Ever wake up drenched in sweat, your heart racing from a terrifying nightmare?  Or escalated panic because you can’t remember what you were dreaming about?

Night and Mare, two words coupled in a seemingly innocuous union turns out to be a marriage of hellish proportions.

Early legends help us to understand how this compound word came to mean calamity while we sleep.

Night Mares, symbolized by either a black or white horse suggests the balance of positive and negative thought forms of our super sub-conscious.  In Hungary and Spain they believed that black horses were lucky.  In France, just the opposite.  In Ireland, the owner of a pure white horse was supposedly given the power to predict cures for physical ailments. In South American lore a night mare was either a black or white horse riding through towns and jungles foretelling doom to people who saw them.

In Scandinavia, a mare or mara was a female demon that rode on the chest of sleeping people, tormenting them to do evil bidding.  Mares had such power as to float through keyholes, or cracks between wood and stone in the home.  Mares could ride anything, expert equestrians of trees, or beasts.  Grossly knotted tree roots were proof positive that a mare had been in a local village ready to stalk the innocent upon slumber.  Somehow it figures that written legends would make mares women responsible for nocturnal attacks!  Men are such scaredy cats.

If a cursed woman was suspected of being a mare, these simple words spoken in their presence “You are a mara!” three times would break the evil spell and set her free.   For men reading this post:  if you suspect some ex-wife/girlfriend  is a mara because she’s made your life a living nightmare think of how I’ve set you free.  You’re welcome.

To ease nightmares in children and adults try these suggestions:

Position a white colored shallow bowl, filled half-way with purified water and place it under the bed.  The bowl should be in alignment with the pillow placement.  Empty this and refill with fresh water each day.

Purchase or make a dream catcher.  Hang it on the ceiling, above a bed.

Take a purified small crystal and infuse it with the intent of peaceful dreams.  Sew it into a dream pillow and place it inside the pillow case.

Use the protection exercise listed here.

Important notation for parents:

Night terrors in children differ greatly from nightmares.  Nightmares can be remembered and expressed upon waking.

Night terrors are one of the most frightening things to witness as a parent so use this link to gain a broader perspective of how to help your child.

Tags: dream catcher, dream pillow, mara, mares, night terrors, nightmares, peaceful dreams