Dream Interpretation/Spirit Meeting- Can you help me?

[WebenBanu]

Recently there's been some discussion of dreams in the ED forum, and it's brought up a memory of an encounter I once had which I still have not figured out completely. I gave a description in the thread (which is now enormous^_^'), and some folks have PM'd me about it with questions. Now I've got this encounter on the brain again and I don't really have any better clue about what it means than I did when I first had it. So I thought I should post it here in case any of you guys recognize anything about the spirit or the situation from your systems. The encounter unfolded over a series of dreams that were all had on the same night, and I consider the series in two different themes- basically the ones at the beginning I understand, but the very last one is puzzling to me.

So here it goes:

There was a time when I was going to start picking up trash at an old local cemetery, in honor of a god Whom I was just getting to know- I think I've mentioned this elsewhere on the forum. But I was deeply afraid of the dead at the time- I'd always had really horrible nightmares which usually consisted of going along some normal routine, and having corpses drop on top of me or just show up out of nowhere. They never really did anything- they didn't have to. I was afraid of them just for being there. But it really got annoying after a while, this being afraid of the dead even though they weren't doing anything. So I decided to confront that fear and start taking care of this cemetery until I was so desensitized to the presence of the dead that I didn't care anymore.

The night before I went to the cemetery for the first time, I had a series of dreams about it. I dreamt that I went to the cemetery, and started picking up trash and I met this old man who asked me what I was doing. I explained to him that I was doing a devotional, but that I was so afraid of the place and that I was having a really hard time doing it. And then he told me to leave, because he didn't want me there, and to leave his tombstone alone. When I realized that he was a ghost, I looked up at him and he gradually decayed into a creature kind of like the mummy from those Mummy movies which came out a few years back- the version of the mummy before he started sucking people dry and rejuvenating himself.>_< And then he'd chase me around and out of the cemetery, and on the next dream cycle that night I'd be back in the cemetery, and he'd catch sight of me and chase me out again. Sometimes we'd pass spirits from other graves who'd tell him to be nice to me, but he never paid any attention to them. We kept on going like that until I finally got pissed off at him and turned around and told him that I was doing something nice, and here he was being mean to me, and it wasn't fair and I was really angry! And he just stood there staring at me, being all creepy and waiting for me to flinch, and I finally just shouted at him that I was not afraid of him! And he waited a bit more, and then slowly smiled and started to laugh. And he turned back into the kindly old man (non-decomposed version) and I realized that he just hadn't wanted me in there feeling sorry for myself while I was supposed to be giving of myself. Then someone else came in the cemetery and the old man got this sly look on his face and changed back, and started chasing after the other person. And when he came back I asked him, "You just like scaring people, don't you?" And he said, "Yep," and chuckled a bit.

The next dream cycle I had that same night, I was in the cemetery again, sitting by some children's graves reading to them from a storybook. He came up and motioned to me to follow him, and he took me over to an old above-ground crypt and opened the doors. We went in, and down, and walked through an enormous stone hallway to another set of double doors, which he opened, and again beckoned me in. I noticed that as we walked down the hall he was a younger version of himself, and quite handsome. He showed me the room behind those doors- it was fairly small despite the fact that there were double doors leading into it. On my right there was a pile of old, broken, rusty weapons. On my left there were piles and piles of gold, jewels, crowns, and other shiny treasures! Straight ahead there was nothing, just an empty wall. He invited me to take a look around, and I went over to the pile of weapons. I love weaponry.^_^ He looked surprised but didn't say anything. I took out an old sword and admired the craftsmanship on it, I commented on some of the pieces, and he came over looking rather pleased. He said I could have any one of them. But I said that it would feel wrong to break them up as a collection, and that I would be honored and satisfied just to look at all of them and take only the memory of them with me. He looked surprised again, but let me do as I wished.

After a while he came over to me again and told me that it was time to leave. He asked me if I knew the way out of the tomb- it was just a straight line to the exit, so I said yes. He looked at me then and said, "Run." I looked back at him and said, "What?" "Run. And don't look behind you." At this point I probably should have just done what he said, but I was confused. "Why? What's going to happen?" He looked exasperated, but tried to explain that he was going to change. But he would bar the door after I left, and I should run as fast as I could back to the exit. So I ran, and I heard him bar the door, and rustling behind the door, and then scratching and banging, and finally the door splintered behind me and I could hear something running on four legs. I ran as fast as I could, and I reached the door- I remember seeing the light of the daytime graveyard above, and then I remember nothing after that. I think I woke up.

I have no idea what the last part of that dream was all about, but I'm pretty sure that the first part was to help me conquer my fear of the dead before taking on guardianship of that cemetery. And it worked beautifully- I went to the cemetery the next day, picked up all kinds of trash (the church associated with that graveyard was long since gone, so it was in really bad shape), and in the same corner of the yard as where it was in my dream, I saw an above-ground crypt in roughly the same shape. It didn't look exactly the same, but it was close enough to make me wonder.  

[Nihilistic Seraph]

Fascinating. I'm not sure about any of th symbolism, so I'll just throw out ideas, and you can say whether or not you think it's right.

1. Very old graveyards tend to have a guardian, as when they were created, someone was sacrificed in hopes that their spirit would protect the graves of those lying there. Perhaps this man was the guardian spirit testing you.

2. The crypt represents something hidden in the graveyard. Nothing physical, something else. Maybe the wisdom of the spirits who have passed on. The power of overcoming your fear. The emotion that visiotrs to the graveyard have left behind.

3. I think the contents of the crypt are important. The treasure represents wealth, material things that the dead no longer need. The rusting weaponry represent maybe the past experinces of the dead. Mememtoes, and sentimentalities, while having no material use, have a special sort of merit in themselves.

4. The changing of the old man perhaps is a warning. Allways be carefull wherever you are. The graveyard may seem like a haven to you eventually, but allways be on your guard, as nasties can lurk. That itself is true, a fair amount of my friends have gone on spirit hunts in graveyards, and been attacked by psi-vamps.

That's pretty much all I can think of for now.  

[Jameta]

I may or may not touch on what Nihl has said; bear with me, as I need to put everything down that I think of, or else the thoughts might be skewed.

- Cemetery's not only hold the dead, but the past. Not only could this be a physical connection to the actual place, but it could be a connection to within yourself. Or both. Cemeteries were, as you probably know, a revered part of Egyptian mythology, so I can see it being important to you in either or both ways.
- Old men represent wisdom; clearly, this has been displayed. Usually, a young man in a woman's dream represents her inner-masculinity.
- Graves tend repesent issues within your subconcious that you thought you may have "delt with"; however, they may also be markers of time. In the second dream, you started with childhood, then seemed to mature as you devled into the depths of the crypt/psyche.
- Consider the position of the objects (or lack there of) and consider what those directions mean to you. The weapons may repesent power, the treasures surely wealth, and the nothing may be uncertinty or the unknown.
- The change of the young man is open to various interpretation. One would be that you feel that this masculine side or just a part of you is undergoing a strange or tramatic change you are not exactly sure how to deal with.

All of this information is provided for you to make your own conclusion; I cannot really say exactly what is going on, as the nature of the dream could be more than subconcious. If there was one truly trying to contact you, in the end, there may be something that he is unable to deal with that happened in life. I would suggest trying to find the name on the crypt and looking into whatever history there is. Also, you might want to seek the assitance of the other residents if records do not help.  

[FireonYce]

Sometimes the gods of Egypt have funny ways of helping us, i personally had a very wierd egytpian dream sequence. Mine however was dealing with something else. It seems that the dream was sent to you, and Just like my dream it was interupted or intercepted. I feel that Osiris was sending the dream I have read much on the Osiris story and mythology and it has been shown in the Mythology that Osiris was very fond of making people learn from themselves and to then finally overcome it. Also since your dream pertained to death and yor hope to overcome it that would make even more sense that it was Osiris to me as he was the one man to conquer Death and become King of the Underworld. The end of it to me seems like Seth may have finally broke through and Osiris held Seth Back to get you out. This however is just my take on it all. any questions just ask, I mean anyone can tell you a book interptritation but within yourself is the only sure fire anwser. To me this seems to be the most fitting and logical possibility.  

[WebenBanu]

Wonderful! Thank you, everyone- you've given me a lot of good points and additional insight to ponder.

If anybody else has something to add, then by all means feel free.^_~