DREAM- SINGERS

DREAM- SINGERS

I dreamt that I was nursing our baby in the night while my wife was at the hospital," a loving father revealed. "The next night, my wife had to take a friend to the emergency room, and I found myself feeding our baby in the middle of the night while she was away."

“I dreamt of an author of whom I had been a long-time fan. Two days later, I heard that he had died," a woman from lowa once told me. 

Dreams- what are their significance? Is there any truth to the messages many of us receive in a dream? Dream-Singers: The African American Way with Dreams by Anthony Shatton explores dreams and their meanings. 

Very few people will be comfortable saying that dreams are meaningless. While many theories on the significance of dreams can be found, the scientific explanation of dreams leaves many people unsatisfied. While some dreams are obviously rooted in daily events, worries or psychological issues, others do not seem to fit the scientific explanations. 

The number of books available on dream interpretation continues to grow. People want to know what their dreams mean, and they want to decode messages that they sense in their nighttime adventures. 

According to Shafton, the occurence of "mystical" dreams is not a rarity for African-Americans. Shafton's research reveals that most African- Americans experience what he calls "ancestor veneration" - dreaming about a deceased family member with the belief that the persons spirit visited the dreamer. Other common dream experiences include predictive dreams, signs and symbolism. 

Dream-Singers is geared towards African-Americans who are interested in exploring the possible meanings behind dreams, their symbolism and messages. Contents include: Ancestor visitation dreams, predictive dreams, signs in dreams, numbers from dreams, deja vu, dreaming and other states of consciousness, dreams and dreamlike states in religion, sleep paralysis, race in dreams, and an index of traditional African-American dream signs. 

According to the author, a cat in a dream is a sign of bad luck. A baby can signify either death or marriage, and falling means that you need to pray more. A fish signifies pregnancy or trouble, and death can mean marriage, pregnancy, transformation or trouble. A mouse is a sign of death, a red rose means that someone in the family is very ill, and being in water with someone means sexual intimacy with that person. 

Published by Wiley, Dream- Singers has received praise from Kelley Bulkeley, Ph.D., the former president of The Association for the Study of Dreams. She says "Breathtaking... Shafton has a keen sense for what people most want to know about dreams, and an admirable ability to explain difficult concepts without oversimplifying them." 

Readers searching for deeper spiritual meaning of dreams should keep in mind that the author is a scholar and not a spiritual master or authority.

 -RMN