Dreaming and the subconscious world we inhabit each night is an interesting subject. And one I have already speculated upon in my articles Dreams and A Quantum Leap, In Dreams and will probably reference this article in one being worked on currently called Sleep Stalking. But this one is for the meanings and beliefs around them from other cultures and times and how they were viewed, and to a point, probably still are today. It’s a strange thing that no-one can really define, test or prove with any certainty, yet many people experience them in some form. It’s interesting once you start to read about how they are viewed or understood by different parts of the world.

Baku Yokai – Japanese dream devourer “The Baku Yokai is revered as a powerful force of good and a sacred protector of humanity. It has been considered a symbol of good luck, health, and protection against nightmares and evil spirits. The image of the Baku has been used as a talisman and amulet to ward off bad dreams and illness.”

Aboriginal – Dreamtime “The Dreaming is used to represent Aboriginal concepts of Everywhen, during which the land was inhabited by ancestral figures, often of heroic proportions or with supernatural abilities. These figures were often distinct from gods, as they did not control the material world and were not worshipped but only revered“. I personally prefer the their term for it Everywhen, rather than the anthropologists naming it dreamtime.

Egyptians believed dreams were messages from the Gods. Although they had Bes the God of dreams, and Tutu, to protect from bad dreams, so gods protecting you from gods?

Chinese theory is yin and yang are out of balance and dreams come into being. Which ties into lots of the dreamology discussions in modern times, tying it into psychology and waking mental disturbances causing subconscious nocturnal struggles. But could it be that we are given a chance in our dreams to rebalance our waking lives, letting us run through some things that wouldn’t be possible in real life, or would take too long? Maybe that only counts if you remember the dream, I’m not sure, I still haven’t decided my position on that idea.

Greek mythology had a land of dreams. Morpheus being their God of dreams and nightmares and the subconscious sleep realm. Fitting them perhaps that they chose that name for the character in The Matrix.

Mayan – “the Tzotzil Maya see dreams as a way to “live a full life” and “stay alive.” They believe that dreams are a means of “seeing with the soul” what we can’t fully comprehend with our body and mind.”

The main religions also believe dreams often carry a message or prophecy from the divine.

Night Hag – closely related to the below definition of nightmare, this is now mostly known as sleep paralysis these days, not an incubus sitting on your chest giving you nightmares. But it is said that was the belief for quite some time and still is in certain places, folklore of it is found in Scandinavia, Europe, Africa, Canada, US. They have similar tales in China, South Asia and South East, The Middle East and so on. All having a myth about ghosts or demons affecting you while you sleep and paralysing your earthly body while you are forced to endure the experience.

Nightmare – original meaning – a mythological demon or goblin who torments others with frightening dreams. 

Day Dreaming – “Daydreaming is the stream of consciousness that detaches from current, external tasks when attention drifts to a more personal and internal direction. There are various names of this phenomenon including mind-wandering, fantasy, spontaneous thoughts, etc.”

An odd thing really, when you think so many clearly experience it and it would be appear to be a common occurrence, why it should be given a demonic overtone. Why is that the go-to for explanation, when we clearly have logical minds among us and always have. Why does the fantastical or the hysterical win out when to comes to coming to a conclusion? Or maybe the question should be, why do we suffer from such horrible visions in the form of nightmares, when we are supposed to be in the resting cycle? It’s not very restful or relaxing to be anxious about going to sleep, worried about what you will have to go through in a place you don’t recognise, where time doesn’t exist and you are at the mercy of the experience. But dreams entice you and can make the sleep world seem so much safer than the real world, until you start to see like Alice did when she fell sleep, and then fell down the rabbit hole. Whether you are asleep or awake, not all is as it seems…

(c) K Wicks