Recurring Dream Themes
Part Three: The Red Riders

For those who expressed interest in my recurring dream themes, and their interpretations, I continue...

The enemy is not always what he seems to be. The nature of the red riders is one of great animosity. Whereas I am quite sure they stand in opposition to myself and my goals in the recurring death dreams, they present more questions than they do answers. They taunt me and block my progress. However, even when they have me at their mercy they do not strike. They present themselves as a threat rather than as an active danger.

They are generally seen on horseback although they have also appeared riding motorcycles. In any dream in which The Muse appears or plays a significant role, the red riders lack horses. The Muse is strongly associated with horses, having at one point sold everything in her life and driven herself into poverty in order to achieve a pair of horses. The fact that her presence in the dreams, either through the appearance of her form or allusions to her, denies the red riders horses seems significant. It tells me she is not allied with them. The threat they pose is contradicted by elements of The Muse. Since horses are so strongly associated with her, then they cannot be simultaneously associated with the riders.

The name "red riders" is not a name by which they are known in the dreams. They are nameless in the dreams. I referred to them as "red riders" because of their horses and because they always wear red. Usually they wear armor with a red sash and cape. The armor is a strange sort, seemingly both solid metal and highly flexible chain at the same time. The riders also have three sets of wings, which prompted me to do in depth research some years ago on the topic of angels. They seem to fit the description of seraphim. If I look directly into their eyes I immediately wake up feeling very disoriented. As such I generally avoid eye contact during the dreams, which results in feeling weaker in their presence.

"You are a little man
and without wings you are nothing."

The favorite taunt of the red riders involves variations on that statement. This brings up more questions as to whether I once had wings, am supposed to have wings or will have wings at some point. Because my concept of time is non-linear and non-constant, I believe in memories of things yet to happen given the point at which we call the present. The riders remind me of weaknesses I have and use them to exert power over me. They also carry very long and sharp swords. When I am in possession of a sword it is always broken.

Most of the time the same pair of red riders appear. Usually when I leave the house in the woods and try to cross the snowy terrain they appear to slow my progress and taunt me. They have also appeared in a repeated scene that occurs in a valley. The valley is what has become known as Rancho Nuevo. It is sort of a purgatory for the damned and forgotten. The only hope of salvation for the lost souls who exist in the valley comes in the form of a unicorn. When the unicorn appears, the riders appear in large numbers. An army of riders decends upon the valley and hunts down the unicorn. Sometimes it eludes them, but when they do catch it they always cut off its head and hand it to me. When this happens there is a large scale battle between the riders, all of whom are male, and a group of angels in white. These angels are all female and have a strange glow to them. They fly into the valley and the riders prepare themselves for a fight. This scene has been played out three times with varied conclusions. Sometimes the riders overwhelm the angels in white and sometimes they are driven off by the dragon that always watches my back. Sometimes I believe the way the scene plays out relates to events as I need to see them in my waking life.