A Dream About Being Chased, the Occult and a Pool

"I had a dream that me and my brother were trying to get a hold of a friend. We had an idea of where he lived so we drove to the neighborhood. We couldn't find his house so we gave him a call and apparently he'd moved. (He actually moved in real life as well) He told us where he lived but he wasn't home, he told us he was at a gym. We decided to go and meet him, check out the gym as well.

When we got there, he was glad to see us, we met some of his friends and had fun. Then the dream goes into an outdoor area, we are still with our friend, having fun, chilling, swimming in a swimming pool, but it didn't look like one, instead it looked like a water reservoir but had clean water in it. Very clear clean water and everyone was swimming in it. Then a group of people show up, all dressed up in goth gear, and there leader was a chubby type of girl, her bf was chubby as well with a bold head, and kind of whipped by her.

She came up to my bro and gave him a hug, but didn't give me one. We introduced ourselves, hung out with them a little bit, and then something happened. They all got together in a circle, she pointed at a boy and he came up to her, she told him that he is to be punished for something that he has done against them. Me and my brother were confused and were wondering what was going to happen. Without asking us if we would like to stay or not the chubby girl walked in the middle, the boy following her (and the interesting thing was, the boy wasn't even scared, he knew well what he did and he knew that he was going to be punished for it, so there was no retaliation in him against her at all) So. the boy laid down, and the chubby leader starting writing something on the ground, it looked as though she was drawing symbols or words of some sort, I couldn't get a clear view, even though I was standing right there.

As she was writing these words, letters on the ground I looked up at the sky and prayed for protection and help. To me this was an occult act, whether satanic or not I don't know. But I wasn't scared. Actually i wanted to stick around and see what happens.

As we were standing and watching all of this the boy started leaking weird goo from his stomach, he started screaming and yelling. Apparently it was painful. They all started chanting and praying and at that moment my brother was shocked. He told me lets run for it because this is not something he would like to stick around and watch. We counted down and ran. Also there were other people who ran with us.

As we were running ( we were running down a street at this moment ) I felt as though I was slowing down for some reason, and that all the other people who ran were way ahead of me. The Chubby chick sent some henchmen to catch us. My brother and the others who ran all disappeared and I was left alone running from the henchman, at this moment I forgot how to get back to our car or even how to get out of the neighborhood. Also at that moment I realized I was dreaming, ( usually this is what happens) when I realize that I'm dreaming I instantly get a "alright, now its my turn to show you what your up against feeling" and I disappeared to the henchmen ( apparently I went into stealth mode ) :P

I walked away from them, they were confused and didn't know where I went but I was right there by them. I walked to a parking lot, stole a car ( it was a nice dodge charger ) and I drove to the freeway so I can get back home. As I was driving down the free way, I saw hand like shadows following me, and they were huge, at least 3 times bigger than the car, they were swimming through the highway like dolphins, but they were trying to grab me. I escaped, got out of the car and stealth back.

At that moment I heard a voice, " why are you running away?" It was the chubby chick. I then stood and thought for a bit, and I decided to go back because deep inside I knew they couldn't harm me. So I got back to there house and they were very deep in the occult practice, to me it looked like satanism. She asked me " why did you run away" I told her that my brother got scared of what you were doing and I wasn't just going to stand here and watch this as well. She said that the boy is OK but it was necessary to teach him a lesson.

All in all I made friends with them, we started talking about the occult (as i would normally do to fit in and not cause any trouble, even if I don't care what they had to say to me) Me and her husband sat down, he started showing me some books, telling me stories and apparently they wanted me to join their group, As always I am either solo or I belong to some group already.
I wasn't sure about what this dream meant. But you never know..."

Thanks for sending this interesting dream to me for a dream reading! As always, please feel free to email me your dreams for a confidential, and anonymous dream interpretation- just email dream.reader@hotmail.com and be sure to give as many details as possible- those details, as you'll see in this case, are often the key to a better understanding of your dreams, no matter how odd or nonsensical they seem.

This dream starts by mirroring reality, the day to day stuff that life is made of- looking for a friend, and experiencing a little trouble in finding him. When you do finally find your friend, he's at the gym, and you and your brother go to see him there. Let me start by mentioning that seeing your brother in your dream can be one of about three things- it might be a literal representation of your brother, if this is a person you see and hang out with all the time, or he might represent aspects of your personality that you don't always acknowledge (as I think may be the case here) or the person whom your brother seems to be in the dream represents conflict within your relationship with your brother. It may even be a little of all three of these factors, but I suspect it's mostly the second aspect.

The setting of the gym can be seen as significant, as gyms are places where we build muscle and learn focus, the time a person spends in the gym assists them in their daily lives. Dreaming that you're working out can be a call to work the things you've learned about yourself into your daily practices. Interestingly, a swimming pool can be a call to achieve greater emotional intelligence, and the two things combined suggest that a greater understanding of your interior emotional life will enrich your daily life. I think it's interesting that the more placid portion of your dream occurs here, among friends and of course, your more sensitive, fearful, brother!

So here's where things shift and become more surreal. The coven of occultist goths! I have to mention a few things quickly about the occult. I can't help myself. First of all, the trend in media in recent years towards fantasy films and books about occult topics like demon slayers, vampires and the like have brought some very unreal things to the forefronts of the minds of the collective unconscious, particularly in the case of the youth of the era. That being said, real occult practices do exist- but they're quite different than the perceptions you'd get of them by reading popular fiction or watching the Twilight series.

Most of what can be considered occult practice is misunderstood ritual that dates back thousands of years to early Earth worship Pagan religions. The link between Paganism and what is considered Satanic comes from the acquisition of Pagan symbols (like the horned God, Pan) into devices needed by Christianity to convert people (like the similarly portrayed image of Satan). Satanism can only be practiced by people who essentially believe in the Christian message of reality, because Satan only exists in the Christian tradition, so it is not possible to worship Satan unless you also believe in Christianity. Most dissenters of the dominant religious concept of Christianity dissent completely and therefore do not practice the worship of Satan. Satanism is, in a sense, another scare tactic employed by those whose interests lie in the protection of Christianity- Satanists are a sort of "boogie man" whose violent practices are, in reality, pretty tame.

That's not to say that Satanism doesn't exist- just to say that Satanism is likely more benign than the common perception may acknowledge. And, you can dress Goth, practice occultist ritual and even like to flog folks without believing in Satan or worshipping the devil!!

Back to your dream! The occult is a group of largely misunderstood or misrepresented practices, so again, dreaming about occult practice is often a call to understand the aspects of yourself that you've been ignoring. The leader of their group is a figure opposite you, a woman, whom you don't understand- and I think that's significant. Women are a sort of mystery to most men, and further, this woman is chubby, which is a subconscious indication of her success, both within this group and elsewhere. It seems clear that you don't understand her, how she's become the leader of this group, or their practices, and I believe that all of this is symbolic of a side of your own personality.

The sequence of torture is also interesting. The boy being tortured is totally complacent, but once the pain begins he does make a little noise. However, while there are several of you who run away screaming, he does not attempt to escape. This suggests that he's a stand in for the part of you that isn't afraid of the 'lessons' you have still to learn. Your brother, on the other hand, is the first to flee.

While running away, you feel abandoned by the others. This seems to be an acknowledgement of the fact that what you're running from is an issue all your own. What you're describing, about being capable of slipping into stealth mode once you realize you're dreaming, is called lucid dreaming. In a sequence of lucid dreaming, the dreamer realizes that they are dreaming and then is able to control and influence the dream to their desire.

An easy way to learn to lucid dream, and the way that I learned to do so as a child, was to get in the habit of asking myself if I am wake several times everyday. Basically you want to work that silent, internal question into your waking life, and link it with other patterns of thought. If you practice that while waking, eventually you'll ask yourself while you're sleeping! Then the fun begins.

Since you begin to lucid dream, you're able to evade the feelings that are quite literally chasing you down. But the dream is sending you a clear message, a call to get to know yourself better, and so this chubby chick, being an opposite aspect of you, speaks to you directly, asking you essentially why you're so afraid.

And when you go back, you realize that there's nothing to be afraid of at all. You don't particularly care about this group of people, and you're entirely safe there. I think it's as simple as learning to get to the heart of your feelings. But as usual, you'll have to be the final judge!

Thank you so much for sending me this great dream. Please feel free to post comments here, or to email me at dream.reader@hotmail.com and to any other readers who have a weird, funny, strange or distressing dream, I'd love to decode it for you here!