Richard Webster - Spirit & Dream Animals: Decipher Their Messages, Discover Your Totem

Jason Fell

About Richard Webster

Author of over forty titles published with Llewellyn, Richard Webster is one of New Zealands most prolific writers. His best-selling books include Spirit Guides & Angel Guardians , Creative Visualization for Beginners , Soul Mates , Is Your Pet Psychic? , Practical Guide to Past-Life Memories , Astral Travel for Beginners , Miracles , and the four-book series on archangels: Michael , Gabriel , Raphael , and Uriel .

A noted psychic, Richard is a member of the National Guild of Hypnotherapists (USA), the Association of Professional Hypnotherapists and Parapsychologists (UK), the International Registry of Professional Hypnotherapists (Canada), and the Psychotherapy and Hypnotherapy Institute of New Zealand. When not touring, he resides in New Zealand with his wife and family.

Llewellyn Publications

Woodbury, Minnesota

Copyright Information

Spirit & Dream Animals: Decipher Their Messages, Discover Your Totem 2011 by Richard Webster.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any matter whatsoever, including Internet usage, without written permission from Llewellyn Publications, except in the form of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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First e-book edition 2011

E-book ISBN: 9780738730905

Cover art Colin Mayne Illustration

Cover design by Lisa Novak

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Llewellyn Publications

Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

2143 Wooddale Drive

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Manufactured in the United States of America

For my good friend Jim Hainey

Contents

Part One

: The Importance of Dreams

: How to Remember Your Dreams

: Animal Symbolism

: Your Animal Totems

: Shapeshifting

: The Healing Power of Animals

Part Two

: Dream Animal Dictionary

Introduction

I was walking along Connaught Road in Hong Kong one summers day about ten years ago. Because it was hot and humid, I went into a caf to have a coffee in air-conditioned comfort. As I sipped my drink, I became aware of the couple sitting next to me. An attractive Chinese woman was telling her American friend about animal dreaming. Apparently, if an Asian woman dreamt about an animal shortly before becoming pregnant, the child would exhibit the qualities of that particular animal.

I was intrigued, and after apologizing for overhearing the conversation, I joined in. I had been interested in dreams for many years but had not given any thought to the different animals that appear in our dreams. The two women had gone to college together, and had not seen each other for several years. The American lady was on vacation, and her friend, Lee Tang, was enjoying showing her around Hong Kong. They had been catching up on everything that had happened in their lives since last seeing each other. I happened to overhear their conversation at exactly the right time.

I learned that Chinese dream interpretation is called zhan meng shu , and is a small part of fangshu , the divinatory arts. It is believed that dreams are caused by a lack of energy. This occurs when one of the five elements of our makeup are out of balance. The colors that appear in the dream indicate the organ that is not working as well as it should be. If the dream is suffused with a red color, for example, the heart will be out of balance. (Green relates to the liver, the spleen to yellow, the lungs to white, and the kidneys to black.)

However, the dreams dreamt by a woman who is about to conceive, or has just conceived, are not caused by a lack of energy. In fact, they create energy. They are prophetic dreams that provide valuable clues about the destiny of the unborn child.

Lee Tang leaned across to me. Did you know that Buddhas mother dreamt of a gorgeous white elephant with six tusks that ran around her bed three times? Thats a classic example of a prophetic animal dream.

Do all pregnant women have animal dreams? I asked.

Lee Tang shook her head. Only if the child shows promise. It is a sign of great potential. However, I think all women have dreams about their unborn babies. It used to be a sign of misfortune if the mother experienced no such dreams. She smiled and held up a finger. The mother has to keep the dream a secret. My mother hasnt told me about her dreams about me. Shes told me she had them, and they were good, but thats all I know.

When I returned to my hotel, I wrote down as much as I could remember of the conversation. I spoke to several people about the subject, but learned no more. Every now and again, over the years, I reread my notes on animal dreaming but added very little to them.

While in Singapore recently, I was introduced to someone who specializes in interpreting taimeng , predictive dreams about unborn children. Her fascinating stories rekindled my interest, and provided the necessary inspiration to write this book.

An unusual dream was the final motivating factor. Shortly after returning home, I dreamt I was driving my car into the city. The car in front of me on the freeway had a personalized license plate: ANIMAL . A week later, I happened to be driving along the same stretch of freeway and noticed that the car in front of me had a different personalized plate: ANAMAL . The spelling was different, but it seemed like a good omen. I started this book the very next day.

Although animal dreams are extremely popular in the East, particularly in China, Korea, Taiwan, and Japan, they can be found in all parts of the world and throughout history. The mother of Alexander the Great, for instance, dreamt that she was sleeping with Amun Ra, the horned god.

Men can experience birth dreams also. In a dream, Philip of Macedon saw an imperial seal surrounding a lion on his wifes womb shortly before his son, destined to become Alexander the Great, was born.

A man also dreamt what is probably the most famous birth dream of all. This is the dream that Joseph experienced after learning that Mary, his wife, was pregnant: The angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins (Matthew 1:2021).

People have been fascinated by dreams for thousands of years. In every part of the world, people believed their dreams must have meaning. As in most other ancient civilizations, the Chinese believed that dreams could predict future events. The emperor employed interpreters to help him understand the meanings of his dreams. Three thousand years ago, an unknown poet wrote the Shi Jing , or Book of Poems , which contained a great deal of information about dreams, especially animal dreams. He recorded that dreaming of a bear was a sign that the child would be a boy. Dreaming of a snake signified the birth of a girl. Both were considered equally good omens.