Hey Gerard. I write about all three of these dreams because I feel they are somehow connected to one another. Please feel free to take your time in getting around to them (if you want to get around to them). Thank you.

(1) Possession/Exorcism. Not too long ago (after the "cave dream") I had a dream that I was inside a large, old, victorian era house. I was downstairs in the main room, and there was one of those organ-like contraptions they play at amusement parks when people are on the merry-go-round. The only difference was that it played some old (non-existent) type of record. There were boxes of records lying all around, all of them old, and all of them appearing as some type of Country or Gospel music. I remember looking at one which had some fat women on the front, with large, teased-out hair-do's. It kind of reminded me of a picture you might see hanging in one of those "old-time picture shops" you see at boardwalks--they were wearing very antiquated clothing.

I had a sense that I had come into the house with other people, and suddenly became concerned about where they had gotten to. I turned around and saw an opening into another room, and an old staircase that was curved (and therefore I couldn't see all of it, as it was behind the wall).

At this point, just as I turned around, the concern turned to sheer panic and fear, and the room in front of me, and the staircase as well, became filled with darkness--the darkness was consuming the entire house, and I felt as though it would consume me as well. In the dream I attempted to exorcise myself, as I felt a demon was trying to come into me. I shouted out, "In the Name of Jesus Christ!" But the words came out in this hideous, screeching sound. It came out very fast, kind of like when you are making a copy of a tape on high-speed dub. It didn't even feel like it was me who was saying it--as though the darkness/demon/evil was mocking me. It was terrible--and I awoke sweating and terrified. I couldn't calm down for a long time--I actually went downstairs and slept in a different room because I was afraid I would continue the dream if I went back to sleep there.

(2) The Hell Dream. In this dream, I found myself in hell. No fire, no devils running around, but make no mistake, it was hell. Hell was like a large auditorium, or the inside of a football stadium. The walls of this stadium seemed to go up and up forever, and were made of shelves. These shelves held 2 books for each person who was in hell. One book contained all of the things we said and did while alive on Earth. The second book was blank, and we were supposed to rewrite our life-book, to make it as we should have lived, so that we could escape hell and go to heaven. This was no easy task, however, because the only way to know right from wrong was to listen to these sermons given by priest-like figures who preached in the center of the stadium. The kicker was that these priests told outright lies. Each sermon they gave was this grotesque spin-job on stories from the Bible. When they preached about things Jesus said, they made his parables and sermon on the mount the exact opposite. They said things like, "It is blessed to rape and kill people" etc. Meanwhile, everyone in the stadium was busy taking notes, so that they could correct things they did in their life-book. However, none of them had read the Bible in their earthly life, so they didn't realize these were lies, and therefore, they would never get out of hell. I immediately began shouting, "These are lies! They're lying!" But nobody seemed to pay any attention to me.

In hell, we were each given a job. I had a good friend there named Bob who had his son with him as well (I have no such friend in my waking life). Well, the two of us had the same job in hell, and got to spend a lot of time together. Also, Bob got to spend a half hour each week playing baseball with his son, which he loved doing. Well, Bob felt that he should work real hard to get a promotion, which he got. When he got his promotion, he was given this terrible job that took up all of his time. We couldn't talk to one another anymore (unless we were attending sermons) and he couldn't see his son, or play baseball with him anymore. I felt so angry--it were as if everything was upside down and backwards there, and I was the only one who knew it. There was an unbearable feeling of hopelessness and despair there. All those people seemed so hopeful that they would eventually fix their life-book and get out, but they didn't realize the moral code they were basing their corrections on was corrupting their book even further. Because I hadn't read the entire Bible while on Earth, I realized I was damned to hell forever, as I had no means of correcting my life-book on my own.

(3) Left Behind. Kirk Cameron would like this one. I was in an area that was filled with clusters of trees and large, fallow fields. In some of these fields, there were large tarps in which there were many people. I came upon this tarp and realized that my entire family was in it--not just my nuclear family, but hundreds of people whom I was related to throughout time. (I am of German descent...many of these people were speaking German). My parents were there as well, and I felt very happy to see everyone, and to meet all of these people whom I had been away from for such a long time (I had never been with them to begin with, but I felt as though I knew them somehow and we had been split apart for eons). Anyway, the tarp had picnic tables in it and there was a large cooler sitting on one of the tables which had kool-aid in it. I went to get some, but there was none left, then I went back to see my parents who were now forming a line with the rest of the "family". I got in line with them, and saw each person walking into an invisible door of sorts, which took them to "the other side". Well, it felt as though the door/portal was becoming weaker as the family members went in, and after watching my mom, dad, and brother go in, I walked up to it and was not able to enter--there was not enough power left to transport me.

I sorta felt this one coming, so I wasn't entirely surprised--but I was distressed all the same. I was also thirsty, so I went back to the cooler and--still no kool-aid. There were used cups and trash lying around, just like you would see at a real-life family gathering. Well, I decided to get walking, and try to find another place where maybe I could go to the other side (and find something to drink). In another field there was another tarp. I went into this tarp and found two young Catholic priests. I asked these priests if there was any way to be transported, and they said yes, but that I would have to wait a year and come back when the power had returned.

I was beside myself now, and somehow found myself back in my hometown (no more fields and tarps). The town was pretty much vacant, as they had been taken to the other side. I was becoming angry and violent, and got in a truck that was sitting around and drove it wildly up the rail road tracks to a bar. It was Easter Sunday in the dream, and I knew that the bar would probably be closed, but I went there anyway. When I got there I was happy to see that there were still some people on the Earth, and that they opened the bar on a Sunday--especially Easter Sunday. I asked them why they were open, and they explained to me that the law now allowed bars to be open in the afternoon on Sundays. I was overjoyed. I went in and started getting real loaded, and sort of told myself that I would spend the year just getting drunk until the year ran down. At this point, a kid came in I knew from high school, and I remember being kind of aggrivated that he showed up. I remember trying to explain my situation to him, but he didn't seem to understand. I shouted at him about how he didn't even seem aware that the rapture had come and left us behind. He continued to stare at me blankly, and I felt like punching him. Man, was I angry!

Well, that's it. I know that many Jungians feel that dreams need to be looked at as a series, and I feel that this is some sort of series. What do you think? I'm stumped on these.

Thanks!

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 23, Pennsylvania

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

Alan,
The first dream seems to be addressing some past experiences, something that has caused you fear and anxiety. Since you named the dream Possession/Exorcism perhaps that is exactly what you are facing in your waking life. Knowing that you are still struggling with past religious experiences from the fundamental christian theology, it may have a lot to do with that.
But there may also be something deeper. Let's look at the second dream.

Perhaps Bob is an aspect of you. What is taking up so much of your time? Is it the past? Here again in this dream you are dealing with past spiritual experiences. Hell is not a literal place, it is a place within the psyche. Often it is life itself. The job, responsibilities to carry out in society, promises better conditions if you work hard. But as is the case more and more in today's world it is a lie. Society is man's making and only the few reap the rewards. Your spiritual past may have imprinted upon you so much guilt you can not overcome even your successes. That is a fault of the christian doctrine. You must please the man, but he is relentless in his demands. The 'man' could be you, society and your past religious experiences all rolled into one metaphor.

The third dream. The tarp covering your family may be something that covers your conscious mind {family-the whole self} preventing you from seeing unconscious contents {tarps are waterproof}. There seems to be some unknown aspects that you have yet to acknowledge or recognize, something from your past {all of these people whom I had been away from for such a long time}.

The other side may be important. THis is something parts of you, perhaps to do with the nuclear family, perhaps not, that has lost its energy and ability to navigate. You were expecting this {match this to your waking life and see where it fits}.

Your hometown is getting back to the true self, the true conditions in your life. Look at the kid from your high school. He isn't listening to you. There is anger over this situation. Perhaps you need to go there {to that time in your life} and re-discover what may be under that tarp.

Let me know your thoughts and perhaps we can discover more of what is underneath the tarp.

Gerard

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 55 Murfreesboro, Tn.

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

Hi Gerard,

I wrote a much more involved response, but my computer nixed it. Now I'll give the cliff notes.

(1) Posession/Exorcism. This dream occured just after finishing my first semester of graduate school. At this point, I had been suffering from a new round of depression/anxiety for about a year, and was now being dumped by my at-the-time-girlfriend. Although I had given my all to graduate school (I got a 4.0, as compared to my usual 3.0 (or less) in undergrad) and also had been reading religious materials and praying feverishly, my life only seemed to spiral faster. I wanted to die, and yet was terrified of dying, as I figured I'd go to hell with the other 99.99% of God's creatures (whom he foreknew and predestined for hell ). I guess I knew that the praying wasn't working, but didn't want to admit it. Since this is the waking life background, I imagine that the demon posessing me could be the metaphor for my anguish and hopelessness at the time. Further, my self-exorcism could be the metaphor for all the new (and ineffective) religious exercises in my life at the time--hence the mocking demon-voice that screeched out in the dream. I've noticed my unconscious forces me to acknowledge the truth of things...I didn't want to admit to myself that the religious stuff wasn't working (that would be sinful and wicked) so my unconscious made me acknowledge just how ineffective it really was.

(2) Hell. Bob could be myself, in that I was working like a freak those first several months of graduate school. I had been a fun-loving fraternity brother in my secular undergrad, and now I was this curmudgeon who equated happiness with sinfulness. I figured that the more miserable I made my life, the more likely God would be to let me into heaven. At this point in grad school, all I could think about is hell--I thought for sure that I was damned--mostly because I was experiencing non-stop, around the clock, anxiety and depression. Each panic attack that came only convinced me more and more of my "damned status". God had surely forsaken me, and wasn't listening to any of my beggings for mercy and forgiveness. Much of the time, I would cry myself to sleep as the anxious and depressed feelings cycled through my psyche. I was already in hell, and after I died, hell would only become worse. I had nothing to live for and nothing to look forward to either. I couldn't stand myself, my life, or anything around me. I had a love-hate relationship with my faith. I tried my best at it so that maybe God would have mercy on me and help me. Then, when life became worse, I began to become angry with God and all the religious people around me, as I had already sacrificed the few good things left in my life, and I only became worse. Their response?--Have more faith! Pray more! Give more!...I had nothing left to give. Then, when the panic attacks would come, I would cry and ask forgiveness from God for not having given more and having prayed better, or lived better. Then I would be angry again, because this God I was worshipping seemed to be both Loving Father and Hateful Antichrist mixed into one. My life was miserable and pathetic.

So yeah, I was Bob. I can see how that could be. I worked real hard, and gave up the few things I derived pleasure from, only to be screwed over more and more. The priests were simply the pastors of my school shoving their calvanistic doctrine down our throats. The life-books?--my attempt at making atonement so that I might be accepted by the people of my school. The innability to fix the life-book?--the knowledge that I could never appease these people no matter how sterling my life was. I had internalized all the guilt and self-hate, and on some level knew it, but I was terrified of throwing it away (as throwing it away would be equal to throwing God away).

(3) The Rapture. This one I have the least insight on. The whole "one year purgatory" could be reflective of the fact that I had one year of grad school left, which I equate with being in a place of purgatory. The sense that I hadn't seen my family in eons could be a metaphor that I had estranged myself from myself. Here were all these people living their lives, getting on with things, not held back by fear. Meanwhile, I was stuck at this hellish impasse. I wonder what the thirst could symbolize?--my thirst for life? That could definitely work. Meanwhile, I branzenly started getting drunk on Easter Sunday--perhaps a first step towards liberating myself from the restrictions I introjected from my graduate school. I don't know about the high school kid though. He was almost gawking at me in the dream. When I was in high school, I became an eagle scout and was real straight edge (it was also when my two-year religious experience occured). Perhaps this kid symbolizes the people of my grad school, or even the part of myself which internalized all their propoganda. He was a fat, insecure kid in high school. Perhaps he symoblizes my own insecurities and fears of the punishment that may come if I were happy or satisfied or liberated. On some level, I had been (and maybe still am) terrified of being totally, 100% self-directed. I have always viewed such people as dangerous and mysterious. In the dream, I certainly was coming off as such a liberated individual--drinking on Easter Sunday, stealing trucks and driving them on rail-road tracks, etc.

Does any of this seem to ring true? Or does it help you to interpret the dream better/differently?

Namaste

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 23, Pennsylvania

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

Alan,
Since the dream is about you the metaphors are about you also. The indepth personal conotations can only be recognized by you. If it fits then most often it is correct. As for anyone reading a dream and saying 'this is what the dream is about', you need to look elsewhere for an interpretation. The universal can be read but the personal os often guess work. Intuitive insights do provide possibilities but only the dreamer knows for sure about the personal.

One thing I have to remind myself of when I interpret a dream and a response comes back saying, "WOW! that's perfect!" is not to think too highly of myself. Even if a dream is interpreted properly there may be other interpretations that will fit the dreamer's life also. There are different aspects of the dreamer that dreams will try to communicate, using the same metaphors but addressing the different aspects. The image of Wise Old Man in a dream may be addressing the spiritual aspect and also the wisdom of the dreamer. And when you look deeper it could be addressing some other aspect.
So when you get all done and determine what the dream was most likely trying to communicate, go back a few weeks later and see if the dream had offered information about your life. It is not that unusual.

Gerard