Eyeball Monsters
Dreamed by Mary Ellen, 1979 or before, as told by Gayle Delaney
[Delaney has been discussing so-called Senoi dreamwork (which the Senoi people disown); she decries its advice to kill threatening figures in your dream.]
In reviewing dream accounts in the literature and in my research files, I find that much more is to be gained by confronting threatening dream images with a desire to understand rather than to demolish them. I have found that asking a negative dream figure "What do you want?" or "What do you represent?" can result not only in the transformation of the figure into a friendly one, but also in valuable insights into the parts of the personality represented by the originally threatening figure. For example, Mary Ellen dreamed:
I am in my apartment when a gang of young thugs walk in and say they are going to do something terrible to me. I manage somehow to trick them out of the apartment and lock all the windows and doors. I hope I am safe. I am still frightened.If you persist in suggesting to yourself while awake that you will turn and confront your negative dream images, and that you will then ask them why they threaten you, you will succeed. This may happen for you right away or it might take a couple of months, but you will be able to do it, and when you do, you will feel a great sense of accomplishment.They get back in, and now they are in a new and terrifying form. They look like huge monsters with tentacles, bulging eyes, and sea monster skin.
I remember that I was not going to let fear get the better of me in my dreams from now on. So I swallow my fear and concentrate on saying, "Well you got back in. Now what do you want?"
Immediately the monsters transform into friendly people who explain that they want to be my allies and help me understand myself. They proceed to demonstrate (in ways I've forgotten) why I've been so jealous of my best friend. Their explanations are "right on," and I awake feeling more self-confident and far less jealous of her.
SOURCE: Living Your Dreams by Gayle Delaney (1996 ed) p.145
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