Friday, June 21, 2024. Very hot, meaning high humidity in New York, the kind that is uncomfortable and often makes you exhausted and grumpy if not worse unless you’re moving around or lying down in a room cooled by modern technology. Of course this is nothing new for those millions and millions of us who live in the parts of the globe where it’s natural.
Meanwhile, today is when we feature Lauren Lawrence’s “Society Dreams.” Evidentally, according to Lauren we all dream whether we remember them or not. Remembering them requires a certain amount of sleep that is completed by the time you awaken. That is required in remembering it, otherwise it’s like turning off the TV before the drama you’re watching is finished.
Today’s “Dream” is fascinating to me because the dreamer was Elvis Presley. I was an early teenager when Elvis came into the American picture. All of us teenagers across America had heard of him and knew his first hit record (“Heartbreak Hotel”) but had never seen him. Shortly before his huge career he made an appearance on The Milton Berle Show.
Milton Berle was a hugely popular comedian whose network hour show opened with Berle in some kind of costume that was a combination of weird, funny and often crazy hilarious. I mean it might open with him coming out dressed like an elephant who could do a hula. Can’t imagine it? That’s what I mean: the site and sound of it was hilarious.
But on this one particular night (it was always on Tuesday nights at 8 o’clock after Berle’s opening act in his “costume”), he’d introduced his guest, this brand new talent with a hit record, named Elvis Presley.
So on this particular night in teenage land everyone stayed home to watch Milton Berle. That’s when Elvis came out and introduced “You ain’t nothin’ but a hound dog, cryin’ all the time …” performed with his amazing gyrations never ever seen before, kind of holding onto his floor mike while moving up, down, all over the floor, around, up, down again and wow!!
I remember I was so knocked out and excited by the scene that when he was finished, I literally ran out of the house and down the street to a friend’s house, knowing she saw it so we could express our wonder and excitement of the scene dancing around like two nutcases.
After that, this ENORMOUS career of Elvis took off. Rock ‘n’ Roll was definitely here to stay, as the song went, and Elvis became a legend. And over the years following Elvis became the legend he deserved including changing the popular music (records) with Rock & Roll, and Elvis became one of those most popular American performers and someone we all knew, along with the facts of his private life.
I never knew him, and never met him, although when I lived out there in L.A. he had a house in the hills nearby. Whenever I passed it during the day, the driving court was full of cars as if he were having a party. They were his friends and business associates. Long after teenagedom for me, I’d drive by noticing with admiration and respect for the man and his talent.
Californian Larry Geller, personal hairstylist, spiritual mentor and close companion of Elvis, told Lauren a dream that Elvis had told him a year before his death at Graceland. One minor fact about Elvis was his jet-black hair color, which we were all familiar with. Except it wasn’t the “dark” shade we all knew; it was a light brown. Someone decided in his development that it should be black. Larry Geller made that happen. In fact, when Elvis died, his light brown roots needed to be dyed black for the funeral, so Larry flew out to Graceland to color his friend’s hair for the last time.
By the way, at the time Elvis died he had been reading one of the books Larry had given him called Looking Into the Face of God. His dream involved his identical twin brother, Jesse Garon, who died at birth 35 minutes before Elvis was born into the world.
SOCIETY DREAMS: ELVIS PRESLEY
by Lauren Lawrence
The Dream: I had this dream that the Presley brothers were performing. My twin brother Jesse and I were on stage, both wearing white jumpsuits with guitars slung around our shoulders. He was the spitting image of me except he could sing better.
The Interpretation: In this love visitation, the dream returns to an immersive time in a lost intrauterine memory — a lost coupling, if you will, to imagine how a different future would have played out. Hence, the stillborn twin is vivified.
It is not surprising that Elvis dreams of sharing the incredible phenomenon of his fame — even his talent — with Jesse, his stillborn twin brother, in that losing a twin often produces survivor’s guilt. As such, one understands why Elvis endows his brother with a better singing voice than himself: The brother’s voice is coming from a supernal realm of illumination, one of heavenly timber and resonance.
Teaming up with one who has passed to the other side reveals the dreamer’s wish to elevate to a higher level of existence as a means of quelling a fierce separation anxiety.
Within the dream this loftier level is represented by the performance stage. The stage also represents a higher stage of spiritual development. The guitars around the shoulders are symbolic wings or angelic accoutrements as this is a divine scene viewed from above.
The singing voices, stringed instruments and the color white signify spiritual wisdom and purity. Similarly, when taken literally, the jumpsuits symbolize suits that jump, or rise, surpassing the ordinary. Importantly, the dream underscores Elvis’s transcendent quest to enjoin with a heavenly being — his twin on the other side, wholly enlightened — in an effort to achieve a sense of completion. Sadly, this quest was all too soon fulfilled.
For private dream analysis, contact laurenlawrence@aol.com
