A Very Real Dream

[AndurilWielder]

(posted in the wrong area, so here it is in the right post. Can my thread in the other area be deleted?) This dream was not on Earth, but it was very real, and I could feel, smell everything from textures to feelings. I've had a couple dreams like this, but once again, completely different. I am looking for help with it's interpretation, and what others may think it means. ~ I was in another world with my family, not Earth, and most certainly not the one from Haibane Renmei. My parents, sister and I were squabbling as normal I think. It was close to my birthday. One day though, I felt something poking at my back, and I was suddenly bed ridden for a while, the event being the start of a pair of small angel like wings bursting forth from my back. This was both a blessing and a curse, as families in this world who have an "Angel" living with them are said to be blessed. People who see them are said to have good luck, as Angels are very very rare. I still do not know what sprouted the Wings from my back. I lived my life for a little bit, I'm not sure what filled the gap in time between getting my wings, and receiving something the mail from a society of people who look after these Angels. The handbook was a centimeter thick, and paperback, about 10x8 in size. Inside it had some tickets, a smaller notebook, and it also explained everything about the culture of the Angels, how the wings work, what being an angel means to you and others around you, and many more. Inside it included a very important note: those who sprout angel wings, whether they're six years old, or eighty years old, they will start to age either forward or backward toward the prime of their life. Once they get to this prime it is time to move on. I was saddened by this. Since I was already in the prime of my life, I feel like it had been drastically cut short. Obviously I did something amazing, or lived a life deserving of angel wings somehow, but I was soon going to leave my family. I felt the pulling sensation that I had little time left. In the months that followed I helped people however I could, and every good deed I did meant that my wings slowly started growing to what I assume is a maximum size of a fully realized Angel. I took the ticket and left on a special train that took me toward my destination with my family, a place where I would be with others of my kind, learning about the customs, especially about the festival of passing on. It felt relieving to be with my own kind, but as I was already in my prime, I boarded the next train towards my destination where I would practice my role in the festival. However, my dad was cleaning up, and misplaced my manual that had the ticket in it. The ticket acts as a lifetime train ticket, and I can use it anywhere. I was able to find it just in time, and folded my wings, and ran off. Unfortunately the rest of my dream is a bit hazy. There exists a point where someone who did not see the wings I had (since I covered them up in a coat) thought I was insulting the entire order of the Angellic beings because of some action, threw a bit of paper money at me as an insult. (just like in the anime, Angels here do not use official money at all). I was choked too, but helped out of it somehow. I boarded the train moved on, and remember waking up with a melancholy feeling, sad, happy, and knowing that somehow in the dream I managed to move on during the festival. Unfortunately in the dream I never flew, but I moved on without my body physically dying. It was wrought with emotion I had not experienced in a dream in a very long time. ps. It should also be noted that in the dream they're called "Angels" because of the beautiful white wings. They do not have halos, and they aren't dead. ~ That's pretty much it. It was interesting in that I woke up in the same position that I left the dream in. My bed sheets were a mess. I think I missed a few details too, as its hard to remember literally 100% of it, but anyway. Help, anyone?

[Darkmatters]

It sounds to me like a very straightforward dream about reaching the 'threshold' between adolescence and adulthood, making the realization that once maturity begins theres no going back to the innocent pleasures of dependency, and lamenting that loss while fearing that maturity might be grey and dull and lifeless. A train ride often represents our course through life - and since it's a train as opposed to a bus or car, it's carrying others and moving along a predetermined course. Mass transit can mean different things depending on who's aboard - in this case it was not friends or family but "others of your kind" - meaning angels, meaning adolescents on the cusp of maturity. And bear in mind - I have no idea how old you are - I don't mean to imply that you are literally that age - a realization about maturity can come before or after the actual fact itself. Pople sometimes have revelations later in life that cast new awareness on an earlier attitude. "I boarded the train moved on, and remember waking up with a melancholy feeling, sad, happy, and knowing that somehow in the dream I managed to move on during the festival. Unfortunately in the dream I never flew, but I moved on without my body physically dying. It was wrought with emotion I had not experienced in a dream in a very long time." To me it sounds like the dream was showing you a glimpse of that feared 'adulthood', and that in spite of your fears you would come out alright. And it might not literally be adolescence that's being referrenced in the dream, though that's what came immediately to mind as I read it. It could represent a similar transition - a moving on to some new part of life that you have doubts about. It does sound like the dream is offering reassurance.

[AndurilWielder]

Thanks. In reading someone else's dream, I just realized that the angel wings were white, and that was emphasized in my dream a bit as well. I dunno how I think about the prospect of not being mature though. I like to think of myself as quite mature, and I always try help others as well as being seen as someone with a head on their shoulders, or two feet on the ground. Just as well - since I never actually used those wings to fly. However, that maturity may refer to something else, not just physical or mental maturity. It could be a spiritual maturity, or some other aspect of my life some event that matures. The development of an action or activity and the reassurance that it will be alright. Those are interesting perspectives and I will take them into account.

[Darkmatters]

The only reason I equated it with adolescence is because your description of sprouting angel wings that grew over time sounds like the body going through changes, which immediately calls adolescence to mind. But I don't think my interpretation is about simply "being immature" - more like a reflection on an earlier attitude toward maturity. In other words, possibly when you were young you feared adulthood, or thought of adults as dull and boring (as many kids do), and maybe your dreaming mind was mulling over that old idea and commenting on it. But it's important to understand that dreams use broad symbolism, and that what at first glance seems like the idea of adolescence could mean some other similar transition - for instance maybe moving out on your own or switching jobs or something. Some kind of transition that you dread. The angel wings might be throwing me off too - do they come from the anime you mentioned? Possibly they don't really represent anything, that show might have just been on your mind.

[AndurilWielder]

Yeah, there were angel wings in the show, but they were different. The show was good, but not exactly anything I would consider a favorite. So it's weird that it would be directly reflecting that. There are shows I've loved far better that haven't sparked any sort of dream like this, however I have always found angels fascinating anyway, not just because of the show...

[Darkmatters]

It's not just "things you really like" that show up in dreams - they're often built out of bits and scraps of things you've seen recently, cobbled together almost randomly but in ways that can sometimes make symbolic sense. People usually make too much of the surface qualities of their own dreams which draws their attention away from what those things were supposed to mean.

[AndurilWielder]

That's true. I mean, just because I "died" (would it be death? I "moved on" in more of a literal sense than my body physically withering away) doesn't mean I'm going to die in my near future in real life. Or at least I certainly hope that's not the case. I hear some times dreams can predict things though; it happens with some members of my family who have a dream about something, and something in real life relative to what the dream was showing them happened in real life. I read death symbolizes inner changes, transformation, etc happening within the person or their life. To dream that you die in your dream symbolizes inner changes, transformation, self-discovery and positive development that is happening within you or your life. You are undergoing a transitional phase and are becoming more enlightened or spiritual. Although such a dream may bring about feelings of fear and anxiety, it is no cause for alarm as it is often considered a positive symbol. Dreams of experiencing your own death usually means that big changes are ahead for you. You are moving on to new beginnings and leaving the past behind. These changes does not necessarily imply a negative turn of events. Metaphorically, dying can be seen as an end or a termination to your old ways and habits. So, dying does not always mean a physical death, but an ending of something. Hm. it seems today is sort of a "death" day for me. On another note I am a christian in real life, and I also worry that I am not behaving or thinking like one enough, that I don't deserve what God is giving me, but I sort of felt like God was trying to say not to worry, that I'm on the right path. That may be another interpretation, but I certainly want to know what other people may have to say about it too.

[AndurilWielder]

I know this thread is very old now, but I just want to say it seems that the prophetic nature of my dream has in fact come to pass in truth - and a very good truth it was. My life is going in a totally different direction now, and for the better. I will never forget this.