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Conference hydra::dejavu

Title:Psychic Phenomena
Notice:Please read note 1.0-1.* before writing
Moderator:JARETH::PAINTER
Created:Wed Jan 22 1986
Last Modified:Tue May 27 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:2143
Total number of notes:41773

1464.0. "A KNOT-FILLED DREAM" by WR1FOR::BREAZEACA () Tue May 07 1991 21:07

    I am new to this conference and after glancing through the directory, I
    do not see any discussions which address my question.  What
    relationship, if any, do knots have with witchcraft?  This stems from a
    dream I had some time ago.  I could not get this dream out of my head
    and even went to the library to look up knots and all I found was a
    Boy Scout handbook and a book on macrame plant hangers.  Really
    helpful, huh?  Here is my dream:
    
    (Throughout this whole dream, I am as an observer watching a film, I am
    not a participant in the activities)
    
    A woman and her two children move to the coast from a city.  (I live on
    the West Coast and the city seemed to be San Francisco and the coastal
    area they moved to seemed to be Mendocino area.)  They are moving
    because the husband is dead.  A woman lives in the house next door and
    she appears, to the dream's character, to be rather eccentric.  She
    befriends the children of the dream's character.  They spend a lot of
    time at her house, which seems to be surrounded by herb gardens.  One
    day, the children come home and they have rope necklaces around their
    necks - a continuous rope with a big, complex knot in it.  The mother
    comments on them, the children say the knot is called a monkey's fist
    and that the neighbor woman told them never to take it off - good luck
    or something.  The children begin to act strange (I can't remember how,
    just "strange").  The mother finally gets it in her head that it is the
    knot necklace causing this behavior.  She cuts the necklace and the
    children are okay.  Then the dream ended.
    
    
    Any thoughts?
    
    Cathy
    WR1FOR::BREAZEACA
    
T.RTitleUserPersonal
Name
DateLines
1464.1Tie me kangaroo down, boy, tie me kangaroo down...MISERY::WARD_FRGoing HOME---as an Adventurer!Wed May 08 1991 12:147
    re: .0
    
         Don't know...however, could it have something to do with
    the "ties that bind," etc.?  Lots of room for symbology here.
    
    Frederick
    
1464.2CSCMA::SCHILLERWed May 08 1991 15:124
    
    
    When you said "knots around their necks" the image that popped into
    my mind was a noose.
1464.3Fan mail from some Flounder(er)?DNEAST::BERLINGER_MALIFE IN THE ASTRAL PLANEWed May 08 1991 15:3328
    
    Re. .0
    
                   Cathy,
                        From what I can recall from a boating course I
    took, a "Monkeys Fist" knot was tied in the end of a line (nauticle 
    jargon for *rope*). The size of the knot gave the line some weight. 
    The line could then be tossed, with some acuracy, to perhaps another 
    ship. With the line between the two ships things (mesages, mail,
    packages, stouter lines......) could be sent back and forth without 
    the two ships ever touching each other- important when in heavy seas.
    
    
    I found it signifigant that the "knot necklaces" came from one house
    (the neighbor) to another house ( the woman with the children) and that
    the children acted strange until the knots removed. Perhaps there was 
    a request or an invitation of aliance which at first seemed ok but
    later felt not ok and so the aliance was broken.
    
        The symbolism in dreams is intensly personal to the dreamer, and 
    my coments are not ment as anything more than my humble opinion.
    
                               
                                      Later,
                                       Mark
    
    
    
1464.4"Knot" limited to witchcraft STORIE::KALLISPumpkins -- Nature's greatest gift.Wed May 08 1991 17:4610
Re .0 (Cathy):

Knots are used in a variety of traditions, generally as "binding." 
They're often used in love spwells, though also in curses.

A "monkey's fist" is a knot often used by sailors (of yore) as a solid
rope ending.  I haven't heard anything specific in the way of one being either
good or bad luck.

Steve Kallis, Jr.
1464.5Follow-upSTORIE::KALLISPumpkins -- Nature's greatest gift.Thu May 09 1991 18:3610
Not trusting entirely to memory, I did a bit of checking last night.
There is a "love spell" that uses knots to "bind" the object of one's desire
to the person casting the spell.  It was supposed to have been popular with
a certain grade of spellcasters in Medieval times.  Its structure and symbolism
are rather black, and it isn't something I'd be philosophically in consonamce
with.  However, its form is general enough so it could be modified for other
uses.  A variant of it might be used in other classes of curse.

Steve Kallis, Jr.

1464.7...not for naught...GIAMEM::ROSEFri May 10 1991 09:2846
    re: .0
    
    Cathy, here's a possible interpretation of the dream, based
    on the information given:
    
    You're thinking about relocating.  The movie represents your
    thoughts and feelings about the move and its consequences...
    
    You once had a decent relationship with your husband, but now
    he's changed.  It's as though the former man is dead.  So you
    shun him - you take your children and move to the coast or ocean
    [o shun].  You leave your financial security, as represented by
    the Golden Gate city, behind.  You settle for Mendocino [men dough
    seen no], a place where you hope to be free of him.
    
    Physical separation is easy; psychological separation isn't. There's
    a seemingly odd part of you that can't get him out of your mind.  
    You're still close to him.  You're still attached.  You're like a
    "her" with a "b".  And everywhere you turn, there he is, dominating
    you, surrounding you...herb, herb, herb, Herb.  [A "b" is just a 
    displaced "p"; and the "p" is a pointer to "Herb" in the sense of
    "Pa rsley/father/husband."  The "Pa" theme is reinforced later in 
    the monkey's fist or "pa w".]
    
    One day you realize you have to make a decision regarding the chil-
    dren.  Here they are, roped into a situation in which they're strand-
    ed without a father, and living with a mother who, financially speak-
    ing, can't make ends meet.  You're at the end of your rope.  You must
    retie the knot; you must return the children to a loveless [neck less],
    knot-filled [not-filled/unfulfilled] marriage.  But it's for their own
    good!  They must never again be separated from their father, the mon-
    key's "paw".  
    
    So you rejoin your husband, but the children can't readjust.  They've
    had a taste of freedom now, and they're growing like weeds.  They need
    to continue to grow in a less restrictive environment.  Also, your sep-
    aration has given you new insight into yourself.  You're now ready to
    handle things differently.  You end the marriage.  You free your chil-
    dren.  You...
    
    wake up.
    
    Virginia
    
    
    
1464.8thought provoking repliesWR1FOR::BREAZEACAFri Jun 07 1991 14:2210
    Hi -
    
    Sorry for such a long time between replies, but I have been on vacation
    for three weeks and came back to a stack of stuff.  Thanks for all your
    thoughts on my dream!  .7 is really wild, Virginia!  We are really
    moving - just sold the house this week, but we are all moving
    *together* - no one is getting left behind!
    
    Cathy
    
1464.9GIAMEM::ROSESat Jun 08 1991 09:0812
    
    re: .8
    
    Cathy,
     
    Glad to have you back!  And best of luck in your new
    home.  
    
    Virginia
    
    p.s.  Have you met your new neighbors yet?  {:)*