History of Dreams Dream Meaning

History behind dreaming

Apparently, dreams can be divided up into five stages, as follows:

1. Alpha Stage: At this point our heart rate slows down, we begin to feel relaxed and our whole body is starting to get prepared for sleep.

2. Brainwave Stage: The next stage we experience short brain waves and pulses.

3. Limited Stage: During this our heart rate slows down along with our body pressure and temperature.

4. REM Stage: This is where our vivid dreams occur and our muscles twitch and our body is limb.

If we don’t need sleep how come when we go without sleep we feel so rotten? Scientific methods have analyzed this in both animals and humans and getting no sleep has resulted in some disturbing results

We sometimes experience dreams which tell a story, Dr J.A Hadfield, an expert in psychoneuroses. Basically this doctor conducted a number of experiments into serial dreams, that being dreams which are separate during the night but in some way connect with each other.

An example of this dream is with a patient who was suffering from depression during one night. The first dream that this man experienced was a dream where he was traveling through a valley with trees and the sky was overhung with clouds. The next dream, during the same night he entered a cafeteria where he struggled to get a table for himself. The next dream he experienced was a fight with a friend where he ended up becoming quite violent and punched his friend in the face.

Upon analysis, it was clear that the man was suffering depression, which was highlighted in his first dream.The table dream shows that the patient was withdrawn and selfish, and the friend dream demonstrates his struggle with accepting his own actions. This demonstrates that the overall dream can be interpreted so we can better understand its specific meaning.

To understand dreams better it is important to look at dreams of people in history to see if maybe we can learn from there dreams to translate this into our lives.

Example Dream and Meaning

Gunnhildr shared her dreams before the birth of her son King Sverrir. She thought she was in a fine house and that she was delivered of the child she was carrying. Her serving-woman sat before her and was to receive the child as soon as it was born. And when the child was born, a fear suddenly took control of her body and she called aloud and said

“Dear Gunnhildr” you have given birth to an extraordinary infant, awe-inspiring to look upon. Three times she called out the same words. When Gunnhildr heard the women saying the same thing so often with trembling voice, she was curious as to what sort of infant she had been delivered of. It seemed to her that it was a rather large stone, snow white in colour it shone so that sparks flew in all directions, as with glowing iron, when the hearth is blown up sharply with the bellows. She spoke thus to her serving-women: “let us look after this infant carefully, and let no one know of it, because most people who say it would think it strange.” After that she thought they took the stone and laid it on a chair and covered it with a fine cloth. When they had attended to the stone as they wished, the sparks flew, nevertheless, in all directions through the cloth, and all about inside the house. They grew very frightened, being filled with awe. After that she woke out of the dream. Interpretation: Some of the above text is quite old fashioned but interesting all the same, clearly, she needed to make sure that her dreams were recorded in case something happened to her baby and it is important that we can learn from her dream. The fact that she is having a baby and actually dreamt of one is quite common and we cannot read much into this, in a nutshell I think she was worried that her baby would not be attractive, it will be interesting to break this down further for more interpretation. Firstly she saw herself in a very fine house. This means that she was happy and content with her lifestyle during that time; it also indicates paperwork so she clearly needs to sign something – maybe his birth certificate. People often feel like this during this time.

In all directions of life she was working hard but was served upon by others. This baby meant the world to her, and she seemed that she was frightened to give birth to the child. The stone signifies that she is feeling anxious about the future, and that she does not trust her lover. The colour white shows purity, the fact that she sees her newborn baby as a new birth. The next part of her dream, when she actually says to her serving women “......people who say it would think it strange” this symbolises her fear that the baby will not be good looking enough for her. In summary, the dream shows her vulnerability to giving birth. The final part of her dream (going back a step) shows the stone exploding, and sparks flying. This means that people see her newborn baby as the master of life and that he is a leader able to carry the country forward no matter what.

Gunnhildr

This is quite interesting in that he feels our dreams are all about opening up the spirit world and are focused on delivering messages from another existence? So why am I bothering to look at the history behind dreams? Basically I have come to the conclusion that people from the 1800’s studies dreams more so that today, it was considered a pastime to try to understand what each dream means, therefore, it is important to look at the history behind what the theorists say. In addition, we can also read a number of dream accounts in ancient diaries, which may provide a clue to see if any of these dreams actually meant anything now these people have actually passed away and we have to some degree an account of their life’s. Throughout the dream dictionary you will find examples from various very old dairies and I have tried to interpret the dreams accordingly.