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April 10 through April 16, 2023

Things should hum along smoothly this week, with the only astrological shift being Venus' entry into Gemini on Monday. We'll find ourselves expressing ourselves more openly and lovingly under this influence, sharing unconditional love and support with all those around us. The Capricorn Moon will cast a productive air around us on Tuesday through Thursday, so midweek is the time to focus on getting things done. Friday and Saturday's Aquarius Moon inspires us to think different as we head into the weekend, so this is a great time to try something new, venture out to meet new friends, or take up a global cause that is dear to our hearts. We can all lay back on Sunday and relax, as the watery Pisces Moon will promote going internal and nurturing our spiritual sides. It could also make it a bit hard to get anything done, so hope you took care of the essentials midweek!

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 recently saw a TV show on twins and they were saying that twins are so much alike because they share the same genetics, not because they share a psychic connection. As a twin, I have always felt intuitively connected to my sister even though we have very different tastes, ideals and traits. I just wondered what you think about the psychic and astrological aspects of twins, and if you could shed some light on why my sister and I are actually so different even though we were born within minutes of each other. Our birth date is June 24, 1974. Thanks!
Ella

Susyn:

Whether you are coming from a genetic or astrological viewpoint, the study of twins is really fascinating. In addition to biology, twins share the same womb for nine months and almost always share the same birthday. Some twins are very similar in nature while others form very different personalities, but they all tend to share a psychic connection that most scientists can't explain. Metaphysically, these two souls chose to come into the world together, so they are bound by heart and spirit in addition to physical similarities.

One study I read involved twins who were separated at birth. Even though they did not grow up together, their lives tended to mirror each other's. The research showed that their preferences, life experiences, career choices, homes, and even the names of and number of children or pets they had were remarkably similar.

Twins develop their own personalities as they grow. Even though they share the same birthday, twins can appear to be very different from one another. One may be an extrovert while the other tends to be shy; one may excel at studies while the other tends to be less serious and more creative.

Each sign of the zodiac has different attributes. Twins, being two halves of a whole, may each display different personalities. For example, Aries is associated with assertiveness, ambition and determination. It also embodies the traits of loyalty, hard work and frugality. So while one Aries twin might be an entrepreneur and always challenging herself with higher goals, the other may carry a reputation for being a dependable and reliable long-term employee.

In the case of you and your sister, you have even more choices. Born under the sign of Cancer but during the month associated with Gemini, you are influenced by both signs. Many people born during the last 10 to 12 days of a month will actually operate as a blended sign by integrating the traits of both. Cancers are typically defined as sensitive, emotional, creative and introverted. They love to cook and garden. Geminis are intellectual. They can have difficulty making up their minds and tend to be extroverts. They love communication and variety. You and your sister may each share different traits of both these signs.

The wonderful thing about twins is that they are psychically connected in every way, but are still free to grow and develop into individuals with unique tastes. Even though they share the same Sun sign and planetary positions at the time of birth, they are not astrologically limited, for each one has a unique soul and destiny.

*****

Oceania:

You don't say whether you and sister are identical or fraternal twins, so I'll address both cases. Identical twins occur when one fertilized egg divides into two embryos. They're also known as monozygotic twins, meaning from one egg. Fraternal twins occur when a woman's ovaries release two eggs during the same cycle and both are fertilized. They're also known as dizygotic twins, meaning from two eggs.

Fraternal twins can have different fathers if the timing is right, but even when they share a father, they can differ greatly in appearance and personality. Genetically, fraternal twins are no more similar than any two siblings; they just happen to be the same age. One fraternal twin might be cautious and compliant, while the other is bold and adventurous. Their unique approaches to life cause people to respond to them differently, so their life experiences begin to diverge.

Twins of any variety often describe feeling an intuitive connection with one another, which probably stems from sharing close quarters during their first nine months of life and being constant companions thereafter for many years. Twins share the perspective of being born into the same family, community and society at the same moment in history. Their shared memories are unique to the two of them, which creates a strong bond.

The fact that you and your sister are so different suggests you are fraternal twins, but since identical twins are always of the same sex, you may be of that variety. In that case, your differences can be explained in part by molecules known as epigenetic markers, which attach to genes and switch their expression on or off. Science is still learning what factors affect the development of these markers; so far they know they can be triggered by diet, illness or exposure to pollutants like cigarette smoke.

Although this chemical process can make twins less identical over time, adoption research still shows that even when identical twins are raised apart, they end up more similar than do unrelated children who were adopted and raised under the same roof.

Psychological factors can contribute to the development of differences in identical twins. I once worked with a family with identical twin girls and observed that their feisty, independent personalities seemed to spark a determination to be different from each other. They had fun experimenting with different looks, hobbies and educational pursuits. If they had not been so similar to begin with, they may not have felt driven to be so creatively different!

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.