Dream 21 -
The beings from another world
This
was a long and complicated dream from which came to me in September 1988. The
dream started off in a large room in a building with many interconnecting rooms;
rooms off rooms. It all savoured of the Hotel Dream, but it gradually emerged
that it was the palace of a King in Medieval times. There was the King, like
Henry the 8th, the Priest, and the Observer, the red cloaked figure. It was as
if I was all three and also observing the dream, so, there were in fact four.
The feeling was quite clear, the way in which I became first one and then
another of the figures.
It
became necessary for the King to quietly leave or escape from the palace, so he
quietly walked from room to room, all deserted, trying to get nearer to the
outside of the building and at the same time looking for a last meal before
leaving. The four of us found a tea bar, and later a better place, like a dining
room. There were three waitresses. The King had his meal. The waitresses felt
that a King does not pay, and so while honoured by his presence, they worried
about who would pay. The King leaned out of a window and threw a large handful
of big radiant coins to the young waitress standing below. She caught them in
her outstretched hands. She was overjoyed. They shone radiantly.
And
so the three, the King, the Priest, and the red cloaked Observer, together with
the fourth, myself, left the palace unnoticed and were making our way along the
sea shore to catch the ferry boat to the island. There was a very large
unworldly flying boat coming in to land on the sea which was too rough for such
a landing. It landed successfully, however, because it had special powers, being
from another world. It was enormous. There was another enormous machine anchored
off shore in the form of a long rectangular sectioned orange structure on low
stilts, with rows of windows along its side, showing how large it really was. As
I watched it opened and unfolded and became another enormous flying machine. It
was like watching a metamorphosis. Meanwhile we four were struggling along the
shore and now up a steep slope to reach the next bay where the ferry should be
waiting, only there was no sign of it.
I
looked back and down and saw a special boat coming in to land. Perhaps it had
come from one of the flying machines. It was other worldly; white and pale blue
and perfect. It was not in time because it never aged. It made a landfall
somehow, the shore transforming into a quay side for it. Three figures stepped
ashore, the Captain, the Engineer, and a third. They made their way up the hill
towards us. What was their intention? It was the third figure that finally met
me, I having retraced my steps to investigate, while the King, the Priest, and
the Observer continued upwards, as I approached the figure it grappled with me
from behind. It put a measuring tape around me. We fell to the ground as I
pulled the figure over with me. "Do not be afraid", it said, "we
are only checking to see if we have the right size garments for you". The
figure was not of this world. It was an overall warm yellow colour. Its body was
that of a beautiful woman. Its head was not human and yet beautiful in the
extreme. It was ducklike with an overshot jaw and transparent lips in front of
its ordinary lips. It had a beautiful flower under its jaw, the stem of the
flower passing through its jaw into its mouth, then bending round and down into
its body. The being was totally unworldly, bizarre, and yet extremely beautiful.
I tried to explain to the King and the Priest that these beings had come to help
us. The King did not believe it. As the strange being talked, I translated,
explaining that its language was esotericism which confirmed that it came from a
higher level and could only mean well. It could not hate, but only love. The
King rejected this idea and said that he would get the truth out of it. He
attacked it with a large hook, weaving and waving it. He got it round its neck.
He said he knew what it was. It was an Eskimo. Such an idea was ridiculous and
showed me he did not know, was afraid, and so was lying. Then the King got the
hook round the stem of the flower in the being's mouth and started to pull the
stem out of the being's body. The being began to be afraid and told me that this
would destroy it. So I had to intervene and go against the King to save the
being.
Then
the dream faded and I began to puzzle about the strange being; its meaning; its
beauty and its ducklike character. Then the child's riddle came: "What is
it that floats on the water, is over the water and is under the water and yet
never gets wet? An egg inside a duck's stomach".
So
a duck is an unusual being. It can walk on the land; it can paddle on top of the
water; it can swim in the water and under it; it can fly in the air. So it could
be a symbol of a being that can operate in many media, both in time and space
and also out of time and space; an emissary between different worlds.
I
could find no reference to the duck in Jung's Works. The keys to the dream are 3
and 4, the King and the Captain., (one apparently in charge and yet not); the
Priest and the Engineer., and so the ducklike being must relate to the
observing symbol of myself, the Red Cloaked figure. It is the emissary from
Higher Mind. On later reflection I concluded that the King represents Intellect,
the Priest represents Feeling with the Red Cloaked Observer being myself at the
fourth stage, the Man on the Bridge about to relate to both the outer and the
inner worlds. The bizarre ducklike being of great beauty that comes from the
flying machine and makes "physical" contact with "me" is
Higher Emotional Mind, the Engineer is Higher Intellectual Mind, the Captain of
the flying machine is the Androgyne. My task is to prevent the intellectual
aspect of myself from destroying my contact with Higher Mind.
What
does clearly come through the dream is the role of the King and the yellow
ducklike being. The King in allegory usually represents the "1" which
is in charge of the developing individual and so is arrayed in the finery of a
king as in this case. Eventually, however, even the King has to develop or be
replaced and so is eventually stripped of his finery. In this case he was found
to be out of touch with the real events and a charlatan, while the yellow
ducklike figure turns out to be an emissary from Higher Mind. There may also be
a connection here with the fable of the ugly duckling which turns out to be a
swan.
