Betty Bethards - The Dream Book: Symbols for Self Understanding

Other books by Betty Bethards:

Be Your Own Guru

There Is No Death

Sex and Psychic Energy

Techniques For Health and Wholeness

Way To Awareness

Seven Steps To Developing Your intuitive powers
(AKA: The Way Of The Mystic)

From My Heart To Yours

Betty Bethards is a widely known lecturer, author, mystic and spiritual healer. Because of her down-to-earth approach and infectious sense of humor, she is affectionately known as The Common Sense Guru. A popular radio/ TV guest in the USA and England, she has written nine books and has made 29 audio cassettes.

Before becoming the innovative, approachable teacher that she is, Betty was a housewife with four kids. And then her dramatic death experience shattered her belief system and values, and led to her discovery of mystical and psychic abilities. Soon after, Betty founded the Inner Light Foundation which provides ongoing lectures, seminars and workshops in holistic health, spiritual development, interpersonal communications and other human development areas. Long before doctors recommended meditation to their patients, Bettys was a lone voice, showing people the many healthful rewards of the practice.

Through her The Dream Book, Betty has shown how amazingly easy and beneficial it is to understand ones dreams. More than 300,000 people now own The Dream Book. An international Best seller, the book is published in 9 languages.

See Betty online at . Ask for a newsletter.

Original Copyright 1983 Betty Bethards

This NewCentury Publishers edition Copyright 2009 Betty Bethards

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized, in any form or by any means, electronically or mechanically, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

Library of Congress-in-Publishing Data

Bethards, Betty

The dream book: symbols for self-understanding/

Betty Bethards 19th ed.

p.com.

LCCN: 2001130283

ISBN: 978-0-9679790-1-4

1. Dreams. 2. Dreams-Dictionaries. 3. Dream Interpretation. I. Title.

BF1091.B47 2001 154.6303

QB101-200278

Cover design: Montanesque Enterprises (www.montanesque.com)

Cover concept/copy: Charles Rubin Advertising

Cover photograph Copyright 2003 Russell Illig/Getty Images

Author photograph: Lisa Keating.

Printed in the United States of America
19 th Edition

NewCentury Publishers

P.O. Box 750265

Petaluma, CA 94975

Tel: 707 769 9808

Email:

www.NewCenturyPublishers.com

Distributed by SCB Distributors

Contents

This book is lovingly dedicated to my daughter, Pam, whose
enthusiasm for working with dreams
awakened me to their importance in daily living.

Preface

Betty Bethards is widely known as a psychic, mystic, spiritual healer and meditation teacher. Her publications, lectures and media appearances have helped millions of people in their search for self-knowledge.

Betty began lecturing and giving seminars on dreams when she realized that dreams are your greatest tool for understanding yourself and your life. But most people neglect this free inner resource of guidance.

People have been asking me for this book for years, Betty explains, and at long last here it is. I have channeled information on every symbol in the book, which as you can imagine was a time consuming task. But I learned so much in the process! Now I gladly share this with you.

Bettys channel is her attunement to her higher self, spiritual guidance or God self. It is a vehicle for receiving insight and information which is usually beyond the reach of the conscious mind. She is quick to point out that everyone has a channel, a level or frequency of awareness called higher consciousness. Attuning to it is really listening to the teacher within or your own guidance. She believes we are particularly receptive to this level in the dream state.

Betty explains that dreams are her most treasured source of knowledge, because the conscious mind cannot get in the way to distort their message. You can learn to remember your dreams, recognize their meaning, and use them for inspiration and problem solving, she teaches. They tell you what you are doing right and how to change what needs to be changed. Since we spend one third of our lives in the sleep state, it is certainly to our advantage to use this time for insight.

The Dream Book, Symbols for Self-Understanding, is divided into two parts. Part I: Self-Understanding Through Dreams includes three chapters: The Meaning of Dreams, Working with Dreams, and Dreams and Expanded Consciousness. Part II: Dream Symbol Dictionary lists more than 1600 of the most common dream symbols with cross references. You are encouraged to read Part I before using Part II.

Betty points out that it is not necessary to accept my philosophy to use this book. You may be an atheist, agnostic, or have some sense of a universal mind or higher power. But no doubt you do recognize that you use only a small percentage of the mind. Learning to work with dreams enables you to develop more of your mental potential.

Remember that you are your own final word in dream interpretation. If the suggested meaning does not feel right, keep exploring until the sense of the meaning resonates within your own being. You can always check a good dictionary for possible additional clues. Also, different symbols have different meanings depending upon your life experiences and association with the symbol. In dream interpretation as in every other phase of living, be your own guru. Learn your key symbols and then it is easy to begin deciphering specific messages.

May this book inspire you to begin and continue exploring the wise and wonderful world of your dreams.

PART I

Self-Understanding
Through Dreams

Are dreams some strange, mysterious phenomenon that spontaneously happen on the night shift of life? Or is there some deeper meaning behind this universal experience?

Throughout recorded history humankind has valued the dream. A source of guidance, inspiration, prophecy, prediction and problem solving, dreams are a common experience to us all. They know no boundaries between young and old, rich and poor, races, religions and nationalities, In every culture we find some version of sleeping on a problem before making a decision. The Bible and other ancient texts are filled with examples of how dreams have played important roles in peoples lives.

What is this wonderful dimension that is so near and yet so far? To understand the real meaning of dreams we must delve beneath the surface to the