HEALING STAR DREAM PATH NEWSLETTER
Messenger Minutes - Volume I, Issue 4.
Islands and Identity
December 10, 2003
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In This Issue ...

I. Dreampath Discussion - Dream Destinations.
II. Symbols and Scenes - Islands and Oceans
III. Threads and Themes - Island Dream Interpretation.
IV. Messenger Microphone -  Why do Dreams Recur ?
V. News and Notes - What's cooking at Healing Star Dream Path.

I. Dreampath Discussion:  .Dream Destinations.  How to understand where we are going.

We often dream about destinations and travel to places we’ve never been in our common day experience. It is also common to dream about unusual modes of transportation! For instance, swimming to class on a tropical island, riding a waterfall on a unicycle, or flying through time in unusual shapes. Usually, we are free in these dreams, and have unusual abilities and talents that we can’t imagine developing in real life. Or, perhaps the dream is just the opposite, and is an exaggeration of some part of truth that we do recognize. The feeling that we have in the dream, and upon waking, is the strongest message initially of what is going on in our every day life that needs attention.

For instance, if we are exhausted in the dream, it might be a message to take a look at the kind of energy we are spending to accomplish goals. It is important to match the destination, the way we get there, and how we feel in the dream, because as easy as it is to laugh these dreams off as a wish and nothing more, a need for comic relief and little else, it is often a very real message from our souls to change something that we are doing, or pay attention to the way that we are doing it, so we can become who we want to be and arrive at our true destination safely!

We dream of destinations and journeys in dreams, because in reality, we spend a lot of time thinking about where we are going in our lives. We want to know how far we have come in the journey, and what the ultimate destination is going to be. So, it is not unusual to have a dream that reminds us of where we hoped to be one day. We attribute these dreams to fantasies and myths, perhaps a wish left over from childhood, because over time we have learned to believe that we have to give up who we are to get where we want to go!

Deep inside, the original dream still exists, and will often come back to us through new symbols and journeys at different times in our lives, to help us remember the path back to our hearts.

II. Symbols and Scenes: Islands and Oceans.

 The common definition of island is an isolated land mass, cut off from the mainland, but also a 'service station' as in a food or fuel island, so the realistic application of the symbol may be either a service or social theme, depending on the rest of the action in the dream, and the circumstances in the dreamer's life at the time.  

Depending on what the activity is on the island, it can be either a vacation paradise, or a remote location, as an example, with a parallel application in reality, but don’t forget the play on words of ‘island’ or other definitions of the word either, because these are also clues to the ultimate meaning. 

We look at this in more detail in the island dream reading later in this newsletter. To some, an island might be a symbol of comfort or rest, to others a symbol of isolation or safety, but the activity on the island and rest of the dream action will make the meaning clear.

There is always a present day application to a dream message, and usually more than one message is revealed, so the trick is converting past tense to present in a dream, and substituting each symbol for a realistic experience in your own life. Some symbols however, carry very clear universal meanings, and an island is one of them, as is an ocean . Both are very strong soul symbols, and appear in dreams to highlight the spiritual path of the dreamer. 

An island represents who we are, the core, the center, the self, so in a dream, an island without water will indicate that we are cut off from a spiritual life, represented by the ocean, which is expansive and connects at every point to other bodies of water. To live, we must have water, just as the fish need it to breathe, so in a dream too, these symbols will surface to point out where we are, what we need, and where we hope to go.

III. Themes and Threads: Island Dream Interpretation.   Following the Thread (How to unravel the dream message).

The Dream ... University Island

There are a lot of little islands. On the islands, my classes take place, each class on one island. I have to swim from island to island in order to get to my classes. I feel a bit uneasy, because it is so strenuous and hard to get to all of the classes at the right time. At a certain time in the evening, the ‘university’ closes, and I have to swim back to a kind of base..

Background History:

The dreamer is a student. She thought the dream was telling her just to slow down, that she was working too hard and needed to limit her schedule, because she had to swim to so many classes, and was so exhausted!

First layer - the personal path :

It is interesting in the dream that the dreamer has to swim to a different island to get to each class, but that each class is still part of the same University structure. This is a sound or ‘clang’ association for the word’ universe, symbolizing, that she is in a universal school, as well as the present University. The theme is given by the location of the dream, the island classes, so we know that the dream is speaking about an educational path.

The sense of exhaustion in the dream is a message about the hard work in reality, and the dreamer knows this. It is hard to keep up with the demands of an overwhelming class schedule, symbolized by the language “it is so strenuous and hard to get to all of the classes at the right time”.

Notice how the dream answers this unconscious concern – it is hard to get to all of the classes ‘on time’, but the dreamer accomplishes the task, so there is also a message of affirmation here, saying in essence, ‘yes it is hard, and not as hard as you think, but you are doing it, you are on time’. The language clarifies what the dreamer already knows. It is not easy.

So, the personal interpretation is a fairly logical one to understand as a dream about pressure keeping up with the demands in school. The dreamer’s own sense was that she needed to do something to change the schedule or to pay attention to her energy levels, because she is so exhausted in the dream.

Swimming to classes on ocean islands connects the dream to a spiritual purpose as well, and echoes perhaps a deeper concern about progress on this path.

Second  layer - the spiritual path:

When we think of the word ‘island’, there are some immediate associations, because they are common points of reference in our universal knowledge. For instance, “No Man is an Island, No Man Lives Alone” is a reference to both a biblical Psalm and a Gospel Hymn, and conjures the image of being stranded on a ‘desert’ island. But it is also interesting to look at the spelling of words at times to see how the meaning in a dream changes. If we change the spelling of desert to dessert, we get a different kind of island altogether. A paradise or tropical island. The typical image of Paradise is the Garden of Eden, a biblical symbol.

Easter Island comes to mind, as do palms and lilies, symbols of spiritual rebirth and resurrection. If we rearrange the letters in Palms, an island paradise symbol, we also get Psalm, and another biblical association to the Songs of Solomon and “Solomon Islands”, a different island constellation.

Island also refers to a “service” station. For instance, fuel at a gas station is located on an island, and ‘serving stations’ in restaurants are also called islands. The common example is a buffet island. In the context of both definitions, it is still a central place where we go to get fuel, or to ‘fuel up’, or to get something we need to continue on a journey. With a gas station, it is fuel for the car, a universal symbol for the body, and in a restaurant, it is fuel for the soul, a universal symbol for food. As in, “food for the soul”.

So, putting it all together, the spiritual path of the dreamer is represented both by the location of the University, in the ocean, and the number of island classes she is required to attend, another word for ‘service’. Service is also a symbol of one’s calling or ‘station’ in life, represented by the word ‘class’ and the center island.

The dream assures her that the education is a process, and she is not required to do it all in one day! Or without the energy she needs to complete the journey. It is why the University closes at a specific time. So she can return to her own island. The “Home Base”.

IV. Messenger Microphone - Why do the same dreams recur?

The same dreams will often repeat or recur over time, because there is a message that has not yet been addressed by the dreamer. For instance, if you dream constantly that you are going to fall off of a cliff, and then always wake up at the precise time, right before you hit the ground, it is a message that something is still out of control in your life and needs fixing. 

The message will repeat in exactly the same time if the dreamer is not conscious of the message, or if the dreamer is beginning to assume awareness, will repeat in a different form each time until the complete issue is resolved. For instance, instead of falling off of the cliff, the next time, the dreamer stops at the edge of the cliff, and the next time, before he or she gets to the cliff, and ultimately, the dreamer sees the cliff as a beautiful landscape or vista, but one that is no longer a threat, or a place associated with the ‘risk of falling’.

Dreams will repeat until we work out the message, but they will also show us the progress we are making on the path, to make it clear to us that we understand, that we are doing the right thing, and will get where we want to be.

Do you have a question?  Please write dreams@healingstardreampath.com to have it answered in Messenger Mic. 

V. News and Notes: What's Planned for the future.

Threads and Themes, is still under construction, as is the companion glossary, Symbols and Scenes. We are making progress with the database and hope to have at least part of the glossary online soon. Meanwhile, the goal for a full upload of all resources by the end of the year is a bit unrealistic, so the goal is early 2004 now to get it all on line. We will also be adding a page for back issues of Messenger Minutes, as well as a page for past Dream Previews and Readings. A new edition to the readings is a personalized poem, to track with the reading.

You’ll find some Christmas music and other songs with a new music link, so feel free to surf the site for the new updates at www.healingstardreampath.com. Poetry, music, book excerpts, and dream reading previews are updated on the 10th to coincide with the new issue of Messenger Minutes.

Please feel free to send Messenger Minutes to family and friends …   Next month, we'll look at  Box and Barrier Symbols in a Barricade theme ...