Dream Interpretation the Old Fashioned Way
Posted on June 6, 2010Dream Interpretation the Old Fashioned Way
I remember sitting on my grandma’s big fluffy bed, watching her write in a faded, worn out notebook; squenched, tiny faded lips and her eyes shut tight, remembering a dream she had dreamed the night before.
“What are you doing, Grandma?”
“Quiet child! I’m going back to the dream world for just a few minutes. Interpreting my dream, see?”
Sitting as quietly as any kid could, breathlessly anticipating the moment she would open her eyes and smile heavenward, “Ahhh. I understand. Thank you.” A few moments more of furtive scribbling and then we would begin our day together.
At the time, the little ritual felt sacred. I could not ask her about her private dreams, or how she knew how to interpret them, but my curiosity for such matter was overwhelming at times. As the years passed and I grew a little older, I also became bolder if not wiser.
“Grandma, I had a dream last night,” I tossed out, ever so matter-of-factly one day. The lift in her little wrinkled eyes told me even then that she was on to me, but she indulged my cleverness.
“You did? Tell me all about it. I interpret dreams, you know,” she smiled, knowing full well I already knew this. I would tell her my dream with all the drama and gusto I could muster, and she quickly broke it down.
“It doesn’t matter who you dream about,” she began. “You are always everyone in your dream. Whatever you think of whatever person you see or meet in your dream, are facets of you.”
On average, Grandma used to have four or five dreams every night that she could remember. She called some of them “brain flatulence”, some she called “premonition dreams,” but her favorites were called the “knowing yourself dreams.”
“Usually my dreams are ‘knowing yourself dreams’,” she recalled.
Grandma never let me in on her secret of interpreting dreams until the time I bought her a book I believed that she would enjoy. I don’t know what I was thinking.
Grandma cooed over the purple tulip wrapping paper containing the dream interpretation book, and I felt rather pleased with myself that I had chosen a gift for Grandma that no one else had; of course, I did have a reason for choosing the gift. It was all in my plan, see?
When Grandma tore away the last remnants of the wrapping, her small blue eyes, not entirely unexpectedly, transformed instantly into large black saucers.
“What is this?” she demanded.
When the title of the book registered, her eyes narrowed and her gaze resembled bullets aimed at, well… you can imagine. The room seemed to shrink as Grandma stared at me in icy silence.
“I thought you would like it, Grandma. I thought you would like to read what other people thought about dream interpretation,” I innocently manipulated.
“Why would I want to do that, dear? I know what I’m doing and I learned from a master: my own grandma.” She handed the book to me, indignant. “Bethie, I don’t need this.” Then, her tone softening suddenly, I knew my plan had worked. “It’s about time that I taught you how to interpret dreams like my grandma did for me.”
I discarded the ‘offending’ book and eagerly pulled up a chair.
Grandma called her methods the old fashioned way.
“Sometimes the old way is the best way,” she said. “When you dream about an animal, for instance, think about what that animal means to you. If you dream of a snake and you are afraid of snakes, then you are afraid of something. If you dream about a snake and the snake appears knowledgeable to you, then you are receiving knowledge of some sort. You see?”
Grandma taught me that there are some universal signs in dreams as well, signs that will have the same meaning for many people. “Water,” she said, “is usually your feelings. If you are drowning in a dream, it usually means that you’re overwhelmed.”
“You really have to completely take a dream apart and put each piece in its own category in a notebook.
“First write out your dream, just as you saw it. And if you can, draw an illustration of the dream as well. Once you have it on paper, start with the obvious parts that you already know has a meaning for you.”
Grandma’s example: Let’s say you dream about climbing a tree and there is a cat up in the tree. The cat meows at you and you think it wants down. The tree and cat are on a college university. The cat scratches you and you wake up.
According to Grandma, look first at what you know is currently happening in your life. Is there anything bothering you at work, or are there some questions and have you been wondering what the answers could be? What does the tree or a cat mean to you?
In Grandma’s old world dream interpretation, a tree to me means growth and a cat means secret knowledge. A college would be a place of learning to me. A cat scratching me, even though it seems like a bad thing, really isn’t. The cat (secret knowledge) made contact with me; I am growing from this (tree) and I am learning.
If you want to know more about yourself, interpreting one’s dreams is a good springboard. You’ll soon get the hang of it and you’ll find yourself excited to wake up in the morning, anticipating ― like Grandma did ― writing down your dreams. There are answers in dream interpretation that are only for you.
Grandma showed me that I can learn many things about myself through my dreams. She also taught me that dreams are personal, and are meant only for ourselves. There is the occasional premonition dream in which everything is crystal clear, and can even feel like it is happening in the real world. Dream interpretation is different for everyone, but my family relies on Grandma’s techniques.
One quiet afternoon, years after Grandma had passed on, I stumbled upon the dream interpretation book I had gotten her as part of my ‘plan’. I happened to notice that it looked quite worn, and when I opened it to the first page, she had scrawled some notes about how it would be better to interpret it her way.
She had written comments throughout the entire book, practically on every page, but despite this, it was clear that she had made a kind of peace with the book. It was on the last page she had written: “Dreaming is like art interpretation. One man sees a beautiful countryside in the artwork, while another sees a desolate field; but both of them have the right to their own opinion. Whatever works best for both interpreters is fine with me, but do listen to your Grandma, Bethie.” Spoken in true Grandma Fashion, I smiled, closing the book. As the covers met, I caught a whiff of her perfume as it mixed with the dust particles floating, dreamlike, past the sinking afternoon sun.
Beth and Lee McCain live in beautiful Oregon with their four children. Beth and Lee are instructors and lecturers on applying the Law of Attraction for many years. For more information, please visit: http://www.bethandleemccain.com
Info about how to interpret dreams and understand what your dreams represent about you and your emotions. Dream Interpreter and author Craig Hamilton-Parker explains what dreams mean and how to interpret the symbols, allegories and metaphors in your dreams. Craig touches upon some of the common dreams such as dreams of teeth falling out, dreams about being chased, dreams about being naked in public and dreams of falling and flying. You can interpret your dreams
Related Dream Interpretations Articles
More articles:
- Hear the Voice of God : Dreams and Dream Interpretation
- Dreams and Dream Interpretation
- Dream Interpretation and Ways to Make the Most Out of your Dreams
- Dream Interpretation of Places in your Dreams [part 2]
- 20 Ways to Dream Big
Tags: dream, Fashioned, Interpretation
Categories: Dream Interpretations
@thewaianaegirl You are so welcome I’m glad I could help.
13.06.2010 18:58
@stan14892 OMG!!! thank you soo much!! its sooo true yah i had a broken relationship…awsome thiss is soo cool thank you once again!!
13.06.2010 19:24
@thewaianaegirl Cutting Dream Meaning Psychological Meaning: To cut is to sever and separate. Your dream may be an allegory for a broken relationship, a major change in your circumstances or an ending of an outmoded way of behaviour.
13.06.2010 20:19
How do you realize in your own dream that you actually ARE dreaming?! Because I one time had a dream and I actually realized in my dream that i was dreaming! So i did whatever i wanted because i knew that i would just wake up and it would all be over anyways! That was a great dream! But i only got the chance to experience that one time and i wanna do it again! How do you do that!
13.06.2010 21:19
im confused nd this dream has been on my mind lyk since it happened i had a dream that i grabbed a pair of scissorz nd started digging away at my arm cutting my self…nd wen i was bleeding i started to laugh lyk i was possesd im only 13 nd im confused?! HELP!!!
13.06.2010 21:30
I’ve dreamed about the same house twice on 2 completely separate occasions, and I’ve never been in this house in my life. It has a large hallway, like a hospital hallway, and at the end is a very large bedroom that is as big as a small apartment. On one end is what looks like a planter, like you see in the mall, and the other end is where my bed is and stuff. It’s weird!!
13.06.2010 22:14
can i get some help i have a dream but it feels so real and i am so paranoid now because this dream is so fucking scary and it wont go away
please message me to help i cant sleep at night any more its too real
13.06.2010 22:40
Recently, I have been worried because i haven’t been on my periods for 7 weeks. Although i’m not pregnant. I keep worrying that I won’t be able to have children. But last night, i dreamt I was pregnant but i was scared of childbirth in my dream. Coincidence?
13.06.2010 23:09
What about reoccuring dreams… over and over and over again? not the exact same dream but the same person in the dream…. its a person i may have once been attracted to… like 5 years ago and recently had a feeling for them in the past year… i see them every weekend. and even if i dont i still dream of him…. i dont know what to do.
13.06.2010 23:50
@R16Brian i want to know message me…i need to tell someone about my dream….i was scared shitless when i woke up…maybe you wanna hear mine too?
14.06.2010 00:33
I dreamed that there was a bunch of guys at school
who wanted to …f*ck me and I was running!
Then when I almost reached the door there was
2 guys blocking me and I didn’t know what to do
so I went to the front office to call my mom but the lady
in the office didn’t let me borrow the phone…
I went to hide in the restroom but the guys were waiting
outside for me…Worst Nightmare Ever!!
14.06.2010 01:15
i will never have a dream more creepier and weirer or anything that will match this. My name is Brian, and if you want to know ask….
14.06.2010 01:35
it means ur stressed.
14.06.2010 02:01
looooool i get those types of dreams where it changes really weirdly. .
i had a dream last night where i was a soldier in a war funny enough we were wearing bright blue which is crappy camo lol anyway my squad got cut off from the rest of the battalion and came under fire it was so realistic then enemy tanks approached and i did this neat trick where i jumped over the tank and blew it up, my squad cheered for me and then thats when i woke up loooool
14.06.2010 02:40
i dream about flying all the time and i enjoy it but sometimes i’m a some sort of demon with scary wings attacking people what does that mean lol
14.06.2010 03:36
N my dream im always running from being shot but when i try to run my leg feel heavy i feel like im going no where an also i have dreams about a guy i like and i feel really atached to him and i cant let my feelings go
14.06.2010 03:42
ok i had a dream where i tamed a wolf or fox im not sure since the image was not blurry but rather bright kind of like a gost color white with yellow eyes and at somepoint it started crying out loudly some weird screech and when i woke up i was still able to hear it but i noticed that only i could hear it since my whole family was awake at the time.
14.06.2010 03:45
this is all bullshit man read up on freud
14.06.2010 04:34
lmfao.. true dat
14.06.2010 04:59
Hi can anyone tell me about my dreams please…
Recently i always had dreams that i feel tired in my dream, like i want to sleep in my dream..or feeling sleepy in my dreams. Could this means that i am tired of life and tired of everything?
It is some what worrisome to because sleeping are meant to be resting and relaxing yet somehow i can still feel the tiredness as if I’m still awaken.
14.06.2010 05:23
LMAO now thats random dream
14.06.2010 05:41
…we went on a boat for a school trip or something, and on the boat was an obsticle course, and I was trapped because I couldnt do the course with the baby. anyone got any idea what this could mean?
14.06.2010 06:03
I had one weird one.. I was in a club with some friends (I hate clubs) and some really beautiful woman came up to me, and asked to dance. we danced beside some piles up amplifiyers, and somehow I knocked them down. they all landed on me and the girl, and I pretended to be dead because everyone was pissed off. eventually I got up, and carried the girl outside cos she was knocked out. the girl then turned into my baby nephew, and I ended up in my school. I walked around school for awhile, then….
14.06.2010 07:00
I had a terrible dream two nights ago about chancing upon an ‘abattoir’ in a upscale market area and people were queuing up to get their pets slaughtered. One particular animal was shackled and shrieking in pain. I was so shaken by that dream I broke out in cold sweat when I woke up. I guess I was traumatized partly because I am an animal lover and I can’t bear the thought of people mistreating their pets. Can anyone shed some light on my dream?
14.06.2010 07:46
that’s a lucid dream. that happened to me
14.06.2010 08:43