burning cup

[Borderfox]

In a frequent dream i have been haveing i was walking in the rain through fields when suddenly im drawn to the side of a lake by a raven.The raven changes into a woman in a shawl with vivid green eyes and long black hair.She points to the sky and the rain stops with a flash of light,in one of her hands appears a flameing silver cup in the other an acorn and a gold coin appears
.she casts the coin and acorn into the lake and tells me not to be afraid.At this stage i wake up.
I was wondering if anyone had a similar dream? Does anyone know what it might mean?

 

[Godot]

I think, could be wrong,your dream can be explained thusly:
Rain in fields: your path in life. Rain="under a cloud"? Sadness? Worry?
The Raven is a complex one in my experience. I take Her as the collective soul of the ravens in a shamanistic sense.
There have been a few articles popping up in various places on the net recently that indicate how intelligent birds are;grey African parrots, starlings,etc.
I think each bird has a different role to play in communicating between the Otherworld and this.
The Raven -and I'm going partly by experience here (the black hair and the green eyes are very familiar)- is in the old stories associated with the morrigan, an aspect of the triple goddess.
http://www.druidry.org/obod/deities/morrigan.html
(caveat emptor)
She is usually associated with death,destruction- and war.but I've always though that meant transformation rather like the Death card in the tarot..Ravens also I think have a great black sense of humour.Their healing role is to find the darkness in a situation/person and pluck it out.

Flaming silver cup:silver is a lunar metal and female as such (obviously): the power is Hers.It is also your's-we all have a little Raven inside.Flaming because of cleansing power?Fire is the central part of the European spirit.
Both the acorn and the gold coin are male emblems. The acorn of the central Tree of Celtic symbolism the oak Duir assocaited with Door, enDurance etc. As it is the oak as nut it may represent a beginning or a course thought of taken.
The gold coin:solar metal, is I think possibly complex.In one sense it is wealth.Nothing wrong with that per se, it can also be used as a means of male control at it's worst.
Are you attempting to control a situation perchance?
Casting both items into the lake... which is a female Element of intuition and stillness and mystery (what lies under the surface?) is I think telling you fairly blatantly
(well ,telling you not to be afraid was certainly a clue!)
that whatever you're going through, to let go and trust.
Personally I think it's a great dream!

 

[Mr. Premise]

That really is an amazing dream. I never get dreams like that. And you get this one frequently? Cool. The images are beautiful and the symbols are clear.

Isn't the lake symbolic of the unconscious in Jungian symbolism? A silver cup, flaming. Hmm... isn't the Grail usually portrayed as gold? And the Lady of the Lake, well... Chapters 7 and 9 of Secret History deal with some of these symbols.

Would throwing the coin and acorn (which is a seed of something big) into the lake mean some kind of investment, perhaps an investment in creativity (unconscious).

 

[Guest]

In a frequent dream i have been haveing i was walking in the rain through fields when suddenly im drawn to the side of a lake by a raven.The raven changes into a woman in a shawl with vivid green eyes and long black hair.She points to the sky and the rain stops with a flash of light,in one of her hands appears a flameing silver cup in the other an acorn and a gold coin appears
.she casts the coin and acorn into the lake and tells me not to be afraid.At this stage i wake up.
I was wondering if anyone had a similar dream? Does anyone know what it might mean?

I think this dream should be seen in the context of Celtic myth. Godot has described this already, but maybe I can add to it:

The Raven -and I'm going partly by experience here (the black hair and the green eyes are very familiar)- is in the old stories associated with the morrigan, an aspect of the triple goddess.
http://www.druidry.org/obod/deities/morrigan.html
(caveat emptor)
She is usually associated with death,destruction- and war.but I've always though that meant transformation rather like the Death card in the tarot..Ravens also I think have a great black sense of humour.Their healing role is to find the darkness in a situation/person and pluck it out.

The raven is a messenger of the dreamtime, the underworld, other dimensions or however you want to name it. It is also a representative of magic in the shamanistic/druid sense and related to faerie. In this case it is probably Morrigan so the source of the magic is revealed.

And I agree with Godot about the role of the Raven as transformative influence, although in this case it carries a message and the magic is revealed by the goddess herself, which ties it deeply to the land and culture from which it springs.

Rain is also significant. It represents the life-force that stems from the emotions. It can be destructive as well as a source of nourishment, and the lake is a local container and concentration of this, a repository of astral magic as it were or vital energy.

It is by her will that the rain stops. There are two ways to view this. Either the rain was meant to reveal something about the nature of the dream (the role of vital forces, and that she is behind them), and that once she appears that message, as well as the Raven messenger are not needed, OR the rain represent an emotional state that she has the power to stop and does, because transformation is at hand.

Also the rain fills and pours into the lake, so it may signify an accumulation of vital forces, which can now be channeled into transformation.

I also agree with the solar/lunar symbolism to which Godot referred. The cup is a lunar grail, a symbol that holds the same waters as the lake and the rain. Many Tarot depictions interestingly have a silver cup with the moon rising out of it. I believe it represents the lunar psyche, the receptive part or feeling. Notice the woman did not do anything with this because it is what receives.

It is with the two yang or solar aspects that she acted. The acorn is the seed of the Oak, the tree that attracts lightning the most. I think looking up the meaning of the oak in Celtic lore might be useful. One thing to consider is that trees can indicate the fire element in terms of forces of growth and vitality, so the seed is planted in the lake of vital forces, and not the earth where one would expect, and the coin (solar gold) and probably representing material accomplishment is also thrown in.

Both the coin and the acorn in the lake remind me of throwning coins in a wishing well, which is an ancient tradition. You may also want to look that tradition up to see what its roots are. It's similar as Don said to Excalibur in the lake, although in that case the Lady was in the lake and not an arrival from the sky.

So throwing acorn and coin can be an investment toward some major changes involving deep transformation, but also akin to setting things in motion like making a wish. That may be why she mentioned to not be afraid: to not be afraid of the changes set in motion.

One last comment. I think the cup for the fact that it just appears, and nothing is going on around it is significant. It may have to do with the ability of using inner faculties/intuition to sense the changes the more active elements imply, somthing the goddess offers, but you have to learn.

 

[tschai]

Hello all- I have been researching this with great enthusiasm and have found some clues but I am not an expert on dreams nor Celtic symbolism-but rapidly learning.

I say hello again to Godot-we seem to share a great deal of the same interests and lo and behold here you are!

Here are some things which I have found-perhaps you can put them together to some meaning all taken from Celtic /Irish lore (these are all VERY powerful Irish symbols!)

The LADY is, I agree probably the Morrigan-or possibly one of her aspects the Badb?-whose favourite disguise is that of the Raven or Crow (Hoodie)

The Raven / Crow both have close to the same meaning-However one site I visted indicates the Crow/Hoodie is a harbinger of death and the Raven is a favourable death (what exactly that means is not explained-does that mean the death of an enemy, perhaps-or perhaps it represents the death of an outmoded way of thinking?)

I could find no reference to a burning silver cup or chalice as far as Celtic mythology or related lore however SILVER is much more valuable than gold, and relates to Authority

A chalice can represent the Feminine principle of Creation-although the Morrigan and her aspects are considered Warrior Goddesses (my kind of gals!) and are most often associated with death / destruction-so how that would fit is unclear

Fire represents belonging to a Tribe (Clan?) and can also represent illumination as well as power / strength

Acorns are Druidic symbols and can mean patience or the fruition of a long hard labor-and can also symbolize wisdom, truth, strength, birth or fruitfulness

Water (body of water) Means crossing of borders /realms

I could find no specifics on rain or gold coins-only that gold was less important (magically) than silver-nor any references to rain but did find a reference to "electric clouds" (nel in Gaelic?) which refers to the Brain! Perhaps the flash of light you see is not so much related to rain as to lightening-electrified clouds? Perhaps signifying a elevation in Brain activity?

This is a very potent message-one that I don't think anyone but someone of Irish descent could possibly have-all of these symbols are uniquely Celtic-especially the Morrigan. Curiously I could find no description of her other than to say she likes to appear as a Raven /Crow-no physical description as to hair color or eyes (She is one of the Tuatha De Danann-and a Warrior Goddess was all along with her genealogy) nor could I find any reference to her as far as a flaming silver chalice /cup, gold coins or acorns.

It is also curious that she speaks the words-Do not be afraid just as you awaken. If you have the dream frequently you might try lucid dreaming-in which you are in control of your dream-and see if you can coax her into explaining what she means.

Perhaps the chalice is a symbol of her authority, the flames indicate your entry into an elite group or "tribe" (the Cassiopean community?) or perhaps illumination- the flash of light (electric clouds?) indicate the elevation of your intellect /inner self-and the tossing of the acorn-representing your hard work /labor, patience and wisdom is about to pay off by carrying you into a higher realm (crossing a border) or you are successfully breaking out of an outmoded paradigm of thinking and are crossing into a new realm of thought?

Then again - and I am really not well enough versed in any of this to say-these could very well be screen memories for abduction scenarios? It would be just like our hyperdimensional friends to pull some very powerful, archetypical symbols like this out of their bag of tricks to cover up their hijinx-especially the "Don't be afraid!" part-that sounds SOOOO 4th D oriented...maybe EsoQuest or someone with more experience could comment on this?

I haven't answered your question as to what this dream signifies-but with a bunch of people working on it maybe something will clarify it. I'd be real curious to find out what someone that is experienced in interpreting dreams might make of it.

I found a lot of info and fantastic links at this site:

http://www.imbas.org

 

[Godot]

hello again Tschai.. I'm sure I know you from somewhere!
And I note you're currently online ....hmmm
Very good comments I think.
I'd like to hear what Borderfox has to say before/if I post further.
best regards

 

[tschai]

Thanks. I am not certain that Borderfox might not already have some of this, but I had a great time researching it-and maybe BF can make some use of it-or perhaps if anyone out there that interprets dreams has some of the background for these powerful images might be able to come up with an answer that makes sense to Borderfox.

EsoQuest's take on it was quite interesting and I wonder if Bordefox related to any of that information?

I guess we will just have to wait and see...

The material is certainly fascinating and this message seems to be rather pressing that it is repeated often-hope BF can come up with an answer to this fantastic puzzle.

 

[Zee Ley]

I understand that I am few years late to this thread. Anyway the dream of Borderfox is very interesting for me. So here are some words into aether.

The water don't have any particular form, colour, smell or taste. But it is one of the necessary things in our everyday life.
With a help of a coin you can buy and possess. In some sense it is a power to instant or fast fulfillment of own wishes and/or desires.
Acorn could be planted and grow up in a oak tree which will give its own seeds. It will take time for tree to grow and there is no guarantees that it will grow at all. Acorn as a symbol of fertility. "Family tree".


A cup is the object that could be filled with liquid. And the nearest place to do this is the lake. If BorderFox still be here I would ask :) how did the flaming cup looked like? Was it in fire or incandescent/fiery or maybe the light was a sort of reflection on the surface of the vessel etc... ?