Oneiromancy

Oneiromancy (from the Greek όνειροϛ oneiros, dream, and μαντεία manteia, prophecy) is a form of divination based upon dreams; it is a system of dream interpretation that uses dreams to predict the future. The Swiss psychotherapist and psychiatrist who developed the field of analytical psychology, Carl Gustav Jung, focused this idea and formed theories, experiments, and terminology around oneiromancy.

Ancient Egyptian

A unique exemplar of a book of dream-interpretation survives from pre-Hellenistic Egypt, the so-called "Ramesside Dream-Book", the surviving fragments of which are translated into English by Kasia Szpakowska.[1]

Assyrian, Babylonian, and Sumerian (Mesopotamian)

The Epic of Gilgamesh reflects heavily on the belief that our ancients looked to our dreams to predict, roughly, our future, by his persistence to sleep on things and gather information from his dreams before making decisions. The story has been retold countless times.

Biblical

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Dreams occur throughout the Bible as omens or messages from God;

Deuteronomy 13:1-5 offers instruction about those who claim to have inspired but false dreams. In Acts 2:17 the apostle Peter quotes Joel 2:28 saying that because of the Spirit now out poured "...your old men will dream dreams."

Greco-Roman

Dream divination was a common feature of Greek and Roman religion and literature of all genres. Aristotle and Plato discuss dreams in various works. The only surviving Greco-Roman dreambook, the Oneirocritica was written by Artemidorus (2c.). Artemidorus cites a large number of previous authors, all now lost.

Oneirocritic literature is the traditional (ancient and mediaeval) literary format of dream interpretation. The ancient sources of oneirocritic literature are Kemetian (Aegyptian), Akkadian (Babylonian), and Hellenic (Greek). The mediaeval sources of oneirocritic literature are Āstika (Hindu), Persian, Arabic, and European.

Ancient oneirocritic literature

Egyptian

The oldest oneirocritic MS hitherto discovered is a Ramesside dream-book now in the British Museum: http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/aes/t/the_dream_book.aspx

Akkadian

This was a section of the extensive omen-literature, the most notable exemplar of which was the “Dream Book,” Iškar Zaqīqu.[2]

Greek

These include Artemidoros, Astrampsychos, Nikephoros, Germanos, and Manuel Palaiologos.

Mediaeval oneirocritic literature

Āstika

The pertinent material is included in the several Purāṇa-s, such as the Liṅga Purāṇa.[3]

Arabic

Here, dreams about specific numbers[4] or about reading specific chapters[5] of the Qurʼan are among the chief subjects of prognostication. The most renowned of the Arabic texts of oneiromancy is the Great Book of Interpretation of Dreams.

European

Achmet is an adaptation of an Arabic book to the tastes of a European readership.

Derived from older literature, modern dream-books are still in common use in Europe and the United States, being commonly sold along with good-luck charms.

Japanese

Sei Shonagon refers to having her dreams interpreted in The Pillow Book.[6]

Cultural

The indigenous Chontal of the Mexican state of Oaxaca use Calea zacatechichi for oneiromancy.

Notes

  1. ↑ Szpakowska, Kasia : Behind Closed Eyes : Dreams and Nightmares in Ancient Egypt. The Classical Press of Wales, Swansea, 2003. http://texts.00.gs/Behind_Closed_Eyes.htm
  2. ↑ Nils P. Heessel : Divinatorische Texte I : ... oneiromantische Omina. Harrassowitz Verlag, 2007.
  3. ↑ Linga Purana. Diamond Pocket Books Ltd. ISBN 81-288-0679-3. pp. 60-62
  4. ↑ Gouda 1991, pp. 296-301
  5. ↑ Gouda 1991, pp. 402-409
  6. ↑ "古典に親しむ". dion.ne.jp.

See also

References


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