Nightmare Speaking

Our dreams are a doorway between our conscious and our subconscious minds, but they are not always what they seem. This is due to the fact that our subconscious minds communicate in symbolism. Perhaps a pleasant dream is just that, an indication that you are feeling optimistic about your life, but the nightmares tend to throw us into a tailspin. Fear not though, it is simply your subconscious drawing your attention to an area of life that you have yet to address. This is most common with an unresolved past, a fear left unacknowledged, or a transition from one stage of life to the next. Once you know this, with a little practice it becomes easier to identify these symbols more objectively.

Allow me to share one of my more terrifying dreams of late and the process in which I could objectively interpret such a nightmare.

It began with me cleaning a house, not the one I currently live in, but the one I aspire to own, when I heard the voices of my children calling happily to me. They are adults and live far away, so even in the dream I was surprised but overjoyed. “What are you doing here? Why didn’t you call to tell me you were on your way?” But before I could get much of an answer, CRASH, the window was broken in. A group of large men came in and tried to separate me from my precious children. I couldn’t protect them.

“OH! The baby!” I thought (which was odd since I have no young children, as I said before, mine are grown. But I knew there was a baby in the house, without a name, but he was my responsibility.) So I raced for him, I pulled him out of his crib and into my arms. His body was lifeless yet I continued to care for him as though he were alive. With the baby in my arms, I raced back to my children to try to save them as well. I couldn’t find them. I heard their screams echoing in my mind, calling out to me, but they were no where to be seen.

I pleaded with the men to return my children and leave. They laughed, they left, but my children were no where to be seen. I could no longer hear them calling to me.

I held the dead baby in my arms as I stood alone in the house. My husband came home. He didn’t see or hear me. He took no notice of the chaos that had become our home. He simply went about his routine as though it were any other day that he might be home alone. I began to choke. I dropped the baby and ran to a mirror where copious amounts of shattered teeth materialized and poured from my mouth.

I woke up, choking and grasping my throat and mouth.

Pretty awful at first glance.

Now, as stated before, dreams are messages written in symbolism. Some of the symbolism is universal, and some will be specific to you and your life at the present moment. I felt as though this was a good dream to share, because it isn’t just horrific, it also encompasses a wide range of symbolism.

We begin at my home, the one that I aspire for, a very clear message from my subconscious that we are about to discuss my desires. Enter my children, whom I love more than life, another clear message that we are going to touch on the best things about my current situation.

Now the break in. What a universal fear that at any moment we could lose everything to chance. It’s only natural to feel moments of fear of loss when you begin to believe that you could have more than you’ve ever had before. It’s a very human reaction. But that’s all that it is. A reaction. It isn’t the truth. It isn’t prophesy. But most importantly, it doesn’t have to be your response to fear. Simply accept it for what it is. A moment of fear that you are welcome to release as you prepare to move your mind from reaction to response.

Even as these imaginary invaders took my children from me, it was only a subconscious scream that I could lose EVERYTHING that ever meant anything to me. But it’s just fear, a momentary state that can be altered.

“OH! The baby!” Babies can be very personal and also universal symbolism. For example, if you only see a baby as a responsibility, that feeling will outweigh any universal connotations. You must always consider your personal connection to the symbolism. I love being a mother. I love the role of nurturer. I love babies. Yes they are responsibility, but they are hope and promise and unlimited potential as well. How did you feel when I mentioned the baby in my dream? Feelings are your guide in the world of symbolism. Go with your gut when you feel strongly about any element of your own dreams. Universally however, babies can symbolize actual babies, new ventures or ideas, passion projects, the rebirth of self and any of the universal ideas about new life and birth.

For me, the baby was The New Moon Covenant. This crazy dream of mine to give life to a revival of a community that unifies science and spirituality. It’s my passion project. My baby if you will. Another deep seeded fear of failure. The thought that I am carrying this dream and nurturing it as though it were thriving when I have yet to see the evidence of that, could be akin to the dead baby in my dream. But once again, it’s only a fear. It isn’t the truth. The truth is that manifestation, the act of drawing your visions from the quantum field and materializing them into your physical reality, isn’t always a linear process. It takes time. How much time really depends on where you are starting and where you are going. And in that time, you will do the work to get there, taking inspired action as the inspiration comes to you. But you will also have to do the work that is introspective in nature. The shadow work.

Now my husband. My wolf. My support, my ally, my friend. In the dream, he didn’t see me, he couldn’t help me. Isn’t that a clear message of the fear of being alone. But shadow work is always something we must do alone. His support isn’t gone from me. He simply couldn’t help me through that part. The facing of fears is such a personal journey, even when you have all the support in the world, you are inevitably the one who must face those fears. And it is terrifying, much more the longer you run from them.

And finally the teeth. Oh! Nobody likes that dream. But this one really is universal. You are losing something that was thought to be permanent. Since we were very young, most people have been told to care for their teeth because they must last the rest of our lives. In the dream, I lost more than I had to lose. An obvious fear that if I pursue this dream of mine, I may end up worse off than I ever have been due to lost resources that were spent chasing a pipe dream. But once again, it’s fear. A reaction isn’t reality. A response is.

It is noteworthy that I had just written a piece on the importance of not allowing past regrets or future fears to keep us from the infinite now. I’ll link to that article for you as well. And I had done such a lot of work on my past regrets recently, it would have been careless of my subconscious to allow me to continue to the next steps of my process without facing some of my more ignored future fears. Facing these parts of ourselves due to a nudge from our subconscious minds, allows us to bring truth to the fears so we don’t freeze up when the time comes to act in the face of them.

So I now take each symbol and correct my thinking of it.

I dreamt of my home because it is an aspiration that is obtainable.

I dreamt of my children because they are my joy.

The invaders came, but the only damage done was in a dream, and in my reality, I know there is a season for all things and that I am protected by my belief that it is so.

My children were gone from me, of course they were, they are grown. I heard them calling and I searched for them, naturally because they are my joy. In my dream, they were a static memory. In reality, they are dynamic forces of nature who are not limited by my usefulness to them. I will commit to calling them more frequently so they remember that I am still their ally.

The baby. Oh the baby! The New Moon is not dead, it is still being born. And as all children should, it still has the potential to thrive long after I have left this life behind me. And that will happen so long as I remember that it is now but a seed, still in need of nurturing.

My husband couldn’t see me in my dream. But we never truly see the shadow work of another. It’s in their shadow, not our own. We can offer light from time to time in the form of a shoulder to cry on or words of advice, but ultimately, we must all face our shadows alone and have faith that those who love and support us will be waiting for us to emerge from our inner work with a new perspective on the challenges ahead.

The teeth. Nothing is ever truly lost, for all is energy which can neither be created nor destroyed, only transmuted.

I thank my fears for trying to protect me from pain. I thank my faith for assuaging my fears. I thank you dear reader for coming this far and it is my fondest hope that you will pause after your next nightmare to look closely at your current circumstances in an effort to better understand your own mind. May we all have better conversations with ourselves.

Love Always,

Your friend in fellowship,

Kit