Monghaedang
Not superstition, but record.
I had a dream last night. I look it up.
Answers pour out. But they are all different, and none cite their sources. For a long time, there have only been two types of information about dreams —Words that sell efficacy, and words that dismiss as superstition. Neither is a record.
This book has chosen a third path.Without asking whether the dream is true, it traces how and what was recorded.
How did the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty record dreams?
While creating the expanded edition, I searched through the Annals, scanning the series, biographies, and epitaphs,15 dream articles were found and compiled into a reference book. Here are a few excerpts in advance.
There is a document where a dream was given a price. In 1814, Park Gi-sang of Daegu dreamed of a blue dragon and a yellow dragon ascending to heaven, and sold that dream to his younger cousin who was traveling to the capital to take the state exam.The price was 1,000 nyang. And there is one more line in the document —The payment will be made if he passes the exam and attains an official post.
Taejo's golden ruler dream was carved in stone before it was written on paper. The record that a divine being descended from the sky in a dream and said, "Use this to set the country right," is not in the Annals of Taejo,but in the inscription inside Geonwonneung in the ninth year of Taejong, seventeen years after the founding of the nation.
And the Annals did not call something a dream if it was not a dream. During his time as a hostage, Hyojong saw a great turtle among five-colored clouds. I initially classified this passage as a dream, but after seeing the four characters in the original text, I removed it.
The king suspected it was a dream and looked closely,It was not a dream.
The king, doubting whether it was a dream, examined it closely,It was not a dream.
There was no need for this compendium to decide what should be called a dream.
Every sentence is accompanied by the thickness of its evidence.
This is the principle of this series. In the expanded edition,814 sentences were given ratings.
Rating meanings [Verified] Confirmed by primary sources, official history, or academic research [Tradition] Commonly known among the people but difficult to verify in literature [Legend] Passed down only as a story [Creative] Interpretation by this book
Ratings are attached to sentences, not to entries. Even within the same story, sentences that are verified and those that are passed down are given different ratings and placed side by side.
For example, the dream of King Wonseong is divided as follows. The fact that it is recorded in the 'Samguk Yusa' is [Verified], whether Kim Gyeong-sin actually had such a dream is [Legend], his ascension to the throne as King Wonseong is [Verified], and "the dream interpretation determined his fate" is [Creative].
This book does not interpret dreams.
If you arrived at this page through a search, you may have expected "dream interpretation." Let me clarify first.
This book does not judge the fortune or misfortune of any dream. Although the dream interpretation system of Joseon is introduced in Part 2, this book does not interpret the reader's dreams using that system. Introducing and judging are different matters.
Instead,Reading order is provided. Part 5 is that part.
This method was not created by me. It was found in historical records.
In Queen Sunwon's dream, Yeongan Gukgu presented a child and said, "Raise this child well."
**After the queen woke from her dream, she recorded the event, and later, when the king entered the palace,
she checked and found that the child's appearance was exactly the same as the one in her dream.**
— 『Annals of King Cheoljong』 Appendix, The Deeds of King Cheoljong
Have a dream,wake up and write it down, and later,compare it. These are exactly the three things requested of the reader in Part 5.
There are 12 blank pages for writing answers.
Part 5 consists of twelve exercises. Andthe book's layout preserves these exercises.
After each question, there is actually a blank page with only lines. This is not a printing error, but a space left for you to write your answers, and you must turn this page to see the book's interpretation.
After the twelve exercises are finished,an eight-section dream record form remains. The purpose of the form is not to fill all eight sections,but to make it visible how many sections are left blank. It is.
There is a precedent for this method as well. The historian who recorded King Injo's conception dream wrote among the eight characters on the folding screen,"Two characters were blurred and could not be remembered." he wrote. He did not make them up. Because those two characters were left blank, the remaining six can be trusted.
What is different from the first edition — Let me clarify first.
The first edition of this book, "The Book of Dream Divination — The World of Dream Interpretation in the Joseon Dynasty," closed at 112% of its goal on Tumblbug in 2026 and was delivered to all backers.
The reason for launching on Wadiz isnot the first edition, but an expanded new work. Here are the differences.
First edition expanded edition structure: Part 3, 15 chapters.Part 5, 27 chapters. New—Part 4: Annals Dream Article Encyclopedia, 15 entries. New—Part 5: How to Read Dreams (12 practice topics + 12 blank pages). No source grading.814 sentences. No appendix program.Dream Card Archive 1.0. No appendix documents.Historical Research Note, page 13 Typesetting Fix Sheet A5 Flow, Complete Overhaul of Typesetting Front
I will not speak in terms of volume. As the number of characters per page increased from 307 to 441 due to the change in typesetting method, the number of pages is no longer a valid comparison. What this expanded edition offers is not thickness,but the two newly added sections and 814 grades. That is what it offers.
And I make one promise.The initial Tumblbug edition will not be sold again through any channel. The first edition will remain with the original backers.
I corrected mistakes during the production process.
While preparing the expanded edition, I revised several parts of the first edition's narrative. I have noted what was changed and why.
First. You cannot determine gender through conception dreams. The first edition's conception dream symbol dictionary included gender judgments such as "a son who will become a great person" and "a beautiful daughter." Since these judgments are unfounded,they were deleted, and I have stated the fact and reason for the deletion in the main text.
Second. The source of the golden ruler dream was incorrect. The first edition cited the 'Annals of Taejo' series, but the actual verification was from the inscription at Geonwonreung in the 'Annals of Taejong.' I checked all 134 article titles in the Annals of Taejo series.
Third. The date on the sales document was lowered. Details differ in each news report. I omitted the differing parts and simply stated "around 1840."
What has been collected are these records.Historical Research Note This is included in the collector's edition.12 tasks carried over to the next edition. These are written with this number. I believe that documents listing only achievements are not verification records.
Reward Composition
① Main Book PDF — Expanded Edition of 'Book of Dreams' A5, 218 pages. Part 1: Dreams Change History / Part 2: Dream Interpretation System of Joseon / Part 3: Reading Dreams with Cards /Part 4: Dreams Recorded in the Annals (New)/Part 5: How to Read Dreams (New).
② Dream Card Archive 1.0 — Supplementary Program Offline standalone HTML. Runs with a double-click, no installation required. Filter 64 cards into eight categories,Eight-section record format from Part 5 can be used as is. Counts the number of empty fields.
③ Historical Research Note — 13 pages (Collector's Edition Only) This is a record of what has been checked and where it stopped. Six cases where the original text comparison is incomplete, one case where the translation and original text do not match and judgment is pending, and twelve remaining tasks are included as is.
What This Book Does Not Do
- Any dream'seffect is not guaranteed.
- We do not determine good or bad fortune. We are simply introducing traditional interpretations.
- We do not distinguish gender in conception dreams. There is no basis for this.
- Based on dreams,when choosing numbers or placing bets, we provide no assistance.
- The dream cards in Part 3are not relics from Joseon, but creative works made for this book.
What this project offers is a record of traditional culture and a method for reading those records.
Creator
Hello, this is Monghaedang. I am compiling records of Joseon's nights and folk beliefs into a reference book.
There is one consistent method throughout the books I have created so far.Separating what has been verified from what has not.
In this expanded edition, that method has turned back on myself. While comparing the first edition and the manuscript,I found passages present in the first edition but missing from the expanded manuscript. There were five such cases, including the story of Yi Gyubo dreaming of the Kyuseong star and passing the state exam. Only after finding and restoring them did I open this page.
I believe that if a revised edition loses existing content, it is not truly a revision.
Reason for launching on Wadiz
This series has previously run projects on Tumblbug. The reason for launching this expanded edition on Wadiz is to reach a new audience interested in collecting traditional cultural records.
We are opening Funding after completing the manuscript, program, and typesetting files. Unlike a structure where production is delayed and delivery is postponed after Funding ends, delivery begins immediately after the end of Funding.
Delivery method and schedule
- All Rewards will be delivered as digital files by granting viewing access via Google Drive.
- Viewing access will not be revoked separately. (It will be revoked in case of a Funding refund.)
- Since there is no shipping, there are no shipping fees or additional charges for remote areas.
- Delivery will begin within 7 days after Funding ends and payment is completed.
If you support us
Endorsements and sharing are a great help. If you have any questions, please leave them through the inquiry option — For what I have checked, I will say I have checked; for what I have not checked, I will say I have not checked. I will answer accordingly.
