Karma

Volition, volitional or intentional activity.

Karma is always followed by its fruit, Vipaka. Karma and Vipaka are oftentimes referred to as the law of causality, a cardinal concern in the Teaching of the Buddha.

• Common karma: the difference between personal and common karma can be seen in the following example: Suppose a country goes to war to gain certain economic advantages and in the process, numerous soldiers and civilians are killed or maimed. If a particular citizen volunteers for military service and actually participates in the carnage, he commits a personal karma of killing. Other citizens, however, even if opposed to the war, may benefit directly or indirectly (e.g., through economic gain). They are thus said to share in the common karma of killing of their country.

• Fixed karma: in principle, all karma is subject to change. Fixed karma, however, is karma which can only be changed in extraordinary circumstances, because it derives from an evil act committed simultaneously with mind, speech and body. An example of fixed karma would be a premeditated crime (versus a crime of passion).

 (See also: Karma , Buddhism, Body Mind and Soul)

Dream Interpretation Beetle

Beetle represents ups and downs, success and failure. Seeing a lot of beetles in a dream: losses are inevitable. Catching a beetle: you will make a new friend or resolve a problem. Watching a beetle: you need to be humble if you want people to like you. Killing a beetle in your dream means that you need to come to terms with a mistake.

Source: Dream-Land, http://www.dream-land.info

(See also: Dream Archives, Meaning of Dreams, Dream Interpretation, Dream Dictionary, Dream Dictionary - Beetle , Meaning of Dreams about Beetle , Dream Interpretation Beetle )

Moon: The Moon is in its sign of rulership in Cancer. The Moon is visible to us because of reflected light from the Sun. Its monthly motion through the heavens and its phases are timers we should all take seriously. Hospital employees tell stories of increased birth rate or emergency room traffic as the Full Moon approaches. Astrologers know that important activities are best begun just after the New Moon.

The Moon in your chart reflects your subconscious mind. Its sign and house describe your emotional bias – the way your express your feelings most easily and directly.

It is interesting to note that the Sun and Moon appear to be exactly the same size in the sky. If this were not so, we could not have total eclipses of the Sun. But what does this mean to the astrologer? It means that the vitality of the Sun is equal in importance to the action of the Moon in your life. The expression of your individuality is equal in importance to the nurturance of your emotional well-being. Conscious awareness is equal to subconscious motivations. Studying your Moon sign can provide clue to your inner life and suggest paths to increased personal satisfaction with life.

In terms of career, the Sun may show what you want to be when you grow up, but the Moon shows the path – the means – to that end. (This relationship happens to be true for all kinds of astrological charts – for events, nations, weather forecasting, etc.) Learning about the sign and house of your Moon will provide answers to many questions you may have about how to take positive action. This is the area of the chart that shows your emotional changeability, and it also reflects your best path to any other kind of change in your life.

Finally, the Moon shows, by its sign and house, how and where you can be comfortable. It suggests the physical surroundings, the material objects and the emotional tone that is pleasant for you. It also shows how you assimilate – food, information, emotional vibrations.

The Sun and Moon together form a team. You will find that be considering them together, you get a fuller, richer sense of who you are and how you can become happier and more successful.

(See also: Moon , Magic, Shamanism, Paganism, Wicca)

Death

Death can appear in dreams in many forms, ranging from the near-death experience to wish-fulfilment projected on others. It may seem to be terrifying, or almost joyful in its sense of power.

The near-death experience can be either a psychological phenomenon or a physical one. The physical phenomenon comes from lucid dreaming in a nightmare condition. You may become aware of the body paralysis of the REM state and feel powerless to defend yourself in the dream. This can create an overwhelming sense of vulnerability to the threatening circumstances of the dream and a near-death experience. The psychological facet is part and parcel of feeling endangered by your circumstances. This danger may be tangible or merely sensed in the dream. If it is tangible, the source of the danger is the area for interpretive work (whom, why, how, and what has endangered your life?). If the danger is merely sensed, it may symbolise ambivalence over a soul?s transition into facets of self-awareness you may not want to completely embrace.

There is also a spiritual near-death experience. People who seek out-of-body experiences in their dreams may feel themselves prevented from returning to the body. These dreams are powerful images of how we sense the cosmos or spiritual realities impacting upon our lives. Was the death a sudden deprivation of life or a release from the struggles of it? Moreover, as you became aware of dying, was it threatening or peaceable?

Dying in a dream is not too unusual, though if it happened with regularity our waking lives would probably begin to feel a little unstable. To die yourself is very troubling. Most people have not invested much emotional energy in preparation for death and feel that death is a strong enemy to be avoided. By the way, how did you die in your dream and do you assign responsibility to anyone for your death? These are important questions.

The death of a loved one may be the result of numerous factors. You may feel genuine anxiety for that person?s well-being. The death may be more symbolic than that as you struggle with the reality of your love for that person as weighed against repressed anger towards them. Finally, it may herald the passing of the relationship if the loved one is romantic and not familial in connection.

The death of a stranger can be the development or transition of different aspects of the self. Consequently, it is often useful to decide how you knew the stranger and whether you seemed deeply moved or only casually concerned with the death. It may be that the randomness of life is the central concern. In this case, look at who else in the dream is concerned with the stranger?s death ? your connection to the fellow mourners is important. The death of a stranger may symbolise stereotypes that need to be explored as a means to a greater self-understanding. Are you being confronted with situations where your attitudes about others are being challenged?

Source: iVillage, http://www.ivillage.co.uk

(See also: Dream Archives, Meaning of Dreams, Dream Interpretation, Dream Dictionary, Dream Dictionary - Death , Meaning of Dreams about Death , Dream Interpretation Death )

Dream FAQ Dictionary: What causes nightmares?

What causes nightmares?

A. There is the dark side of dreams - nightmares, dreams of fear,pain, irrational bad feelings that often cannot be explained. Thesecan become a serious problem when you often wake up terrified, whenyou even don't sleep because of fear of nightmares... Nightmares occurmostly because some problem disturbs you unconsciously butseriously. Some nightmares carry obvious symbols that may indicatewhere your problems are, but often it is not that easy. Sometimes theycan indicate really serious problems like depressions, sometimes justan inadequacy of getting along with yourself. It's difficult.

How can I relieve myself of nightmares?

A. It's really hard to give an answer, since so much depends onyourself. Moreover, it's always risky to give or follow advice on whatcould be a serious problem from far away, and it's ultimately you whohas to decide whether it is just a nuisance you want to get rid of, orif you really suffer from depressions or health problems and it isnecessary to consult professional help.

The common "light" nightmares of permanently missing exams, falling orbeing chased can often be overcome with learning lucid dreaming (seesection 6). Basically, if you learn to deal with them, they are not aproblem anymore. Or, from a slightly different point of view, you'refacing the problems that cause your dreams and thus overcoming them.

Source: http://www.faqs.org/faqs/dreams-faq

(See also: Nightmares , Dream Interpretation FAQ, Dream Interpretation, Dream Dictionary, Meaning of Dreams)

Wedding

Obviously, one would want to examine possible trigger events, such as other weddings in waking life, before too much interpretive work goes into this dream. This dream may be simple wish-fulfilment or personal anticipation. However, if you aren't in the midst of such activities, other scenarios may exist.

Initially, it is worth examining other commitments in your life. Are you becoming over-committed, or on the brink of making a major commitment to an employer, romantic partner, or other relationship? This dream may be commenting on how appropriate the commitment is for you. If the wedding goes well, you may see yourself as entering a sound union. If the wedding is a catastrophe, or your role in it is unclear, you may need to re-examine your commitments.

See also Dancing

Source: iVillage, http://www.ivillage.co.uk

(See also: Dream Archives, Meaning of Dreams, Dream Interpretation, Dream Dictionary, Dream Dictionary - Wedding , Meaning of Dreams about Wedding , Dream Interpretation Wedding )

Anesthesia (from Greek anaisthesia no feeling)

Want of feeling; a condition of total or partial insensibility, particularly to touch. The many classical references to anesthetics indicate that the ancients knew much about the subject that has not been rediscovered. Blavatsky refers to the sacred beverage used by the hierophants in ceremonies to free the astral soul from the bonds of matter, so that the inner man might rise to the level of spirit (IU 2:117, 1:540).

Surgical patients suffering from fright and fear before or during the induction of an anesthetic take it with more difficulty, and feel more aftereffects, than those who meet it without anxiety. The first stage of general anesthesia, usually not unpleasant, ends with the loss of physical consciousness. Then begins the second, or stage of struggling more or less vigorously, evidently due to the automatic reaction of the physical body, from which its conscious astral soul is being dissociated. In the third stage, the muscles relax and the disturbed heart and lungs settle down to regular rhythm, controlled by the sympathetic nervous system, as in a deep, dreamless sleep. The self-conscious ego, thus withdrawing from its ordinary state of being, enters more or less deeply into the subjective realm of its inner life. It is in a state of what has been called, paradoxically, conscious unconsciousness. The danger here is that the soul may become so far separated from its body that it does not come back again, and then death results.

However insensible the person is of externals, he is conscious in some part of his composite nature, just as each principle of his being has its own range of awareness after death. Some people have brought back a more or less clear memory of a state of being transcending anything they had ever imagined on earth. Their first feeling is one of a delicious peace and liberation; then comes a mental clearness with majestic visions of perfect truth, and a realization of a self-existent "I" as a part of a universal whole. The spiritually-minded person may attain to an instant and complete buddhi-manasic vision of "things as they are." Such a one, at the moment of recovery, is often vividly sensible of being aroused from a state of superior existence, but is unable to recall what it was. Again, any gleams of knowledge that do survive the transit may be misinterpreted by the brain-mind from its preconceived philosophical or religious ideas. The average person, however, brings back little if any remembrance of his experience.

The anesthetized person may also be conscious of standing aside or looking down upon his own body under operation, and retains a vague memory of the out-of-body experience.

See also SOMA

(See also: Anesthesia , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Dream Interpretation Ship, ships, shipwreck

The ship is a symbol of your life journey from birth to death. A departing ship means a separation or change. Being on a ship denotes that you are dissatisfied with your life and want a change. Sinking ship is a warning about an unhealty relationship.

Source: Dream-Land, http://www.dream-land.info

(See also: Dream Archives, Meaning of Dreams, Dream Interpretation, Dream Dictionary, Dream Dictionary - Ship, ships, shipwreck , Meaning of Dreams about Ship, ships, shipwreck , Dream Interpretation Ship, ships, shipwreck )

House, Building : Dream Interpretation Dictionary - House, Building

A House/building

 A building in a dream may be one you know or an imaginary place. What kind of building is it - what purpose does it serve? Here are some examples

• A Church - Beliefs, religion, spirituality, soul
• Post Office - Communication
• Bank - Money, values
• Grocery store - What is feeding you? What are you lacking?
• Factory - Mass production, work, monotony, repetition,
• Railway Station - Where are you going? What track are you on?

 This may vary depending on your own personal living arrangements but here are some general ideas

• Bedroom - Often the most private room, the hidden/private self, sexuality, sleep, the subconscious
• Living Room - Day-to-day life, work
• Bathroom - Cleanliness, needing to be cleansed
• Toilet - Relief, letting go, privacy v. exposure, getting rid of things that are unwanted,
• Kitchen - Nourishment - emotional, psychological, and physiological
• Cellar - What is just beneath the surface of the subconscious
• Attic - What we are aware of but don't use/want. Also can be what we are trying to achieve or work up to.
• Study - Work, knowledge

Source: http://www.faqs.org/faqs/dreams-faq

(See also: Dream Interpretation, Dream Dictionary, Meaning of Dreams, Dream Interpretation House, Building , Dream Dictionary House, Building )

Lost feeling

Life often feels like a journey. Not surprisingly, in dreamland the journey becomes confused. This may be a simple reflection of a dream that did not make sense or a dream?s story that did not seem to go anywhere.

 However, there are two ways to become lost, both of which say a lot about how we view ourselves in waking. First is being lost because you have choices and lack the ability to know which one to make. This may include dreams of driving a car, shopping dreams, amusement park dreams or other dreams where opportunities become uncertain. The other version of feeling lost is isolation, or a sense that motion is not leading to progress. Which image of feeling lost most accurately conveys your awareness in the dream?

 If you are lost due to choices, you may be at a point in life where you are unsure of what you want. This may include vocational, relationship, or personal values that seem up-for-grabs. It may also reflect an inability to see where a particular choice will take you if you make it.

 If you are lost due to motion that does not lead to progress, you may be fairly ambivalent about whether your waking life is meaningful. Your ability to feel effective in life is being compromised in some area that needs a little examination.

Source: iVillage, http://www.ivillage.co.uk

(See also: Dream Archives, Meaning of Dreams, Dream Interpretation, Dream Dictionary, Dream Dictionary - Lost feeling , Meaning of Dreams about Lost feeling , Dream Interpretation Lost feeling )

Anger

Who are you angry at? Why are you angry? What is the outcome of your anger in your dream? Being angry in a dream often represents an emotion we want to have in waking and will not allow ourselves to experience. This reflects the fact that anger can be destructive and sometimes ends up being treated as a taboo. The fact that it comes out in dreams may be attributed to the id, primitive instincts underlying our personalities.

People who dream of being angry often have difficulty expressing the emotion constructively in waking life. Anger is a reaction to a perceived threat. As such, anger reflects our feeling that we are being denied what is ours by necessity or by right.

Dreams that contain anger may often give insight into our waking relationships. Sometimes, you may find yourself dreaming of being angry at someone who never angers you in waking life. This may simply be an indication that they are not perfect, a sort of check that reminds you that they are human.

See also Violence

Source: iVillage, http://www.ivillage.co.uk

(See also: Dream Archives, Meaning of Dreams, Dream Interpretation, Dream Dictionary, Dream Dictionary - Anger , Meaning of Dreams about Anger , Dream Interpretation Anger )

Violence

In dreams, facets of personality that never get displayed in waking life can become quite animated. Nowhere is this more apparent than with violent behaviour. The violence may be justified or random, but it is often extremely graphic. It is so graphic, in fact, that you should understand that this is normal-albeit disturbing-and that its presence is almost always an exaggeration of another point.

Violence can be an off-shoot of heroic behavior, especially in rescuing dreams. Terrorism in the news has made all of us aware that the enemies can be in our midst. Kidnapping dreams, escape dreams, and protecting dreams are other versions of this type of violence.

Violence may come unexpectedly, as well (suddenly, you are just jumping on some poor bloke?s head with no apparent provocation).

Often these dreams deal with repressed anger towards authority figures. While wanting to become physically aggressive toward others is a common desire, it should never be acted on in waking life, and it very rarely is. However, the dream releases the anger for you. If you have recurring dreams of this nature, you may want to consider a mediated session with the object of your anger; or re-arrange your circumstances.

If you are the aggressor, does the violence frighten you or make you feel powerful?

If you are the witness to violence, do you feel ambivalent to it or does it somehow affect you?

Source: iVillage, http://www.ivillage.co.uk

(See also: Dream Archives, Meaning of Dreams, Dream Interpretation, Dream Dictionary, Dream Dictionary - Violence , Meaning of Dreams about Violence , Dream Interpretation Violence )

Fences

Fences may be symbols of personal separation in a negative sense or protection in a positive one. These meanings are often derived specifically from whom the fence is separating us from. If you can discern a feeling about what may happen if the fence were traversed (would it be better or worse), that may tell the role the fence is playing in the dream.

 Fences can also be a source of boundary. This is true if there is a sense that the fence cannot be traversed. What are the boundaries of your life in relation to other characters in your dream? Perhaps you want to change those boundaries and move a relationship in a new direction. If you are alone at your fence, perhaps you need to protect yourself from others more, or are already doing so excessively.

Source: iVillage, http://www.ivillage.co.uk

(See also: Dream Archives, Meaning of Dreams, Dream Interpretation, Dream Dictionary, Dream Dictionary - Fences , Meaning of Dreams about Fences , Dream Interpretation Fences )

HAGSTONE: A holed stone that symbolizes the Goddess and her Divine Femininity. Often used by prudent Farriers after having a piece of string run through the holed stone and being attached to the door of the stable with the express purpose being to keep the horses within from being hag-ridden. Can also have additional oneiric uses.

*Hang up hooks and shears to scare

Hence the hag that rides the mare,

Till they be all over wet

With the mire and the sweat.

This observed the manes shall be

Of your horses all knot free.* Robert Herrick

(See also: HAGSTONE , Witch, Witchcraft, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

BAWMING THE THORN: The act of dressing or adorning a living tree with flowers and ribbons and making merry with great celebration afterwards including public games and various amusements. This event usually took place on or near Old Midsummer but the term bawming may include Yule trees as well as the traditional May Pole.

(See also: BAWMING THE THORN , Witch, Witchcraft, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

DIRK: Ritual knife of the Scottish tradition.

(See also: DIRK , Paganism, Pagan, Pagan Dictionary)

SKRY:  Derived from Old English word *descry* meaning to see or observe utilizing a form of clairvoyance that incorporated the use of bowls of water, mirrors, crystals.

(See also: SKRY , Witch, Witchcraft, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

Death

Death can appear in dreams in many forms, ranging from the near-death experience to wish-fulfilment projected on others. It may seem to be terrifying, or almost joyful in its sense of power.

The near-death experience can be either a psychological phenomenon or a physical one. The physical phenomenon comes from lucid dreaming in a nightmare condition. You may become aware of the body paralysis of the REM state and feel powerless to defend yourself in the dream. This can create an overwhelming sense of vulnerability to the threatening circumstances of the dream and a near-death experience. The psychological facet is part and parcel of feeling endangered by your circumstances. This danger may be tangible or merely sensed in the dream. If it is tangible, the source of the danger is the area for interpretive work (whom, why, how, and what has endangered your life?). If the danger is merely sensed, it may symbolise ambivalence over a soul?s transition into facets of self-awareness you may not want to completely embrace.

There is also a spiritual near-death experience. People who seek out-of-body experiences in their dreams may feel themselves prevented from returning to the body. These dreams are powerful images of how we sense the cosmos or spiritual realities impacting upon our lives. Was the death a sudden deprivation of life or a release from the struggles of it? Moreover, as you became aware of dying, was it threatening or peaceable?

Dying in a dream is not too unusual, though if it happened with regularity our waking lives would probably begin to feel a little unstable. To die yourself is very troubling. Most people have not invested much emotional energy in preparation for death and feel that death is a strong enemy to be avoided. By the way, how did you die in your dream and do you assign responsibility to anyone for your death? These are important questions.

The death of a loved one may be the result of numerous factors. You may feel genuine anxiety for that person?s well-being. The death may be more symbolic than that as you struggle with the reality of your love for that person as weighed against repressed anger towards them. Finally, it may herald the passing of the relationship if the loved one is romantic and not familial in connection.

The death of a stranger can be the development or transition of different aspects of the self. Consequently, it is often useful to decide how you knew the stranger and whether you seemed deeply moved or only casually concerned with the death. It may be that the randomness of life is the central concern. In this case, look at who else in the dream is concerned with the stranger?s death ? your connection to the fellow mourners is important. The death of a stranger may symbolise stereotypes that need to be explored as a means to a greater self-understanding. Are you being confronted with situations where your attitudes about others are being challenged?

Source: iVillage, http://www.ivillage.co.uk

(See also: Dream Archives, Meaning of Dreams, Dream Interpretation, Dream Dictionary, Dream Dictionary - Death , Meaning of Dreams about Death , Dream Interpretation Death )

FETCH: The spiritual entity that usually takes on some sort of animalistic element and role and that is recognized in the Three Fold Alliance (human, faery and animal). A specific ally and helper that is born from a place outside our own consciousness and awareness but still comes from within our own mind though it appears to take on physical attributes.

(See also: FETCH , Witch, Witchcraft, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

Buddha Skt., Pali, lit., Òawakened one.Ó

 1. A person who has achieved the enlightenment that leads to release from the cycle of existence (samsara) and has thereby attained complete liberation (nirvana). The content of his teaching, which is based on the experience of enlightenment, is the four noble truths. A buddha has overcome every kind of craving (trishna); although even he also has pleasant and unpleasant sensations, he is not ruled by them and remains innerly untouched by them. After his death he is not reborn again.

 Two kinds of buddhas are distinguished: the pratyeka-buddha, who is completely enlight ened but does not expound the teaching; and the samyak-sambuddha, who expounds for the wel fare of all beings the teaching that he has discov ered anew. A samyak-sambuddha is omniscient (sarvajnata) and possesses the ten powers of a buddha (dashabala) and the four certainties. The buddha of our age is Shakyamuni. (See also Buddha 2.)

 Shakyamuni Buddha, the historical Buddha, is not the first and only buddha. Already in the early Hinayana texts, six buddhas who preceded him in earlier epochs are mentioned: Vipashyin (Pali, Vipassi), Shikin (Sikhi), Vishvabhu (Vessabhu), Krakuchchanda (Kakusandha), Konagamana, and Kashyapa (Kassapa). The buddha who will follow Sh?kyamuni in a future age and renew the dharma is Maitreya. Be yond these, one finds indications in the litera ture of thirteen further buddhas, of which the most important is Dipamkara, whose disci ple Shakyamuni was in his previous existence as the ascetic Sumedha. The stories of these leg endary buddhas are contained in the Buddhavamsa, a work from the Khuddaka nikaya.

 2. The historical Buddha. He was born in 563 BCE, the son of a prince of the Shakyas, whose small kingdom in the foothills of the Himalayas lies in present-day Nepal. His first name was Siddhartha, his family name Gauta ma. Hence he is also called Gautama Buddha. (For the story of his life, see Siddhartha Gauta ma.) During his life as a wandering ascetic, he was known as Shakyamuni, the ÒSilent Sage of the Shakyas.Ó In order to distinguish the historical Buddha from the transcendent buddhas (see buddha 3), he is generally called Shakyamuni Buddha or Buddha Shakyamuni.

 3. The Òbuddha principle,Ó which manifests itself in the most various forms. Whereas in Hinayana only the existence of one buddha in every age is accepted (in which case the Buddha is considered an earthly being who teaches hu mans), for the Mahayana there are countless transcendent buddhas. According to the Mahayana teaching of the trikaya, the buddha principle manifests itself in three principal forms, the so-called three bodies (trikaya). In this sense the transcendent buddhas represent embodiments of various aspects of the buddha principle.

 4. A synonym for the absolute, ultimate reality devoid of form, color, and all other propertiesÑbuddha-nature.

From The Shambhala Dictionary of Buddhism and Zen,

By Michael S. Diener, Franz-Karl Erhard, Ingrid Fischer-Schreiber

Translated by Michael H. Kohn

 (See also: Buddha , Buddhism, Body Mind and Soul)

BOUGHT: Another term for compass or ritual circle.

(See also: BOUGHT , Witch, Witchcraft, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)