My recollection of this dream ballad goes in and out of random happenings until I find myself exploring high magical tech among Roman ruins and a starry night...
Gazing over the Golden Gate Bridge with Phong and Geoff, watching the madness of the city spill out in every direction as we discuss how relieved we are to be out of the city and immersed in nature. Concrete sprawls and cars drive by in every direction. We watch as visitors, hovering over the landscape like the ghost of Scrooge while everything below keeps busy, unaware of our presence...
I later find myself helping Sonja pack all her belongings into a Mini Cooper, super Tetris style. My next move is to fit a bike into the car. Some how this scene morphs into the next scene where I'm again moving and positioning things like Tetris...
.......
The landscape is wide open and immaculate.
Ancient Roman ruins scatter the land as I peer down with a bird's eye view of my surroundings with intrinsic detail of stone blocks stacked on one another, forming numerous archways, stairs and towers.
Back on the ground, still tetrisizing the things around me, I pick up a thin gadget of high tech. It looks like a cross between a small ipad and the dropbox module I've been building into Dreamcatcher's ImageBank. As I move it around, it shows me how everything around me fits together like tetris pieces as I click on things and reposition them on the landscape. The device isn't quite able to actually move the objects for me, but I know that the next release will have that feature.
I now begin to use the device like a high def camera, taking pictures of supreme epicness around with the ability to capture more detail and resolution than I can actually see. The night sky above showers deep glowing contrast on the ruins around me from stars and galaxies shining down brighter than ever.
Walking around taking photos of everything, I come to my dad sitting in a chandelier reading, high above with strands of crystals around him hanging down and a blinding white light behind his head. I stop and shoot up at him as he smiles and continues reading...
.......
To dream that you or someone is playing Tetris, indicates that you are juggling various responsibilities in your life. You are overwhelmed with trying to fit everything into your busy schedule. The dream is analogous to sorting out and organizing the different aspects of your life.
The symbolic sense of ruins is self-evident and derived directly from
the literal sense: they signify desolation and life defunct. They are tantamount to
sentiments, ideas or bonds which are no longer animated by the breath of life but
which nevertheless persist shorn of any use or function relevant to thought and
existence, but saturated with the past and redolent with a sense of the destruction
of its reality wrought by the passage of time. Ruins are symbolically equivalent
to biological mutilation.
To see ruins in your dream, suggest that you are neglecting aspects of your life or that it is falling apart. You feel you are self-destructing. It is time to get on the right path.
To dream of ruins, signifies broken engagements to lovers, distressing conditions in business, destruction to crops, and failing health.
To dream of ancient ruins, foretells that you will travel extensively, but there will be a note of sadness mixed with the pleasure in the realization of a long-cherished hope. You will feel the absence of some friend.
To dream of looking upon clear, shining stars, foretells good health and prosperity. If they are dull or red, there is trouble and misfortune ahead.
To see a shooting or falling star, denotes sadness and grief.
To see stars appearing and vanishing mysteriously, there will be some strange changes and happenings in your near future.
If you dream that a star falls on you, there will be a bereavement in your family.
To see them rolling around on the earth, is a sign of formidable danger and trying times.
Old dream interpretation books say that seeing stars in your dream means that your wishes are going to be fulfilled. Even from a more pragmatic point of view, stars seem to be positive dream symbols. They could represent insight, luck, fortune and the mysteries of the universe. Stars represent those wonderful things that we aspire to but have difficulty obtaining. To follow a star is to follow a dream, an insight, or your intuition to a more desirable location or position in life. Thus, stars in your dreams could also symbolise internal or external guidance and truth.
Logically speaking it may be deduced that the countryside—
landscapes of all kinds—is the mundane manifestation of a dynamic complex
which in origin was non-spatial. Inner forces are liberated to unfold as forms
which disclose in themselves the qualitative and quantitative order of their inner
tensions. Thus a mountain crest becomes a graphic sign. Let us take, by way of
illustration, landscapes as they appear in dreams. Leaving aside the phenomenon
of memory, reminiscence, or the complex association of various sense-data, the
scenes and towns which figure in dreams are neither arbitrary and indeterminate
nor objective: they are symbolic—that is, they well up in order to illuminate
certain momentary experiences called forth by varying combinations of influences in varying degrees of intensity. Landscape-scenes arising in the imagination
in this way are sustained solely by the validity, duration and intensity of the
feelings which aroused them. Form—just as in physical morphology—is the
diagram of force. Now, what we have said about landscapes in dreams can be
applied also to an actual landscape, seen and selected by an automatic response of
the unconscious, which detects in it an affinity that gives us pause and makes us
return to it again and again. This, then, is a question not of a projection of the mind
but of an analogy whereby the landscape is adopted by the spirit in consequence
of the inner bond linking the character of the scene with the spirit of the observer
himself. Subjectivism concerns only the act of choosing. The intellection of the
significance of a landscape is, then, wholly objective, as is the grasping of the
symbolic values of colours and numbers. The Chinese saw this with the utmost
clarity: as Luc Benoist has observed, Chinese art has always placed more emphasis upon landscape than upon man (as a figure, that is to say), and upon the
macrocosm rather than the microcosm. ‘If the superior man loves the countryside,’ to quote the words of Kuo Hsi, ‘why is this so? Hills and gardens will
always be the haunts of him who seeks to cultivate his original nature; fountains
and rocks are a constant joy to him who wanders whistling among them. . .’ (6).
It is a well-established tradition of symbology that the different worlds (or zones)
are strictly only different states of being. Hence the fact that the ‘chosen site’ is
the enshrining image which arises out of it. The ‘trysting place’, when it truly
possesses that character, and is not merely arbitrary or fortuitous, signifies a
meeting or ‘conjoining’ in precisely this same sense—that is, transposed into topographical or spatial terms (26). However revolutionary these assertions may
seem, they are nevertheless confirmed by the findings of the psychology of form
and by isomorphism, since it has been shown that it is not possible to distinguish
between psychic and physical formal processes—other than externally. In support of all this, there is the comment of Mircea Eliade that ‘In point of fact, man
never chooses a site, he simply “discovers it”. . . . One of the means of discovering
one’s situation is by orientation’ (17). Now, in order to grasp the symbolic sense
of a landscape it is necessary to distinguish between the predominant elements
and the merely incidental, and between the character of the whole and the character of the component elements. When the predominant element is a cosmic one,
its effect is to bind all the other components together, and it is this cosmic
ingredient which makes its influence felt over and above that of the individual
features of the landscape. Instances of such cosmic features are the sea, the
desert, the icy wastes, the mountain-peak, clouds and sky. It is when the ingredients of landscape-symbolism are varied and evenly balanced that symbolic interpretation is most needed. The interpreter must, then, look for the following: (a)
a spatial pattern organized within particular limits which endow it with a structure after the manner of a building or a work of art. By spatial symbolism we
mean, in the first place, the symbolism of level, that is, the disposition of the
zones of the landscape according to the three levels of the normal, the lower and
the higher; and secondly the symbolism of orientation, that is, the position of the
accidental elements in relation to the north-south and the east-west axes. He must
then bear in mind (b) the form—the pattern or the shape of the terrain, whether
it is undulating or broken, steeply sloped or flat, soft or hard; (c) the positional
relationship of the particular area chosen to the region as a whole or to the zone
surrounding it—whether it is lower or higher, more open or more enclosed; and
finally (d) the natural and artificial elements which make up the organized pattern: trees, shrubs, plants, lakes, springs, wells, rocks, sandy shores, houses,
steps, benches, grottoes, gardens, fences, doors and gates. Also important is the
predominating colour, or the clash of colours, or the general feeling of fecundity or
barrenness, of brightness or gloom, of order or disorder. Roads and cross-roads
are of great significance, and so are streams. About the objective meaning of each
of the factors we have listed above there is much that we could say; however,
since the more important factors—such as the symbolism of level—are dealt
with under separate headings, we will here add no more than a few notes. Steepness indicates primitiveness and regression; flat country denotes the apocalyptic
end, the longing for power and for death. There is a Persian tradition that, when
the end of the world has come—when Ahriman is vanquished for ever, the mountains will be levelled and all the earth will become one great plain. Ideas cognate with this are to be found in certain traditions of Israel and France (35). It would
not be hard to point to the history of architecture and town-planning as evidence
of the subconscious application of these principles. Furthermore, there are some
aspects of landscapes which have a symbolic air about them that is very difficult
to analyse intellectually. For instance, the following descriptive passage from
Dante’s Commedia has always seemed to us to evoke an atmosphere of profound
mystery: ‘Around this little island, in its lowest reaches, there, where it is lashed
by the waves, reeds grow in the soft mud’ (Purgatorio I, 100). Independent of the
cosmic significance of landscape, there may also be a sexual implication. It is also
essential to bear in mind that this is not strictly a matter of symbols as such but
of complex, symbolic functions. For instance, in scenes depicting low-lying topographical features, the following factors may be at work: (a) depth in the sense
of what is base, comparable therefore with the wicked and infernal; (b) depth in
the sense of what is symbolically profound; (c) depth as it pertains to the material earth itself, implying a chthonian and maternal symbolism. Only the context
can help us to tell the essence from the accessory—as is true also of the vast
majority of symbols. Here we must bear in mind the primitive concept of the
archetypal ‘ideal countryside’. Schneider has observed that the fact of there being
so many identical names for rivers and mountains in different parts of the world,
suggests that megalithic ways of thought must have led to the custom of naming
the topographical features of different regions after some ideal model. This model,
it may be argued, could be the product of the lasting impression made upon the
mind of Primitive Man by a particular environment endowed with such unity and
variety as to prevent him from ever wishing to leave it; but it could also be
explained as the projection of a psychic order founded upon laws comparable
with those governing quaternary patterns, or the mandala, etc. Man’s attention
was first drawn to the contraposition of heaven and earth by topographical
features, and he gave expression to this in the struggle between gods and Titans,
angels and demons, and in the opposition of mountain and valley. Next, he set out
to explain the earth’s surface by means of the laws of orientation, taking the four
points of the compass from the apparent orbit of the sun as well as from the
human anatomy, and identifying them as ambivalent forces—ambivalent because
they are at once hostile to things external and the defenders of their limits. As
Schneider adds: ‘To preserve cosmic order, the gods fought with the giants and
the monsters which had from the very beginning of creation sought to devour the
sun. They stationed the heroic lion on the celestial mountain. Four archers’—the
tetramorphs—’are continuously on guard day and night against anyone who
attempts to disrupt the order of the cosmos’ (50). The stockade, the wall or stone
enclosure, comments Eliade, are among the oldest known parts of the structure of temples, appearing as early as in proto-Indian civilizations such as that of MohenjoDaro and also in Crete (17). They owe their origins to the same basic, primordial
idea of the symbolism of landscape—its representation of cosmic order. The
mountain with one peak is symbolic of the One—of transcendent purpose; the
two-peaked Mountain of Mars stands for the Gemini, the world of appearances
and the dualism of all forms of life. Both these symbolic mountains find their
symbolic complement in the general pattern of archetypal landscape—also, incidentally, an image of the year; this pattern is composed of the river of life (denoting the positive phase) and the river of oblivion (the negative phase) which flow
through the sea of flames (expressing infirmity) and well up from a single source
(birth or the Origin). According to this scheme, every landscape has a disastrous
and a felicitous tendency, corresponding on the temporal plane with the selfevident distinction between ‘coming’ and ‘going’ which in turn is analogous to the
two halves of human existence. But, quite apart from all this, the symbolic
interpretation of a landscape may be determined according to the laws governing
diverse and individual correspondences, as well as the overall significance derived
from the complex of meanings afforded by its separate features. By way of an
illustration of the many possibilities of interpreting the significance of a landscape, we will conclude with some comments on Vallcarca with its characteristic
low-lying features. The gardens are at a lower level than the city proper, and
screened from it by the vegetation, which has something of the archaic and oriental about it. The main street leads north towards an open plain, signifying the
process of disintegration. On the other hand, those streets which lead towards the
mountain are on the favourable axis. In this case, the interpretation is obvious
enough, as it is in all instances of scenes where it is possible to identify the
essential features of archetypal landscape.
To dream of various landscapes in your dream, represent where you are in your life or in your relationships. How do you see yourself with respect to the rest of the world and those around you? Consider what is going on in the landscape and how it may parallel your own waking life. In particular, a barren or dry landscape depicts dissatisfaction in your love life. According to Freud, the dream landscape symbolizes the human body. A landscape with gentle contours symbolize the female body, while a rocky landscape represents the male body. Also consider the feelings that the landscape invokes.
To dream of ever changing landscapes, indicates psychological transitions or emotional progress. It represents the various stages in your life. Alternatively, it may be offering you various viewpoints in looking at the same idea or situation. Something may be slipping away from your grasp. Look at the symbolism of key elements in the landscape.
Dreaming of various landscapes in your dream, represents where you are in your life or in your relationships. How do you see yourself with respect to the rest of the world and those around you? According to Freud, the landscape symbolizes the human body. Dreaming of ever changing landscapes indicates psychological transitions or emotional progress. It represents the various stages in your life. Alternatively, it may be offering you various viewpoints in looking at the same idea or situation. Consider the symbolism of key elements in the landscape.
Night is related to the passive principle, the feminine and the unconscious. Hesiod gave it the name of ‘mother of the gods’, for the Greeks believed
that night and darkness preceded the creation of all things (8). Hence, night—like
water—is expressive of fertility, potentiality and germination (17); for it is an
anticipatory state in that, though not yet day, it is the promise of daylight. Within
the tradition of symbology it has the same significance as death and the colour
black.
To have a dream that takes place at night, represents some major setbacks and obstacles in achieving your goals. You are being faced with an issue that is not so clear cut. Perhaps, you should put the issues aside so you can clear your head and come back to it later. Alternatively, night may be synonymous with death, rebirth, reflection, and new beginnings.
If you are surrounded by night in your dreams, you may expect unusual oppression and hardships in business. If the night seems to be vanishing, conditions which hitherto seemed unfavorable will now grow bright, and affairs will assume prosperous phases.
Dreaming of night means some major setbacks and obstacles in achieving your goals. You may find that some issues you are facing are not all that clear and you need to put them to rest for awhile before a decision is made.
To dream that you are reading, indicates that you need to obtain more information and knowledge before making a decision. You need to think things through and consider all you options.
To be engaged in reading in your dreams, denotes that you will excel in some work, which appears difficult.
To see others reading, denotes that your friends will be kind, and are well disposed.
To give a reading, or to discuss reading, you will cultivate your literary ability.
Indistinct, or incoherent reading, implies worries and disappointments.
Dreaming that you are reading means that you need to obtain more information or knowledge before making a decision. You should review your thoughts, think things through and consider other options. Dreaming that you or someone is reading incoherently means worries and disappointments.
Up to a certain point it corresponds to landscape-symbolism in general,
of which it forms one representational aspect, embracing the important symbols
of level and space, that is, height and situation. With the dawning of history there
arose, according to René Guénon, a true, ‘sacred geography’ and the position,
shape, doors and gates, and general disposition of a city with its temples and
acropolis were never arbitrary or fortuitous, or merely utilitarian. In fact, cities
were planned in strict accord with the dictates of a particular doctrine; hence the
city became a symbol of that doctrine and of the society which upheld it (28).
The city walls had magic powers since they were the outward signs of dogma,
which explains and justifies Romulus’s fratricide. Ornamental reliefs on capitals,
lintels, and tympana of the Middle Ages often depict the outlines of a walled city,
although in a way which is more emblematic than symbolic. These ornaments are
a kind of prefiguration of the heavenly Jerusalem. An angel armed with a sword is
sometimes to be seen at the city gate (46). Jung sees the city as a mother-symbol
and as a symbol of the feminine principle in general: that is, he interprets the City
as a woman who shelters her inhabitants as if they were her children; that is why
the two mother-gods Rhea and Cybele—as well as other allegorical figures derived from them—wear a crown after the pattern of a wall. The Old Testament
speaks of cities as women (31).
To see a city in your dream, signifies your social environment and sense of community. If you dream of a big city, then it suggests that you need to develop closer ties and relationships. You are feeling alienated and alone. To dream that you are in a deserted city, indicates that you feel rejected by those around you.
To dream of a city in ruins, denotes that you are neglecting your social relationships and allowing them to deteriorate.
To dream of an underground or underwater city, represents your unconscious and how through deeper understanding of yourself, you find commonality and shared experiences with others.
To dream that you are in a strange city, denotes you will have sorrowful occasion to change your abode or mode of living.
Seeing a city in your dream means a sense of community and your social environment. Dreaming that you are in a deserted city or that you feel alienated from the activity of the city, then it suggests that you feel rejected by those around you. Seeing a city in ruins means that you are neglecting your social relationships and allowing them to deteriorate.
To dream that you find something, suggests that you are coming into contact with some aspect of your psyche or unconscious. You are recognizing a part of yourself that was previously repressed or undeveloped. Alternatively, it represents change.
To dream that you find someone, indicates that you are identifying new facets of a relationship. You may be taking the relationship to a new level and/or direction.
Dreaming that you find something, suggests that you are coming into contact with some aspect of your psyche or unconscious. You are recognizing a part of yourself that was previously repressed or undeveloped. Alternatively, it represents change. Dreaming that you find someone indicates that you are identifying new facets of a relationship. You may be taking the relationship to a new level and/or direction.