A "Painful" Dream

The support and aid shown in my previous thread has prompted me to come forward with another strange happening regarding a dream of mine, one that won't forget for some time to come.

This happened about last year, I believe it was a week or two after my little sisters first birthday. I will try and provide all the info I can to figure this out, because I really dont hope to experience it again. My parents have been divorced since about the age of 8, and my Father remarried about 4 years ago, and my little sister came into the world shortly after. I dont call her step-sister, I call her little sis, and I love her to death.

There has never been any real tension in my family, except for immediately following the divorce, so I dont believe this dream of mine would have any of it's roots in family issues.

Let me get to the dream itself. I had dozed off fine after another long day of unloading boxes at Kohls (Summer job of mine). In my dream, which I remember clear as day, I was sitting outside underneath the tree in my front lawn. What seemed to be a small garden snake with a brown tint to it came slithering up to me, and took a bite at my finger. I threw it away, thinking nothing of it, and it came to me again, larger, meaner looking this time.

Suddenly, it began speaking to me. Bizarre, I know, it gets weirder. It asked me questions of my family, as if it was testing how well I knew them, and everytime I would seemingly get something wrong, it would bite, and that's when it started to hurt. I know full well dreams are dreams, nightmares are nightmares, and they're fake and dont hurt you, but I distinctly remember feeling pain throughout this series of questions the snake posed to me.

Like many other dreams, this one simply seemed to fade away, and I have had no encounter with this dastardly snake ever since.

No reoccuring dreams, no physical evidence of bites or anything, I didn't sleep on a thumbtack! (Which I once did :lol Nothing that would explain how I actually felt the pain from the snake bites. Again, this seemed paranormal enough to me to post under this section, but if not, please inform me and I apologize for my mistake!

Looking forward for any advice/opinions as to what happened that night!

Dreams that can inflict pain, an astonishing phenomena if you ask me. I myself, have been entirely shakey on the subject, but my ideas seemed fixed on this: Your dream is so vivid, so elaborate, so real, that your mind cannot tell the difference between a fabricated existence and reality itself. So out of possibility your mind was confused at what was exactly "real" and simulated pain when you were bitten by the snake.

Dream symbolism is another thing, so I'll just use Biblical reference:

The Tree = The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil
The Snake = The serpent, Satan

Before when I read some random articles on a few occult sites a few months ago, they said that attacks like these are the works of hostile astral entities.

Conquistadork, you said when you tossed the snake away the first time, it returned bigger and meaner looking. Perhaps this is your subconcious attempting to warn you about confronting a problem and dealing with it rather than ignoring it or brushing it off. Your subconcious could think that if you ignore the problem it will become larger and less manageable.

This is just one theory, and I won't discount the possibility of a malevolent force at work, brought up by Majestic12

Originally posted by BRCMontana
Conquistadork, you said when you tossed the snake away the first time, it returned bigger and meaner looking. Perhaps this is your subconcious attempting to warn you about confronting a problem and dealing with it rather than ignoring it or brushing it off. Your subconcious could think that if you ignore the problem it will become larger and less manageable.

This is just one theory, and I won't discount the possibility of a malevolent force at work, brought up by Majestic12

I just wanted to take a paranormal approach to the situation at hand

Both of your responses seem to really make sense, but Im not very educated on the whole astral plane school, why would anything malevolant be after me, much less be testing me on my knowledge of my family?

Almost every person is a potential target for such astral attacks, it seems that there is a correlation between an individuals "level of spirituality" and the occurence of such assaults. Occaisonally astral entities like these will totally disregard an individuals degree of spirituality and attack at random. Take me for example, I dabbled in the occult for over a year, woshipped a Goddess at an altar, meditated in the smoke of sandalwood incense, and I experienced over five malevolent attacks in a matter of months. 3 of these being sleep paralysis.

Have you been recently involved in a frequent amount of praying?

Have you been heavily practicing your faith?

Actually the opposite, I have never really practiced any faith, as my parents decided to let me choose my own path. I suppose that's a reason I've never really heard of this astral zone idealogy before.

I have been questioning lately my purpose in life, but mind you nothing suicidal, just what I want to do with myself, etc. I dont know if that helps clear things up at all, I hope it does, this whole astral zone thing is very very interesting, Id love to learn more about it. Do you have any good sources I could learn more about all of this? You seemed very learned in this area!

A majority of my limited knowledge of this subject has been accumelated throughout my time here on ATS. But here are a few links:

en.wikipedia.org...
www.paranormality.com...
www.themystica.com...
www.astralvoyage.com...

Thanks alot Majestic, If only everyone was as helpful as you!

I really look forward to reading up on all of this, this board has truly sparked my interest in the paranormal

It was my pleasure Let me know if you have anymore questions.

Wow a talking snake is pretty 'out-there' as far as night terrors go. I dont think my dreams are the same type, but they are painful so I'll add my 2cents.

I have had some pretty painful dreams. I got them about twice a week for a couple of months. Before that it was less frequent, and its been more than a month since I last had one. Nothing special was happening in my life during the time when they were coming almost nightly.

Anyways the only time I was able to stop the 'attack' and force myself to wake up - it was because I had said a few "hail Mary's." After about three, the pain went away and a few seconds later I woke myself up. If it happens again Pray or ask God for help, or envoke Jesus or Angels, or Moses or Buddha or whomever, and see if it helps.

Well, goodnight.. dont let the bed bugs bite...

Well, something like this happened to me once so I thought share my story.

Most of the time my dreams are a story. This probably comes from me being a writer. I have a very vivid imagination and I cannot remember all the times my mind has mistaken a dream for reality. Well, anyway the story was that there was this forest that if anyone went in they wouldn't come out. Apprently, I traveled into this forest. It gets a bit hazy here. It was dark out and the tree arangement looked kinda like the woods I have in my backyard.
Then, suddenly, I was hit with this pain that hurt so bad it made me(in the dream) buckle over.
Nothing physical seemed to be inflicting pain it just hurt. Now, this pain wasn't like real pain it was more like a shadow of real pain. Whatever intensity it seemed to hurt me deeper then physical pain.
Me, being a christian, did the only thing I could think to do. I prayed. Right there in the dream I prayed that God would stop the pain and obliterate whatever was causing it. And, as suddenly as it started, the pain stopped. Then, it came back for a few seconds, causing a cross to come into existence in front of me. Then the pain went away, permanently. The cross stayed and shone with a bright light for awhile. Then, the dream ended and I don't remember anything for the rest of the night.

Originally posted by Conquistadork
It asked me questions of my family, as if it was testing how well I knew them, and everytime I would seemingly get something wrong, it would bite, and that's when it started to hurt.

I think the answer is right here. Every time you'd fail to know something about your family when you should've you'd feel pain. This is true in waking life as well. If you don't know things about your family and make a discovery too late, it can be emotionally painful. I think the snake (that symbolizes danger) wants you to be close to you family and is warning you not to stray from them in having an active role in your family's life. I know that it sounds strange to listen to a snake, but remember Moses in front of Pharoah.

That's a great point saint, albeit it a scary one. I've never had problems with my family, and that's why I'm having such a hard time understanding

I get killed alot in my dreams... a good 80% of any dream I have I die in, and I dont wake up.... and my deaths are painful. Thank God I dont remember my dreams to often. Last dream I died in I was shot by a m16 numerous times and left on a curb to bleed to death. It was a spirutal dream and I hade only fallen asleep in the dream to awake with my wounds healed. (BTW getng shot was verry painful adn then the few moments of agony on the side of the road) I awoke and ran off where my city was being bombed by the US military (thats who shot me) I ran to a mall where it too was bombed because many people were taking refuge. I didnt actually die in this one. It was a spiruatal dream because I can constantly recall being int he face of death and thinking "God's plan for me isnt what I thought" and then agaisnt all odds I would make it out alive barely and simply praise God for keeping me alive. Strange strange dream....

Mizar! Someone else who actually does die in their dreams!

The pain I sometimes experience in dreams is unbearable, but when I do dream, I know its a dream so I usually wake up after I get killed. Happy, I know!

Last dream I had is one I have all the time. I just fall off a cliff and slam into the ground, the pain is phenoneomal for a few seconds and then I wake up, remember it was a dream, then go back to sleep.

It doesn't really affect me much, I'm a cheery kind of person so I just get on with it.

Originally posted by Mizar
I get killed alot in my dreams... a good 80% of any dream I have I die in, and I dont wake up.... and my deaths are painful.

This is true for me too. So hard to convince people because they go, "Nuh uh! You wake up just before you die!" Dude, I'm the one having the dream, I know when I wake up. I wish I did. :shk:

Originally posted by Mizar
It was a spiruatal dream because I can constantly recall being int he face of death and thinking "God's plan for me isnt what I thought" and then agaisnt all odds I would make it out alive barely and simply praise God for keeping me alive. Strange strange dream....

I hear ya.

[edit on 22-12-2005 by saint4God]

[edit on 22-12-2005 by saint4God]

Originally posted by Zanzibar
Last dream I had is one I have all the time. I just fall off a cliff and slam into the ground, the pain is phenoneomal for a few seconds and then I wake up, remember it was a dream, then go back to sleep.

It doesn't really affect me much, I'm a cheery kind of person so I just get on with it.

I found your portrait on the web Zanzibar!



Seriously though, it's great to hear you don't let these thing interfere with having a good day. Truly an inspiration we should all follow

[edit on 22-12-2005 by saint4God]

I am a sleep technician currently though my field does not deal with dreams beyond ones that cause sever sleep disruption, such as night terrors. Dream interpretation is more a field of psychology then traditional medicine and you will find varying interpretations of what dream symbology means.

As to the pain, the state of mind that someone is in during this type of dream is called REM sleep, or Rapid Eye Movement sleep. At this stage of sleep your body paralysis the non-essential muscle so you do not act out your dreams, this is also what causes sleep paralysis and is the stage when REM disorder can happen (acting out your dreams). Your brainwaves become very similar to brain waves while you’re awake. In truth I don’t think that anyone truly understands REM, but they have speculated at some things that do occur during it, and proven a few things for certain.

Anyway the point is that I know it’s possible to feel pain while dreaming as it’s happened to me, though there is not always a physical stimulus for that pain. I would have to speculate that in that stage of sleep your dreams are so real that not only is it possible to act them out as in REM disorder, but also for them to cause a physical reaction such as pain. I mean pain only exists in your mind as signals from your nerves, and REM being a weird and powerful a state of altered mind, why would your brain not be able to simulate it?

This does not sound to me to be a night terror, though to check you would have to have an EEG preformed since the only way to tell for sure is to check your sleep stage at the time of occurrence. If you have this dream in stages 3 or 4 delta wave sleep instead of REM sleep then it is a night terror. Since stages 3 and 4 decrease with age, if you are having them they should go away as you get older.

Anyway this is what I found on snakes, after a quick search, and they all seem to correlate pretty well:

www.webguru.com...

A SNAKE BITING YOU: Freud saw this as a classic symbol of self-realization. You either have just had, or are on the verge of an epiphany.

A TALKING SNAKE: This has dual meaning and will largely depend on the dreamer’s personal views of snakes. To a Christian person, a talking snake may represent deception. It may be a mirror of yourself, your guilty conscience acting up because you have deceived someone. It may also be a warning from your subconscious that you are being deceived by something. For a person of another religion or who is not afraid of snakes, a talking snake represents wisdom. This could be your higher self trying to give you a message. Pay close attention to what the snake is saying to you.

www.soulfuture.com...

Dream symbol: snake
snake, snakes, snaking, snaked

Interpretation:
A snake within a dream often symbolizes transformation, resurrection or rebirthing
A snake bite may suggest self-sabotage
Mysticism, healing, enlightenment
Being highly sensitive to the vibrations of others
A sleeping or coiled snake may represent Kundalini energy or life force
A Phallic Symbol
Sexuality or sexual energy
Temptation
A negative association with a snake may denote being afraid of your own power
Choosing an indirect route or being unfocused
For many westerners, snakes represent fear or death
Something that is snaky may represent betrayal or insidiousness
A devious, sneaky or dangerous person, a snake in the grass

www.lifetreks.com...

Gillian Holloway, Ph.D.
Snakes as Symbols of Initiation
In many dreams a single snake will come to bite you, and you may in fact be bitten after a brief struggle. To your amazement though, you will not die, and may find that the situation is not as bad as you thought. This type of dream can come when you have been fighting for your life with some problem, relationship or challenge. Such a snake-ordeal is an important signal that you are going through a kind of initiation; a psychological and spiritual trial that has the potential to change your life for the better if you deal with it bravely and with a clear heart. You may have to give up something you thought you couldn't, or take a stand for your principles or faith. This type of dream is responsible for the widely held belief that "snakes represent transformation." In my opinion, these dreams state the potential for growth and transformation inherent within a current difficulty. But to harvest this promise, you must walk through your fears and be willing to let go of the old in order to gain the rewards of the future.

Summary
If you have correctly interpreted the snake in your dream, it should make sense when considered against the context of the dream, the setting and the way you felt. Consider whether you're dealing with a sticky problem, the potential for something positive to emerge from current trials, an image of the afterlife, or a sexual symbol. It is also possible that your snake has a very unique meaning. Use these descriptions as a place to start from to uncover the interpretation that is right for you.

[edit on 12/22/2005 by defcon5]

Originally posted by saint4God



I found your portrait on the web Zanzibar!

Seriously though, it's great to hear you don't let these thing interfere with having a good day. Truly an inspiration we should all follow

[edit on 22-12-2005 by saint4God]

That just made my day! If you let these painful dreams interfere with your day, then life starts to really go downhill, after all, its only a dream, it can't really hurt you. If that makes anysense.

[edit on 22-12-2005 by Zanzibar]