Explore the World of Dreaming Talking about Dreams with Delphi Ellis, Dreamologist     Print this article     Send this page to a friend One of the things people often say to me is ‘I never dream’. In actual fact, we all dream every night, even if we don’t remember them. There may be a number of reasons why you’re not remembering your dreams, but unless you’re not sleeping, you can be sure that you are definitely dreaming each night. Dreams have fascinated civilizations for thousands of years, in fact some cultures held dreams with such importance that temples were dedicated to induce dreaming itself. The Ancient Egyptians, for example, essentially believed that dreams were often prophetic and held messages containing health, wealth and warnings from the gods. Even in modern day, there have been several recorded incidents of prophetic or precognitive dreams – that is, dreams that predict the future. Where do dreams come from? That is a very good question! Some believe dreams are messages from spirit, some believe messages from the gods. Some psychologists will tell you that they are nothing more than the inner workings of our mind, encouraging us to confront and conquer troubling issues. Many cultures still consider their dreams of great importance to this day. To my mind, when it comes to the world of dreaming, anything is possible. Dreams (particularly precognitive dreams) continue to baffle researchers and scientists to this day. Whatever your beliefs, there is a lot to be gained from learning about your dreams. Why learn about dreams? Some people may think their dreams are insignificant but I believe many dreams hold personal messages for each of us relating to our past, present and future. Some dreams are an account of events that took place that day. Some are messages providing us with an insight to what is troubling us. Dreams can be precognitive, foretelling future events. Some may even be 're-living' past lives... A famous example of someone who had a precognitive dream would be Abraham Lincoln. Two weeks before he was assassinated, the president had a dream in which he walked in to a room in which a coffin was laid out, guarded by a soldier. When he asked the soldier who was inside the coffin, the solider replied ‘The President of the United States’. Two weeks later, Lincoln was murdered. The International Association for the Study of dreams, states “Although scientists continue to debate this issue, most people who work with their dreams, either by themselves or with others, find that their dreams are very meaningful for them. Dreams are useful in learning more about the dreamer's feelings, thoughts, behavior, motives, and values. Many find that dreams can help them solve problems. Further, artists, writers, and scientists often get creative ideas from dreams.” What about symbols? Whilst many dream dictionaries can translate symbols within a dream, these are not always sufficient for an interpretation itself. Different symbols can mean different things to different people and the events within the dream can go a long way to interpreting it, in a way the dreamer can acknowledge. For example, to some people a dog may represent companionship or loyalty; for others, they may represent fear or danger. Red may represent anger to one person, but love to someone else. Recurring Dreams & Messages At some point people may have a dream which repeats over and over again. These dreams, generally, represent an issue that may need to be confronted, however sometimes the imagery within the dream can be so bizarre you may not be able to ‘unlock’ its meaning without some help. A recent article published by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy even suggests that dreams can contain messages relating to our health and wellbeing. Exploring our dreams can open up a whole new world and I personally hope that one day we will place as much importance on our dreams as we did all those years ago.   About the author: Delphi Ellis is a Dreamologist and Professional Stress Consultant based in the UK. She runs Dream Workshops, which can include topics for those who say they never dream, as well as looking at different types of dreams including precognitive and nightmares. Delphi also offers personal dream interpretations and consultations. Delphi says that her aim is to encourage and empower people to get more out of their dreaming, to help them explore & understand their dreams and by doing so, possibly find solutions to problems that their dreams may be offering them. She works hard to promote the benefits of exploring our dreams in a fun and enthusiastic way and has appeared on TV, Radio and written articles on the subject of dreaming; Delphi says it is, without doubt, a subject that she absolutely loves. Copyright note: www.ImmramaFey.com and the name 'Immrama Fey' are the sole property of Delphi Ellis. © Immrama Fey 2006 © Delphi Ellis 2006 Visit Delphi's website at: www.immramafey.com << Previous page