THE WORLD DREAM BANK: TOPIC: Blades

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Sharp!

Dreams of swords, knives, spears, arrows... anything sharp and cutting. Pop psychology tends to label these phallic symbols, which I've never understood. Unless a lot of people out there are having really, really bad sex... My own dreams use sharp objects to symbolize all sorts of thorny issues. And yours probably do too. Don't jump to Freudian conclusions.

In the Tarot and similar mystical symbologies, blades often symbolize thinking--the mind. Which, of course, devises such objects, but more to the point, likes to cut up the world into categories. Which is where we get the word gory... would I lie?

RELATED TOPICS: violence in dreams - pain in dreams - an even sharper cutting tool: the brain - cups and cauldrons - other Tarot symbols - See also the full INDEX OF SUBJECTS.

The World Dream Bank has 2100 dreams and dream images plus 500 other pages on dreamwork and shamanism, creativity, genius, art, surrealism and fantasy. Unless otherwise noted, all material copyright Chris Wayan, 2001-2010.

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	ARROW OF FIRE: by Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury and others, 1100/8/1, predictive dreams. Anselm dreams God orders King William's death by an arrow of fire, as the King dreams his blood covers the sun. Waking, he mocks a third man's ominous dream, goes hunting, and dies bloodily at sunset, an arrow in his heart...
	THE AXE OF DEATH: by Catherine McDiarmid Paton; c. 1830, a grisly predictive nightmare. She dreamt Death attacked her but her youngest daughters bravely fought back--and died. Three months later... CAUTION: VIOLENCE
	BAND-AIDS: by Bagheera Pardus; c.1985, a lucid re-entered nightmare turned to joy. Giant snakes chased me, but I went lucid, turned and slew one. As I woke, the snakes were crying. So I re-entered the dream and... CAUTION: SNAKES, BEHEADING, REHEADING
	BLONDIE AND CRAZY: by Wayan; 1984/12/25, a warning dream Quiet Blondie seemed sane enough, especially compared to her driven, talkative friend Crazy, until... CAUTION: NUDITY, A LITTLE BLOOD
	BOYS WHO RUN WITH THE SCISSORS: by Wayan; 1986/1/26, a shamanic dream-joke. Women who run with the wolves? Ha! In Mongolia, the only ones who can beat lightning-demons are...
	BREAK FREE: by Emily Joy; 2006/5/11, an encouraging dream on the price of safety. I search for family skeletons, but then a talking plant on TV inspires me to seek the sun and fly free. But certain velociraptors and barbarian swordswomen object... CAUTION: DUELS, FISH ABUSE, THE F-WORD
	CHANGE THE CORE PROGRAM: by Wayan; 1995/6/28, a dream of sudden progress. I meet a tragic heroine--great heart, rotten luck. But I open her magic sword and find a bad chip...
	CROC BOY: by Wayan; 2008/8/17, a dream-poem, Dreamverse #7. My friend's mom is a witch-smeller, who judges apprentice shamans. But when a boy dreams he's a crocodile, watch out!
	DAMOCLES LODGE: by Wayan; 1998/12/22, a dream on what hangs over us. I meet a nice werewolf in a hall of past-life junk, so sharp and rusty we dare not play...
	DREAMS BLOCK VAMPIRE ARROWS: by Wayan; 1995/3/30, an encouraging nightmare. Fighting vampire archers is risky enough WITH proper armor! And all I have is dream-journals... CAUTION: VIOLENCE
	DREAMKU, MARCH 2007: by Roswila; various dates up to March 2007; 31 dream-poems--some longer forms than haiku Dream poems laid out like a calendar. Themes? Horses, camels, abused girls, vampires--all want their freedom...
	GARDEN OF SWORDS: by Louis MacNeice; 1937, a dream warning of war. I'm at a garden-party when They attack. I flee through a garden of swords, but a guard with a bayonet blocks the gate...
	HELL HALL: by Anonymous #3; c.1920?, a dream of initiatory cannibalism A revival meeting goes bad--hell gapes, suicides jump, mutton turns out not to be. If you sup with the devil, carry a long fork...
	HIS MINE: by Wayan; 1985/12/2, a wild dream epic. I'm a hobbit seeking Henry Fonda's haunted gold mine, who ends up in a showdown in a shaman's bar...
	JACK DANIELS: by Wayan; 1983/10/14, three short dreamtales. Three dream-reactions to a (real) psychic experiment that went badly awry...
	A KNIFE AT HIS THROAT: by Wayan; 1991/1/1; a political dream-cartoon-fable A courtroom hostage-drama where I'm forced to commit... tracheotomy! And then the Gulf War begins... CAUTION: CARTOON VIOLENCE
	LIBERTÉ: by Marie-Claude Girondé, c. 2005?, a dream painting. "Freedom is a gift you give yourself." But it doesn't always involve seahorses or babycarriages covered in quills...
	LONG ROAD TO HEAVEN: by Edwin Muir; 1920, an epic hypnogogic shamanic initiation Creatures in the primal sea touch my third eye, dragons cry their eyes out, I fight the Sphinx, and arrive at last in...
	MANDALA DURING A TIME OF WAR AND DISINTEGRATION: by Jenny Badger Sultan; Jan-Feb 2003, painting of a dream-series My dreams were troubled by war. So I painted them in concentric rings--lotus, fire, children, animals, and nightmares...
	MILK ADDICTS: by Wayan, 1974/6/2, an early psychic dream. I'm in what seems to be a village of very conservative Muslims. But they're really alien castaways...
	MY RITUAL BEHEADING: by Jenny Badger Sultan; 1996/3/24, painting of a nightmare We stood meekly in line to be beheaded. I tried to accept my fate and commended myself to God... CAUTION: READ THE TITLE!
	ORPHEUS AND POOH: by Wayan; 1972/4/9, an early dream epic. I meet my true love during a coup. We go through Hell together, like Orpheus and Eurydice--only we...
	THE PERFECT MUSICAL GENIUS: by "Agnes"; before 1922, a Romantic romantic dream. I'm to be martyred. I ask if the man I love can strangle me. Yes! I say farewell to our hermaphroditic genius baby...
	RAGS TO RICHES: A FIGHT FOR LOVE: by Hyal; October 2006, a dream of courage. I was just a street rat, but I danced with the princess at a ball, and fell in love. Three rich suitors pulled their blades...
	SAMURAI BULLET: by Wayan; 1985 automatic drawing, 3x5", ink; tinted 2001. I didn't know myself what this was about, till I had to write this note--and suddenly I got it...
	SATANIC LION'S WARNING: by Eldon B.; 2007/1/19, a nightmare with poltergeist activity I fled a demon into a shadowy construction zone where an even worse telepathic lion-devil lured me in with soothing flattery. I woke shaking--and then things in my room began to move... CAUTION: DEMONS, POLTERGEIST PHENOMENA
	SAW HER IN HALF?: by Wayan; 2008/8/28, a warning dream-poem, Dreamverse #15 A sorceror's apprentice describes a medical procedure her teacher plans. I sure wouldn't want that done to ME... CAUTION: TALK OF BLOOD AND SEX
	STABBED ALIVE: by Roswila; 2007/10/9, a nightmare-poem I defeat the knife-wielder, in spite the blade in my belly I can't pull out. I may have to let it be...
	SUSHI CIRCUS: by Wayan; 1982/2/17, an illustrated psychic dream. When I flee the Psychodrama Circus to avoid being stabbed, it explodes! But it's the sushi that really upsets me... CAUTION: CANNIBAL MAKI
	THE SWORD DANCE: by Wayan; 1988/4/29, a psychic dream. I visit my friend Xanthe's lungs, where a swordswoman in a red bikini gives me a unicorn. The next day...
	SWORD IN MY BACK: by Franz Kafka; 1915/1/19, a surreal but un-Kafkaesque dream. I slept late and felt a bit stiff, but until my friends pulled it out of my neck I had no idea...
	THE SWORDSMEN: by T.A. Williams; late 1930s, a surreal dream. Dusk. A plain. A troop of swordsmen approach me, draw their weapons... and toss their spinning, shining swords to the stars...
	TAROT: WAKING FROM A NIGHTMARE (9 of swords): by Wayan; 27K. Tarot card, 3x5", summer 1978. The card confirming those silly fears are true. The nightmare is real. You're in trouble...
	TAROT: THE UNICORN QUEEN (Queen of Swords): by Wayan; 30K. Tarot card, 3x5", summer 1978. Having (or living with) a sharp mind is like living with a unicorn. That horn can kill or heal...
	TARTAN ACID SPIDER TORPEDO: by "Thomas Mountain"; 2008/1/31, a cliffhanger dream. I get speared by Irish warriors, slipped an LSD dose, chased by giant spiders, torpedoed--but hey, I'm not bored!
	TEMEMTIM: by Wayan; 1995/3/3 and 3/16; two linked archeology dreams. My cold-sensitive dinosaur friend makes a find at our archeological dig by thinking like the Old Ones...
	THE THIEF OF DREAMS: by Wayan; 200K, an illustrated dream-play, 1996/11/29. I was a mermaid trying to find Count Coyote's stolen dreams, so I could marry my human girlfriend... CAUTION: GAY MARRIAGE, ANTI-FUNDAMENTALISM
	THYROID: by Marc Ian Barasch, c. 1985; a set of life-saving diagnostic nightmares In 1985 I was flooded with nightmares about heads and necks. They had an unparalleled intensity...
	VOW, CHOP, DOOR: by Wayan; 1997/1/26, a psychic dreamtale. I make a weird vow--while I absent-mindedly slice up other people's cars! The next day... CAUTION: DREAM VANDALISM
	WITH WILD AND TURQUOISE EYES: by Joan-lee Woehler; c.1950, a dream-poem on a stubborn shadow I slay the beautiful dragon attacking us, despite my regret. And then, as I sleep, glowing eyes advance on our keep AGAIN...