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Morning of October 3, 1971. Sunday.



“The Staged Bull”, regardless of its nightmarish essence (though I felt no direct threat as a result of being in the state of apex lucidity) was one of my most fascinating childhood dreams and also of which contained intriguing redundant symbolism (or “multiplicity” of the type which many dreams have). The level of extreme vividness was nearly indistinguishable from wakefulness, even my body awareness and sense of weight and movement as well as the incredibly realistic ambiance that many dreams lack.

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At the beginning of my dream, I am in my bed in Cubitis and the time seems to be around nine o'clock in the morning. During the process of a false awakening and “getting out of bed” (in my dream), I enter the state of apex lucidity and as a result I am already astounded by my fully aware perspective before I even make my way into our living room to go out the front door, into the carport, and into our front yard, and from there, I expectantly contemplate intimacy with the neighbor girl which basically, as young as I was, reflected my real-life attitude (though our relationship was mostly innocent; that is, mostly only hand-holding, hugging, spooning, and kissing at this time).

In my dream, the setting was a very nice and sunny day and I could even feel the fresh warm air on my body and in my lungs, and the distance orientation to other areas of the yard and orange groves was all perfect, as were the smooth walking movements and an almost overwhelming joy and sense of freedom, but there was soon something else, some sort of “higher authority” perhaps, and a menacing presence in my dream (a preconscious thread most likely), almost as if I was being stopped from exploring beyond my large front yard. There were three menacing dogs growling at me shortly after that otherwise beautiful feeling of freedom, my sense of freedom lowering somewhat, but I was not attacked in any way. The dogs never moved from their positions on the front lawn.

There was also another vivid but surreal menacing presence, which was an animal that was moving about in our yard looking much like a bull ready to charge. His front legs and feet seemed a bit too thin. He was mostly facing towards my home and near the largest tree between our front yard and our neighbor’s front yard. My first thought was that it was a bull that had somehow gotten a puppet stage stuck on his head (and in the back of my mind I was contemplating what could have happened to the teachers and students watching the show and although I am fully lucid I still do not consider that an outdoor puppet show near my home would have been highly unlikely, though bulls have gotten out from nearby farms) and as a result was likely very agitated by not being able to see where he was. Upon looking more closely though, it seemed that the bull’s head actually was a puppet stage, with a small, red, velvety curtain continuously swaying outward and inward to where the bull’s face would have been. I clearly hear the strange breathing. puffing, and snorting as he moves one front leg about (reminding me of a chicken scratching for food), and I feel a sense of augmented awe and potential danger, but nothing threatening happens other than an eerie feeling that my dream is not really my own, which causes me to decide to just wake up on my own, albeit frustrated at the missed opportunity to explore a dream of this “impossible” level of clarity.

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Important key points, including multiplicity; that is, two or more symbols that represent the same concept:

Firstly, the three aggressive dogs represent an invitation to control my dream, as dogs typically symbolize obedience. Their positions on our front lawn symbolize my physical day-to-day reality. Standing, sitting in a chair, and lying in bed. Dream-self role: potential dog-trainer (analogous to dream control).

Secondly, the bull also represents an invitation to control my dream, the red curtain symbolizing that the bull, on some levels, is already under my conscious control (though I unfortunately do not realize this while in my dream) as it is apparently preventing him from seeing me and thus knowing where to charge (and, although he is directly pointing towards our open carport entrance, does not change his position when I walk past him and more towards the highway). (One of my vividest recurring childhood dreams of a much earlier time period than this dream involved a bull crashing through the wall of the living room of our house near Mohawk Valley.) Dream-self role: potential bullfighter (analogous to dream control).

Thirdly, a puppet stage also obviously represents an invitation to control my dream. It is modeled after the high school auditorium stage, which my elementary school also used at the time. Dream-self role: potential puppet master (analogous to dream control).