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The main reasons to become a dreamer, according to tradition, are to deal with your past lives and the fragments of yourself that are imprisoned in the underworld, and to prepare yourself for your next death. A person who is able to dream consciously will die consciously.

Sergio Magana, The Toltec Secret: Dreaming Practices of the Ancient Mexicans

If we cannot remain present during sleep, if we lose ourselves every night, what chance do we have to be aware when death comes? If we enter our dreams and interact with the mind’s images as if they are real, we should not expect to be free in the state after death. Look to your experience in dreams to know how you will fare in death. Look to your experience of sleep to discover whether or not you are truly awake.

the sudden appearance of a wild, sleepy zhengting (source)

bonus: 

yan chen is shook lmao

I have checked every synonym I can think of for it, but I haven't been able to find anything on the symbolism of bags in my symbol dictionary. As in, bags you would use to carry items with you, such as a backpack or duffel bag.

And, when looking up symbols, what do you do when your dream self "recognizes" something as one thing, but your waking self realizes it was something else. For example: last night I dreamt of coyotes in my courtyard, but when I actually looked closely at them they looked much more like Rottweilers or Dobermans. But, my dream self still called them coyotes.

I'm interested to hear your thoughts! Thank you for your time and energy. <3

Hiii I’m just seeing this I hope I’m not too late in answering 😭

Before I look up any meaning I always reflect on my personal correspondences. ‘What does x mean to me?’ Maybe I’m dreaming of ghosts and in symbolism they represent something scary or sinister, but for me, they mean something comforting and mystical.

I’d recommend you do the same for the bags! When have you used bags? What do these times represent in your life? What would you put in a bag if you were going on a quest? Get creative with the questions you make yourself, you may find something interesting!

And that’s so interesting about dreams I love when that happens where you see something but you know it’s something else. I’d personally look up the meaning of both things! And I’d ask myself how these two things are similar to each other and what their differences are.