May no exhumations haunt your dreams tonight.  From The Gates of the Future Thrown Open by Carlotta de Barsy, 1899.

May no caterpillars haunt your dreams tonight.  From The Gates of the Future Thrown Open by Carlotta de Barsy, 1899.

May no eclipses curse your dreams tonight.  From The Gates of the Future Thrown Open by Carlotta de Barsy, 1899.

When was the last time you dreamed of leeches?  From The Gates of the Future Thrown Open by Carlotta de Barsy, 1899.

When was the last time you dreamed of a cyclops?  From The Gates of the Future Thrown Open by Carlotta de Barsy, 1899.

If you must dream of a corpse tonight, may it be all dressed up so as to symbolize happiness for you.  From The Gates of the Future Thrown Open by Carlotta de Barsy, 1899.

May you not dream of a cictern tonight.  From The Gates of the Future Thrown Open by Carlotta de Barsy, 1899.

May you sidestep carpets in the dreamworld tonight.  From The Gates of the Future Thrown Open by Carlotta de Barsy, 1899.

May you not dream of marmalade tonight.  From The Gates of the Future Thrown Open by Carlotta de Barsy, 1899.

"Strange keys to the powers of the universe."  From Weird Tales, 1942.

To read a wicked book in your dreams is to court shame and disgrace.  From The Gates of the Future Thrown Open by Carlotta de Barsy, 1899.

If you dream of stars tonight, may they shine and not shoot.  From The Gates of the Future Thrown Open by Carlotta de Barsy, 1899.

May no bats haunt your dreams tonight.  From The Gates of the Future Thrown Open by Carlotta de Barsy, 1899.

If you dream of apricots tonight, be sure to avoid dried ones if fresh apricots are in season.  From The Gates of the Future Thrown Open by Carlotta de Barsy, 1899.

The Sphinx in its normal, involuted, and evolved states.  From Mysteria, 1913.

Christmas is a dreamy time ("I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas," for example.)  But is the classic imagery nightmarish?  We consulted an old book of dream symbolism, The Gates of the Future Thrown Open by Carlotta de Barsy (1899):

Reindeer are auspicious:

However, sleigh-bells are inauspicious:

Santa being a stout person is auspicious:

That his beard is white is auspicious:

Snowflakes are auspicious:

The singing of carols or hymns is inauspicious:

A fire in the fireplace is auspicious:

With only three of these nine symbols being inauspicious, Christmas is two-thirds a sweet dream.

May you dream of singing the "A" note in concert tonight.  From The Gates of the Future Thrown Open by Carlotta de Barsy, 1899.  For other meanings of the letter A, see One-Letter Words: A Dictionary.

From The Gates of the Future Thrown Open by Carlotta de Barsy, 1899.

We would have used not an exclamation point to symbolize "risky" but rather an asterisk, which has "risk" in its very name.  From Right, Wrong, and Risky by Mark Davidson.