Those of us who are fascinated by dreams and working with them must be doing some amazing dreaming ourselves, yes? Want some help gleaning meaning from the symbols and tone and postures of a particular dream? Here's the place to gain insight from around the world and every style of dream work!
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Tomasz Lange > Genevieve JacobsMarch 12, 2011 at 12:04am
Genevieve,
the dream clearly shows a "death experience" that your soul is undergoing. 'Holding your breath" and escaping on land could mean you're resisting your engagement in it but it may just as well be an indication that the renewal phase has already begun. I wonder if there are more 'tsunami" dreams to come? What did you feel right after you woke up? The relief that it's 'all over now"? After my "tornado dreams" I sometimes feel really happy to be awake again but sometimes I wish I hadn't woken up at all :)
Dorene Mahoney > Genevieve JacobsMarch 11, 2011 at 4:04pm
How amazing that you would have such a dream when hundreds of thousands of people are living out the reality. The question, of course, comes to mind: Were you having this dream, or was the world dreaming you, Genevieve? On a personal level, I was struck by your will to live in the dream ("hanging on for dear life," for example) and your full immersion (i.e., full engagement?) in the dirty water and waves that were all around you. This, in counterpoint to your father and brother standing (serenely?) in the civilized garden high above you. It made me wonder whether your life might feel a little overwhelming to you right now. Just a question, you know. In DreamTending, landscapes are dream figures with things to say to us, as much as any other figure. In your dream landscapes play a big part. It would not be odd to enter into conversation with the particular ocean in your dream, or the sunny civilized garden, or the gentle slope and rounded rocks, to see what these aspects of the dream might be saying to you. Thank you for sharing. I wonder what other dreamworkers in the group will have to say.
Thank you very much, Dorene. I don't know exactly why but I feel deeply moved by your interpretation. It's curious you used the word 'lethargy' which I hadn't myself and the dream does seem to show an almost "cosmically" static image. I'm not sure how else I could describe its lack of action or movement of any kind. Thank you again.
Dorene, that's a great idea. I've been having this recurrent dream of a barn with sad or injured animals inside. It's dark in there with thin rays of light coming from the outside through a small window. There are no people there, just the animals: dogs, pigs, sometimes deer. The're just standing or lying around, looking somewhat sick, peaceful and 'eternally" sad at the same time. Is that what the animal underworld looks like? :)
As a general rule of thumb, I think of animals as representing "the natural" world, and I give any animal in a dream first attention. In DreamTending the emphasis is less on interpretation of the images and more on creating relationship with them, so I would invite you to reenter the dreamscape and begin a dialogue, first with the animal whose countenance stands out. What might these sad barn yard animals have to tell you? An immediate thought that comes to me is that the barn and the animals suggest the notion of domestication (i.e., robbed of their natural instincts?) . . . and, then, there is an occasional deer (the one animal not typically thought of as domestic). So, what do the domesticated animals have to say, and what might the deer say? Another tack that comes to me is whether or not there is a particular area of the body in all of the animals that holds the lethargy and sadness. I would want to know if the animals might be pointing to some physical or biochemical challenge the dreamer might be facing. These are just hits, and in actual DreamTending, I challenge myself to set these aside and allow the dream images to speak for themselves. I'm anxious to hear what other dream workers in the group have to say. Thank you for sharing your dream!
Replies
Genevieve,
the dream clearly shows a "death experience" that your soul is undergoing. 'Holding your breath" and escaping on land could mean you're resisting your engagement in it but it may just as well be an indication that the renewal phase has already begun. I wonder if there are more 'tsunami" dreams to come? What did you feel right after you woke up? The relief that it's 'all over now"? After my "tornado dreams" I sometimes feel really happy to be awake again but sometimes I wish I hadn't woken up at all :)
Hi Tomasz,
As a general rule of thumb, I think of animals as representing "the natural" world, and I give any animal in a dream first attention. In DreamTending the emphasis is less on interpretation of the images and more on creating relationship with them, so I would invite you to reenter the dreamscape and begin a dialogue, first with the animal whose countenance stands out. What might these sad barn yard animals have to tell you? An immediate thought that comes to me is that the barn and the animals suggest the notion of domestication (i.e., robbed of their natural instincts?) . . . and, then, there is an occasional deer (the one animal not typically thought of as domestic). So, what do the domesticated animals have to say, and what might the deer say? Another tack that comes to me is whether or not there is a particular area of the body in all of the animals that holds the lethargy and sadness. I would want to know if the animals might be pointing to some physical or biochemical challenge the dreamer might be facing. These are just hits, and in actual DreamTending, I challenge myself to set these aside and allow the dream images to speak for themselves. I'm anxious to hear what other dream workers in the group have to say. Thank you for sharing your dream!
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