ISSN: 1913-1917
June 2008 Issue
IN THIS ISSUE:
Feature Article:
-- A New Radical Approach to Dreams
Cross Cultural Dreaming:
-- Animals Have Complex Dreams
Famous Dreams:
-- Clues From Fossil Perceived In Dream
Readers Dreams & Analysis:
--none this issue
Symbol of The Month:
-- Animals
Reader Comments:
--None this issue
From The Editor:
-- Major issues with my autoresponder service
Submission Instructions:
--See bottom of newsletter
Quote of the Month
That some have never dreamed is as improbable
as that some have never laughed
~ Sir Thomas Browne
1650
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Feature Article:
The balance of power at our present time is heavily slanted in favour of the outer, external, physical world of matter, materiality and the collective, objective, domain where popular influences are more likely to determine the course of an individual’s life, than is their own true nature. We may believe we’re living our own life, but powerful, often unacknowledged, social forces are continually pushing and pulling us in one way or another, shaping what we do, who we are and how we live. We find ourselves following a set of programmed and conditioned shoulds and should nots; We should find a career our family and society approves of, we should live in a 3-bedroom house in the suburbs, we should have 2.5 kids, we should save for retirement, we shouldn't rock the boat and we should always, always fit in.
Even our own minds, and what we do with them, are being controlled and manipulated by cultural and social commandments and conventions. During the Dark Ages dreams and their interpretation became taboo. Because of a simple mistranslation of the word ‘divination’ as ‘dream interpretation’, the Church deemed dreams and their study to be sacrilegious and the sphere of demons and Satan himself. Good Christians of the time dared not discuss their dreams for fear of being branded a heretic and burned at the stake let alone study their content. It wasn’t until the dawn of the Industrial Revolution that dreams were finally carried back into the light from the centuries of hiding in the shadows away from zealous and cloaked Inquisitors and disassociated from evil and the Devil.
Still, even in the 21st century, to confide in others that you're working with dreams often evokes stereotypical attitudes of unreality and fantasy and we're often dismissed as 'flakes' or nut-jobs. Unfortunately, the modern world we live in has essentially lost its connection to fantasy, mythology, the imagination, and the transformational wisdom contained in images and symbols, and in our dreams. Indeed, the clinical, scientific ( and even psychological)l establishment has demonized the imagination, as have most mainstream religions, resulting in such mass produced clichés as, “you’re such a dreamer,” “it’s just your imagination,” or “you’re living in a fantasy world.” The major bulk of the scientific community has reduced dreams to physiological and psychological functions created by and for the individual organism only.
As we move through our nondescript life, we begin to feel insignificant, we resign ourselves to the fact that our lives couldn’t possibly matter or make a difference, that our life is no different than anyone else's. And eventually, we begin to search for something… anything that will make things better.
We desperately need a way of looking at ourselves, our environment and our world, that's free of the deadly and dehumanizing judgements that a group-oriented perspective often places on life. Seen through a collective mindset, being black, brown or white becomes a label that overshadows individual character and identity. We see the group not the individual, and we tend to judge or assume things about people based on what we’ve been told or conditioned to believe. When the collective view dominates, it’s nearly impossible to see a human being. Instead we see a “Jew,” a “Republican,” an “Arab,” a “Protestant,” a “homosexual,” and so on. Our dreams rarely address this labelling of people, but they do focus on images of containment and entrapment produced by influences from all types of “group-think.”
Living a life burdened by the immense weight of commonality and sameness, of lost passion and imagination, will show up in our dream world, where the psyche attempts to alleviate our one-sided involvement in the sea of sameness and mass-identity. As group ideologies and collective systems increasingly become our personas, we become more and more disconnected from the world around us and from our own authenticity.
For our purposes, authentic (and thus authenticity) refers to “conforming to fact and therefore worthy of trust, reliance and of verifiable origin or authorship; not counterfeit or copied. The original self, not copied.”
Enter the Radical Dream Interpretation Method of dream exploration.
In the Radical approach to dream work, developed by John D. Goldhammer, Ph.D., the goal of dream interpretation is not to pigeon-hole our dreams and dream images into convenient little boxes, but to unwrap them, free them from the collectively defined limits, influences and authority of the outer world, and to promote the discovery of the true Self by arriving at clear understanding and definition of our own authenticity.
In traditional dreamwork, the ‘subjective’ approach assumes that everything in our dream is a symbolic part of our psyche – personal images existing only within an individual’s mind – while the objective side refers to ‘reality,’ to a literal interpretation, to actual material objects uninfluenced by individual emotions or personal prejudices. This “subjective” prejudice tends to split dream interpretation into 2 separate worlds: one entirely subjective with all dream images interpreted as part of the dreamer’s psyche, another where people take the dream content literally.
Assuming that everything in a dream belongs to the dreamer, that the dream’s our “private property,” creates a one-sided, self-alienating position: it attempts to lock up our consciousness in a neat little box, ignoring the possibility of dream elements belonging to their own world.
Both Goldhammer and myself have discovered, From personal experience, that we don’t need to concern ourselves about a subjective or objective perspective, as long as we’re careful to avoid literal assumptions about our dreams. Literal dreams account for a very, very small percentage of our dreams.
The Radical Dreaming process doesn’t lock up dreaming in any subjective box that requires us to make everything in our dream a part of our psyche. In fact, most dreams contain a complex mixture of subjective and objective personal meanings as well as subjective and objective outer influences.
To demonstrate this great new alternative dream exploration process, let’s look at a very brief, but powerful, dream:
I’m in a doctor’s waiting room. He hands me a baby with a dirty diaper and says “change it.”
The old method of interpreting this dream would be to get associations from the dreamer and then force everything in the dream to be a part of the dreamer. However, what if we simply get rid of any preconceived ideas or theories about the dream and let the dream images interpret themselves?
Goldhammer tells us that "Now the dream takes on some depth. In reality, the ‘doctor’ represents the medical establishment, the approved, licensed authority regarding health issues. And this medical authority figure wants the baby’s dirty diapers changed; a mess cleaned up. A baby is a new life beginning. But the doctor won't tolerate the fact that it’s a natural part of a baby’s nature to be out of control in certain areas. The creative process is messy, unpredictable, and it often feels ‘out of control,’ particularly in the waking ego’s social hypnosis."
Perhaps this dream is showing the dreamer that she’s allowing lethal outside restrictions to thwart a valuable new beginning for which being out of control at times, making a mess, is completely natural and expected. Moreover, the dream may be showing the dreamer that her negative self-talk is building a wall of restrictions and intolerance around her “baby.” In this sense, a figure like the doctor can best be looked at as a cluster of influences that does not belong to the dreamer and must, like weeds, be pulled from the garden of the authentic self.
With the Radical Dream Interpretation (RDI) approach to dreamwork, you're not required to look at dreams through the restrictive paradigm of any formal theory. Nor are you required to force your dream images into stereotypical, psychological labels and meanings. Instead, you allow your dreams to interpret themselves.
Most traditional dream interpretation techniques yank dream-world images out of their natural habitat and into the foreign daytime-world where the waking ego depreciates and discards them, misunderstands them, or worse, kills their real potential by imprisoning them in professional opinion and expertise. The problem with this, of course, is that our dreams speak to us in their own nocturnal language —through images, symbols and metaphors— in contrast to our waking world, which speaks through linguistic containers familiar to our waking (conscious) ego structure. Hence, there's a real danger in shutting a dream image (or symbol) away inside a label —the child in our dream becomes “eternal child,” another figure becomes the “wise old man,” while male and female are labelled as “anima” and “animus” in Jungian psychology— or forcing the dreams feet into mythological shoes, saying that that dream’s about your Aphrodite nature or your Hero complex. By doing so, we dismiss other possible interpretations and worse risk missing the true message the dream is conveying.
Over and over, our dreams prove to be potential peacemakers, healers, wise counsellors – trying, with eternal patience, to return us to ourselves, to guide us home to our essential character and our Authentic Lives.
We can work with our relationships to our community, to our natural world, and to our group through dream symbology and imagery. Our dreams reveal that each of us is connected and implicated in our institutions and systems, both inwardly and outwardly, whether we’re aware of it or not. And a large part of our suffering can be attributed to destructive collective influences.
Goldhammer tells us that he chose “Radical Dreaming” as the title for his book and process because, "the word Radical comes closest to characterizing the inner and outer revolution that takes place when we have the courage to live authentically, to follow our dreams."
Radical literally means ‘going to a root or source, departing markedly from the usual or customary,” and it means “effecting fundamental or revolutionary changes in current practices, conditions or institutions,” and also, “one who seeks to overthrow the social order.” The Latin root of radical, rādix, means “root.” To live a distinct, original life, we need to go to the source, into our roots, our original nature. We need to “overthrow the social order,” which has been implanted deep within the human psyche with all its attendant rules and expectations heaped upon the individual. Radical Dreaming implies leaving the stagnation and servitude of an “ordered,” common life, a deadly, soul numbing status quo; it’s the ultimate rebellion.
More and more evidence points to the conclusion that following the path of conformity, not living out one’s authentic self, is a major culprit in what has become an epidemic of clinical depression, which, in turn, promotes the mushrooming use of mood altering drugs to keep us feeling “good” or “normal.”
When we depress the real aspects of who we are in order to conform to outside rules and expectation, we then feel depressed because we’ve pushed aside and pressed down our passion and creativity in favour of adaptation to what we believe we should do and be, based on family and social pressures.
Depression, however, may well be one of our most valuable signposts, a red flag, a symptom of spiritual distress.
Our modern world increasingly suffers from a variety of symptoms that may well be the result of potent societal and cultural influences that increasingly dominate the individual life. Might we be in the throes of a pervasive “collective neurosis,” a deadly condition that only individual authenticity can cure?
The following example has been taken from Goldhammer's book Radical Dreaming, and shows how a collective authority figure often appears in a dream, challenging our attempts to cross the threshold into a creative new life. A middle-aged, married man reported the following dream:
I dreamed that I wanted to get into a wonderful garden. But before it there was a watchman who would not permit me to enter. I saw that my friend, Elsa, was within; she wanted to reach me her hand, over the gate. But the watchman prevented that, took me by the arm, and conducted me home. “Do be sensible – after all!” he said. “You know that you mustn’t do that.”
If we could had the ability to speak with the garden we might ask, “who are you?” and “what’s your job?” The garden might answer, I provide space to contain, protect and nurture the transformation of seeds and their growth into a magnificent variety of flowers and plants. This inquiry of the dreamer’s “wonderful garden” results in an explanation from the garden that corresponds to a secret or unusual garden as a classic symbol of the Self, of Paradise, the soul and the qualities cultivated in it.
In this example, the “watchman” will not let him in. Tradition dream analysis would view the watchman as a part of the dreamer’s psyche (and Freudian dream analysts would insist the watchman demonstrated the presence of a censor). But, what if we look at the watchman as an invasive influence depicting ideas and attitudes from the outer world which have been internalized —not unlike a computer virus that attacks the integrity of the entire system. The watchman then represents a threshold presence: an aggregate of self-imposed restrictions standing between the dreamer and his Authentic Self. Moreover, it’s “Elsa,” the feminine, his creative soul nature that tries to reach out to him in the dream.
Related images in dreams include uniformed police, soldiers, officials and other authority figures, particularly those representative of the public or organizations. As we work with our dreams and identify each of these restrictive, outside influences, the Authentic Self gradually begins to emerge in all its elegant distinctiveness, and we, as individuals, begin to live happier, fuller and more satisfying lives.
To say that it takes courage to undertake the exploration of the psyche would be an understatement. Our waking ego has built its structures based on what it believes to be necessary for survival in the world, and to encounter long-submerged parts of our authentic life surging up from the depths of the unconscious takes courage and trust – trust that life is more than survival, consumption and entertainment.
Radical Dreaming means looking at dreams, symbols and images as meaningful interconnecting each of us, not only with our own psyches, but with everything, with all life and with the cosmos. Radical Dreaming proceeds with the understanding that dreams and the imagination, with its images and fantasies, are quite real – that they do indeed have profound value, meaning and intent.
The Radical Dreaming process utilizes experiential info based on your observations and your experiences of dreams and imaginative images.
Radical Dreaming also focuses on the nature of the relationship between the dreamer and a particular image, and the relationship between dream images and our outer, objective world.
When we focus on relationships instead of labelling something as subjective or objective, we free our dreams from splitting the objective, outer world from the observers, which can result in ever-increasing fragmentation in society and within the individual. This either or split tends to assign “reality” or ‘truth’ to a detached, objective, presumed reality. Consequently, outside influences are reinforced, which then dominate individuals who gradually succumb to greater social and political adaptation, often at the expense of living their own distinct lives.
However, there's a catch! We must use the tools available too us and consequently, our use of words and language becomes deeply significant and at the same time restrictive. There isn't anything we can do about this dilemma, but as long as we understand the paradox, we can work through the situation.
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Cross-Cultural Dreaming:
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Animals have complex dreams and are able to retain and recall long sequences of events while they are asleep, Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers report for the first time in the Jan. 25 issue of the journal Neuron.
While any pet owner knows that animals seem to dream, and studies show that animals' brains follow the same series of sleeping states as ours do, this is the first time that researchers know what animals are dreaming about.
"No one knew for certain that animals dreamed the way we do, which can involve replaying events or at least components of events that occurred while we were awake," said Matthew Wilson of MIT's Center for Learning and Memory. "We looked at the firing patterns of a collection of individual cells to determine the content of rats' dreams. We know that they are in fact dreaming and their dreams are connected to actual experiences."
Wilson says that this new ability to eavesdrop on the sleeping brain provides a basis for analyzing the content of dream states. It could be a valuable tool in treating memory disorders such as amnesia or Alzheimer's disease, or it may help devise ways for people to learn and memorize more effectively.
"It has been a century since Freud brought forward the study of the subconscious and the examination of the content of dreams as a tool for understanding the nature of cognition and behaviour in humans," Wilson said. "We now have the means to bring this world of dreams into the study of animal cognition, and by doing so, gain deeper insight into our own."
Running in circles
Wilson, associate professor of brain and cognitive sciences at MIT, and biology graduate student Kenway Louie trained rats to run along a circular track for a food reward.
They monitored the animals' brain activity during the task and while they were asleep. While the animal ran, its brain created a distinctive pattern of neurons firing in the hippocampus, a brain area known to be involved in memory.
Like us, rats go through multiple stages of sleep, from slow-wave sleep to REM sleep. In humans, it is during REM sleep that most dreaming occurs.
The researchers then examined more than 40 REM episodes recorded while the rats slept. About half repeated the unique signature of brain activity that was created as the animal ran. The correlation was so close that the researchers found that as the animal dreamed, they could reconstruct where it would be in the maze if it were
awake and whether the animal was dreaming of running or standing still.
These memories were replayed at about the same speed that the animal had experienced them while awake.
Not-so-instant replay
Wilson explores how sleep may be involved in the formation of long-term memories. Scientists believe that memories are formed in at least two stages: an initial process that occurs during the experience itself, followed by a consolidation period in which the experience is transformed into long-term memory. The hippocampus is
believed to be involved in both stages.
The long-term encoding of memories may occur when memories are reactivated during sleep.
Wilson's research focuses on how memories are incorporated in the brain during sleep and how reactivating memories during sleep affects long-term memory and performance.
"If you learn five things when you are awake, which ones are retained?" Wilson said. He speculates that if certain bits of information are replayed during sleep, this might determine which events we then remember.
Studies have shown that humans learning repetitive tasks can use REM sleep to enhance performance. In some cases, this "off-line" practice session seems to be just as good as practicing the experience when awake. Tests have shown that both rats and humans are better at a recently learned task after a period of sleep.
Likewise, dreams may represent an opportunity for us to continue to work on a problem while we're asleep. Some people report waking up with a solution to a problem that had been puzzling them for days.
"One theory regarding the role of dreams in memory is that dreams may provide the opportunity to bring together experiences that were related, but did not occur at the same time, in order to learn from them," Wilson said. "For example, replaying a series of pleasant or unpleasant experiences may allow us to learn what these experiences had in common and use this to guide future behaviour."
Animal dreams
Why do animals dream about one experience and not another? "This work allows us to evaluate the content of dreams and create tests to see which awake patterns create patterns when the animal is asleep," Wilson said. "If we are able to evaluate the content of the dreaming state, we may be able to find out why certain events get
replayed and others don't."
This work also raises questions about long-held assumptions about animals' thought processes. Only a handful of species -- among them chimps and dolphins -- were thought to have any ability at all to recall and evaluate detailed sequences of events after they occurred. Wilson points out that "dreams are the ultimate off-line
experience. This work demonstrates that animals are capable of re-evaluating their experiences when they are not in the midst of them."
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Famous Dreams:
Clues From Fossil Perceived In Dream
Louis Agassiz (1807-1883) was a Swiss born naturalist, zoologist, geologist, and teacher who emigrated to the US in 1846. He trained and influenced a generation of American zoologists and paleontologists and is one of the founding fathers of the modern American scientific tradition
While Agassiz was working on his vast work "Poissons Fossiles" a list of all know fossil fish, he came across a specimen in a stone slab which he was, at first, unable to figure out. He hesitated to classify it and extract it since an incorrect approach could ruin the specimen. At that time, Agassiz reports having a dream three nights in a row in which he saw the fish in perfect original condition. The first two nights -- being unprepared -- he did not record his image.
By the third night he was ready with pen and paper, and when the fish appeared again in the dream he drew it in the dark, still half asleep. The next day he looked at his drawing which had remarkably different features from the ones he had been working out, hastened to his laboratory and extracting the fossil realized it corresponded exactly to his dream.
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Reader’s Dream & Analysis:
None this issue.
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Symbol of the Month:
Animals In Our Dreams
Many societies respect and revere birds and animals for their fine qualities such as strength, courage, cunning, keenness of vision, speed and accuracy, yet the so-called “civilized” societies tend to view the animal kingdom as something to be exploited for food, fur, tusks, medicine, or whatever. Therefore, much of the interpretation as to what the animal may symbolize will depend upon your culture, upbringing and foremost, your honesty with yourself as to what characteristics you associate with that particular member of the animal kingdom.
The animals we find in our dreams are generally trying to bring our true, untrained and unsocialized nature to our attention, and at the same time often represent the animal instincts, urges, habits, and aspects we attribute to them, which are also found in ourselves, or which we see in others. This would include both the good and the bad. Animals may symbolize our strong emotional qualities, survival instincts, basic animal drives, attitudes and behaviour, subconscious urges, untamed desires, or our wildest of hopes and tendencies. On the other hand, they can represent our playful, uninhibited feelings and expressions, natural urges and intuition.
Personally, when an animal makes an appearance in my dreams, it is telling me something about my “unsocialized” true self, the me that’s unbound by conscience or acceptability. The basic raw, natural me…the me I would be if it weren’t for society’s expectations, rules and demands. This is often why (for me anyway) animals in dreams are often aggressive or frightening. We don’t want to see the real us… it scares us. After all, animals do what they do; this is neither right or wrong. It just is.
Since each animal has some special trait or peculiarity for which it is well known, the dream animal usually represents this particular attribute in ourselves or this phase in our development. It may show us how we view ourselves or, more likely, the way we appear to others. It could also be a little bit of both.
Cats and dogs can both represent strong sensory powers and telepathic abilities as well as faithfulness, loyalty, and disciplined behaviour. Despite this, there is always a certain amount of unpredictability in an animal which needs to be taken into consideration, for they can turn vicious and attack under certain conditions --then again, so can most people.
Animals (and people) in our dreams more often than not represent traits, qualities and tendencies in ourselves, but occasionally these can represent a negative and possibly treacherous quality in a person or situation you are presently dealing with, or are about to deal with. This can be a warning, especially if there’s the colour red in your dream anywhere. Colour in dreams will be dealt with in another issue. In such a case (or dream J), these animal qualities would most likely be symbolized as a pet belonging to the person in question. Otherwise, consider it your trait.
How do your animals present themselves in your dream, alone, in pairs, in a group?
A Flock of Wild Animals
This could represent group instincts, group action, cooperation or power, or an over abundance of some quality or trait. It may be suggesting that you’re doing something in excess, or certain types of people or situations flocking around you. Consider whether or not you’re attracting this kind of person (people) or events to you. What is the flock action and how do you feel about it?
Just a quick note here:
Many qualities which are good in moderation have the potential to become misused and distorted when down to excess. Animal natures can refer to this sort of situation where the trait itself is good, but becomes obnoxious when misapplied or multiplied.
A Flock of Domesticated Animals
Group of ideas, feelings, beliefs, energies needing to be herded, led, directed, guided, watched over and/or protected from outside influences or negativity. This may be a flock of unchecked animal instincts, depending on the type of animal and the dream action.
Also keep in mind that when a “domesticated” animal (s) appears, this may be referring to your feelings, actions or an event regarding a domestic situation or something, that is domestic to you (a personal issue, something that ‘hits home’) as apposed to an international (social or universal) issue or event that may not have a direct influence on you.
A Herd
A herd may represent herd instincts (symbolized by the type of animal), race consciousness, mass hysteria, going along with the crowd, or group activity as in a flock (above).
A Lone Animal
If you dream of a single, lone animal that would normally be found in a pack, herd or flock, this may be that you are a loner (as in the lone wolf). Your dream may also be trying to show you that you are hiding yourself from the world, or that your choice
Running Animals
Animals running in your dream may represent our physical fears, emotions, or things we would like to run away from.
Sleeping Animals
There really isn’t much to explain about this symbol. Your natural you or the specific trait attributed to the animal is dormant, inactive or unused. Depending on the circumstances of the dream, it may be suggesting that it’s time to awaken these traits or that they are about to be awakened from their slumber.
Generalities.
Young Animals
Usually symbolizes untrained, undisciplined, or undeveloped qualities, often in the process of growth and development. Young animals can sometimes symbolize (or stand in for) young children. In order for our conscious mind to accept a message, our unconscious dreaming mind must substitute a young animal for a young child in situations we would be shocked, appalled or terrified by.
Old Animals
In the wild, old animals are often left behind by the herd to fend for themselves. Unfortunately, humans act in much the same way. In a dream where an old animal is predominant, perhaps the message is that you’re feeling left behind to fend for yourself, or that you’ve been guilty of acting this way toward another. On the other hand, this type of dream may be trying to bring your attention to the fact that your old habits whether they be physical, mental or emotional may be interfering in your current circumstances or are about to reappear.
Domesticated Animals
In general, domesticated animals can represent partly-trained aspects of ourselves or our attempts to teach, train and control our animal nature. As well, as mentioned earlier, domestic animals may be trying to show you how you feel about a domestic situation, or how you are adjusting to a new domestic role. This type of dream may come shortly after moving into your first home, after marriage or a shared living arrangement.
Wild Animals
Wild animals are not bound by laws or conscience. They do what they do according to their nature. Is the wild animal in your dreams land-based, does it take to the skies, or is it at home in the water. These elements add to the understanding of the nature of the animal as well as ourselves. For instance, land animals are down to earth, stable, etc. Flying animals (birds mostly) represent our intellect, freedom, rising above the earthly, everyday world, and water animals often indicate that the characteristic in question is emotional or spiritual and fluid.
Mythical Animals
Our dreams do not distinguish between “real” and “imaginary.” When our subconscious presents us with an imaginary or mythical animal, we still need to treat the symbol like every other animal symbol. We need to examine the characteristics of the animal in question and our associates to it, if any.
Pets
Especially your pet, can represent a pet project, a pet peeve, or even pet indulgences. Of course, your pet can also represent your pet! Dreams can warn you of a health problem or other difficulty your pet may be experiencing long before it becomes apparent to you. If you want to be sure about which is which, you can program your subconscious mind so that your animal will always play itself in dreams—then any pet animal can represent your pet qualities.
Oversized Animals
Any oversized animal or part of an animal would be indicating a special emphasis on the quality represented by that animal and part. This also goes for any other dream element. If it is oversized, or undersized, you are being asked to pay special attention to it.
Animals Running Free
This could indicate a lack of control or may indicate freedom, again, depending on the feeling and action in the dream.
What are you (the dreamer) doing with or to the animal (keep your mind out of the gutter you!)?
Bathing an Animal
This may imply a need to clean up your act, clean up the conditions in your life, or a need to get the “bugs,” (offensiveness and negativity) cleansed. This may also indicate that you feel ashamed of your animal nature, your intrinsic you and feel the need to cleanse it away.
Branding an Animal
This may show ownership or how we have branded ourselves or others. It can also indicate possession and possessiveness.
Grooming an Animal
Brushing or combing an animal might indicate giving your animal qualities the needed love, care and attention they need, or may also be that you’re attempting to keep those traits in good shape. It can also be encouraging those attributes in yourself, making the most of your faults or talents, and getting the kinks out.
Feeding
This is nourishing, encouraging, expanding, growing in the depicted characteristic. If this is a trait you wish to expand, this would be a good sign; if, on the other hand, it’s a negative condition or trait (or at least one you feel is negative) such as an uncontrolled temper, this could be a warning of what you’re doing to yourself.
Fencing an Animal In
Is your animal fenced in or chained up? This could indicate some control over the quality is needed or may say that you feel fenced in and restricted in the area represented by the animal or chained to your true nature and cannot escape it. Play around with the ideas to see if the fence is a protection, restriction or problem.
Shearing or Trimming
This imagery could have several meanings. It may suggest a need to curtail, shape up or clean up the qualities or habits being symbolized, or to get yourself more presentable, depending on the purpose of the trimming. It may represent making the most of the animal qualities as in making a profit, or could be “getting skinned by another,” “fleeced” by someone, or someone being fleeced by you.
There’s also the possibility that this is a symbol for you to “trim down” your weight in general or trim off some of the excesses of the animal traits. Maybe you’re coming on too strong, or some quality is a bit overdone.
Whipping an Animal
This may be showing you that you’re attempting to whip yourself into shape, to exercise more control, or a need to discipline yourself in the area of the symbolized quality. Take a look at the feelings associated with this action to determine whether you’re “beating yourself to death” over something, or whether you’re in real need of disciplinary action. There is also the chance that this dream may be showing you that you feel guilty about something and as a result, feel you deserve a good whipping. Again, look to the rest of the dream and your emotions for clues.
Now let’s have a look at the different shelters we might come across in our animal dreams.
Barns
A barn can symbolize a place or state of animal consciousness where animal characteristics are kept, fed, protected or neglected. It can be a shelter or a confinement, or it may, in your mind, be strongly connected with childhood work, play, or even sexual experimentation depending upon your feelings, associations and experiences.
The same idea would extend to other types of animal shelters.
Dog House
This can be a pun on being in trouble; out of harmony with a mate or friend; being punished or being ostracized. However (isn’t there always a but or a however), because a house—any kind of house—often represents the mind (or in some instances the body) a dog house could be a representation of your mind’s need or desire for you to pay attention to your true or natural self, the you which you feel society wouldn’t accept, like or understand.
Cat House
This image, also, has a well known pun attached to it, which we may need to recognize. Puns are often extremely revealing as to our real feelings and insights about ourselves. This could refer to “catting around” or are you prostituting your self, your ideals or some other aspect of self or your life? Perhaps your beliefs are leading you to feel ashamed, or dirty because of a sexual relationship? These ideas must be determined by you and you alone. As well, if you have cats and a house for them to play in, it may refer to playfulness. Maybe you need to be more playful. And as above, it could represent your animal mind.
Pig Pen
Another word with a double meaning. We usually associate this image with sloppy habits, insensitivity, carelessness, filth and so on. Pigs are often equated with greediness and generally repulsive, unacceptable behaviour. Pig pen may also bring to mind the story of the Prodigal Son, life on the farm, or some other memory. What does pig pen mean to you? Ask the question and let the answer pop into your mind.
Just as a mind/memory jogger, here are a few associates I have with pig pen: The Peanuts cartoon character Pig Pen; the little boy who was always dusty and dirty; The horrific serial murders that took place in British Columbia –the pig farmer who buried the bodies of prostitutes in the pig pen. Men who are lascivious and rude (pigs); Pigging out –this should be rather obvious; and sadly, quite often overweight people are often misconstrued as being pigs –unable to control their eating.
Zoo
A zoo may depict limited freedom, captivity or confinement of the physical nature; natural instincts, qualities, talents and abilities of the type symbolized by the kind of animal(s) seen in the zoo.
Because of the length and detail of this category, I’ve chosen not to list all the different types of animals and there possible interpretations. If you would like to learn more about the individual types of animals, you can continue reading here.
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Readers Comments:
No comments this issue
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From The Editor:
I just want to say thank you to readers that have sent me emails and whom I have begun a lasting (hopefully) relationship with. It's always rewarding to hear from readers.
I have been experiencing “problems” with our current autoresponder service. For most of April and May, I wasn’t able to log into my account to send notification to readers that the current issue was ready. Actually, I couldn’t get in to my account period…so I couldn’t do anything.
I have moved The Nocturnal Times to a new autoresponder service. I can’t support a company that leaves its customers high and dry and then doesn’t even apologize about it.
If you received an email requesting that you re-subscribe to our new autoresponder, please just click the link inside. You won’t receive a bunch of crap from me. If you would rather not receive new issue notifications by email, you can use the little automated notifier that sits in your task bar and notifies you when I’ve upload a new issue to the blog. Your choice.
Sorry for the inconvenience.
Talk to you next month,
Dream Well,
Terry
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