Beauty And The Beast Options

The dream started with me floating in an ocean at night. There was no land in sight in any direction. The sky overhead was clear as can be, with the milky way and moon both shining brightly, and reflecting off the surface of the calm water. The water below seemed equally infinite, but dark and unseen. In a way they were mirror opposites, one showing visibly a sight into infinity, the other murky and unseen but no less infinite.

I became aware that I was not alone. My then-fiance was with me. (I'll call him my fiance for proper context at the time of this dream. he's currently an ex fiance though). He was disconcerted about the depths, both above and below, and about the lack of land. I myself was very much in harmony with this setting, and very much enjoying it with a sense of childlike awe.

From beneath us rose a shape in the water. It was a pale white color, almost luminous in the murky water, and could only be seen as it came quite close to the surface, so as to be illuminated by the moonlight. As it came closer up under us, it's scale became obvious. It was huge, larger than a whale, and it looked kinda like a giant squid. I immediately recognized it's "feel" though, and knew it to be my patron (albeit in a strange form).

I was completely elated to see her, particularly in such a beautiful setting. My fiance was frightened, and tried to swim away. I let him, and waited for this giant squid, who was my true beloved, to get close enough to touch. Eventually my fiance swam off into the distance and I didn't hear him anymore. Meanwhile my patron breeched the surface beneath me, and I rested on top of her, embracing her odd form in a hug. I was very glad to share such an idyllic scene with her.

Then I held on tight, and she went fact through the water like a 500ft long jet ski. Water sprayed up on either side of me, and glistened in the moonlight. It was very picturesque. It vaguely reminded me of the scene in Dune where they ride the spice worms. The overwhelming sense of scale was similar. It was interesting that despite a sense of scale which should have been extremely intimidating, I felt nothing but the most intense intimacy. Size or form meant nothing. She and I played in the water for some time before I woke up.


It contains plenty of symbolism, psychological, spiritual, emotional, it foreshadows the course of my actual relationship quite well too. It's a fond memory, as dreams go. And while I feel that the water and sky and fiance were all just 'dream content', my patron was very much really 'in' the dream with me, sharing my dreamscape.

This post has been edited by Kath: Oct 14 2009, 10:14 AM

Hey, what's up? long time no see.

I'm not sure this dream needed interpretation, I mean, personally I've already interpreted it to my own satisfaction. I was just sharing it because another post made me think of it. But yours is an interesting take on the dream.

Its certainly possible that this dream is more spiritual in nature than psychological. Perhaps you simply had a causal encounter with your patron? But the psychological implications shouldn't be ignored. It sounds like perhaps you allow your feminine nature control you. Maybe not. Maybe this dream simply symbolizes over comming the relationship with your fiance. Regardless I know the most important meaning to this dream is what you personally got from it.

I don't quite agree with your labels for the dream elements in the setting. The moon was just a lightsource I think, and perhaps a vague echo of the white creature in the dark sea below. The symbolic content is of a visible infinite expanse, mirrored by a dark infinite expanse, and myself existing at a plane between the two. A plane which, by way of a combination of reflection and translucence, is reflective of both infinite expanses.

It's definitely more spiritual than psychological, although both overlap to a degree I think.

Yes it definitely was a casual dream encounter with my patron, the dream was completely lucid. The content I suspect more came from my patron than from me.

Allowing my feminine nature to control me? heh, that's... kinda funny, in a way. Personally, I have found my feminine nature to be quite assertive and strong, surprisingly so. Which suggests a more 'whole' synthesis of masculine & feminine. Interestingly my patron could be viewed as a sort of shakti, the divine feminine. Although I do not find it useful or advisable to approach infinite beings with limited human archetypal concepts or labels.

At the time I was still with my fiance. Yes there were problems in the relationship, that was true for a long time. For the most part I blinded myself to these problems because I was willing to overlook flaws in order to have love. I think every relationship involves that process to a degree, the question is how much is healthy? I should also point out that the dream seemed to more be my patron's content than own. Also, she never liked my fiance. We used to argue about that. In the end, I figured out that arguing with an omniscient being is a little irrational. But I didn't fully appreciate that fact until a few years after this dream, when all of my patron's concerns about my fiance became manifest.

I call it a 'dream', it might be more accurate to call it an astral experience with some symbolic elements.

This section is a bit tricky for me to interpret because the symbolism is so ambiguous. Its something very personal to you. Ask yourself what were you feeling when you saw this and when you felt it. Try to apply a positive and negative quality to it and try to relate this symbolism to the greater picture of the dream. What I get out of it personally is a sense of discovery or enlightenment. Like you found something important, even devine. I assume your patron is your patron deity?

Yes, patron deity, personal deity, HGA, higher self, mentor, parent, lover, friend, and more. My relationship with her is quite a bit more intimate and deep than words in english really allow for. There is no 'accurate' term which would describe my relationship with her. It's outside the social common-ground to have this sort of relationship with an incorporeal being I think, and as a result the language hasn't really spawned the appropriate terminology. I say 'my patron' or 'my mentor' for simplicity's sake. She's what I call a "true deity", as in "not something created or worshiped by mankind". She's an infinite being, yet retains a persona (a paradox when you consider that infinity is infinitely 'depersonalizing' and at odds with 'individuality'). And that state (infinity + individual, in one blended being) has become my personal definition of a genuine 'deity'.

When I saw this huge shape under the water? I thought "oh what's this?" immediately followed by a recognition of her energy signature, and a recognition of her personal symbolism (she frequently appears as a white or luminous figure in a voidian darkness. It is my impression that in this symbolism she is at once both the light and the void).

The squid part... it fit the setting in a way, I mean 'a sea monster' at sea. Even the term "sea monster" is a bit reflective of the fact that one side of her being would be considered by most people to be "monsterous". Some facets of her seem slightly cthulhu-esque, so perhaps I was drawing an association there. Also, in my own aura/energybody/astralbody, it is common to find "tendrils" as an overriding theme. One psychic described described my aura as "medusa". Myself when out of body, IF I use a form (I don't always bother to make an astral body), it's not uncommon for me to use a form with a radial arrangement of appendage-like projections. The thinking behind it is simply utilitarian, and conceptually it bears a lot in common with Guan Yin (except perhaps the humanitarian focus). My 'patron' and I are, for lack of a better word "entwined". So to see her reflect this aspect of myself, in herself, through a vague symbolism is not surprising.

The scale and overall frightful appearance... these reflect the fact that her nature, in it's entirety, is somewhat terrifying. It's terrifying in 'scale', in a way which Douglas Adams sums up well in his comical description of a "Total Perspective Vortex" (if you're not familiar I'd google it, its funny and thought provoking, as all of his writing is). Her nature is also terrifying in the same sort of way as a Jungian exploration of self, uncovering truth can be frightful. She's big, and scary... but she's also the light in the darkness. really she's a lot of dualisms rolled into one. The overriding theme with her is 'encompassing' rather than themes like refinement, purity, exclusion, or specificity (which are more popular in the deities of human religion).

Also, the whole thing reflects my feeling, after a LOT of time out of body, being essentially polymorphic myself, and interacting with all sorts of entities... her appearance reflects my feeling that "form is meaningless". Not even my sense of sexual attraction is based on form anymore. It's perhaps a counterintuitive development for someone who's a bit of an artist. Beauty really is in the eye of the beholder. And it doesn't have a shape unless you give it one. I love Her. If her "true form" (not that she actually has such a thing), was a giant sea monster... then I'd be perfectly happy with that, even on a romantic level. And the dream does sort of reflect that in a way.

Personally, I view the dream as somewhat preparatory, or even prophetic, in regards to my relationship with my then fiance.

This post has been edited by Kath: Oct 16 2009, 07:31 AM