Halloween came early...

Yup.  There it is again.

If you've been following this, you know I've had a number of dreams about being in some alien or otherworldly land, not knowing where I am, and being given strange looks whenever I ask.  These dreams usually begin with me floating or flying to this unknown place, finally landing, then walking around, attempting to get my bearings and trying to talk to people who are not very responsive or helpful.

This dream followed that theme yet again.  It began with me in a room with 4 other people.  We were talking about a woman we all knew.  Suddenly, I took off and floated out of the window, and behind me, I heard one of the group say "There he goes, he's off again!" as though I did this sort of thing regularly.

Anyway, I flew through the window, some music started playing and I then found myself in a new land.  As with previous versions of this dream, the window acted as a portal to this alien place.

Again, as before, I found myself wandering the streets, looking at shop and road signs for anything familiar.  I didn't recognise the language or the people, and a voice in my head constantly spoke in a strange, unknown language.  I approached a man and asked him where I was, and he actually responded in English, saying "You must be drunk, mate!" and carried on walking.  He was the only person who spoke a language I understood.

I continued walking and found myself in what looked like a tourist gift shop.  I picked up some of the tat looking for clues, but nothing really leaped out at me.  I walked all the way to the back of the shop and even considered trying to steal something, but only for attention.

Now, as I left the shop, things started to get really strange.  The people were no longer people.  Their faces and forms became grotesque and creepy looking.  A couple walked past me, and their heads looked like peeled pumpkins with human eyes, bared teeth (as you might see on a skeleton) and blood red lips.  Everyone around me now looked like this too.  I saw one other man pull out a large chunk of his skull and casually inspect it.  In spite of this, I was not at all scared, I accepted the situation for what it was.  I speculated as to whether they really looked this way all along, and I wasn't able to see it before for some unknown reason.

I carried on walking until I came to what looked like an archway.  To the side of the archway was a creature that looked like a giant eyeball that'd been stretched and elongated vertically.  The tip of this eyeball creature protruded outward at an angle, moving and tracking people that walked past it.

At this point, I looked up and saw a group of normal looking people sitting in what what looked like some sort of balcony above the archway itself.  They were playing music on an unknown instrument that was made of long, vertical tubes that were hit with spoon-like implements.  This created a hollow, ringing sound.

The music kept on playing as I woke up.

Healing...

This was a very special dream, and one that came to me at what would be an otherwise sad time.

As of yesterday, the woman I have dated for the last five years and I parted ways.  The schism really started to happen about two weeks ago and was largely caused by irreconcilable differences regarding religious belief.  In short, she is and a Christian (albeit a very lax one during our time together), and I am not.  Once upon a time, I shared her beliefs, but "lost my faith" (with some irony), whilst trying to strengthen those beliefs, which lead me to lots of reading and research into the bible, the history of it's creation, the history of Christianity itself and a detailed analysis of some of its more supernatural claims.  In doing so, I looked at "both sides o the story" (that is, arguments from detractors as well as apologists), but in the end, I was left with no other conclusion that Christianity was entirely man made.  I saw the man behind the curtain, and could no longer believe there was a Wizard.

This tension was always in the background of our relationship, the proverbial elephant in the room that we both ignored.  Occasionally, the issue surfaced, but it always went away again.  However, very recently, just before planning to move in together it came up again, and for the last time, and it finally drove us apart.

The day before this dream, we had been texting each other for the last time, and it was clear by this point that it was completely over.  Of course, I am very disappointed, but I also had other issues with her that are no longer factors, so on reflection, and with all sentimentality stripped, it was probably for the best.  In the back of my mind, there were things about her that made me uncertain and made me feel that she wasn't the person I thought she was.  If you've read any of my previous dreams concerning her, it would seem as though my own subconscious was also telling me this.

In last night's dream, I had joined some sort of influential secret society.  The leader of this society was a man called "Leo" (sometimes "Hugo").  Leo was a man in his late sixties.  He looked a bit like Alan Sugar, as well as a late friend of mine who passed away two years ago.

Being part of this exclusive club opened doors and got things done.  At one point in the dream, I had to move into a hostel for some reason.  The hostel gave me a room, but did not keep an eye on my stuff.  Consequently, I returned later on in the day (bearing in mind that time is malleable in dreams) to find some of my stuff missing.  I asked one of the staff about it, but he was unsympathetic and indifferent.  That was until I told his boss that I knew Leo.  At that point, they made sure my missing possessions were found.

Leo then arranged for me to move into the organisation's headquarters, which was a large mansion with many rooms.  Leo and the others were kind and helpful, and it felt good knowing I had this "family" looking out for me.  Once I had moved in, I was told that I had to undertake an initiation ceremony, which was standard procedure for all new members.  It was called something like a "memory ceremony", which entailed consuming hallucinogenics and having a threesome with two beautiful women.  Or at least that's how it was presented to me at first.

I was taken to the room and introduced to the women who were to induct me.  Then, the phone on the wall rang and one of the women answered.  She was then offered a chance to make some easy money by temporarily injecting herself with pneumonia using a syringe device mounted on the wall (apparently, this was something the society also did, but I didn't understand the specifics).  The woman who answered the phone decided to go with this plan and injected herself, at which point she became too ill to participate.  I went downstairs to tell Leo who picked out another woman from his "harem".  I went with her back to the room, at which point I saw there was another man with the second woman (the one who did not give herself pneumonia).  I was then told something that had been conveniently left out before: that part of the ceremony was to explore sexual experience with both genders.  In other words, I was expected to have sex with a man too.  I was not at all keen on this, and when this man looked at me, licking his lips and said "Don't worry, I'll be gentle", I was even less keen.

I backed out of the room and down the corridor.  I knew that if I didn't participate, I would probably be killed, so I went into an empty room and jumped out of the window.  It was several floors up, but I floated gently to the ground.

I found myself outside the lobby at the front of the house, and knew that I would not be safe wherever I went, as the society would find and kill me, but I didn't know what else to do.  There were lots of people milling about at the front of the house, but the one that stood out was a striking black woman in a long white and red flowing dress.  She had a shaved head (think Laura Mvula pre-wig) and big, beautiful eyes.  I knew she was somehow different from everyone else there.  She walked straight over to me and spoke in a voice that was deep, yet feminine, and had a soothing, silken quality to it.  Her voice calmed my fears.

She said "You don't belong here."

"I know." I replied.

"What is it you want?"

"I want to escape this world."

At this point, we were standing face to face, and she gently put her hands to my cheeks and looked into my eyes.  Her pupils were deep, black and shiny, and as I looked into them, a third eye appeared on her forehead.  In this third eye, I could see swirling galaxies and stars.

Suddenly, Leo's henchmen appeared behind us, armed with guns, clubs and bats.  They'd been sent to find me.  I saw them and panicked.

"It's OK," the woman reassured me "They can't see you.  They only see me".

I somehow knew that her touch rendered me invisible to the thugs.  As I continued looking into her eyes, she started singing a song.  Her voice was dulcet and smooth, and the song so beautiful and otherworldly, it almost brings a tear to my eye as I recall it.  As she sang, my body became lighter and I felt myself being drawn into cosmos within her third eye.  The dream ended as I disappeared to the safety of this other world, and I woke up with an immense feeling of peace.

Although I cannot recall any of the words, I made a point of remembering the melody.  I intend to learn this song and add my own words.  I believe this song was given to me, and this mysterious woman, a spirit entity sent to help me when I needed it most.

In a strange way, this dream has helped me cope with what has happened, assuring me that somehow, everything is going to be alright.