Ancient Antique Old

Anything old or ancient suggests it has existed for a long time, so it carries an enormous amount of experience, an enormous imprint of the past. This often links with wisdom or treasures of realisation, perhaps revealed by intuition.

But the dreamt of ancient or old thing may be pointing to a period of your life relating to the period the ‘old’ thing or person represents. It may also depict an attitude or way of life you have seen portrayed in historical drama or in a book or film. It can point to your past and the different lives you have lived – baby, youth, lover, parent, provider, or what is established and well worn, such as tradition and wisdom of folklore.

An old or antique building or place can sometimes relate to the incredible age of your mind. There is in each of us an intuition or sense that shows us or reveals to us if we care to be aware, that our mind is not simply new with our birth. Its contents, through language, inherited customs, and genetic material, are incredibly old. Exploring such dreams of antiquity can often bring to awareness this ancient heritage. See The Conjuring Trick; ancestors.

But old can be connected with many things. In looking through a collection of dreams I find ‘old clothes’ which related to old attitudes and behaviour; ‘old shells’ from the war which indicated past difficult feelings and experiences; an ‘old woman’ who turned out to be a mother; his ‘old inadequate self’; ‘old group’ was about confronting my old social values; a ‘lady with big breasts and hips’ who has sex with the dreamer; another ‘old lady’ who is told to start work. This turned out to be an expression of the energies tied up negatively, the female love energies, the emotions, so they are no longer knotted in the problem, can work in ones outer relationships and activities, and so on. So it is important to see if you can feel any connection with the old thing or person. Perhaps using Being the Person or Thing; Talking As will help.

Old building: Past way of life; former life with family or another person. It can also sometimes link with ‘past dwelling places’. In other words old ways of life or even past lives. If it is very old it could be considered a house of the ancestors. See House of the Ancestors.

Old House or house previously lived in: A previous set of values or way of life, sometimes even a suggestion of influences from lives previous to your present one. If you can date the time you lived there, it probably is about the important developments or experiences that occurred there.

Old people: Wisdom; mother or father; past experience; traditions; old age or feelings about ageing; death. Also to do with what might be old and no longer useful in your life.

Old things or furniture: Past or outworn ways of life or activities. Or attitudes and a way of life lived at the time.

Example: ‘I am standing in a book shop. It is a long established business. As I look at the books I find two which are about the life of Christ. They are leather bound and hand written – quite ancient. Both seem to me to be about the author’s own inner life. I believe one is written from a religious viewpoint and the other from a more occult one. I am not attracted to either.’ Bill O.

 Bill is looking back on past attitudes, one religious, one occult, which had been big parts of his earlier life.

 Example: I am in an unknown old building with unsafe floors. I vaguely feel it belongs to my long dead father. Around me are rats, which have young. I am hysterical because they keep multiplying. People with me, unknown, although my husband is there, don’t seem to care about them. I usually wake shouting because one of the rats touches me. I am not frightened of rats when awake. Dorothy C.

The age of the building suggests there is some connection from a long time ago. The dream goes on to say the connection is with the long dead father. This is unclear because Dorothy has not yet made it conscious what the fear is that arose in herself from her relationship with her father.

ancient Usually suggests contact with parts of our being older than the development of the conscious self – such as cellular wisdom; life processes; accepted traditions or ways of life; wisdom of the unconscious.

antique Elements of our past experience which might be worth keeping; wisdom of unconscious. See: age.

Useful Questions and Hints:

How did I feel about the old or antique in my dream?

Have I any difficult feelings about my age or getting old?

Where did the antique appear in my dream?

See Being the Person or Thing – The Conjuring Trick – Life Changes – Background