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March 13 through March 19, 2023

The workload kicks up this week, and we'll be running on all cylinders until the weekend, so keeping our noses to the grindstone is the best way forward. The Sagittarius Moon will keep us balanced as we sort out the piles of obligations awaiting us on Monday and Tuesday. A Capricorn Moon will add the productive energy we need to get through Wednesday and Thursday. Venus will enter Taurus, a sign it rules, on Wednesday, helping us reorder our priorities before moving forward. There'll be a lot of brainstorming and information to sort through under Friday's Aquarius Moon, so share your ideas and make surfing the internet highway a theme. Mercury will move into Aries on Saturday, sparking creative and innovative ideas for us to consider, but since it's the weekend, the main activity should be socializing, catching up with friends, and updating our social media and electronics to make them more current. Let's all take a breather on Sunday as the Moon drifts through Pisces and allows us to step back from all the demands that have littered our week.

3 Common Nightmares & What They Mean, by Clare R. Johnson

(Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal.)

Scary dreams have so much energy! Even the most terrifying nightmares carry creative, healing, and spiritual gifts. When we unwrap our disturbing dreams and nightmares, we understand how these gifts can empower us in our waking life.

Many people report anxiety dreams or dreams with distressing content. Nightmares have been on the rise since the outbreak of the pandemic, but the most common themes remain the same as always: that we are trapped, chased or attacked by shadowy men or aggressive animals, or we find ourselves in the midst of an apocalyptic disaster.

Let's have a look at why such nightmares come, and how we can work with them to discover any personal meaning they may have for ourselves and our life situation. Only the dreamer can know for sure what their own dream or nightmare signifies for them personally, and the best way to find out is by doing dreamwork to unwrap the deeper meaning.

Disaster Nightmares
"An earthquake rips the ground open and people are screaming and falling into the chasm."

Have you ever had distressing dreams of fires, tsunamis, hurricanes, or other natural disasters?

During the pandemic, many people report dreams of giant bugs taking over the planet. Other common disaster nightmares are scenes of warzones or other man-made disasters such as shipwrecks or plane crashes.

Some natural disaster dreams may reflect our relationship to our planet, our reaction to current news events, and our fears about the future, but more often this type of nightmare flags up emotional upheaval, helplessness, and terror in the face of unwanted changes. When such dreams arise, it can mean that we are feeling overwhelmed during an extremely challenging time. Drowning in dreams often seems linked to feeling overwhelmed by emotions or a life situation.

If you have this kind of nightmare, see if you can build a bridge between the core emotion in the dream and something you are currently dealing with in your life. Ask yourself: "When did I last experience that sense of 'I'll never make it!' in my life?" Or: "When did I last feel so desperate?" Often it will be possible to connect this feeling to something in our life: "Oh, right—I've been feeling like I'll never make the deadline for this project and it's making me feel totally panicked and desperate."

One woman had recurring nightmares about earthquakes while she was going through a divorce. Although she felt she was coping with her situation, when she worked with her nightmares, she was able to connect her feelings of terror and instability to her suppressed fears of what would happen to her once the divorce was finalised. She realised she needed to create a life-saving plan of action for her post-divorce life.

Dreams are mirrors. They show us how we are really feeling, and remind us to act to change our lives for the better, by enlisting help, creating a plan, or changing unhelpful behaviours so that we can move forward with joy instead of fear.

Scary Animals and Frightening Beasts
"I'm standing on a high pinnacle of rock. A huge, fire-breathing dragon swoops towards me aggressively and I'm terrified that he'll either attack me or cause me to fall to my death."

Have you ever had nightmares involving animals who bite or chase you, or mythological beasts whose power paralyses you with fear?

When dream animals want to get our attention, they might attack us, pin us down, roar in our faces, scratch, bite, or pursue us. They might even rip us to pieces and kill us. But this doesn't mean that they are negative energies—in fact, dream animals are fascinating to work with. Their instinctive, wild energy can reveal our conflicts and the shadowy aspects of ourselves or other people in our lives. They may also have a shamanic significance, linking us to the spirit world.

A nightmarish animal or beast is trying to wake us up to something that needs addressing within us, or in our life. Nightmares come to propel us towards psychological wholeness. We can get to the heart of an animal nightmare and discover any message it may have for us by asking some key questions: "Which qualities does this animal embody for me?" "How does it feel to go through life in this animal's skin?"

Vividly imagine yourself as that animal, seeing the world through its eyes, feeling its energy move through you, speaking with its voice. What does it want or need? What is it afraid of? What wisdom does it offer?

This kind of imaginative dreamwork is based on Gestalt therapy, developed by Fritz Perls in the early 1950s. It's a wonderful way of connecting deeply with the energy of a nightmare figure, and can be done alone if it feels right, or with a friend or therapist present if there is a lot of fear or difficult emotions such as disgust or guilt. Some nightmares should not be worked on alone, so do check in with yourself before you engage on these deeper levels with threatening nightmare figures.

A woman who dreamed a dragon was swooping at her while she stood alone on a high pinnacle realised the dragon symbolised her husband, an aggressive and domineering man who was also having an affair. She understood how unsafe he made her feel on every level, and how threatening this situation was to her wellbeing. The nightmare showed her a vivid picture of how alone and threatened she felt, and helped her to understand that something had to change fast.

Being Trapped
"I'm in a dark room with no doors or windows. A malicious presence is there with me, and I can't escape."

Have you had terrifying dreams of being trapped in a burning building, or in a crashing airplane? People often report nightmares of being stuck in terrible situations, screaming for help but nobody comes to their rescue.

Such nightmares are often linked to feelings of helplessness, a lack of emotional support, and a belief in one's inability to change a situation.

If you have a nightmare like this, ask yourself: "Where in my life do I feel trapped and powerless, as if there's no way out?" Or ask: "Where do I need to take action in my life?" And, crucially: "Who can I turn to for help in my life?"

One woman had recurring nightmares of being trapped in a doorless, windowless room. She easily linked the feelings of helplessness and panic to her current psychological crisis. During a therapy session, she mentally re-entered the nightmare feeling safe and supported. She was able to imagine herself finding a window, through which she escaped into a beautiful flowering courtyard.

This felt symbolic to her. She realised that she did have choices in her life and could seek a more nourishing, hopeful space for herself. Once she had resolved the dream story in this way, the nightmares didn't return.

When we do empowering imaginative work with a nightmare, equipping our dreaming self with resources such as a sense of safety, a strong ally, or magical powers, we can often break the cycle of bad dreams.

Our dreaming mind wants us to be whole and healthy. All dreams come to help us—if they can't get our attention in any other way, they create shocking scenarios to make us sit up and listen to what's going on within us.

We need to listen to our dreams and nightmares, because they speak to us right from our own heart and soul and have wonderful gifts of insight and wisdom to share with us.

My new book, The Art of Transforming Nightmares, aims to empower dreamers by giving them practical tools to resolve nightmares and other disturbing sleep experiences in healing ways.

Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal. Copyright Llewellyn Worldwide, 2021. All rights reserved.

I keep having a dream about my father's old house. I lived there for three years, starting when I was ten, and I hated it there. In my dreams, it's always winter or fall, and I'm either visiting or living there. I don't know why I keep having dreams about this house because I really hated it. My dad bought the house from his parents. I remember when they used to live there. I always went to visit them there, and when they lived there, I remember liking the house. After my dad bought it and I had to live there, that changed. I don't get along with my dad and stepmom and hated having to live with them after they bought the house. They sold it about 10 years ago, but in the past year (after getting stationed on the ship I'm on now), I've been dreaming about this house more frequently. It's starting to irritate me. Can you tell me why I keep dreaming about this house? Thank you.

Diana

Susyn:

When people frequently dream about a certain house, it's usually a sign that they are processing important information. Because this was a house that you actually lived in and had many different life experiences in, the feelings it evokes in your dreams are very telling.

You mentioned that when your grandparents lived in this house, you liked it. It was only later, when you had to live there, that you began to dislike the place. It's important that during this time, you were forced to live there with your father and a stepmother you hated. I am betting that your feelings about the house are more about the experiences you had there than the place itself.

You also mentioned that in your dreams of the house, it is always winter or fall. These seasons immediately bring to mind images of coldness and darkness. I would imagine that this reflects how you were feeling during this period of your life. You lived there from the age of ten to thirteen; these are very formative years. There was probably a lot of unhappiness during this time, and perhaps other events that you were forced to put up with or emotions you buried. It's not surprising that years later, these unprocessed feelings are starting to emerge.

Repeating dreams are a sign that we have work to do. In this particular situation, you are being alerted that it's time to look at the childhood events that went on in this house from the perspective of a mature adult. If you don't do this, the dreams will continue. Feelings of abandonment, betrayal, loss and powerlessness can all lie below the surface of such a dream. I feel that whatever was going on between you and your father during this time is still causing you trouble and pain.

It is interesting to note that you started having these dreams when you were stationed on the ship you are now on. I am wondering if you are feeling a bit adrift, as though you have no real home at present. If so, it would be natural for a home from your past to play a big role in your dreams. Since our dreams have a way of reflecting our current fears and desires, whenever we're longing for a sense of home, we may begin to have dreams about various houses we've inhabited in the past.

I am certain that once you acknowledge and work through whatever you need to heal and release from this difficult phase in your life, the dreams will change or be replaced by others. The important thing is that you do not focus on the actual house itself, but on making peace with the unhappy events that took place there.

*****

Oceania:

Being out at sea, far from family and the house of your pre-teen years, has lulled you into a state of greater calm and serenity. You are surrounded by Mother Nature, or in this case, Mother Sea. This is allowing the process of overdue healing to take place. It's not really the house you're dreaming about - the house is just a symbolic container for the emotional pain you experienced during the three years you resided there.

Like sunken treasures being hauled up from the depths, memories and old feelings are trying to surface, but your resistance to the process is impeding the flow. Please trust that this is a positive healing process. It may be temporarily uncomfortable, but it will prove freeing in the long run. Repressed feelings are a heavy burden that, much like an anchor, can keep you from moving forward.

It is painful for children to go through divorces and remarriage. There is so much grief involved: the loss of an intact family and often the loss of a familiar home, room, school, friends and neighborhood. Not only did you dislike your father and stepmother, you lost a lot by moving in with them. You used the word hate, which we experience when we feel trapped and have no one to hear our genuine feelings.

Imagine turning over the dirt in the back yard of the house to discover what's buried under the hate. It may be hurt, anger, fear or sadness. Imagine opening the doors and the windows of the house. Imagine walking from room to room. Observe Diana at the ages of 10-13. See if you can identify what she was feeling, first from your perspective as an observer, and then from HER perspective, through her young eyes.

Old feelings can be uncomfortable and you may not want to revisit them, but they're with you every day ANYWAY, and you're expending a lot of energy trying to push them away. As you've noticed, they keep coming back like a boomerang, and will continue to do so until acknowledged. The only way to release and dissipate feelings is to embrace, feel and express them! Take some time to grieve. Close your eyes and allow old emotions to drift into your consciousness and take form in your body, then express them through spoken or written words. You can be raw and ugly - this exercise is for you alone.

Autumn is about letting go. Your childhood feelings are like dead leaves clinging to a tree branch. Let them go so you can enter the dormancy and renewal winter, finish grieving your childhood losses, and start growing some new dreams in the spring.

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.