Talking with spirits

©2023 michael raven

The spirits are trying to say something to me that seems vitally important. Like the lumbering idiot I am, I can only make out bits and fragments of the message — but whenever someone takes the time to verbalize how a name is spelled in a dream, it is likely absolutely imperative that I recall that spelling.

Maybe your dreaming is different, but I recall reading somewhere that — if you really think about it — you very rarely are able to see words in dreams. Dreams work in images and emotions, and don’t really have time for the intricacies of logical things like writing. It is rare, as I understand it, for anyone to read signs and books are often filled with meaningless jumbles of letters (that frequently tumble out to the floor when I try to read in dreams). When I first heard that, I thought it was a load of bullshit until I started paying attention upon waking. Sure enough, there was very little in the way of written words. And names of strangers are equally elusive after waking, even if you thought you had a name for them in dream.

As a writer, you might think that words would have more resilience for me after waking. But no — if I see words, they often don’t render into anything meaningful. For instance, I might dream of a version of Seattle, know it is a Seattle, but when I run into signs proclaiming I am visiting a dream version of Seattle, the actual text looks something like” “Xghietq” before it scurries like cockroaches seeking shadows under an incandescent bulb.

So, when certain words make sense… I pay attention because it isn’t the normal way of dreams. Again, maybe it is only my dreams, but it is not normal for me.

For instance, I once dreamed many years ago about a vast library where the books did their letters falling out routine when I opened a book. After an encounter with dream entity, the books still did that trick, but the labels on the endcaps would occasionally be rendered: “Future Histories”, “Life After Dying”, “Firewalking”, “Falling Up”, and etc. And then, the letters would shatter on the floor… But they lingered long enough to be relatively sensible.

The latest series of dreams with this kind of behavior started with re-occurring actors and later developed into “my name is Dtykajdo [mumbled]”. “How do you spell that?” I asked, not really expecting a response. But I got one. When the person was done, they emphasized that I needed to remember the “A” in their name. “It is important. Don’t forget that my name has an A in it, ‘kay?”

The name was spelled differently than a variation (approximate, inexact) version I did know of, and it turns out to be a valid variant I would never have thought of in a million years when I looked it up upon waking, thinking my dreams were having fun at my expense. Multiple dreams with similar experiences since, and I’m fairly certain it isn’t accidental.

I don’t know for certain what the spirits are telling me, although I have suspicions. I don’t think it is a living person — it might not even be a person, based on my experiences in the past. But I am convinced that there is something trying to guide me further along the path I have been walking for most of my life, one where some barrier will eventually fall away and I can know what I need to know, see what I need to see.