The brain’s activity was found to be a better indicator of dreaming in animals than REM because some creatures, such as owls, do not move their eyes. In this way, all mammals were seen to exhibit active sleep or dreaming. Birds also dream, and, measured in this way, so do many types of fish, reptiles and some amphibians. See science, sleep and dreams.

To see a pile of bones, famine and contaminating influences surround you.

If a poor person sees bones in his dream, they denote his piety and fulfillment of his religious duties. Bones in a dream also represent one’s helpers, family, wife, children, vehicles and properties. Seeing one’s bones in a dream means exposing one’s secrets.

If one sees his bones turned ivory in a dream, it means that his wealth is gathered from unlawful money. Bones also could represent trees and their fruits, while their marrow represents one’s good character or knowledge. Bones in a dream also denote one’s fitness or sickness. (Also see Body’)

Folklore: Usually implies poverty; when in the form of a skeleton, Death or wealth.

1- Bones appearing in a dream usually indicate that we need to be aware that which we consider to be basic material. We need to ‘go back to basics’.

To dream of a dog eating a bone means we need to consider our basic instincts.

To dream of finding bones indicates that there is something essential we have not considered in a situation.

2- To dream of a full skeleton indicates that we need to reconsider the structure of our lives.

3- Bones are one of the integral parts of man. They often hold the key in terms of death and resurrection.

Breaking something down into the most simple, forthright form (e.g., the “bare bones”).

A large pile of bones indicates contaminating circumstances that threaten to pollute your morals or ideals.

Skeletal remains often represent those things we hide from others, or even from ourselves (e.g., the “skeleton in the closet””).

Foundational attitudes that give form and structure to all other thoughts and actions.

If you see a very thin person whose bones appear to stick out, be warned of impending disaster.

Depth Psychology: The bone is a warning about becoming hard and emotionally “fossilized.” The dream also suggests being less rigid, not holding on so fiercely to old attitudes or social norms.

To dream about broken bones means that you have found some flaw in your course of action. It could be a sign that you should to attend to some affair in your life.

To be conscious of particular bones in the skeleton, particularly the joints, highlights the way we move or create.

To dream of a dog eating a bone means we need to consider our natural instincts.

To dream of finding bones indicates that there is something essential we have not considered in a situation. You might like to consult the entries for limbs in body as well as the entry for skeleton / skull.

For other meanings, see “Broken Limb” and “Skeleton.”

If a known young person, or if an old man compliments him in a dream, it means attaining success at their hand.

To see cross-bones as a monogram on an invitation to a funeral, which was sent out by a secret order, denotes that unnecessary fears will be entertained for some person, and events will transpire seemingly harsh, but of good import to the dreamer.

2- One’s own death can often be used in dreams to explore others’ feelings about us.

3- Death is a transition from an awareness of the gross physical to the more spiritual self.

If you are Dishonest in your dream, it will be a document affecting your affairs.

If a grinding stone is seen grinding wheat thus producing flour, it means the observer will acquire sustenance as a result of someone else’s toil. But if he, himself operates the grinding stone, it means he will earn his own livelihood. Sometimes, a mill or grinding stone represents fighting or quarrelling if there is anything to suggest this in the dream.

2. A need or desire to focus, to exclude other diversions.

3. Feeling and intuition, being in tune with one’s instincts.

The major scientific con­clusion is that we do not learn from what we hear while asleep. Sleep is important in the process of learning, however.

If one learns a list of nonsense words, memory of them eight or twenty-four hours later is better if we have slept; memory eight hours later without sleep is not as efficient as twenty- four hours later with intervening sleep. This suggests memory traces are strengthened during sleep.

That we do learn, in the sense of creating new information or perception, while we sleep is generally accepted. Albert Einstein suggested that the creative scientists are those who have access to their dreams. He meant that in order to be innovative we must be able periodically to leave behind the practical everyday path of commonsense and rational thought.

The rational tends to move in areas of thought connected with what is already known.

To create something new, to find a new direction, we may need to be capable of retrieving appar­ently irrational ideas, sift them and reconstruct them in practi­cal ways.

Dreams have this ability to fantasise, to look at and experi­ence the irrational, to take an idea and move it completely out of its old setting or viewpoint. Because our mind can do this in sleep, we can touch not only our creativity, but also our ability to problem solve. As a personal test of this, try the following experiment. At the end of this explanation a prob­lem will be set. It is one that requires no special training or information to solve.

The solution is simple and will be seen as conect when reached. But do not even begin to think about the problem until you go to bed! It would discount the experi­ment if you did. On going to bed, think about the problem for no more than 15 minutes.

If you solve the problem note how long it took.

If not, stop thinking about it and go to sleep, making the resolve to remember any dreams. It is likely that you will dream the answer.

If not, on waking spend a funher 15 minutes trying to reach the answer.

The letters 0,T,T,F,F,-,-, form the beginning of an intelli­gible series. Add two more letters which make it obvious that an infinite number of letters could be added.

The lioness is a strong mother with regal elegance who guides and protects her children.

To dream that you are a lioness indicates you feel a strong connection to family and you may need to strengthen your place as leader in their eyes.

Example: 4I had backed my car into a big yard, a commer­cial area. My wife, two of my sons and I got out of the car. As we stood in the yard talking I realised there was a motorbike where my car should be. I said to everyone, “There was a car here a moment ago, now it’s a motorbike. Do you know what that means? It means we are dreaming.” Mark my son was now with us, and my ex-wife. I asked them if they realised they were dreaming. They got very vague and didn’t reply. I asked them again and felt very clearly awake’ (William V). William’s is a fairly typical lucid dream, but there are features which it does not illustrate. During the days or weeks prior to a lucid dream, many people experience an increase in (lying dreams.

The next example shows another common feature.

Example: In many of my dreams I become aware that I am dreaming. Also, if anything unpleasant threatens me in the dream I get away from it by waking myself (Alan). Lucidity often has this feature of enabling the dreamer to avoid un­pleasant elements of the dream.

The decision to avoid any unpleasant internal emotions is a common feature of a per­son’s conscious life, so this aspect of lucidity is simply a way of taking such a decision into the dream. Some writers even suggest it as a way of dealing with frightening dreams. Avoid­ance does not solve the problem, it simply pushes the emo­tion deeper into the unconscious where it can do damage more surreptitiously. Recent findings regarding suppressed gnef and stress, which connects them with a higher incidence of cancer, suggests that suppression is not a healthy way of dealing with feelings.

Another approach to lucidity is that it can be a son of playground where one can walk through walls, jump from high buildings and fly, change the sofa into an attractive lover, and so on. True, the realisation that our dream life is a differ­ent world and that it does have completely different principles at work than our waking world is imponant. Often people introven into their dream life the morals and fears which are only relevant to being awake in physical life.

To avoid a charging bull is cenainly imponant in waking life. In our dream life, though, to meet its charge is to integrate the enor­mous energy which the bull represents, an energy which is our own but which we may have been avoiding or running away’ from previously. Realising such simple differences revolutionises the way we relate to our own internal events and possibilities.

To treat lucid dreams as if they offered no other attainable expenence than to manipulate the dream en­vironment, or avoid an encounter, is to miss an amazing fea­ture of human potential.

Example: ‘In my dream I was watching a fern grow. It was small but opened out very rapidly. As I watched I became aware that the fern was simply an image representing a pro­cess occurring within myself which I grew increasingly aware of as I watched. Then I was fully awake in my dream and realised that my dream, perhaps any dream, was an expres­sion of actual and real events occurring in my body and mind. I felt enormous excitement, as if I were witnessing something of great importance’ (Francis P). It is now acceptable, through the work of Freud, Jung and many others, to consider that within images of the dream lie valuable information about what is occurring within the dreamer, perhaps unconsciously. Strangely, though, it is almost never considered that one can have direct perception into this level of internal ‘events’ with­out the dream. What Francis describes is an experience of being on the cusp of symbols and direct perception. Consider­ing the enormous advantage of such direct information gath­ering, it is surprising it is seldom mentioned except in the writings of Corriere and Han, The Dream Makers.

Example: After defining why I had not woken in sleep recently, i.e. loss of belief, I had the following experience. I awoke in my sleep and began to see, without any symbols, that my attitudes and sleep movements expressed a feeling of restrained antagonism or irritation to my wife. I could also observe the feelings were arising from my discipline of sexual­ity. Realising I did not want those feelings I altered them and woke enough to turn towards her’ (Francis P). After the first of his direct perception dreams, Francis attempted to use this function again, resulting in the above, and other, such dreams. Just as classic dream interpretation says that the dream symbols represent psychobiological logical processes which might be uncovered by dream processing, what we see in Francis’ lucidity is a direct route to self insight, and through it a rapid personal growth to improved life experience. Such dreams provide not only psychological insight, but very fre­quently a direct perception of processes occurring in the body, as the following example illustrates.

Example: ‘Although deeply asleep I was wide awake with­out any shape or form. I had direct experience, without any pictures, of the action of the energies in my body. I had no awareness of body shape, only of the flow of activities in the organs. I checked over what I could observe, and noticed a tension in my neck was interfering with the flow and ex­change of energies between the head and trunk. It was also obvious from what I could see that the tension was due to an attitude I had to authority, and if the tension remained it could lead to physical ill health’ (Tony C).

An effective way to develop lucidity is frequently to con­sider the events of waking life as if they were a dream. Try to see events as one might see dream symbols. What do they mean in terms of one’s motivations, fears, personal growth? What do they suggest about oneself? For instance a person who works in a photographic darkroom developing films and prints might see they were trying to bnng to consciousness the latent—unconscious—side of themselves.

A banker might feel they were working at how best to deal with their sexual and personal resources. In this way one might actually apply what is said in this dream dictionary to one’s outer circumstances.

The second instruction is, on waking, at a convenient mo­ment, imagine oneself standing within one’s recent dream. As you get a sense of this dream environment, realise that you are taking waking awareness into the dream. From the standpoint of being fully aware of the dream action and events, what will you now do in and with the dream? Re-dream it with con­sciousness.

For example the things you run from in your nor­mal dreaming you could now face. See dream processing for fun her suggestions.

To eat one of the stones which are intended for pelting in a dream means to devour or steal the property of a young orphan. Pelting stones ina dream also means fulfilling one’s obligatory prayers and fasting, having earlier missed their performance for a legitimate reason. (Also see Pebbles; Pilgrimage; Jamariit)

If you are wearing precious stones: you are arrogant and egotistical. Seeing or finding precious stones always indicates that something valuable is going to happen. Finding a blue precious stone means new ideas, an inspiration, or a new field of knowledge.

A red precious stone means a new romance. Finding a yellow stone, means a new opportunity due to a many-layered connection.

A violet stone means pay more attention to the spiritual part of your life. It might lead to valuable insights or bring help “from above.” See Jewelry, Jewels, Gems, and the chapter “Colors in Dreams.”

Depth Psychology: Dreams about precious stones indicate that the dreamer likes external, material things, and lacks spiritual depth.

For a young woman to dream that a rhinestone proves to be a diamond, foretells she will be surprised to find that some insignificant act on her part will result in good fortune.

2. Fleeting pleasures.

The next leap forward in understanding came when Aserinsky and Kleitman found rapid eye movements (REM) in 1953. In 1957 the REM were linked with dreaming. This defined sleep into two differ­ent observable states, REM sleep, and NREM (non-rapid eye movement or non-rem) sleep. Within NREM three different stages have been identified. These are defined by the different EEG patterns of electrical activity in the brain. They are mea­sured by the height (amplitude) of the brain waves and fre­quency of up and down movement. There are also electrical changes occurring in the muscles (measured using an electro- myograph or EMG), and in movement of the eyeballs (mea­sured using an electro-oculograph or EOG).

While awake the height is low and frequency fast. As we relax prior to sleep the EEG shifts to what are called alpha waves, at 8 to 12 cps (cycles per second). Stage one of sleep is the transition between this drowsy state of alpha waves to sleeping, in which theta waves occur, at 3 to 7 cps. In this first stage we experience random images and thoughts. This lasts about 10 minutes, followed by stage two, in which ‘sleep spindles’ occur which have 12 to 14 cps on the EEG. These last from 1/2 to 2 seconds, with K complexes following, which are slow large EEG waves. About half our sleep period is spent in this second stage of sleep. Deep sleep is reached when our brain exhibits delta waves, with 1/2 to 2 cps.

After approximately an hour and a half from falling into deep sleep, an exciting change occurs. We return to level two and REM occur. Suddenly the brain is alert and active, though the person is asleep and difficult to wake. This level has been called paradoxical sleep because of this fact. Voluntary mus­cular activity is suppressed and the body is essentially paralysed. Morrison has pointed out that, although the brain is transmitting full muscular activity messages, these are usu­ally suppressed by an area of the brain in the pons. But bursts of short actions occur, such as rapid eyeball jerks, twitches of the muscles, changes in the size of the pupil, contractions in the middle ear, and erection of the penis. It may be that similar excitation occurs in the vagina. Also, autonomic storms’ occur dunng which large erratic changes occur in heart rate, blood pressure, breathing rate and in other auto­nomic nervous system functions. These are the changes ac­companying our dreams.

If we slept for eight hours, a typical pattern would be to pass into delta sleep, stay there for about 70 to 90 minutes, then return to stage two and dream for about five minutes. We then move back into delta sleep, stay for a short period and shift back to level two, but without dreaming, then back into level three.

The next return to stage two is longer, almost an hour, with a period of dreaming lasting about 19 minutes, and also a short period of return to waking. There is only one short period of return to stage three sleep which occurs nearly four hours after falling asleep. From there on we remain in level two sleep, with three or four lengthening periods of dreaming, and returns to brief wakefulness.

The average amount of body shifting is once every 15 minutes.

1- In undergoing 205 hours of sleep deprivation, four healthy males showed various physiological and psychological changes. Some of these were headache, lack of concentra­tion, hallucination, memory loss, tremor and, in some, paranoia. In all cases one night’s sleep restored normal functioning.

2- One in ten people who complain of excessive daytime drowsiness suffer from sleep apnoea, which is a stoppage of breathing while asleep.

3- A condition called narcolepsy causes sufferers to fall asleep at inappropriate times—while making love, walk­ing, playing tennis, working.

4- As we age we usually sleep less. Our REM sleep in partic­ular decreases sharply.

For instance most times this hap­pened I have been in the middle of a dream in which there is a sense of absolute imperative that I must make love/have sex.

It is like being lost in a storm of glamour and fantasy or vision in which I am totally involved.

The whirl of the “dream” is towards the wonder, totality of the need to have sex. As this imperative is expressed in my still spontaneous, dreaming physical action, the experience of sex is also visionary and enormous’ (Charles W).

This fairly common dreaming experience demonstrates powerfully how dreams are an expression of a self regulatory or compensatory action in the psyche and body. Charles says that he had been restraining his sexual activity. This shows the enormous gulf which can exist between what we will to do as a conscious personality, and what our being needs to do or wishes to do outside conscious decision making.

The ‘glamour and fantasy’ Charles describes are regular features of how these deeper needs make themselves known, or attempt to coerce the conscious mind, into fulfilling the need.

If we reject the fantasy, the unconscious processes will attempt a more radical approach, as in actual physical movement while we sleep. This may have given rise to ideas about possession or devils in past ages, when it was not understood that we can split our mind by such conflicts. Fear of the possessing’ influ­ence actually heightens its power through suggestion. It is much better to understand what one’s needs are, and seek an acceptable fulfilment. See abreaction.

To sleep in unnatural resting places, foretells sickness and broken engagements.

To sleep beside a little child, betokens domestic joys and reciprocated love.

To see others sleeping, you will overcome all opposition in your pursuit for woman’s favor.

To dream of sleeping with a repulsive person or object, warns you that your love will wane before that of your sweetheart, and you will suffer for your escapades.

For a young woman to dream of sleeping with her lover or some fascinating object, warns her against yielding herself a willing victim to his charms.

If in fact the people are unaware or uncertain about something, and if one sees them in such a state of slumber in a dream, it means that God Almighty will remove that blind, and they will see things clearly.

If one sees himself sleeping or laying on his back in a dream, it means that he will gain power and financial success in the world. Sleeping with the face down in a dream means losing one’s job, or it could mean poverty. Sleeping on the floor in a dream means owning a land, being a rich person, or 396 having children. Sleeping for an unmarried woman in a dream means that she will get married shortly.

The sleeping of an unjust ruler in a dream means a temporary relief for the people. Sleeping in a dream also means intoxication of the mind, ecstasy, a sickness, neglecting one’s duties, disunity, humiliation, or death. Sleeping under a tree in a dream means having a large progeny. (Also see Doze; Sleeping on the stomach Slumber; Turning in one’s sleep)

A lack of clarity, and consciousness, avoidance of problems.

The need for rest.

Folklore: Negative omen.

A dream of sleeping with someone who is repulsive augurs £11 in matters of the heart.

To sleep beside a small child predicts that yonr love will be reciprocated by your sweetheart.

Sleeping alone m a bed with clean, fresh linen is a favorable sign to those in love.

If this area is damaged or suppressed, humans or ani­mals make full muscular movements in connection with what is dreamt. He observed that cats would stalk, crouch and spring at imaginary prey. These very imponant findings sug­gest a number of things.

The unconscious process behind dreaming, apan from creating a non-volitional fantasy, can also reproduce movements we have not consciously decided upon. This shows we have at least two centres of will which can direct body and mental processes. Christopher Evans, linking with the work of Nicholas Humphrey at Cambridge University, sees the movements of dreaming cats as expres­sions of survival ‘programs’ in the biological computer. These ‘programs’ or strategies for survival need to be replayed in order not only to keep in practice, but also to modify them in connection with the influx of extra experience and informa­tion. In the human realm, our survival strategies and the way we relate to our social, sexual, marriage and work roles may also be replayed and modified in our dreaming.

Such movements are not linked simply to survival or social programs’.

An important aspect of dreaming is releasing painful emotions or trauma, and moving toward psychological growth. Also, the process producing these movements does not keep strictly to the realm of sleep. It is observable that many muscular spasms, ticks, or unwilled waking movements arise from this source—the will’ of the unconscious—at­tempting to release trauma or initiate a necessary programme of psychological growth. That such dream’ activities as spon­taneous movement or verbalisation should occur during wak­ing would appear to suggest that a dream must occur with them. Research shows this is unlikely. It does however show that a dream may be imagery produced to express this mental, muscular, emotional ‘self regulation’.

The imagery may not be necessary if the process is consciously experienced.

Because the self-regulatory process produces spontaneous movements, emotions and verbalisation, it is likely there is a connection between it and many ancient religious practices such as pentecostalism, shaktipat in India, subud in Indonesia and seitai in Japan. These are forms of psychotherapy prac­tised by other cultures. They create an environment in which practitioners can allow spontaneous movement and fantasy while awake. Because consciousness is then involved, and can co-operate with the self-regulating or healing activities of the unconscious, such practice can lead to better health and utilisation of unconscious functions.

The older religious forms of this practice relied on belief systems of spirits or gods. Once the connection between these practices and the dream is realised, much in them which was obscure becomes under­standable. In my book Mind and Movement I explain the con­nection between the dream process, self regulatory healing, extended perception and waking consciousness. See abreac­tion; sleep walking; dream as therapist and healer.

The dream probably evokes unhappy feelings or con­ditions from the past, as the person used rocking to cope with their past distress, it occurs as an habitual accompaniment of the distressing dream.

If the child is agitated, excited or acting in a manner to injure themselves during the sleep walk­ing, then it may be a sign of emotional distress.

The same applies to adults. Many sleep walkers perform complex acts without coming to harm.

A young Ponsmouth boy drove his father’s car 27 miles before waking in South­ampton.

The police checked his story and did not charge him. But sometimes severe injury is inflicted either upon them­selves or others. During a dream phone-in on London Broad­casting Company, a man told me his experience of smashing through a glass window, cutting an artery and nearly bleeding to death. In America and England homicidal acts have been committed while the person claimed to be sleepwalking, and the people involved were acquitted of murder.

Because of such powerful activity during sleep, many peo­ple who experience this type of sleep walking are worried about what they might do to a partner sleeping next to them.

In most cases one wakes as the contact is made, or the in­volved person wakes one, but the element of risk cannot be denied. Where such worry exists, hope can be gained by un­derstanding what was observed with many men who began to sleep walk after war combat. In their cases the movements, speech and emotions were observably connected with trauma occurring during their war experience.

The self regulatory process in dreams was thereby attempting to release the ten­sion, horror or emotional pain of the events. Where these emotions could be met consciously, perhaps with the help of a psychotherapist, the sleep movements stopped. This sug­gests that dramatic activity while sleep walking has similar roots, and can be dealt with.

2. Not fully aware of something.

3. The awareness of trying to find the answer to something by dreaming.

2. The desire to go back to the womb.

Depth Psychology: Sleep is the symbol of your unconscious fear of or flight from reality. Do you have unknown talents you need to “wake up” ? A bedroom is a sign of your sexual needs. Bedroom dreams usually appear when something is wrong in an intimate relationship. See House, Room.

If the sleepover party was fun, social plans that you make now will bring you much happiness.

If the party was bad, this indicates that you are unsure of your social skills.

If you see other people sleeping in your dream, you may not be alert or informed about a particular situation in your waking life.

If so, try to seek the people and activities that can give your life more purpose and a deeper meaning.

The dream may be telling you to take things one thing at a time. Or that you need to take a chance and take that first step toward your goals/dreams.

The central self; the core of your being.

Being hard-hearted or having a stony disposition.

A place of origin; beginnings with foundation. Ancient beliefs contended that humankind was born of stone, which is one of the reasons why uniquely shaped stones or those with unusual markings were worshipped as goddesses.

A rolling stone: By gathering no moss, the stone (representative of self) keeps progressing along its path. Hie caution here is not moving so fast that valuable lessons get left by the wayside.

Standing stones: Indicative of nature worship and earth religions. This may reveal an interest in same, or an urge to get closer to the land. This can also be an alternative circle, cross, or wheel emblem, depending on the stones’ configuration.

Holed stones formed from water are considered harbingers of improved luck. Similarly, small stones called saivo in Finland were carried as talismans, being gathered from the same region as the standing stones.

Throwing stones: Casting aspersions that may or may not be accurate. Placing the blame on others without seeing your own faults.

Birth stones: Dreaming of your own birth stone is very serendipitous.

Boulders: An alternative type of obstacle dream, where going around this issue is not the answer. You must find a way to clear this path, or go over the boulder instead of avoiding the issues. Alternatively, the boulder may block your path for a good reason, such as one balanced at the edge of an abyss.

Geodes: A hidden treasure. Don’t always judge a book by its cover alone—look a little further than the superficial in this situation.

The effort will yield life’s intangible riches, all of which are well worth your time.

Fossils: Evolutionary states in ourselves, others, or situations. Alternatively, a historical connection with the greater chronicles of earth and humankind.

Patience. In the East, wise people will often instruct their students to learn diligence by watching rocks grow.

Skipping stones: A kind of childhood release that allows the mind to wander. Count the number of times the stone skips and consider its numerological value. Or, take this as a simple treat from your inner child, that gently reminds us that leisure does not have to equate to being lazy.

Depth Psychology: Stones are often a sign of emotional coldness, disgust, or lack of empathy. Analyze carefully whether you are on the receiving or giving end. Stones often appear when others have “thrown stones” or other obstacles in your path. See Rock.

To throw a stone in a dream indicates a fear of some person.

The dreamer was single, so the subject of the talk may have been bothering her. Perhaps the most prolific and creative of sleep talkers was Edgar Cayce.

If one sees the reverse, which is turning from resting on one’s stomach to lying on his back in a dream, it means that he will repent for his sins. It also represents his willingness to face the people and to correct his wrongdoing.

If the subject is a woman, then sleeping on her stomach in a dream means that she is refusing to sleep with her husband. (Also see Running away; Take a flight; Sleep)