Blue_Opossum

Morning of October 4, 1969. Saturday.



I am eight years old and am outside in the backyard of my home in Florida, and I become aware that I am dreaming. I want to enjoy myself in this lucid dream that is slowly growing in vividness, but I suddenly become aware that there are buzzards circling above (as sometimes occurs in real life) and I yell up at them - saying that I am not afraid, even raising my right fist at them. (This is mainly because Florida buzzards were a recurring fear factor in my dreams of this time period, both lucid and non-lucid.)

Almost immediately, I become aware that one of the buzzards is now swooping down to get at me. I run into the carport, and the buzzard flies onto my lower back, stabbing me with its beak (at the same time I start to sit down in an attempt to somehow crush the buzzard into the back of the chair which is impossible because a buzzard is too big for such an act). I then start to wake with a bizarre intense sensation as I am also leaning back against the chair with metal legs which I had chosen to sit in as quickly as possible (the chair facing south to the wall of the carport rather than out from the wall). The chair is not that far from the main door into the house, but I knew I could not get to it in time. I also notice a lawn mower near the chair. This also seems to be some sort of premonitory awareness of a spasm of some sort in my lower back, which is much the same as in certain other dreams.

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This dream was so intense that I was almost certain that I had rolled over onto my pet cat and harmed it, but it was not around at the time. It takes some time for me to fully wake and realize this, but when I finally move, nothing is there. The in-dream sense of touch was increased to such an extent, I could feel the lumpiness in my back for a minute or so, which was not there in reality and I felt relieved that our cat was likely okay in another room as the sensation eventually dissipated.

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Saturday, 26 June 1971. 1,650-M2. 48 second read.



I soar through the blue sky alongside an American black vulture, but I am unwary.

He flies on my left until he dives. I expect him to attack the townspeople below. (There is a vague association with Shakespeare’s “King Lear.”)

The mood becomes cheerful. The “palace” far below appears to be the DeSoto County Courthouse. I hear people cheering and see a ticker-tape parade.

I see people carry the vulture down the building’s outer steps in a palanquin, as he immediately becomes their king. “Pomp and Circumstance” (“Graduation March Song”) plays.

I zoom in. From the left, I see the vulture sitting inside the palanquin. The bird has knees like a human instead of bird legs and wears a crown.

I rise into the blue sky as I wake up laughing aloud.

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Note: People called vultures “buzzards” when I lived in Florida, thus my original title.

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My dream begins with the physiological influence of vestibular-motor sensations (from REM atonia). It changes from spontaneous vestibular-motor responses to controlled and more defined.

The vulture’s flying and diving transitions to his non-flight (becoming more human-like) and descending a staircase.

A crown appears with increased dream state awareness. It reveals higher metacognitive management of the dream state.

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