Find Insight through Dream Interpretation
I have always loved the dreamtime. As a kid, it was as important to me as my time spent awake. It allowed me to travel to mystical places, communicate with beings, and get a break from the less creative zone known as “reality.” The dreamtime was my den of comfort where I would explore and be all aspects of myself, without outside judgement present. It also provided a portal to information daring to be explored.
I have one absolute favorite dream book.
The Dream Book, by Betty Bethards, was purchased from my favorite metaphysical bookstore, East West Bookstore in Mountain View, California, when I was about 20 years old. To this day, what I love is that it takes the time to teach us the meaning of dreams, how to work with them, and how to use them to access our intuition. There is even a very descriptive section about meditation! At the back of the book is the most solid dream dictionary that I have found. It has just enough terms to get us interpreting while allowing the space for us to find our own answers. It lives by my bedside for quick reference throughout the night or in the early morning.
Powerful dreams get attention.
I have been working on processing this dream for months! It has ushered many lessons and healing opportunities, although it hasn't come easy. The setting of this dream included me and my closest family at our cabin in the Sierra Nevada mountains. It was a sunny summer day and we were all sitting on the front porch. A new neighbor had moved in next door and had been keeping an eye on the cabin. For some reason, he felt like an owl was living inside the cabin and he was concerned for us. While the concern might sound neighborly, I felt like he was watching the house because he wanted us to sell it so he could do something with the property.
Next thing I know I see my brother come onto the patio. Behind him is an enormous owl at about 3 feet tall with a 6 foot wingspan. It was the most beautiful owl I have ever seen. His feathers were a shimmery combination of light and dark brown, deep blue, and purple. I had no fear in looking at this owl and lovingly appreciated its beauty.
Then, I noticed I had a headache. I decided that if I ate some food that my headache would be relieved. I asked my cousin to go in the cabin and get me something to eat. She suggested I take a pill but I told her that this was not that type of headache and that some food would cure me. She went into the cabin and came out with a bald eagle in her hands. She handed it to me, suggesting this was the food I was to eat to cure my headache. In reaching for the bald eagle, I giggled and said that I had really only wanted a granola bar and then gently set the eagle on the patio floor.
Suddenly, I woke up. I immediately thought was that a loved one had died. I went into my clairvoyant zone and quickly realized that I was dealing with some really heavy death energy. It was about 3:00 am, in the middle of the very powerful witching hours zone. So, I spent the next few hours in meditation, working the energy from the dream and the death energy before me.
To be honest, this was one of the most difficult night’s of my life. The information and energy I dealt with was very scary and intimidating. Yet, I did not let those feelings overcome me. Instead, I relied on my clairvoyant and meditation tools to get me through the fear. It lead me towards the information that would usher me into a process filled with healing and insight.
Break down the components of the dream.
The Dream Dictionary taught me how to break down a dream and then move through it step by step, as outlined below. Some of the key points of my dream are listed below along with the definition from the dictionary.
Family: integration of self or role in the family
Neighbor: not included in dictionary therefore I must identify my feelings around this character for insight
Cabin: or House, aspects of self
Brother: masculine part of self or parts of myself I identify through my brother
Owl: wisdom, ability to see clarity in the dark
Cousin: not included in dictionary therefore refer to family
Bald Eagle: accepting responsibility and taking care of needs, freedom
It also helps to identify the feelings that were prominent within the dream and consider them heavily when interpreting.
For many years I have used Native American Medicine cards. Animal energy shows up often in my dreams and in my life. Therefore, I referenced them for insight on this dream as well.
Eagle: Connection to the Great Spirit, knowing and creating personal freedom
Owl: Associated with clairvoyance, seeing the truth in any situation, coming out from darkness
Finally, since I had such a clear picture of the owl, I decided to do an internet search. I found a match to an owl in Asia that was linked to a supernatural tradition of having communication with the dead.
Allow the components to reveal your intuition’s message.
This dream had a lot of emotions attached making it very difficult to interpret. However, when I worked the images of the dream in conjunction with the emotions, the message started to unfold.
Pro Psychic Tip: Intense dreams and nightmares hold some of the greatest opportunity for healing and insight.
The cabin mentioned in the dream was my heart’s home growing up. I was most myself when at that cabin enjoying time with my family and with nature. The dream was an exploration of myself from when I was a kid to me now as an adult (cabin, family). While I once needed that cabin as part of my identity (nature, family), through my adult life I have put myself out into the world in so many uncomfortable ways that I have given myself the opportunity to face many fears and come to peace with them (eagle). I have come to know the dark side of myself (owl) and the light side (eagle), both holding important messages for my growth.
In regards to the heavy death energy after the dream, without getting into all of what I was managing, the overall theme of this experience in combination with the dream was ultimately allowing a humble rebirth. To support the process of this transition, I had to let go into the experience of death energy that was before me. To say it was uncomfortable is an understatement. I was trusting my tools and discipline in meditation completely to get me through this. After managing this process for a few hours, I began to radiate a deep compassion that I had never felt before and a letting go into life, into who I am, and a renewed determination to continue to create who I want to be.
No, I don’t take all of these steps for every dream.
I have been working on my dreams for so long that, upon waking, I can usually figure out the message pretty quick and move along with my day. If I can’t, I trust that I did receive the message from my intuition and that I will change my previous life patterns because of it, no worries.
However, when I hit a biggie, like the dream I explained above, I do take as much time as I need to get to a consensus for myself. I mean, so much energy conspired to give me this experience, I need to respect the importance of the message. So, I work through the steps I outlined above and then I just give myself time to let the message unfold in front of me. It’s a magical process that has real-world application.
Some nights, I don’t dream.
We don’t all remember our dreams all of the time. Some of us barely remember our dreams, but that does not mean that there is no information being communicated. Take note when you wake up first thing in the morning: how do you feel, do you have an impression, thought, idea, or inspiration? Those are all clues to messages from our intuition. Heck, one morning I noticed I was singing “dodecahedron.” I had no idea what a dodecahedron was but come to find out it is a pretty cool piece of sacred geometry!
Enjoy the process.
Dreams make us laugh, cry, bring out our fears and anxieties and our hope for the future. Enjoy what they bring as they are the curators of our own custom self help book. Learn to hear their messages.
