balinares: ((extra)ordinary)
Balinares ([personal profile] balinares) wrote2007-02-07 03:26 pm

First update in ages, go me!

So, yeah, I'm not quite done hibernating, as far as LJ is concerned, but this at least I want to post while I still remember it.


This night, I made a dream I still remember bits of, which in itself is noteworthy, as this is not usual.

There was a short and mostly irrelevant bit that took place at the next EF, involving the usual dramatis personae, which has been something of a recurrent theme lately in what dreams I do remember, lending me to think that my hindbrain worries more about it than I care to admit consciously.

But the real vibe of the dream came much later. The area was mountainous, and I needed to reach the top of the highest peak, overcoming several adversarial conditions on the way. Because, by reaching the top, I'd earn the ability. (Yes, I've played too much Zelda lately, I know.)

The ability turned out to be the power to turn at will into an Australian white hawk (is there even a species of white hawks in Australia? No idea...), and fly.

Now, I commonly have the power of flight in my dreams, as a general thing; but it's a tricky power to wield. First, I need to remember that I have this power, and dreams generally make this kind of extrinsical thinking difficult. Next, controlling the power itself requires a lot of concentration and focus: you need to repel at the ground with all your will, and that can't generally be sustained for very long.

But this time was different.

It was effortless. It was nimble. It was free. I'd simply turn into a white hawk and fly.

The species in question was being actively hunted, because in my dreams, good things rarely come for free, and I do remember being shot at at least once; but, unlike my typical dream, this was never a concern, because I was so agile on my white wing, they stood no chance to hit me.


Dear brain: that was a great dream. I want more of those, please.

[identity profile] ralesk.livejournal.com 2007-02-07 04:10 pm (UTC)(link)

Just a week, maybe two ago, I also had an EF-related dream, and about a month ago another one, which also involved getting quite lost in Germany with no money on me o.o;  It felt quite real, too…

[identity profile] issarlk.livejournal.com 2007-02-07 04:15 pm (UTC)(link)
That's cool. Flying is hard in dream ; I flew freely once too.

[identity profile] balinares.livejournal.com 2007-02-07 04:23 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, yeah. Dreams of getting lost. c_c I don't have so many of those, actually, as far as I can tell. I should probably be grateful for that!

[identity profile] balinares.livejournal.com 2007-02-07 04:24 pm (UTC)(link)
I think it works somewhat well for me because I got into the habit at a very young age. I guess I've been lucky!

[identity profile] bossgoji.livejournal.com 2007-02-07 05:51 pm (UTC)(link)
I've never had a flying dream. Ever. I mean, I've dreamed of flying planes and spaceships and so forth, but I've never had a dream where I flew under my own power.

I do have, however, an extraordinary amount of dreams where I'm underwater. Wonder what that means.

[identity profile] aloiis.livejournal.com 2007-02-07 06:38 pm (UTC)(link)
*Notes: remember to ask his Australian friend who's on a shamanic path about the significance of "white Australian hawk".* :3

[identity profile] cobaltie.livejournal.com 2007-02-08 02:57 am (UTC)(link)
Mmmm...I love flying dreams, even though they usually take me by surprise.

In mine the usual form isn't turning into something that flies (sadly enough, not even a dragon). But it takes the form of, well, forgetting to hit the ground, usually. A short jump followed by gliding over the ground, or something similar, usually with me standing upright on nothing.
The most elaborate one I can remember was with a bunch of people all flying in a sort of race, and it was basically riding hoverboards without the boards. Same sort of stance.

[identity profile] ptitlutin.livejournal.com 2007-02-08 09:35 am (UTC)(link)
> Because, by reaching the top, I'd earn the ability. (Yes, I've played too much Zelda lately, I know.)

As long as the ability is not "ice shard riding" you're not having a Zelda overdose ^__^

Cool dream ;) Sadly I rarely remember my dreams but I guess it's a good thing because when I do it's usualy a bad one :(

[identity profile] balinares.livejournal.com 2007-02-08 10:21 am (UTC)(link)
Whoa, dreams of flying spaceships! I've never had those. That has to be awesome!

Also, the water thing is interesting. I'm way partial to bats, mind, but mayhap you have some otter in you too? :)

[identity profile] balinares.livejournal.com 2007-02-08 10:24 am (UTC)(link)
Hee, that could be fun, thanks! :D
I've been looking up Australian species of white raptors, and I think the closest thing to my dream is the letter-winged kite. I'm pondering making the species my personal oneiric totem, for kicks, but we'll see. :)

[identity profile] balinares.livejournal.com 2007-02-08 10:27 am (UTC)(link)
I don't remember my dreams well at all either, in general, except when they're inordinately striking, or when I get woken up before the end. I think that might have to do with my unreasonably disorderly sleeping patterns, which I should probably see to correcting, when I get around to it. Someday. *g*

[identity profile] balinares.livejournal.com 2007-02-08 10:34 am (UTC)(link)
Aw, I had a dragon flight dream once -- I think I posted about it then. It was awesome. I'd have my brain manufacture that kind of dream on command if I could!

> But it takes the form of, well, forgetting to hit the ground, usually.

Oh, yes -- that's a very accurate way to describe some forms of it. Usually, for me, that particular form begins with me striding or running, with longer and longer steps that no longer really hit the ground in the end. Although that's probably a different form from the repel-the-ground kind, where there is a purposeful will to fly at work, starting from place A and intending to reach place B in a not too disorderly fashion, although for some reason the landings tend to be a bit rough. Maybe I've got some albatross in me. :)

[identity profile] unblue.livejournal.com 2007-02-08 12:50 pm (UTC)(link)
It is said that flying is a good start if you want to learn how to control your dreams, however just like you I have trouble staying in flight : the ground keeps pushing itself against me, it feels more like I'm jumping very high than actually flying. Frustrating indeed.
But to rebound on something mentioned above, I did fly aboard vehicles on several occasions, including flying a bomber over France in 1940 (and getting shot down) and going into space aboard a Mercury spaceship - I remember clearly the overwhelming pressure, the roar of the rocket engine and the sky turning black through the small window, it was very unexpected.

And though I can't fly in my dreams, I discovered that as a quadruped, I'm left-handed.

[identity profile] balinares.livejournal.com 2007-02-08 01:26 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh wow, bombers and space rockets... Now that's cool. :) Somehow my dreams are rarely as elaborate and cohesive as that, though. No structure at all, that's just so like me. *g*

> And though I can't fly in my dreams, I discovered that as a quadruped, I'm
> left-handed.

OH WOW I'VE FOUND YOU AT LAST, LINK!!

[identity profile] jallora.livejournal.com 2007-02-08 02:52 pm (UTC)(link)
That's just unfair : I've got the fever, and you have the dreams...

Though if you remember well, I did have a dream not so long ago, about EF too and where I had to fly up on some invisible broomstick to go to a place where I could be safe...

[identity profile] unblue.livejournal.com 2007-02-08 03:09 pm (UTC)(link)
Sometimes I wish my dreams held less cohesion. Last week I woke up sweating and screaming after a horrible nightmare where the dial signal of the phones routinely carried the voice of the Devil, and listening to it made normal people ill-a-ease while children and babies would be temporarily demon-possessed. I shuddered the whole day, remembering the inhuman smile and the horrible spark of evil in the tiny contracted pupils of that baby.

> OH WOW I'VE FOUND YOU AT LAST, LINK!!

If I wasn't 9000 km from you, I'd back away slowly...

(nb : en anglais on dit 'to have a dream', pas to make. Pense à Martin Luther King ;)

[identity profile] balinares.livejournal.com 2007-02-08 11:21 pm (UTC)(link)
Okay, now that's a bad dream. Sounds awfully vivid, too. Is that where you draw your inspiration as GM from? :P

> (nb : en anglais on dit 'to have a dream', pas to make. Pense à Martin
> Luther King ;)

Flute, je le sais en plus. Ça m'apprendra à pas assez dormir tiens. *g*

[identity profile] balinares.livejournal.com 2007-02-08 11:23 pm (UTC)(link)
Yep. Your dreams are often cool and interesting; more often than mine, at least. :P

[identity profile] bossgoji.livejournal.com 2007-02-09 12:57 am (UTC)(link)
Actually, the bat thing is more of a political moniker: IE, "crazy-ass liberal moonbats." Sort of taking pride in a slur. Species-wise, I've always been partial to felines and rabbits: I've had many, many dreams of being one of those.

[identity profile] aloiis.livejournal.com 2007-02-09 05:03 am (UTC)(link)
How do you "make" an animal your totem? :P I thought they picked you?

[identity profile] balinares.livejournal.com 2007-02-09 11:57 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, it's actually not that complicated: the idea is to recognize that there is, within your brain, a nebulous but wonderful ability to produce random aspects of beauty, contexts, images, colors, scenes, that can touch you deeply, and that this hard-to-corral ability, that flimsy and wonderful thing which only seems to live when you're not looking for it, probably deserves its own imagery and its own name. And it's only fitting that the imagery should come from a random spur of output of that very ability. :)

(Needless to say, I am NOT going to come within a ten mile radius of taking the 'totem' thing in any sort of serious shamanic way. :) It's only meant as an imagery, a label, a metaphore for something which is significant to me yet hard to seize... And I hope this doesn't shock whichever stance on totems you are posting from, dear!)

[identity profile] balinares.livejournal.com 2007-02-09 12:03 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah, I had gathered so much regarding moonbats, although I didn't know the word when I first read D.C. Simpson's comic... which I still find stood very well its own. :) But the point still stands! Bats are awesome and I'm partial to them. ♥

Also, I officially envy you. I can remember a grand total of two dreams where I was anything other than human, and the letter-winged kite dream is one of the two (and the dragon dream I posted about long ago is the other one). That must make for such great dreams!

[identity profile] bossgoji.livejournal.com 2007-02-09 04:48 pm (UTC)(link)
It's pretty cool, yeah. Not half as cool as the full-body tranformation hallucinations I've had on Peyote(remind me to tell you all about those sometime), but still quite awesome.

[identity profile] aloiis.livejournal.com 2007-02-10 11:50 pm (UTC)(link)
I hope you did appreciate what my friend took the time to type for you, still. :)

[identity profile] balinares.livejournal.com 2007-02-11 01:19 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, yes, yes, yes, it was very nice of them!! I intend to reply to them when I've digested the whole insightful comment, and when I have an idea how to say things to this person I don't know without sounding too silly -- but at least I do wish to express my thankfulness, because that was a heck of an informative post they kindly wrote for me. :)

[identity profile] balinares.livejournal.com 2007-02-11 10:22 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh damn, full-body transformation. That has to be awesome! And more than a bit scary, too. From what little experience I have, I don't always react very well to mind-altering substances -- long story short, I once took a trip to Amsterdam with friends... -- and I think that such an hallucination might have left me feeling a little... oppressed, I think. But still. Awesome. :)

[identity profile] aloiis.livejournal.com 2007-02-13 08:06 pm (UTC)(link)
Yay! :3