Hi I have to post this dream, it has been in my mind since I dreamt of it, two nights ago.

I remember that my family, which included my mother, father and brother had a dinner, like a casserole.
In that casserole we had included human meat. Anyway it was normal for us to eat that dish. But because we liked to eat it often, people have noticed that many people were missing, since we had killed a few for our dinner.

Anyway it seemed so innocent, I don't remember we felt bad about it. But I was sent for the death row, I don't know why other members of the family weren't as well. I was to pay the price for the killings.

My mother accompanied me for a trip interstate where the death row was to take place. I remember seating on the bus and waiting for my mum to arrive to accompany me. I don't remember feeling very scared, but my mother did tell me not to worry, ' I will go to heaven'.

I don't remember the method of the execution.

I think this whole episode took place in Poland, where I was born, and spent most of my childhood.

I think that the dream speaks of negative beliefs that I have put or am going to put to rest. I think so from looking at the dream dictionary.

I would appreciate further ideas or comments.

thank you

M

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 26 Melbourne Australia

Have You Posted Before? Date of Last Post {Use Search and Your Post Name to Help Find Last Post} Female

How Did You Find the Dream Forum? Yes

Magdalena ,
As strange as it may seem I see the dream as a commentary on your life, probably the earlier influences that cause you to have to put 'to rest' those negative beliefs/experiences. The people that have been killed and consumed {the past negative experiences would be what is consuming} probably represent parts of yourself that have been 'devoured' because of the negative experiences. Parts of you are still 'missing'.

The death row and feelings of guilt are probably the left over emotions from those earlier experiences. The unconscious feelings of guilt may be what you need to overcome and the central theme of the dream. You probably have spent much of your life blame yourself for what occured early in life. Your mother being involved in the bus trip may suggests she played a big role during that period of time. It sounds to be positive but it could be reversed. The execution may be the need/desire to 'lay to rest' these past negative experiences since they do influence your personality and life. Death is often a symbol for a need to change things. And with every death there is a rebirth.
Dreams are inspirors of new birth.

gerard/Jerry

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 58 Murfreesboro, Tn

Have You Posted Before? Date of Last Post {Use Search and Your Post Name to Help Find Last Post} Male

How Did You Find the Dream Forum? Yes

Gerard,

thank you for your response.
What you have said agrees with my feelings about the dream. Although I saw it as more positive,i.e putting the negative emotions away = dying.
I am not sure about the feelings of guilt, why do you say guilt? I would rather say feelings of not being 'good enough'. It's amazing how one person can influence your life. It was only my mother's words that made me vulnerable. She never actually, physically harmed me.
It's interesting though that I had to make a trip to the place where I was to be executed. Is there something that is required of me to put these negative beliefs away? I actually answered my question...but what is required?

thanks
M

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 26 Melbourne Australia

Have You Posted Before? Date of Last Post {Use Search and Your Post Name to Help Find Last Post} Female

How Did You Find the Dream Forum? Yes

since you mentioned your Polish background, my input may add something. Polish people historically have extremely closed families with high levels of psychological control and subtle manipulation of emotions. it is possible to feel "cannibalised" by members of your own family, especially since you are so obviously "scapegoated" by them and your own mother escorts you to death. the entire family enjoys "eating human flesh" - but feel no guilt about it, while you are the only one concerned about the ethics of it, and therefore selected for punishment. i am concerned that you might to deal with the "guilt by association" - but also, finding a different way to participate in family relations. if Magdalena is your real name - it was chosen for a victim.

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 60 y.o., Australia

Have You Posted Before? Date of Last Post {Use Search and Your Post Name to Help Find Last Post} F

How Did You Find the Dream Forum? no

Culture can have a huge baring on dreams. An example is the snake symbol. In the West the snake is often considered evil, the snake tempting Eve, snake as Satan in disguise. Whereas in the East the snake is a positive symbol. The snake represents rejuvenation, healing and is also a symbol of Kundalini; pure energy. Yet, as a symbol not associated with either culture but a Freudian symbol the snake can represent the phallus {penis}.

gerard/Jerry

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 58 Murfreesboro, Tn

Have You Posted Before? Date of Last Post {Use Search and Your Post Name to Help Find Last Post} Male

How Did You Find the Dream Forum? Yes

Gerard,

yes I agree Polish families are close, and guilt is part of our culture, maybe because Catholicism was the biggest religion. And parents taught they children that many things are 'bad', or 'you should feel bad'.
But how is my name part of this?
I've never read anywhere...that Magdalena means 'a victim', could you explain? And do you think people live up to the meaning of their names?

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 26 Melbourne Australia

Have You Posted Before? Date of Last Post {Use Search and Your Post Name to Help Find Last Post} Female

How Did You Find the Dream Forum? Yes

Magdalena, as far as I can tell, is a derivitive of Magdelan, as in Mary Magdelan, as in "from Magdala," a village by Galilee. It comes from the Hebrew Migdal, meaning "tower." It's a good name. I am not sure, Gertrude may have been referring to what Christianity did to the story of Mary Magdelan, but we have different evidence to consider about that today.

Perhaps look up some history/etymology on your name.

Kristi

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 42, Kansas

Have You Posted Before? Date of Last Post {Use Search and Your Post Name to Help Find Last Post} Female

How Did You Find the Dream Forum? Yes

Kristi,

Is it Mary Magdalen pictured sitting to the right of Jesus in Leonardo Da Vinci's Last Supper?

Excellent reference to Mary Magdalen. Your statement, "we have different evidence to consider about that today" is so true. It is becoming clear rather than just a minor figure in the life of Jesus, Mary Magdalen is being seen as his most trusted disciple. For me that also says that Jesus was very much in touch with his 'feminine' side {which is collaborated by his actions of live, compassion, caring, giving, etc}. My thesis is patriarchy, male dominated societies and culture must subdue the 'feminine' aspects so to hold onto power. Compare Jesus to God {of Abraham}. Jesus is very 'feminine' in his actions while God is the powerful male who rules through the masculine {thus so many wars in the name of God}. In the story of Jesus Mary Magdalen is given an unimportant role, patriarchy's way of hiding her true position as Jesus' trusted disciple.

gerard/Jerry

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 58 Murfreesboro, Tn

Have You Posted Before? Date of Last Post {Use Search and Your Post Name to Help Find Last Post} Male

How Did You Find the Dream Forum? Yes

Gerard,

It does appear to me to be a feminine representation. I have for many years now been of the opinion that much truth was left out of the Christian Bible. I recall the great sense of conflict I had as a child, seeing the contrast between an angry and judgmental Abrahamic God (of the Old Testament) and Jesus. Still, that patriarchal influence made its way into the New Testament, as in the case of Mary Magdalene. It is, all together, something that I feel has created deep wounds in us.

Kristi

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 42, Kansas

Have You Posted Before? Date of Last Post {Use Search and Your Post Name to Help Find Last Post} Female

How Did You Find the Dream Forum? Yes

Dear Magdalena,
we all live either UP or DOWN to our names, and there are thousands of anecdotal and deadly serious pieces of evidence both in real life (people commenting to each other or in interviews) and in literature by authors puzzled or intriogued by the apparent "coincidences". names are given for a reason. i have researched the name "Magdalena" because my father, staunch Catholic and celibate untill his late marriage), was fascinated by this woman all his life. the Church fathers were so unforgivably anti-women that when they found a gospel of Mary Magdalene proving she was one of the most important disciples of Jesus, their rage dictated to change the facts and yes, FALSIFY the document, translating the text that to say that she was a prostitute, to discredit her. history of Europe would have been completely different if Mary Magdalene was not so horribly slandered, and instead was shown as intelligent, faithful, and above all EQUAL to any other CHOSEN DISCIPLE. remember, the church burnt at the stake Joan of Arc, the saviour of France, just because she wore man's clothes! and women were burnt at the stakes for possession of any knowledge, called "witches" so none would dare to study or learn anything, such was the hatred and fear of women's wisdom.
we act on false information taking it for truth, if no contradiction is available. you have been given a name of a person discredited and portrayed as unworthy, or irrevocably "faulty". you can change your life completely if you absorb the new information that the person after whom you have been named was one of the most enlightened of her time, also possessing unprecedented courage and insights.

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 60 y.o., Australia

Have You Posted Before? Date of Last Post {Use Search and Your Post Name to Help Find Last Post} F

How Did You Find the Dream Forum? no

Magdalena,

the Gospel of Mary Magdalen

Gertrude mentions the Gospel of Mary Magdalen, an important Gnostic text. It was the Gnostic Gospels, especially the books and essays by Elaine Pagels, which helped me reconcile my Christian upbringing with my inner search. With the help of Campbell I came to realize that religions are merely myths 'to live by' and the spiritual aspect that Jung expounds goes beyond just religious intent. An excellent program presented by PBS which provides a clear understanding of this 'mystical' spiritual philosophy is the Front Line presentation From Jesus to Christ. Gnosticism {Gnosis: Greek gnōsis, knowledge, from gignōskein, gnō-, to know....Intuitive apprehension of spiritual truths} is the inner spiritual realization of Self, the higher spiritual aspect for which Jung states is an inherent trait within the human psyche. Speaking of the spiritual aspect, and something that may not be understood about the hero journey. It is that spiritual realization, the discipline that is required and is the grounded principle of the 'hero' life, that must be integrated into the life before there is that final realization of the 'grail', or the true self. One may follow the hero pattern of deeds but without the integration of the spiritual Self, there is an absence of those helping hands that guide the hero to the final 'happy land' of balance and harmony. This is an important aspect of the inner journey that must be realized or there is that constant repeating of actions that prevent the final realization of Self. A good example of that continuing failure of realization is the Parzival Legend {King Arthur} as presented by Joseph Campbell in his book Transformations of Myth Through Time

Other reference pages {I have created many over the years} I have created associated with the Gnostic Gospels

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 58 Murfreesboro, Tn

Have You Posted Before? Date of Last Post {Use Search and Your Post Name to Help Find Last Post} Male

How Did You Find the Dream Forum? Yes

I am commenting, really, because I want to keep this dream thread near the top, to remind me to come back and look at all of Jerry's links - And to say, Thank you, Magdalnea, for having shared your dream, giving us all the opportunity to look at these things. It is healing for all of us!

Kristi

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 42, Kansas

Have You Posted Before? Date of Last Post {Use Search and Your Post Name to Help Find Last Post} Female

How Did You Find the Dream Forum? Yes

Dear Gerard,

thank you for your post, I only asked why you thought my name meant a victim, because I was curious what your response meant, I know Mary Magdalene was portrayed as a victim - a prostitute throughout the history. And so I questioned your response which reaffirmed this notion. I was hoping you'd say more about the other meaning of the name 'the tower of strength'. I see now, there are many ways to read dreams, in that dream i see guilt, maybe it's this guilt passed through the family,
and why the name played a part in the history. Cannibalism, act of eating human flesh, could be metaphorically seen as consuming yourself, consuming negative thoughts about yourself...I don't know if I make any sense.
I understand though that I can live up to my name in the negative or positive light, it's all up to me.
I would like to stop my negative patterns, and not see myself as a victim, it seems I need confirmation of that outside my waking life, in other people when things get tough!

thanks M xoxox

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 26 Melbourne Australia

Have You Posted Before? Date of Last Post {Use Search and Your Post Name to Help Find Last Post} Female

How Did You Find the Dream Forum? Yes

Dear Magdalena,
I think you need to know that I am also of Polish background, born and educated there.
Why I think I understand so well what your pain is about?
Several years ago I had a dream that my family members, one by one, turned into vampires, starting with my mother. The last one to go was my little sister, who used to be so nice and “golden-hearted”. The dream showed how the temptation occurred, how the original struggle was given up for submission, and how the enjoyment of sucking blood started filling up their lives with most wicked joy. They no longer could live for anything else, except for finding new victims. They always had to have new victims. And, to make it worse, they were only interested in TOTALLY INNOCENT VICTIMS. They wanted blood from people who did not have one wicked thought or feeling in them, they wanted to corrupt the innocence.

Until this dream I NEVER had any interest in vampire stories, thinking it to be silly tosh for the entertainment of the uneducated. But the dream came to me during a most trying family crisis, when the family conspired to cheat me out of my inheritance and out of sharing it with my little sister, whom I wanted to bring to Australia to “save her” from the moral corruption under the guise of religious devotion. I did not succeed – exactly at the time of this dream my mother and sister “kidnapped” my little sister to go to America on an easy holiday without any word to me for several months, and changing telephone numbers.

I understood the plot – and started studying the VAMPIRE stories – until I finally “got it” – understood the archetypal power of the energies unleashed by unrecognised warped emotions, never properly acknowledged, admitted, not faced, not accepted. They live a totally false EMOTIONAL LIFE, as far removed from reality as fairy tails. There was nothing I could do – I had to give up the relationships to preserve my own sanity and to begin healing from this hell of abuse.

Your dream parallels mine. The habitual “eating” practiced by your family in the dream seems so ordinary, so matter of fact, no guilt or even a problem felt by them. Your family likes doing what they are doing – but you were singled out to pay the price – because you are the only one who has pangs of conscience and the sense of “RIGHT AND WRONG”. They sacrifice you without any feeling or compassion – even your own mother, of whom you had every right to expect some caring or sympathy.

The dream is a DIRE WARNING. The dream is telling you that you are, your soul or heart – absolutely at the end of what you can absorb in a way resembling SANITY. Your soul senses being ON DEATH ROW, GOING TO AN EXECUTION. Your dream tells you that you absolutely MUST do something about the situation which your heart finds so completely INTOLERABLE – right away! You don’t even have enough sense TO TRY TO SAVE YOURSELF!

I know you are not even trying to save yourself out of respect for your family and DISBELIEF that the ruthless selfishness that you are seeing in them is actually THE TRUTH. Your family are doing something morally wrong, of which your heart and soul disapprove, although your brain cannot see anything wrong with it, because you lived with it all your life. And you feel GUILTY BY ASSOCIATION for being part of this moral crime.

This is what I feel your dream is about – that you MUST GET HELP to sort out your moral doubts, and you can only do that at a significant distance from your family. That’s what I did, and I am still licking my wounds, and still healing the damages, although I am twice your age and embarked on the healing journey long time ago.

Will you find the courage?

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 60 y.o., Australia

Have You Posted Before? Date of Last Post {Use Search and Your Post Name to Help Find Last Post} F

How Did You Find the Dream Forum? no

Dear Gerard,

Thank you for being so clear and getting straight to the point. I agree and understand that it's time for me to grow and the only way to do that is to move out.
At the moment financially it's not possible. But I know it's urgent, I feel it. Thank you again.

I think that it's not only the Polish families that do that. It happens in many families. Family members unconsciously harm each other, maybe the youngest ones are easier to pray on, I don't know. But there's a time you have to move on.

Thank you so much for sharing your story with me.

best wishes M

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 26 Melbourne Australia

Have You Posted Before? Date of Last Post {Use Search and Your Post Name to Help Find Last Post} Female

How Did You Find the Dream Forum? Yes