THE WORLD DREAM BANK: TOPIC: HANDS

The World Dream Bank:
HANDS

Dedicated to clumsy beings everywhere

Dreams of hands, to anyone who's read a lot of modern dream literature, instantly brings to mind one thing--Carlos Castaneda's famous exercise of simply looking at your hands in a dream. Well, these dreams aren't about that, or any other lucidity techniques. Here we have something much broader--something humans take for granted.

These are dreams of hands and of the lack of them, of opposable thumbs and the lack of them, of the thumb envy experienced by every intelligent creature on the planet who takes a good look at us. And the issues hands and handlessness can stand for--control over one's world, one's life... and the lack of it.

So get a grip, people! And not just in your dreams. The point isn't to see your hands. The point is to know how to use them.

The World Dream Bank has 1500 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, 2001-2006.

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	ARMLESS: by Wayan; pencil tinted digitally, 1997; dream figures, but not a dream scene A strange, horny, frustrated being, part human part horse, who lacks hands to hold the centaurs... CAUTION: NUDITY AND SEXUAL TENSION
	THE ARMS POLICY: by Wayan; 2000/4/7, a nightmare. The government has a harsh policy on armed dissidents. Not the kind of arms you think... CAUTION: VIOLENCE
	BLUE MERANGEL: by Wayan; three views 40K total. 2000, ceramic sculpture, 11.5" long. Seems strange to have no hands. How do dolphins get things done? By not needing to get things done? CAUTION: MILD NUDITY
	CAT-SNAKE: by Wayan; 1993/3/6, a short dream fable. I glue cat-legs on my snaky friend, despite the warnings of Christians who don't like snakes evolving...
	CENTAUR QUARTET: by Wayan; 1980-84, a dream-series on shamanic families. Can our interracial family survive? Not just cultural conflict, but our instincts clash around sex--and incest... CAUTION: SEX, INCEST ISSUES, DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILY
	DEAD RIGHTS! DEAD RIGHTS!: by Wayan; 1983/10/1, a dream of the other side. I die young, to get it over with, like chickenpox. As I slowly revive, I face bias against the dead. So..
	THE DEER'S FIRST DEED: by Wayan; 1984/10/8, a dream of gratitude. A man teaches literacy to the wild deer. But with no hands, how can they give him anything in return? CAUTION: IF YOU GOTTA ASK, YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW
	MY DEWCLAW: by Wayan; 1997/6/30; dreams within dreams within dreams Body after body is peeled away revealing truth inside truth... CAUTION: GROTESQUE
	ERECTION 2000: by Wayan; 60K; ceramic sculpture, 9" tall; response to stolen 2000 election. A candidate glad to shake your hand... though not all you voters will want him to... CAUTION: ANOTHER PRICK RUNNING FOR OFFICE
	FOUR-ARMED SINGER: by Wayan; 1996/5/16; a dream of baring your soul . In our mutant future, a lovely horse-tailed four-armed girl sings her heart out--as clubgoers ignore her... CAUTION: NUDE CABARET
	FOX-BOY: by Wayan; 1997/2/28, a dream fable. A boy offends his uncle the King, who transforms him into a fox. Grounded! But Fox-Boy runs away...
	FOXCOMB: by Wayan; ink 1990 tinted 2001; daydream of recurring dream character I visited the first bioengineered fox-person with working thumbs, to see what she thinks of hands...
	THE HAND THAT WAKES: by Wayan; 1997; acrylic study of what makes us forget dreams. I was painting to a sad scary song by Laurie Anderson that goes "This is the hand... the hand that takes..."
	HORSELIKE BUT NOT: by Wayan; portrait of dream figure, 1997, acrylic, 14 x 17" My anima Silky finds it hard to go back to classic hooves, now that she's tried opposable thumbs...
	MAMMAL FLOWERS: by Wayan; 1991. Digital painting on recurring dream situation. Since I dream I'm an animal a lot (or I'm an animal that wakes to find it's human a lot) hands fascinate me...
	METEOR OR STAR?: by Wayan; 2007/9/17, a dream of uncertainty I'm an anima. We rarely walk the day-world for long. When will I fade? Ignorance isn't bliss, it's paralysis...
	MISFITS ON MARS: by Wayan; 300K, 1986/11/20, an epic dream; the climax of UNICORN TAG, though it can stand alone. From the punk clubs of Frisco to the Safeways of Si Valley to the vermilion sands of Mars, Silky the were-nightmare fights for the Misfits against every cliche in science fiction...
	MOLLY'S PROSTHETIC: by Wayan, 1994/9/22, a dream of handy advice. My dad's new wife is a collie. Naturally, she wants a prosthetic arm. But she has no site to bind it to... CAUTION: BREAST-OBSESSED BUSINESSMAN, DOG WIFE
	MY THREE HUSBANDS: by Wayan; 745K (15 p), a digital comic drawn 1991 from a 1981 dream. Or view page by page: Cover, p.1, p.2, p.3, p.4, p.5, p.6, p.7, p.8, p.9, p.10, p.11, p.12, p.13, p. 14. I'm three women who marry a unicorn, a goat philosopher, and a magic cat.. We form a commune, but the police quarantine us... CAUTION: INTERSPECIES MARRIAGE, UNDERAGE SEX, and BAD COPS
	NO FINGERS: by Wayan; 1993/10/6, an indirectly predictive dream. My therapist has no fingers. A fingerless man intrudes on my session, and they use up my hour talking...
	SHARK SENSE: by Wayan; 1988/12/9, a diagnostic dreamtale. I'm a circus tiger, then a performing shark. One day, I block my human partner's high dive... Why?
	SILKY AT THE MIKE: by Wayan; 1998? Sketch of recurring dream Ours is a mixed-race family, and my sister takes after the horse side. No hands, but can she sing!...
	THE SINGLE DIE: by Wayan; 1994/10/17, a dream parable on child prodigies. My sisters play with dice. Miriel can influence them telekinetically, but she can't hold them: too young to have thumbs!
	THUMBS: by Wayan; 1989/6/12, a dream vignette. All over the planet, hands have gone soft, pliable. I meet some animals evolving into people and advise them:
	THE UNCLEAN HAND: by Wayan; 1995/5/24, a dreamtale. An Arabic traveler to China is shocked by toilet paper, which explains the origins of dualism. Really.
	A VALLEY NEAR HOPE: by Wayan; 155K, illustrated, 1984/10/17-19, an epic dream. I'm lost in a valley where unicorns love cyborgs but fear giant ants, who adore unicorns but hate cyborgs, who think ants are cute, but dread unicorns! And while the Three Tribes love and hate, cave-monsters sculpt them all. I set up peace talks between these four vertices of my tetrahedral soul, but what if I get what I want? Peace, love... transformation? What if those aren't cute and New Age? CAUTION: SWEARING, DRUNK LIONS, CYBORG SURGERY, AND GOGGLE-BARFING
	WHITE-KNUCKLE FAIRNESS: by Wayan; 1999/3/23, a dream of not being me. I'm a saurian forced to duel with a volatile friend. Wanting to fight fair, I don't just file down my spurs...