INTRODUCTION

In 1991, Somnial Times, a bimonthly newsletter for dreamworkers, tried a 'Dream Meeting Project': twice a week, members tried to meet in dreamspace. This pair of dreams aren't that. They're weirder yet.

In June, Toni Emrich had a puzzling dream about "Pondecherry". Without consciously knowing this, Margaret Thomas a few weeks later dreamed of a woman who punned on the placename and spelled it out so Margaret could look it up and answer Toni's questions--before Toni's dream had even shown up in the mail!

--Chris Wayan

PONDICHERRY 1: TONI EMRICH

Clear, breezy summer day. I am in a rural area, which appears to be a federal or state park, with a few officials (guards? rangers?) in brown uniforms. There are brown, wooden farm-type houses (three stories, turn-of-the-century) scattered around--set on the level ground. No cellar. No gardens, etc. Furnished and apparently lived in during conferences. Area is far from transport centers. Very peaceful. Everyone is a visitor but conference seems to be over.

Another scene: My cousin Frank F. and another male (and I) in a clearing (of this parkland). He has both arms in this dream so is younger or in past time. Wears a hat (!), almost pilgrim style with brim. He wants me to beg my landlady for a free yellow maple tree (fully grown) to put on his land. He plans a log cabin of dark squared logs. ("F.F." is also ex-lover, nicknamed "F4'--now very "square.")

On waking, I got the double directive--don't [tape] record this; write it down. Later, sipping my coffee, I pondered [Pondecherry?] the landscape to figure out where I was in this dream. It seemed to be old dunes or hills covered with scrub oak/maples, no pines, yet there was lush new grass. Short summers, long dry winters. There seemed a ringing empty sound, l) from being far away from centers of population in clear air; elevated; 2) associated with ancient time (experience I have had, both waking hours and sleeping in S. Dennis, Cape Cod--an old glacial area but pine-covered now).

In the dream, there were no insects, no birds. The feeling was of being on a plateau surrounded by lower region of water yet I did not smell or even see ocean. At first I thought it was Prince Edward Island (where I hope to vacation '91 but have never been) but there was no ocean, nor association with storms. A thin layer of snow in winter and one ranger in a wood-burning cabin. Free association did not reveal [conference] center, though I called up Lake Louise (photos), Aspen, Colorado, and New Zealand.

--Toni Emrich

PONDICHERRY 2: MARGARET THOMAS

I had a dream before I received your newsletter but didn't write it down at the time (not in India). As near as I can remember it...

I was walking in a light fog beside a pond (water on my right), following a path, wet and muddy, stony, around the shore. I saw a lady next to the path by a tree before me. She was picking some kind of fruit from the tree and putting it in a bag or sling hanging at her side.

I didn't want to get near her (not afraid really, just nervous about it). When I got next to her, she handed me some of the fruit and said, "They're pond cherries."

I took the fruit from her (they looked something like a nut but with a thin papery outside). I ate one. It was crunchy. Then I thought I shouldn't eat them. I threw them away.

She called, "It's spelled with an 'i'.' I turned to look back at her and she added, "'Pondisherry' with an 'i'."

[Editor's note: Margaret sent a drawing and a description of the woman: "Dark almost black eyes, very dark hair, dusky complexion."]

SOURCE: Somnial Times: Newsletter of the Dreamers SIG [of Mensa]; Vol III, No. 3: Aug. 1991, and Vol III, No. 5: Dec. 1991. Gloria Reiser, coordinator; Judy Landaiche, editor.