Interpreting Scary Dreams

For Halloween, listen to Beyond 50's "Personal Growth" talks with Michael Sheridan in Seattle.  He is the founder of Aisling Dream Interpretation and has been teaching the art since 1992.   Sheridan will talk about the simplicity of dream interpretation to better understand the symbolism behind the scary ones.  Their underlying meaning can reveal the steps you need to take that's important in your life. 

The Nature of Scary Dreams

Nightmares that elicit fears are often asking us to face the fears rooted from our past experiences.  They can also be triggered by witnessing something scary, like watching a horror movie that can play out in the dream state.

On the flip side, nightmares can reflect on the good in your life by bringing it forward, based on successes of your past. It lets you know that you are capable because you've dealt similarly with the circumstance before and it can be overcome.

"What is most interesting is that just like ordinary dreams, nightmares can comment on any aspect of your life and the message can be something you welcome or something you do not.  The only difference is your ability to remember a nightmare is fantastic compared to an ordinary dream," wrote Sheridan in his book, "How to Interpret Your Dreams And Discover Your Life Purpose."

Dreams are a dialogue between your Soul and your Higher-Self. Each dream is
dispatched to give healing or guidance on a specific topic but through free
will the message of the dream can be rejected. Your subconscious mind has
great influence here and frequently projects your fears into the dream
which distorts the nature of the characters and turns what would have been
an ordinary dream into a nightmare. 

"Life is about increasing your awareness of yourself.  Awareness is gained directly through eliminating the control the subconscious mind has in areas of your life," added Sheridan.

Common Nightmares

Savage Animals - Usually, it's about an animal we know, like dogs can represent our animal nature and doing things to survive.

Bats & Vampires - Symbolizes that your mind has great powers.  You've misused your mind to negatively affect others when you think badly about them.  You're sucking the life force out of someone by thinking.  The dream is reminding you of your power and that it is your responsibility to control it, or accept the karmic consequence.

Spiders - They represent irrational fears with regard to something going on in your life.

Getting Killed - Often experienced by children in the dream state, but rarely by adults.  This often means that a child is coming to terms about being mortal.  They can come from receiving many fearful messages from their parents for safety reasons.

Being Naked in Public - The message is about not being afraid to be honest before others.  You are being asked to be yourself - literally show your true self.

Black Color - Indicates negativity along the lines of fear, anxiety, resentment, hatred or guilt.

Negative Characters - Negative male and female characters represent negative traits brought out in you by your parents.  This does not necessarily reflect how your parents were, but rather a trait or traits you adopted as a result of how your parents were.

Trying to Escape, But Can't Get Away - A way of recalling a time when we couldn't get away from someone we didn't feel unconditional love.  We form our reactions from the core people in our life.

Skeletons - Means you have the ability to intuitively know what's wrong with a person, either with the gift of hands-on healing or psychic surgery.

Grave - Can represent your digestive and elimination system.  The color brown and the earthiness of the burial place are sufficient to indicate the digestive system.

Meeting Loved Ones Who Have Passed Away - They will usually dialogue with you with an important message that needs no symbolic translation.  The communication is usually done on the Astral plane.

---