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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.

A psychic friend of mine told me that my main spirit guide is Zoraster. I've done a lot a lot of research over the internet about him, and have had a number of "coincidences" related to him. For example, without knowing about my interest in Zoraster, my boyfriend made reference to him out of the blue; he told me that my name (Kira) derives from Zorastrianism. I also run across references to Zoraster in unlikely places. I find it highly improbable that anyone would have a spiritual "celebrity" like this for a guide; it sort of reminds me of past life readings, and everyone believing they were Cleopatra or someone famous - yet I keep having these "coincidental" experiences. If Zoraster IS my guide, then have I been chosen for something special? If so, what is it? Any insights you can offer would be appreciated. Thanks!

- Kira

Dreamchaser:

We very well could have "famous" spirit guides or teaching guides around us. Why not?

As a matter of fact, I received a spirit guide drawing in September of last year. The woman started to draw and then started to laugh. She said, "Well THIS is a first." She then went on to tell me that Abraham Lincoln was a guide for me at the time.

I laughed too at first, but then I started seeing references to Mr. Lincoln everywhere. She had also told me that he was here to teach me about "black and white," and how I see things in only black or white. I then began to be inundated with messages on how I view things in black or white.

There are two types of spirit guides. There are main guides who are with us all of our lives, and then there are teaching guides who come in to teach us particular lessons, after which they leave. Our main guides can help the teaching guides if needed, or they can step back and let the teaching guide have the full spotlight, so to speak.

Honest Abe was/is a teaching guide for me. He will not stay once I have learned all he has to teach me. I know he is not gone yet, because I still see references to him all over the place.

Zoraster is a teaching guide for you. His main teaching was that there is a really balanced system of good and evil in the world. He teaches moderation. He basically teaches about issues of cause and effect - what goes around, comes around. I find it interesting, by the way, that his original texts were written in Iranian, and there is all this war and unrest happening in that part of the world right now.

Another interesting point about him is that he considered light and fire the most powerful elements on earth. Hence there are always fires burning in any temple of Zoroastrianism. You might want to look at how you use light and fire in your own worship rituals, as well as in your day-to-day life.

Other than that, I cannot ask Zoraster about this, or relay a message from him about your lessons with him. That would be cheating. He is here to teach you as you become ready, and as he (and the Universe through him) sees fit.

If I tell you everything that he is here to teach you, then what need is there for him to be here anymore?

We have to let the Universe bring us some things in the proper order. That is why your psychic cannot always answer everything. Some things just must happen as they should happen, and some questions the Universe will just not answer.

Get quiet, stare at a flame as a focal point, and ask Zoraster what you want to know. Maybe he will tell you.

I wish you continuing growth.

*****

Astrea:

I've had several clients who have famous people for Spirit Guides. I feel it's about as likely you will as you won't.

Why wouldn't famous people choose to guide others through life just like "regular" people do? In Heaven, everyone is the same; there are no celebrities there. Compassion for us from occupants of heaven is Universal.

I think these "coincidences" you describe are too important to really BE coincidences! That your own name derives from that religion is so interesting.

Even if Zoroaster is NOT your Spirit Guide, you could have lived when that religion was born, and might have been very instrumental in its formation.

Exploring this is vital if you want to be able to use the psychic abilities you've been given in this incarnation. Rest assured, there is SOME connection there, and you are supposed to find out what that connection is and what it means for you.

Good for you for beginning with the internet; it's a fantastic research tool. I caution you, however, not to believe everything you read. Keep track of what strikes you as "right" and "true" and what hits you "wrong" as you do this research. Make lots of lists.

Then take your information to someone in your area who does past life work, and have them help you uncover your past lives. Many times clients of mine who DO have a famous Guide have had that Guide over MANY incarnations.

It's important to find out how long he's been with you, for if he's been with you for many incarnations, it may be because you haven't learned what you were supposed to learn from him yet. Since your awareness has grown a great deal in THIS incarnation, chances are good that this is the right lifetime for you to accomplish your mission with him at last.

It's also important for you to establish some kind of DIRECT connection to your Guide, no matter who it is, so that you don't always need a channeler for such communication. There are many different techniques for doing that, and if you can find one that works for you, you can find out all you need to know directly from the SOURCE.

Although many people tell me that they have no way to access their own guides, usually when they make enough quiet time and space, their Guides will come through. Try to practice at the SAME time every day so your guide can be ready when you are. What you do and experience with your Guides YOURSELF will be far more meaningful than what others bring through for you.

I think the so-called "coincidences" alone prove that you're being guided to some special spiritual mission. It's up to you to find out what that may be.

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.