THE WORLD DREAM BANK: TOPIC: MENTORS

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MENTORS

Mentors and teachers in dreams--not all of them human. It's a broad concept. Two well-known types are:

the Jungian anima/animus--dreamguides often using sex to lure the dreamer into dreamwork, who often encourage a dreamer to try behavior atypical for his or her gender--that is, they feminize men and masculinize women (whatever that means in a given culture), pushing for a balanced personality relatively free of gender restrictions.
Wise Elders--crones, wizards, sages, oracles. These are familiar to Jungians and mythologists, too.

But these dreams show a much wider range of mentors and teachers. Friends, hermits, prostitutes, molluscoid aunts, telepathic lions, sex-workshop leaders, astral dragons. Some of them teach only by example; and some, by negative example, teaching so rigidly that the dreamer rebels. I suspect such themes are more common now than in Jung's era; and rightly so.

The World Dream Bank has 1500 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, 2001-2006.

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	AMBITION: by Wayan; 1994/5/25, an odd little dreamlike real-life experience. My intuition led me to a panel discussion of women artists, just to hear one single sentence...
	BIRD CRASH: by Emily Joy; 2007/3/12, a set of didactic nightmares Such pressures there are on the sick to act well! I implore you, ignore them all... CAUTION: EXPLODING TEACHER
	BURN HIS TREE: by Emily Joy; 30 K, 2007/2/7; two linked nightmares on art Malevolent artwork terrorizes my baby and me! What's to be done?...
	CHURCHES BURN WHEN YOU LEARN TO FLY: by Wayan; 1989/9/1, a didactic flying dream. I pay the price, but learn the difference between merely getting off the ground, and true mastery...
	CROC BOY: by Wayan; 2008/8/17, a dream-poem, Dreamverse #7. My friend’s mom is a witch-smeller, who judges apprentice shamans. But when a boy dreams he’s a crocodile, watch out!
	DIAGNOSTIC BATTERY: by Wayan; 1988/4/20, a nightmare of sorts. My sister's new guru tests me psychologically--only it looks like an engineer's test to destruction... CAUTION: EMOTIONAL CRUELTY
	FALL OF A PRINCE: by Wayan; 2006/11/17, a dream on the morality of predicting. A time-traveling historian’s caught in a moral dilemma: warn an ancient prince he died of a fall in her history books? What do you owe history?
	FILLING THE ANCESTORS' SHOES: by Wayan; 1995/9/24, a shamanic dream. A dream of a shaman named Fred who tried to use a bear as a lightbulb. Fred, Fred, Fred...
	FLIGHT: by Denise Levertov; 1945; a dream poem I meet William Blake! He says "The will is given us that we may know the delights of surrender." While in my bedroom...
	GARDEN OF THE GODS: by Wayan; 1995/10/6, a dream of slowth. In the Garden of the Gods, I sit through sun and rain. For the gods aren't the gardeners, but the crop...
	GENNADIUS: by Gennadius, ca. 415 AD, apparently the first recorded lucid dream Gennadius re-dreams a previous dream, prompting him to notice he’s dreaming. His guide points out the spiritual implications...
	GURU GUTS: by Wayan; 1989? Digital sketch of my perceptual world. If it takes a whole village to raise a child, it also takes a lot of guts to raise a kundalini. Voila!
	HALF SHAMAN, HALF STATESMAN: by Wayan; 100K, 1986/4/21, a parallel-world dream: Chapter 6 of UNICORN TAG I get a scholarship to Shaman U. Some of my classmates are Terran, but I still don't fit in, because... CAUTION: LANGUAGE
	HEALING DANCE: by Wayan; 1997/5/14, a dream of shamanic shop talk. A shaman designs a rite to focus the village's healing attention on her client; the rest is just showmanship...
	THE HEDGEHOG DISPENSARY: by Wayan; 440K, 27 watercolors, 2004/10/2, a dream of a furry ambitopia. A rabbit shaman orders his apprentice to drape dead hedgehogs round her neck til she bleeds. Ow! What’s his problem? Well... CAUTION: FURRY NUDITY, ABUSIVE MENTOR
	"HIS BALL IS EMPTY": by Wayan; 1982/3/23, an epistolary advice-dream. A letter to Miss Hornyhearts compares the writer's lover and husband. Some sharp advice for nice boys... CAUTION: LANGUAGE
	HORTA'S EGGS: by Wayan; 1984/1/17, a dream of re-evaluation. I fight to save 50,000 eggs that'll hatch psychics. But my friends want to exterminate them! Am I wrong?
	INK MOUNTAIN: by Wayan; 1992/8/5, a tutelary dreamtale. A Himalayan peak boils with warring creatures, but a guru says "They're just your conflicts. Sit, watch..."
	IS THE DREAMWORLD ROUND?: by Wayan; 2006/7/5; a dream about dreamwork Dreamworlders, exploring our world, tell me of home. Their known dreamworld is just a little patch on a huge globe...
	JAMES MERRILL REMEMBERED: by Rachel Hadas; around May 1995; two dream-poems Soon after my friend and mentor James Merrill died, I had recurring, elusive dreams about him...
	LEARNING SCALES: by Wayan; 1985/6/26, an epic dream of Chinese dragons. I find myself in astral China. The Empress is banished, the Jester rules. Wisdom is lost. We need a Dragon...
	LESBOY: by Wayan; 1996/5/20, a dream on one's identity and place. My Aunt Squid advises me to join a lesbian artists' co-op. But I'm a man! Not for long, though... CAUTION: NUDE SUNBATHING, GENDER BEWILDERMENT
	MAELEN AND ME: by Wayan; 1972/5/1, a transmigrational dream. I'm a psychic circus animal who's just managed to teleport my humanoid girlfriend. It's for our act, but... CAUTION: PETTING
	MAMA BEAR'S ADVICE: by Wayan; 1985/12/8, a dream on love-tactics. A bear-girl seduced by her coyote professor gets some advice on revenge from her anthropologist mom...
	MIDWAY: by Wayan; 1994/2/4, twin shamanic dream-lessons. I'm cold and dark and disoriented! What am I doing wrong? Nothing--I'm just halfway to Alpha Centauri...
	MOONCAT: by Wayan; 150K, 1995/11/26; a subtle dream of sonar Near a mysterious sculpture garden on the moon, lives the blind, bike-riding sage I seek: Moon-Cat...
	MY NAME IS WAYAN: by Wayan, 1986/5/23, a dream of names and manes. A conversation with a telepathic unicorn-lion reveals that my true name is Wayan. And my species?...
	NOW WE ARE 48: by Laurel Blossom, 1991; a dream-poem of a rescue. At the beach I dive into deep water to save my drowning friend Kathy, and find it’s not so clear who’s who...
	RAGS TO RICHES: A FIGHT FOR LOVE: by Hyal; October 2006, a dream of courage. I was just a street rat, but I danced with the princess at a ball, and fell in love. Three rich suitors pulled their blades...
	A RENAISSANCE WOMAN: by Wayan; 1997/7/3, a dreamtale. I'm an abused girl turning tricks to survive. But this is San Francisco: I join a prostitutes' co-op, and meet... CAUTION: PROSTITUTES WITH SELF-RESPECT, OH NO!
	THE RIFT ZONE: by Wayan; 1987/11/27, a long-term psychic dream. I'm not ambivalent--I'm confused! I live here by the Rift Zone and I don't. I'm single and not. Two lives!...
	SAW HER IN HALF?: by Wayan; 2008/8/28, a warning dream-poem, Dreamverse #15 A student of a sorceress I know describes a medical procedure her teacher plans that I wouldn’t want done to ME... CAUTION: TALK OF BLOOD AND SEX
	THE SEX WORKSHOP: by Wayan; 1997/4/6, a dream on taking the next step. The teacher of our sex workshop picks me for a demonstration in front of everyone. Gulp... CAUTION: WELL WHAT DO YOU THINK?
	SOUL-SHARD: by Wayan; 2000/10/5, a rebellious dream I’m a wolf in an ashram studying astral travel with my spirit-wife. Our souls blend a bit, enraging our guru, a Hindu god, who sends demons to make us stop this spiritual “contamination”...
	SUMMON A MENTOR: by Wayan; 1997/10/6, a parabolic dream on wishes. I turn shy with women I like. So I wish for a dating coach, who appears! Then I feel dumb: how come I...
	TAROT: THE EXPLAINER (The Page of Swords?): by Wayan; 36K. Tarot card, 3x5", 1978-1981. Using the mind's blade humbly, respecting ideas and people, clarity's disciple may not see her own power...
	TAROT: THE MAGENTA MESSIAH: by Wayan; 26K. Tarot card, 3x5", 1978-1981. True teachers and leaders do exist, with vision enough to make seeds (and people) sprout...
	UNCONTROLLED TIME TRAVEL: by Jo; 2007/7/13, a time-slipping dream. I’m a drug-addicted amateur dramatist. A fat balding businessman and I bring humanity back from extinction, but... CAUTION: TORTURE (brief), ADVOCACY OF WAR, HUMAN EXTINCTION (offstage)
	UNDER THE FUR: by Wayan, 700K total (5 p, 140K each), 1997/10/7; a color dream-comic (or plain text version, just 10 K) A strange creature slunk into our yard, carrying a skunk lunch. But she dropped her fur coat, and...
	THE WELL: by Denise Levertov; 1960?; a dream-poem I meet my own muse--the muse of all of us, perhaps--scooping water from a sacred well...
	THE WELL OF WOMEN'S WISDOM: by Wayan; 1991/3/25, a dream on gradualism. I find the well of women's wisdom. Lucky I had a sex change! A girl sneers "this wisdom's narrow." Is it?
	WHY COWGIRLS LOVE BROCCOLI: by Wayan; 1987/8/19, a surreal dream of love. I'm a cowgirl in Nevada circa 1900. Below Haunted Mansion, I meet a green lizard-lady in distress... CAUTION: QUEER-POSITIVE
	WINDOW IN THE SKY: by Emily Joy; 2006/10/15, an epic, flying, disorienting, apocalyptic dream When my friends and I learn to fly, all of Middle Earth turns against us! Fleeing from Saruman's army, I bonk my head, exposing the backstage truth about our world... CAUTION: VIOLENCE, DOOM, PHYSICS! YODA IN THE TUB!
	A WRITER'S MUSE: by Wayan, 1996/12/7, a dreamfable on creativity. A writer's found in his office mating with an ash-covered creature! But could she be his muse? CAUTION: NUDITY OR NOT? SEX OR NOT? NO ONE QUITE KNOWS...
	YOU'RE THE EAGLE: by Wayan; 2000/2/8, a dream fable. A hermit spends his life wrestling with shadows. His only disciple becomes famous. Who was happier?
	ZYGOTE: by Wayan; 1999, a comic astral vision. It's true: after death, angels advise you where to go next. But what if you get an over-eager travel agent?