Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 169, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 July 1920 — Last Night’s Dreams What They Mean [ARTICLE]

Last Night’s Dreams What They Mean

DID YOU DREAM ABOUT GOATS? FREUD states that modern dream books are but plagiarisms of ancient Eastern writings of the same character and are necessarily bad ones beca use in nearly all the Eastern interpretationsof dreams hung upon a play upon’ words which is, of course, Ibst in turning them into anoth--er language. This statement may- be open to doubt and It is rather probable that the modern empiric interpretation of dreams has gradually grown up through a mingling of Teutonic, Celtic, Gallic and ancient Roman and Greek superstitions, which would account for the divergence of the interpretations with regard to their symbolism.

The most famous dream prophecy depending upon a play upon words Is that given by the soothsayer, Aristandros, to Alekander when that monarch was besieging Tyre. Alexander was much disturbed by the stubborn resistance of the city and the consequent delay in his plans of conquest. One night he dreamed that he saw one of those goatlike mythological creatures, a satyr—Greek Satyros—dancing on his shield. He demanded ofAristandros the meaning of the dream. At one? the soothsayer replied by dividing the word into Sa Tyros (Tyre) Thine 'is Tyre. Alexander took the city. Although Freud cites this as an example of his statement it will be noticed that the play upon words was Greek and not Oriental. Satyrs were

of th? male sex and had the horns, tail and legs of goats. They were mischievous creatures and sent the nightmare. To meet them or dream of them was accounted by the ancients as unlucky, in spite of the dream of Alexander. This would seem to account for the dictum of the modern mystics that to dream of a billygoat is unlucky, though to dream of killing one or seeing one killed is a favorable omen; the latter probably originating from the killing of a goat as a sin offering mentioned in Leviticus. And the interpretation of a dream of seeing only the goat’s horns —that it foretells bad luck —is easily traced to the prophet’s dream of the fight between the goat and the ram in the eighth chapter of Daniel. A few of the empirics say thpt to dream of nannygoats, especially If white, is good luck.