As I’ve noted before, I receive emails from readers all over the world on a variety of subjects (both occult and personal!).  This week, at The Witch’s Desk, I’m going to take the time to answer one of these emails.  The following submission is going to be printed as received, with no editing, other than what’s necessary to maintain the anonymity of the individual who submitted the question.

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1)  Hey so lately I have just been drawn to desiring to be a witch I honestly can’t explain why. I am emailing you to see if when I tell you my experiences you will be able the help me understand everything that’s happened. okay so when I was little for around a 6 month period of time I have these horrifying dreams about an evil witch who would chase me and take over my family’s body’s . This caused me to wake up in the night screaming crying terrified for my life? Before I went to sleep I heard voices calling my name. One night when I woke up in the night I saw an outline of a women holding a laundry basket standing half way up my stairs looking at me. When I was walking back from school once in the same spot I stopped in the dream a car pulled out in which a women who look almost paralyzed and like the witch in my dreams and was staring at me doing an evil smile waving slowly after I stopped having these dreams everything stopped all these weird accuracies . But lately I feel like I can intimidate people with my eyes and the sun is somehow if I’m in a room full of people the sun will shine on me through the window and I will have to move seats but then the sun goes away and little things like that have started happening ? Have you got any explanation thank you for reading this email?

There so many layers to your letter and your experiences.  First, I want to be clear that I normally don’t do dream interpretation, nor do I ever refer to books when it comes to this.  I believe that images and connections in dreams are so personal and personally tailored that it would be impossible to be accurate using a book to tell you what an image means. As an example, someone who doesn’t like snakes may view them as evil and bad omens when they show up in a dream, but someone who has a spiritual connection with this animal would view it as the Goddess, wisdom, positive sexual energy– good things!  Do you see what I’m saying?  I’m probably going out on a limb here, but I want to address your dream first:

Being chased in a dream is really quite common.  When this has happened to me, I’ve always noticed that what was chasing me in the dream really had more to do with the pressures and stresses that I was dealing with in my waking life than it did with the entity in the dream.  What was chasing me was more of a manifestation of all that stress.  You said this happened to you for a 6 month period of time as a child.  I’m guessing that there were things going on in your life, or with your family at that time, that was troubling or confusing to you (the child), and this was your way of playing out the confusion and dealing with the stress.

The fact that the Evil Witch in your dream possessed the bodies of your family members could be that it was their actions, their situation, their behavior, that was causing you distress at that time.

I know this explanation is more down to earth and mundane than you were expecting, but it’s really just common sense.  Our everyday mundane life is what takes center stage in most of our dreams– yes, there are people who have prophetic dreams, visits from angels or spirits or spirit guides, but to tell you the truth 99% of our dreams are just everyday ordinary life manifesting in our sub-conscious.

The voices you heard calling your name before you fell asleep:  mundane explanation– I remember falling asleep in the house as a small child, listening to the conversations and murmurs of the adults in the next room.  It was actually comforting, and as I fell asleep, the sounds of their voices would weave and tangle through my sub-conscious, creating images and stories, and…dreams.  A more “magickal” or “spiritual” explanation– I have often experienced hearing my grandmother’s voice calling my name, and this has usually happened just as I was drifting off to sleep, when I was “between the worlds”, neither awake, nor asleep.  I believe that it was her spirit communicating with me, just letting me know that she was near by.

The woman with the laundry basket…most likely a spirit connected to the house, a previous occupant no doubt.

The woman in the car…I really don’t have an explanation for this aspect of your dream, though I too have had the same character show up in more than one dream.  I believe that, if it is not a Spirit Guide (and you’ll know this, at least I do, and it will be an enlightening “aha” moment, a positive experience), it is another aspect of your mundane brain creating dreams in your sub-conscious.

Why would you want to intimidate people with your eyes?  And, by the way, lots of people have this ability.  It’s not magickal or mysterious.  It’s even found in the animal kingdom.  There are certain animals that view direct eye contact as a threat– gorillas, canines, etc.

And last , but not least…the Sun.  It seems, dear, that my explanation for this is going to be more along a mundane everyday viewpoint.  I would say that, for some reason, you are seeking the shadows.  My advice– look for the positive aspects in life, positive connections with people.  Instead of seeking the shadows, glory in the light.