Held at gunpoint at a party

This dream started off at some kind of party that was taking place in a small building with two floors. The building itself was like a church or scout meeting hall. The interior was completely white and there were three exits; a front and back door and another which lead out into an outer courtyard area with tables. The party spilled out into this courtyard area as well, and people were milling around there and the rest of te building.

I was wandering amongst the dense crowds of people, but I was not looking for anyone in particular. I was also not really enjoying the party all that much. At some point, I walked out into the courtyard in the hopes that something would spark my enthusiasm for the party, only to notice that it was overcast outside and that it started raining. This was the last straw for me, and I thought 'That's it, I'm not enjoying this party, I want to go home' and I went back inside to go to leave.

As I did, my surroundings completely changed. I was now back upstairs in this building only this time, all the party goers had literally vanished and I was all alone. I walked downstairs anxious to know what had just happened but could not find anybody. I started to panic and sensed that not only was something very amiss, but something bad was about to happen. I made my way to the front door (which was blue) and turned the handle, only to find it had been locked from the outside. I looked across the way from where I was stood and could see the back door along a corridor. I then noticed that door opened and a lanky man stepped in. As soon as he saw me, he put his hands to his face in a mock, affected panic and just stood there, staring at me. At this instance I thought 'I should've gone for that door instead'. Just then, I turned around and noticed three other men standing there, one of whom was pointing a gun at me. (The one with the gun was actually somebody I know in real life, too!)

Anyway, the gunman stood there and said nothing. I then realised I had an umbrella in my hand and went to hit him with it (in the hopes that I could disarm him), but found I couldn't move. I was not scared of being shot, but at the same time, I didn't want to be. At this point, I started shouting at the gunman, saying "If you're going to shoot, then shoot! Come on then, you c**t! Do it!".

Then I woke up.

The night before I had this dream I'd had an argument with my girlfriend. We've not been together long (a few months) but unfortunately, she's had to leave town for 2 months to go home to her family (she's a student). While we both feel very strongly about each other, the separation has been difficult for both of us. We speak every day and night on the phone or via email or MSN and I try to busy myself with work and other things during the day to pass the time. She, unfortunately is stuck at home with no money and little to do. In such an environment, her mind plays all kinds of tricks and her insecurities cause her to doubt my loyalty and create issues that don't really exist. A few days ago, she text me in the middle of the night saying she was scared about how close we were getting and was thinking of bailing out. When I called her, she admitted that she did not mean this and only said it to get a reaction out of me because she was scared I might do the same thing to her. Again, this is an imaginary fear caused only by the temporary distance. Either way, we ended up arguing, with me shouting at her, accusing her of being immature and playing mind games and her crying and apologising, saying she really didn't want to split up. We sorted it out, but all of the next day, I was left thinking that, despite not wanting to, that maybe us splitting (even it was temporary) perhaps would not be such a bad thing, for my peace of mind if nothing else (don't get me wrong, I genuinely care about her a lot, but I feel as though she is toying with my emotions with her insecure behaviour and it's causing me real strain). Two weeks previous, she also said a similar thing to me on the phone about having cold feet and I told her that maybe we should split while she decides what she wants, but she got upset and said she did not want to do that.

I mention all of this because it has been on my mind a lot the last few days; since we've been apart not a week has passed without some stupid drama, and I know it's only because of the forced separation because, prior to it all, everything between us was absolutely fine, and drama notwithstanding, I couldn't ask for a sweeter, more caring, sincere and of course more beautiful girlfriend. Either way, I feel this issue is related to this dream, but I'm just not entirely sure how it all fits together. As the dream alludes, I feel at times like she is trying to emotionally hold me at gunpoint and sometimes, just sometimes, it feels as though I am trying to call her bluff, daring her to pull the trigger.

The mystical village community

Now I can only remember parts of this dream, but for some reason, it stuck out in my mind, so I have decided to include it here.

I was in some kind of village community (hence the title) by a large lake. It was quite foggy and remote. The village had a few shops and a small residential area, but most of this dream took place along the main "high street" where the shops were located. Running parallel to this road was a large patch of green by the lake where people would stroll along walking their dogs or jogging.

I recall finding some crystalline rune stones the size of small rocks on the side of the road. They glowed in a manner that was quite arresting (they had a pale, lilac glow) and had intricate runic patterns carved onto them. I remember being quite fascinated by these stones but also a little afraid of them at the same time. However, I also "felt" that I really had nothing to fear from the stones and that my misgivings were mostly irrational; that the crystals somehow had answers to many of my questions. Anyway, I picked up the stones and put them in my pocket.

In another part of the dream, I was talking to a young, attractive blonde woman (she must've been about 20 - 22 years old) in the back of a shop. She was telling me about the power of the stones, but I can't remember everything she said. I also recall eating one of them at some point. It was soft and chewy like a sweet. I ate most of one particular stone but left a tiny piece behind for some reason.

In another part of the dream, I was in another shop where more of these stones were on display. These were also quite bright but didn't have quite the same lustre as the ones I'd found. I asked the woman in the shop about them and she told me they were very expensive. I somehow didn't feel they were as valuable as the ones I had found. I also "knew" that some of the stones this woman had on display were actually fake, so I left the shop and proceeded to look for the place I was at before. However, when I returned to where that particular shop was located, I could not find it. It was as though it had disappeared. I walked up and down the same stretch of road, walked into what I thought was the place, only to find myself in a chip shop! I became frustrated and I set about looking for the first girl I'd met, in the hopes she could fill me in on what was going on.

I walked along the green by the lake and eventually found her running past me in the opposite direction (she was going for an afternoon jog). She didn't stop, but told me to meet her back at the first shop, and that in order to find it, I had to be holding one of the stones in my hand.

I went back, and just like she said, it was then that I realised that the shop was only visible to those who were holding the stones. I entered the chip shop whilst holding one of the crystals only for it to turn into the first shop I visited! The girl was there again along with a mysterious old woman (maybe her grandmother) who I think was some kind of mystic. In fact, I believe this entire family was mystic in some way and I had just been accepted as "one of them" (the other villagers had no mystical leanings whatsoever). I remember feeling comfortable with these people, and finally understanding that the stones were nothing to be feared. In the dream, I felt all this was new to me, but at the same time, somehow familiar. I felt both the girl and her grandmother were trying to reassure me that I was safe and that I "belonged" with them.

I woke up from this dream feeling tranquil and calm.

Catching a child molester

This is probably one of the strangest dreams I've had in recent memory, if not ever.

It started with me as an observer viewing a scene in a park. There was a little girl on a swing with a much older man who was her father. The girl was not wearing any knickers. I won't elaborate on this part of the dream because it's pretty messed up and I would much rather forget it. All I will say, however is that the man was hovering around the child and behaving in a very inappropriate manner.

The dream then changed and I was standing with the same little girl on a street that I actually recognise from my neighbourhood. Her dad, the man with her before on the swing stood a few yards away in the distance across the road. I was speaking to the child, who was between 7 - 10yrs old. Even though this sick fuck had clearly been abusing this girl, she seemed strangely attached to him all the same. I was trying to take this girl to safety (i.e. get her away from him) but she wanted him to come with us. It took some persuasion, but I was eventually able to get her to leave him and come with me.

I told the girl I would take her to the beach (which is odd given that it was night time). We walked through the neighbourhood streets and she told me that if we were going to the beach, she needed suitable attire. She told me she had a skimpy bikini and asked me (quite flirtatiously) if I wanted to see her in it. I told her that I did not and that such behaviour was not appropriate for a child, to which she seemed surprised, almost as though she had become so used to her abuse that she thought it was normal. She was very precocious and that unsettled me. I then produced a more modest leotard and told her she could put it on later. She was almost disappointed.

We got lost on our way to the beach and ended up at an abandoned industrial estate. It was night, but some of the lights were on in the buildings and surrounding area. We walked into a large open plan building and then heard a sound of ringing bells and the girl panicked. I asked her what was wrong and she said that the bell sound was the ringtone on her father's phone, which meant he was nearby and had followed us. By this point, her attitude had changed and she was more afraid of her father, so I told her to hide in one of the nearby rooms whilst I waited behind a nearby table piled high with car parts. If her abusive dad was approaching, I was going to wait for him. I picked up a brick to use as a weapon against him.

Just then, someone came crashing through the door and, thinking it was her father, I stood up with holding the brick only to be confronted by police. I immediately threw up my hands in surrender and said "It's OK, the girl is over there!" pointing to the room she'd run into. One of the police shot at me anyway, but I ducked and dodged the bullet, and he was reprimanded by his colleagues (there were about 5 of them). I then looked behind me and saw the girl's father; he looked a bit like that Fritzl guy who was arrested for locking up his daughter as a sex slave recently and had that same cold, leering expression. The cops chased him and I threw the brick I was holding at this monster, but it missed. The police eventually caught him and hauled him back into the room. They had him on the ground and one of them held a metal hook to his jugular. Unfortunately, he was able to struggle free. Whilst this was happening, the other police had found the girl.

All of a sudden, there were only 4 people int the room; me, the paedo and two cops who circled him pointing their guns but did little else.The man threw a large heavy weight at me, but I managed to catch it. He then picked up a leaden block and started licking and rubbing it, saying he was trying to give himself lead poisoning. He was muttering to himself and I could see he was clearly mad. He grinned and leered maniacally. He threw the lead block at me, but I dodged it and the cops continued to circle him. He then picked up a transparent polygonal object he called a "Luftwaffe" (as in the German plane). He carressed it and then threw it at me. It bounced off my left shoulder. He said this object had pain enhancing properties and would now intensify any pain I received to that part of my body. He also said that by caressing the object, pain was enhanced for him as well but he didn't mind, and that pain only mattered to people who "valued the innocence of children" (he was referring to me). I had a large, unweildy metal object in my hand at this point and tried to strike him with it, but kept on missing. As I did, it struck the ground, sending a painful jarring sensation up my left arm. The cops kept on circling, but made no attempt to apprehend this monster whatsoever. Fat lot of good they were.

Anyway, the man now sat in the centre of the room in front of a table with a large, purple A3 sheet with a picture of 3 little girls which looked as though it had been drawn by children itself. He seemd taken by this picture. The girls in the picture had names above their heads. I remember seeing the names Becky and Candy. I struck the picture with the pole, tearing a hole into it and the man started to shriek in terror. I then realised this was his weakness and told the cops to help me tear up the picture. They rushed over to assist as the man started flapping and screaming hysterically. Then I woke up.


On hindsight, this dream was actually fairly easy to interpret and came about with the help of this post here. As the poster correctly surmised about me, I have always been sensitive to issues of this nature. Whenever I hear about such things, I seem to empathise deeply with the victims. I have always been this way and I do not know why. The symbolism of being struck on the left shoulder, which pertains to the left side/right brain/emotional side also makes perfect sense as does the weight thrown at me which symbolises the way these kind of events seem to burden my soul somewhat. However, I do not think this dream was literally about the Fritzl incident, but rather a suspicious scene I witnessed in the town where I live recently where I saw a guy in his 40s leading a pair of strung out looking young girls around, one of whom he took to the docks and put on a boat. I actually called the police about this too, but they did nothing. Therefore, I believe the dream is about me trying to process this incident and the Fritzl looking guy was a symbolic representation of the man I saw in the real world (incidentally, the man in the dream also resembled him somewhat too). What's even more interesting is that this same man looked like the man in the park from the 'Severed' dream I had a year ago - and this was before I'd even seen him! That dream also had a similar sort of theme. Make of that what you will.

In a faraway land

Before I even begin recalling this one, all I can say is wow.

Just wow.

The dream started off with me at my mother's house. I was downstairs in the living room and I think we'd just had some kind of argument as she had asked me to leave. Around the same time, my mum's neighbour who, in real life is a gossipy old crow in her late 60s I think (I'm no good with people's ages) suddenly appeared. She was laying on the ground by my feet and she actually looked a lot younger than she is (she looked as though she was in her 30s). She asked "So what are you going to do now?", and to my mother she turned and said "I bet you'd be more happy if your son was around more, wouldn't you?" In real life, this woman is incredibly irritating because she really goes out of her way to mind other people's business and seems to live for their affairs. I responded by ignoring her and holding a newspaper I was reading up to my face. I then got up to leave.

As I was leaving, I heard shuffling and the sound of somebody moaning and knew straight away that there was a zombie outbreak. The next thing I noticed was that my mother and sister (who was also in the room) had now vanished. I knew they hadn't been caught by the zombies, they just weren't there anymore.

As soon a heard the zombies, I ran for the back door and into the garden. Unlike real life, the garden was not fenced in and was completely open, as was the back gate. I heard more moaning and shuffling from the gate and realised there were more zombies around than I thought. I ran into the middle of the garden and thought to myself "I wonder if I can fly in this dream?" so I tried. It took a few attempts, but I eventually soared into the air away from all the zombies. I was so high into the air I could see everything down below for miles and noticed there were areas of this world where the ground suddenly stopped and gave way to nothingness, as though you could just drop off those areas and fall off the edge of the world like in a video game. Those voids were the same colour as the sky.

Anyway, I kept on moving upwards and found myself flying across this world. I recognised some of the areas from previous dreams including this one. I flew past a motorway and what looked like a city busy with traffic and eventually landed somewhere a long way from where I started. My first thought was whether there would be any more zombies, but something told me there would not be, and that the outbreak was confined to the place I'd just come from. This new place looked a bit like Japan (the people there were also Japanese), but the signs (which I could actually read) were written in Engrish and some kind of weird dream language. I read a sign on a door that said 'Daivo' (which is not a Japanese word at all as the 'V' sound does not exist in that language) and a roadsign that had numbers and words mixed together. I flew over to what looked like two carousel horses sticking out of a raised platform. They looked a bit like the small amusement rides for children you get inside large supermarkets. On one of the horses was a black guy who resembled Kanye West. He was wearing a black suit and stood out because he was the only non-Asian I could see and I just felt I had to talk to him. His eyes shone, but they didn't have the same lustre as the "person" from this dream.

I went over and said "Hey Kanye, what are you doing in my dream?" (despite somehow knowing that he wasn't actually Kanye West, but a being who had assumed his form for some reason). He responded with something like "Never mind about that". I then said "Why am I here?" and he said "You are here because you are changing and you know it". That struck a chord with me instantly. I knew what he meant (more later). I then asked him "What is this place? Where am I?". He didn't answer that question. Instead, he leaned over and put a coin in a little coin box next to the carousel horse as if he was trying to activate the ride. And that was where our interaction ended. He said nothing more and I felt as though he was communicating that I already knew the answer to the question I'd asked.

I flew away from him and back down into the main town square and then thought I'd woken up. I was lying on a bed I didn't recognise and waved my arms in front of my face and said something like "I am part of all the planets of the cosmos... they are all a part of me and we are one". There was another person in this room, a woman who I used to work with. I then realised that I hadn't woken up at all and found myself back in the Japanese town. I entered a supermarket that also sold electrical goods (there were some nice large, HDTVs) and just browsed this dream world. I exited the shop via a glass door by which stood a Japanese security guard (who opened the door for me) and strolled around the square. I came across a shrine tucked away in a little corner. It had large clay figurines of what looked like zombie creatures. The most distinct was a terracotta figurine that had a twisted face with disembodied hands all over it. Something told me that I was not to hang around this place for very long, so I moved on. In the corner opposite that one was a stall that sold souvenirs and sweets. I was actually aware of the fact that I was dreaming and that souvenirs would be no use to me, but the woman at the stall (who was also non-Asian, a white woman in her late 30s) told me that she sold special sweets that once eaten, would enable the dreamer to remember everything they dreamt. I liked the sound of this so I bought one. She put out her hand for the coinage and even though I had no money, I went through the motion as though I was dropping something in her hand and when I did, a coin just appeared. She wrapped the sweet in a paper bag. It was large enough to hold with both hands and was purple. I was eager to eat the sweet, so I started chomping on it before I'd even taken it out of the paper bag, and I then woke up.

It seems as though the sweet worked, because I remembered everything.

Thoughts: First of all, if you're reading this I apologise for the length but I have a lot to write down. This dream is very significant for me because it has come at a time in my life when I have changed more than I ever would have thought. I was raised in a catholic and later christian environment, but I became disillusioned with the religion some years ago and ceased following it. I have not told this to my mother (I know she would never udnerstand), but at the same time, I have also been made aware of spiritual realities that are far greater than the limitations of religion. To that end, I have been receptive when my mum gives me verses or books to read, even if I don't always agree with everything she says or gives me to read.

I have come to realise that God is not limited to a particular religion and have started embracing other spiritual ideas which previously, under christianity I had no time for, was wary of, or simply dismissed as "satanic" having been scared into believing that thinking out of the box was a one way ticket to eternal damnation (in other words, it was always safer to tow the line even when it didn't make sense). However, now that my understanding of the being that created the universe is beyond the christian perception, I KNOW this not to be true. Thus, my thinking has completely changed from the way I was indoctrinated (represented in the dream by me falling out with my mother, the tenets of my old beliefs represented by the zombies I was so eager to escape). I have also started embracing things like meditation, psychic realities and out of body experiences because, contrary to what christianity teaches, I now know these things are part of us and we part of God; therefore there is nothing about these things that is "wrong" or "evil". They're certainly not "satanic" because I've come to realise that satan as we udnerstand him doesn't exist. We create our own devils by our selfish actions that hurt others. I've also come to see that a lot of the christian admonitions against such practices were based on deliberate misinformation and in some cases, sheer hypocrisy. Japan in the dream represented a place/culture that was "foreign" and very differnet from the one I knew which is a metaphor for the way in which my beliefs have been transformed. What's more, these new experiences leave me feeling peaceful and I feel much more in touch and in tune with the creator (who is not the same angry man-god of christianity) in a way I never have been before. I definte myself as a spiritual free thinker. I appreciate that all religions serve a purpose and may be necessary for some souls to advance, but neither one is the "right" one because all are essentially man-made and therefore fallible in some way. I feel as though I have woken up and, just as the guide in this dream told me, "I have changed".

And yes, I believe he was also a guide, just like the one from the lion dream. And so, this dream was about my ongoing awakening.

A vicious battle

I only remember parts of this dream, but believe that the parts I have remembered are significant in some way.

From what I can remember, the dream started with me in a desert. I was with 6 other people who were all stood around in a circle. They wanted me to join them, but I wanted to just lie in the sand and look up at the sky instead. It was sunset and even though this was a desert, the horizon was lined with trees. There were also little grassy islands in the distance.

The dream then switched to later that evening, only this time the desert was no more and everything was grassy, almost like a park. In the distance I could now see a large tower. There was another person with me, a large black guy who looked a bit like the rapper Immortal Technique. He was running ahead, urging me to go with him to the tower. I asked why we were going there and he said there was a battle and we needed to be in on it. I ran along with him, but pointed out that we had no weapons. He then told me we didn't need any, and I was left wondering how we were meant to fight unarmed.

We eventually reached the foot of the tower. The entrance had been covered up with some sort of barricade and other people I assumed to be fighters were pushing past the barricade and making their way inside. I noticed they were all armed, but every single one of them dropped down dead as soon as they stepped inside. My companion then told me this was the reason we didn't need any weapons, and that we could pick some up once we'd got inside.

The dream switched again to the battle proper, which took place in what looked like a warehouse. I was now partnered with a woman called Tracy, who ran straight into the fight. It was a vicious battle with lots of gunfire and explosions. At this point, I was an observer rather than a participant, then it suddenly ended. There were few survivors and the woman I was with was missing. I presumed she was dead but female detective who'd suddenly showed up said that she knew this Tracy had gone AWOL. I was stood with the detective on a platform that overlooked a street. I peered over the railing at the edge of the platform and found myself looking down an alleyway lined with tenements. The dream ended here.

Forgiveness?

In this dream, I started off on some kind of veranda of a house in some snowy town at night. The veranda was pretty high up, allowing me a panoramic view of the whole town. It looked like something on the front of a Christmas card.

I then started to fly off, only at this point I was not in control of my movements. It felt more as though I was being guided along. I flew slowly, looking down at the ground below me and landed next to a bare tree in the middle of nowhere. The scene was bleak and dark looking and the sky overcast. Everything was rendered like that of an old painting. There were five children sat around under the tree, one of which was sat in the lap of a girl who looked to be about 17 and was the oldest one there. They were all dressed in 15th century European attire and the oldest girl wore a deep burgandy red dress, which was the only item of colour to be seen. I spoke to the teenager and asked if I could join her group. She then leaned over and spoke in the ear of the child on her lap and said something like "Has he come to be forgiven of his sins?"

That's about all I remember. This dream stuck with me because it felt really odd. There was a strange stillness in the air and everything was rendered like that of an old painting.

Out of body experience

Not a dream per se but related and therefore worth posting here.

This morning, I had what I can only describe as an out of body experience. It was about 3am and I was lying in my bed facing the ceiling. When I was younger, I didn't like facing this way when going to sleep it seemed to induce nightmares, but this doesn't happen now.

Anyway, I was lying awake with my eyes closed, totally relaxed, my mind empty of any real thoughts. I then felt as though I literally floated away from my own body, swimming around my room in slow motion. I could not really make much out because it was so dark, but I knew I was out of my body. My laptop is near my bed and even though I switch it off at night, the battery and standby lights are still visible and result in a pale light, which I could see perfectly from where I was (the rightmost corner of my room, facing my bed).

I then felt myself floating upwards through the ceiling (which would take me into the kitchen of the person who lives above me), but instead of floating into my neighbour's kitchen, I found myself in a dark, vertical tunnel and I was slowly "swimming" up it. I don't know where it lead, but I was conscious of myself the whole time. There were also boundaries that appeared as soon as I floated too far in a particular direction.

Strangely, even though I knew I was floating outside of my body, I felt totally calm. At the same time, I was also aware of my physical body even though I could no longer feel it. I could hear myself snoring and even felt my eyelids opening. The only way I can describe this sensation is to say that I was aware of my physical body even though I was not in it. Eventually, because I was aware of the fact that I was outside of my body, I became a little worried about not being able to return, so I found myself looking back down the dark vertical tunnel and felt as though I was tugging some kind of cord that lead back to my body. I then woke up properly, feeling very calm and relaxed.

What is interesting about this experience is that I am of the opinion that we do "travel" in our sleep, so this out-of-body experience felt almost as though I was consciously aware of the fact that I was travelling. I've also had many flying dreams in the past where the flying felt a lot like the floating and "swimming" I was doing out of my body. Now I think I understand why.

I also had a very similar out of body experience when I was about 12, but I was not aware of what was happening at the time and dismissed it as a weird dream. In that particular experience, I felt myself "swimming" around my bedroom at slow motion, but it felt very uncomfortable and disorientating, likely due to the fact that I didn't understand what was going on.

I cannot tell you how long this experience lasted, but it has left me with absolutely no doubt that we travel away from our bodies in our sleep.

A god of hooves, a god of horns...

I was attending a party which was taking place in a school classroom. It was very crowded and I had two girls coming on to me. One was an (east) Indian girl about my height and a brunette who was taller than me. The brunette kept putting her tongue in my ear. It tickled as it does with a cotton bud, and for some reason, I really liked it.

An old man then showed up with a pile of dead animal bones which he placed on a table. He then asked me to bring him the hooves of the animal from under the table where I was sat. I was a little irritated that he asked me, but complied by breaking the hooves from the rest of the remains that were there. I brought him the hooves and he started doing a pagan ritual in the middle of this party. I started to feel a little creeped out by it all and decided to leave; so I went to everyone I knew at the party and told them I was going (including the Indian girl). Then another girl, a tall blonde persuaded me to stay and promised to buy me a drink if I waited for her as she took care of something. So I waited next door, which was another classroom and by this point, the pagan ritual has stopped and the party resumed as the DJ got back behind the decks. The other room was a lot quieter and I was one of about six people. The girl gave me a small CD wallet and told me to hold onto and that she wouldn't be long.

The girl was gone for a long time, I was getting impatient and wished that I'd just left earlier instead of allowing myself to be talked into sticking around. I put her CD wallet down on a table and went into the corridor to see if she was there. She wasn't. I returned to the room to find that someone had knocked the wallet off the table. I picked it up and stood around some more. By this point I really wanted to go home, but the dream ended before she returned.

Picking a fight

I'll compile two dreams into this one entry because they're quite similar. I had them last night.

In the first, I was walking down a passage in the middle of the day and turned the corner only to find myself at the end of a three-strong queue, at the end of which was a large, bare chested man who looked as though he was squaring up to the people in front of him. Not wanting to get involved, I turned and ran back the way I came, only for the bare chested man to start chasing me and the three other men.

I turned out of the passage into a street in decided to hide from the assailant by ducking into someone's back garden. The garden actually sloped downwards to a sheer drop into another similar garden, and at the end of that drop was a motorway. The last thing I remember about this dream was teetering over the edge of this second drop.

In the second dream, I was in another passage. I was looking for a toilet, and stopped to ask a guy who was in the passageway with his girlfriend. He pointed me in the right direction before warning me that people who visited that toilet often ended up in violent confrontations. Regardless, I found and entered the toilet anyway. As I was pissing in the urinal, I noticed the pink-ish decor and saw the 'Ladies' sign on the door (it was blurry, but I knew it was the ladies all the same). It appeared that I'd gone into the wrong toilet, but I rationalised that any violence was more likely to occur in the men's so it was probably just as well.

As I was finishing off, I saw the shadow of the same guy from earlier walk past the small, frosted glass window and knew straight away that he was the cause of the voilence and that he was coming for me. I decided to go by the entrance and wait as I figured he'd turn back and go the other way having not seen me; which he did. On the way back, he peered through the small ladies' window and somehow saw me even though the toilet itself was quite dark (I don't think the light worked). He then ran back and the door flew open and we started scrapping. Next thing I know, he physically vanished and the scene changed. I then found myself in the middle of a park, standing in the middle of a flowerbed. For some reason, I was determined to find this guy and finish the fight, but the dream ended.

Recurring dream: Staying at a hospital

I've had a couple of these. In the first , I was a patient at the hospital but I was lost and wandered the corridors and rooms looking for my bed. In this dream (from 28-10-08), I was yet again a patient but this time I wanted to use the toilet. I went to the toilet and stepped into the cubicle only for someone else to suddenly appear and obstruct me as I tried to lock the door. He was then joined by someone else and the two of them started to unscrew the locks from the cubicle doors, so I couldn't use it. I was very annoyed by this as I desperately wanted to go, but I had no choice but to leave and find another free toilet.

I spent most of the dream traversing the many hallways and rooms yet again (it was exactly the same hospital as the other dream and it was H-U-G-E), only this time looking for a toilet, but every time I found one there was some kind of problem. I became so frustrated by this that I was almost brought to tears and couldn't understand how people could be so inconsiderate to me as a patient.

I eventually made my way to the ground floor and wandered into an open plan office area where the workers were laughing and joking with one another. I asked a woman at a desk where the nearest toilet was because I was desperate and had been prevented from going and she got really defensive and thought I was personally blaming HER for my predicament, which upset me even more ("All I want to do is go to the toilet", I thought "Why is everyone being so difficult?"). She eventually pointed me in the direction of the toilet on the ground floor which was down a long corridor and I was FINALLY able to go as this toilet was free. I pushed open the door of the toilet and woke up shortly after that.

UPDATE: I actually think I know what this one is about. At the time I first had this dream until now, I've had a sleeping problem brought on by some medication I'm taking. As a result, I'm tired a lot of the time due to lack of sleep from the night before and need time to recharge my batteries but seldom get a chance to due to other engagements in my personal life. It has become a source of immense frustration for me as it seems like I'm not given a chance to rest, which makes me even more tired and irritable. I think the dream refers to this.

Recurring dream: Staying at a hotel

10-10-07

Before getting to this one, I need to give a bit of background. I have semi frequent recurring dreams about a hotel. In these dreams, I'm a guest and there always seems to be a problem with the 4th floor (whether I'm staying on that floor in the dream is not important - the issue with the floor remains regardless). It's always the same hotel, but the layout varies from dream to dream.

In one dream, I actually had a room on the 4th floor and when I was in the room, I was safe, but the corridor was filled with an overwhelming sense of some kind of sinister presence. Essentially, the floor was haunted. In one dream, the 4th floor was flooded, and in another, the layout of that floor was inverted, so the ceiling was the floor and so on. I was once even held captive in the hotel in one dream and had to try and escape (which I eventually did), by sneaking my way our via the 4th floor. There's a reason for this digression. Bear with me.

In this dream, I was staying at the hotel again. It was a lot smaller this time, but I knew it was the same place. I was with a party of 4, and we had been allocated a room in the basement. It was called Room Zero. One of the people in my party even remarked "Makes a change from all that 4th floor shit".

Anyway we set off to find this Room Zero. There was daylight outside (I could tell from the light pouring in from the windows), yet when we descended the stairs, the light seemed to quickly vanish and before we knew it, it was nearly pitch black. We were in narrow hallways with dark pink walls and many doors along them. Whilst down here, I got a funny feeling that something wasn't right and somehow knew that the answer to the 4th floor mystery was also here - along with something very evil (I got that same feeling as I did from the corridor in the room with that haunted 4th floor). In spite of this sense of evil though, I wasn't scared. We continued to walk down the hallways and I it became apparent that it didn't seem to end and even appeared to be extending in length. Also, my friends all vanished one by one until l I was alone. Once I was by myself, I saw along the left wall what looked like an open patio-style door. I approached it and witnessed a pale, eeirie orange light emanating from the room (which was open and in full view). In the room was a long table and at the end nearest me sat a ghostly apparition of what looked like a nun. As soon as she saw me, she screamed "Bah!" and dashed round the table in the blink of an eye (similar to how Superman runs). I then woke up feeling very unsettled.

UPDATE: I have had other 4th floor hotel dreams since this one, which is interesting as I incorrectly believed the above dream to be the last I'd ever have. In the first dream, the hotel had taken on a similar form to the last dream in that it was small. I went to my room on the 4th floor via some stairs and passed a couple arguing as discreetly as they could. When I eventually reached my room, I suddenly realised that I had been staying at the hotel at least a week prior to that point and that I had, in fact booked myself in for a slightly longer stay, and had returned to the very same room I had before. The room was plain white with a white wooden floorboard. The bed had just been made and the whole room was empty save the night stand next to the bed. In front of me was a large semicircular window, out of which I could see a large tree whose leaves were shimmering in the wind. I started at this sight with a sense of slight foreboding. There were also quiet strings in the background, similar to what you might hear in a horror film before a victim is attacked. This dream was different from the others in that the problem was no longer on the 4th floor itself, but had now become localised to one particular room on that floor, and I was staying in that room. Oh, and the tree was black. The whole tree.

In another, more lighthearted dream, I was in the same hotel looking for a party on the 4th floor. I went to the room in quesition and the door was opened by an aimiable but somewhat overweight, "nerdy" looking man who invited me in to the party. He also told me there was a ghost in the room.

It's interesting that I keep dreaming about this hotel, and that there's always some kind of problem related to the 4th floor. Perhaps there's something within myself that I need to resolve? Is this what leads me back to this hotel?

Old dream: Lost little girl

Anyway, as the title suggests, the dream I'm about to relay is one I will never forget because of the effect it had on me. It basically haunted me the day after, and much of that week. This was about 3 years ago, but such was the dream's effect, that I still wonder about it to this day.

As I recall, it began with me standing in a dense forest. Shafts of light were shining in from the trees and the ground was covered with a thick moss. The next thing I remember hearing was a child crying, and I turned to see a little blonde girl of about 7 or 8 years old sitting on the ground. She was wearing a magenta coloured dress that looked a bit grubby. She was also barefoot and had a large bloody graze on one leg. She was facing away from me, so all I could see was her hair. I approached and asked if she was OK and where her parents were. She then told me that her parents had gone missing and she was all alone.

Now, for some reason I felt strongly attached to this poor child. It's really hard to describe, but I almost felt responsible for her, and was genuinely moved by her sadness. In that dream, I was determined to do anything to help this young girl, almost as though she was part of me. I also felt as though in our current predicament, we needed each other; I offered to carry her to safety so we could escape the forest together because I, like her was also lost. I then picked her up and carried because she was injured and couldn't walk properly. I carried her a little way in my arms and then woke up.

Like I said earlier, this dream stayed with me after I'd woken up. For some reason, I could not get the girl's crying out of my head, it literally tugged at my heartstrings whenever I recalled it. Neither could I forget the overwhelming sense of love and compassion I had towards this strange girl to whom I was in no way related, but to whom I still felt conneected. Also, dreams being what they are, I can offer no explanation as to where she came from in the first place or how she came to be sat on the ground behind me, but there you go.

UPDATE: This may be a very old dream, but I have never forgotten it, and with hindsight, I believe I have discovered its meaning. When I had this dream, I was nearing the end of a stillborn relationship. In truth, it's a relationship I never should have pursued as I was emotionally fragile at the time anyway. I believe the crying little girl was a metaphor for my fragile emotional state at the time; I was still hurting and not really in any position for a relationship, and the dream used the girl's genuinely heartrending distress to show me the state I was really in. By picking up the child and carrying her, it was trying to show me that I should reconcile with myself.

Old dream: Lionheart

This dream started in the living room of a house. The decor was very dark (lots of black and grey). I was at what looked like a house party, and appeared to be the oldest one there (everyone else was around 17-18). I was chatting to a nice girl to my right and turned my back to briefly address someone else, but by the time I'd turned back to the girl, she was already talking to somebody else! Suddenly, most of the people in the room vanished, leaving me with a couple of miscellaneous stragglers. I was annoyed and frustrated that my chance with the girl had been spoiled and now wanted something else to do, so I wandered out of the room and into the hallway.

Heading left down the hall lead to the kitchen and to the right, the front door which was opposite a set of stairs. I heard excited voices upstairs and started to make my way up, only to be met by a pot bellied man in his late forties. He was grey and balding, had an unhealthy complexion and wore a dingy string vest. He never spoke, but I knew he was the "man of the house" and father of whoever it was that had thrown this party. Obviously, he didn't want me going upstaris so he blocked my path, so I turned and went the other way, only for him to slowly saunter after me brandishing a magnum pistol.

The next thing I know, the house disappeared and I was in a grassy woodland area, and the same guy was joined by about 4 others just like him all of whom were also armed. They were all hiding behind trees and rocks and started shooting at me, so I got on my belly and crawled the other way to avoid getting hit. I then suddenly turned into a lion and ran up a hill that was in front of me. On the other side of the hill was a swimming pool with lots of random people of mixed ages standing around - another party. However, because I was a lion, people were scared when they saw me and started running away. I also felt compelled to devour people, but I was still mindful of my previous humanity and held back those instincts.

I was running around in lion form for what seemed like ages when I noticed someone by the pool standing with a small group who just stood out. Ethnically, he was what you might describe as a light skinned black man, he wore a grey hooded cloak and had what I can only describe as incredibly intense brown eyes that were bright in a manner that was truly unearthly. As soon as I saw him, I instantly KNEW I'd encountered him before in other dreams that I'd forgotten about. He looked straight at me and said something like "You know why I've come - to tell you the other is here!". Now, not only did I recognise him from other dreams, I also had a feeling that despite the weird vibe he gave off, he was actually here to help me. I also felt that he wasn't really human (it's difficult to explain how , but I did). In lion form, I approached him, stood up on my hind legs, and placed my paws on his chest.

I then said "I'm not scared of you", to which he replied with "I think you are" and we started to out-stare each other. As before, his eyes were very intense and he gave off an aura that suggested he (or it) was incredibly powerful and not someone you'd want as an enemy.

I then said "I'm not, because I know who you are!". He then shot me a look somewhere between incredulity and amusement - a look which said "Who do you think you're talking to!?". I started to answer his question with "You are..." then I woke up.

This dream unnerved me because of that mysterious man. Like I said, I KNOW he's been in other dreams I've had, even though I've forgotten, and it was the eyes and the weird vibe that triggered the recollection. As I slowly returned to full consciousness awareness, I was left wondering who, or what he was...

UPDATE: I've been reading a lot on dream symbolism, reincarnation (of which I am a believer), near death experiences and other paranormal phenomena of late. Something I came across in my readings was the concept of Oversouls, beings placed in our lives as guardian spirits that oversee our development. After some consideration, I am convinced with absolute certainty that this being was an Oversoul of mine. As stated above, I felt as though he knew me very well and was trying to help me. I also knew that I couldn't mess with him.

The day before I had this dream, I was actually feeling very very low for reasons I do not intend to write here. I was so low in fact that I actually contemplated taking my own life (something that had been on my mind a for a few days). That evening, I was invited out by a friend for her birthday. We were accompanied by some people I didn't get on with and one of those people spitefully put a spanner in the works when she saw me chatting up another girl with whom I was getting on well. She leaned over and whispered something in her ear and the girl never spoke to me again for the rest of the night. After the way I was already feeling, this was like the final nail in the coffin. I think that explains the incident at the house party. I was of course pretty mad about this, but I bit my tongue even though I wanted to tear this individual a new one and tell her what I really thought about her, which may explain the part in the dream with the lion and its desire to devour the party goers (in other words, me controlling my "beastly nature").

I am certain I saw this Oversoul because of how I was feeling I and he was there to encourage me to persevere. The appearance of this being shocked me so much, that my dark thoughts slowly dissipated after that.

Yes, I am a long way from home...

I was in a large field that had been harvested for crops. I think it was along a motorway. It was daytime and walked across its expanse, passing several little plastic tents with transparent windows that showed the tents were full of crops and fruit that were being grown (I think the tents created certain temperature conditions that helped them grow). The fruit were mainly bananas and the crops vegetables such as cabbages. I also saw trees with coconuts and mangoes (though the trees didn't look like normal coconut trees). In the distance, I could also see silos and sheds. I wasn't sure where I was going, but I knew for certain that I was a long way from home. For some reason, I wanted to climb into one of the tents and fall asleep; it was almost as if I didn't have a home or anywhere to stay. I also kept on telling myself how convenient it would be to camp out here, surrounded by all the fruit and other crops, but I couldn't find a way into the tents as they did not appear to have any openings. So I continued walking.

At some point, I decided to turn and go back the other way because I didn't want to get lost. As I did, I started noticing other people in the field. I think they were farm hands. Anyway, I didn't want them to see me, so I made my way back to where I came from with stealth and caution. I later found myself in a building which was a cross between a portacabin office, shed and a factory. I think this was where I came from. The building had an almost maze-like structure to it. That's all I can remember.

Incidentally, I've been having sleeping problems for the last year or so, but recently it has gotten worse. I actually had this dream the morning I'd called in sick for work because I'd been up the night before and was too tired to go in (physically and mentally exhausted).

Inner city dogs

Thursday 15th Jan 09

I was walking in a busy park. There was a man behind me with a vicious dog on a leash. He let the dog off the leash and I watched as it ran around jumping on and biting people. I wondered why the man was doing this and was also concerned that the dog might try and attack me, but it never did.

Later, the dog turned into 5 thugs with knives and the park became a street in an inner city slum. The thugs were running around looking for people to stab and cut up. I found myself climbing up the side of a giant mattress that was propped up against a wall. I did this to escape the thugs' detection. When I got to the top of the mattress, I slipped and fell back down, almost breaking my ankle. Then I woke up.

Indoor camping

Wednesday 14th Jan 09

Another camping related dream. This time, I was staying at a camp site with friends and we were sharing a tent. Again the details are a little hazy, but what basically happened was that we arrived at the site which, bizarrely was indoors in a building with no roof. We arrived and set up our tent and shortly after, it started drizzling. I remember thinking “There’s no way I’m camping in the rain”. After we’d settled in, everyone just mingled and milled around and at some point, I was handed a joint by a middle aged woman I recognise from my work. I smoked the joint she passed me surreptitiously by cupping it in my hand so nobody else would see. However, the smell got out and one of the campsite officials made an announcement that as someone had brought illegal substances onto the site, they would be conducting random searches. I was worried by this as I actually had some of my own in my bag back in the tent! I decided then to just lay low, which I did by walking into an adjacent room which turned out to be a bar (more on that in a bit).

Incidentally, the woman who handed me the joint is someone I know from work and doesn’t strike me as the sort of person who’d be into such things. In real life, I don’t like this woman very much at all, in my experience she’s quite surly and rude and I try to have as little to do with her as possible. Why I dreamt of her I do not know.

Anyway, the bar I walked into was small and L-shaped in structure. It had an area that functioned as a dancefloor and makeshift stage. I went to get a drink and had to pass by a troupe of people in animal costumes doing a performance. I then thought that I should maybe tell my friends about this bar as it was a good way of making ourselves scarce whilst the officials were conducting searches, so I left without ordering a drink in the end and went to find my friends. When I got back to the main camping room, I found that they’d upped and moved the tent to along with all my belongings and I wasn’t able to find them. I don’t remember much after that.

What is interesting is the similarities between this and the boot camp dream; the camp I was staying at in the other dream ALSO had an adjoining bar (I just didn’t mention it as it wasn’t important) which was structured in the same way. The only difference was the makeshift stage and the décor (the bar in this dream had a more modern, wood panel veneer whereas the boot camp bar had a more traditional, rustic pub-like look to it).

Escaping a boot camp...

Monday 12th Jan. 09

Again, my recollection of this one is choppy but the gist of the dream is this: I had gone away to some kind of camp (in a dormitory building) for the week where I would be around other people doing all kinds of “fun” activities. However, when I got there I discovered the camp was nowhere near as fun as previously advertised and there was little to do. Also, the place was a good train ride away from my home town and a little off the beaten track. In other words, there was no easy way of leaving.

After a short while, a group of military policemen took over the camp. They claimed to bring the fun activities we were originally promised and, at first seemed quite amiable, making all kinds of nice sounding claims about the stuff we’d be doing. However, none of it came to fruition. Instead, they had the camp on lockdown and told us that we were no longer free to leave and had to do as they said. I decided that I wasn’t having this and sneaked out of the camp. Even though it was on lockdown, I somehow managed to nonchalantly walk out of the front door without anyone noticing. I then ran up a little dirt track (which originally lead to the camp) and found myself walking along a long road. The whole time, I was looking behind me, mindful that the military police would soon give chase, but they never did.

My next thought was to find the train station so I could go home, but I was lost and didn’t really know where I was going. After a while, I found two young men and asked them were the police station was. They pointed me in the right direction, then I asked them for the train station (which is what I really wanted to know) and they said they didn’t know. One of the men was also smirking, so I asked him what was so funny and grabbed him by the throat. He then apologised and said it was because he recognised me from the camp; it turns out he visited it at some point when I was still there. Anyway, I accompanied the men for a while and they helped me find my way.

I did eventually get back home, but I’m not sure how. When I got home, I regretted the fact that I’d left all my best clothes at the camp when I escaped as I looked in my wardrobe and found there wasn’t much left. I consoled myself with the thought that it was January so I might be able to pick up something cheap in the sales(!). However, some time later I chose to go back to the camp for my clothes. When I got there, I saw the people I left being shouted at and ordered about by the MPs. Luckily, nobody recognised me when I went there and nobody tried to stop me from leaving a second time either. (I didn’t take my clothes with me in the end… I think I had trouble finding them.)

The dream ended with me on a ship boarded to some unknown destination in Europe. I have no idea where I was going, or why. I also woke up from this dream feeling very uneasy.

Cold shoulder

12 Jan. 2009

My recollection is a little vague, but the dream involved me working somewhere alongside a girl I know in real life who stopped speaking to me very recently for no reason at all. I have often speculated that her attitude was due to the influence of someone who doesn’t like me very much telling her lies about me.

Anyway, this appears to have spilled over into the dream, in which I was with her in a room somewhere and asked her what her problem was with me, but she turned away, stone faced and refused to answer me. My response was something along the lines of “OK screw you, then!”

In the same dream, I was also doing some kind of menial work which was supposed to last 8 days, but also be very demanding. An unknown old man was telling me about the demands of the job, and that even though it was hard with enough commitment I might be able to made a difference.

Incidentally, the girl in this dream also appeared in a dream I had about 8 or 9 years before I'd even met her. I talk about it here.