Since childhood, I have had the same dream about two or three times a year. I appear to be a peasant with long dark (Asian?) hair, working in a field of some kind in a wooded, mountainous area. I can't tell my gender; it seems to be unimportant. I see myself in the third person. I am near a village when I become aware of an army of enemies
preparing to attack my village. I begin to run toward the village to warn them of the impending assault. I am spotted so I run in another direction so as to lead them away from the village. I am chased by the invaders. It feels as though I run for several miles through dense woods and undergrowth. I experience the feeling of crashing through the brush and the tearing of the skin on my arms. I hide in a small wooden structure and am discovered. I am crouched under something and receive multiple blows to the head and bleed to death. I do not feel the blows or experience any pain during the assault. I do not see the faces of the attackers or recall any describable objects. I always wake up exhausted and sweating. I am not disturbed by witnessing my death. The dream was always exactly the same until about three years ago. Now the situation is the same, but I am on a horse and the village has become a community that lives in some sort of a bunker underground. I do not hide but am knocked off the horse and killed. Logic tells me this is a past life memory of a death, but the feeling I get from the dream is that it is future tense - not past - and has not yet occurred. There is the sense that this is a warning of some kind; I feel compelled to warn others but I don't know what I am warning them of.
Linda
Susyn:
I feel these dreams hold memories of a past life, for the common details and events you recall are too specific to not involve an event you actually lived through. When past life memories come up, we can often see clues to them in our current lives. For example, though you are not an Asian peasant this lifetime, you may have always had a fascination with Asian culture.
When we recall the moment of death in a past life, it can influence our health in some way in this lifetime. For example, many people who lost their lives due to blows to the head experience inexplicable headaches, while those who were killed by hanging may be uncomfortable with having anything around their necks like ties or scarves. The crashing through the brush and tearing of the skin on your arms could manifest as rashes or skin irritations in this life that crop up for no apparent reason.
I see a couple of different ways to interpret these dreams that seem to be of the future. Sometimes we can tap into Collective Memory
and dream of a past life experience of another person we've been close to in both lifetimes. This could explain why you dream in the third person; perhaps this dream is answering a question you have long held about what happened to someone you loved well in another life. It is likely that you know or are related to this person in your current lifetime.
The second interpretation is that you are indeed dreaming of a future event, though without having more information, it is impossible to predict the time or place of its occurreence or to warn others about it. Premonition dreams can be particularly upsetting, for seeing the future can make us feel like we are responsible for preventing or influencing it whether that is possible or not.
As a Gemini born in May, you could find it particularly difficult to distinguish past life memories from current life issues. You carry the imagination and intellect of a Gemini, but because you were born in May, you also have the earthy, physical influence of Taurus in your astrological makeup. This can make your dreams seem more intense and make it harder to determine whether they are past events, future events, or symbolic of something you are currently going through.
Though there are lots of movies and ideas out there that suggest the End Times
are near and that people could indeed be hiding out together in bunkers in the future, I strongly feel that this second dream is arising from Collective Memory, by which I mean that you are dreaming the experience of someone close to you and not an event you are doomed to experience in the future.
*****
Oceania:
There are some clear themes in your dreams: trying to evade harm, being attacked, and yearning to spare others from suffering. These could be things you personally experienced as a child or something you witnessed. It's important to note that the Vietnam War was taking place throughout your childhood, so you may have been exposed to disturbing news footage without consciously remembering it.
Along with real life experiences, children can be traumatized by upsetting news and fictional violence in books, games and movies, especially if they're not allowed to talk about it. Children can survive most trauma emotionally intact if they have an opportunity to process it with a loving witness. Damage can be done when children are forced to push upsetting feelings aside, but it's never too late to heal.
Your mind may be using elements in your dream to contain some of your own feelings. Seeing ourselves in the third person is an element of dissociation, where the mind leaves the body and observes events from a distance, detached from pain. Trauma victims often describe this phenomenon of observing from afar in a detached manner. While this is a valid way to cope and survive at the time, to find freedom, we must consciously acknowledge repressed feelings and express them in some therapeutic way.
We go through life much like bellhops, pushing a cart of baggage. While we might manage to ignore the baggage most of the time, it's always there, taking up psychological space, sapping our energy, even popping open to spill out into the present. The only way to free ourselves is to stop and sort through it in a safe setting.
Because your dream happens two or three times a year, it is likely triggered by something in your life today that is reminiscent of your original trauma. Start keeping a log of these nightmares and think about what happened and what you were exposed to just before they occur. With some good detective work, you can decipher why you keep having these dreams.
What was happening for you last year? Did you do some personal growth work, expand your circle of support, or undergo a spiritual awakening? That may be when the dream symbolism changed for the better. Instead of running on foot, you began riding a horse, which suggests that you began to feel carried and assisted by a higher power.
You're also no longer alone, and you don't go into hiding. That the community you are hoping to protect has moved underground suggests that it is better defended. These changes suggest that you've been feeling more empowered for the past three years, and are progressing through a healing process.
Astrea:
Many times in life we hear, "You will always have what you NEED, but not necessarily what you WANT." Your spirit must have needed to experience the feeling of leaving your human body, and the suggestion in the next chapter of Sylvia Brown's book was all it took to get you there.
Even though you hadn't read it yet, your SOUL recognized the title of that chapter as something it had been seeking, and your soul, knowing that you had that reference to read after your experience, got with it and out you went!
While I don't usually recommend her books, Sylvia Brown has a wide reaching and powerful effect on lots of people. A Gemini like you would be able to relate easily to her writing and put it to good use. Synchronicity - you gotta love it!
I like your description of "getting caught." That's exactly what it feels like, isn't it? One minute you're free and hovering above the room, and the next minute, ZAP! back down into your corporeal form you go!
As a little kid, I loved that "feeling of return." With practice, most of the time we can control that event, but sometimes, when our physical ears hear a distracting noise or something else occurs to knock us back into reality, back we go. With practice you will be able to control your return better.
I find it interesting that you were visiting your mother-in-law and not someone in your own genetic family. Evidently, you and your husband got married for reasons that are even deeper than love. His family's interest in "psychic stuff" will nurture your children in such matters and help them to grow into their own abilities.
You'll never have to be concerned that when your daughter visits them, she'll be discouraged from exploring her own psychic life and power. My parents encouraged me to develop my psychic senses in a time when it wasn't nice to even discuss such things in public. Heck, it's STILL not considered a great topic at the dinner table in some families!
Your kids will get to talk about it ALL and ask questions and read and study. This is going to give them such an edge in life! Talk with your husband about how you want to present this to your kiddos, so that you are united in your approach and ready to tell them their experiences are all natural and okay.
A word or two of warning: Geminis often have difficulty staying grounded in REAL LIFE. Don't get so strung out on your ASTRAL life that you neglect what you're doing here on Earth.
You are at the beginning of a long journey to learn where your power really lies. Try to be patient with this process and take your time.