Ascending Ascent
Whether the ascending is in a lift, flying or climbing a hill, it can link to the rising feelings of passion or sexual pleasure, or the transition from expressing energy genitally to expressing it in self awareness. Such a shift from a lower mood or sensation to one felt as exhilarating or lighter is often shown as ascending.
In many past cultural traditions ascent was associated with purification or refinement – as in the ascent to heaven, or a holy mountain. It also suggested becoming more detached, or finding a different perspective. We could see it also as evolution of ourselves to a newer level. Because we often move to a wider view of things, becoming more aware of our situation or surroundings as we get higher, ascending is often linked with change, and perhaps leaving things behind, the dropping away of what occupied you below. It can also be an attempt to remove yourself from the difficulties or experiences of the world – there may be a link with losing touch with reality. See Altered States of Consciousness.
Example: I was dreaming that I was walking around a small cul-de-sac early in the morning. I came up to a group of old women dressed in black huddled around a pentagram chanting something. I was terrified of them. For some reason I thought they were witches so I turned to run away. That is when they saw me and they started chasing after me. I started running but I wasn’t fast enough. They were right behind me. Than right before they were about to grab me I shot up into the air. Shortly after I was flying; it felt so freeing. Than for some reason I started trying to find god. I was shouting out for him and calling his name. As I was calling out to him I saw a giant face in the clouds. It felt really powerful. It was a perfect face and I thought my call had been answered. – In the example the dreamer ascend to escape from terror.
The term ‘upwardly mobile also links ascent with success or a change toward greater fortune; moving toward achievement.
In some dreams or out of body experiences, the clear awareness of OBE is sometimes preceded by a feeling of rapidly moving upward. In such cases there is a sort of awakening, and ascending may in fact be an expression of nearing wakefulness. So ascending would be a move to waking, and descending moving toward deeper sleep or knowing the unconscious.
Jung points out that the theme of ascent is part of many ancient religious rituals and beliefs. In most cases the ascent is, like the rising sun during the day or the summer, linked completely with the descent in the evening, night, or winter. Ascent is therefore part of a spiral which also descends, the cycle of birth, death, rebirth. Christianity tends to speak of a one time resurrection however, whereas the ancient belies saw it as a continuing cycle. See: flying; up-upper.
Example: Genesis 028:010 And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran. And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed.
Ascending a hill or mountain or tree: Often shows having a more inclusive view or understanding of one’s activities and place in the scheme of things. It also signifies purification or personal evolution. Ascent of a hill often appears in dreams of people in or approaching middle age, and depicts their life so far as an ascent. Usually there is a descent following. See: hill.
Ascending into the sky: Upliftment in some form; attaining a wider view of ones life situation – where you are in life; death, as in ascending into heaven. It appears in some dreams showing a change in them leading to a wonderful talent or opportunity. It can occasionally depict a manic state where the person cannot get back down so is a way to escape from everyday life by taking on a more ‘spiritual’ attitude, but often it is so unbalanced it leads to no real satisfaction.
Climbing stairs, going up in an elevator or lift: Movement toward waking or becoming more aware; the mental; or an escape from anxiety or being ‘down to earth’; sexual pleasure, or mounting feelings of love and attraction. It can also indicate going up in the world, so may link with ambition or achievement. Overcoming difficulties such as anxiety to reach a goal; in some stair dreams there is a tremendous amount of anxiety and feeling of insecurity. This may link with the babyhood fear of falling down stairs, and not yet having the skill to deal with stairs easily. See: example in lift under house and buildings.
If the lift goes out the top of the roof, or the connection with base is missing: Can show a critical situation of the mind being split from body awareness; schizoid or manic.
Watching something ascend – such as an object – or something emerging from the sea: Something you are becoming more conscious of; something emerging from unconsciousness.
Useful Questions and Hints:
What am I feeling as I ascend, and where does that feeling appear in my waking life?
Is there a particular situation or difficulty I am moving away from, and is that in my life also?
What method or attitude am I using to ascend? Is it will power or some other influence?
Read Processing Dreams to help define the dream meaning.
Comments
I HAVE LUCID DREAMING OFTEN. IN THEM I ALWAYS TRY TO FLY UP TO HEAVENS BEYOND THE CLOUDS BUT I CANT. EVERY TIME I ATTEMPT TO DO IT SOMETHING STOP ME, I AM DENY THE ACCESS. I REMEMBER WHEN I WAS A CHILD OF BEING TAKEN THERE BY A GIANT HAND THAT SNATCH ME OUT OF MY DREAM, BUT I WAS TO TERRIFY TO GO TO WHERE IT WANTED ME TO GO. BUT NOW THAT I SEEK FOR IT, I CANNOT DO IT, SOMEHOW I AM BLOCKED OR I AM RETURN TO WHERE I BEGAN, OR SOMETHING ATTACK ME OR DISTRACT ME. THE POINT IS I CANNOT GET BEYOND THE CLOUDS EVEN I I CONSCIOUSLY TRY WHEN AM LUCID DREAMING. WHAT DOES IT MEAN.
Hi – It would help you to understand your dreams, if you would read – http://dreamhawk.com/news/summing-up/ and also http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/features-found-on-site/ which has so much information in.
Nothing can replace your own ability to understand your dream. With a little effort you can do this by practising what is described in – http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/acting-on-your-dream/#BeingPerson or http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/getting-at-your-dreams-meaning/
Tony
Robert – Please understand that the baby, the child and the adult are three very different creatures with enormously different mind sets, world views and responses. We recognise this slightly when we say she or he is like a baby, or someone acts like a child.
As a child you were nearer to what we call ‘heaven’, but even so you were terrified. I wonder what had put fear into you at such a tender age?
Getting to ‘heaven’ as an adult needs a lot of learning and experience, because we have been pumped full of ideas, opinions traumas and beliefs that stand in the way. See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/archetype-of-the-night-journey-the-search-for-self/ or try http://dreamhawk.com/approaches-to-being/opening-to-life/
Also see http://dreamhawk.com/inner-life/lucid-dreaming/ – http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/lucidity/
Hello my name is Eli and I had a dream where I was walking around and all of a sudden I was floating towards the sky. I saw an antique style ship above the clouds and below me, and on the high up lookout point type part of the ship there was a trampoline. So I lowered myself down and bounced on the trampoline from that one to another trampoline to another to another and soon found myself on an old, word down path. At this point I noticed that I was dreaming, and then had my first lucid dream ever! I was controlling how I went about traversing the old path, enjoying myself and creatively moving along the old path, balancing on the stones on the sides of the path. Later in the dream I was discussing with my good friend how I just had a lucid dream. What does all this mean?
Thanks so much!
-Eli
Hi – I am stopping from answering your posts fully – but will try to give hints; sometimes long ones because I quote from masses I have already put online. Also, I need to take time to update the site – dreamhawk.
It would help you to understand your dreams, if you would read – http://dreamhawk.com/approaches-to-being/questions-2/#Summing and also http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/features-found-on-site/ which has so much information in.
Nothing can replace your own ability to understand your dream. With a little effort you can do this by practicing what is described in – http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/acting-on-your-dream/#BeingPerson or http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/getting-at-your-dreams-meaning/
Tony
Becoming lucid as you were in your dream is a fist step in meeting and learning about the massive world inside you. But it is only one step. For more information please see http://dreamhawk.com/inner-life/lucid-dreaming/ and http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/dimensions-of-human-experience/ and maybe also http://dreamhawk.com/news/our-reaction-to-the-huge-that-we-are/
Hi. I have had a few dreams over a period of a few months. They are all very much the same. I am being forced upwards. It feels as if there is a huge air vent pushing me and deflating my chest. I feel I may look more like another being. I can’t fly around due to the force but I look down and see an old lady of around 90 (I am 57). I start off scared but relax because I have recognised these are not me actually dying. I am guessing that these dreams are suggesting something to me. I have just been made redundant from a job that was upsetting me. So now I have to try to find work at my age, keep my house payments going etc. I am under a huge amount of stress. I don’t cope with stress at the best of times. Is there any way that you can explain if these dreams? Cheers.
Hi – I am sorry to suddenly stop replying to dreams like this, but I must upgrade the dream dictionary – I started the revising in 2006, and haven’t got near the end yet.
So for a while I urge you to read http://dreamhawk.com/approaches-to-being/i-am-no-longer-interpreting-dreams/
Also here are so ways you can find your dreams meaning – http://dreamhawk.com/approaches-to-being/questions-2/#Summing – http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/getting-at-your-dreams-meaning/ or http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/acting-on-your-dream/#BeingPerson and http://dreamhawk.com/approaches-to-being/opening-to-life/
Hundreds of questions about your dreams have already been answered if you scroll down to the very bottom of the page were people’s questions/comments were replied to. Also see http://dreamhawk.com/approaches-to-being/questions-2/
Tony
I had a dream of rising in air,
Many got training of rising in air with strange flying instrument. It was a flat circular platewith strings. I could see some landing no sure if I practiced but 1 or two landings. Later my family is there to send me up, all are waiting. A person advises sing this song that you are leaving home [A popular but other language bollywood song], After this I start rising and rising. It was scary in air (in strong winds) dono how to land, I had reach great heights but it was scary at top just rising.
Sid – Realise that dreams are simply images and actions that are trying to describe something happening within you – your mind or consciousness. The rising is an indication that you are slowly losing awareness of your physical senses, not that you are leaving your body. Singing and chanting are ways to do this.
But it is not a good thing to do without training, for one can get lost in strange or scary experiences. So I suggest reading http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/integration-meeting-oneself/
Tony
Hello, my name is Hannah. I am 27 years old. Last night I had a dream that I was standing outside with my family. We were looking up at the sky. Someone had said, “It’s Jesus”! I raised my right hand to the sky. That’s when I lifted off the ground. I was being raised to the sky. I herd my sister call my name. I felt afraid for a moment and almost closed my eyes. Then I felt okay, I felt that I should not be afraid. Then I started seeing many different colors and patterns. I have had other dreams about the rapture, they always seem so real. I have also had a strange occurrence happen to me around three times. I awaken from my sleep and see all these colors around me like a bubble dome. There are many colors and there is a very intricate detail, like a depth also. Its difficult to put to words. I have been wondering what it can be. I also would like to know if numbers have relevance in our lives. I was born on the 333rd day of the year 27 years ago at 4:44am. Maybe I just want to be special… 🙂 But I have wanted to know for a long time if there is significant meaning in time and date. Please give me your input. 🙂
Dear Hannah – In Christian eschatology the rapture refers to the belief that either before, or simultaneously with, the Second Coming of Jesus Christ to earth, believers who have died will be raised and believers who are still alive and remain shall be caught up together with them (the resurrected dead believers) in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.
My perception is that unconscious and conscious beliefs shape/create our (inner) world and so beliefs also shape our dreams.
What is used both in the bible and in our dreams to express our Inner Life are symbols and “to wonder what it can be” reflects a desire to give these experiences a meaning/understanding that you can relate to in the moment and that may help you to move on.
To get a different perspective of the symbols that are used in the New Testament, you could read http://dreamhawk.com/inner-life/yield/
The abstract colours and patterns that arise after waking up is the dream process breaking through; http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/hallucinations/
I would see them as the “bubbles of experience” that Tony writes about;
“Through my work with dreams, and my research into how the unconscious spontaneously lets bubbles of experience flow into consciousness, I became interested in the symbols in the New Testament.
I feel sure the gospel stories are about how we all meet the deepest aspects of our own life – moments such as realising we are more than we thought we were; moments that express bringing something new of ourselves to birth; experiences such as realising our own mortality and immortality.”
I cannot answer your question if the numbers given have relevance in your life nor can I tell if this is about wanting to be special. Perhaps reading information about “Numerology” may help you find the answers to your questions within?
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numerology and also http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/dream-incubation/
I believe that moving beyond wanting to be special – which should not be confused with becoming a self-aware and independent human being; http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/individuation/ – can be part of the growth process.
If we choose so we can all transform our inner darkness and raise our vibration to Christ consciousness and this does not rely on beliefs in standards set by other human beings; http://dreamhawk.com/yoga/inner-path-christ-part-one/
and
http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/vibrate-vibration/
Anna 🙂
Hi I had a dream last night ( I only remeber glimpse) that there was a white inverted pentagram and then I remeber one distinctly on a gray background and black star. I woke up right after and was hearing a deep breathing. So I went to my moms room. I felt very uneasy.
Background:
I am sensitive to the paranormal side of world I can sense when something is in a room, house, ect. I can feel emotions. And yea. But I have seen my uncle who has died in a car crash when he was twelve. I saw him. And my youngest brother, he has been tourmented by a sprit. And one time I felt something come into my room, and was very very bad.
Could this be a demonic sign?
Hello could you please help me answer this puzzling dream?!! Last night I had a dream that I was out in front of my building at night time, and I was standing next to my grandmother who was dressed in her pink pajamas. As I was standing with her I felt that we were being raised up into the sky by an invisible force. I did not feel any panic or distress but I did try holding on to her so we wont separate However she ended up staying behind as I was raised up further into the night sky. I look around me and saw light orbe shapes made up of stars, and suddenly I was standing in what looked like a white train station filled with many young adults my age rushing to get into one of the “trains”…Rushing along with them I had chosen a train cart and as I sat down I noticed that it was designed to fit only four per train with nothing but a glass shaped roof…I realized that this was in fact a sort of “spaceship”.. looking over to my left I had asked a gentleman who looked like a guard what exactly we were doing here..he calmly replied that we were being sent to scare of the “invaders”.. when asked if it was dangerous or if we will ever return he had told me that it wouldnt hurt much and that we will return in 9 years….!
I always try to be aware of my dreams, and I am very spiritual so I understand that dreams have a deeper meaning. This dream stands out a lot because I had never once dreamed of ascending, or being calm in leaving my gran behind… I am going through a lot of new changes in my life and I was wondering if you can give me some more insight as to what my dream would mean.
Hi, I’m Julia and I’m 18 years old I had this dream the other night I wanted to do some research on so please if anyone knows what this means or can help me understand please comment me back or contact me. I had a dream that the world was ending and then there was a flash of light and God told me I needed to leave I remember saying back but I don’t want to leave I’m not ready to and then he put my mind at peace and I ascended towards heaven in a white tunnel of blur and I remember feeling very at ease and peaceful and at the top God greeted me and said I had a new life in heaven and everything would be fine. I remember feeling like I wasn’t welcome in heaven because I’ve sinned. But God still welcomed me and I felt he supported me and put my mind at ease. I don’t remember seeing God I just remember speaking to him and I remember seeing all the other people around and feeling happy to be there. I don’t know what this means and I would love to have some answers if anyone out there knows and sees this if they could please help me that would be great thanks so much.
First of all Julia, all things in dreams appear as symbols – even God. And what
dreams do is to put everything inside us as things, people and environments outside us. So please read this before reading on – http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/questions-2/#Summing
Julia, the world is always ending. Think about it, the world you knew as a baby ended. The world you knew as a youth ended, and now the world you knew as a teenager is ending. And dreams are very literal – the world you knew is ending. In fact the outer world you knew as child is so different. You live in the world of cell phones, worldwide internet, which was not the world you were born in. Things are changing very fast, and you were lucky to have felt the presence of God so early in your life – because that is constant despite change.
As I said, even God in dreams is presented as something outside of you. But the wonder is that God is inside of you, and you are loved and forgiven. See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/gods/
The ascent was a wonderful introduction to your new life in the spirit. You have a great ability to have this experience so young. So ask God what would be good for you to do with your life. For we are all workers in the vineyard and it would be good to know what your work is in the new kingdom.
Tony