We’re transitioning into winter now. Here is the Silver River just a couple of miles from our house. The river turns colors as the ice forms: black, white, silver. Years ago I used to wander down here and sit by the river on early summer mornings. Now the land by the bridge is owned privately. Once I dreamed about falling through the ice and getting trapped beneath it. A nightmare indeed. In the dream I died and turned into a skeleton–but then lived again. Some folks call that a shamanic dream, a sacred dream, a dream of new beginnings. I can’t look at this ice without remembering that long-ago dream. Have you ever had a dream like this? (Hope this isn’t too morbid for today’s Photo Short!)
Lake Superior Spirit 
What a dream! At least you came back – I don’t think it’s morbid if you came back. I had a dream where I died and that was it! What do they call that kind of dream? 🙂
Okay, here is an early morning interpretation: a death dream (where you actually die and don’t come back) might mean that you were letting go of something in your life. How’s that?
It’s a theory, I guess. Who knows? That sounds plausible. Maybe it was just a manifestation of my fear of the finality of death. I do not know. XOXO
I would go with your interpretation of the dream–usually the dreamer intuits more what it was about than the listener.
🙂
And here I thought you never officially died in dreams… it must definitely be shamanic! Lovely picture! Could have been taken at my little river 🙂
Strange, right?!! Dale, where do you live? Barry and I were just eating out breakfast and we were wondering.
Very strange!
I’m on the south shore of Montreal, up in Quebec where the cold is starting to really get serious.
I can’t imagine that anyone who owns the land would mind if you sat next to their river once in awhile. It’s a pretty place! I have never dreamed that I died, but I did used to have long, very detailed dreams, a few of which I remember still, decades later. Now I dream every night, am aware that I was dreaming when I wake up, but almost instantly all memory of the dreams disappears.
That happens a lot to me, too, Dawn–the dreams disappear from memory so quickly. And the dreams can be so strange and disjointed that they don’t seem worth remembering.
Coming back after death…rebirth! Starting over, second chances, all good things. Definitely an important dream if it has stuck with you. The Tarot card for death does mean an ending of some kind and the beginning of something new. It can mean the ending of something you were holding on to that needed to go.
Anna, I do like your thoughts here. We can be afraid of death dreams–but sometimes it’s just about letting go of what we no longer need in our life. Thank you!
Beautiful photo. I like the drabness of winter colors. No dream like yours for me. Interesting one, though.
Ally Bean, it’s like the world becomes black and white in wintertime. I’m wondering if that’s why I often quit blogging as winter drags on–because everything feels so drab it doesn’t seem as interesting. Hmmm….
What a beautiful river, which should not be “owned” by anyone, but appreciated by all. Your dream is fascinating. I love fascinating dreams. And yes, I get those kind also, where it’s really scary (drowning, skeleton) until the end, when things look up again. Last week I had a sorta similar dream where the car I was driving stopped at a steep edge when a stranger entered the car with me to help the car off the edge, but suddenly it began to fall down a cliff, bottom first. Down down down until I knew we were in a deep stone-walled cave that was an ancient monastery. Down down in the tunnel-like hole and then…. we both knew we were about to crash at the bottom and WHOOSH i woke up. Heart racing. Worried – should I refrain from driving for the next week or so???? ;-0
Pam, there is an access site to the river just a little beyond here. But it’s not as pretty. I really enjoyed reading your dream. A cave that was an ancient monastery–now THAT sounds like a sacred shamanic dream to me. Not sure about the crash though. Have had similar ones over the years. Welp, we’re still alive, girlfriend!
We’re still alive and sharing “the dream” of …. stayin’ alive. 🙂 (I’m in a silly mood) In truth, my dream stayed with me for days. But as you and I have read, not dying on impact is hopeful….
OK, I just laughed aloud–thanks for your silly mood today!
Russ Taff sings a great Gospel song in the 1970s called Water Grave. Pull it up on youtube if you’re interested, below. The water is a symbol of being cleansed from sin and the man (in the song) he used to be is now dead and gone. He is a new man in Christ. Indeed a “sacred dream, a dream of new beginnings.”
Thank you for sharing, Roger. To be cleansed and made whole is one of the biggest sacred dreams we can have…
The river is beautiful and so is your winter (easy for me to say since I’m still sitting in what feels like early autumn). I once had a dream that I was only bones, dancing. I still, in a way, feel that in my bones. 🙂
I might have to borrow your idea of photo shorts. (Does it seem like I’m always borrowing your good ideas?)
That sounds like an amazing dream, Robin–bones dancing. Wow! Please feel 100% free to borrow any ideas that come through here. I love that we think alike in so many ways. I had been thinking of doing Photo Shorts through the end of the year, but have a couple of longer travel blogs to write so may be veering off into a new direction soon. Will be fun to see what you decide to do.
Weird dream, Kathy, especially the part about turning into a skeleton. Yes, I imagine your subconscious was trying to work something out for you. I can’t say I’ve had a dream like that — most of mine tend to be in the looking-for-something or finding-something category. This is a beautiful spot for a sit-and-think!
Oh yes, I’ve had a lot of those looking-for-things dreams, too. Or being in college and realizing it’s the end of the semester and I haven’t been to class yet!
Lovely post Kathy, the river looks like it could be a place of contemplation, it’s a shame you can no longer sit there. I have never had a dream of drowning, but I used to have a recurring dream that I walked to the top of an hill and watched a nuclear bomb go off, I watched the mushroom cloud rise and knew everyone was dead and that soon I would be too. I could see the heat wave spreading and the closer it came to me the calmer I felt. I woke from that dream each time not scared but strangely calm and happy. A very odd feeling give the dream, I would love to know what that meant.
Bright Blessings
Thank you for sharing your dream, Tilly. I am not sure if you believe in past lives or not–but perhaps your dream told of your last death at perhaps Hiroshima. Perhaps it was a reminder not to fear death–that what comes afterward is calm and happy. Just my two cent dream interpretation!
Thanks Kathy, I had never thought about it that way, a past life.