October 25th-October 31st
Group Dreaming Project: Halloween Costume Ball
For the entire week of Halloween, dreamers were invited to dream their
way to a Halloween Costume Ball aboard "the Magallón-Galleon
dreamland cruise." Before sleeping, they were instructed to picture
themselves in the costume of their choice, to climb into their own sleep
of dreams and (like Wynken, Blynken and Nod) to set sail as they drifted
into sleep. They were also advised to pay especial attention to the characters
in their dreams...the fellow revelers they might meet during the night.
21 people sent in dreams, from 3 continents.
Costumes and Literal Identification
- True to the Fly-By-Night Club sponsorship, there were plenty
of winged creatures: birds, butterflies, even flying fish.
- One woman planned to come as a cat with retractable wings; another
dreamt she rode a flying lion. Both reported similar emotions. For Victoria,
the lion seemed to be getting angry; Ruth, the cat-woman, dreamt of a confrontation.
- A space theme was prevalent: there were stars and a crescent moon.
Also, an astronaut, Star Trekker, Super Hero and Rocket Man.
- An American dreamt of a woman in a Dutch cap. One of the participants
was, indeed, a woman from the Netherlands.
- 2 people dreamt of a man named John (one of our participants was actually
named John); 3 dreamt of a man named Paul (no one participated with that
waking name).
- Although some people saw long gowns, the favorite costume was bloomer
pants! Here are some variations on that theme: Chinese bloomers, Siamese,
Afgani, Kozak dancer, belly dancer and baggy 19th century pants. (Two people
had 19th century costumes.)
Symbols
- We always see other people through the filter of our own perception.
The dreams pictured this as: mirrors, a card deck with moving faces and
a woman's face smack in the middle of a kite.
- Apropos the sweet nature of American Halloween, one man dreamt of John
Candy; another man pictured carrying candy inside his pocket and a 3rd
man dreamt of getting candy with money from inside a candy machine.
- A couple of people commented about strange foreign-symbolic writing.
Roger did send a dream in French.
Locations
- Several people commented on the curved walls of their indoor surroundings.
There were also large outdoor spaces for party-gatherings, including 2
camps. Although 3 ships were mentioned, most dreaming minds chose other
vehicles for their night journey, like cars, trains, and, of course, beds!
Actions
- In my dream, I closely scrutinized a skirt costume; Melinda did the
same thing (she was lucid and dreaming of me at the time).
- Ruth dreamt that she asked Melinda if she had dreamt up a lucid dream
for the project and Melinda had replied that she did. True!
Best collaborative pun award goes to Ruth and Tony. Ruth dreamt of
a "deck" (or pack) of Tarot cards. Tony dreamt of his laying
his jet pack on a wooden "deck."
The prize for closest harmony between dreams goes to Shirley and
Country Girl.
Shirley: I was with a group of people and we were all strapped
into this huge concentric circle. Like the inside of some amusement park
ride. Suddenly we began to spin, we spun around and around so fast, we
began to tilt up on our side. Then I saw this strange being standing to
my left and he was spraying this mist stuff in the air. I asked him what
he was doing and he said he was giving me "pure oxygen" to breathe
because my lips were turning white and I was about ready to pass out. The
phrase "centrifugal force" popped into my mind as I struggled
awake. Whoa!
Country Girl: ...We were surrounded by a large crowd and there
were a lot of beds around. Continuing to hum, I kissed him harder, backing
him up against a pair of bunk beds. Then we were rotated at right angles
from before and there was a double bed behind him instead of the bunk beds,
as I began putting the rhythm off beat in syncopation...Now we were standing
in the midst of all the beds, spinning. (Like in the movie Dirty Dancing
- which, unbeknownst to me, was to air on TV the next day...) I couldn't
say if I was one person, or two. My head was back and my hair flying out
straight behind me as we spun around. The crowd continued to urge us on
and the energy continued to mount. It was a hard, driving rock beat. Now
I was now spinning, not upright, but with my body out parallel to the floor
and my left arm pointing downwards, my fingertips as the pivot. I remember
thinking that you aren't supposed to be able to do this, to spin this way.
But I didn't care. Nothing existed but us and the music.
The queen of this year's Halloween Ball is Mary. She had resonance
with the greatest number of other people's dreams.
- A single man who is an "astronaut" = Christopher's Star Trek
costume and Tony's Rocket Man dream (However, both of those men are married!)
- A "briefcase" = Melinda's woman with briefcase
- "Video-taping" = Ruth's video. Mary also talks about a "man
with dark brown hair, 5'7'" who is carrying some "locker doors."
Ruth describes her Paul as "average height, dark-brown hair, very
slightly receding hairline, nondescript." He's playing with a deck
of cards.
- The platforms floating in air = Country Girls' beds & Shirley's
circle.
- The army soldier with battle fatigues = Wow, what a hit with Cynnie's
dream!
- Her Chinese bloomers resonate with several people, but the red vest
and white shirt = Gerard's costume (Melinda also dreamt of "red and
white," as did Lucky)
- Is the lumber = Christopher's "siding"? Is the alien craft
= Tony's "Rocket Man"?
- The cut canvas = my dream of a torn chiffon skirt.
- The woman who says she's going to Hawaii = several of the project participants
are planning to go to the ASD '98 conference in Hawaii.
- A man with light brown, chin length, poofy hair = In waking life, I
have dark brown tint (over grey) hair, currently cut chin length. However,
in my dream, I had an Afro. In the dream state, I am often perceived by
other people (especially other mutual dreamers) as a dark haired man.
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Friday, October 31st
AOL Chat Room
Members of America-On-Line joined other trickster-treaters on Halloween
night dressed in cyber-costumes like host LucidFlier (screen name for Linda
Lane Magallón). At the "DreamSwarm" chat room they discussed
precognitive, past life, vampire, alien, snake and recurring dreams as
well as past life and out-of-body and near death experiences. And they
traded some simply awful jokes, riddles and puns.
Internet Swarm
DreamBat13 was the cyber-costume for Richard Catlett Wilkerson. DreamBat13
unfolded his dream wings and flew though cyberspace on Halloween. He visited
new dream web sites to do a little networking and visited old dream sites
to update connections with friends.
DreamBat13 also experimented with alternative Net communication channels,
dropping in on AOL with LucidFlier, and experimenting with IRC, ICQ and
Web Message boards & splat rooms. DreamBat13 left information on these
swarm activities on Usenet, alt.dreams and on DreamGate.
The Halloween Swarm was co-sponsored by Fly-By Night Club, Electric Dreams
and DreamGate.
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