Oneiromancy
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"In The Terrors of the Night (1594), Thomas Nashe launched an effort to discredit dream divination, thanking God that he had never had the patience to read 'Artimidorus, Synesius, & Cardan'—notorious defenders of supernatural and vatic ...--Dreams, Sleep, and Shakespeare’s Genres (2020) by Claude Fretz |
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Oneiromancy (from the Greek Oneiroi) is a form of divination based upon dreams; it is a system of dream interpretation that uses dreams to predict the future.
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Biblical
Template:Incomplete-list Dreams occur throughout the Bible as omens or messages from God:
- Jacob dreams of a ladder to heaven (Genesis 28);
- his son Joseph dreamed of his future success (Genesis 37) and interpreted the dreams of the Pharaoh of Egypt (Genesis 41);
- Solomon conversed with God in his dreams;
- Daniel interpreted dreams (in the Book of Daniel);
- the Magi are told in a dream to avoid Herod on their journey home (Matthew 2).
- Joseph, husband of Mary, was directed to flee to Egypt (Matthew 2);
- Paul was told to go to Macedonia (Acts 16).
Greco-Roman
Dream divination was a common feature of Greek and Roman religion and literature or 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.
Cultural
The indigenous Chontal of the Mexican state of Oaxaca use Calea zacatechichi for for oneiromancy.
Byzantine
From the Byzantine period survive two shorter dreambooks, ascribed to Achmet and the mythical Astrampsychus.
See also
External links
- Dream Interpretation Resources. Ancient Astrology and Divination on the Web (Tim Spalding).