A tipi dream. What could it mean?

Yesterday I dreamed I was on this ship.

There were various people, alive and dead, but none of that haunts me.
The ship though was not a cruise ship, more like a working ship, close to being a rust-bucket.
But it was huge and enormous in scope, always with a dark weather background.

Once ashore, I thought this harbor is very small and 19th century.
But I thought, I'm finally in the Americas, the land of the Native Americans.
I got to go back to the ship soon, I better find a curio.
I had a modern watch though.

So I'm looking around this market for anything, and nothing, just fish and oil-paintings.

Then I see this dude, and he gets up, and he's tall, like really tall.
Not "brown" or "red" at all.
Just a tall regular dude, but how I knew is what he sold.
And before him were all these smallish model tipis made of cloth and leather, from traditional to various colors.
They were each mounted on something like a tile.

"How much for one?", I asked.
"Forty Dollars", he answered.
And I realized that's like R500, I don't have that kinda money.

Well to make a long story short, despite the anxiety of the leaving ship and trying to find the money, this dude says to me:
"I see you really want a tipi; here is one made of wood".

Of course I was grateful, but it wasn't quite what I wanted.

But later on the ship, I was reading this book, and it said that is how they actually made tipis in those parts.
And these rays of gratitude just spread from my heart like sunbeams.

And then - KNOCK!
"Wake up Halfoldman, you're going to the dentist"!

The Northwest Tribe used to construct Longhouses, kinda of similar to what the Vikings had.

Maybe that was your "wooden tipi" just smaller for a single occupant?

I know, a lot of tribes used bark, and various materials, even some in Europe, like the Sami.

So perhaps there's something about authenticity and current reality.

Or maybe a Freudian thing based on a word game, like you shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth.

Like you don't really want to go to the dentist, but be glad somebody's paying, because in SA you won't get that procedure from the government.

a reply to: halfoldman

My wife is into that dream interpretation stuff. She said the tipi represents a place where you are protected.

Perhaps also a sense somewhere that so many of my friends have gone to places like Canada, the US or Australia.

And I just haven't managed to emigrate.

But then also the sense more lately, maybe be glad you never really bothered.

So perhaps also, be happy with what you have, or where you are.

I mean the tipis are mounted on tiles, not "greener" grass or rolling prairies.

That would be a wickiup or wigwam made of bark, typically birch but any good shaggy bark in large chunks will do. Wikipedia isn’t too terrible on pictures. But think of the construction framework similar to a giant reed basket before weaving in between the reeds.

Ive been in one just like this near Pinecrest lake. The Miwok Indians made them like this.

Nearby, I was looking inside this small shrine thing, and there were human bones.


My dream early this morning, I was also in a ship, but it was a space ship. It seemed to be in the future. I remarked to one of the other astronauts that this would have really been something at one time, and he said " yeah, about 15 years ago". I woke up and wanted to go back to sleep and get back in that dream. I was having fun, although, a little claustrophobic.

a reply to: visitedbythem

Oh my hat!
Thanks so much for that.

Of course one can never describe a dream entirely in this dimension, but the general tropes I mentioned are there.

Actually to a spooky extent.

It was a nice little dream journey with ya' half-ol' until the nightmare part...Dentist!! Ugh.

But that drill.

Mmm ... something smells like frying T-Bone steak.

And it's spraying in all directions.

My long kept tooth enamel.

That smell, it is your bones pulverized.
But at some stage we got to get over that.
Think about how great it's gonna look.

Sorry, double post.

The San people of the Kalahari.

New Age travelers.
We got soup?



Hey brother where are you going?
Hey, wherever they allow us to go.