Every day as I browse the bookshelves I see them. The desperate, the confused, the lost desperately seeking answers anyone can give them. They buy self-help books, cheap new age texts telling them everything is alright, but worst of all, they buy dream dictionaries.
Let us pause and consider what a dream is. According to the shamanistic perspective the dreamworld IS the spirit world, and every dream carries an important message. These messages are hidden among symbolism that will be recognizable to the dreamer. How then can an author create a "all-purpose" dream dictionary? Do we all interpret symbols in the same way?
To allow someone to discard the individual meaning of your dream and replace with an over-generalized symbol relevant only to the author is nothing short of imperialism, perhaps even spiritual rape. Your dreams should be one of your most sacred possessions, for it is through them most of us experiance the spirit world, and through them we can find guidance, meaning, and answers to our most dire questions.
Dr. Francis Crick, the man who discovered DNA, didn't do it be studying or running tests. He claims that one night he dreamed of molecules and proteins combining into a strange shape he had never seen before. When he awoke, he jotted the symbol down, and today we know it as the "spiral ladder" of DNA.
But let us return to the individul symbolism of dreams. What does Bat symbolize to you? Perhaps fear, or darkness, death, maybe even evil. What is Bat to me? The cave is seen as the entrance to the spirit world in Shamanism, making Bat a guardian of the spirit world, the teacher of the mysteries of the unknown. Bat helps to move through the necessary shedding of the old and embracing of the new, to confront the "little" deaths of change, transition, and transformation, along with guiding the souls of the dead to the afterlife. One special guidance tool it symbolically offers is sonar navigation. Like Dolphin, Bat uses echolocation to guide it, so if we study and attune to Bat, we can learn to swoop with grace through transformation and rebirth, trusting that our own inner guidance and intuition will help us find our way.
This is not to say that only one person can decipher a dream, on the contrary, as long as you explain any details that might contribute to the dream, nearly anyone can help. If I know you, I know your dreams. So please, rather then continue to send these scam artists money, consult with friends, family, or the spirits themselves on the meaning of your dream. If you are still confused, email me, and perhaps I can help you understand the message of your dream.
Fort more on Bat, my power animal, ramble onward.
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