for the entirety of my life since around the age of five (i'm 24 now), i have been haunted by a nightmare that was unlike any other dream i have ever had. it was the only dream i can remember that caused me to wake up, run into my parents' bedroom, and left me shaking and needing my mother's comfort in order to calm down. i remember almost no dreams clearly, but this one has stuck in my memory like superglue even though i did not think it to be of much significance until about two or three years ago when i had a spiritual reawakening (i am a christian– catholic).
pic related is a picture i drew about a year ago of this nightmare. i have other sketches of certain elements of the dream (like the devil-like figure) in other notebooks. in 2017 i also jotted down a description of this dream in google docs– i will attach those as well, as they describe the dream so i don't have to repeat myself in this post.
what struck me most about the nightmare (and why i believe the visions and emotions it brought me have never left my memory) was that the dream did not seem to have been derived from recent memories or experiences of mine, as all other dreams i have had did. it was if the nightmare was planted in my mind and not a natural occurrence. i was so shaken by the dream, i think, because as a little girl i could not even grasp or make sense of what i had just experienced… it was too dark, too mature; it was as if i was plunged into a world of horror i had no familiarity with in any way.
i have never been one to consider myself someone with supernatural abilities or as someone capable of communicating with higher powers in a special way. with that said, in recent years i have been alarmed by the similarities shared by my nightmare and many artistic and written descriptions of hell… take st. teresa of avila's, for example. the beast in my dream also was uncannily alike many drawings of the devil, both in certain core features and in essence (codex of gigas, for one).
i don't know what else to say so i'm just going to drop the images/pictures here. thanks for reading this far.
p.s.
i've shared the drawing (pic related) before, and am aware it looks much like botticelli's drawing of hell– that was not intentional; i struggle to translate my thoughts into art and my drawing is the only way i could really represent a pit/the stages of my dream in one picture.
p.p.s
in the caption of the drawing (from 2018), i wrote that it took place between the ages of 5 & 8– looking back to my living situation at the time (the house i was in, etc), i realized it was well before age 8, probably 7 at the very latest.