your selves from your past
lives here on earth.