Speaking of Masks

Yesterday’s post about angels, hair, etc, jogged a memory of a dream I had back in 2020. I have logged dreams for over a decade (not all dreams, I do pick and choose to an extent but I try to log anything I think could be significant). It was the last bit I wrote yesterday about being willing to unmask ourselves so that someone else doesn’t do it instead.

Last night I decided that today I’d post the dream. This morning I read WJT’s Gross Gaur post and thought some of the similarities were intriguing. Here’s the dream:

April 3 2020

I dreamed about a dark king who is currently veiled. I saw him from behind slow dancing with someone at a party with lots of other people around. I could see he was wearing something that veiled his true nature. The veil glowed silver, almost ghostly (to me at least), putting off a false light to the people at the party. I wanted to unveil him so the people would see his true nature.

The tie of the veil made me think of the robe worn in the Mormon temple. He was a big dude. Way taller than normal and also beefy. I approached him and could see the veil tied around him in the back but the others at the party could not see the veil for whatever reason.

I very quickly untied the veil and threw it forward around the front of his body so he wouldn’t have time to react and thus he was unmasked and I stepped back.

The party stopped and everyone was staring at him. He turned around and looked from face to face, me included, as he realized he was now being seen clearly. He was not pleasant to look on. He had slanted, narrow eyes and a misshapen, alien type face, with a scrunched up mouth, and skin that wasn’t smooth. Very ugly dude.

WJT’s dream also features a large masked man who was completely veiled from head to toe who claimed to have paid him for something.

An Interpretation & Some Questions (of which there could be many)

The veiled man in both dreams seems to not be a good being. For one, he is hiding himself and just yesterday I said that we should all unmask ourselves so that someone else doesn’t have to do it. As WJT rightly points out, “gross” tracks to Tolkien’s lore and specifically to the earliest fathers of elves. But there is another reference to gross that I know of. At Bilbo’s farewell birthday party in the Shire, he makes a point to have a party within the party made up of one gross, 144 in total. That sum included his nephew Frodo who in my hair dream I said I bore a resemblance to before unmasking myself.

The veiled man seems to represent a counter organization to those elvish fathers, a gross of dark individuals who exist to fight against God and his chosens, hoping to usurp via subterfuge. Team Gaur (Werewolf), I’ll call them. A secret combination, to be sure. I could be wrong, of course, but if I’m right, then what is the implication for WJT of having been paid by that man? What is owed in return? Was it a mistake to accept the payment? And if so, how can WJT be released from it? Rather than giving him a receipt, would it be better to return the payment? The only other option I see is to embrace Team Gaur-Werewolf which seems like a bad option to me.

Lest it seem that I am picking on you WJT or assuming the worst, I’ll say this *could* be true or untrue about you or any of us, myself included, and if so, wo to any and all who do not repent of such agreements made with this masked man. Whether any of us intend to repent or not, then I say let’s just get on with it. After all, it may be that more than one old Bill has a tale to tell, a tune he is appointed to sing, so let’s get to telling and singing, come what may.

Other mask incidences, just for fun:

Of Sauron

Sauron was a dark king who was unveiled. Prior to the downfall of Numenor he could appear in fair form and deceived many in this way.

Of Finrod

Finrod used masks/disguise to appear as an orc and attempted to deceive Sauron in this way. He and his band were stripped of disguise by force. I wonder if he would have fared better in the dungeons by unmasking himself.

Of Frodo and Sam

These two likewise disguised themselves as orcs. It worked well enough for a time but they chose to unmask themselves and walk the final stretch to Mt Doom in their true forms. Perhaps that is the only true way.

Of Maeglin

The traitor and usurper used a mask to deceive others: “Nonetheless he wore a fair mask of good liking and gaiety, so that men said: “Meglin is softened”, and he was held in less disfavour; yet Idril feared him the more.”

Maeglin was also a lover of spiders. I suppose Salgant wore a mask as well since he assisted Maeglin in his treachery. Surely there are others.