h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

One of my recurring dreams, when I was a child, involved having to climb stairs in what started out as a theatre, all plush seasts and red velvet curtains with gold tassels. I had to go up two three flights of stairs, and the building started getting really nasty - the walls turned to stone and the stairs were in a tower, the walls narrowing. When I reached the top, I would fall or jump, I was never sure which. I woke up just before I hit, and sometimes, just as, I think.

I told my father about it, and he took me out to the back garden, where he gave me a crash parachutists course, as he had been taught back in 1940 or so. He taught me how to land (or fall) and after that, I never had that precise dream! (I've had what I think of as the 21st century version, the building is a mega-storey mall, complex, with lifts and I find myself opening the lift door out on to nothing! But I don't fall, thank God.

I've only had the walking down the street naked dream once, ever, and the one turned into the John Cleese film, trying to get somewhere with trains, buses etc, once. My brother told me he'd had that one a lot.

I'm told that if you hold a wee baby, and let it drop a centimetre it will fling its arms wide, in a reflex shown in the adrupt fall dreams some people have as they're just dropping off to sleep...
The concept of Universal dreams is very interesting. My youngest son has never (he says) had a flying dream.

Hey all - fascinating thread!

I occasionally have flying dreams - I'll be walking around normally until soon I just can't keep my feet on the ground - but they're so rare I barely think about it. I've never had a falling dream, though.

I don't have recurring dreams per se, but I do have recurring themes/objects. One of the most common ones is I'm somewhere in a house (this varies between being my house, an unfamiliar house or a scary house) and it's dark. I switch on the light, and it goes on, but it doesn't actually illuminate anything and I'm just as in the dark as I was before. It doesn't matter which room or which light I switch on, they all lack illumination power and quickly fade to off again. The atmosphere in these dreams is oppressive, if not outright threatening, as for some reason I can't leave the house and I don't like the dark (which in real life doesn't really bother me).

The last time I had this type of dream it was semi-lucid, as I recognised it and thought "oh, it's this dream again", at which point I woke up.

Has anyone else had this sort of dream?

I think maybe some dream imagery is buried deep in the collective consciousness, which is why we have universal dreams such as flying, falling, etc - what these actually mean may well depend on what the images mean for the person dreaming... Or at least that's what I think. Most of the time, I tend not to think about my dreams unless one sticks in my mind - I figure if it's stuck in my mind, it's trying to tell me something.

I've had the flying dreams, in fact, when I was young I used to have a re-occuring one about gliding aroind the house in a sheet. I used to think it wasn't actually a dream and I could do it, and used to try it, and thought it didn't work. It took me a while to work out what it was. This was when I was about 5. I still have a very similar dream occasionaly, although the last time i think i was gliding about a castle. I've had other kind of flying dreams too, where I'm more flying than gliding, flapping my arms. I've always wanted to fly in real life, maybe it's something to do with that.

I've also had the naked dreams quite often, though they are always quite different. I've had doing swimming lessons naked, going to school naked, going to a restaurant naked, and walking to a petrol station naked as punishment by a teacher I don't really get along with that well. They are rather embarrassing.

I've never had falling though.

Hello, Rains! How are you?

In my dreams I have arranged three 'this is a dream' signals, and so they become lucid. One, is the light thing - I turn on a light, but it illuminates nothing just as in your dreams, or it just won't turn on at all! Years ago, I freaked out my brother and my boyfriend,when I turned on a light as we got home, and the bulb blew! I screamed and screamed, because that *is* my dream signal, but this time, it has happened for real, but they were able to prove it wasn't a dream, by turning on the light in the kitchen, and showing me that it worked. Phew!

It's funny, but the light signal, and the toilet signal (arranged when I was a child, so that I could avoid ever wetting the bed) turn dreams lucid. Well, the toilet one (where all the toilets I encounter don't work, aren't plumbed in or are right out in public) just wakes me up.

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This is a good point. Often I ask myself that, about a puzzling or memorable dream.

Hi Della, I'm good thanks, hope you're well too

I have the toilet signal as well - again, that wakes me up, too . I feel slightly less odd for knowing I'm not alone in this one!

Sometimes I can assign themes to dreams; like, I sometimes have naked (or semi-naked) dreams when I'm feeling vulnerable or about to do something new that I'm afraid I'll mess up, so I think that's an unconscious revelation of how I'm feeling, as often I won't recognise my subconscious feelings of unease or worry about the situation until after the dream.

Flying dreams are so cool, aren't they?

Naked dreams - no, I'm glad I've had only the one - I was turning up at my Graduate Diploma class naked (well, the campus anyway.) I wonder what that meant? That I was behind on an assignment probably.

You were *behind*, eh?
I *think* the dark dreams *might* do with a feeling of 'being left in the dark'. Dreams do seem to like proverbs...
I had gliding, falling, and most of all- naked dreams, so much so I'm hardly embarrassed by them now.
They say that falling dreams come from the history humams had as monkeys- falling off trees, and flying is the greatest aspoiration. As a person with fear of heights, I doubt the latter...

Nope. And thank god none of them did.

Does anyone know what it means if u loose a tooth in ur dream cuss I dreamt I lost a tooth resintly.
(ignore the spelling mistakes.)

Losing a tooth might symbolise losing your grip on your life. But it depends on the context of the dreams and your system of symbols.

I read somewhere, Dark-moon, that dreaming of a tooth falling out means you feel you have not been being truthful (or tooth-ful) In my life, it meant that I really had lost some teeth, and I was afraid of it happening again, which it didn't.

Elly - thanks for the info. re. dream diaries. It helps to have everything to hand when you wake up. However, since beginning to read this thread ... hey, guess what??? I'm not remembering my dreams AT ALL. Poot.

I used to have flying dreams, some were terrifying and some were fun. The scary ones involved me being chased by something nasty and I'd fall to the ground or come to a wall just as it was catching up with me. Never found out what it was, though.

I would fly in a very strange position, though. I'd be flying along the ground at a constant height (hence the problem with walls), sitting in a sort of foetal position, with my arms wrapped around my knees. Sometimes I would be able to fly higher by briskly jerking my knees: I would shoot up vertically about two metres or so and then continue to zoom along parallel to the ground.

Also, I like the dream entry as it is so far. There's plenty of interesting material here for you. Happy writing.

St. F.

Around 1989 I had a strange experience. I woke up and the words "Rakaposhi King" were in my head. For about ten minutes "Rakaposhi King" kept popping into my head all the time. I didn't even know what it meant! I was a horse racing fan at the time and when I looked in the paper I was surprised to find that a horse of that name was running. Being a little naive I thought "Aha! this must be a premonition". I trotted off to the betting shop and put a fiver on the horse. The horse romped home at 13 - 2.

A couple of years later a similar thing happened and "bauxite" kept popping into my head. I looked at the horses running and a horse called "beautete" was running. I thought that was near enough and put a tenner on the horse who proceeded to romp home at 11 to 1.

Over the next few years I would sometimes get a 'feel' for a horse (or betting event) for no reason and several times I got the feeling for horses that 'just felt right' and they would go on to win. In the FA cup one year I had a feeling that Rideout would score the first goal so put a tenner on. Rideout scored first. I picked up about £100.

I eventually lost the ability, but fortunately I'd already made a handsome profit from the bookies so I decided to quit while I was ahead.


(Tangent: the jockey of one of the horses was called Willie Supple. He's now a proud member of the 'sportsmen with silly names' thread )

Interesting, Guru! It's good that you 'quit while you're ahead', because that is the key.

Interesting, hear hear.

When I was at school, we had a cook who had a "thing" for horses. She would go to the TAB and when she entered the door, she'd get a "feeling" and place bets on all the right horses. Her house burned down, and she rebuilt it with her earnings from the TAB.

I'm jealous!!!

Francesca- don't give up, you will remember your dreams at some point, you have untill recently... stick to the diary!
Guru Rogan- very interesting the way you utilised your dreams/inner voice. Most of us can't do that...

Im beginning to worry, I haven't entered any dreams in my dream diary for three nights, seeing as I uncharacteristically can't remember them. I'm crossing my fingers for tonight....

My wife had a recurring nightmare, which started from when she was a teenager. It would go along the lines of:
She was in hospital, about to give birth. The labour was getting difficult, and she was in a lot of pain. She could hear one of those "bip-bip" heart monitors in the background. Then things got very painful. She began feeling very groggy, at which point a doctor walked in, and said to a midwife "it's too late, there's nothing I can do". On hearing this, the heart monitor made the "Beeeeeeeep - you're dead" sound - and the nightmare ended.

Five years ago, she was in hospital, about to give birth. The labour was getting difficult, and she was in a lot of pain. Our baby was getting into difficulties, and a midwife had attached a monitor to the baby's head (while she was still inside!), and she could hear the "bip-bip" sound. Then things got very painful. She took stronger puffs on the gas/air mixture, which made her feel very groggy. A doctor had been called in to take a blood specimen from our still un-born baby, to make sure she was okay. The doctor walked in and my wife heard her say "it's too late, there's nothing I can do". By this point, through the groggy state she was in, she was now in a blind panic, convinced either she or our baby was about to die. Sure enough, moments later, the heart monitor made the dreaded "beeeeeeep".

Both my wife, and my daughter Heather are perfectly fit and healthy. The nightmare had come startlingly true. However, it had omitted one or two details. The reason the doctor could do nothing was that Heather was literally about to be born - so there was no need to take the blood sample. Within 20 seconds of her walking in, Heather plopped out, a healthy 9lb 11oz, and the heart monitor was removed - hence the "beeeep"! She has not had the nightmare since.

I haven't remembered any of my dreams recently... Usually I need to be woken up in the middle of one to remember it .

I was having one such dream yesterday morning when my alarm went off, and unfortunately all I can recall now is David Ginola wearing only a towel - I'm missing all the other information .

Well, her fear was met and confronted thoroughly. A lot of women have fears of giving birth, even before they consider having children. I have lots of dreams about other women having children, too. My mum, my best friend's mum and my best friend, to name three.
I think it's the innate expectation society implants in every girl, that she should have babies, that is so scary and therefore so common in women's nightmares.