"For so He Giveth Unto His Beloved in Sleep." - Psalm CXVII

The intensity of certain conditions of dream consciousness has wrested from dogmatic physiology a reluctant admission that under given circumstances certain dreams must originate in something beyond mere concentration of vision, or a reflex of outside impressions and influences. The mysterious and frequently decried dream faculty, having been variously productive of marvels unbelievable save for indisputable evidence, has compelled the attention of the skeptics.

In ancient times the dream faculty was conceded without question and reverently accorded to the priesthood and to women, in which latter cases the gift brought hierophantic privileges. Among the Druids of Gaul and Ireland there were ten prophetesses to one prophet, a condition that Edouard Schure considers led to the eventual downfall of the Druidical faith, for as their strength increased, the priestesses grew tyrannical. Yet with or without priestly privileges, women have ever woven their dreams as they have woven the garments of their loved ones, drawing exquisite hopes into the bright threads of the tissue, and even to-day when the world of spinning, weaving women is passed away, the women tint their dreams with the bright hues of the dreamer's hope. Thus each mother has her own dream of the life that is given her to bring into the world, and that the child may chance to lack the magic touch that gives to earth its genius, saint or avatar, is due to no weakness of the loving maternal wish, but lies with the destiny that shapes the human soul. At times, after the fashion of all dreamings, the vision fades with the mother's waking, or again, alas, the perfect hope may be mercilessly remembered, unfulfilled throughout the years; or yet again it may be a haunting happiness, gloriously verified. But whatever the dream or its outcome, the mother's soul has given its best, and whether the dream substance was paltry, ambitious or worldly, or whether it was a glory with "the light that never was on land nor sea," it was her highest ideal for her unborn child, the best she knew. And thus it is that the helpers of mankind have ever been heralded by a mother's dream, visions so superlatively resplendent that they are remembered and held. And every ray of comfort to be drawn from dreams or from any other source, has been sorely needed by these same dreaming mothers of the high and holy ones - for the life path of an avatar is ever rough and fraught with pain.

The dust of ages has gathered over many of these dreamings, leaving blurred, legendary outlines, even as the corrosion of time has erased the teachings of the masters themselves, yet the dim vibrations linger for those who seek.

To Sir Edwin Arnold we of the West owe the story of the "Light of Asia."

The Scripture of the Saviour of the World, Lord Buddha, Prince Siddartha, styled on earth,

All honoured, wisest, best most pitiful; The Teacher of Nirvana and the Law.

Thus came he to be born again for men.

That night the wife of King Suddhodana, Maya, the Queen, asleep beside her Lord,

Dreamed a strange dream: dreamed that a star from heaven, - Splendid, six-rayed, in colour rosy pearl,

Whereof the token was the Elephant Six-tusked and whiter than Vahuka's milk, -

Shot through the void and, shining into her, Entered her womb upon the right. Awaked

Bliss beyond mortal mother's filled her breast, And over half the earth a lovely light

For went the morn.

And when the morning dawned and this was told, The gray dream-readers said "The dream is good!"

The Crab is in conjunction with the Sun: The Queen shall bear a boy, a holy child

Of wondrous wisdom, profiting all flesh, Who shall deliver men from ignorance,

Or rule the world, if he will deign to rule."

The Mahabharata relates the dream of Devaki, the mother of Krishna. Seated under the tree of life, the banyan, she heard the predictions of the priests for the child to whom she would give birth and with whom her dreams were filled, until night and day she heard holy music and the sounds of divine harps, while the skies were rent with flashes of light.

The dream of Daghchi, the mother of Zoroaster, the founder of Zoroastrianism, the faith of the Parsees of India and of Persia, is found in the Zartusht-Namah, or the life of Zoroaster.