DIY Dream Interpretation

I'll be posting a series of articles on how to interpret your own dreams.

The first tip I give everyone is to keep a dream journal, and to write every dream in it as soon as possible. This can be a physical notebook kept next to the bed, an online journal (keep it private), or a combination of the two. I keep an online dream journal, but also use a notebook for times I'm not near a computer.

When writing in the journal, first write the date and time, any background info or circumstances surrounding the dream. Then go into as much detail as you can about the dream itself. You may be thinking "how important can it possibly be that the desk was cracked along one edge?" Well, if you remember it after waking up, it's probably important.

The purpose of your effort will pay off after a few weeks. You'll begin to notice some patterns in your dreams (such as colors, dialog, pace, mood, or lack of any of these).

Finally, you'll begin to appreciate the difference between your significant and meaningful dreams, and the dreams that are just your brain doing some house cleaning. It will be different for each person, so it's hard to tell you how to do this.

Good luck, and happy dreaming!

Famous Dreams: Penelope's Geese

This is the first post in a series of famous dreams.

In Homer's The Odyssey, Odysseus's wife Penelope has been awaiting the return of her husband for 20 years. During that time, she has been visited by many suitors wishing her hand in marriage. She is torn between waiting for her husband--who may never return--and marrying a suitor.

She asks a stranger (who is really Odysseus in disguise) to interpret the following dream:

I have twenty geese about the house that eat mash out of a trough, and of which I am exceedingly fond. I dreamed that a great eagle came swooping down from a mountain, and dug his curved beak into the neck of each of them till he had killed them all. Presently he soared off into the sky, and left them lying dead about the yard; whereon I wept in my room till all my maids gathered round me, so piteously was I grieving because the eagle had killed my geese. Then he came back again, and perching on a projecting rafter spoke to me with human voice, and told me to leave off crying. "Be of good courage," he said, "daughter of Ikarios; this is no dream, but a vision of good omen that shall surely come to pass. The geese are the suitors, and I am no longer an eagle, but your own husband, who am come back to you, and who will bring these suitors to a disgraceful end." On this I woke, and when I looked out I saw my geese at the trough eating their mash as usual.

The disguised Odysseus interprets the dream literally, explaining that he has returned and will kill all of the suitors.

Also see The Symbolism of Penelope’s Geese by J C Geissman, for an alternative explanation.


Sources:

"On the Interpretation of Dreams and Signs in Homer" by Louise Pratt
"The Symbolism of Penelope's Geese" by J C Geissmann

The Power Of Dreams

It's fitting that my inaugural post should be about a dream. Last night I dreamt that I was on a project with 2 other people (engineers I know and respect). I was working on the team's business problems, while they were solving the technical problems.

This is significant because I've always been the technical person in a group, and I've had some concern recently about starting out on my own as the sole person responsible for all aspects of a business.

My dream is telling me that I can handle all the business stuff that I've always left to others, as long as I believe in myself. Our sub-conscious minds have so much power inside them, the potential to do many things we believe to be out of our reach. Unlocking the meaning of dreams helps tap into that pool of potential.