A-D: Dream Decoder
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Abandonment
Watching a child realize he is alone is a heartrending event. In a moment, he goes from content to worried to panicked. One of our most primitive fears is the fear of being separated from family, friends, or society. In dreams, being abandoned can have several connotations that derive from psychological or physical experience. The primary interpretive question is: Who abandoned the dreamer, and why?Being individually abandoned by a significant other can represent a feeling of insecurity in a relationship. This may reflect concerns about the feelings of another towards you. Are you genuinely receptive to the idea of being loved and valued, or do you view another’s affection as a put-on?
Perhaps you view yourself as lovable as you are known, but fear that more revelation about you will lead to isolation. This could be especially true if there is a taboo experience being kept secret from the person who has abandoned you (e.g., marital infidelity). Dreams of this nature may be recurring if as a child your parents extended only conditional affection towards you. You may see yourself as completely abandoned. This can represent a major sense of being unable or unworthy to fit into society. In this type of dream, you may not be alone in a physical sense, but lack connection with the people around you. Self-esteem issues, taboo experiences, or your ability to receive love should be areas of investigation. People who view themselves as completely abandoned within a dream often find themselves lacking connection in many day-to-day relationships or experiences. Lastly, you may see yourself as ritually abandoned. This dream experience finds others leaving you for your own good. Where have you left unfinished business in relationships with others? Conversely, have others left your expectations unmet or altogether unrecognized? Animals Animals in dreams can take on almost any conceivable character or symbolic role. From some of the earliest recorded human dreams, animals have revealed much about the meaning of a particular dream. This includes dreams of personal insight or circumstances, and also dreams of revelatory content. Animals can befriend us, talk with us, chase us, eat us, or just be there in the dream to either comfort or bother us.Animals often appear in dreams for very personal reasons, and have to do with your own experiences with them.How you experience an animal in both waking and sleeping is central to its meaning. This includes both how the animal actually behaves in your dream, and your waking stereotypical attitude about the animal. This is important because the two may be juxtaposed.Consider a dog. Dogs are often considered to be loyal and friendly. However, many people have a deeply rooted fear of dogs. Dogs also have stereotypes that are opposites (for example, man’s best friend versus call off the dogs). People with a deeply held fear of dogs may experience a dog dream that validates the fear one night and contradicts it another time.What the animal is doing is also central to how the dream is interpreted. Are you being chased by animals? Eaten by animals? Talking with animals?Farm animals are not too unusual in dreams. However, they seem to be less common than they were in more agricultural times. Grazing farm animals generally reflect a sense of being provided for adequately. In early dream history, grazing animals were taken as a sign that prosperity and calm were coming to, or prevalent in, a land. Killing animals is a more unusual dream theme that divides into two general areas: killing by necessity, and killing arbitrarily. Killing out of necessity could be a hunter-provider archetype dream or a survival dream. These dreams often reflect a sense of responsibility for the other characters in the dream or of a need to prove oneself. Dreams of killing animals arbitrarily may reflect either wish-fulfillment, anger projection, or frustration with a social taboo. Wish-fulfillment and anger projection have much to do with how you perceive the animal you are killing. Does this animal have any representation for you among persons in general or do you characterize a specific person as an animal when speaking of them? The social taboo of arbitrarily wounding or killing animals has become a criterion for evaluating antisocial behavior in people. Consequently, it is not surprising that in dreams this would be a sign of taboo frustration. Again, what the animal represents may be of significance to you. Starving animals hold significance in agricultural societies and Native American spirituality. These animals often reflect a concern or foreboding about the adequacy of needs being met the future. In the past, starving animals were a reflection or anticipation of famine periods. Starving animals may also be metaphors for relationship transactions in which you participate. Common animals’ stereotypical perceptions that may appear in dreams as metaphors for yourself or others (listed as good-bad): Cat: quiet, independent-aloof, disengaged See bear, birds, cats, dogs, elephant, fish, fox, oxen, rats, wolf (Aquamarine) Mineral and precious stones have historic meanings based on their color, value, and rarity. Geology and various crystal structures have significance in the New Age movement, which has renewed interest in these materials. Beryl is a crystal that represents courage and tranquility. Dreams that include this stone may reflect material gain, or they may reflect self-esteem and inner calm given by another as a gift to you.
Bisexuality
Freud was a great advocate of the bisexuality of all persons. It was no surprise to him when he studied dreams in which romantic content existed that was contrary to the dreamer’s usual sexual preference. Many times, this romance is a form of mirroring.Mirroring is the desire to find affirmation of a particular aspect of yourself in a particular sort of relationship. The romance contrary to your usual preference should be set aside initially in order to discern what sort of affirmation you may be seeking from this liaison.
Another possible reason for a dream that involves bisexuality for a typically heterosexual person is that the anima/animus is flexing itself. Blessings
Although the word is something of an antique in many circles, the idea of a blessing is a powerful one in the human experience. Consequently, giving, seeking, or receiving a blessing are important dream events. Many times, dreams include some kind of conveyance that will fall into this category. The idea of a blessing was central to many ancient cultures. When preparations for death entered its final stages, the dying patriarch or matriarch of a family would convey last wishes or hopes for affirmation onto members of a household. This was a deeply spiritual act that conveyed peace or power onto the next generation. To be overlooked or rejected during the blessing was a sign of disfavor or judgment. These things can come across in your dreams based on the subjects in them and the amount of reverence you have toward them.In more contemporary times, we can look at these blessings or conveyances in terms of complete versus incomplete relationships. Especially with parents, the blessing or absence thereof carries with it the perception that the relationship did or did not fulfill an expectation of love, nurture, or support.
Receiving a blessing is a sign of closure and ultimate acceptance-finally, the bygones are bygones. No matter what the past provided, hope prevails. Blessings of this kind often include well-wishes, the promise of sufficient resources to succeed in life, or an affirmation of the person as being competent and capable. Giving a blessing is an act of benevolence. It may reveal how the dreamer sees him or herself in their life cycle or in relationship to the blessee. To give a blessing is to see oneself as a source of help, spiritual power, forgiveness, or encouragement to others. Depending on who is being blessed, it may reveal that someone in relationship to you is not receiving adequate resources for their needs. Seeking a blessing may reveal a sense of imbalance in a relationship. The dreamer may see himself or herself in a deficit situation with no apparent resolution. Images of this type may indicate that the dreamer is seeking a monetary inheritance or a chance to bury the hatchet in a relationship. In either case, the seeking may take a very humble or aggressive form, based on the dreamer’s relationship to the source of blessing. Cats
Cats have several commonly observed meanings that translate pretty easily between waking and dreams. Traditionally, cats have symbolized intuitive or magical powers. The former may be a herald to trust intuition. The latter may be a fantasy on your part to acquire witch skills or to investigate occult matters.Of course, your own cat may simply appear in your dreams as a member of your daily life.
Cave
If you ever watched the old Kung Fu TV series, you may remember the powerful beginning sequence: Grasshopper (David Carradine) is in a cave. He seizes the smoking cauldron and burns the tiger and dragon images onto his skin as he carries the cauldron out into the sun. Upon doing so, his initiation is complete and he is an official Taoist monk.The cave is the archetypal place of initiation. Caves are the first and most sacred of human dwelling places. As such, people may often feel a primordial sense of attraction to caves in their dreams. Initiation is the Jungian term for becoming a Self in the transition from childhood to maturity. Jung contends that there are rites of passage that need to be completed. The cave is often the place this is done. For much of human history, caves have been sacred places of shelter from the world; the place that became the extent of a person’s kingdom in the face of uncertainty and peril. While the cave itself may not be a central image any longer, we have many metaphors for it.
These include small rooms with a sacred or significant object of our past in them, small bedrooms or studies, basement workshops, or other places of solitude and silence. There is also something in such a space that confronts you-not necessarily in an endangering way, but an existential one. This grappling is the business of the cave. To make peace with the object of your grappling is the act of initiation. If your dream includes leaving the cave, you will probably feel a new unity with the world upon your departure. It’s a far cry from being disillusioned; the peace you feel comes from a fuller sense of participation and belonging in the cosmos. Cellphone
Neither Freud nor Jung had anything to say about cellular phones. However, as they become more prevalent they are obviously making their way into people’s dreams. Cell phones have changed from being a symbol of status to a symbol of security. We feel a sense of connection to our resources when the cell phone is nearby. If your dream includes a cell phone, you are probably seeing yourself as connected-or desiring connection with additional opportunities.There also may be a sense of wanting to change one’s social status to necessitate use of a cell phone. Try to discern who you are calling and under what circumstances, as the phone may have a lot of symbolic lifeline or security image to it as well.
Does it feel like a social crutch in your dream, or a helpful tool?
Is it tying you down … ringing incessantly and keeping you from experiencing a sense of peace in your sleep? Chased by Animals
This kind of dream is common among children. Often, it reflects a deeply held fear of the animal doing the chasing. However, it may reveal an anxiety about something completely separated from the animal kingdom. In cases like this, it is important to think about what is chasing you and what your experiences have been with that particular animal.For example, if a relative whom you did not particularly like had a German shepherd dog, you may dream about being chased by the dog. This may reveal either the desire of the relative to obtain your attention and affection, or it may validate your fears and anxieties about that person.
If you often use animal characterizations of people’s personalities, this may be particularly telling. (He’s a bear, she’s a momma bear, he works like a horse, etc.) Depending on who the others are, it may be useful to determine what common relationship exists among your persecutors. You may feel indebted to them or simply hated by them. The former may include people with whom you feel an emotional or financial indebtedness. The latter is a throwback to the old schoolyard scuffle. You may feel that particular co-workers are angry or jealous and are seeking your life or expulsion. If you are chased by strangers, this may have more global implications for how you see yourself in the world. During different seasons in life, many people experience a sense of not fitting in, or of being driven away. This feeling may come immediately prior to or immediately following a geographic move into a new region of the country. It may also occur around other times of transition such as marriage or a career change. This type of dream usually reflects acceptance anxiety. In dreams where you are being chased, the emotion of the dream is often as important as the objects and images of the dream. Did you feel your life was threatened? Did you feel that you could have turned and faced the chaser with relative success? These questions will help determine the interpretation of such dreams |
Dreams about a compass, the universal symbol of direction, often involve either getting back on track or trying to discern what course should be set for the path ahead. Or the compass may have been found or given to you by a mentor figure of some kind. Checking out the mentor and her or his relationship to you should be a central concern of the dream.
Dogs
Dogs can be great friends or frightening adversaries. In dreams, the friendly dog may be a representation of a trustworthy relationship or intuitive affirmation of it. The wild dog may represent a nagging, ongoing struggle with a seemingly irresolvable conflict. (Of course, either case may just be a replay of a life situation starring a real dog that you know, either friend or foe.)Do you want someone who is unfairly persecuting you to call off the dogs?
Is there a relationship in your life where the loyalty is at question or is especially pronounced?
