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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  • Hello all. I hope I'm following the format correctly in posting a dream here for analysis. I've really dove into depth psychology over the past few months, and I believe its affected the content, if not the understanding of my dreams. I have a couple of dreams I'll be sharing in this forum. Here's the first one:

    I dreampt not too long ago that I was in a world that didn't look as good as the world I live in, because there is garbage out all the time. I was told in the dream by a resident that the advantage of this particular world is that though it doesn't look as nice, all the garbage gets cleaned out much quicker. I wandered about in this world, and I ended up having to use another apartment as my own, as I had lost the way to mine. The numbers of this new apartment were significant, though I can't quite remember how now. It may have had the number that was part of the nickname of someone I've card about romantically, and or it may have been a re-arrangement of the apartment number I live in in real life.

    There was a light brownish river in which people were told NOT to fall into, as it harms people if they do. I leaned over to look at it and fell in, and I was particularly angry at myself for what I felt was my stupidity. However, I was shocked when I emerged barely hurt. My body was not protected by anything special, though my head was protected by winter gear.

    After I emerged, I found my way back to my own apartment after zipping through an old neighborhood where I lived with my mom (I moved at the legal age of deciding which parent wants to live with, as my mom was a poor guardian, so this is significant to me), and I was a tad annoyed that the route to my house was so obvious. I felt silly for taking another apartment when I could have easily found my way back home when it should have been easy to find my way back to my own apartment. I remember the other apartment I found having lots of junk in it, but my original apartment I don't remember one way or the other having junk in it.

    I've taken this dream as meaning that I'm clearing out the "junk" in my head, confronting my shadow. Contemplating now, I feel that the path I should be taking is more obvious than I realize, but my mind is being distracted by things, perhaps an unhealthy environment.

    I look forward to any upcoming input :)

    • With respect for the dreamer and the dream, I offer some personal reflections.
      If this were my dream, my new perspective on where I am, is that my stuff (garbage) is now more visible and thus more readily addressed. The move towards "wholeness" must necessarily include the integration of discarded or ignored parts, however uncomfortable they may first appear. I do not listen to the conscious collective, (don't fall into the brown water) only to find that it's directive wasn't very accurate, while noting that this is in part because of the protection of my thinking function (head was protected...) To live in an apartment, is to be in a place that I do not "own" myself, it is temporary, until I can get "home" (that authentic place of grounded being).
      Waking ego function literalizes all, so the elements of environment, mom, etc. I too quickly contextualize to their literal counterparts, but are often more constructively approached symbolically, as is the nature of the realm from which dreams emerge. If all of the elements are aspects of "self" then I am confronted with my discarded stuff, not occupying my authentic place to be, learning that some of the collective conscious 'wisdom' may not be applicable anymore, that there are/was a place in thought that was more authentic.
      Parent stuff is 'tricky' in that I ascribe it to the person (literal mind) rather than owning that my 'maternal function' is weak, and should be given support, I need to care for myself??
      Lastly, 'confronting my shadow' is so often characterized as "dark" and to be "feared" yet it can just as easily be an inspired and positive aspect of self, too long ignored, and needing to be brought back into the 'light' and integrated. Waking ego always casts everything outside it's domain as scary, and indeed it is, in that, it will move the self towards a more whole integration, thus dislodging the waking ego from it's comfortable inertia.
      Just some personal reflections, see if anything "sticks," as this is the only criteria for dreamwork.

  • I know this group hasn't been active recently but this is an area I'm really interested in getting a good grasp of... plus I'm finding my personal dream work incredibly valuable. This is a dream I had a couple months back; it struck me as important and I think I understand some things but I'm still scratching my head about several major elements, especially the tentacles and the reflection.

     

    I'm at a picnic or some sort of outdoor event. I'm at the top of the hill, batting a small rubber ball with a guy who's all the way down a hill, in the water. The stick I'm holding has something on top that's interfering with my accuracy so I turn it over. The guy I know is messing with me. He hits two completely impossible hits. When our time to switch comes he's going to make it impossible for me to hit the ball. I get up to leave - I think about avoiding him but think I have to confront him instead, so I go up to him and swim right past him. I tell him I'm leaving because he hits unfair. He protests but I tell him I gave him 3 chances, 3 chances and then you're out (I include a previous time.) Then I swim to the island. I'm also the being who runs to the last boat, asking for them to wait so he can get to the island.

    On the island is the boy's house. One night he wakes up and hears his parents making love. When he opens his eyes, he sees his mother is actually a horrible, deformed monster. She has a gaping black hole in her leg from which fleshy tentacles come out. She touches you with those tentacles and, under her illusion, you think they're her hands. She walks by windows and for a moment she can't see her reflection. When she can see herself, the left side of her hair and face have gotten old and gone white. She fixes the illusion so she looks young and beautiful, with shining black hair and full, sexy makeup.

    I have to go into the house to confront the monster. I go in and then upstairs. I hear movement downstairs and think about hiding from whoever it is but I decide to go down. It's a couple (I feel like the woman is one of my aunts by marriage, but they're both young.) She's mixing formula for her infant (orange flavored). The can she's scooping the mix from is sitting on top of a stack of cans. I tell them that she's intuitive and my Dad (the man) is attuned to the physical (i.e. a sensation type). They're complete opposites but complement each other. And they both know something is wrong. They have to take their baby and get out. I tell them to get on the boat and go as far as they can - Puerto Rico is right there. If the boat has problems, to hold onto it as long as there's any air in it (the boat is one of those inflatable boats). To use their life preservers, which are like small boats. If another boat comes, hold onto it if they have to do this as long as they can until they reach land.

    I go into the house to confront the monster mother. She fills the floor with snakes. I close my eyes and the Goddess fulfills my wish with green forest. I trust her to guide my feet. I reach the monster and take her limbs/arms. She tells me that she was tortured and her hands removed (I don't know if there was more to the dream or it ended here.)

     

     

    Thanks for any and all ideas about what this dream means!

     

    -Suzanne

    • My humble efforts to contribute, as I stand in front of the immense imponderable, such are dreams like this.
      If this were my dream, I am immediately confounded by the scope, dreams within dreams, multiple scenes to a complex play. I find that it helps to take each 'act' as a completeness unto itself, which can then be placed on the same shelf as the other acts, and they can then 'talk' to each other, often generating a larger meaning. This often works on multiple dreams in the same night, however discordant they first appear.
      So..., to play a game with someone, is to be in relationship with them. As a woman, this seems to be with my less developed (boy) masculine aspect (however I understand it), and it is time for a change, as heralded by the "magic number" 3 which shows up in countless tales as the time when transformation takes place. Water often signals "unconscious "realm" for me, of which 'he' is situated, and I help him despite reservations, to get to the island.
      Now..., an "island" is an isolated element, and in 'depth psychology babble' suggests an autonomous complex within my own, a place of energy, unconnected to the "mainland" of my being. This particular island is phenomenologically extraordinary, with archetypal beings and references. The scene begins with "waking up" and then by the overly-determined use of the phrase, "opens his eyes," both of which point to an emerging conscious knowledge. Of what?? A truly mythologic being, the devouring Mother. This is an aspect without self-reflective knowledge (can't see her reflection) who cultures the illusion that all is well (makeup, etc.). If I try to unpack this dream, I might try to take "ownership" of all of the elements, including this "monsterous visage." In what way have a fostered a persona that threatens my less mature masculine aspect??
      Next..., I begin by trying to go "upstairs" into more conscious realms, but realize that I must descend to engage this aspect, the rescuing of the healthy relationship of the Dad and the feminine, both of which are threatened by the tentacled one, unnatural appendages that clutch and hold fast. Hold on the the 'air' is to stay "afloat" among the surrounding seas that would drown me.
      Finally, if this were my dream, I move to confront, a good sign in itself, only to find out that this most fearsome of creatures is itself damaged and in need of care. To have a 'Goddess' appear at this juncture and fulfill my wish with a verdant forest image, is comforting, even if I do not comprend (waking ego functions efforts) the fuller meaning of all of these different pieces. Something has moved, and for this I am grateful to be witness.

  • This dream has some fun mythic elements. Elements I’d love to have processed under the Jungian lens. It’s been a while since I’ve have Jungian playmates. Hi All!

     

    Set-up-

    The pressure was on....No dream for dream circle.

    DC- A native American tradition where woman gather in ceremony to share dreams. (Not to interpret but to stand in each other’s dreams and share perception of the dream.)

    I attribute it to gin & tonic before bed.

    Not dreaming has been its own drug,

    Dreams can tend to follow me home and of late I’ve had a work to do.

    Gin & & tonic guarantees a few hours sleep and for some reason no dreams.

    I miss them of course, my favorite friends

    For now some sleep and continuity of reality is necessary.

     

    But alas a Dream Circle scheduled and no dream...

    I skip the G&T.

    Then retire only to hover for what seems like an eternity in twilight,

    I meditate, skirting the edge of dark and light.

    It is a bit like sliding feet first on a cosmic Yin-Yang symbol.

    This goes on for untold hours and I get frustrated.

    I attempt to kick off from the dividing line and hurl myself into the darkside

    hoping sleep and a dream will find me once there.

    I keep migrating back to the line between light and dark.

    And continue to slide between.

     

    I give up on the idea of having a dream as morning comes close,

    I find myself wishing only for sweet unconsciousness and a couple of hours sleep.

     

    And then it changes,

    I'm standing in clear light

    Feeling exhilarated, mighty- and BIG.

    Really cosmic BIG.

    My arms hold powerful dancing swords 

    Pure energy rushes towards me like an oncoming wind,

    Swords seamlessly carve energy streams into bite size realities.

    So alive!!!!

     

    In the midst of this I glance down.

    And the energy WOOSHing in my ears screeches like a record being bumped

    And the ecstasy of being mythic is caught off guard

    -by the sight of two more arms… holding a swaddled infant like bundle. 

     

     

    Hugh?- Disruption in bliss…

    I check in with self to get my bearing.

    Arms with swords still dance effortlessly, energy still streams, realities neatly carved…

    but all attention now goes to the bundle.

    I note a lack snuggle-yum maternal towards the bundle which makes me suspicious.

    There is some manor of feeling --- could be honor or duty?

    I check the body to see if it wants/need to set the bundle down...

    Nope. Arms hold firm...

     

    I think that perhaps a glimpse of the face will ignite flame/warmth of heart

    I pull back the blanket to reveal

    a bundle of endless night.

    Surprise… followed by- Ooops!

    Are we allowed to remove that?

     

    Then I wonder if it really is what I think it is- so I dive headlong into the bundle to confirm,

    Yes indeed... as I plunge deeply into the bottomless darkness.

     A chunk of infinite void.... But how?

     

    Once in-gulfed in darkness I look around for clues.

    Straining, to hear, see, intuit something…

    Black on black cutouts of ancient man- angular and cave-like images are perceived.

    All is silent as I watch the men move deliberately with speed over their kill.

    It is a large bloodless beastly-mass of darkness

    That is being carved into chunks.

    One by one members of the hunting party stealthily carry off what they can....

     

    *I love this dream as it is from a very masculine perspective which I’d never before experienced. As a  lucid dreamer since childhood, my relationship with the void is such that I slip in,  wallow, rejuvenate, hide, and or decompress in the dreamless-mana. At some point something in me is sparked to wants to return. The journey for the masculine psyche is obviously very different. >>>And to remove a piece- Void-to-go… Mind-blowing, intriguing, remarkable!

     

     

     

     

    • What a delight to dive into this, nostrils flaring, ears burning and mouth twitching for its piece of the void lunch!

       

      Primary forces seem not to care about the bliss of cosmic slicer/dicer material. It interrupts with a shriek of reality biting sound, even though the automatic pilot of fielding the material forces goes on. Something has said..."now this!" And the beingness dives in for a look-see and feel. Feels like the void's hunter has killed and now takes its share of the manna 'home' to 'eat'.

       

      Though a masculine hunter kills, its impulses or drives bring the dream into the fields of conscious awareness, a birthing process, utterly feminine in nature. Is there contextual material available within the dreamer's background or outer life relationships/career circumstances, activities, health that may help frame this very wide experience on the earthly stage?And the cummunal service here is indeed scented with primal, instinctual mystery..  

       

      P. J. Fields 

       

       

  • Great guidance Edward!  The only thing that I wonder, Defer, is there someone you are close to, or in extended family who you might be dreaming for?
  • Truer words have never been spoken, Dorene!  Thanks again for your lovely insights and kind considerations.  With deepest regards, Alan
  • You're doing wonderful, insightful work, here Dorene! Glad to find this. I want to add a comment on Tomasz's dream and then tell an animal dream I had night before last.

     

    I probably read this somewhere that I don't recall but when animals appear in my dreams, I wonder if there is a message for me about my instinctual life—particularly I look into where my instincts may be blocked if the animals are not in a natural setting or if they are in some way unwell.

     

    In my dream, I'd been away from home for many days and didn't become aware until my return that I'd forgotten to arrange for someone to feed my 3 cats. I couldn't find them anywhere and became horribly worried and scared that they had starved to death in my absence. Not much later, I found Tiger, my feral cat that lives on the property but won't let us touch him, curled up on my bed. Soon, Fluffy returned but his coat was matted and dingy and he was quite thin; then Izzie showed up but with very bloodshot eyes.

     

    I'd be happy to take a shot at one of your dreams, Dorene, if you want to share one too!

     

    cat dream.doc

    https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/9142750890?profile=original
    • Hmmm, i'd wonder about being away from home as "absent minded" in some way, away from my routines and usual persona. It seems that My usual customary attention actually scares the feral part of my shadow away. Now that my ordinary identity is out of the way, this wildcat comes right up into my bed, trusts me or reveals a greater closeness. In reversal from waking life, the other two cats, My two domesticated aspects, parts of self with which i consciously identify and feel comfortable with around the house-- actually do sufffer from my neglect--matted and dingy and hungry (malnourished, unsheltered, ungroomed) and izzie redeyed--up all night or a bender or what?! I wonder where I was instead of in my usual habitual routines at home.  Just some directions I would explore if this were my dream.
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