Journey ahead

profile life links comic whisper history

Saturday, December 13, 2008

10:01 PM

Cat's Eye Nebula

Last night I dreamt of something that I didn't know exist.

I was rushing on the way to his house with my mother in the heavy evening traffic at the opening of TPE. We were on a bicycle. Mummy is bringing me there. I think we turned at a wrong corner and came to a very deserted place just as the sun is setting and shining its very last rays across the horizon.

There are nothing but grass everywhere, and a nameless old memorial archway above my head. The road that we came from was dusty and grey. The air was cool and it was windy. There must be a huge water body somewhere far in front, maybe kilometres away. Cuz the wind was different from the wind we usually feel. I think I was wearing a dress. I wasn't wearing glasses or contacts, but had perfect eyesight. It was getting late and yet I had no intention of continuing the trip. I told Mummy and she just said okay, so we just stood there looking at the sun that was burning out slowly.

Even when the sun was totally down, the sky was dark blue, not totally pitch black. Didn't know why, I just went forward and lied down across the pavement and grass and stared upwards into the sky. The sky was so beautiful and mesmerizing with the stars. And there was a nebula right above me! Goodness! Really is a dream lor. Impossible to see nebula with naked eye. It's even further away from Earth than the Sun. It's oval in shape, but the ends are not exactly rounded, but more like pointed like an eye. Didn't know why I kept insisting that it was a rainbow in the night and tried convincing my Mummy when she asked while standing on my left hand side. Everything was magical and mystical.

Then the old memorial archway started to glow and became a king's simple 2 storey straw house. Peeped in and saw how poor the king was despite having many children and a shining crown. Everything turned golden in colour, and looked so out of place in the deserted grassland. Somehow can feel that the time is up and it was time to go home.

The nebula was still there. Tried convincing Mummy that it was a rainbow for the last time before I picked a worm off my hair (must have gotten onto my hair when I lied down on the grass before that) and set off for home in the comfortable quietness and the sound of crickets. We left the glowing straw house and the magnificent nebula in the cloudless and moonless sky behind us.

Just went to check it out. Realised it was called the Cat's Eye Nebula. I didn't know the existence of such a nebula until just now when I came across the different types of nebulas and saw such a shocking resemblance with the one I dreamt about.

The Cat's Eye Nebula (NGC 6543) is a planetary nebula in the constellation of Draco. Structurally, it is one of the most complex nebulae known, with high-resolution Hubble Space Telescope observations revealing remarkable structures such as knots, jets and sinewy arc-like features.

It was discovered by William Herschel on February 15, 1786, and was the first planetary nebula whose spectrum was investigated by the English amateur astronomer William Huggins in 1864.

Modern studies reveal several mysteries. The intricacy of the structure may be caused in part by material ejected from a binary central star, but as yet, there is no direct evidence that the central star has a companion. Also, measurements of chemical abundances reveal a large discrepancy between measurements done by two different methods, the cause of which is uncertain.

Went on to look for the meaning behind the Cat's Eye Gemstone.

The cat's eye gemstone should be worn when there are obstacles in business, fear of accidents and despair in life. The wearing of cat's eye gemstone brings strength, brightness, bravery, pleasure, bliss, prosperity and off springs. Cat's eye gemstone not only saves a man from his enemy but brings victory over the enemy also. Cat's eye gemstone is also said that it destroys sorrow, poverty, diseases and calamities and saves from evil spirits, hidden enemies and royal punishment. Lost money is found again and stays long by wearing cat's eye gemstone.

Day for wearing: Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday
Time for wearing: The best time to wear a cat's eye ring is two hours after sunset, or in the evening.

Which is exactly the timing in the dream: I saw the nebula in the evening and for the next 2 hours after the sunset I saw with my mother in my dream. And yup, yesterday was Friday.

It is said that the Cat's Eye gemstone shines like the eye of the cat in darkness, but it does not shine in total darkness. Which is also similar to my dream. It is night, but it is not pitch dark. Somehow there is still light in the night and remoteness. Is it hope?

I think it's a healing dream. I have never felt so free in my dream before, not even the one in which I got to fly across the field of my secondary school.

Why do I always dream of such weird stuff? Hmm~