A Powerful, Spiritual Interlude

Dear Nancy: This is a dream I had while I was undergoing a great deal of stress at work and in my personal life. It was the most profound dream I’ve ever had. - Pamela

I arrive at work and see a group of people watching an eagle in the sky. The sky is very stormy and the eagle seems huge. It flies down to land where we are gathered and transforms into a very large Indian man.

I am frightened, but when he looks at me I feel comforted. Everyone gathers around him and puts their hands on his. He asks me a question and wants me to join hands. I don’t remember the question, but I reply “I cannot join hands. I feel so empty inside, I have nothing to give.”

I suddenly wake up.

Dear Pamela: This is a spiritual dream, one that comes from God or the mystical level of awareness. These dreams have a much different quality about them and they usually leave the dreamer with feelings of awe and wonder.

The sky is stormy, reflecting your turbulent emotions during this stressful time.

Eagles are honored as sacred animals by every society that has had contact with them. They are a symbol of strength and the spirit of life.

The eagle transforms into a Native American man, allowing him to make contact and speak with you. He gives you comfort and wants you to join hands. You hold back, feeling you have nothing to give.

Could it be, Pamela, that this eagle-man wanted to give you something? Perhaps this dream is showing that when we are most troubled in life, we need to allow the people around us to comfort and support us. By doing so, we find our emptiness fading away. We can’t always be the one giving. To have balance, we need to learn how to receive.

This was a beautiful dream, Pamela. I would suggest going back into the dream, in a meditative state, and placing your hands on the Indian man’s. This is the most profound dream work you can ever do.

Tips for readers: Sometimes dreams bring up images of the past such as childhood homes, friends, cars and even ourselves as children. These dream images serve to connect the dreamer with unfinished business, unresolved conflicts and emotional situations from former times.

When this happens, there is normally some current situation in the dreamer’s life that is triggering these memories.

For example, a new acquaintance may trigger a dream about a class bully from the second grade. If the class bully terrified you as a child, are you “unreasonably” uncomfortable with your new acquaintance?

Or, a situation in which you feel scrutinized may spark a dream of college finals and the anxiety and fear you felt at that time.

These dreams come to show the dreamer how the past is influencing the present. Our life scripts from earlier years do have an impact on how we relate to current events in our lives. These dreams can help us to recognize these patterns of behavior and feeling so we can modify them into new life-enhancing ways and attitudes.

This column is intended as entertainment. But psychologists who work with clients’ dreams say that dreams can hold a tremendous amount of significance; a particularly disturbing or repetitive dream may indicate the need to see a therapist.

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