Just woke up from the strangest dream I've ever had...

First and foremost, I'd like to state that I don't intend for any of this to come off as a prediction or prophecy; I just woke up from what I can only describe as the craziest dream I've ever had, and I wanted to share. Simple as that. However, there are some elements of this dream that I've never experienced before, and if anybody has any plausible or scientific explanations for the mind#### that has come over me, then by all means, share them. But to be clear, I'm not saying that this dream was either extraordinary or paranormal, but some of it was new to me, so I'd like to discuss. I know that trying to describe dreams can often be difficult, so I'm going to include as much relevant information as possible. I apologize in advance if this is a bit long-winded. Some information that might be important:

I didn't get much sleep last night. There was all sorts of stuff on TV that kept me awake, but nothing that I can recall that directly correlates to the content of the dream. I woke up at about 10AM this morning so I could pick my girlfriend up, and all in all, I'd say I got about five hours of solid sleep. My stomach wasn't being very nice to me all morning, but as soon as I picked her up, we got some lunch at In-N-Out. Yes, it was delicious. We came home and decided that a nap was in order, so we got into bed and fell asleep at about 1PM. Some other things to note: I did not drink at all last night, nor did I do any drugs of any kind. I do smoke cigarettes, but had only smoked once when I woke up, and then again just before lying down for the nap. And so the dream begins...

It all takes place at my childhood home, here in Las Vegas, specifically in the backyard. Keep in mind that this whole dream felt soooo very real. My step-brother, sister, and I were swimming in the pool, but we were all younger versions of ourselves; I'd say my sister was roughly nine or ten, my step-brother was about thirteen, and I was probably fourteen. For what it's worth, at one point (in reality), we actually were those ages...or perhaps I should say that our differences in age were quite accurate within the dream. For some reason, I had my first guitar out by the pool, a red Squier Stratocaster. I was sitting on the edge of the pool with my feet in the water while playing the guitar, and here's where it gets a little weird...

I have been a guitar player since I was eleven years old. There are three strange things about this dream that involve that guitar:

1) I played that red Strat all the time when we lived at that house, up until I bought a second (and better) guitar sometime in 2001. That fact alone isn't so strange, but read on...

2) In this dream, I was able to recall two different songs and play them on this guitar. I've never been able to specifically recall any musical passages, much less play them correctly on the guitar, in my dreams. In reality, I actually learned how to play those two songs on that very same guitar at that very same house. I used to be a huge Metallica fan, and the two songs that I played in this dream ("Minus Human" and "No Leaf Clover") were both on the S&M album, which was a live collaboration between the band, the San Francisco Symphony, and conductor Michael Kamen. Those two songs were two brand new, previously unreleased songs at the time. Not so strange? Read on...

3) I said earlier that I was about fourteen years old in this dream. That's a rough estimate based solely on the younger appearance of my siblings. I turned fourteen in 2000. What's weird is that the Metallica album that contained the two songs of which I was playing was released in November of 1999. When that album came out, I was super interested in the two new songs and learned how to play them by ear as soon as I could.

To summarize, I'll compare this part of the dream to reality:

In the dream, my fourteen year old self played two Metallica songs on my old, red Strat while sitting at the edge of the swimming pool in the backyard of my childhood home. In reality, circa 2000, my fourteen year old self had just learned how to play those very same Metallica songs (which had been released in late 1999) on that very same guitar at that very same house.

The synchronicity of my age-within-the-dream, the house, and the songs I was playing is the coolest part of this dream, but the fact that I was able to play the guitar coherently is another thing entirely. I've never been able to do that before. There is more, but I'll warn you right now- this is where it gets really weird and dream-y. If the rest of this sounds ridiculous and insane, please forgive me.

As my siblings are swimming and I'm playing the guitar, one by one, we all start to look up. Way up in the sky, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of small objects. My first instinct is to consider the possibility that they're UFO's, or some sort of maneuverable aircraft. There is a sense of awe in the air. Suddenly, more of these objects come into view, but now they're extremely close and they're slowly traveling right over the backyard. I see that they're not ships or any kind of aircraft; they're balloons, some smaller than others, but some as large as boulders. Some of them are only 25-30 feet from the ground, I can clearly see that inside each one of these balloons is an object. There are balloons with books in them, balloons with toys in them, balloons with clothes...all kinds of stuff. I reached for my phone (my current phone, which didn't exist when I was fourteen) to take a picture, but I couldn't figure out how to take a picture. It just wasn't happening.

Then I hear the back door to the house open, and see that some of my family has arrived - aunts, uncles, and cousins. I look back at the balloons for a second and realize that they're following/trailing something. At this point, some of the balloons have fallen to the ground, and my siblings and the rest of my family are popping them open to get to the goodies inside. My focus, however, is to find out where these many thousands of balloons are coming from. I poke my head over the fence, and instead of seeing the normal, boring street, there is a river in its place, and floating down this river is a beautiful ship, the kind you see in pirate movies before it gets blown to bits. It almost feels like a parade, and as the ship passes my house, I can finally see the man responsible for all of these balloons as he waves to the neighborhood...

Santa Claus.

Yup. Told you it got weird. Mrs. Claus is there too, along with a few elves. They were all dressed traditionally, but in that old-fashioned way...sort of like royalty. Yuletide royalty.

And then I wake up. And for some reason, I can not shake this feeling that 'everything is going to be ok'. I woke up at about 3:30PM, so it was only a two and a half hour nap, but it won't go away. Not that I'm complaining, but I've just dissected this fantastical and ridiculous dream in pretty good detail, and I'm still over the moon. I know it sounds stupid and childish...perhaps the fond memories of that house and childhood fantasies have just put me in a really good mood. Who knows?

So there you have it. Some very cool synchronicity in regards to the guitar, and then some weird stuff about Santa Claus on a pirate ship passing out balloon presents. Has anybody else ever had such a strange coincidence(?) within a dream? I still can't believe that the first half of my dream was so specific in its nature. I haven't listened to Metallica in quite a while, and I haven't played those songs for what seems like forever, so I don't know why those two songs would come up in my dream the way they did. All questions and comments are welcome. Has anybody else ever experienced synchronicity in a dream like this?

Santa Claus on a pirate ship passing out balloon presents.

Nice dream, materialism is an overrated bag of hot air, and this was a metaphor.

Good to see that you are on the right path.

God bless you, your family and friends and much love.

GM

reply to post by travisisnotdead

Seems to be a lot this happening lately.
By the way i learnt to play guitar when i was 13,also Metallica ,But the album was' Kill em all'

reply to post by Grey Magic


Interesting.

Over the past few years, I've distanced myself from materialism to the point where I could pack up and 'evacuate', so to speak, in a matter of minutes. Sure, I have possessions that I value and things that I need to survive, but I've come to terms with the fact that most of these things are meaningless, so your metaphor does make sense. Thanks!

reply to post by 12voltz


Nice. I actually got into Metallica backwards...my brother got me listening to Load and Reload, and I worked my way back.

Could you elaborate on what you mean in regards to this 'happening a lot lately'? Thanks.

reply to post by travisisnotdead


I have just noticed a few threads lately where people are experiencing bizarre and vivid dreams,myself included although i have always been a heavy dreamer ,just recently they have become very clear.
Back to the guitar,I find early Black Sabbath very helpful in learning good technique whilst not to complicated.I really should spend more time with the axe : Back to the basics
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