Dreams of Hell, Hades, and all the other slummy soul-hotels built for the gloomy, the guilty, and folks whose metaphysical imaginations just couldn't picture anything classier.

I was surprised how many of my hellish dreams are about ascent--climbing, slowly and often with setbacks, out of Hell, despite all the usual assurances it's impossible. Ascent with difficulty is a common motif in the dreams of shamans in training--teaches you not to believe all you hear, to strengthen the will, to overcome despair, to master pain... Your muscles aren't the only things that need toning!

So don't always assume that a dream with hellish content is a sign of trouble. The question is, how'd you handle it? Bravely, honorably, stubbornly? Or... are you ashamed?

To mangle Milton: "Better to be climbing out of Hell, than to be a couch-potato in Heaven."

RELATED TOPICS: paradises: Heavens, Edens, Utopias - demons and devils - guilt - chthonic dreams (the underworld) - fire dreams - volcanoes and eruptions - See also the full INDEX OF SUBJECTS.

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.

What this site is - How to read these entries - Ratings: profanity, sex, etc - Add your dreams! - Copyright - Downloading -

	ANGERHELM: by Wayan; 1994/11/11, a reassuring nightmare. In one long night I hike out of Frustration Hell, to Inner-Freedom Heaven...
	AROO'S ENGINEERS: by Wayan; 1984/11/9-10, a Hawaiian dream epic. The Engineers make Eden logical. But the blimps go blind, and a demon gets published. Can I escape the hell they've made?
	CLIMB FROM THE PIT: by Wayan, 1996/11/9, a dream parable. I'm in the Mideast. No wonder it's a war zone--it's a vast pit BUILT for war! But a spiral stair leads slowly out, to...
	FAWN AND DEMON: by Wayan; 1990/7/15, twin dreams of desire. A doe I meet is as horny and shy as me. We're similar: torn between desire and fear... Then I meet a slacker succubus. She may just let herself get seduced toward freedom... CAUTION: SEX
	MY GAMESHOW PRIZE: by Wayan; 1998/1/6, a let-down dream. I win a prize on a gameshow, but collecting is another story, since the show is run from Hell...
	GET YOUR BODY BACK: by Wayan; 1997/6/11, a dreamed parable. A man dies--his body's chopped up. He ends in Hell. But he's a stubborn guy; he wants his body back. So...
	HELL-TORNADO: by Wayan; 1988/7/2, a dream on social engineering. Who built the tornado in the Heartland, that sucks anyone who opens their spirit-wings down to Hell? CAUTION: BAD THEOLOGY, WORSE PHYSICS
	MANSON'S CAGE: by Wayan; 1992/9/10, a nightmare. At the end of my long, tiresome tour of Hell, it's feeding time in the cage of the Manson cult... CAUTION: SO MEAT REALLY IS MURDER!
	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...
	SATANAGRAM: by Wayan; 1998/8/1, a Christmas song lyric. A hard-hitting rap on Satan's dumbest disguise. Yet he's gotten away with it! The shocking truth... CAUTION: LANGUAGE! SACRILEGE! MUCILAGE! (FOR THE BIG WHITE BEARD)
	TO HELL: by Katie Hofgard; 2003/4/19?, a nightmare of loyalty I loyally served a demon who punished me until at last he sent me to hell. And STILL I didn't rebel... CAUTION: BLOODY ABUSE
	THE WHO IN HELL AM I: by Wayan; 1984/1/28, a stubborn dream. I'm Pete Townshend of the Who, climbing stubbornly out of Hell by noticing what I don't want...
	THE WIND FROM HELL: by Wayan; 1981/4/21, a brief dream fable. Hot air rises, right? So there's a monsoon from Hell, lifting souls. Lucky for us that gravity balances it...

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