THE WORLD DREAM BANK: TOPIC: DISEASES

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Illness

Weird dream diseases. Oh, there are some real ones here, and some fever dreams, and plenty of practical dream-advice about illness. But there's a perverse creativity to dream diseases, a black comedy akin to the more imaginative horror films, in which the point seems less to convey a specific message than to avoid cliches--an attitude saying "Hmm, now there's an image! I've NEVER done anything like THAT..."

So try to be a bit more appreciative, the next time your dream-flesh dissolves into bugs or bus tickets. Somewhere, a shy part of your brain may be up on a dream-stage, stuttering and thanking its fellow convolutions as it accepts an Oscar of Dreams for special effects.

The World Dream Bank has 2100 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, 2001-2010.

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	AMAZON A(U)NTS: by Wayan; 1997/10/28, a nightmare. I camp in the Amazon but in the morning find I slept on top of something disturbing...
	ASHES, ASHES: by Wayan; 640 x 480, 1995, nondream digital painting. Gaea dances the children's rhyme. I just hope we don't all fall down...
	BEAST BIRTHS: by Wayan; 1989/9/19, a dream of family secrets. My family has a hidden gene for incest--and griffins. When I bring the family skeleton from the closet... CAUTION: MENTIONS RAPE, INCEST
	BERYL BORROWED IT: by Wayan, 1986/3/8, an absurd dream. My friend Beryl borrows my ass and legs to become a centaur so she won't fall over. I want them back, so... CAUTION: CRUDE AND STUPID
	BERYL'S DOG DAYS: by Wayan; 1988/1/25, a psychic dream farce. My friend Beryl wants me to help rob a bank, so she can cut off her breasts and be a great opera singer...
	BROKE LIKE GLASS: by Katherine Mansfield; 1919/12/15, a warning-dream. A long terrible shiver, and my whole body broke like glass. I may live months, but in that dream I died...
	THE DIEBACK: by Wayan; 1998/10/12, an ecological warning dream. A plague begins on terraformed Mars and spreads to Earth. Population biology made it inevitable... CAUTION: OFFSTAGE POPULATION CRASH
	DISEASE OF THE HEART: by Virginia Woolf; 1929/11/2, a false diagnostic dream--or is it? I dream I have just six months to live. I go through a dozen phases and moods, preparing for death...
	FEVER HILL: by Wayan; 1991/4/13, a comic Buddhist nightmare. My fever-dreams manifest physically and mess up my whole neighborhood. Seismic inspectors arrive...
	FEVER DREAMS: by Wayan; 1993/9/8, a set of wild feverdreams. While my body expels a kidney stone, weird scenes happen on the astral plane. At least I get to dip the pope. CAUTION: PAIN, PEE, POPE
	FIGHTING A VIRUS: by Wayan, 1998/11/21, a diagnostic nightmare. Coming down with a virus, I dream of a guy who INSISTS we must fight, it's just so FUN...
	FISHERGIRLS: by Wayan; 1.5M, 42 illus.; 1996/7/15; a sexy dream epic. I had a spectacular dream one night, that lasted many days in dream-time--a true other life. It wasn't Earth, and we weren't human. I was a teenage lemur, sailing with two friends into unknown waters--a rite of passage. I woke on deck deep in the night, my friends curled around me, and realized I didn't WANT to pass the test, be declared a grown woman, marry and have pups. I loved my girl friends. In a world lacking the very word, I was groping toward queerdom. Sailing into unknown waters! "Here be dragons," the old maps say. And they were right... If 1500K is too big to load, try it in parts: 1: HOME, 450K, 2: VOYAGE, 680K, 3: BACK 400K. CAUTION: NUDITY, SEX, QUEER TEEN ANGST, ANTI-FUNDAMENTALISM
	FIVE HEARTS: by Wayan; 699K, dreamed 1989/1/11; a sexy psychic unicorn dream-comic (Plain text only) I'm a nurse pulled through a glowing well to a world ruled by a five-hearted unicorn, who wants me to... CAUTION: SEX FANTASIES, LONGING, MELANCHOLIA
	FLYING UNICORNS' GIFTS: by Lily Michaud; 2007/9/5, an advice-dream inside a flying dream Flying unicorns hang out with me and my friends, sending us dreams full of useful advice--and more concrete gifts...
	FOOT CREVASSE: by Jenny Badger Sultan; 2009/7/11; a dreampainting from the Box of Dreams I dream my foot has a huge bloody crevasse. But I study it calmly...
	GIRL WITH A PROBLEM: by Wayan; 1997/4/12, a surreal dream. I date a girl with a mysterious syndrome, but soon I become a monkeyfaced con-man. And SHE becomes...
	HAND ME THE MATCHES!: by Wayan; 1984/9/25, a predictive dream. My sisters and I try to kill kidnappers by setting fires. Dumb, huh? The next day I fight a virus--with fever!
	HEADEGG (Black-Eyed Bird of Pain): by Wayan; 1983/10/24; acrylic painting of a headache-trance. I was cartooning with a headache. It took over and started drawing for me...
	HEPBURNING: by Wayan; 1984/8/1, a nightmare on repression. Kat Hepburn burns inside as passionate aliens take over our souls. How can we expel them before...
	HILLARY AND TEAL: by "A 24-Year-Old Californian Woman"; around 2008/2/28, an absurd political dream Hillary Clinton hid her cancer, but the GOP found out. So a monster kidnaps Rainbow Brite, and...
	HOW TO SURVIVE NUCLEAR WAR: by Maxine Kumin; early 1980s, a dream poem. In Japan, sick in bed, reading a book on radiation sickness, I dream of a restorative ritual for trees... CAUTION: GRUESOME
	I BLUSH TO REPORT: by Wayan; 1986/12/11, two stupid dreams. Two embarrassing dreams the same night: I learn why I don't have cancer, and I can't buy giant panties... CAUTION: STUPID
	THE INCEST DREAM: by Maxine Kumin; 1979? a dream-poem While my brother was dying, I had a succession of vivid premonitory dreams about him...But I was in no way prepared for...
	JACUZZI JAIL: by Wayan; 1979/10/12, a dream of parental poison. My family has shackled my little sister in a hot tub full of carcinogenic bubble bath... CAUTION: INCEST ISSUES AND A SLIGHTLY DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILY
	JELLY REBELLION: by Wayan; 2008/8/19, a poem of a diagnostic dream, Dreamverse #9 I interview my own metabolism. Trouble in Cellville! I've got strikers and usurpers. But at least no invaders...
	LEMON PEOPLE: by Wayan; 2008/8/11, a dream poem; Dreamverse #1. A dream-fable of lemons who are really orange-people infected by a spore turns out to be about me...
	LOUSE: by Wayan; ink, late May 1982: an embarrassing true story. Getting rid of lice was easy. Harder was quelling the gossip and rumors from my co-workers and boss... CAUTION: A LOUSE OF A BOSS
	THE MAN WHO MISTOOK...: by Wayan; 1995/9/19, an insane dream. I'm just an ordinary guy, who beats his son so he'll grow faster, and sees tits on drinking fountains...
	MOLLUSCUM FIBROSUM: by Havelock Ellis; c. 1920? A surreal dream of... sex? medicine? A woman models an elegant gown baring her breasts. All five of them. Wait, those aren’t breasts, they’re...
	MYRNA, LOOK AHEAD: by Myrna, drawn by her daughter Joey Epstein; before 1988, a dream of a revenant ghost’s advice After Myrna’s husband gave up diabetes treatments to die at home, one night she felt him behind her in bed, and he whispered...
	NEW LEVEL!: by "Julian"; 2006/5/22, 3 gamelike dreams in one night, two of them epic My mom and I road-duel an alien beetle, then investigate a deepspace Marie Celeste; then I spy for the Angevin Empire to protect the Crown Jewels...
	THE OLD YOUNG MAN: by Anna Kingsford; 1880/2/21, a dream of a step-in soul Malaria nearly kills a talented young artist; he must retrain from scratch. Why? Well, he's not exactly himself...
	PET ME DARE!: by Wayan; 200K, 6 illus., 1996/2/7, a healing dream. After whining all day that I lost my anima, all I dream is I'm petting a cat. But she grows. Too much... CAUTION: PUSSY TROUBLE
	THE PLAGUE-CURE: by Wayan; 1996/1/1, a diagnostic dream. A quick, fatal, mosquito-borne plague. Humanity looks doomed till my friends come up with a folk recipe:
	PLESIOSAUR: by Wayan; 1985/9/5, a medical dream. An itchy patient of mine insists he's turning into a four-headed man-eating plesiosaur. He left one thing out...
	POD WAR: by Wayan; 1979/10/14, an "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" dream Emotionless Pod People surround the last free humans. I fight for humanity, but I'm not human or pod--I'm...
	POPEYE MUSCLES: by Wayan; 1986/7/14, a grotesque dreamtale. My body turns protean: big Popeye muscles pop out as needed, relaxing into stick-figureness...
	THE PRODIGY-ALLERGY LINK: by Wayan; 1994/7/21, a clipping and reactions Child prodigies may develop allergies due to immunosystem damage from too much testosterone in utero...
	RIVERBANK BLISS: by "Anonymous #11"; c. 1920, a mood-predicting dream Eleven years after I dreamt of that green dress and green riverbank and dreamy day, I was convalescing in...
	THE SEA WOLF'S BRAIN: by Wayan; 1999/11/21, a psychic dream. For years the Sea-Wolf enslaved me. He said I had to fight him and win to be free. I'm ready at last...
	SHAPESHIFTER FEVER: by Wayan; 1989/1/30, a dream poem. A summer love affair with a shapeshifting alien turns awkward when she gets a high fever, and... CAUTION: UGH!
	THE SKIN'S COMPLAINT: by Wayan; 1996/11/17, a dreamtale. A huge rubbery mass of skin complains I made it sick. I get tired of its whining, and...
	SNAKE PACKAGE: by Jenny Badger Sultan; 2007/5/27 I am given a dehydrated package of dried snake to insert in my vagina. Inside it will unfold and come to life... CAUTION: KIDS, DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME!
	SNAKES AND CENTIPEDES: by Russ Thornton; 2008/11/1, a shared/telepathic dream. Two snakes fight as centipedes emerge from under rocks. I tell my best friend. Next day her co-worker tells her the same dream...
	SNOT-BIRD FORGERY!: a gross dream by Samuel Pepys, 1667/6/29, and a nightmare by Thomas Macaulay, c.1857 Samuel Pepys dreams of kidneystones, pee, come, & snot--didn't he? Thomas Macauley dreams his niece confesses...
	SPIRAL LAUGHTER: by Alder; 1953, a child's feverdream The world is a whirlpool, a black and white spiral pulling me down toward a black hole, and it's laughing...
	SPORECOUNT: by Wayan; 105K, 1990/1/5, a dreamtale on change-phases. I'm a hot archeology student till I open the wrong tomb. A plague turns us into green moldy monsters... CAUTION: DISEASE, DEATH, GRIEF, SHAME
	STABBED ALIVE: by Roswila; 2007/10/9, a nightmare-poem I defeat the knife-wielder, in spite the blade in my belly I can't pull out. I may have to let it be...
	SUNLIGHT'S THE CURE: by Wayan; 1990/12/29, a dreamtale. I find the cure for an alien plague, then visit the world it came from, to find it has a curious variant... CAUTION: SEX CUSTOMS OF THE NEWT PEOPLE! MY COUSIN'S GAY WEDDING!
	SWORD IN MY BACK: by Franz Kafka; 1915/1/19, a surreal but un-Kafkaesque dream. I slept late and felt a bit stiff, but until my friends pulled it out of my neck I had no idea...
	TAKE STOCK OF YOUR PELVIS: by Wayan; 1981/1/11, a symbolic not-quite-sex dream. A friend, stockpiling for Armageddon, makes me see that I value something peculiar: the knowledge of... CAUTION: LANGUAGE
	THE TAPED WOUND: by Wayan; 1997/10/7, a dream on old tapes... My wound's taped up, but hurts bad. I peel off the bandage... nothing! Gone. So I check my other body...
	THREE-YEAR PREGNANCY: by Ithmonike of Pellene, ca. 320 BC? Two dreams of meeting an odd god. I was barren. I asked Asklepios, God of Healing, to make me pregnant. Soon I was. And so I stayed--for 3 years, until...
	TICHANE: by Wayan; 1993-4. Nondream digital "woodblock print". What the world looks like when you have environmental illness, like me...
	THE TIGER'S THROAT: by Wayan; 1994/4/12, a psychic dreamtale. I'm walking down a tiger's throat, but it's not what you think. Diagnosis! My friend suddenly couldn't roar...
	TOASTING FORK: by Charles Dickens, August 1843, a surreal tragicomic dream. A gentleman clad but in a sheet notified me that an old friend had died of a terrible disease. What disease? Well...
	TOUGH GLOVE: by Wayan; 1999/12/4, a dreamtale. I finally find a way to safely indulge in heavy petting (as well as puns) with the cat...
	TV DEVIL FLU: by Wayan; 1994/10/24, a short dreamtale. A "friend" gives me her TV. Turns out there's a small-minded devil in it who cheats on all his deals...
	THE 1200-STEP PROGRAM: by Wayan; 1987/12/17, an illustrated dreamtale. I'm climbing a tower, as my dad, Apollo, drunk, throws bottles at me from the top, breaking bones... CAUTION: DENIAL ABOUT ALCOHOLISM
	UNHAPPY CAMPERS: by Wayan; 1997/9/1, a stupid dream. Since when is a dream of a disastrous camping trip a medical diagnosis? It depends on your pun-tolerance...
	UNICORN SURGERY: by Wayan; 1996/5/2, a warning dream. After trimming a poem to Silky, my night mare, I dream well-meaning surgeons try to dehorn a unicorn...
	VAMPIGS AND SMILES: by Wayan; 1991/12/9, an advisory dream. Our landlady was a friend, but now breaks her word, ups our rent. Talk, compromise, or rent strike?
	THE VIDEOGRAPHER'S APPRENTICE: by Wayan; 165K, 1994/7/29, a predictive/warning dream. Blondie Wiggle builds a Video Igloo. But I'm allergic--TV kills me! A BAD omen for our video project... CAUTION: TV KILLS (BUT YOU KNEW THAT)
	WHITE-FACED: by John A. Symonds; 1861/7/3, a mutation nightmare My face was leprous white like parchment; my eyes shone with a cold blue eerie light. I shrieked "Papa, don't you know me?"...
	WILL I BE BITTEN?: by Jenny Badger Sultan; 2009/3/15; a predictive dreampainting from the Box of Dreams A friend who's struggled with lymphoma invites me to sleep in a cave, but I worry I'll be bitten by a rattlesnake...
	WIRES: by Wayan; 1957-1963, a recurrent childhood nightmare resolved by drawing, Dec 1999 I was bodiless but trapped. All I could see were these moving wires. Whenever a knot drifted by... CAUTION: MADNESS, TORMENT, TELEPATHY, SEXUAL REBELLION
	ZOMBIE RUSH-HOUR: by Wayan; 1993/12/14, a predictive nightmare. I'm in an apartment co-op in Silicon Valley where people share their skills--till rush hour begins...