DREAM GALAXY

Diary & poem of record · Cities & buildings

Three crowned figures at the mountain

Mount Zion (vision) · 30 April 1882

The time was drawing towards dawn in a wild and desolate region. And I stood with my genius at the foot of a mountain the summit of which was hidden in mist. At a few paces from me stood three persons, clad in splendid robes and wearing crowns on their heads. Each personage carried a casket and a key: the three caskets differed from one another, but the keys were all alike. And my genius said to me, "These are the three kings of the East, and they journey hither over the river that is dried up, to go up into the mountain of Sion and rebuild the Temple of the Lord God."

Original text — Dreams and Dream-Stories, Part I: Dreams, Anna Bonus Kingsford; edited by Edward Maitland

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Source
Dreams and Dream-Stories, Part I: Dreams — Anna Bonus Kingsford; edited by Edward Maitland, posthumous edition; dreams recorded c. 1876–1887. Part I, XVII. The Three Kings
Rights
Public domain (author died 100+ years ago)
Record type
Diary & poem of record
Place
Mount Zion (vision) · British, Christian
Date
30 April 1882
Uncertainty
Low — Dated first-person diary vision drawing on biblical and esoteric imagery.
Imagery
Mountain · Ruler · Temple · Gate
Feelings
Awe · Wonder

Another way to look at this dream

Notes on the images in this dream from psychology, myth, folklore and semiotics. Each names its source.

Mountain

Were you climbing it, looking at it, or already on top? What would reaching the summit mean to you?

Japanese custom Folk saying

An Edo-period saying ranks the luckiest images for the first dream of the New Year (hatsuyume): “first Fuji, second a hawk, third an aubergine”.

Edo-period saying on hatsuyume

Chinese poetry Literature

Li Bai climbs Mount Tianmu in a dream, sees a whole immortal world open up, then wakes on his pillow — and decides not to bow to the powerful.

Li Bai, “Dreaming of Tianmu” (c. 745)

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Ruler

Were you the ruler, a subject, or an onlooker? Who gave the crown its weight?

Chinese philosophy Philosophy

In the Liezi a hired labourer dreams every night that he is a prince, and a rich man dreams every night that he is a servant. The labourer’s reply: “By day a slave, by night a ruler: why should I complain?”

Liezi, “King Mu of Zhou”

Hebrew Bible Myth & scripture

Young Joseph dreams that his brothers’ sheaves bow to his. They answer: “Shalt thou indeed reign over us?” and hate him the more. A dream of rule is heard as a claim.

Genesis 37:7–8 (King James Version)

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Temple

Was the building empty or full? Did you feel you belonged there, or were you a visitor?

Greek religion Classical text

At the oracle of Amphiaraus, visitors first purified themselves, sacrificed a ram, then wrapped themselves in its skin and went to sleep, “and expect divine direction through a dream”. Pausanias adds that Amphiaraus was, he thought, especially good at divination by dreams.

Pausanias, Description of Greece I.34 (Shilleto trans.)

Hebrew Bible Myth & scripture

After dreaming of a ladder with angels on it, Jacob wakes in fear: “How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” A dream turns an ordinary place into a sanctuary.

Genesis 28:16–17 (King James Version)

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Exploration notes, not a diagnosis, a prediction, or evidence of real events.

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