Is This for Me?

[kokopelle]

My lovely mate had a dream recently. She was left wondering, "was this dream for me or was it for somebody else?". My quick answer was, "yes". Her's was a valid question in the world of divination and omens. When I do a tarot reading I state the intention that the results are "for the querent" so we don't read for the person the next table or next house over. Sometimes the cross-pollination of readings does occur, but it's worth the try to keep things straight. More often than not, the "cards not for the querent" are speaking for or towards another person that is part of the original question or the final answer. I digress though.

So my mate asks, "was the dream for me?". Good question. Here's my take. Every event has a possible meaning for those exposed to it. Every story or situation has a potential of informing those involved. The deciding factor is whether or not you are in a matching vibration to the event. My mate's dream was intended for her. There are strong signs of this. She also has a history of getting very clear indications when she is dreaming for others. I also benefited from the dream because, in my own life, I can relate to the message. My interpretation of the dream put me in a position that I had to see something in the dream that applied to me. It couldn't help but happen. My interpretation was informed by my own experiences and the results, and while I hoped to relay some kernel of information to my mate, the "story" I came up with had my life's imprint on it.

What does this mean to you? Everyday you see many more things than you are able to consciously process. In theory, it is all processed unconsciously, with a small fraction of "important" stuff coming into the forefront of consciousness. The filter for this blossoming of awareness is based on what is important to you. The things you are aware of have a message for you. They have meaning and importance in the now. There is a very large transpersonal world out there. Lots and lots of things going on. The omens meant for you will become interpersonal.

Here are an example to pull together these thoughts. Suppose you are thinking about buying a new car. Suddenly every other commercial on TV is a car commercial. Driving in your old car, you spot a dealer "vanity plate" at the same time you are in front of the dealership. You remember their television ad from the previous day. You're not in a rush, so you check out their inventory. Thirty minutes later you are the owner of a new car. Is any of this magical or metaphysical? Nope. It is a series of mundane, transpersonal things that happen everyday. The thing that is different is that your point of attention is on purchasing new cars. This mundane example can be expanded to "fancier" omens like seeing types of animals, a number of objects, people who look like other people, and so on. To bring my posting full circle, my mate's dream told me that I needed to trust in a path that I'm on now. The teacher mentioned is one that we are both working with. Was the dream intentionally "designed" to speak to my mate and/or me? Who knows? My answering question is, "if I did get a message, does it matter who the *intended* receiver was?".

Comments

[redqueenmeg.livejournal.com]

Interesting! :)

Reminds me of a group I once attended... two of the women in it were best friends and any time anyone read cards for the second woman, they always applied to the first woman. But not vice versa. It was like the second woman could never get a reading at all.

The first woman had two kids, the second none, but when the second's cards were read they were all about these two kids, a boy and a girl, and so forth.

[greensh.livejournal.com]

I have a dear friend who encounters situations like the one you describe. My friend gets a reading and the cards speak to her mate instead. "I never get a reading" says my friend. There are explanations for this, but that's for another article and time.

[redqueenmeg.livejournal.com]

I eagerly await it! :)

[elegy-of-flames.livejournal.com]

H'm. Yeah, I'd be inclined to agree that if you can derive some meaning from a dream or message, then it doesn't matter whether or not it was "targeted" at you. The important thing is the understanding or perspective you may have derived from it.

As an example, take a love poem written by a poet for their lover; it can speak intimately to a person who has been in a similar position or is capable of entering into the relevant "mood", regardless of the fact that it was not, in fact, "for them". Some very beautiful romantic poetry was written by a Greek named Kavafi, who was gay. T.S. Eliot's "Waste Land" is far more political than I like my poetry, and is written from within a set of values I do not share. These examples may thus not be directed at me, but it hardly means that I cannot derive something from them.

It must be obvious that I'm coming at this from a very anti-intentionalist point of view, and not just in terms of literature; I honestly do believe that if something is meaningful to a person, then the meaning is valid regardless of the purpose of the message.

[greensh.livejournal.com]

*The important thing is the understanding or perspective you may have derived from it.*

My eye seems to be instantly attracted to red hair. Sometimes I first realize that the person is "more attractive than the average person" and THEN I notice the red hair. How does this fit into your statement above?

I like your wording "anti-intentionalist point of view". While I do believe that the divine can purposely "aim" an omen or message our way, most of the time I don't see these occurrences as being super mystical. In fact, something can be read into just about everything. The trick is being open to the information. This can be more difficult than it sounds, and hence the "ah-has" we do get seem that much more magical.

Why is it difficult? One time you asked me what an ecstatic experience felt like. I answered, saying something like, "they feel the same as other experiences, just in a particular place and time". The reading of omens is very much the same deal. An omen looks like any other moment in time. The difference is that a person has the right "understanding and perspective" to grasp the message.

[elegy-of-flames.livejournal.com]

I'd explain the statement like this: your eye may be instantly attracted to red hair at a time when you are not consciously focusing on your surroundings. Therefore, you will first wind up focussing on the person because of a subconscious trigger and only then will you realize what said trigger was. Also, some day I need to do some kind of sociological study on the thing many men have for redheads *grin*

And ditto on the second point; some "omens" may be "sent", but equally, others are just us deriving some everyday wisdom from our surroundings. I don't think an understanding needs to be of divine origin (except in the very broad idealistic sense I suppose *grin*), and in fact, if any time we figured something out we did so because it was "sent" to sort of "fall on our head", then we're probably not paying enough attention to what can be figured out from our surroundings, which is probably not the best thing ^^

It can be difficult to be open to an understanding, yes, I agree, simply because not all understandings are mystical in origin. To pick up a useful understanding when you are going about your everyday life requries that you be "listening", in a way. In terms of messages which may be primarily directed at others or through others, if the shoe fits, you could easily wear it too; but the ones you pick up are much more immediate because they are first-hand. I personally find it easier to be "listening" for understandings of this sort than for mystical experiences; perhaps it's familiarity, or the way my brain's wired....

I was thinking more generally than just in terms of omens when I wrote all this; at any point, something may "click" with you and give you an idea. And if this idea is something which contributes positively to your life in however small a way, it is meaningful.