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The Dream Oracle
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There are moments when significant paradigm-shift leaps are made in mankind's progress towards greater self-insight. David Melbourne has made such an advance by his notion of The Dream Oracle.

Startingly simple in concept, as good ideas are, he has devised a method of obtaining important, specific, guidance from the unconscious by using the vehicle of the dream. David is a dream interpreter, yet the technique does not actually require interpretational skills.

The unconscious is provided with a fixed list of possible answers to a question posed by the individual and can then reveal its knowledgeable attitude by reflecting one of the pre-stated store of answers in the dream. By-passing the necessity for dream interpretation, each of the possible answers is linked to a letter of the alphabet.

The selected alphabetical letter will be made obvious, in a direct or indirect way, and hence reveal the appropriate answer. The inevitable consequence of this discovery is that a new universal language of specific alphabet-related answers will become established in the world and enter the group consciousness - so facilitating the process even more.

If someone mentions having experienced a "J dream", people will know that the answer refers specifically to the topic of Joy, or an "E" dream, say, will be on the theme of Envy.

This discovery represents a really significant advance in conventional dream psychology, and its second, metaphysical, function is as, or more, significant than the ancient Chinese invention of the I Ching.

At this stage let me go through the Dream Oracle procedure briefly so that its basic concept is clear.

 Firstly, the user focuses on a personal issue that is unresolved. For a comment on a major topic, the significance of the matter is impressed upon the unconscious by ritualistic cleansing and, if medically safe, perhaps fasting for a whole day - or even longer. These are dream-'incubation' techniques.

Secondly, before sleep, a 'data base' is established for the unconscious, by reading a fixed, standard, range of 26 possible answer-themes that could apply to any issue. Each answer-theme is linked to a letter of the alphabet. Each of these themes is further subdivided into specific answers. These will register firmly in the unconscious mind. This is the new universal 'alphabetic dream-code'.

Thirdly, following the dream, the user writes down the dream report

A letter of the alphabet may have been seen in the dream, or several major items in the dream may have begun with the same letter. The significant letter is thus identified from the dream.

Fourthly, the user again consults the list of possible responses in the 'dream oracle' and is reminded consciously of the corresponding answer to the selected alphabetical letter. The letter gives the theme of the answer and the particular answer in the list under that theme will be obvious to the user.

The result is a meaningful message from the user's unconscious, uninfluenced by conscious biases. The unconsciously chosen answer is immediately obtained by consulting the fixed list of responses.

There is much evidence that the unconscious possesses considerable, detailed information about the individual. Work in past life regression indicates that even information about previous lives is also held in store and that emotional, mental, physical and spiritual residues from those lives may still exert an influence on the current existence.

Often it is the case that the caring unconscious is fully aware of situations of which the conscious mind is completely unaware. However, there is a major problem of communication between the unconscious and conscious. Sometimes the attitude of the unconscious, in protecting the individual, will, for instance, cause a psychosomatic illness to develop in order to avoid a potentially difficult or dangerous situation, or the individual's real but not yet conscious opinion on something may emerge as a lapsus lingua.

The unconscious will communicate on some occasions bodily, by pain - a migraine, say, or some other physical sensation. In some people - conversion reaction neurotics - an unconscious thought of 'I feel trapped in this situation' will be reflected directly into an actual bodily paralysis.

Unconscious thoughts are also represented in dreams - not necessarily as heavily disguised wishes - but simply because the dream's language is visual and symbolic.

It is difficult, however, for people to interpret their dreams accurately and gain insight from the knowledge that is portrayed in them. There are vast individual differences in symbolic imagery. Dream dictionaries, which give standard meanings, are not useful in reality.

David Melbourne's great contribution to mankind has been to provide a simple standard universal dream-code language that the unconscious can use to communicate its attitude and opinion to the dreamer's conscious mind. Dream interpretation per se is thus avoided, but a specific and meaningful, unambiguous, message can be conveyed easily to consciousness.

The potential of the method was demonstrated early on when it was being devised. David, I, and Helen Adams (an astrologer on the Orkney Islands, and neighbour of David) were the first three people to read the list of dream-code themes, and each of us soon experienced a message-bearing dream using the new method.

David reports his first alphabetic-code dream in the Foreword of this book. Another interesting one that happened to him was a dream where, once again, he saw the actual letter (R) in the dream. It concerned Repentance, and the particular aspect relevant to him was that he realised he had made an error of judgement about someone, and his unconscious was urgently telling him to think again. The message instantly changed his attitude about the person.

A few nights after seeing the standard alphabetical meanings, Helen had a vivid dream of seeing the letter F. Her unconscious instantly woke her up - here too reinforcing the significance of the message (the trigger effect). F stood for Faith. The specific answer in the theme's list that stood out for her concerned having and maintaining faith in her plans. It was absolutely á propos her current state of mind and it gave her new determination. Since then, many other cases have confirmed the usefulness of the new process.

My own first case occurred when I pinned up the alphabetic-code list by my bed. That night I experienced many dreams in which very many objects beginning with the letter B appeared - bus, bridge, baby, balloon, etc. The message, concerning Brevity, contained a clear guiding message in it for me at that time.

It is anticipated that The Dream Oracle will be widely employed as a psychological tool by therapists and psychiatrists. It will provide important truths concerning the client / patient and short-cut the processes of understanding and healing.

Also, increasing numbers of people are seeking a greater spirituality through self-insight and awareness. The Dream Oracle is an ideal pathway for gaining that self-knowledge. It can save years of truth-seeking through conventional means.

Evidence overwhelmingly suggests that the unconscious is able to receive telepathic, clairvoyant and precognitive information, and another major use of the technique is to call on the supernormal powers of the unconscious in order to access certain distant information. This is the second, Oracular function of the process.

Official Science cannot at the moment countenance such notions, but the edifice of censorious, orthodox, science is rapidly crumbling and its preposterous attitude of presenting a highly partial view of the universal scheme of things has now been seen through. Science, having unscientifically warped and stunted the development of knowledge, will have to catch up with what ordinary people already know - that paranormal events happen.

Just as in the evolution of therapies, the concept of soul had, of course, finally and inevitably to be incorporated into theoretical frameworks, resulting in 'Transpersonal' therapies - so too, in considering the functions of The Dream Oracle, the age old concepts of the paranormal had necessarily to be embodied because they are part of the real world rather than the theory-obscured butterfly-world of current science.

Just a word of warning. There seem to be powerful laws of balance operating in the cosmos and it is recognised that oracles should not be over-used.

Therefore, The Dream Oracle - when used as an oracle rather than a method for receiving messages from the unconscious about yourself - should be used sparingly. It should certainly not be used for financial or material gain. It must be regarded as an aid to higher spirituality. To guard against abuse, The Dream Oracle has its own in-built indicator of abuse under the letter 'O' - for Overuse.

There can only be one version of The Dream Oracle. Its language, which people will become familiar with, will become universal and part of common knowledge - just as the tarot symbols and meanings are recognised and understood throughout the world.

Let us use The Dream Oracle to advance from materialistic illusions and find freedom through seeking the Truth.