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1,793
From:
ailuroland
Registered:
4/25/05
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(1 of 33)
Jul 29, 2005 1:58 PM
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Does anyone else have recurring dreams about being a werewolf?
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Guest
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(2 of 33)
Jul 29, 2005 3:18 PM
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cats,
Not recurring but it did cross my mind a few times.
w
Not wolves. Wolfen.
--Whitley Strieber - The Wolfen.
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Posts:
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(3 of 33)
Not any more I did as a kid until I found out were the werewolf idea
Jul 29, 2005 4:42 PM
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comes from then it's wasn't so scary.
The werewolf is a pagan Nordic-Germanic idea based on a warrior cult called the Ulfdar by the Vikings. The Ulfdar believed they were part human part wolf and dressed for battle in wolf skins, howled, snarled and bit their shields and ran around biting and scratching like a wolf on friend or foe alike. Some painted themselves grey or black to increase the effect. These warriors were also at their best fighting at night under a full moon when the effect of their costume plus behavior scared the wits out of the European peasants at the time as well as most Christian warriors.
The werewolf idea is not really found outside of Europe, for example Native Americans had a high opinion of the wolf and among us a warrior using it as a symbol did not consider himself a werewolf. He did however seek out the attributes of the wolf, strength, tireless determination, cooperation, and bravery. Wolf spirit helpers were highly sought after as power animals for mystical aid as well.
Because of the onslaught of these pagan Germanic and Viking warriors, the Ulfdar, werewolves appear in European myth. The Christian church further demonized the noble wolf as a symbol of paganism to the point that the British remove the wolf as a royal symbol replacing it with the African lion.
Try thinking of the wolf as we do, as a noble animal, brave and faithful to it's mate and pack. A tireless hunter whose determination and courage inspired native peoples all across this country. I did this with my 4 year old god daughter many years ago to stop her nightmares about wolves and werewolves. Her dreams changed from nightmares to playing with wolf pups after a while.
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15,405
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(4 of 33)
Jul 29, 2005 5:55 PM
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Denaliwolf67: Thank you again for your insights. I've read in "The European Discovery of America, The Northern Voyages" by Samuel Elliot Morrison, Oxford University Press; That Vineland was in the land of the birch bark canoe, where the grapes grew wild, where the weather was temperate even in winter etc. They were in North America for about 500 years, until 1450. The descriptions point tantilizingly to Lake Ontario, or perhaps Huron. Do you have information which might shed some light on this historical puzzle? Thank You.
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From:
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Posts:
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From:
ailuroland
Registered:
4/25/05
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(6 of 33)
Jul 31, 2005 5:12 AM
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I think the wolf more than likely is one of my many totem animals. He shares that spotlight with raccoons, ravens armadillos penguins, cats, (of course) and bears. They have all played a part in my life at one point or another. The werewolf dreams have usually had the quality of past life dreams. Any ideas about that?
Cat
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1,798
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(7 of 33)
Jul 31, 2005 7:13 AM
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Haven't had werewolf dreams that I can remember.
I do have reoccuring dreams. The ones with animals are mostly birds. I dream of birds all the time...Raven is my totem animal.
--
"And I don't want the world to see me, cuz I don't think that they'd understand, when everythings made to be broken I just want you to know who I am." The Goo Goo Dolls.
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(8 of 33)
Thanks here is a source for you much more detailed then the Morrison
Jul 31, 2005 3:13 PM
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I suggest the book The Frozen Echo by Kirsten A Seaver as a source she looks at the Norse in America and Greenland from 1000 A.D.-1500. From what I have read it appears that North America and Greenland were warmer as the Gulf Stream went more westerly and north then it does today.
We know from ice core samples taken in Greenland that around 540 A.D., there was some sort of volcanic catastrophe that cause a layer of ash and sulfur to block out the sun for perhaps a year or more bringing long, deep winters to much of the northern hemisphere. This even is confirmed in reports by monks in England who describe no summer season and by the rulers of Byzantine who reported much cooler summer temperatures then normal.
This deep cold period lasts about 10 years then the earth warms up, far warmer then it had been before the cold snap and stays warm until about 1100 A.D. when another deep cold period begins leading to the "Little Ice Age" of 1560-1850.
Here is a site:
http://www2.sunysuffolk.edu/mandias/lia/little_ice_age.html
From my reading Vinland was entered by the Vikings prior to this cold period in 1100, It probably is the St Lawrence Valley, perhaps Anticosti Island or further up river to modern Montreal which seems to fit the story. We know the Vikings had a base on Newfoundland at L'Anse aux Meadows and I would not be surprised if the Vikings followed the Canadian coast to the St Lawrence then up it as far as their ships could take them.
As the cold period deepened after 1100 the Vikings may have had less and less access to the river and they also come to be dominated by the very conservative Catholic Bishops out of Bergen Norway. Bergen soon comes to control the Greenland economy and the Greenland Vikings seem to turn away from exploration of North America.
At some point in the late 1200's or early 1300's the Viking settlement in Greenland called the western settlement is abandoned and to this day no one seems to know were these people went. It is known that they did not go to the eastern settlement and did not try and reach Iceland. I for one wonder if they sailed to Canada settling in the St Lawrence Valley being absorbed over time by the Iroquois people who move up into the St Lawrence from Canada and New York around 1000.
My educated hunch is that Vinland is the St Lawrence Valley which has a mild summer climate and whose winter climate was not unlike that of Iceland or Norway. Now did the Vikings settle Anticosti Island or perhaps modern Montreal which is also the kind of river island they favored for settlement we can't say.
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Posts:
9,202
Registered:
10/27/01
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(9 of 33)
Thanks here is a source for you much more detailed then the Morrison
Jul 31, 2005 3:13 PM
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I suggest the book The Frozen Echo by Kirsten A Seaver as a source she looks at the Norse in America and Greenland from 1000 A.D.-1500. From what I have read it appears that North America and Greenland were warmer as the Gulf Stream went more westerly and north then it does today.
We know from ice core samples taken in Greenland that around 540 A.D., there was some sort of volcanic catastrophe that cause a layer of ash and sulfur to block out the sun for perhaps a year or more bringing long, deep winters to much of the northern hemisphere. This even is confirmed in reports by monks in England who describe no summer season and by the rulers of Byzantine who reported much cooler summer temperatures then normal.
This deep cold period lasts about 10 years then the earth warms up, far warmer then it had been before the cold snap and stays warm until about 1100 A.D. when another deep cold period begins leading to the "Little Ice Age" of 1560-1850.
Here is a site:
http://www2.sunysuffolk.edu/mandias/lia/little_ice_age.html
From my reading Vinland was entered by the Vikings prior to this cold period in 1100, It probably is the St Lawrence Valley, perhaps Anticosti Island or further up river to modern Montreal which seems to fit the story. We know the Vikings had a base on Newfoundland at L'Anse aux Meadows and I would not be surprised if the Vikings followed the Canadian coast to the St Lawrence then up it as far as their ships could take them.
As the cold period deepened after 1100 the Vikings may have had less and less access to the river and they also come to be dominated by the very conservative Catholic Bishops out of Bergen Norway. Bergen soon comes to control the Greenland economy and the Greenland Vikings seem to turn away from exploration of North America.
At some point in the late 1200's or early 1300's the Viking settlement in Greenland called the western settlement is abandoned and to this day no one seems to know were these people went. It is known that they did not go to the eastern settlement and did not try and reach Iceland. I for one wonder if they sailed to Canada settling in the St Lawrence Valley being absorbed over time by the Iroquois people who move up into the St Lawrence from Canada and New York around 1000.
My educated hunch is that Vinland is the St Lawrence Valley which has a mild summer climate and whose winter climate was not unlike that of Iceland or Norway. Now did the Vikings settle Anticosti Island or perhaps modern Montreal which is also the kind of river island they favored for settlement we can't say.
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Posts:
118
Registered:
11/1/04
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(10 of 33)
Aug 1, 2005 2:35 PM
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No but I have dreams about demons and people fighting. But listen to your dream its trying to tell you something.
JIMENA***
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(11 of 33)
It's possible that the werewolf in your dreams refers to a past life
Aug 1, 2005 4:41 PM
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in which you took on the characteristics of a wolf or possibly wolf warrior for some reason. The use of a wolf as a spirit animal was not restricted to Native Americans as my post on the German and Viking Ulfdar points out.
If your having some sort of problem requiring tremendous endurance or a struggle some ancient memory of a warrior past involving the wolf which you use as a totem might be coming to the fore as a kind of helper.
I would think it's more about power and courage then wanting to rip someone or something apart.
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Posts:
3,353
From:
Southern Calif
Registered:
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Posts:
1,793
From:
ailuroland
Registered:
4/25/05
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(13 of 33)
Aug 2, 2005 6:04 AM
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I can remember dreams where I actually was in bipedal wolf form. I also remember one where I told someone that I was a "closet Lycathrope." I don't remember the cycle of the moon having anything to do with it. It was more like I was some type of changleing.
Cat
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11,840
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(14 of 33)
Aug 2, 2005 6:48 AM
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catspaw,
I never had a dream about being a werewolf but since you bring it up, I am having a recurring dream.
Lately I've been having recurring dreams/nightmares about my wife. I dream we are together doing something ordinary and then I remember she's dead and she dissapears, it's very disturbing and turns into a night terror. For reasons I won't go into I was not able to grieve properly when she died, perhaps this is the process, but I sure wish these dreams would stop. Maybe it's simply a matter of acceptance.
The dreamcatcher isn't working. Does anybody have any ideas about how I can get this to stop?
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Posts:
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(15 of 33)
Sidewalker having lost several close family members myself
Aug 2, 2005 4:51 PM
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I understand what your going through, I would seek out a qualified grief councilor who can help you grieve for your wife. You need time to do this and each of it does it in our own way and pace. I will keep you and your late wife in my prayers, but please seek out a professional in this area. Denali.
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