Skeleton Magician

j0da

Jedi Council Member
Cyre submitted interesting picture today (http://www.cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php?topic=1506) which reminded me of a certain dream of mine. The dream I won't forget till the end of my life. It occured in 1997. Here it goes.

I woke up in the small orange tent. Sunligt was flowing through the fabric and it was really hot inside. I just wondered what exactly woke me up and suddenly very loud, ghastly laughter reverberated through the air. I bursted out of the tent and found myself on a grass field, enclosed with the spikewire fence. Behind the fence I could see a wall of trees. It seemed as if this was some remote industrial complex located in the middle of the woods. The area enclosed by a fence was so large that I couldn't see where it ended.

I was standing there, a little bit frightened, but then I recalled that it's just a dream, so there is no need to worry. In the moment this thought popped in my mind I heard the laughter again and I felt some insidious, evil presence, pervading the area. This presence was adressing it's laughter directly to me, just as it really didn't care if I'm aware of being in the dream or not. By my bold thought that there is nothing to worry about I somehow challenged this..presence, this entity. Obviously, I have thrown down a gauntlet and I was soon to find out that it was taken up.

Confused, I started looking around and I spotted low, two-story administrative building in the distance. A path covered with white gravel started besides my tent and was leading to that building. The sun was mercilessly bright, so I had to cover my eyes with my hand, when I was observing the vicinity. Suddenly I saw white/grey horse running along the path in my direction. He came by really fast, without slowing down and went out of my sight. I started to run towards the building. When I got there I found little light haired girl. Se was waiting for me and when I was close enough she said seriously with a deeply concerned voice "He is here again".

I went into the building immediately and found myslelf in a conference room. A lot of people went there for shelter, to hide from this 'presence', they locked and barred the doors, sat at chairs and floor, trembling, waiting what will happen next. I was sitting at the head of the long table, overlooking all those poor, scared people, trying to make sense of all those weird things which were occuring.

We waited in silence. After some time atmosphere started to thicken...overwhelming tension was pervading the room. Some mysterious, ghastly figure materialised in far right corner. It was very tall, twice the size of average person. It wore gray/white tarnished robes and a coned hat, the type which magicians wear, but without any insignia, stars, etc. All of his clothes were made of something resembling spider thread. Fragments of ths fabric was hanging down from the hat so I coudn't see his face, but through the holes I saw..only bones. From the beginning as he appeared among us I knew that he came to face me, to show me how weak I am and that I really can't do anything against his will. I was of another opinion so we broke into the fight.

The fight was rather strange - it was a struggle of willpower, or.. struggle of might, supernatural ability. Using his power he picked one person up to the air (like using telekinesis) and I instantly knew he wanted to smash this poor man at the wall. I used my own power to protect the unfortunate one, so he was just hanging in the air, clashed between mine and scary one's force. Through all this struggle he bursted with his ghastly laughter from time to time, showing his complete disregard to my efforts and utter contempt for all those people gathered in the room. There were moments when figure's power prevailed over mine a little bit and others when I was stronger. But, as time went on, I started to weaken, while the figure didn't seem to be exhausted at all. Unfortunately...he prevailed. I couldn't hold this poor man any longer and the evil one smashed him at the wall with fury. That was too much to bear for all those people. They flew from conference room in panic and I joined them in escape.

At the corridor I saw even more people, running in panic, stumbling over one another, jumping from the stairs (some breaking legs in effect). I followed the flow, but eventually I ended up in an eclosed area, outside of the building, below some old, rusty section of the production complex, surrounded with spike wire and high, wild vegetation - completely alone. Looking around I saw I must have arrived at this trap by coming though the hatch in the ceiling hanging above me and walking down some spiral stairs. I was listening the silence surrounding me and trying to see some way out when heard someone's soft steps. It was little altar boy (like those kids who serve the priest during the ceremony in roman-catholic church), holding a lit candle in his arms. "Don't be afraid, come with me. The priest is with us now and he will save us". I followed the boy, through another long set of spiralled stairs to the dark basement. There, in almost complete darkness, dimly lit only by candles, I found a dozen little girls and boys, all in ceremonial robes resembling those of altar boy. And a priest. He made a sign for me to sit down and said: "Please, be not afraid, dear children, for I bring the hope with me. We will ask our dear god for salvation from this monster and he will save us. Now..let's pray."

I felt somehow relieved. All in all, this was priest, representing merciful god. Right? Wrong. After a couple of first verses of prayer..

I woke up in the small orange tent. Sunligt was flowing through the fabric and it was really hot inside...
The whole scheme repeated four, five or so times. The scenario every time was almost the same, but the struggle between me and the figure was becoming more and more violent. Many times I woke up, many times I was unable to save the man from being violently smashed at the wall, many times I lost, many times I fled. The last time I finally became...angry. When I woke up in the tent I said aloud:"I know what is your plan you bastard. I know your tricks by heart by now!" I went out of tent and thought "Now you gonna show me the running horse, eh?" But that wasn't exactly like that. The horse which passed me by had a head of this little light haired girl. The head screamed: "He is here again!"
The ghastly laughter become even louder, pervading and deriding. I've run in the direction of the building only to find little girl with the head of the horse.. pissing into the chamber pot. Terrible hopelessness and disgust overwhelmed me and finally - I woke up for good.

I couldn't sleep any longer. I stayed awake, smoking cigarettes, till the sunlight brushed off the fear.

Your comments are most welcome, fellow forumites.
 
Ever see the movie Poltergeist II, with a skeletal predatory preacher ghost that fed on the souls of his "flock" and in particular children? The predatory sorcerer is a fundamental archetype, and the contest of sorcerers (in terms of good and evil) is also well-known archtype, and told in many stories.

Usually, the good guys lose the battle and the evil magician "feeds" on the innocent.

In your case you have some fundamental elements: the orange tent, the enclosed compound, the challenge. All these remind me of a jousting match or a duel. That it was in the full light of day is also interesting, indicating this evil force was not afraid of sunlight, even though your orange tent (the place of your emergence into the duel) probably signified alliance with the solar aspect. Apparently both good and evil can occur in the light of day, and this type of evil was not the type that hid behind corners.

Perhaps you were wondering how to deal with the evils of the world. Perhaps you did issue a challenge, and a reply came through your dreams to "test" you. The cyclic nature of the dream was trying to persent that you are locked in this duel and forever losing. It could be a personal conclusion, the imposition of a malevolent force responding to your conviction to "break" you, or a karmic pattern (or all of the above).

The sun was "mercilessly bright", hence this was a cruel light, not just a life-giving sun, but an emanation of energy related to the sorcerer skeleton. That the girl (a symbol of the innocence you wish to defend) implied that you were there before at the beginning of the dream indicates a predetermined quality regarding its cyclic nature. In other words, the dream didn't just repeat because of how it ended, but repetition was in its very nature. Another presentation of inevitablity and endless cycling in the confrontation between good and evil, perhaps as a general statement or a karmic assessment, as your subconscious focused on the issue.

The figure in the gray-white robe sounds like Death. I'm surprized he wasn't riding a pale horse. Perhaps the issue of death came up at the time of dreaming. You obviously could prevail for a time, but the force was relentless, just as death is. When you could not hold it back any longer, it washed over the innocent.

The trap enclosure you ended up in, and leading to the priest and his flock of innocents reminded me of a spider's web, another manifestation of the entrapping clothing of the skeleton. And truly, the skeleton wears many trusting faces, especially ones condoned by society.

And that realization of injustice and betrayal seemed to be the trigger for starting the whole duel sequence. And the girl/horse combination seemed to represent some perversion and subjugation of innocence that seemed finalized here.

All in all, I would replay the dream and try to change the outcome, meanwhile paying attention to how the "other side" reacts. The thing is that this dream may have conditioned an attitude of defeat and despair in you that may run deep, or it may simply be an uncovering of an attitude already there. That is the true malignant effect of such a dream: that it conditions us to fatalism and despair. I would examine it deeply, and not take it lightly given that as you say you will never forget its impact.
 
Thank You, EsoQuest for Your pricelss remarks. How can replay the dream? Will replaying it consciously in memory several times before going to sleep suffice to induce emergence of this dream? It seems like operation which requires certain level of dream-control ability. My operational awareness in the dream world is unstable and manifests itself in a random manner. Maybe melatonine intake would help in this endeavour?
 
EsoQuest very well said and I agree. I too have fought battles with various entities-some faceless-some not-I think we all do at some point.

The sub concious mind (the real "you" I believe) wanders "far afield"-and who knows on how many levels of reality our minds are actually capable of "splitting" into-and dealing with various tasks.

It has been suggested by the Cassiopaens that what we experience in dreams is actually REAL in some way-that is to say those skeletons, zombies, dragons etc. are in some way a manifestation of something "real" and we actually DO battle these things in another plane.

But the thing is-and I believe this is very important-the battle is rejoined with the Skeleton Magician in j0da's case- and there is not a giving up. Flee yes-but always returns to the arena.

At some point I think the Skeleton Magician will reveal it has a weakness-and this is that moment of opportunity the Don Juan tells us the saavy warrior looks for-and j0da will be able to use that in order to vanquish him.

To j0da I say-

Watch him carefully-and see if you can observe something in his behaviour that might give it away-he is afraid of you, in some way-why does he choose to attack one of the bystanders and not attack you directly?

It is, I think because he knows he cannot harm you! That may indeed be his real weakness. Next time try and simply tell yourself this creature is pitiful and weak-and he has no power over you.

SAY IT OUT LOUD! Tell him to begone-and leave the innocents alone-and then increase your power a thousand fold-make the beam as bright as the harsh light outside-brighter still-and see if this creature doesn't fall to ashes.

Many times when fighting the creations in dreams I have found if you will yourself to perservere-to not give in-they will submit to you, or you end up destroying them.

My "monsters" are often bizzare animals or in extreme cases zombie like "things"-but one creature I found extraordinarly frightening was a black, furred "something"-it reminded me of a werewolf-but it was somehow featureless at the same time.

This beast was completely dark-and very, very strong. It simply leaped out of a closet (in my dream) and began tearing at me with talons which I could feel-yet I could see no hands! and teeth-but no mouth to speak of.

What this "thing" was-or represented-I do not know. It exuded dread and engulfed me in a wave of absolute terror.

I ended up punching it very hard to dislodge it-only to find I had punched my poor wife, asleep next to me, right in the back! I felt absolutely terrible and ashamed-she thought I simply had taken leave of my senses and decided to whack her a good one.

But the thing was so very real-and so very frightening.

This was not the first time nor the last where I have carried over such physical action into waking state-so, that these things may indeed somehow "physically" manifest themselves-and we do actual battle with them-whatever it is they represent-may not be far from the truth.
 
jOda said:
How can replay the dream? Will replaying it consciously in memory several times before going to sleep suffice to induce emergence of this dream? It seems like operation which requires certain level of dream-control ability.
The advantage of this method is its simplicity. Just as it helps in telling a dream (many cultures practice the tradition, as well as psychologists) to others, no matter how much time has passed since the actual dream, so it helps in telling the dream to yourself through your visual imagination.

Anytime of the day will do. Just lie down and close your eyes and relax. Then "see" the dream in as much detail as possible just as you saw it the first time. When you do this, you activate the same responses as when you were having the dream, only this time with critical awareness.

At difficult points in the dream, change your strategy, change the way you act in the dream and note how the other side responds. You are not dreaming here, you are re-imagining the dream while relaxed and awake. Before you sleep, imagine the dream again at the points of interest and ask how to deal with them. A solution (from the vast experience you gained since 1997 and your own deeper self) can be provided through another dream.

You mentioned a cos rapid association method. Why not try it here to better understand the elements in your dream? Within you is a solution, and as tschai said, perhaps the cyclic nature of the dream is a reflection of your own conviction to keep dealing with the issue until it is resolved even more than the presentation of inevitability I originally suggested. I think it is a little of both actually. The point is, do not underestimate yourself.

This dream, IMO, is a response to the question: How do I confront evil? And so it holds the potential for much revealed wisdom.
 
j0da, your dream reminded me of one I had about 4 years ago. The dream began as if I'd woken up in an isolated, empty mansion/hotel; kind of like a video game where you start a new 'level' and get inserted into the game-world. The building was in a remote, mountainous area, and it was daytime. It had been raining, but I think the sky was clear and sunny. I made my way outside, knowing something big was going to happen. Outside of the building was a large and 'antique' horse stable (really just four or six large wooden columns with an elaborate roof) surrounded by a large muddy enclosure. It was here that the horseman appeared. This figure reminds me know of one of the black riders in Lord of the Rings. He was like black knight on a large black horse. While I was not overly Christian at the time, I understood that this was some embodiment of Satan, or evil, and I was his prey. I was left to run around in the mud, narrowly escaping his flaming arrows that he was shooting at me from a bow. Strangely, right now I only remember the encounter, not the final result. I know I didn't lose, but I cannot remember winning. I will check to see if I wrote this one down at the time, and if I remembered the outcome then.
 
Im not good at interpretation so normally i dont browse other peeps dreams, but Eso mentioned yours in response to mine and i def see the parallel imagery being used. My Potter dream was way shorter, but the inheritant good/evil message is clear. When i have dreams like this, where there is a clear antagonist i simply use "powers" to destroy/fight them directly. I think its leftover from cartoons/movies/video games, that and i always kinda innately felt i should have abilities that i don't have or are "turned off" for some reason, but in dreams they manifest and i can do all kinds of cool stuff, from flying to acrobatics to creating lightning and balls of fire.

I used to have real nasty freddy crugar dreams, then one time i woke up in the dream and started using my powers against him. He was completely in shock, and after i zapped him once i woke up and never had nightmares of that sort again.

So my suggestion would be to try to zap him. Either will a fireball, a beam of light, whatever creativity inspires in you. You could try to bind it in your replay in order to take its "power" away, thereby not allowing it to harm innocents any longer.

Another thing i've noticed is that for a long time i tried to deny my "dark side" and it found other sneaky ways to manifest, visually i corndoned it off in my mind, sealing it in a cage, then behind brick, then incased in concrete, so it couldnt escape. But i found that to deny the darkness inside oneself is kinda, well, impossible, especially considering darkness=STS and the C's said we're all STS cuz we live in a 3D STS reality. The universe is made of light and dark, and thus so are we. Its in finding creative ways to express that darkness that prevents it from manifesting in uncontrollable ways. And by this i dont mean going out and killing cats or any such nonesense, but perhaps wearing an all black outfit on a day when it feels appropriate, little things like that kinda allow it to exist while not allowing it to control you. At least, that has been my experience.

I've also noticed that since i've been practicing the fourth way that darkness has kinda died down, funny i just realized it now while typing, i havent felt the need to have a "black outfit day" in awhile....
 
I too noticed a lot of parallels with my own (recurring theme) dreams.
I used to have lots of variations of demonic attack dreams. They seemed to climax with a dream where I was in a town and the demons were pouring from a (church?) and attacking everyone, realizing that hiding would be impossible I attacked when confromted and won. The recurrence changed to where I was walking past the same place (church but now it's a house - if that makes any sense) and thinking I feel sorry for anyone that goes in there.
Also remember a series of dreams where some (people/not people) were feeding on others that were unaware of being fed upon and I eventually (second or third recurrence) drove them away by physically attacking.

strangeness
 
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