Swesent's Dream Journal

[Swesent]

Instead of scribbling my notes on papers and in whatever notebook I find first, as I've done in the past, I have decided to start keeping a more proper Dream Journal. My goal and intention with this is to improve my dream memory/recall and ultimately to aid me in my quest for successful Astral Projection attempts. So down below I'll post whatever dream/s I can recall from day to day (if any) and if someone wants to comment on them, or perhaps throw some insightful interpretations at them, then you're very welcome to do so. I would find it very interesting!

I'll just edit in a linked index in this post for an easy overview. I can also add that I have received an OK from a forum moderator to do this. And sure, I know that there are multiple good sites out there specifically made for keeping Dream Journals, but I rather keep everything collected on one site - and "the Astral Pulse" is definitely the site I wish to stick to!

I'm also writing down my OoBE attempts which you may follow through this link.

EDIT - Purple Color: Starting in my entry for August 20:th I will sometimes color objects, people and locations purple. These are stuff I recognize from the waking world and maybe I can find some use for it in the future. Just so you know what's going on.

July 31:st 2011 - "A Game of Monopoly"
August 01:st 2011 - "Apartment Work"
August 03:rd 2011 - "Popstar, Brawl and a Kiss"
August 05:th 2011 - "You Sound Like a Washer"
August 06:th 2011 - "The Mentalist Class"
August 10:th 2011 - "Work in Japan"
August 12:th 2011 - "Reckless Speed"
August 14:th 2011 - "Spewings at the Store"
August 15:th 2011 - "Estate Guardian"
August 20:th 2011 - "Multiples #1"
August 23:rd 2011 - "From Castle by Ship", "Deadly Backyard Game"
August 24:th 2011 - "Lethal Marketing"

[Swesent]

July 31:st 2011 - "A game of Monopoly"

I'm sitting down on the floor in the living room in my late grandmother's old house. I'm feeling very comfortable. There are two other persons with me but they alternate every now and then. Sometimes it is two of my closest cousins, other times my younger brother is one of them. One of these persons also changes skin color every once in a while. When he gets a dark colored skin, he suddenly looks a bit like "Rick" in the TV-series "Falling Skies".

Between us we have a board of Monopoly set up. We are in the middle of a game and I can feel that the rules are a tiny bit different than normal - however I can't put my finger on it exactly. There's not much more I can remember other than that we're having a good time. The person sitting to my left is acting cashier - the one to my left alternates between being my opponent and playing the role of an in-game police (which is definitely not part of a standard game of Monopoly).

I remember landing on the "Free Parking" one time after which the player acting as a cop lands on the same square and brings me over to the jail. I also remember my opponent "tapping" a few of his houses to free some money in order to pay for a bill perhaps. (The tapping thing may have come from "Magic: The Gathering"s game mechanics.) Shortly after that my memory goes blank.


- Personal Thoughts and Comments -
This may not be much of a Dream Recall but considering that I've just picked this up again, and that I usually don't remember anything at all, it could hopefully be a good start. I hope even a tiny snippet like this will be enough to help improve my Dream Recall at least a little bit. I can also add that I repeated a mantra when I went to sleep basically telling myself "I will recall what I dream tonight!" - Who knows, it may have had something to do with it.

[Swesent]

August 1:st 2011 - "Apartment Work"

I have gone back about six years in time to when I was working at the local gymnasium. For some reason I had to switch office from within the gymnasium to a separate tall office complex building. As a first scene I remember walking around in a huge staircase section in the center of the building. The stairs were extremely wide and the entire place was gigantic. Again, one of my cousins were with me. And I remember tipping over some gray metallic bucket filled with an unknown liquid which started pouring down the stairs. As of yet I didn't know why I was there.

The next scene I was walking along a hallway inside the apartment complex. It was regular looking with dark brownish floor, light blue walls and white ceiling and lots and lots of doors leading to just as many offices. That's when I suddenly knew that I was looking for a new office. I was alone right now, don't know what happened to my cousin.

Suddenly I stop at a door (which must have been what I was looking for) and slowly opened it up. Inside was an entire apartment. It was rather empty - looked like a mix between having been shortly habited by a random squatter and undergoing significant renovation. A couple of sporadically placed furniture and working lights and -tools placed all around. The entire scene looked like taken straight from out of some type of point-and-click adventure game in a way.

Next scene I'm suddenly inside some kind of mix between an office and a clothing store. Big open spaces, well lit. I'm inside an office area. I can see long long rows of clothing shelves in the back, separated by a wall with a door on either side in between. As I began walking from the office part over to the clothes section, I meet two of my former colleagues whom I worked with back at the gymnasium. We greeted each other and kept walking.

The last scene I remember I had to trade clothes with one of my colleagues for some reason. Although we differ much in length, his clothes fit me perfectly. It felt like I had to do this in order to fool someone - can't remember whom or why though.


- Personal Thoughts and Comments -
Again, when I went to bed I constantly repeated to myself "I will remember!" over and over again. Possibly thanks to that I also remember a couple of tiny parts from two other dreams as well - but only seconds from both of them. But still, I want to see it as an improvement.

[Swesent]

August 3:rd 2011 - "Popstar, Brawl and a Kiss"

I find myself inside the ground level of a large tower building still under construction. This is a fairly big room/area with a hard pressed dirt floor, there are exposed beams all around where proper walls and ceiling still has to be constructed. In the center of this "room" is some kind of a large goldenish statue and it has like a miniature make-shift stage attached to one of its corners. Just a small five by five foot "platform" no more than a couple of feet above the ground. In there with me are a whole bunch of kids - I'd guess about 12 - 16, no more than six or seven years old. As I notice these children I automatically assume that I have the role as their kindergarten teacher.

Next thing I know one slightly older boy (roughly 12 years old) is standing on the statue stage holding a black microphone. All the other kids are gathered in front stoked to hear him sing. So the boy with the mic begins to sing some rather dead good pop song with accompanying music from some hidden speakers somewhere. This little pop artist only has time to sing a few words from the first verse - just enough for the other kids to recognize the song. As soon as they do, everyone begin singing at the top of their lungs as they seem to know the song by heart. The pop artist kid stops singing and can barely keep himself from laughing. The kids keep singing apparently not even noticing that the main vocalist has stopped. (Sadly I can't recall the lyrics nor the melody, otherwise - with a couple of song lessons - I could very well have been a world-famous billionaire before year's end!)

After a short while of very loud singing there is a shift triggered by something unknown. Instead of running around singing, all the kids are suddenly arguing with each other - making just as much noise as when they were singing. There is some shoving going on, kids on the ground, maybe a few tears in the crowd and general uncontrolled wildness. I observe! I do nothing to try and stop it. Some of the kids reminded me of children I came in contact with when working at a school a few years back.

Suddenly the last major change happens and the statue in the middle of the room has turned into some fancy looking golden bed. I'm laying in that bed next to a certain love of my life. The fighting between all the kids has begun to subside and the two of us were glancing over at two children, a girl and a boy, who were sitting next to each other alone, both being a little bit outcasts from the rest of the children. We could hear the boy comforting the girl, saying something like "At least we have each other. We'll have to stick together and be strong." And then he gave her a friendly kiss on the cheek.

THEN - for some reason - completely RUINING the moment - I say something along the lines of "Oh man, what a YouTube acting!" As if I believed they were recording themselves and putting on an act just to gather thumbs ups and subscribers. In response the true love of mine, lying next to me, looks at me and says "No, it's nice that they have each other." She had tears in her eyes from what she'd just witnessed and was almost crying from being so wonderfully compassionate. I didn't say anything more (thank heavens!) - I just leaned toward her and gave her a long passionate kiss. I don't know why, but that very kiss it felt so incredibly real - a clear difference from the rest of the dream. Almost as if I had become a little bit lucid just to feel the extremely strong emotions and feelings from kissing her. As soon as our kiss ended, even before I had time to look at her one more time, I woke up.

[Swesent]

August 5:th 2011 - "You Sound Like a Washer"

I'm in a large room with a view, somewhere in the middle section of a multi story building. I'm there with my g/f and one of her friends. We're doing something with a rope or a line of some kind. I think we're attaching it to the far sides of the room, like a clothesline. At some point my g/f steps away to the ladies room and her friend and I begin talking. She mentioned something about wanting to have her necklace photographed. She was wearing this necklace made up from small glassy looking unshaped stones of various colors. I commented something about her wanting to take a picture of it and she may have misread my question, thinking I was trying to be sarcastic or mean to her in some way. It created an awkward moment.

Next thing the scene changes. Suddenly the three of us are on the top of a large flat roof, high up in the air with the warm sun shining down on us. May very well have been on the same building. This time we're struggling to mount some kind of short gold colored pipes over some strange kind of pins sitting in the roof. There's three of them. It seems I'm struggling a bit more with this than the other two. I'm trying to cover the pin with the hollowed pipe but can't get it to fit over the pin. I'm trying and trying but there's a part in the way, attached to the pin, which is wider than the pipe casing. After a while of futile attempts my g/f's friend becomes really annoyed and more or less shouts at me how I'm supposed to do it. That I have to unscrew that wider part first, then put the pipe down over the pin and lastly reattach the wide part again. (Don't know why I didn't figure this out on my own!)

It seems she was having a cold which made her voice sound really deep and kind of metallicly harsh and raspy - it was a pain to listen to as she went on and on until she had explained the entire process in a loud-mouthed manner. I remember telling her afterwards that she sounded almost like our washing-machine when it is spin-drying. My g/f seemed a bit shocked that I actually said that to her and then my memory goes blank.


I do remember another short thing as well, but I think that one belongs in my OoBE-thread.

[Swesent]

August 6:th 2011 - "The Mentalist Class"

Me and my g/f were taking some kind of creative painting/drama class. We were about a dozen participants in total. The setting for this class was a rather small classroom with 20 or so desks and chairs. Walls and floor were painted in a warm green color and there was a blackboard entirely covering one of the walls.

We started out by sitting on our chairs in a large circle in the center of the room - desks pushed back along the walls. What really drew my attention here was the fact that no other than Patrick Jane (the main character from the TV-show "The Mentalist" (IMDB)) was leading the class. He was sitting on a chair at three o'clock to where I was - sporting his ever so common smug smile.

After a while he opens with a question to all participants; "If you had to choose someone in this class to challenge to a gun duel, who would you pick?" I remember thinking "Well, that's a weird question. But hey, it's Patrick Jane, so nothing out of the ordinary." I began looking around the circle of students in the class and I just went on looks. Which one of these people looks like the least friendly one? My eyes landed on this guy to my nine who reminded me of a generally bad person. (You know how you usually can discern who the bad antagonist is in a movie by the character's looks alone? He reminded me of such a character.)

By now most of us were pointing fingers toward each other and I joined in. Apparently I was the only one who chose this guy and when he saw that I had picked him, he seemed genuinely devastated. At the same time Mr. Jane said "Let's see how you all have chosen." At that point, the guy I was pointing at made his choice and he pointed toward the ceiling. "Well, that's just great - I picked the only humanitarian pacifist in the group!" was my spontaneous sarcastic thought and I felt rather bad about my choice - but it was too late to do anything about.

Patrick stood up and walked to the middle of the circle and kept looking around at all of us. Suddenly this woman to my left started to cry. She was a firefighter in training - I just knew. After a while she told us that she had recently lost her boyfriend who had been a victim in a gunfight. Obviously Mr. Jane's question stirred up some heavy emotions in her.

Next a change of the scene followed. We were still the same class in the same room but with a new head of the course - this time an older man who I did not recognize. All of us were now sitting at our desks in an even bigger circle, pushed up with our backs right against the walls around the room. We had been given the task of drawing something on a piece of paper. Apparently we had to draw a picture before we were allowed to leave/end that day's class. I remember drawing half of a girl's face with a not so successful result. At one point most students in the class stood gathered around my desk for some reason. I remember dropping a notepad on the floor... After picking it up again my memory fades.


- Another Dream -
The dream above was actually my second dream this night. The first dream was a long, grand adventurous journey outside in the winter - unfortunately I only managed to recall bits and pieces from it. I wrote down some main points in my notepad but sadly they don't deliver the flow of the dream. It was something about me being chased by some cars on a snowy field as well as being assigned to guide some children, on skis, to a DHL outlet. I don't even know...


- Personal Thought -
This got me really excited though! Only a week ago I would be lucky if I managed to recall one out of ten dreams. Now, this soon after starting a Dream Journal again, I seem to be able to recall every other dream in average - and this night even two of them (although this could very well be a pure coincidence)! I can't wait to see what I'll hopefully remember tonight! It makes the nights so much more valuable when I get to recall all the fun I have in my dreams. It's like waking up with a newly read book in my arms every morning - unlike earlier when I used to wake up with nothing. No OoBE-events this night though.

[Xanth]

- Personal Thought -
This got me really excited though! Only a week ago I would be lucky if I managed to recall one out of ten dreams. Now, this soon after starting a Dream Journal again, I seem to be able to recall every other dream in average - and this night even two of them (although this could very well be a pure coincidence)! I can't wait to see what I'll hopefully remember tonight! It makes the nights so much more valuable when I get to recall all the fun I have in my dreams. It's like waking up with a newly read book in my arms every morning - unlike earlier when I used to wake up with nothing. No OoBE-events this night though.

That's because you've now given the active suggestion to your subconscious that this is something you want it to do.  So it's doing it. 

Keep up the good work!

[Swesent]

August 10:th 2011 - "Work in Japan"

I didn't just appear in the dream - I spawned! It was like being born into the dream through a gaming element of sorts. I was in Japan, potentially a number of years in the past. I was sitting inside this huge hall/dining-room - think the size of the dining-hall in Harry Potter. The color red was dominant all around with traces of gold and white tablecloths. The hall was full of newly spawned people and I was fortunate enough to spawn as a high-class worker/servant. That meant I got to stay inside this enormous high-class estate and help/serve wherever needed. A chore I could count myself lucky for getting.

Next scene I was in a smaller room/office. It was close to night time and I was being called on. I hurried through multiple stretches of corridors and hallways before I finally reached my destination. There was this printer/copier that had broken down. A few people in an adjacent room were sitting around a computer (my father being one of them). They wanted to print something they had found on the Internet. I had no idea how to fix the printer but did it anyway - almost automatically. After fiddling with a few parts here and there the printer started to work again and everyone was happy.

Next scene I'm in this really dark room close to a corner and close to some kind of overseer guy on the verge of falling asleep. Now it was in the middle of the night. I don't know why exactly but I got a very "Terraria" feeling from that place (a rather new and popular indie-game for you who haven't heard about it). There was an open trap door leading down into a huge, pitch black basement and I needed to get down there for some reason. In order to see where I was going I picked up this unlit future looking torch from a wall mount. It had a metallic part at the top where the flame would go. I ignited the torch by hitting the metallic part with a stone, which produced sparks and eventually lit the torch. But instead of a flame, the metallic part began glowing with a rather bright blue light. The overseer guy woke up briefly from the light, looked at me and said something to me about being careful with the torch so as not to accidentally put any walls aflame. I reassured him that this new torch model was completely fire proof.

Then it jumps to the last scene where I'm entering another great big hall (a bit narrower though) which seems to be a vast sleeping quarter for all the upper class servants. We were all lying directly on the floor, on some thin, but comfortable, mattresses. These mattresses were placed in pairs next to each other. It was later in the night and time for sleep. I had brushed my teeth and changed to some standard looking pyjamas. My "bed" was close to the entrance. I walked over to it, pulled up the covers and laid down to sleep. Not a minute later this rather attractive Japanese woman entered the quarters and walked over to me. At the time I didn't know if she had the mattress next to mine. She got down on her knees at the foot-side of the "beds" and begun applying some night cream on her hands. With a beautiful smile she then offered me some of that cream as well. Told me it would prevent my skin from drying up. I kindly accepted her offer and shortly after that my memory goes blank.


- Second Dream -
Don't remember very much about this one. Me and a number of unknown people were at a beach, also night time, to try out some new drug medicine kind of thing. We got to breathe some strange gas and were then supposed to head out into the ocean. I remember the water being warm and comfortable and when I dived below the surface I found that I was able to breathe under water. Me and a few others swam into some underwater maze type structure - slightly resembling the structures in "The Sunken Temple" (for those of you who are familiar with World of Warcraft). As we swum through the place, in and out of tight passages, we could hear some soothing music play. I don't recall much more than that.


- Personal Thoughts and Stuff -
The Terraria influence in the first dream is very easily explained since I, together with thousands of other people, was camping the release of its newest patch yesterday. The second dream was influenced by the upcoming movie "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" after having watched the trailer a couple of times yesterday. I find it quite fascinating how distinct and easily dreams can be influenced by certain things we do or see during the day. The previous couple of nights I haven't been able to recall any dreams sadly.

That's because you've now given the active suggestion to your subconscious that this is something you want it to do.  So it's doing it. 

Keep up the good work!

This seems to be very true indeed! And I'm glad that it works (most of the time at least)! Thank you for the encouragement and for the opportunity to keep this Dream Journal!

[Xanth]

This seems to be very true indeed! And I'm glad that it works (most of the time at least)! Thank you for the encouragement and for the opportunity to keep this Dream Journal!

I'm actually going to sticky your journal... and anyone else who wants to make a journal for people to read as encouragement!  Cause I think it's great!

[Swesent]

August 12:th 2011 - "Reckless Speed"


No one knew what horror I was going to unleash tonight, until it was too late!


I was visiting either just the guy or him and his wife. His name was George. He looked exactly like Wade Williams from Prison Break (the leader of the correctional officers) - unshaved for a couple of days and generally scruffy looking. I can't say what my connection was to this guy. They lived in a nice little home in a peaceful suburban area. It was a lovely weather with blue skies and a reasonably warm sun. The typical scene that so many romantic comedies and dramas start with. The lawn sprinkler swirling nearby, children playing and laughing, the seldom barking of a dog, birds singing - you get the drift.

This is where the lovely part ends!

Suddenly George gets a phone call. I don't know who the caller was, I don't know what was said. A minute later George comes barging out the back door and runs over to his car (an old black-brown Volvo - just about as scruffy looking as he was). He gets into the car and backs out of the driveway. I get the feeling that he was going to see someone. Suddenly I'm switched to a bird's eye view of his car, looking down on it from a 50 degree angle and about five meters away. I followed the car in this view, often switching between a forward and backward view.

The first few minutes of the drive was fine and controlled. However, I knew that something was wrong the minute he left after getting that phone call. I had this eerie feeling about how George was behaving. About 10 - 15 minutes into the drive he starts to speed up. The speed increase was very slowly added - you would barely have felt it if you sat in the car. You would only notice it by the scenery outside passing by a little bit quicker from one minute to the next.

When the speed had increased noticeably, George's driving precision began to falter a bit as well. He went from holding the exact center of the lane to swaying between the outer- and center lines on the road. About now the speed must have been closer to 120 km/h (75 mph) - on a smaller highway. This was when I first heard a couple of passing cars sounding the horn as well. George didn't care at all it seems - he drove as if his was the only car on the roads. I felt that he didn't really know what he was doing, what danger he was putting himself and others in. Almost like he was driving in his sleep. A few minutes later the speed must have increased to ~150 km/h (95 mph) and by now George was alternating between the forward going and oncoming lines completely.

Still following the car from the bird's eye view, I was greatly worried myself. Witnessing oncoming traffic having to make rough turns to dodge him was a very scary experience to say the least! Even though I watched it all from above, I still felt as big part of it all as if I had been sitting in the passenger seat. Driving speed closing in on 180 km/h (110 mph) as the first collision took place. I was in a backwards view above the car as well which didn't make the experience any less frightening - not being able to see what was up ahead on the road. George was briefly over on the oncoming traffic side of the road again and blasted like an extremely oversized bullet into a smaller blue car which got completely wrecked and thrown into the ditch by an immense force. The car looked like it had been standing right in the middle of two oncoming trains in full speed. No one survived in that blue wreck, that's for sure!

Even more scarier was the fact that George's black brown Volvo was like an indestructible tank - not a scratch on it! And he still kept going, still picking up speed - although at an even slower rate than before. After a total driving time of about 30 - 40 minutes we reached another suburban area - very similar to the one in which this dream began. He must have slowed down a little - but still going waaaaay too fast! There were a couple of other collisions, pedestrians throwing themselves off of the road. Bicyclists colliding with the car, being pushed forward by it, being run over. People on mopeds panicking, driving every which way to escape George's brief presence. For me, it was a really horrid experience. Not fearing for my own life as in a pure nightmare, but I could feel the horror of everyone else around us at all times. I really felt for them and that's what made it scary.

After racing through the suburban area for a while George finally found the person he was looking for. An older man going as fast as he could on a three-wheeler vehicle, barely able to match the speed of George's car. This man clearly knew George. He immediately recognized him and kept calling his name, shouting at him to slow down and stop the car. George didn't listen - instead he begun screaming a word, over and over again; "OVETER". (I didn't know what to make of that - it's not a Swedish word or name and nothing I know in any other language either.) He just kept screaming that word over and over again "OVETER, ...OVETER, ...OVETER". I don't know - it was disgustful to hear combined with the insane driving!

At one point George finally slowed down. We approached a railway intersection with lots of waiting cars in both lanes (and lots of bright shining red lights in the middle of the road for some reason). He slowed down to a halt and then I woke up - quite happy to be rid of that ride - and for actually remembering the dream, even if it wasn't the most pleasant dream I've had.

Something faintly tells me that George may have been a victim of some hypnosis trick. Maybe he heard a trigger word over the phone which made him think that he was somewhere completely different - which, in turn, made him drive the way he did...

I'm actually going to sticky your journal... and anyone else who wants to make a journal for people to read as encouragement!  Cause I think it's great!

Thank you very much! You had me fooled there for a few seconds when I couldn't find my thread among the regular ones.
A great and helpful decision for those who want to pick up Dream Journaling on this site - which is such a helpful tool to achieve what many of us are here for!

[Swesent]

I need more DISCIPLINE!!!

This night I woke up a couple of times. Each time I woke up I could recall minor parts from different dreams. But I guess I was too tired and too LAZY to even make an effort to write anything of it down. I just turned around and fell asleep again. I've done this a couple of previous nights as well. It's like I, for some reason, do not deem the small and short dream recalls to be worth the effort. Then I always kick myself in the morning for just completely ignoring it. I consciously let go of something that can help me improve my dream recall which is much likely to have the exact opposite result instead - I have to STOP doing that!

In one of the dreams I remember being in a mall. I kind of remember the layout and looks of it. There was something about a barbershop in there. Maybe my g/f was going to get a haircut or something...

In another dream I had changed partner for some reason, and I wasn't happy about it at all. I remember vacuuming the apartment at one point. Moments later our two cats came inside with their furs filled with sand and debris and just made a complete mess in one of the rooms...

I know that I had a third dream as well right before I woke up in the morning - but I can't recall anything at all from it - only that I know that I dreamed it.


I HAVE to put more effort into this and write everything down, no matter how small the pieces are! Now I've mentioned it. Now it's out there. Now I'll focus my intent and mind on this and I guess I'll see tonight if it can make me try a little harder. It is one of those split second decisions right there and then in the middle of the night - write/don't write. I have to make the correct one!

[Swesent]

August 14:th - "Spewings at the Store"

This dream takes place inside a large store - what's the word for it? Not a grocery store - a store that sells pretty much everything besides groceries. I started out as a customer there, my first business being me wanting to have one track from one CD copied over to a blank CD. When placing this order earlier in the day I said the wrong name of the album. When I got there to pick up my blank CD with the copied song, the teller told me that the song I wanted was not on the Album I told her. She then showed me which the correct album was - I apologized for my mistake and she went ahead with copying the song I wanted.

Whilst waiting for it to complete, these three younger fellows walked up to the counter to conduct some business in the meantime. I remember standing there behind them with my arms crossed, feeling a bit cocky because I was older and taller than those guys. I then remember seeing one of our pet rats in the store. She was standing atop a TV which was sitting on a bench. The rat was slightly above eye-level height to me. She was trying to climb over to me.

Next thing I know it was becoming dark outside. Now I had suddenly gone from being a regular customer to becoming a night watchman for this store. I was going to spend the night there ensuring the safety of everything inside. One of the last store employees to leave told me that it was forbidden to use ketchup and mustard in the store after 10pm. I don't really know why though. At a point my g/f was there with me to keep me company during the night.

Last thing I remember is seeing this huge spewing on the floor in a part of the store that looked exactly like our current home. Like some child had just been through the biggest puke-fest of its life. First I thought that one of our pet cats had wondered off all the way from our home to the store and hurled. But it was waaaay too much to have come from just one cat. We placed a few unfolded newspapers over it and then my memory fades.

[Summerlander]

The store could signify food for thought, knowledge, or, nurture.  The spewing could indicate aspects of your personality which you may deem in need of elimination.  You may be aware of this on a more subconscious level, hence why it got dark outside which is generally believed to represent it (if you believe in the psychological symbolism behind dreams).  The rat could indicate guilt and the fact that it is a pet could indicate a need to be more generous.  On the other hand, you may feel that there is a human rat in your life.  Do you suspect someone of being jealous of you?  The ketchup and mustard ban after a certain time could indicate that the subconscious will get your attention to certain unpleasant matters, feelings that you may be avoiding...so taste the problem for what it really is and forget adding flavours to it...

Patrick Jane has spoken!

[Swesent]

...Extremely interesting and fascinating interpretation...

That's it right THERE! Thank you very much Summerlander for your interpretation! To view dreams this way and make connections between them and my waking life, that's something I'm not experienced enough to do myself. I would love to be able to, but haven't even begun reading up on it. And I do really believe in symbolism within dreams - I believe dreams can be open books to those who have the knowledge to read them!

Thank you again for your interpretation - I am most likely going to go over this time and time again and try to find connections between your text and my life. I believe there can be much for me to learn from translations like these, and much insight to be gained as well! I appreciate it and please feel free to post more of these for any of my future dreams should you ever feel like it!

[Summerlander]

No problem.  I have so many books about dreams and general interpretations.  I've got my mum to blame for that.  The interpretations are generalised but we all share symbolism as human beings.  In saying this, only the dreamer can get a more accurate interpretation.  Consider how you feel in your dreams as well as this can provide more clues as to what is going on in your mind.

I too believe that dreams convey much more than just being dreams.  I think the metaphysical realm, with all its characters, objects and narratives, shouldn't be looked at just in the same manner as the waking world.  Why?  Because its elements convey much more than the actual things in the physical realm.  For example, looking at a house in a dream can represent both a house - where you can engage in many activities (just like in waking life) - but it can also represent a reflection of yourself (so pay careful attention to what condition the house is in).

The reality in dreamland is so much more than the physical realm.  It is more alive, more symbolic, more representational, things can be so much more.  It's archetypal.  It is where the ideas and possibilities start.  By comparison, the waking world is dead and more restricted.  Dreams may be elusive but they can tell you a lot more about yourself and others than a first glance or perspective in actuality.

[Swesent]

August 15:th - "Estate Guardian"

I'm in this huge home, like an estate, but furnished and decorated to look more like an ordinary cozy home. The rooms are huge but due to the furniture layout, they don't feel extensively spacious. Joining me are one of my cousins, my brother and two small babies, only about a year old and maybe six months or so between the two of them.

It's getting dark outside and we are all there to take care of the estate during a weekend. I get the feeling that it's Friday night. This dream felt like a really long one, unfortunately I can only recall bits and pieces of it. I know that we're all in the kitchen at one point, gathered around a dinner table. We have most likely been dining but I've only got a couple of visual snapshots from that.

Next we are in a living-room. I remember arguing with my brother about the seatings. There were no less than three couches around the living-room table, but he had to sit in the same one I was lying in, blocking my view of the TV with his legs. Together with me were the two babies. I remember one part where I heavily focused on trying to keep both of them from crying. It felt exactly as if I were balancing on a fence or something. One tiny misstep and failure would reign! One weird thing was that I had an alternating feeling - sometimes I felt that those children were my own, but still like strangers to me. At other points it felt like they were my cousin's.

After spending some time in the living-room the scene changes to a room dedicated to various pet animals. There was this huge aquarium with tiny toads and fish swimming around. Me and my cousin had a little talk back and forth about who was going to clean the toads(?!?) Moments after that I was watching two dogs eating out of a dog bowl. My cousin walks up to them, points at them and says "Look here." Suddenly I could see the two babies sitting between the dogs, also eating from the dog bowl. My only thought to seeing that was "Oh good, he managed to get the babies to eat as well.".

After that we moved on to some big bedroom - decorated to look like a child's bedroom. I think we were all going to sleep for the night but that scene also escapes me. All I have are a couple of snapshots in my head. I recall nothing to put any motion to it.


- Thoughts and Stuff -
I can feel much input from reality in this dream. The fact that one of my cousins have recently given birth to two children (not the same cousin as in the dream though!). The toads were the actual pet toads that we have. The dog bowl looked exactly like one that we had when I was much younger and lived with my parents. And it's the second time, in a row I may add, that I've been on some guarding duty. Yesternight it was a store, this night, an estate. Don't know why I need to guard much. Anyway, it was a cozy and friendly atmosphere throughout the dream. I just wish I could remember more of it!

@Summerlander: Thank you for even more interesting information! I have no problem at all understanding the idea of looking at objects in dreams both for what they really are as well as their symbolism. If I may ask - is there any book in particular you feel could be great to start out with in order to learn about interpreting dreams?

[Summerlander]

Keep recording dreams.  Write down your notes in your journal as soon as you wake up.  Sometimes closing your eyes can help you to remember more details.  More memories may come throughout the day.  Write the notes in the present tense so that it reinforces the notion that you are reliving the dreams or still there (the past tense may convey to your subconscious that it is gone and this can make you forget things).  The more you remember the more your dream recall improves and this is also a recipe for lucid dreams because, the more you remember, the more dream patterns you will identify.  By the way, here's a few good books on dreaming:

Dreams & Reality by several people and published by Sunrise Books.  My mum got this on from Portugal but it is English.
Dreams & Dreaming which is a comprehensive guide to understanding your dreams by Lisa Tenzin-Dolma.  This is probably better than the first one for what you want.  This one contains Jungian interpretations but you may also want to look into Freud for other perspectives.
The Complete Dream Book by Gillian Holloway.  Pretty powerful.  This can inspire you to study psychology.  This is a vast subject, of course.  Look into the symbolism that people share, the different types of people, what things convey to them, what kind of life they've led, the puns, the art they like etc. etc. - it will always be easier to interpret your own dreams but you may also be able to give others an accurate reading.

ps.  Watch The Mentalist.  It's very educational believe it or not. 

[Swesent]

I've had a couple of nights now without much dream recall at all. This night I dreamt something about a computer game - don't know if I was playing it or if I was inside it - my memory is extremely hazy. I can't help wondering if I'm losing my recall again or what's going on. Maybe it's because I have slept all through the night these past couple of nights. Previously I have been waking up around 3:30 - 4:00 am and managed to write down a dream or two.

When I go to sleep I keep repeating to myself, silently in my head: "I will recall my dreams tonight!" I repeat this over and over again - but, for some reason, my subconscious doesn't listen. I don't know what it's doing - but it has to be something more fun than listening to my mantra or caring squat about my nightly adventures!

Maybe it would make a bigger impact if I were to use my girlfriend as a pawn in my masterful plan? If I were to tell her, right before she falls asleep: "Ask me what I've dreamt in the morning. I will remember it, and I will tell you!" This way I'll be whacking my subconscious over the head with a commitment and a promise! It can't ignore that, can it?!

...Dreams & Dreaming which is a comprehensive guide to understanding your dreams by Lisa Tenzin-Dolma.  This is probably better than the first one for what you want.  This one contains Jungian interpretations but you may also want to look into Freud for other perspectives...
...ps.  Watch The Mentalist.  It's very educational believe it or not. 

Thank you very much for your book advice Summerlander! Always helpful to know what to look for!
And with the dream recalling - that's exactly what I do. I have a notebook on my nightstand where I jot down what I can remember as soon as I wake up. Sometimes it is really fascinating how dreams can just pop back into memory when triggered by some single event during the day. But if I try too hard to recall what I've dreamt, I easily slip back to previous dreams instead - thus finding it somewhat difficult to tear new dream memories apart from older ones.

Of course I watch "The Mentalist" - that's one of my, and my g/f's, favorite TV-shows! I find it very inspiring!

[Swesent]

August 20:th 2011 - "Multiples #1"

"Speed-run" I'm standing next to a sofa in an unknown living-room. In the sofa is, again, one of my cousins (although at a younger age) and two more unknown children. On the opposite side there is an armchair and the cousin's dad is sitting in it. He is watching TV. It's a home recorded movie (filmed by a handheld camera) featuring a woman I have never seen before. She's got black long hair. She's wearing a blue dress with a white dotted pattern and a white "line" around its top. She's sitting in the grass outside and looks generally happy. I get the feeling that she is maybe a late girlfriend or wife to my cousin's dad.

There's also an old NES video game system sitting in front of the TV. I look at it and then I ask my cousin if he would like to do a speed-run through any game he owns. I wanted to film it with my new smartphone and upload it on YouTube. I believe he declined and my recall fades.


"Game Footage" I'm at a much younger age. I'm inside some kids' dormitory. Lots of children lying in their beds sleeping everywhere. I find myself next to an unknown child playing a game on a handheld gaming device. He is at the last stage of the game. I can't see any clear views of it at all, I just know he is about to complete the game. So I grab the same new smartphone of mine from my pocket and I begin recording as he plays through the final stage. For some reason I know that I am recording in 1020p (the highest available resolution). I was going to upload this on YouTube as well. Shortly thereafter the dream fades.


"A Beach Day" I'm standing in the backseat of a cabriolet (roof down of course). It is a lovely day with clear blue sky, big bright sun, warm beach-friendly weather. Not a single wind besides the faint breeze from slowly cruising down the last piece of road ending at some unknown beach resort. The car is filled with people (women most of them I think), as well as all around the road. People coming and leaving. Lots of cars stand parked along the sides of the road. Everyone is in a cheerful mood (imagine had you seen this setting in a Donald Duck magazine - that would be about spot on). I remember that we drove past someone standing by the roadside, passing very close to him. Something happened - maybe someone in the car said something. I just know that something affected this man - I don't even remember the result of it though. Then my memory goes blank.


Dream 4: I'm inside an office at my parents' work - although the building looks nothing like it. My younger brother walks into this huge room next to the office. I could see him through a small window in the wall. He walks in not wearing any shirt and he looked extremely muscular - the result from regularly going to the gym. He meets a friend of his inside this room and they greet each other. There is also another friend there, someone both of us know. He comes walking up to the office where I'm sitting but he barely made it over there before my memory ends.


"Witch Slayer" I am face to face with a witch. She looks almost zombie-like, she has long nails on her fingers and is quite dangerous and deadly. I am some kind of witch-slayer who has to deal with this monstrosity. We are inside my old house getting ready to fight each other. There had been other fights there as well, other witch-hunters/-slayers who had been killing off several other witches whose bodies now lay scattered around the floor in several rooms.

Me and the witch converse a little - I can't remember about what exactly. It may have been some warnings before our ensuing fight, it may have been me asking questions trying to gather intelligence - I don't know. I remember us starting to fight and I dealt some definite finishing blow/attack to her that would have been enough to kill off any regular witch. But this one survived it somehow thus confirming that she is some sort of "boss witch" left for me to deal with as I am the champion among the witch-slayers. It felt good to know - I found the whole thing a rather cool experience. I can't remember how the fight ended though.


- Personal Thoughts and Stuff -
I don't know whether or not this was pure coincidence or if remembering ~five dreams in one night has something to do with me utilizing this new stone/crystal of mine. The other week I ordered a large double terminated amethyst which is supposed to have lots of effect upon dreams and lucidity among many other things. It arrived yesterday and I placed it underneath my pillow (as advised). I slept all through the night(!) and managed to recall events from five different dreams in one go. Not very much from any of them, but still. The few prior nights I haven't recalled much at all (as you can see in this dream journal of mine).

- What's with the purple? -
As most people probably do, I regularly recognize lots of objects, places and people in my dreams from the waking world. I thought it would be - I don't know, helpful/interesting/fun? to mark those. Maybe I'll be able to discern some pattern or something. Anyway, I'm going to do it for now and I may add a short notification about it in my first post as well.

[Swesent]

Well, this is not a dream.
I have had quite a few dreams these past couple of nights...
But since they aren't jotted down in this thread - it makes this another failpost instead!

The thing is that I do wake up at random times throughout the night. Not because I am uncomfortable or due to any unwell feelings (me being a Type-1 diabetic). It feels like I wake up just to bridge the gap between one series of dreams and the next. The problem is that I must always be too lazy or non-caring to write anything down! It is apparently a lot easier to just turn around and go back to sleep. Maybe I'm just not completely 100% "there" when I have those quick awakenings. Maybe it's partially my subconscious deciding;

"I can't be *rsed to have you writing stuff down right now. You just turn around and go back to sleep instead! ... That's it! Go on... Schoossh!".

It feels like I will need to force myself to write things down instead. Potentially by placing a 4am alarm a couple of steps away from the bed. Maybe then I'll wake up enough to make the right decision. It just feels like such a waste you know. Because I have dreamt at least five - six different dreams during the weekend - but they are all lost to me now. I need to make a change and it has to start tonight!

[Swesent]

August 23:rd 2011 - "From Castle by Ship"

I am in a large castle. My g/f is with me and there is also an older maid there working - except from us the castle is completely empty. I get the feeling that it was my g/f who made us go there for some reason. We have been staying at this castle for a couple of nights, maybe over a weekend.

It was time for us to leave and go back home. We are all on the first floor of the castle and I walk down this huge hallway to an equally huge doorway at the end of it. Beyond the opened doorway is another big room where the maid is working. She's dusting or maybe hanging up wet clothes and sheets to dry. She is an older woman with gray-white hair, wearing one of those classic black and white maid outfits. I ask her where my g/f is and she replies that she's probably in our room.

I thank her for the info and I turn around and proceed back through the hallway. Again, it's huge - about 30 feet wide and four times as high. The hallway is walled by big dark blue-gray bricks. On the floor is a red exclusive carpet with golden borders, slightly narrower than the hallway. On the wall hangs larger than life-size paintings featuring royal people, perhaps the castle's former owners. Along the walls are also these armor stands and above each room there are big tree signs with some indistinguishable text written on them. Beside every door also hangs different middle-age weapons. A couple of old muskets at one room, swords of different kinds at another.

At one room off to the side I also notice a set of large knives. I react to seeing those knives since they are the very ones I myself own. However, I don't think any more about it. I keep walking down the hallway to the room we have stayed in. Inside is my g/f gathering up the last of our luggage. I just keep walking though. I kind of note what she's doing from the corner of my view and decide that she's almost done and I don't need to help. I'm longing to get out of there, to get back home again.

Next I know I'm outside the castle. It's rather dark, in the middle of the night. All the surroundings are as dark blue-grayish as the castle - everything goes in the same tone. Maybe I can see a tiny spot of yellow candlelight flickering in the distance. I'm walking down a narrow stone path leading from the castle to a shipping port further down below. There are quite a few large ships anchored in the port and my g/f and I are about to leave on one of them. The ship that we're taking is owned by none other than "Jack Sparrow". I meet him some ways down the stone path and I follow him down to the ship.

The ship looks tiny when I approach it, like I'm seeing it from a great height. I take a step from the pier over to the ship. The ship looks so small that I almost can't fit my feet on its deck. The ship feels extremely unstable as well. But as soon as I put my foot down on the ship's deck everything blasts up to correct and natural size. Kind of like a glitch in a game from some bad Internet connection. The visuals didn't update until I boarded the ship.

I then transition to the last scene I can recall from this dream. I'm walking along the top of the castle walls. It is in the middle of the day, sunny and the castle's former dark blue has changed to light gray. Far up ahead I see some enormous creature standing on, or next to, one of the castle walls. I am pretty certain that it is a dragon. After that my recall fades.


"Deadly Backyard Game"

I'm in a vast backyard to a big house. Me and three children are sitting around one of those games where figures randomly pops up and you have to beat them down with something. This game is quite large and circular so we're sitting far away from each other. The three children aren't older than a year perhaps and my perspective is completely off - making the children appear even bigger than the house. I just sit there and watch as the children are swinging for the up-popping figures. The scene then changes.

Suddenly I'm standing at a start position somewhere in the backyard of the house. Placed in a very long course around the house, in the ground, are explosive devices. Each of the devices has a visible green laser tripwire attached to it. They work in such a way that when you block the laser it turns red and a counter on the affected device starts to count down. If the counter reaches zero before all of the bombs have been tripped, they all reset. If I manage to trip every device before one of them reaches zero, they will all detonate.

This was some kind of exercise assignment that I got. It felt like I was playing through the tutorial to some realistic war-oriented First Person Shooter game. This instructional voice told me; "Sometimes, when there isn't enough time to disarm the explosives, the best way is to trigger them all and let them detonate." That was my cue to start running.

So I start running around this armed course. It is very easy to spot the bombs due to their green laser tripwire. As I deliberately trip the bombs, I can hear a loud signal and the laser changes from green to red. The run goes fairly well until I get to the front of the house. In front of the house is a large muddy part. It must recently have been raining because the muddy section is a mix between very slippery (no traction) and very sticky - like some semi quicksand effect, sinking me down into the mud with every step. When I finally get past that part, it's already too late. The first devices have reached zero on their counter and reset.

I try the challenge a few more times but with no different result. At one of my trial runs I meet someone at the muddy part, going the opposite direction. I end up thinking that this challenge would be a breeze if it hadn't been raining and also that I would need some help through the muddy part. Suddenly I see a very long tandem bicycle, at least eight seats long with people dressed as mimes riding it. I figure they were there to help me in some way. Then my memory ends.

[Swesent]

August 24:th 2011 - "Lethal Marketing"

I find myself as a crew member working at some kind of big circus. It's not a real circus though per se, it's more of a magics show with a few acts involving the help from a couple of tigers - everything presented in a circus-type arena. It's closer to midnight and we are having a show but the audience is fewer in number than we would have hoped. Entrance fees barely enough to make the evening go around.

The show is held inside an extremely large tent. The seatings are placed in several rising rows in a circular fashion and they are close to bright blue - creating a surrounding ocean wave to the unfocused eye. In the center of the tent is where all the magic happens. The ground there is covered by a white tarp with a big blue star and smaller red dots painted on it. All very circus-like.

I'm watching as an act involving two tigers is being performed, allowing myself to be distracted for a minute before going back to my work task. I can't really tell what the act was about - I was just captivated by the large and powerful looking tigers. Honestly I couldn't care less about what magic act the person being with those tigers performed.

After a while I pick up what I'm supposed to do. I walk somewhere backstage to some smaller cages, carrying an armful of lose cables. Right after that there is a jump in scenes. The interesting thing with this change of scenes is that I know a bit what's been going on in between. The night's show has ended and the show's owners have had a meeting discussing the poor profits, the lacking popularity and audience - and they have basically come to the conclusion that they need to hire more performers.

When the new scene begins I'm still the same maintenance worker but this time it's something of an Idol audition setting. The jury consists of three people who are unknown to me. One woman, one man and a young kid in the middle. They have just seen one of the tryouts and the jury proceeds by calling the name of the next group of performers in line. They call their name but no-one shows up. They wait for a minute, making "waiting signs" with their fingers, hands, arms and postures. After a while they call the group's name again and when they still don't show up they start to trash-talk them a little.

Finally the little kid has had enough and just about shouts to the other two jury members to forget about that group and call the next in line instead (a decision I was surprised hadn't come from the other two a lot earlier - considering they were two grownups and all). Finally they heed the child's wishes and calls for the next in line. In comes this very cheerful and friendly older guy. One of those persons who you feel you can befriend in seconds - a person you would love to have as your grandpa type of people. He was wearing dark jeans, a shirt resembling "Freddy Crueger's" and a stylish hat to match.

He asked the child to come forward from behind the jury table. The kid did as he asked and the man toyed around with him briefly. Then the man started to stare into the kids eyes, upholding an extreme level of eye contact with him whilst talking about the power of the gaze and related stuff. By then I figured that the old man was some kind of hypnotist or something along those lines. After yet another while he broke eye contact with the child and walked up to a big cage standing close by. Inside the cage was one of the tigers - again, a huge animal - it's head reaching the height of a standing adult man's chin. Its legs and were all muscle and about as thick as the trunk of a smaller tree. Truly an impressive and awe-inspiring animal indeed!

The man began to stare into the tiger's eyes now just as intense as with the boy. I witness this very close by and then the scene changes. The only thing I can remember is me having a bird's eye-view over the entrance driveway to some big estate. The front gate is very tall and massive and lined with a few large torches, reminding a bit of the entrance gate to Jurassic Park. It is again nighttime. There is a big commotion inside the estate's perimeters. Someone behind the entrance gate had been brutally attacked and killed by a tiger. I get some brief image from the actual attack, but it is like looking at a faded photograph - I can't really say anything about it. Then we have the final change of scenes.

Now I'm sitting inside a fast-food restaurant, together with a couple of other employees and the show owners, waiting for our orders to get ready. Again, nighttime. It is very calm and cozy inside. Our long table half surrounded by a high, padded, red comfortable bench seating and several chairs on the opposite side. There is a ceiling mounted TV inside and as I glance over to it, it is showing a breaking news broadcast. They are showing and talking about the gruesome murder that had taken place at the estate earlier that night. Of course they knew someone was responsible for letting the tiger lose in there.

After the broadcast ends, a woman - one of the part-owners of the circus show - openly, and completely relaxed, confesses to being the one who let the tiger out. She explains that it was her intention to have the tiger kill someone in order to generate more interest and awareness for the show - since it builds around those tigers. Leaning on the saying that "There is no such thing as bad publicity." I understand what she means and I must admit that I was a bit impressed by her plan - but somewhere within me, I did feel that this wasn't an entirely great way to go about it.

[Swesent]

I thought I could get away with it. Foolish thought!

Well, it's been dry, bad and completely lacking (dream-wise) over this past week! I don't know - feels as if I've lost the mojo or something. I begun recalling dreams more and more often. Many nights I could remember several dreams. I thought this was some kind of a habit thing - i.e. once the successful dream recalls started rolling in, the wheel would power itself. I stopped with the repeated "I will recall my dreams!"-mantra. I stopped with the affirmations and I even dropped my focused intent on remembering my dreams. I let it all go - I thought it would roll by itself.

I guess that was a wrong move to do! Maybe I set it all free too soon. Maybe the habit hadn't inhabited my subconscious yet (yeah, all phun intended). So, when I went to bed last night I repeated to myself again that I shall recall my dreams for the night. I hoped that it would be like riding a bike. It wasn't long ago since my subconscious was drilled to remember my nightly adventures, I hoped it would remember how to do it. How to do it properly even.

This morning I woke up with a short flash of our kitchen counters being cleaned. When or why I don't know. I also remember asking someone about his/her favorite type of candy - again for reasons unknown. That was all that I got. Maybe I deserved that for slacking off. I have come to the conclusion that the process of remembering dreams is probably some ways different from programming a muscle memory. Or maybe I just didn't give it enough time. Either way, I'm going back to my focused intention, my mantras and the other little tricks in order to get this going again.

It's rather obvious really - why should my subconscious provide me with a boon that I don't actively wish for?