What you will find on the next few pages is a dictionary of the different Spirits that can appear in a night dream or shamanic vision and the Power and messages they bring. In the Other Reality – kara as the Shuar say, or the dream – everything that appears to you is a Spirit, be it a person or the outboard motor of a boat. The distinction between animate and inanimate beings is in fact an illusion of this reality. So the dictionary reports whatever ‘thing’ may appear to you in a dream.
The use of this dictionary to interpret night dreams and even more so visions presupposes that you have a good knowledge of how the Other Reality works and the laws that govern it. Some of these laws may transpire here and there in this or that entry in the lexicon, but in a partial and incomplete form.
Without proper preparation, the interpretation of dreams using the dictionary may be misleading and mislead you.
What is given in the dictionary on dream interpretation comes from the oral shamanic tradition of the Amazon, Shuar in particular, at least for all those spirits that can be encountered or are otherwise known in the jungle.
As for the “recent” spirits, foreign or almost foreign to Amazonia (e.g. a computer, a television set…), many of them descend from known spirits – the car, for instance, descends from the horse – and we have taken this into account, but we have also referred to the recent experience of shamans.
Finally, for those spirits that are ‘exotic’ in Amazonia (e.g. snow) we have referred to other shamanic traditions and also to the older and more serious European folk tradition of dream interpretation.
Note by the way that the most deeply rooted European traditions give interpretations that agree very well with shamanic ones, because the study of the Other Reality always ends up giving similar results.
The fundamental difference between the shamanic reading and the popular European one is that the latter, not being based on a direct knowledge of the Other Reality, is more simplistic and – when it does not descend into superstition – does not fully grasp the power of the various spirits, thus risking making the reading too rigid and limited and getting it wrong in particular cases.
Nevertheless, the best folk traditions are based on valid and authentic knowledge.
In the dictionary, the understanding of each Spirit has been assayed, verified, and adapted to the European man and woman and their environment, over the course of 15 years of shamanic practice.
All the sabiduría in this dictionary has been carefully tested before passing it on to you.
However, dreams and visions are not mathematics, each dream is a case in itself and a dictionary is only a support, an important support and also a trusted friend, but usually insufficient.
The psychological interpretation of dreams, whether psychoanalytic or of another school, is completely wrong because the assumptions of psychology are completely wrong.
It can only seem true because it always seems so, as it says nothing fundamental or new.
If, for example, a dream is interpreted as fear of the opposite sex, the interpretation apparently ‘fits’ because everyone in one way or another has or can believe that they are afraid of the opposite sex: the opposite sex is different from ours and we tend to be afraid of what is different.
Even if the psychological reading has some reliable aspects, dwelling on the psychology of the dream will prevent you from taking the power from it. More generally, the more you live ‘psychologically’, i.e. the more you give a lot of weight to subjectivity, to the motions of your psyche rather than to facts and other people, etc., the more dreams and visions (but not only them) will tend to seem psychological and their Power will become more and more inaccessible.
You must forget all psychological interpretation of dreams altogether if you really want to understand their shamanic interpretation. If, on the other hand, you try to reduce the shamanic reading to psychology or even want to maintain both, holding the foot in both camps, you will never deeply understand dreams and they will be of no help to you in your life or in your understanding of the Universe.
Many of my students have been using this dictionary since early 2008.
Few, however, are able to understand their dreams or those of others. The point is that a language is not learnt with a dictionary, it is learnt by speaking it, knowing the mentality of the people who use it and studying grammar. This also applies to dreams.
For a year now, I have been running an online course on dreams and the students who follow it are beginning to understand and know how to read this wonderful world with satisfaction.
A second course for a new group of learners will start in December 2010.
In general, the Dictionary is only accessible to my students who are following an advanced shamanism programme.
However, a sampling of the Dictionary of Dreams and Visions (just over 100 entries) is available to all.
The Dictionary has been, from a technical and reference point of view, extensively reformed. Today you can:
Consult the index directly, either in total or by alphabetical letter, and click on the desired entry.
Do a database search and the search will give you separately
the specific entry if present.
the similar entries, if any (e.g. if you search for time you will get, in addition to time as a specific entry, time travel and time machine as similar entries)
the list of entries in which the term appears within the definition.
You can also search for more than one word in the database, e.g. type “cat sleeps” and the search will tell you that both words are found in the entry armchair (where it says in fact: “if you dream you see a cat sleeping in an armchair etc.”). That is, the search returns the entry(s) in which all the words searched for appear.
In each entry there may be cross-references or other entries may just be named. In that case, you will find links to those entries in the list of ‘related terms’ for your convenience.
In the side menu you will find, in addition to the general index, the index of searchable entries, i.e. those to which you have access depending on your membership in the premium area. Those who are not premium members will see the index of public entries.
Other functions we are implementing.
In the Dictionary, within the entry description, you can find terms printed in a different colour:
terms in red mean that the term itself is a separate dictionary entry. As mentioned above, you will find the link to that entry in the list of related terms at the bottom of the page. If the link does not work, it means that the entry, although planned, has not yet been included: be patient, it soon will be!
terms in green mean that the term itself is a separate entry in the Shamanic Lexicon, to which we refer.
Below is the link to the dictionary.
Happy reading, but remember that it is only a support: dreams are not understood dictionary in hand!
As I said, it is not possible to learn to read dreams with just a dictionary or an explanation of a few lines or a few pages.
Nor are many pages enough because you need exercises and experience. For this reason, full use is reserved for my students.
By way of example, bear in mind that:
Not all dreams are meaningful. Many dreams are devoid of Power because they come from insignificant spirits and should be ignored. Recognising powerful dreams is not an easy task.
There are bad dreams that have Power in them, but not enough Power and they take the rest from you: Power must be taken from them. Both dwelling on interpreting them and ignoring them can be harmful.
Some dreams are contrary. That is, they materialise the opposite of what is happening. You will find many examples in the dictionary of dreams that are usually contrary. However, even in these cases the opposite does not always apply.
There are particular dreams and visions that are not to be interpreted in any way: they come true literally. Others almost literally.
And these, I repeat, are only a few hints….
For your dreams and visions, it is far better that, while using the dictionary, you turn to a shaman or a person who knows ancient traditions in depth, for help in interpreting your most important night dreams.
This is even truer of shamanic visions, of which there are different types that obey different laws. So as long as you have not had direct training from a shaman, I heartily advise you to avoid using the dictionary to interpret visions obtained in a trance or given by tséntsak.
