The Importance of Dreams and Their Interpretation
For as long as human beings have been looking for meaning in the stars, they also look inward and hope to find similar ideas in the magical landscapes of dreams.
Dreams being universal, divination through dreams (oniromancia) has deep roots in all the ancient cultures of the world. Absolutely everyone dreams, usually several times a night. Just because you don't always remember your dreams doesn't mean you didn't!
The dream must be lived as a time of transformation and healing, and must be used as a means of receiving wisdom and guidance from our depths. When a
pproached with respect, the mere fact of placing one's head on the pillow can be the door to a whole new world in which the many mysteries of our existence are decoded.
In this new world, the concepts of time and form dissolve and, to a certain extent, we are liberated: free to explore on a level beyond the physical: free to treat and express simultaneously without superficial borders. When the links between concept and physical stimulus loosen, it is indeed possible to befriend a deep and beneficial consciousness.
The origin of Oniromancia
Oniromancia has been part of Greek culture for centuries. To this culture, we owe one of the most important books on dreams ever written: the Oneirocritica (interpretation of dreams), attributed to Artemidorus, who believed that dreams predicted the future. His work is the basis of many contemporary approaches to dreaming. There is also a powerful hermetic tradition of interpreting dreams.
Aristotle would have taught that human beings are only able to attain the pure form of wisdom during sleep, when our minds are released.
In the belief systems of ancient India and in many Buddhist teachings, there are active traditions related to lucid dreaming, dream work and dream yoga.
Sufis consider that the function of our dreams is to provide an opening between the world of the mind and the awakened world. Energy information moves from the spiritual world to the awakened world through the dream state, and then communication returns from that world to the spiritual world. In dreams, these two impulses meet; our dreams manifest the mixture of the spiritual and the earthly.
The 3 types of Oniromancia
There are three basic styles of Oniromancia, just as there are three different dream areas.
Theurgery, where by contemplating divinity and worshipping the presences of God/Goddess, your dreams begin to take the nature of this divine wisdom.
Hermeticism, where through an immersion in language and meaning and philosophy, your dreams begin to manifest themselves with more and more clarity in their symbolism. Even potentially developing many "universal" archetypes.
The path of the hermit, or the tendency of "crazy" men and women to manifest deep visions when immersed in their strong instincts and emotions. This tradition tends to be very good at predicting physical and metaphysical changes.
Which of these paths of oniromancia would work best for you is totally unique to everyone, and all, if developed at full maturity, can reveal the same depth of understanding.
