Speech problems: Dream 3 of 3

So, I am finally getting back to and concluding the post series from that one night of three dream sequences.  My mind went on several tangents after this one, and I am going to capture as much of my thinking as I can, but not really knowing if it means anything or should even be thought about further.

As a reminder, the first two dreams of that night seem to both have related to Eowyn-Ilmare in some fashion, with the "Surrounding Darkness" seeming to refer to Ungoliant or someone like her who sits on the "Many Waters" and has dominion over all lands and people.  There are only a few scattered members of the Church of the Lamb amidst this darkness.  You and I are for sure not among that Church at this time, and as there are only two churches (as the angel explains to Nephi), our membership currently resides with the Great and Abominable Church. 

But Eowyn, Asenath, the Three Disciples, John, etc., have membership cards with the Church of the Lamb, which is the good news for us.

Anyway, in my 3rd dream that followed the "Anchorwoman" sequence, I found myself in a room talking to someone.  It was a man, and he seemed much older and wiser than I was.  He was explaining something to me.  I began responding with some of my own explanations, but I was not too far into my own speaking, when I began developing a very serious lisp.  As part of this, my mouth was no longer closing correctly when I spoke, as my front two upper and lower teeth began to click against each other and get in the way to such an extent that I couldn't clearly enunciate words anymore, and soon the lisp turned into just not being comprehensible.

I began apologizing profusely and was really embarrassed because I just couldn't make my words sound right.  As I was doing this, my mouth felt almost like it was changing shape, and now began to lock up.  I couldn't move my jaw anymore.  As this was happening, I still felt that I had some thoughts that would be good to share, so I thought,"Well, I better get a paper and pen and just write down what I want to say."  As I was in the process of looking for those things, I woke up.

Interpreting this dream relies somewhat on figuring out through whose perspective am I dreaming, as well as determining if it is connected with the earlier two dreams from that morning.

One potential explanation ties to Lehi's commentary on the Seer who I have associated with the Sawtooth and Anor Stones (i.e., Faramir) being not allowed to speak much in conveying his message.  In this way, he would be like Moses and require a spokesman.  Here is Lehi's quote (from 2 Nephi 3):

And the Lord hath said: I will raise up a Moses; and I will give power unto him in a rod; and I will give judgment unto him in writing. Yet I will not loose his tongue, that he shall speak much, for I will not make him mighty in speaking. But I will write unto him my law, by the finger of mine own hand; and I will make a spokesman for him.

And the Lord said unto me also: I will raise up unto the fruit of thy loins; and I will make for him a spokesman. And I, behold, I will give unto him that he shall write the writing of the fruit of thy loins, unto the fruit of thy loins; and the spokesman of thy loins shall declare it.

So the Seer, like Moses, will not be able to speak much, and will need to have a spokesman to relay the things he writes.  Based on that, you could interpret my dream as being from the perspective of Faramir, and the dream relates his future inability to speak much, or in an understandable way, but having to rely on both writing, and then a spokesman to communicate what was written.

That would make sense also, given that the earlier two dreams seem to have been about Eowyn.  The second dream right before this one, about the "Anchorwoman", again suggests that she will coordinate and deliver the 'news' or stories to Faramir, and this third dream both identifies our person and supports what Lehi is saying above (in relating Joseph's prophecy).  It would not be the first time 2 Nephi 3 has come up in my words and dreams (with Asenath's quoting part of it to the Balrog at Sawtooth as an example), so this interpretation seems to make sense.

In this light, the man who seemed older and wiser might then be an illusion to what Nephi conveys or prophecy about in his words of 2 Nephi 27, where he says:

Therefore, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, yea, a marvelous work and a wonder, for the wisdom of their wise and learned shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent shall be hid.

 

Given that I have also associated what will happen with these Stones to be part of this "marvelous work and a wonder" Nephi mentions, this would also seem to make sense.  In this interpretation, Faramir is addressing (or trying to, but clearly failing!) a 'wise and learned' Being, but obviously will need to do it in a way other than speaking.

This is all assuming that we are viewing the dream through the eyes or experience of Faramir-Eonwe, though.  There is a chance that perhaps the dream is flipped.  The fact that toward the end I felt like I couldn't open my mouth, also brings to mind the passage about kings shutting their mouths.  Interestingly, those words are given by Jesus at Bountiful also in the context of discussing a 'marvelous work' and the servant I have associated with Faramir.

And when that day shall come, it shall come to pass that kings shall shut their mouths; for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider.

In this interpretation, my dream would have been through the eyes of one of these kings or wise men, who, in trying to respond to this man who may then be the servant Faramir, found myself unable to speak in reply.

The fact that I was still looking for pen and paper to communicate things, however, has me leaning slightly toward the first interpretation (as in, I wasn't shutting my mouth because I was considering a new thing, it was shut because I was unable to speak but still looking for a way to communicate), but just calling it out there that this has a few different ways you could take it based on your assumption of whose eyes the dream is experienced through.

I mean, heck, it could be through the eyes of Moses himself as another option.  Again, the fact that the first two dreams seem to refer to Eowyn-Ilmare has me still thinking Faramir here, but there are other options.

OK, so after I wake up though, I remained fixated on the feeling of my mouth - what it felt like with my front teeth sort of clicking on each other, and the sensation that my mouth shape had changed.  The physical sensation just hangs around for quite some time.  This is then where I start going down a few tangents that might not really be anything, but it is where my mind went, so why not log it.  It isn't without some potential connections to themes explored here, so doesn't seem completely random.

Recently (and at times in the past relative to these words), the story of "Watership Down" has come to my mind.  

I tell my kids that they really missed out on the glory days of growing up a young kid in the 80s because we got all of the really traumatic 'kid-friendly' cartoons and movies.  I mean, we had Watership Down, The Last Unicorn (the red bull legit freaked me out), The Secret of NIMH,  the Dark Crystal.  There is truly nothing comparable today to those shows - dark themes, with redemption, but usually bittersweet - and stuff that would just scare the crap out of you.

In fact, just recently my older sister sent me a picture of art in a shop she was in that reminded her of the opening prologue of Watership Down (which freaked both of us out as kids and still gives her the creeps).  Here is that prologue:

In any case, Watership Down was on my mind for a few general reasons, but strangely the "Man in Black" theme that came up really seemed to have me thinking about it.  For some reason, I just had this thought keep coming about the "Black Rabbit" that is in the story.  This association was further strengthened with the mention of 'red', specifically red eyes in at least one of my dreams.  The Black Rabbit is shown in the movie as having these red eyes (not all the time - sometimes they are clear, and then turn red).  Here is an example:

As I was going down this thought pattern with Watership Down and the Black Rabbit, I looked up the "Bright Eyes" song segment from the movie.  I think Bright Eyes (sung by Art Garfunkel) is a beautiful song, and the scene is a bit of a psychedelic one (as are many things dealing with Fiver's visions), but there were at least two interesting things - one a bit of a random one, and the other dealing with the Black Rabbit, and thus more on topic.

So random one first.

At the 2:40 mark of the video, Fiver goes underneath a transmission tower for electricity lines.  As he goes under, he looks up, and the tower goes through a series of transitions.  At first, it is waving around, and it looks to me as if it is a spider's web - or it behaves as a spider's web might act in the wind being blown around (I guess it could be webbing of any kind, or some kind of weaving, not necessarily just that of a spider).  The web then transitions into a tree or tree branches from what I can tell, as if Fiver is in a forest looking up now.

The electrical transmission tower transforming into a spider's web reminded me very clearly of a post by William Tychonievich called "With spider’s oil the lamps of Salem burn", where he writes of giving Nostradamus-esque seership a try in trying to write a prophetic quatrain.  He said the first line came instantly, which is the title of the post, but then nothing else came after that.

He wrote follow-up posts about this line, and spiders.  I am almost 100% certain he wrote something about connecting 'spider's oil' with electricity, but I did a few searches on his site and couldn't find the reference.  So, either I was wrong, or he or someone else potentially captured that thought in the comments section of his blog.  In any case, when I viewed the Bright Eyes video again, I had already associated the possibility of "spider's oil" meaning something like electricity from what I thought was William's blog.  Thus, it really stood out to me when Fiver (a seer) sees the electric tower transform into what seems to be a spider's web.  Interesting.  [Update:  William left a comment to this post indicating where he had wondered about spider's oil and electricity, and leaving a link to the post in question.  It was actually in the comment section of a post, which is why I couldn't find it.]

That was the random bit.

Going back to the Black Rabbit, for whatever reason I was having some thoughts before I saw the video that related this Being to Faramir/ Eonwe, and the Man in Black, etc.  This didn't seem to make sense, as the Black Rabbit is basically viewed as Death, and something to be feared or avoided.

In the dialogue that starts at around the 0:30 mark, however, there is a line that stood out to me because it basically says the same thing about the Black Rabbit that Joseph (and Lehi who is quoting him) says about the Seer (Faramir).  The one rabbit says to Fiver:

"The Black Rabbit serves Lord Frith.  But he does no more than his appointed task"

Compare this with Joseph's prophecy in 2 Nephi 3 (quoting God):

And I will give unto him a commandment that he shall do none other work, save the work which I shall command him. And I will make him great in mine eyes; for he shall do my work.

 

So, the Seer, like the Black Rabbit, will only do his appointed task - the work that he is commanded to do.

In the closing scene of Watership Down, there is another scene in which the Black Rabbit visits Hazel, though this time seeming to change appearance between his Black Rabbit face, and another rabbit, who is not identified.  This scene stood out to me, because in some ways it very closely maps to one of my dreams from back in 2020.  In that dream, I stood in front of what was the Sun, from what I could tell.  It seemed that I was being asked to walk into the Sun, but I hesitated and looked back, not wanting to leave my family, before finally turning around and stepping in.

In the Watership Down scene, the Black Rabbit invites Hazel to join him, which consists of Hazel dying (after feeling hesitation and concern for his family), and then his spirit joining the Black Rabbit as they run across the sky and eventually run into, what else, the Sun.

Back in 2020, because I was at that time interpreting every dream as if through my own eyes, I became extremely anxious that this was about me, and that I was going to have to leave my family, and either die or go somewhere else, or something.  It is hard to remember all the places I took that dream, which had a significant impact on me (I really had a hard time with it).  I don't associate it with me anymore (rather, I think it may have been about Joseph of Egypt, but don't know for sure - have just kind of left it sitting for a bit), but again, it was very interesting to see a similar scenario to the Watership Down ending, and of course to other "Sun" imagery, travel across skies, etc.

OK, so great, but what does this have to do with the dream of my speech problems?  Well, as I mentioned, I had that sensation my of my front teeth and my mouth seeming to have changed, and was thinking on that a bit.  I landed on the fact that it felt like my teeth and mouth had become something like a rodent's teeth, with outsized front teeth.  You know, something like this:

Rodents have come up before, obviously, with the best example being our old 'friend' Saruman as a rat, or even a beaver.  So, I thought about this possibility and its implications some (was the dream through Saruman's perspective?).  But, in looking this up, I also noted that rabbit's teeth are exactly the same, or have the same characteristic massive front teeth.

It was in realizing that rabbits also have these teeth, that the dream seemed to make sense, and thus also my apparently strange association with Faramir-Eonwe as the Black Rabbit.  In other words, if I was dreaming through Faramir's perspective, and he is associated with the Rabbit, then it would make some kind of sense to have my mouth transformed into that of a rabbit.

Still, though, the Black Rabbit connection puzzled me as it seems that the Black Rabbit association with Death was incompatible with how I viewed Faramir's role and those he would be working with.  

Then, I stumbled upon a quote from the Watership Down book that seemed to help me make sense of it (for transparency, I have never read the book - only watched the cartoon - so there may be other things or interesting connections I am missing).  In the book, the Black Rabbit is called both a "Protector" to the rabbits, but also he himself says that he will save the people of El-ahrairah:

You must understand, El-ahrairah, that I have no wish to make you suffer. I am not one of the Thousand…You are a nuisance to me. Go home. I myself will save your people. Do not have the impertinence to ask me when. There is no time here. They are already saved.

It seems, then, that the Black Rabbit has multiple roles to play in terms of the Watership Down story, and that one of them is saving people, much as what Joseph of Egypt says the Seer's work will do:  Bring salvation to the people of Joseph.

for the thing, which the Lord shall bring forth by his hand, by the power of the Lord shall bring my people unto salvation.

It wasn't much of any additional detail around the Black Rabbit, but it was enough to create the thought that there are multiple roles for Faramir, and that will involve both Life and Death.  For, it seems, the work that he will take part in will indeed bring Death to some people. This would be the Second Death.  As Jesus says about the servant, the work, and this Death:

Therefore it shall come to pass that whosoever will not believe in my words, who am Jesus Christ, which the Father shall cause him to bring forth unto the Gentiles, and shall give unto him power that he shall bring them forth unto the Gentiles, (it shall be done even as Moses said) they shall be cut off from among my people who are of the covenant. [3 Nephi 21]

So, Eowyn and Faramir, and the stories they bring, along with other Beings and their works, will bring Life to some, and bring Death to others, this Death meaning being in a state of being cut off from Jesus and his people.  How a Being will view Faramir-Eonwe, and the stories and works that come out, will largely depend on how one believes or treats the stories.  For those that believe, it seems he is still the Black Rabbit, but that this 'death' that is brought it means the end of an old false life, and an introduction to a new (and old), true life.  They will be restored to themselves and Good, and become members of the Church of the Lamb.

For those that don't believe, the Black Rabbit is one to be feared because the probationary time at that point is over, and things then really matter, and there is no escape.  As I think I may have mentioned before (I can't remember), I associate Faramir-Black Rabbit-Eonwe with the Being Joseph Smith writes of in his Grammar and Alphabet of the Egyptian Language as Jah-ni-hah or Jah-ho-e-oop (who I equate as titles for the same person).  His description is as follows:

An ambassador: one delegated with Kingly power; one authorized to ex[e]cute judgement for the King; a swift messenger one whose power cannot be escaped; one next to supreme;

one delegated from the highest soar, acting in or b[e]ing clothed with the power of another; one from sent from the Celestial Kingdom

Anyway, like I said, a bit of a ranging thought journey based on the dream, and then going into Watership Down and Black Rabbits, and then back out again to Faramir and all of that stuff.  But it all makes sense to me currently, with perhaps the emphasis on judgment and the fact that some manner of Death, whether good or bad, will accompany Eowyn and Faramir's work, being kind of a new thought or perspective to consider.

And finally, with the interpretations as I have laid them out, there definitely does seem to be a narrative link that spans the 3 individual dream sequences from that morning.  Whether I improperly created that narrative remains to be seen.