{"id":6039,"date":"2014-07-12T09:02:55","date_gmt":"2014-07-12T13:02:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/?p=6039"},"modified":"2014-07-12T14:55:23","modified_gmt":"2014-07-12T18:55:23","slug":"questioning-dreams-in-ancient-mesopotamia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/2014\/07\/questioning-dreams-in-ancient-mesopotamia.html","title":{"rendered":"Questioning dreams in ancient Mesopotamia"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"-<\/a>Our earliest records of the work of a dream interpreter come from ancient Mesopotamia. Here the person you asked for help with your dream was called the \u201cquestioner\u201d. On clay tablets from Assur and Nineveh, the \u201cquestioner\u201d is usually a woman. The title suggests that she will put questions to the dreamer, but also, more fundamentally, to the dream itself.<\/p>\n

Who or what was speaking in the dream? Is the dreamer\u2019s recollection reliable? Where did the dream experience take place? What part of the dreamer \u2014 a higher part of soul or a lower one \u2014 was active in the dream? Is the female entity \u201cas high as the sky and as wide as the earth\u201d who appeared to that young man in Kish truly the great goddess? What was the context of the dream? For example, was the dreamer sleeping in a special hut, built from reeds, that was used for dream incubation after ritual purification? Or was he sleeping off a bender?<\/p>\n

A Mesopotamian term for an obscure or mysterious dream is \u201ca closed archive basket of the gods\u201d. Picture a woven basket used for carrying a set of clay tablets. The role of the questioner is to lift the lid and help read what is in there. One technique she might use in doing this, suggests cuneiform decoder Scott Noegel, is to record the dream and look for visual as well as auditory puns in the patterns that emerge as she scores the clay with a reed or wooden stylus. \u00a0That image, from five thousand years ago, seems strangely modern: the dream as text, the dream reader looking and listening for puns.<\/p>\n

But we are in a different world from modern analysts. Literacy is still a rare skill, and the questioner will use the magic of writing. But she will bring other tools to bear. She may seek a second opinion through one of many systems of divination, which range from reading the stars to examining the entrails of a sacrificial animal to noticing what is coming into view in the landscape in a given moment \u2014 the cry of the boatman, the wind bending the reeds.<\/p>\n

\"-<\/a> In Mesopotamia, as in most human cultures, dreaming was understood to be close kin to divination. The famous Assyrian dream book in the library of King Ashurbanipal \u2014 brought to Nineveh in 647 BCE from the house of an exorcist of Nippur \u2014 was filed with the omen tablets, the largest category in the royal collection. Among ordinary folk as well as in royal palaces, across most of history, dreamwork has never been separated from other ways of reading the sign language of life.<\/p>\n

In Ur or Uruk, the questioner may decide to go beyond the dreamer\u2019s imperfect recollection of a dream into the fuller dream experience<\/em>, by transporting herself to the place where the dream action unfolded and asking questions inside that space. What would that mean? There’s a clue in a tablet that describes the questioner as \u201cone who lies at a person’s head.\u201d This suggests that the method was to lie beside the dreamer, to join him in the dream, during or after sleep.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Adapted from The Secret History of Dreaming<\/em> by Robert Moss. Published by New World Library.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our earliest records of the work of a dream interpreter come from ancient Mesopotamia. Here the person you asked for help with your dream was called the \u201cquestioner\u201d. On clay tablets from Assur and Nineveh, the \u201cquestioner\u201d is usually a woman. The title suggests that she will put questions to the dreamer, but also, more…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":224,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[78,38,17,24,5,20],"tags":[1761,1760,1763,1762,663,664],"class_list":["post-6039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ancestral-traditions","category-ancient-religions","category-divination","category-dream-interpretation","category-dreams","category-history-of-dreaming","tag-ashurbanipal","tag-assyrian-dream-book","tag-cuneiform","tag-dream-interpretation-in-ancient-mesopotamia","tag-dream-questioner","tag-mesopotamia"],"yoast_head":"\nQuestioning dreams in ancient Mesopotamia - Dream Gates<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/2014\/07\/questioning-dreams-in-ancient-mesopotamia.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Questioning dreams in ancient Mesopotamia - Dream Gates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Our earliest records of the work of a dream interpreter come from ancient Mesopotamia. Here the person you asked for help with your dream was called the \u201cquestioner\u201d. On clay tablets from Assur and Nineveh, the \u201cquestioner\u201d is usually a woman. The title suggests that she will put questions to the dreamer, but also, more…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/2014\/07\/questioning-dreams-in-ancient-mesopotamia.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Dream Gates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-07-12T13:02:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-07-12T18:55:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/files\/2014\/07\/Enheduanna-disk2-1-145x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Robert Moss\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Questioning dreams in ancient Mesopotamia - Dream Gates","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/2014\/07\/questioning-dreams-in-ancient-mesopotamia.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Questioning dreams in ancient Mesopotamia - Dream Gates","og_description":"Our earliest records of the work of a dream interpreter come from ancient Mesopotamia. Here the person you asked for help with your dream was called the \u201cquestioner\u201d. On clay tablets from Assur and Nineveh, the \u201cquestioner\u201d is usually a woman. The title suggests that she will put questions to the dreamer, but also, more…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/2014\/07\/questioning-dreams-in-ancient-mesopotamia.html","og_site_name":"Dream Gates","article_published_time":"2014-07-12T13:02:55+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-07-12T18:55:23+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/files\/2014\/07\/Enheduanna-disk2-1-145x300.jpg"}],"author":"Robert Moss","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/2014\/07\/questioning-dreams-in-ancient-mesopotamia.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/2014\/07\/questioning-dreams-in-ancient-mesopotamia.html","name":"Questioning dreams in ancient Mesopotamia - Dream Gates","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/2014\/07\/questioning-dreams-in-ancient-mesopotamia.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/2014\/07\/questioning-dreams-in-ancient-mesopotamia.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/files\/2014\/07\/Enheduanna-disk2-1-145x300.jpg","datePublished":"2014-07-12T13:02:55+00:00","dateModified":"2014-07-12T18:55:23+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/#\/schema\/person\/941740e4115cce34706832d06aa76b6b"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/2014\/07\/questioning-dreams-in-ancient-mesopotamia.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/2014\/07\/questioning-dreams-in-ancient-mesopotamia.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/2014\/07\/questioning-dreams-in-ancient-mesopotamia.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/files\/2014\/07\/Enheduanna-disk2-1-145x300.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/files\/2014\/07\/Enheduanna-disk2-1-145x300.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/2014\/07\/questioning-dreams-in-ancient-mesopotamia.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Questioning dreams in ancient Mesopotamia"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/","name":"Dream Gates","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Robert Moss","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/#\/schema\/person\/941740e4115cce34706832d06aa76b6b","name":"Robert Moss","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/777\/7770e3a2cde4458084d9a31237336b92x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/777\/7770e3a2cde4458084d9a31237336b92x96.jpg","caption":"Robert Moss"},"description":"Robert Moss describes himself as a dream teacher, on a path for which there has been no career track in our culture. He is the creator of Active Dreaming, an original synthesis of dreamwork and shamanism. Born in Australia, he survived three near-death experiences in childhood. He leads popular seminars all over the world, including a three-year training for teachers of Active Dreaming. A former lecturer in ancient history at the Australian National University, he is a best-selling novelist, journalist and independent scholar. His nine books on dreaming, shamanism and imagination include Conscious Dreaming, Dreamways of the Iroquois, The Dreamer's Book of the Dead, The Three \"\"Only\"\" Things, The Secret History of Dreaming, Dreamgates, Active Dreaming and Dreaming the Soul Back Home: Shamanic Dreaming for Healing and Becoming Whole. His most recent book is The Boy Who Died and Came Back: Adventures of a Dream Archaeologist in the Multiverse. Over the past 20 years, he has led seminars at the Esalen Institute, Kripalu, the Omega Institute, the New York Open Center, Bastyr University, John F. Kennedy University, Meriter Hospital, and many other centers and institutions. He has taught depth workshops in Active Dreaming in the UK, Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, France, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Romania, Brazil and Austria and leads a three-year training for teachers of Active Dreaming. He hosts the \"\"Way of the Dreamer\"\" radio show at www.healthylife.net. He has appeared on many TV and radio shows, ranging from Charlie Rose and the Today show to Coast to Coast and the Diane Rehm show on NPR. His articles on dreaming have been published in media ranging from Parade to Shaman's Drum.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.mossdreams.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/author\/rmoss"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/224"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6039"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6039\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6042,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6039\/revisions\/6042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}