Looking over the last two months and all the e-mail response, it has occurred to me that I never laid down a foundation for the paranormal world of dreams. Just for a lark, I had dove into the subject never "dreaming" (forgive the pun) that your response would be so overwhelming. I will briefly try to capture the essence of the phenomenon.

Introduction
On average, we spend about one third of our lives sleeping. During a portion of that time, we are also dreaming. While asleep, we can gain rest and refreshment for our hard day of work. Essentially, dreams are our method of relaxing and letting our minds drift away into a distant world. While dreaming, we can interact with various people, places or things.

Technically speaking, a dream is mass hallucination. A dream is a hallucination that is also a fantastical journey in our sleep that either relieves us of stress or tries to detract us from a certain habit or future happening (better known as a nightmare). Dreams help us to understand ourselves giving that we know how to interpret them. Interpreting dreams is a very powerful tool. We can find out deep secrets or reveal concealed feelings towards something just by analyzing a dream correctly.

When we think about dreams we must wonder why they occur. There are several explanations for this question. It is a fact that we all must sleep. We constantly go through cycles of sleep and wakefulness. During each cycle, our minds must be active. Obviously when we are awake, we are using our minds for various actions. When we are asleep, it is not as obvious how our minds are at work. To keep our minds active during sleep we must dream.

History
The origin of dream interpretation is unknown. Some of the earliest examples of dreams being interpreted were in the bible. Joseph interpreted dreams in the bible of two persons, a cupbearer and a baker:

"...the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt who were confined in the jail both had dreams on the same night, each dream with its own meaning. When Joseph came to them in the morning, he noticed that they looked disturbed. So he asked Pharaoh's courtiers who were with him in custody in his master's house, 'Why do you look so sad today?' They answered him, 'We have had dreams, but there is no one to interpret them for us.' Joseph said to them, 'Surely, interpretations come from God. Please tell the dreams to me." (Genesis 40:5-8)

In fact, this interpretation by Joseph had a tremendous impact on not only Egypt, but also the future of dream interpretations.

A little later on, Greek philosophers further bettered dream analysis. The most famous of these Greek philosophers was Aristotle. He spoke of the illusion of 'sense-perception', the malfunctioning of the senses, which allows dreams to occur. Aristotle later suggested that dreams are formed by disturbances of the body.

Not until that mid 19th century did another philosopher as great as Aristotle come along. A man by the name of Sigmund Freud truly revolutionized the study of dreams. He believed that the analysis of dreams was a very useful and powerful tool in uncovering unconscious thoughts and desires. Freud also believed that "the purpose of dreams is to allow us to satisfy in fantasies the instinctual urges that society judges unacceptable."

The Dreaming Process
There are four stages of sleep:

• Stage 1:
  The first stage of sleep. It is a very light sleep. Stage one usually lasts just a few minutes. If the sleeper is not disturbed by anyone or thing, he or she will quickly journey into stage 2 sleep.
• Stage 2:
  This is a much deeper sleep than stage 1. Dreams start to brew around stage 2.
  Although there are no clear images, vague thoughts and ideas drift through the sleeper's mind. If the sleeper remains undisturbed, he or she will drift off into stage 3.
• Stage 3:
  A deeper sleep than stage 2. The sleeper's muscles are all relaxed by now, and his or her heart rate has slowed down. The sleeper's blood pressure is also falling. His or her breathing is steady and even. The sleeper is very difficult to wake now. Only two things can wake the sleeper now, a loud noise or a repetitious calling of the sleeper's name. Before long, the sleeper will venture into stage 4 sleep.
• Stage 4:
  The deepest sleep of all. This is the time the dreams occur. The sleeper is almost impossible to wake now. If there is a loud noise or if the sleeper is shaken, it will take the sleeper a few seconds to wake up. Both the sleeper's blood pressure and heart rate fluctuate, the sleeper's brain heats up. Then comes the REM (or better known as rapid eye movement). If the sleeper is woken up during this time, he or she will be able to remember a recently dreamt dream. The first REM period will last only about ten minutes. After that, the sleeper goes back into a deep stage 4 sleep. Again, the sleeper goes into a REM stage after a short period and cycles through REM and stage 4 until the sleeper is woken up.

Interpreting Your Dreams
Interpreting dreams is a difficult and tedious task. If you can successfully interpret your dreams, however, you can learn a lot about yourself. There are a few simple steps to dream interpretation. Interpreting a Dream

1. Before even going to bed, try to keep a clear mind. Having many thoughts on your mind (especially disturbing ones) can distract you from remembering the dream.
2. Take a pencil and a piece of paper and put it next to your bed.
3. Try to just lay down on your bed and try not to think of anything.
4. Slowly close your eyes and continue to keep a clear mind. You will eventually fall asleep.
5. If at any point during the night you wake up, write down all you can remember from the dream and the go back to sleep.
6. When you wake up in the morning, you should write down everything you remember from the night's dream(s).
7. After all the items you have written down, draw a line under all of the main aspects of the dream.
8. On the back of that sheet of paper write down anything that has been disturbing you, caused anxiety or joy.
9. Look at the major symbols and check what they mean in our coming symbolism section.

Cliff's" Notes:
It's not often we get the opportunity to review the offerings of our own editor, Marie Giusto Villarreal. In fact, this is our first time. E-Book One of "The Oedipus Syndrome" will make its debut on 4pointspress.com in early fall or sooner, I hope. And, from what I understand, aside from E-Book One, there will be a forthcoming series to review. In the earlier part of this month, I read Chapter One, which will appear on the Internet, free to all signed in members wishing to preview E-Book One before purchasing it. I was impressed with the poignant character of Raf Frataleon, moved by his resolve to try to alleviate his agonizing dilemma over his family relationships, distressed by his grief at losing the person he seemed to cherish more than life itself, his father, heartbroken over the rejection he suffered his whole life at the hands of his mother and disgusted by the shabby treatment meted out to him by his ungrateful, psychotic sister, Nicole. At the end of E-Book One, I was left wanting. With baited breath I am looking forward to reading E-Book Two to see how Raf survives the tragedy that awaits him in Los Angeles, California. I applaud my editor on a story well told so far.

EDITOR'S NOTE:
Roy's article should put a lot of your dreams to rest. You can contact Roy on site; http://www.4pointspress.com or direct your email to the Editor.