BrightEye
25 July 2008
I dreamt we came to a clearing above a cliff. There were the ruins of a castle below the cliff and a dragon, a brown earth dragon, squatting above the rock face. We stood as if mesmerized. We had never seen such a dragon before. Had the dragon destroyed the castle? When it saw us, it flew away. I was the dragon or inside the dragon as it flew away. And then I wasn’t in it anymore. I had to go after it. The dragon had a jewel that I needed to have (for my people?). My companion asked me how I would catch up with the dragon. I turned into a white winged horse and said ‘like this’. At first I was afraid that I might fall off the cliff. It took faith to be able to fly.
I wanted to take her with me. Or she wanted to come with me, and I was (we were?) afraid of letting her ride on my back without a bridle. So I went and stole one from passing travellers. They were talking about a woman who had to pay with her life because the man who wanted to rape her went all limp before her. I knew I shouldn’t have stolen the bridle, but I would have done anything for my companion, just to have her with me. In the Greek myth of Pegasus, Bellerophon tamed Pegasus with a golden bridle I found out afterwards.
And we flew fast after the dragon. She held on to me, often clinging to my neck with her face in my mane. We came to a forest and made a detour. She asked me why. I said I would take her to ‘Diamond’, the place where she came from. I would return her to her people. It was a place close to Paradise. I did not dream of our arrival there but I saw the future and the possibility that she would choose to come with me. And that I would be very sad if she decided not to, but that I would not force her and would go after the dragon alone.
Or did she come with me and the forest scene came after? I was flying fast through a forest, afraid she would be hit by low branches. But she held on to me, almost becoming one with me, ducking her head into my mane, and we flew fast in pursuit of the dragon. I remember speed very vividly, and also that I couldn’t tell where she began and I ended. We were one and the same. It was a beautiful feeling.
We never caught up with the dragon, but it felt that if we had, it wouldn’t have been a violent encounter, that the jewel he had to offer was the dragon himself or was something that could not have been obtained through violence. The dragon would have given it maybe. Maybe the journey was the test.
I know dragons can be soul guardians. They guard treasures deep within our psyche, like in myth they guard hoards. The winged horse is a symbol of creativity. So whatever the dragon had, whatever is deep within my psyche, I must want it badly enough. The desire to have it gave me wings. There are two jewels in the dream, the one guarded by the dragon, which was of unknown quality, the other was the diamond. Diamonds are a symbol of commitment, but I don’t know how it fits with the dream place because my companion leaves it again with me. She is not committed to it. But what is it that I so badly want? The feeling of being one with my companion, who is someone I know in real life? They say that all aspects of the dream are parts of the self. I felt that with the dragon at the beginning and I felt it with her, too. They were both part of me. But since I know nothing of the dragon’s jewel except that I wanted it, maybe I don’t yet know what I want?
This is the dream that made me think whether dreams are mostly compensatory.
I dreamt we came to a clearing above a cliff. There were the ruins of a castle below the cliff and a dragon, a brown earth dragon, squatting above the rock face. We stood as if mesmerized. We had never seen such a dragon before. Had the dragon destroyed the castle? When it saw us, it flew away. I was the dragon or inside the dragon as it flew away. And then I wasn’t in it anymore. I had to go after it. The dragon had a jewel that I needed to have (for my people?). My companion asked me how I would catch up with the dragon. I turned into a white winged horse and said ‘like this’. At first I was afraid that I might fall off the cliff. It took faith to be able to fly.
I wanted to take her with me. Or she wanted to come with me, and I was (we were?) afraid of letting her ride on my back without a bridle. So I went and stole one from passing travellers. They were talking about a woman who had to pay with her life because the man who wanted to rape her went all limp before her. I knew I shouldn’t have stolen the bridle, but I would have done anything for my companion, just to have her with me. In the Greek myth of Pegasus, Bellerophon tamed Pegasus with a golden bridle I found out afterwards.
And we flew fast after the dragon. She held on to me, often clinging to my neck with her face in my mane. We came to a forest and made a detour. She asked me why. I said I would take her to ‘Diamond’, the place where she came from. I would return her to her people. It was a place close to Paradise. I did not dream of our arrival there but I saw the future and the possibility that she would choose to come with me. And that I would be very sad if she decided not to, but that I would not force her and would go after the dragon alone.
Or did she come with me and the forest scene came after? I was flying fast through a forest, afraid she would be hit by low branches. But she held on to me, almost becoming one with me, ducking her head into my mane, and we flew fast in pursuit of the dragon. I remember speed very vividly, and also that I couldn’t tell where she began and I ended. We were one and the same. It was a beautiful feeling.
We never caught up with the dragon, but it felt that if we had, it wouldn’t have been a violent encounter, that the jewel he had to offer was the dragon himself or was something that could not have been obtained through violence. The dragon would have given it maybe. Maybe the journey was the test.
I know dragons can be soul guardians. They guard treasures deep within our psyche, like in myth they guard hoards. The winged horse is a symbol of creativity. So whatever the dragon had, whatever is deep within my psyche, I must want it badly enough. The desire to have it gave me wings. There are two jewels in the dream, the one guarded by the dragon, which was of unknown quality, the other was the diamond. Diamonds are a symbol of commitment, but I don’t know how it fits with the dream place because my companion leaves it again with me. She is not committed to it. But what is it that I so badly want? The feeling of being one with my companion, who is someone I know in real life? They say that all aspects of the dream are parts of the self. I felt that with the dragon at the beginning and I felt it with her, too. They were both part of me. But since I know nothing of the dragon’s jewel except that I wanted it, maybe I don’t yet know what I want?
This is the dream that made me think whether dreams are mostly compensatory.
