Middle Eastern Dream Interpretation History

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Dreams are excursions into the limbo of things, a semi-deliverance from the human prison. -Henri Amiel

Accurate dream interpretation according to an anonymous Persian writer must be performed on the day of the dream occurrence itself. This theory was followed by a religious group called the Zoroastrians which involved set rules for each day of the month.

Thus in the work known under the name of the Sifat-i-Sirozah, minute and elaborate prescriptions are given for interpreting various classes of dreams according to the particular day of the month on which they occur.

For instance, "the second day (of every month) is that of Bahman, the angel presiding over the increase of mankind and who protects horses and goats. Events dreamed of will occur in four days, but the hopes which may be cherished will be disappointed."

The third day is that of Ardebehist, the guardian angel of fire. Dreams occuring on this day will not be realized. And so on and so forth till the 30th day.

Another one of the most popular and Arabic dream interpreters who was also the earliest was Gabdorrhachamn. He was a strong believer in prophetic dreams and that they could only be interpreted by a person with "a clean spirit, chaste morals and the Word of Truth".

However, his dream aphorisms were considered to be based on his feelings rather than on a sound knowledge and understanding of dream symbols.

An example of his dream interpretation is: "He who dreams that his tongue has been shortened immmoderately will utter much folly and ribaldry.

Image Credit
looking4poetry at flickr.com


shanaz@RS | 1:09 AM | Labels:

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