Dream Interpretation Guide-- Part 2 (Body Communication)

Most of us think of our bodies as mutely running machines. We think of our physical self as a vehicle that we reside in-- often as an extention of our "selves." Even if we think of our body as dynamic and vital and alive, we don't think it can "speak" and certainly we don't think of it as a community that speaks to itself-- yet this is just what my deep dreaming techniques have revealed.

When I began my Dream Quest over a year ago, I was given some instruction by Nahili, the Shawnee medicine woman I worked with for a time in Ohio back country. Though modern western peoples are starting to "get" that many dreams have meaning-- we don't always apply this knowledge properly. Some conversations with Nahili opened my mind to the concept that dreams reveal the internal workings of our bodies to our conscious minds, and can even tell us things and be told things this way-- something that is common knowledge to shamanic cultures everywhere.

And so I started to dutifully record dreams that I realized were indeed about my body-- part of my body or even entire systems like the digestive system or the nervous system or the endoctrine (hormonal) system. Here is one example of what I mean-- my first recognizable immune system dream:
 

I was watching (and then one of) a group of young men who all stayed at a sort of resort/rehabilitation type facility. They worked on personal health issues and gave each other support. I watched them discuss, in a very New Agey way, all sorts of things like they were in some kind of seminar or cult or something. They were all feeling very optimistic and gung ho about improvements. They were all very lovey-dovey, very alike, and made me think of gay guys because they were so... tough and yet fragile? The headquarters where they lived were at the top of a hill in the middle of a wilderness park of some kind.( Read more... )

There's a neatness to the symbolism here. Immune system dreams have a signature I've learned to recognize, in that they involve groups of people (who are discernably different than you: gay, foreign, cultists, whatever) yet who are on your side working with you and for you. I call the symbolism "the friendly foreigner immunity groups."  By contrast, hostile groups of people who are actively attacking you along with friendly types in a dream are expressions of invasion and represent germs and infections. For example, just before getting the flu a couple of years ago I had 2 or 3 dreams of raids and wars before I felt any symptoms at all-- sure enough, I got slammed with the worst flu I've had since I was 13 years old! Problems interfering with the proper functioning of the immune system can get revealed this way as well, as the above dream example demonstrates.

Another bodily system I evidently have major issues with is my digestive system. It appears to work just fine but for a bit of IBS (Irritible Bowel Syndrome.) However! My dreams have revealed that there is a major problem-- in fact, that my immune system problems seem to be stemming FROM my digestive system!? Witness this dream in which I which I was led to the entrance to a "spiraling mine shaft"  (and what do intestines look like?):



( Read more... )

I wasn't sure at the time I had this dream what the mine shaft and tunnels represented, but later I had a second dream that brought the point home pretty forcefully. I went down into the tunnels of a subway system and road the train there, learning about problems with bad transporation issues and energy shortages.

It appears that in my case, much of my ill-health stems from malabsorption and inefficient delivery of nutrients and energy to where it's needed. Interestingly, as I began to follow the advice on what to do (like more fiber to help speed things along and extra vitamin and mineral supplements, and MOST especially taking yogurt like "Activa" and other helpful bacterial cultures) my digestive issues, immunity issues, and lack-of-energy issues improved dramatically. And all from just figuring out my own body-symbolism in dreams and trying to communicate with my own body (and those helpful Guides-- which are like your own personal Guardian Angels!) 

Other people I've counseled on dreams include an elderly friend who had breast cancer and another who had a stroke. Their dreams very vividly illustrated how their bodies were attempting to deal with the massive damage and changes of not only the initial disease or attack, but of the sometimes harsh medical treatments that came later. For example, the treatments for cancer can be quite brutal, and I talked extensively to my friend "Pat" -- and she was able to talk to her body in dreams and explain why she was poisoning it! (It protested vehemently, as you can imagine!) After she was able to explain that it was to kill the "Crazy Kids" (in her dreams, the cancer invasion was a bunch of hungry, crazy rock n' roll teenagers-- hey, she's in her 70s!) After that, the side effects from her cancer treatment went way down and her doctors were amazed. 

This dream work stuff can be really powerful.