Dream symbol I don't understand

I wonder if anyone from a Hindu background may be able to help please?

Last night I dreamed of being a teenager attending a girls school, like a Catholic girls school but I didn't see any references to Catholicism. One of my class mates died and there was to be a service held in a room upstairs. The place was quite grand, oak panelling, wide, stone stair cases, plaster moldings etc. Even though I know in the dream that I am not a Catholic (I am by birth but not practicing) I want to attend the memorial service and so I go to a black tin box on a small hallway table and take a small, thin candle. I pay for it with 2 x coins but when the coins fall into the box they turn into 4 x coins.

I go up the stairs to the landing where several people are waiting. There are three men (teachers) in grey suits, one starts to upbraid me about why I am there, what work have I done in the past 3 months and that I am only there to get out of school work. Usually I don't argue with authority figures like teachers in my dreams but this man was wrong and I told him so. I pushed past him into the room.

Chairs are laid out and some of the girls are already there but standing in the middle of the room talking. I make my way over to the right of the room, to an alcove where the candle stand is. In front of the candle stand which already has several candles half burned in it, there is a small round tin (like a shoe polish tin) with a red paste in it. I instinctively know to take a little on my finger (not sure which one but either middle or ring finger of my right hand) and put a dot on my forehead then a dot on the candle. Then I look around for a match to light the candle. I light mine and some others which have gone out.

The thing is, I am not a practicing Catholic yet I understand the symbolism of the candles etc. I can understand the reference to a young, naieve part of me dying and the being repremanded for not doing enough these past few months but what I don't understand is the red paste?

I've googled Tika/tikla and found a bit of information but I don't fully understand why I would be doing this here at a memorial service or anointing the candle either.

As a bit of background, last night a friend of ours died after a long illness. I have also recently completed training in psychopomp work and so all the references to death and funeral rites are relevant on a literal level.

Its the red dot/tika that I can't understand. I have no links to Eastern religions and until googling a few minutes ago, I had no idea what the red dot means (still don't really understand it fully)

Any help would be really appreciated.

I thought the tika was a symbol of marital status...
Married Hindu women wear a red bindi. Single women black.

Modern interpertations are a glorifying of womens perfect beauty.



From Hinduism:
The area between the eyebrows, the sixth chakra known as the 'agna' meaning 'command', is the seat of concealed wisdom. It is the centre point wherein all experience is gathered in total concentration. According to the tantric cult, when during meditation the latent energy ('kundalini') rises from the base of the spine towards the head, this 'agna' is the probable outlet for this potent energy. The red 'kumkum' between the eyebrows is said to retain energy in the human body and control the various levels of concentration. It is also the central point of the base of the creation itself — symbolising auspiciousness and good fortune.

Hi!

What does candles stand for, in your view. What are they a metaphor or an allegory for in YOUR life? Which are the three first words you think of when you hear about candles?

And hinduism. The same question. Add thoughts about the dot on the forehead.

If this was my dream I would ask myself what these dreamsymbols mean to me, first of all...

Greetings!

/Torbjörn

Thankyou for your replies.

I always find that it helps for me to research these things. I am aware of the initial need to look at how I perceive the dream symbols and what they mean to me but for a long time now things will come to me in dreams which I have to go research. Its like a trail of breadcrumbs every time.

So far I have pretty much come to a dead end (!) with Tika, not because it means nothing but rather that it was the starting point which lead me to remember that the red was not bright but more like ochre.

Use of Ochre stems back over 100,000 years

100,000 ya- The oldest ritual burial of modern humans is thought to be from a Qafzeh in Israel. There is a double burial of what is thought to be a mother and child. The bones have been stained with red ochre.

Click to expand...

Most often it seems to have been used in copious amounts around the head or over the de-fleshed bones of the dead.

Again, the reference to the ritual or funerary rites of the dead. This use of ochre or red to anoint oneself or an artifact suggest a blessing of eternal life, the eternal blood colour the blood of the earth.

This now starts to make more sense to me but if anyone can add to this I would be glad to learn.

Hi Milfoil!
The red Ochre = Wunamin came to my mind while still reading your first post.
It makes perfect sense to me.
And I think, you remember from our conversations, that I use a dot of red ochre mixed in Bear grease to initiate my students and or mark them after they have comprehended an important teaching.....

It is good that you were not intimidated by that questioning figure at the door / gate!!!!
I think you initiated yourself!!

Thankyou Mi-Shell, that makes sense.

It may be interesting to note WHERE in the candle this mark was placed, , there may be a connection to a time frame.
________
Motorcycle tires

5 unlit candles could be 5 attempts to get there , the doorman was effective before, but has now lost that leverage.
________
Justin Bieber Fans