Drinking Jesus Whiskey (?!?!) and a night out with my friends

[lewjay]

The first part of my dream I remember is an anonymous friend suggesting we drink from a bottle labelled "Jesus". I have no recollection of where we were or the coversation we had but, as with many dreams, I gleaned information psychically, notably that it was perhaps made from the spirit/blood of Jesus and it got you super drunk! It's worth pointing out here that I'm not Christian, although I went to Church of England (Christian) schools, and I believe in his spiritual teachings/parables (regardless of whether it's provable an actual figure of Jesus existed) but I feel they are mostly misinterpreted for my own, spiritual reasons. This drink must have been part of pre-drinks, as it were, before me and my four best friends went on a night out in a random place in England. It seemed that we'd travelled somewhere for the weekend. Interestingly, the friend (L) whom I spent most time with in the dream is in Thailand currently and the story was that he'd travelled back for the weekend, which I didn't seem to question in the dream! L and I had left the club (apparently; I don't remember the in between parts such as going to the club or leaving etc.) to pick something up from where we were staying but had trouble getting back in and I semi-angrily disputed with the doorman. I can't remember whether we did or not but I remember the club being kind of in the middle of nowhere, or rather, not where you'd expect a club to be i.e. a fairly rural place. The next part of the dream took place in the place we were supposedly staying. It was like an old converted barn or something--it was certainly wooden--and it was very rustic. Two of my friends (M and T) were in an upstairs bedroom (depsite there being no obvious upstairs) while me, L and J were settling down to go to sleep and chatting. We had the lights on (I think they were old-style lamps). I remember thinking about the Jesus whiskey and how I felt--"his/its/whatever"-- a kind of raw power inside me. There two were rotating fans on the walls, one being directly above my bed, and the other near L and J's beds. All of a sudden they started to ferociously expel fire, sort of like a flamethrower. They burnt the walls but didn't set them alight. This happened twice and then subsided. My friends believed I had some part in it and I felt like I had kind of willed it to happen to see if I could. I'm very confused about this dream, especially the symbolism and how it felt with the power inside me! Would appreciate help from some learned advisors if possible Cheers!

[Athanor]

It looks like your dream has appeared on the scene from the deeper layers of your psyche (as shown by the presence of the powerful “Jesus whiskey” and the flame-thrower fans etc.) possibly in order to help round out your “spiritual views” in some way, perhaps partly because you might be aged around midlife or beyond. This may sound like an unusual idea but C.G. Jung demonstrated that there is a tendency in the psyche to bring about an all-encompassing type of self-development that doesn’t exclude various “uncomfortable” aspects of life. This “rounding out” impulse usually appears in dreams during the second half of life when one has presumably more or less established an outer career and family, and one should now apparently turn to “meaning” and “spirit” more fully. But such dreams can also appear at other important transitional points in a person’s life. And as Dr. Jung pointed out, one doesn’t have to be a practicing Christian in Western society to be influenced by certain of its core ideas because these permeate the zeitgeist overtly as well as covertly. In your own case, you were also introduced to Christian ideas in your schooling. Very broadly speaking, Christianity tends to demean the “Body” in its core teachings. Perhaps this can even be seen as being similar to a child who experienced a frightening trauma and who can never quite get over it. On a societal level, early “pagan” beliefs with their wild abandon and sometimes cruel destructiveness possibly left scars on early Christians which have echoed through the centuries. A striking example would be the cult of Dionysus with its reliance on wine to escape into wild drunkenness and orgiastic behaviour. In your dream, there might be a hint of a societal need to join Jesus and Dionysus together in the “Jesus Whiskey” which makes one super drunk, and you as an individual are potentially a part of this potential “evolution” in thinking. Dreams often use a play on words to express their meaning, and in this case, whiskey or “spirits” are probably symbolic of the search for meaning which should include both the “higher spirit” and the “lower” one in some kind of stable, balanced dynamic. Apparently, it might be necessary for you to get closer to your more instinctive side (e.g. the club and your lodgings, which resembles a rustic barn, are located in a rural area). Your outer friend (L) could also reflect a similar attitude of being perhaps too detached from his instincts. Therefore, this part of you is possibly shown as having to return from being far away from consciousness (e.g. he’s in Thailand) and must even make heroic efforts to do so (e.g. comes back for the weekend) since it may be hard to do but crucial to your further self-development over time. There possibly could be certain resistances to “entering into” the deeper exploration of this part of yourself more fully as symbolized by the difficult doorman where you’re staying. Apparently, only an emotional dedication can overcome any such reluctance (i.e. you get angry). The old style lamps perhaps suggest the need to reduce to some extent the use of the “intellectual” in approaching any such issue overall. Also, it’s probably necessary to allow guidance from the unconscious regarding the powerful Jesus whiskey and its effects (e.g. you’re going to give up the ego stance by going to sleep and by potentially allowing in spontaneous intuitions and dreams etc. which are indeed part of nature and therefore “instinctive”). The dream seems to be warning that, although it’s necessary to explore this raw inner power of instinct, there are dangers involved in any such “revelation” as shown by the flame-thrower fans which could destroy the “structure” of your current everyday outlook if not handled carefully (e.g. the walls are burned but not set alight this time). Fire is partly a symbol of change and regeneration, similar to what is expressed in Matthew 3:11 “He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire”, baptism being a basic symbol of transition to a new psychological state. Anyway, I hope that these brief ideas can be helpful in some way as a starting place to understand your very important dream. Please feel free to ask any questions or to make any comments about this particular way of looking at your dream.