The Skull, Dagger and Crucifix.

[JON]

The night after that Skull Dream, I had this one:

I was in a bedroom with all white walls. There was an open door leading off a landing.

Between the door and the window opposite was a bed. It had a plain wood headboard and footboard, and white cotton sheets. They were in total disarray, as though someone had had a restless night.

On the wall above it was a large wooden Crucifix. The Christ was long and thin with yellowish skin, black beard and long black hair. His head was tilted upwards, eyes closed. His lips were slightly parted, as though trying to speak.

Near the bed, under the window, was a wicker-seated chair. On it was a lute or mandolin - with broken strings! The shutters were open, and a crow [or rook or raven] peered in from a tree. Beside the chair was a huge wooden chest, open and empty.

Opposite the end of the bed was a grey stone fireplace. On the mantle-piece was a pewter candlestick with a tall white candle - unlit.

Over the fireplace hung a painting, a Madonna and Child [possibly 16th Century Spanish or Italian]. Oddly, the Madonna was in scarlet, not the usual deep blue. She was tall and slender, with long fair hair, very pale skin and dark eyes. The Infant Christ had a similar appearance, and was in gold. Neither had haloes. The painting had a black background.

Beside the fireplace was a dressing table with ‘clouded‘ glass in the mirror. On it was a skull with a white rose near it. Nearby was an open Bible with a dagger [had a black handle] lying on it. Behind the dressing table was a window with closed shutters.

A very disturbing dream. But what does it mean?
Jon

[dantheman]

Empty messy bed, broken strings, unlit candle, atypical religious icons. Ravens and crows are often scavengers. Ravens are tricksters and instigators in North American native folklore. Rooks are related to pigeons so maybe you misidentified the bird, but if it was a rook, it could signify "home, homing instincts or messages".

Empty stuff, broken stuff, unusual stuff with spiritual overtones. The house is empty, either waiting for it's occupant or the occupant has left, maybe dead or dying and the ravens and crows are ready to go to work. My guess is that there are unresolved issues, or faith in something (not necessarily religion) has been abandoned. Something in your life may be askew, missing, dead???

If this is the case, then you should probably clean house, repair the damage, bury the bodies and move on. If I'm way off, then hopefully someone else can step in with an opinion, cause this is a pretty rich dream.

[JON]

Thank you for your feedback, dantheman. There are a lot of 'death symbols' in the dream: skull, Crucifix, unlit candle, broken strings [dischord, disharmony], raven, dagger. The painting had a plain black background. [The Raven, I think, also occurs in Norse mythology. An emblem of Odin's.]

You're on the right track about 'faith', I feel. I noted that if the layout of the furniture was viewed from above it made a rough cross. An echo of the Crucifix. But maybe the whole thing was a 'religious allegory' - scenes from the life of Christ:-

*The Virgin and Child. The Death on the Cross [the dagger's hilt is cross-shaped]. The white cotton sheets, like a shroud. Disturbed at the Resurrection. The chest could've been the open empty tomb. The door, the stone found rolled back on that 3rd day - Easter Sunday.

The dagger, I think was marking a certain passage in that open Bible. I just wish I knew which one!

Thanks again. Cheers. Jon.

[dantheman]

The only dagger reference I can think of in the passion portion of Jesus' life is the sword that Peter used to whack the ear off a temple guard. Hopefully subsequent dreams will point you to the message in the Bible reference. Good Luck!

[JON]

The only dagger reference I can think of in the passion portion of Jesus' life is the sword that Peter used to whack the ear off a temple guard. Hopefully subsequent dreams will point you to the message in the Bible reference. Good Luck!

Hi, dantheman, and thanks for your feedback. St Peter - wasn't he crucified upside-down?

There is a dagger on the Coat of Arms of London with the Cross of St George. It is allegedly represents the weapon The Mayor of London killed the rebel Wat Tyler with in the Peasants' Revolt of 1381.

Cheers, Jon.

[dantheman]

According to Catholic tradition (which your dream is rich in: crucifix, madonna), Peter was crucified in Rome upside down. Peter requested an upside down crucifixion according to some accounts. Maybe he was trying to make up for that triple denial thing.

Can't help much in the field of English history, sorry.

[JON]

According to Catholic tradition (which your dream is rich in: crucifix, madonna), Peter was crucified in Rome upside down. Peter requested an upside down crucifixion according to some accounts. Maybe he was trying to make up for that triple denial thing.

Thanks for that, dantheman. Well, in my third Skull Dream ['The Vanishing Bride'] there is a triple mirror.

Elected.Rejected was onto something with my first Skull Dream ['The Skull, Rose and Smoking Gun']. They added the 8 1 and 4 on the piece of charred paper [in the fireplace] to make 13.

I thought about this in relation to the 'VI' on that paper. It could be letters or Roman Numerals. If VI = 6, then it could refer, with all the religious imagery [that you alluded to], to the King James [the Sixth of Scotland] Bible. But which bit?

Sadly, in this dream, I didn't see what date the Bible was. Or the passage marked by the dagger. I have an 1880 Edition of the King James. I first went for Leviticus Chapter 8, Verse 14. In it Moses, his brother Aaron, and Aaron's sons, sacrifice a bull to God. This would've been done by cutting the creature's throat.

But, more likely, it was 8 + 14 = 22. This is Genesis Chapter 22, incidentally, on page 22 of the 1880! Here Abraham is about to sacrifice his son, Isaac, to God, using a knife. But an angel, said to be Metatron [the Voice of God], intervened. And a ram was killed instead. Christ was the Agnus Dei [Lamb of God], and was sacrificed for the sins of the world. The Crucifix in the room would fit with this interpretation.

Regards, Jon.

[dantheman]

You are probably on the right track with the ritual sacrifice direction. I was going to add that my sword references probably can be discounted, since a sword at that time was the standard military weapon (like todays automatic rifle), and a dagger is more of an assassin's tool, for concealment and not much hope as a defensive weapon (like today's handgun).

As I'm sure you already know, the King James version is a masterpiece of literature, but many translation errors appear in it, some because the writers wanted it to be poetic and a good piece of literature and made that concious decision, and some because of advances in translation and archeology. My favorite for accuracy is the Jerusalem Bible which is a thick monster with more footnotes than text, but if you really want to get a good feel for what the original Hebrew or Greek writers were meaning, it's a pretty good one!

Good Luck!

[JON]

Thanks, dantheman. The 1880 Bible has been in the family since practically new. And not in bad condition for its age. I've read bits of it, although some of the language is a little difficult [archaic], and can make the meaning obscure. But there are some good yarns in it!

Cheers, Jon.

[JON]

I think I've worked out why the Raven, Lute and Chest were in close proximity.

Raven

Traditionally a bird of ill-omen, fore-telling death.

In Norse myth it was sacred to Odin, Chief God and War God. But also the legendary standard of Denmark, the 'Landeyda'. It was said that if the Danes were to be defeated, the raven hung its wings. If they were to be victorious, the wings were raised upward. As though beckoning to follow. [In my first Viking dream the banner on the masthead of Olaf's funeral ship was a black raven.]

In the Bible Noah sends out a raven [a symbol of God's Providence] to find dry land. It didn't return!

Chest

In some Medieval and Renaissance paintings Christ's tomb is shown as being like a large chest: a sarcophagus.

Lute

In the dream next to the open chest. The lute is associated with Israfel, the Angel of Music, Song and Resurrection.. [The Crucifix was over the bed nearby. The Virgin and Child over the fireplace opposite. New life awaiting to 'arise' from the ashes, like the Phoenix]