Candy Dreams

[Guest]

Okay, this is strange.

The other night my sister and I were talking about the earliest dreams we could remember and found out something that seems very odd to us. When we were five years old we both had (what each of us had always thought of to ourselves as), "The Candy Dream."

There are five years in age between us so we didn't have them at the same time...it's just that we were both around the same age when we had them. The details of our dreams are uncannily similar, and we figure they must be significant.

I'm the younger sister. Here's how I remember my dream:

I was upstairs taking an afternoon nap by myself. It was warm weather, because I only had a sheet over me...rather than a blanket. Somehow I suddenly realize I've acquired a white bag of candy that is twisted closed at the top. I set the bag beside me on the bed and am very happy and content just knowing I have the candy. A few minutes later when I reach for the bag it is not there. The bed is about an inch from the wall so I assume it has fallen between the bed and the wall. Since there isn't enough room, I'm thinking it can't have fallen all the way to the floor, so I'm sure I can stick my hand down there and pull it back up. So, I stick my hand down to search for it but it is not there. I then get up on my hands and knees, crying, and start searching through the sheets. Since the sheets are white, and the bag of candy is white, I'm thinking that I'm just not spotting the bag. So, I'm feeling for the bag more than looking for it. . The next thing I know my mom is standing at the foot of my bed asking what is wrong. I continue crying as I tell her I cannot find my candy. She tells me I was dreaming and there was no candy. I become angry and keep insisting that it was not a dream and that the candy is there someplace and ask her to help me find it. She keeps trying to reason with me but I am not buying that it was a dream. My older brother, Jim, comes upstairs and together they were finally able to convince me to go downstairs with them.

At no time am I aware of dreaming and then waking up. For several hours after I went downstairs I was sure that the candy was upstairs someplace and that one of my siblings would find it, although to my knowledge they didn't. I was angry at my Mother for not taking it seriously. To this day I can still remember the way that bag of candy smelled. That's how real the candy was to me.

Next...

My older sister had the dream first. Here's how she remembers it, in her own words:

It was warm weather and I was in a bedroom by myself supposedly taking a nap, although I was awake (or so I thought). I looked over to my right and saw a Hershey bar laying on the white sheet a little ways away from me at about waist level. I was surprised to see it. I didn't "know" until then that I had a Hershey bar. I turned over onto my side to reach for it and realized it wasn't there any more. First I checked under my pillow, and when it wasn't there I figured it must have fallen over the side of the bed, which was pushed flush against the wall. I was expecting to find the candy bar lodged there since I figured the bed was too close to the wall to allow it to fall all the way to the floor. I scooted over to look, fully expecting to find it, but didn't see it. At this point I became somewhat alarmed and got up on my hands and knees to search, trying to push my hand between the bed and the wall to see if it was on the floor...but there wasn't enough space for my hand to fit. I became frantic and started crying, thinking my mother would come to help me. I became more and more frantic, and cried louder and louder "on purpose' so my mother would hear, all the time still searching for the candy. Finally my mother was standing in the doorway asking me what was wrong and telling me to quiet down. I explained about the candy and asked her to help me find it. I think I wanted her to move the bed away from the wall to see if it was on the floor. She told me I was being silly, I'd had a dream, and there wasn't any candy. She wanted me to get up and go to the kitchen with her. I resisted, insisting it hadn't been a dream, continuing to insist she should help me find it, and becoming angry and resentful towards her; somehow I was thinking she just didn't want me to have the candy, and that's why she wouldn't help me. She became very annoyed with me and I finally gave up and went to the kitchen with her. I'm not sure, but I think I got an older brother, Jim, to help me later in the day to pull the bed back to see for myself if the candy was there on the floor....but I never found it.

This dream is still very clear. I can see the sunshine, the dark wrapper of the Hershey bar against the white sheet, the two windows in the room, all very clearly, and I can remember my mother, but not the features of her face. This is "one of those dreams" I think of now and then.

So...

Both of us felt downright bereft at the loss of the candy. Both of us suspected our mother wouldn't help us find the candy because she didn't want us to have it...or perhaps if she'd taken us seriously we'd have been able to find it. Our mother didn't let us have much candy when we were kids. To both of us this dream is still remarkably clear in our memories.

What do you guys make of this?

 

[Guest]

This is one of those dreams that can mean a lot of things, or not much at all.

What strikes me is that you and your sister have a five year difference, and both of you had the dream at age five. So you were born when your sister had the dream, and repeated the dream five years later.

One explanation is that your sister had the original dream. The candy can represent something precious that could not be had because of maternal influence. In both cases the male sibling (Jim) played a role in establishing the reality that the mother set (that nothing was lost).

It's possible that the psychic imprint of the dream was a result of a kind of childhood ability lost, or something not attained. For example intense childhood imagination can either mature into something or it can be supressed by parental realism and practicality in the name of growing up.

The similarity in the dream may be due to the strength of the formation or thoughtform behind the orignal dream. This is affirmed by how you both remember it. Being so vivid, it could have been picked up when you found yourself in similar psychological circumstances at the same age.

In other words, the same psychological dynamic occured between you and your sister, and she interpreted it originally, and you probably resonated with the thoughtform later.

If that is the case, then the question would be: what does the candy represent?

Here, what is also of interest is that for your sister the candy was chocolate, in contrast with the white sheet, and for you it was in a white and sealed bag, the same color and almost indistinguishable from the white sheet (childhood purity?).

The sweetness of the candy indicates that what was lost was precious, and the fact that your mother did not allow you much candy can indicate that she had a role to play in what was lost. The difference is in the form of the sweet, dark for one sister and white for the other.

If this was a formation, extra energy would be needed to change the primary symbol, meaning the distinction was probably important. It can also mean that your dream was not just a reflex of your sister's, or it would most likely have been identical.

The fact that both remember this dream, that it was so vivid you don't really remember when it ended, and that you had the same strong convictions about your mother, might point to it being representative of a real event. Only by real event, I don't necessarily mean an objective one, but a psychological effect of growing past the age of five.

Of course, its all my opinion here.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the great feedback!

This is one of those dreams that can mean a lot of things, or not much at all.

We had not thought the dream significant until we realized we had both had it and that so many of the details and symbols were almost exactly the same.

What strikes me is that you and your sister have a five year difference, and both of you had the dream at age five. So you were born when your sister had the dream, and repeated the dream five years later.

So is five significant? Is there something about that number? The only thing that comes to my mind is the 3-5-3-5 code representing 3-d cycles of life.

Also, Jim was five years older than my sister and ten years older than me.

BTW, my sister vividly remembers the day I came home from the hospital and was insistent that she be the first to hold me. There were two siblings before me and she did not feel this way when they were born. It could be that she was more aware at that age of the significance of a baby coming into the family but there has always been a strong bond between us, And our 'lessons' seem to overlap and/or happen rather close together, although we experience them in very different ways. Lately, though, it seems there's a 'gap' closing, and we're sharing some lessons at the same time.

One explanation is that your sister had the original dream. The candy can represent something precious that could not be had because of maternal influence.

Could my birth have helped trigger a realization in her? The maternal influence aspect makes sense since we've now determined our mother was 'some sort' of psychopath.

In both cases the male sibling (Jim) played a role in establishing the reality that the mother set (that nothing was lost).

As a matter of fact, Jim was our mother's partner in psychopathy!

It's possible that the psychic imprint of the dream was a result of a kind of childhood ability lost, or something not attained. For example intense childhood imagination can either mature into something or it can be suppressed by parental realism and practicality in the name of growing up.

We're leaning towards "not attained." Perhaps this is the age when we realized mom and Jim were 'different' from us? Of course they would not want us to know this and would have started doing things to suppress that. As it turns out, Jim was not only mom's 'partner' and favorite child, he was also the 'favorite' brother for both of us when we were young, and he paid a lot of attention to us. He was very charming, and made us feel special.

The similarity in the dream may be due to the strength of the formation or thoughtform behind the original dream. This is affirmed by how you both remember it. Being so vivid, it could have been picked up when you found yourself in similar psychological circumstances at the same age.

Can you expand on that. My limited understanding of a thoughtform is that it will deconstruct over time. Would it be possible for me to pick it up five years later? If so would that mean that she was still keeping the energy of it alive? Or perhaps there was a 'connection' between us, or a 'similarity' in our situations that made this possible?

In other words, the same psychological dynamic occurred between you and your sister, and she interpreted it originally, and you probably resonated with the thoughtform later.

Can you explain a little more about 'how' this would happen?

If that is the case, then the question would be: what does the candy represent?

We've explored several possibilities but haven't come up with anything that we strongly resonate with.

Here, what is also of interest is that for your sister the candy was chocolate, in contrast with the white sheet, and for you it was in a white and sealed bag, the same color and almost indistinguishable from the white sheet (childhood purity?).

Representing sisterly polarity? I mean as in an indication of both the similarities and differences between us?

Here's more detail we forgot to put in the original post. For me the bed was up against the wall to my left, and I placed the bag of candy to my left, which was why I thought it must have gotten wedged between the wall and the bed. For my older sister: The bed was against the wall to her right, and she saw the candy on the bed to the right of her, which is why it made sense to her that it could have slipped between the bed and the wall.

Perhaps we thought the wall would keep the candy safe for us and we became very upset when the wall did not do it's job?

The sweetness of the candy indicates that what was lost was precious, and the fact that your mother did not allow you much candy can indicate that she had a role to play in what was lost. The difference is in the form of the sweet, dark for one sister and white for the other.

Dad was the one who liked to give us 'treats' and mom would always nag at him about it. As it turns out, dad was the parent who was truly 'able' to love us. My older sister had a much closer relationship with him than I did because mom made sure from day one that I wouldn't bond with dad in the same way. She was adamant that I worship her. So dad was a rather distant person in some ways. I loved him, and knew he loved me, but I wasn't close to him.

My sister's candy was in a brown wrapper and the candy inside was brown. My bag was white and the candy inside the bag was white. I knew from the smell of the candy that it was a white nougat.

If this was a formation, extra energy would be needed to change the primary symbol, meaning the distinction was probably important. It can also mean that your dream was not just a reflex of your sister's, or it would most likely have been identical.

What kind of energy and in what way?

The fact that both remember this dream, that it was so vivid you don't really remember when it ended, and that you had the same strong convictions about your mother, might point to it being representative of a real event. Only by real event, I don't necessarily mean an objective one, but a psychological effect of growing past the age of five.

Past the age of five? What is there about that age, or "a psychological effect of growing past" it?

Also, could we be remembering thoughtforms as dreams? Perhaps there never was a dream, but due to our age at the time we didn't have any other reference for it?

Of course, its all my opinion here.

You seem to have hit on a lot of things that make sense to us!

 

[Guest]

So is five significant? Is there something about that number?

Not in and of itself, in this case. Ok, some child psychologists have posited that there are distinct stages to childhood development, stages where the child matures their sense of identity, and relationship to others. These are not precisely timed for everyone, but I think that in the case of your family (especially with your older sister and brother Jim), the five year cycle acts as a kind of harmonic.

At age five, I read somewhere, children usually have a lot of nightmares. I guess the theory says that they expand their sense of self, and interact with others so that they have to also learn to restrict their sense of self. Around age five the first social compromises are learned (excluding basic ones like potty training).

At age five society comes to the child and begins to tell it that it's time to learn to conform in a major way. This is the age when many children learn compromise, and in some cases over-compromise can lead to stunting psychological growth.

If your mother was a psychopath, and your brother was in cahoots with her, she may have forced some kind of psychological compromise at that age, by denying corresponding psychological growth.

It seems the source of that growth would have come from your father, and perhaps it was genetically based. We know that genes are activated through the environment. Environmental stimuli causing moods and actions etc, assist in generating molecules called epigenes that in turn activate latent genetic capacities to adapt to the stimuli.

At age five it seems certain genes were being activated by paternal influence, and your mother did not want that activation, so she offered counter-stimuli to cut it off. The dream may have been the subconscious telling you what was going on. I think your mother was so tuned to these abilities NOT activating that they sensed what was going on when you had the dream. Your brother then just took her lead.

From what you say, your sister probably had a purer vision of the activation (dark chocolate). It is interesting that white in dreams often symbolizes not life, but death (as it does in many cultures). I think that is because white is not natural to the sleep state. It seems to represent a hindrance of subconscious process.

So you were both covered with white sheets (a bit like shrouds, IMO), and your mother had influenced you to the extent that even the candy was in a white bag. Yet, its major attribute was still prevalent (the sweetness). I think the chocolate your sister saw represented a sweetness emerging through deep layers of the subconscious, some kind of inate talent, which I think has to do with empathy, seeing the good things in life, creativity, optimism, faith, and a psychological blessing of your father's love that would have made you and your sister stronger in life somehow, and less susceptible to psychopathic influence.

Your mother obviously didn't want that.

Since you and you sister had the same epigenetic activation, at the same age, there was a recognition and a link between you. Like recognizes like, and the connection can even be through awareness. So the thoughtform I mention was not really a "thought"-form but a common genetic trait that was interpreted the same way because even after age five residues were still in your sister, and you could have picked up on them.

The differences in bed orientation can indicate that the talent or trait inherited from your father was related to brain activity of a corresponding hemisphere. In both cases the candy fell in the gap between the bed and the wall. I think the gap represented the slip back into genetic latency.

In other words, the abilities were suppressed, but the genetic foundation is still there, and you can activate them now if you wanted. The left corresponds to the right brain, which is intuitive, artistic and geometrical in the way it thinks. The right corresponds to the left brain, which is analytic, verbal and logical. So these may have been the ways you and your sister would correspondingly express the "gift" in life.

Your connection may indicate that you somehow balance each other with respect to this specific genetic trait. So you may want to go back and retrace you lives prior and after age five to see what your father might have been stimulating, and what your mother might have been countering. You can try hypnosis or self hypnosis.

An easier way is to relax and replay the dream in your mind. This time do not lose the candy. In other words, in your mind, replay the dream and change the outcome. Open the bag, eat the candy. Defy your mother. And sense what the sweetness is, how it tastes, what it does, how it makes you feel.

Your sister has been away from that state five years longer than you, but her experience was stronger, so you are both probably equalized regarding your capacity to remember and reactivate the latent genes your mother suppressed. I think replaying the dream and eating the candy often will re-stimulate the factors your mother was suppressing. You may even learn what they are if you ask yourself before sleeping at night, and even during the dream replay.

Ask your sister to do the same and see what pops up. Your abilities, may also be slightly different (besides the brain hemisphere emphasis). Your father gave you "treats" , so it stands to reason your subconscious would recognize latent talents from your father's side as more "treats".

When I speak about extra energy needed in the formation, I mean that if it was simply transfered by your sister, it would have dissipated, and so would need to be reinforced. From you added information, however, I believe now that it was a latent genetic capacity coming into activation through your father's attention. It was certainly something you soul valued.

Well, that's my general assessment. Hope it helps...

 

[Lucy]

The differences in bed orientation can indicate that the talent or trait inherited from your father was related to brain activity of a corresponding hemisphere. In both cases the candy fell in the gap between the bed and the wall. I think the gap represented the slip back into genetic latency.

In other words, the abilities were suppressed, but the genetic foundation is still there, and you can activate them now if you wanted. The left corresponds to the right brain, which is intuitive, artistic and geometrical in the way it thinks. The right corresponds to the left brain, which is analytic, verbal and logical. So these may have been the ways you and your sister would correspondingly express the "gift" in life.

Your connection may indicate that you somehow balance each other with respect to this specific genetic trait. ...

This reminded me of something Laura wrote about R/L brain consciousness in The Wave series. From my notes:
................
(Excerpt) Chapter XXIV Lucifer and the Pot of Gold or
The Quest for the Holy Grail of No Anticipation!
http://www.cassiopaea.org/cass/wave12a.htm

Left brain, right brain.

Over the years, many scientists have studied the effects of head and brain injuries. These studies were aimed at understanding the physiological and psychological effects and used a number of experiments to "map the brain." The results have led to theories about two different modes of thinking or "styles of thought," which are generally attributed to the left and right hemispheres of the brain.

In general, the left side of the brain controls the right side of the body, and the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body. According to the test results and the developing theory, the right brain is most often associated with direct sensual experience of the five sense organs as well as the "sixth sense" of intuitive thinking. "Feelings" are also associated with this side of the brain, and these feelings are often observed to be the result of the person's "sensation" of the environment. This "sensation" of the environment can be the external world or the internal "state of being." Also, we must note that the Right brain, as the Observer of the external and internal environment, only perceives NOW.

The Left Brain is associated with the process of CONCEPTUALIZATION and IMAGINATION in its many forms, including the powers of symbolic imagination and those functions related to the symbols we know as language such as labeling, categorizing, following verbal rules and rules in general. The left hemisphere mode of operation is much like a computer screen on which the whole range of concepts of the mind are portrayed and manipulated in the "mind's eye." One of the main "concepts" we utilize is TIME as in Time future and Time past. Have a look at the chart below to see how the different hemisphere's seem to operate. (I've coverted the chart into 'list form', but for many it may be easier to use the chart found on the webpage, rather than my notes, to see the correlations.)
~~~~
Left Hemisphere Consciousness
a. Conceptualization/imagination/dogma/TIME future/TIME past
b. Theoretical imagination
c. Linear logic
d. Ritual/habit/fixed roles/repetition/fixation
e. Morality/judgment
f. Superstition derived from imagination; often misuses limited direct observation and experience
g. Asceticism/sense deprivation
h. Theology: Confucianism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Greco-Roman Religion, Judaism, Christianity, Islam

Right Hemisphere Consciousness
a. Sensing/Perceiving Directly via observation/Empiricism/NOW (no time)
b. Physical connection
c. Nonlinear logic
d. Creativity/spontaneity
e. Compassion/acceptance
f. Science based on collecting of data, direct observation; can create theories with proper use of theoretical imagination
g. Celebration
h. Mysticism: Taoism, Tantrism, Yoga, the "Mystery Traditions," Gnosticism, Alchemy
~~~~
Now, this is enormously important to grasp: religions, philosophies, "beliefs" in general, through which we view the world and by which we interact with the world also fall to one hemisphere or the other in terms of how they activate our consciousness. There are teachings that place emphasis on the sensual Right Brain, and there are teachings that place emphasis on the abstract, imaginative Left Brain.

Belief systems organically reflect one or the other of the two kinds of human consciousness.

The "sense oriented" traditions encourage direct interaction with the physical environment. This has been often corrupted to "gala sensuality" of physical pleasure. Nevertheless, the pure Mystical Traditions tend to identify spirituality with the Cosmos itself and urges its followers to seek their unity with God THROUGH the physical world.

On the other hand, concept bound theologies tend to forbid sensual experience and observation, relying instead on imagination to support certain beliefs/faith. In this mode, spirituality is equated with conceptual constructs, images, symbols and words that must be "pictured in the mind's eye," or upheld in an abstract thought of imaginary belief, so that the person is effectively attempting to IMPOSE an imaginary construct on reality rather than observing reality and allowing the observations to form the abstraction.

This is why the central issue in Christianity, to use just one example, is whether or not one "believes in Jesus Christ." What one is being asked to do is to imaginatively support the church's conception of Jesus: that he was the son of God, that he died for remission of sins, and so on. --end excerpt--
............

 

[Guest]

Thank you very much for your feedback EsoQuest,

Your comments and suggestions were a great help.

I did as you suggested and replayed the dream in my mind. I had no expectations since I didn't know what to expect. Here is what happened....

First I see myself as that little girl lying in bed with the bag of candy sitting beside me. At first I am content to lie there with my eyes closed, happy just knowing that the candy is there. I am in no hurry to eat it. After a while I sit up crossed legged on the bed and reach for the candy. It slips between the bed and the wall but this time I retrieve it easily. I excitedly but slowly open the bag and take out a piece of candy, I unwrap it and take a bite. It tastes sweet and yummy but not as good as I had expected, still I am enjoying the candy and feel happy to be eating it.

Then I look to my left and I see my father standing where the wall should be. I don't question how this could be, it just makes sense to me at the time and it is only later that I realize the impossibility of this. I can only see him from the waist up so maybe he is superimposed on the wall, I am not sure about this.

He stands there for a moment looking at me and smiling and seems pleased that I am eating the candy. His whole demeanor seems to radiate love and understanding of me. Needless to say I am very happy about this since I was never very close to my father. I feel like we made the connection that we should have made when he was alive but that my mother worked very hard on preventing.

I then look down at the white bag of candy and there is a black sword superimposed on the bag like I am looking at a negative of a photograph. Later I make the connection that the colors in a negative would be reversed, white becomes black and black becomes white. So, was my subconscious telling me that the sword was actually white? Excalibur pops into my head and that is it, end of dream.

My father's middle name was Arthur so maybe this is the association with Excalibur. I am also reminded of the following Biblical verse:

[Jesus speaking]
"Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon earth. I have come to bring not peace but the sword. For I have come to set a man 'against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one's enemies will be those of his household'". (Matthew 10:34-36 NAB)

I did not realize the true nature of my mother and brother till after they had been dead for some years, so I never confronted them in real life. Therefore the sword could be representative of having to cut out their negative influences on me.


I plan to replay the dream a few more times but am somewhat reluctant to do so and I am not sure why since it seemed to be a positive experience. Maybe at some level I know I will have to confront my mother in the dream and I am not ready for that just yet.

 

[Guest]

then look down at the white bag of candy and there is a black sword superimposed on the bag like I am looking at a negative of a photograph. Later I make the connection that the colors in a negative would be reversed, white becomes black and black becomes white. So, was my subconscious telling me that the sword was actually white? Excalibur pops into my head and that is it, end of dream.

This makes sense when you consider that your sister's candy was chocolate (dark). The symbol of your father's gift was probably dark, and the influence from your mother was probably white. I say this because it was summer and you were covered by white sheets.

Sheets protect from the cold, but these were there for another reason. More like a shroud to cover rather than protect. IMO, your mother projected a block, considering the influence of your father "innappropriate", like a false clean "white" morality suppressing a spontaneous warm "dark" energy.

So I associate the summertime heat of the dream with your father's energy as well. Your mother's influence actually suppressed it making it an uncomfortable heat since it could not radiate. So the reversal of colors, IMO, was a transition into the true meaning of the candy, which was of a darker hue, while the sword that tried to block it reminds of Excalibur, BUT we need to remember that the sword was not Arthur's, but belonged to the Lady of the Lake.

If you saw the movie "Mists of Avalon" or read the book by Marion Zimmer Bradley, the lady of the lake turns out to be a manipulative preistess. And Arthur seemed to be strongly manipulated by the "tides of fate" in which others had a strong hand.

I would say the sword of "virtue" tried to deny you your birthright for your own good, and beneath all that lie psychopathic motives. May I suggest (given the symbolism) that you replay the dream and ask your father to pull the sword out, when you feel comforable with that, and see what that reveals. Anyway, I think you are on the right track.

Good luck.

 

[Lucy]

What drives me batty about dreams is that even when I 'think' I've got one figured out, I never really 'know' for sure if I'm right. At least not completely. I'm no great shakes at dream interpretation, but I'll share some comments/ideas I have, although I don't know if they'll be of any help.

I would say the sword of "virtue" tried to deny you your birthright for your own good, and beneath all that lie psychopathic motives. May I suggest (given the symbolism) that you replay the dream and ask your father to pull the sword out, when you feel comforable with that, and see what that reveals. Anyway, I think you are on the right track.

It crossed my mind that you could pull the sword out yourself, Sue. Why would you need your father to do it? Perhaps it would even be verification that you have inherited a birthright from him that allows you to do this.

If the current hypotheses about the candy being representative of a latent genetic ability from your father that was suppressed as well as a 'symbol' of the quality of you and your sister's relationships with him, are correct, now that you've eaten some of the candy, and seen the sword, perhaps that's all you needed to know or do? And you can choose, or not choose, to pull it out. Are you at any kind of crossroads right now, I mean as in choosing a path? Or even a 'call' in the shamanic sense?

I find it interesting that you didn't enjoy the candy as much as you thought you would. And that you're somewhat reluctant to 'go back' into the dream. Have you come up with any ideas of why that would be? I mean, it could even be that you shouldn't eat the candy, or that you've already 'done' whatever it is you should do, or that the dream 'means' something that hasn't even been considered yet. Can you think of anything else the candy could represent?

BTW-- Laura made this comment on another thread, also about two people having the same dream:

http://www.cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php?topic=2083.msg13417#msg13417
"What strikes me as odd about it is the fact that the same dream EXACTLY is being reported by two people. That makes me tend toward some human agency being behind it, sending out some kind of projected imagery. If it were an individual experience, there would be variances, or so I think."

So now I'm wondering if there were 'enough' variances between the two candy dreams to preclude them from this probablility, or even if the L/R brain/sides of the bed aspect simply means you and your sister were 'beamed' the same dream, and manifested it according to your L/R brain dominance tendencies.

And finally. Sue, I can understand why you'd make the connection with Excaliber, since your father's name is Arthur. But since you included this:
""Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon earth. I have come to bring not peace but the sword. For I have come to set a man 'against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one's enemies will be those of his household'". (Matthew 10:34-36 NAB)
.... I'm thinking maybe that's what the sword is telling you, that you must face 'using the sword' where your mother is concerned. After all, you also mention some discomfort about confronting her in the dream, and it isn't easy to 'cut out' such an important person, even when we 'know' that to do so is to act in favor of our destiny...in our own best interests.

One last comment: If you decide to go back and try eating the candy again...be careful. Eating too much candy can cause cavities. :)