Moving on to D...Pagan Blog Project.

Dreams.

What do you dream of when you fall asleep?  Do you get confused by the images and scenes that get played out in your dreamworld?  Or are you like me and have a rough idea of what your subconscious mind is trying to tell you?

Over the years more and more people have become good at interpreting their own dreams, rather than relying on experts.  They fail to see, how the interpretation they receive is relevant to their circumstances, and they have their own ideas about what the symbols in their dreams, which are often a far cry from what books and other experts tell them.
I have always had a knack at interpreting dreams, but not by using the books etc that are available.  I also have a knack of dreaming within minutes of falling asleep- although this is supposed to be impossible, but I can assure you this is what happens to me.
The more stress I am under, the more vivid my dreams - my subconscious trying to get me to take notice of the advice it is trying to give me.  And how does it do that?  By throwing up strange symbolism in my dreams, and this is how it is for everyone.
We dream what we dream because our subconscious minds are trying to help us solve our problems.  The strange images and symbols are designed by our own minds so that we will recall them more easily and so that we will think about what those objects actually mean to us on a personal level.  What one object means to one person can actually mean something else to another.  That is why it is better for us to interpret our own dreams by thinking about what the dream and its symbolism actually means to us.

I have to point out here, that the wise thing to do would be to keep a dream journal, but I nearly always forget to record my dreams and have probably lost valuable information.  Maybe that is why I have so many recurring dreams!
I am a big fan on personalising everything about your craft, from the spells you write, to the potions you may make and that is why I believe we should take over our own dream interpretation.
People often ask others to interpret their dreams and as I have already said, they get a bit miffed when the interpretation doesn't live up to their expectations.  This is because the person interpreting the dream is basing that reading on their own understanding of the symbolism, and it is highly likely that their meaning will differ from that of the querent.  That is why I urge everybody who asks me about dreams to write down what they can remember from the dream and think about what each symbol, image, role in the dream actually means to them.  It does take a lot of practice and is often very frustrating, but once you get the hang of it all it is really quite easy to do.

So, next time you have a dream that leaves you baffled, explore its meaning for yourself, rather than disagreeing with the experts.