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Spirit and Dream Animals, by Richard Webster

(Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal.)

Many years ago, while doing some research in Hong Kong, I accidentally overheard two women talking about dream animals. I went into a café and sat down at a table next to an attractive Asian lady and her American friend. I wasn't paying any attention to their conversation, until I suddenly heard the Asian lady explaining the concept of animal dreaming to her friend. According to her, if a woman dreamt of an animal about the time she became pregnant, her baby would possess the qualities of the animal she had dreamt about. I was fascinated, and after apologizing for overhearing the conversation, asked if I could join in.

The two ladies were very kind and gracious, and allowed me to join them. I learned that, in Asia, dreams are believed to be created by a lack of energy. However, dreaming of an animal does the opposite. These dreams create energy, in addition to providing valuable clues about the personality of the unborn child. I also learned that not all pregnant women dream of animals. These dreams occur only if the unborn child has significant potential.

The Asian woman leaned towards me. "Did you know that Buddha's mother dreamed of a gorgeous white elephant with six tusks that ran around her bed three times?" she asked. "That's a classic example of a prophetic animal dream."

I chatted with the two ladies for about an hour. Just before leaving them, I learned that it was important that the mother-to-be told no one about her animal dreams. "My mother had several dreams involving me before I was born," the Asian lady told me. "She told me they were good, but that's all she's told me about them."

When I returned to my hotel, I wrote down everything I could remember about the conversation. As I'm interested in both dreams and animal symbolism, I tried to learn more about the dreams pregnant women have about animals. Unfortunately, the people I spoke to weren't able to tell me anything that the two women hadn't already covered.

About ten years later, while in Singapore, I was fortunate enough to meet a lady who made her living interpreting t'aimeng, which are predictive dreams about unborn children. Once I got to know her, she was happy to answer my questions, and encouraged me to write Spirit & Dream Animals.

A month or two after that, I had a predictive dream. In the dream I was driving into the city on the freeway. The car in front of me had a personalized plate that read "animal." One week later, I was driving along the same stretch of road that had been in my dream, and saw a car with the personalized plate "anamal." The spelling was slightly different, but it was obviously an omen. Over the years, I've learned to act on these, and a week or two later I began working on the book.

Although I first heard about predictive dreams involving animals while traveling in the Far East, they can be found all around the world. Here's an example. Olympias, the mother of Alexander the Great, dreamt that she was sleeping with Ammon, the horned god. In the dream, Ammon told her that she had conceived a male child who would be her avenger.

Men can also experience predictive dreams about their unborn children. In the Bible, Joseph experienced a predictive dream after discovering that Mary, his wife, was pregnant. An angel appeared to him in the dream and told him the unborn child, Jesus, was the Son of God (Matthew 1:20-21).

Animals are often overlooked in our dreams. However, they fulfill an important purpose. Carl Jung, the Swiss psychiatrist, noticed that people frequently dream of helpful animals, or animal-headed people, when they are ill. In some way, these animals symbolize the healing process. One of the central beliefs of shamanism is the intrinsic connection between animals and humans. Shamans perform their tasks by using their power animals, or guardian spirits, to connect with the animal world. This connection frequently occurs in dreams.

Animals sometimes appear in dreams as human beings. The Jívaro people of South America find that a guardian spirit usually appears first as an animal, before appearing as a human being in a dream. The Jívaro believe that if an animal speaks to you, it is undoubtedly your power animal. It's not surprising that animals can appear in human form in our dreams, as we are both living on this planet together, and are related in many different ways.

Australian Aborigines frequently refer to "Dreamtime," when the world was fresh and new, and ancestor spirits created form and shape to the land. Some of these mythic beings were people, while others were totem animals. The ancestor spirits had the ability to change from person to animal to help them decide what they wanted to be. According to Aborigine belief, animals still remember making their choice. The great fertility mothers and male genitors created the first people; these mythic figures are eternal, and even though some are killed, disappear, or change shape in the Aboriginal mythic stories, their integral qualities remain. They are spiritually just as alive today as they ever were, and the places where they metamorphosed became, and remain, sacred grounds. In the Dreamtime, man is just one part of nature, and is not considered especially different to the mythic people and animals that live there. The land still retains its memories of the Dreamtime, as do the Aboriginal people. Everyone is given an animal spirit at birth, and this provides the person with guidance, wisdom, and protection.

Dreaming of animals can be highly beneficial. They provide comfort, advice, and protection; they even provide advance warning of upcoming danger, when necessary. Their task is to help you progress through life. Because of this, you should pay attention to your animal dreams.

You should also be aware of your guardian animals while you are awake. If you are not aware of your guardian animals, ask them to make themselves known to you in your dreams. Once you have discovered who they are, communicate with them regularly, and call on them whenever you need advice, help, or comfort.

By paying attention to your guardian animals, and the animals that appear in your dreams, you'll gain confidence and a sense of direction and purpose. Every aspect of your life will improve as a result.

Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal. Copyright Llewellyn Worldwide, 2011. All rights reserved.

Often when I'm sleeping, I experience sleep paralysis. (I feel my soul trying to lift out of my body to astral travel, and when I try to wake up, I feel paralyzed. I've yet to achieve conscious projection, though I've tried many times.) I have to say the Lord's Prayer to fully wake up. A few nights ago this was happening, and when I opened my eyes, I saw this flash in the corner of the bedroom, and I heard a voice say, "He is coming." It went through me with this horrible laugh. I told my sister about it, and she said that people tend to hallucinate when they wake up fast. This is not the first strange experience I've had like this. Do you think I was hallucinating? If not, what do you think this was? Thanks!

Brittany

Dreamchaser:

While some people may call what you were doing "hallucinating," that is definitely not what you were doing.

You write that you were aware of being paralyzed; that would indicate that your body is not properly aligned with your conscious mind and your soul. A part of you is on the Otherside, and that is the part that is experiencing things in the Other World. These are most definitely not hallucinations - they are actual experiences.

The voice and laughter you heard did not come from something evil that was out to hurt you. I feel you were actually picking up a passing conversation.

If you are driving in your car with your windows down and the radio off, and you pull up to a corner where people are standing and talking, you will be able to hear bits of their conversation. As soon as you take off, they will fade out. If you go to another corner where the lights are really bright, for a few seconds you will see bright lights.

Something similar was happening as you were going back into your body. You were hearing bits and pieces of conversations, and seeing lights and shadows on your way back. The man with the laughter was not there FOR you, and he was not trying to scare you.

We need to remember that not everything on the Otherside is pretty. Some things are ugly, loud, move really fast, and can scare the heck out of us. Our "human" sides see or hear things and equate them with scary things from THIS world. I often wonder if our horror book and film writers have brought visions back of things they saw on the Other Side, and then just amped them up for greater entertainment value. (That, however, is another column).

I do not believe you are asleep when you feel your soul take off. I think you have always been an astral traveler, so you are used to experiencing this at a conscious level. Trust me, Brittany, not very many people can say that they feel their souls leave their bodies while they are sleeping.

You are in fact not asleep - you are in a state of consciousness between being awake and being asleep. Since your soul has always done this, this is normal for you. Other people have to read books or take classes and work hard to accomplish conscious astral travel.

If you are scared, you can always ask your guides and other helpful beings from the Otherworld to protect you when you are sleeping. You can just say out loud, "I ask for protection while I sleep. Please allow my body to rest peacefully. I ask this in the name of the One God." That should do it.

Of course, you can use your own terminology if you don't like mine - just be sure to ask in the name of the One God.

I wish you peace-full sleep.

*****

Astrea:

It doesn't sound like you were hallucinating; instead, it sounds like you were seeing and hearing what I would call a "Trouble Spirit."

Many times we see or hear things when we first wake up that are not real. However, when two or more of your five (six?) senses are engaged at the same time, most likely there is something or someone there with you that is not of the flesh.

Whether this is happening or not, it's a good idea to do a ritual to rid yourself of any negative energy around you, especially if you're planning to engage in nightly astral travel or otherwise open yourself to spirit entities. Psychic states are VULNERABLE states, and you must protect yourself at all times.

I hear tale after tale of awful things that happen to people who aren't exercising the proper protection before embarking on psychic journeys. Spiritual explorers must be careful not to invite negative entities into their lives, psyches, or homes.

One of the simplest ways to keep unwanted sprits banished from your home is by burning sage. This remedy comes from Native American tradition. It drives away unhappy and scary spirits, but it allows happy ones to stay with you.

If you experience this kind of "visit" often as you're waking or falling asleep, you can also keep a bell or whistle beside your bed, or anything that will make a loud, high-pitched noise. Evil spirits don't like loud, high, discordant sounds.

You can also put a broomstick over your bedroom door and a bottle of rum or vinegar at your back door. That practice comes from voodoo, and I can just about guarantee it will work. There is not an evil spirit or entity that would dare venture past those.

You might also appeal to St. Uncumber, who is well known throughout most of Europe for helping people get rid of unwanted boyfriends and girlfriends. St. Uncumber was a celibate princess who prayed that her arranged fiance wouldn't want to marry her. She woke the next day with a FULL BEARD, which I bet did the trick!

Place a white plate of oats on your altar or at the back door (the oats were to draw a horse to carry the unwanted one away). Then pray in your own way that St. Uncumber will disencumber you from the unwanted entity. Visualize the entity happy, well and handsome. (This also works for unwanted boyfriends or girlfriends, if you can sneak a few oats into their shoe.)

As a last resort, you can call in a professional exorcist, but I don't usually recommend that because evil spirits LOVE attention, so this can sometimes make things worse. You can also wear a St. Michael medal to bed at night, and hang St. Benedict over the head of your bed.

Happy traveling!

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.