The Dream Sourcebook: A Guide to the Theory and Interpretation of Dreams (18 page)

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Authors: Phyllis R. Koch-Sheras

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BOOK: The Dream Sourcebook: A Guide to the Theory and Interpretation of Dreams
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them. For example, a woman whose father abused her might dream about being attacked by a strange man with a club. Afraid to face or even remember the abuse, she disguises his identity with a symbolic character. Dream analysis can be particularly helpful in addressing repressed memories and bringing them into consciousness so you can resolve them. But don't let your dreaming mind fool younot every dream (even a dream of having sex with your father or mother) is a sign of repressed memory; always examine symbolic meanings in context as well.
These unidentified characters in our dreams may also represent qualities about ourselves that are not necessarily attached to any particular person we know. So an old woman may represent the crone or wise old woman part of you, or she may symbolize your feelings about growing old in general. Usually, when a familiar character appears in a dream, it points out something we haven't noticed about that actual person; whereas an unfamiliar or unidentified character probably represents some unknown part of yourself you haven't acknowledged.
Male and female characters: In terms of the sex of the characters in our dreams, men tend to dream more about other men, while women dream equally about men and women. There are several possible explanations for this difference. Dream researcher Calvin Hall suggests that the difference arises because men have conflicts mostly with other men, whereas women experience as many conflicts with men as with women. Another possible explanation, however, is that women are traditionally more attuned to their conflicts in all relationships. Women also tend to be more comfortable with the male and female qualities of their personalities, which are often represented by characters of each gender. Men, if they are out of touch with their feminine sides, may tend to avoid that part of themselves even in dreams.
 
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About Freudian Symbols
Sigmund Freud considered dreams to be the expression of hidden sexual and aggressive wishes or conflicts that our waking minds are unable to acknowledge. Generally speaking, Freudian symbolism equates anything elongated (a hose, a knife, a snake, a baseball bat) with the penis. Anything concave (a cup, a hole, a tunnel, a cave) symbolizes the vagina. With either type of symbol, the implication is that there are sexual and aggressive urges associated with the item.
Here are some common Freudian interpretations:
Bird:
Penis.
Bird in flight:
Being good at sex.
Snake:
Penis.
Unidentified characters:
Known people disguised to deny conflicted feelings or repressed memories.
Stairs:
Climbing stairs represents erection; descending stairs represents postorgasm.
Flying:
Sexual desire; a sexual act.
Falling:
Giving in to sexual temptation.
Nudity:
Exhibitionism or guilt about sex.
Death:
Repressed anger toward the person who dies.
 
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Dreamwork can be helpful in exploring the male and female parts of ourselves that, according to Carl Jung and other theorists, exist in all of us. In these days of rapidly changing gender roles, women can use their dreams to develop the traditionally masculine qualities of assertiveness, independence, and leadership. In the same way, men can utilize the female characters in their dreams to discover and explore the more feminine aspects of themselves, such as sensitivity and emotionality, that they may have resisted or ignored in themselves.
Scenery and Costumes
Dreams are often particularly vivid experiences, with settings that are as distinct as the characters who appear and events that unfold in them. In presenting a story on film, a director designs a set that fits with the meaning he or she wants to convey, using scenery, lighting, and costumes for full effect. A dream in which you're being chased by a monster might be more effective if set in a dark forest than in a brightly lit shopping mall; still, dreams are unpredictable, and you, the director, may choose to have the monster attack in the shopping mall. If so, you can bet there's a message there. And it's worth looking at. According to dream therapist Karen Signell, the setting is often a clue about when and where an issue that surfaces in your dream first occurred in your waking life. Here are some common dream settings and a few common interpretations to get you started; but remember, it is up to you to discover your own symbolic meanings.
House: A house may represent your own body structure, your basic self. Going outside your house or breaking down walls may indicate freeing yourself of limits. A dream of getting your house in order through cleaning or throwing things away may indicate a need or wish for self-improvement or reorganization of
 
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some kind. Various parts of the house can represent corresponding parts of the body or self: the basement (deeper, darker, unconscious sexual aspects), bedroom (rest, sex, dream life), attic (spiritual, higher consciousness), kitchen (sustenance, nurturance), bathrooms (elimination of waste, cleansing and purification). The condition of the house also has meaning. Is it cluttered? Disorganized? Neat? What about your own house? Your body? Your mind?
Water: Water is a universal symbol of mother and the maternal unconscious. It may also symbolize death or a destructive force if it appears as a flood or storm. Running water can also suggest the passage of time or the crying of tears.
Rivers: Along the same lines as water, rivers suggest the river of life and how it flows according to the current of your life direction or destiny. Are you going with the flow or swimming against the current?
Roads: Like rivers, roads suggest direction and destiny. What direction are you going? Forward? Backward? Straight or winding? Note your progress and the condition of the road. Is it smooth or bumpy? A fork in the road might suggest a decision to be made.
Stairs or staircases: Like a road, a staircase indicates direction. Up or down? One step forward, two steps back? Freud sees this commonly occurring dream symbol as purely sexual, representing erection or intercourse in climbing stairs and postorgasm in descending.
Trees: Trees suggest the tree of life, and may sometimes even assume human form so as to represent your own growth process. What are your roots? How strong are they? What are you branching out toward? What kind of tree are you, and what specific associations do you have with that kind of tree?
 
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Fire: Fire can represent a powerful life force or energy. It can also symbolize purification.
Clothes: These may represent superficial appearances, and suggest the role you are playing or the attitude you wish to represent. What are you covering up? Clothes may also represent part of your self-expression. What color and style are you putting on?
Mask: A mask can represent how you hide your true self from others by role-playing. It may indicate a part of you that you want to try on.
Props
One of the last things the movie director needs to do before filming begins is provide the actors with the props they need to perform the action of the story. Not surprisingly, dream research conducted in the 1940s and 1950s showed clear differences in the kinds of objects appearing in men's and women's dreams. Women's dreams more often featured household objects, flowers, and jewelry, while men's dreams featured tools, weapons, and automobiles, reflecting their waking life's interests in that era. In fact, research reported later in a 1991 issue of the
International Journal of Psychosomatics
concludes that there were no significant differences in the content of men's and women's dreams where weapons and clothing were concerned. Times have changed and some of the gender differences in dream symbols have blurred, but objects of many kinds continue to surface in our dreams with significant meanings. Some common dream objects include:
Mirrors: These focus on self-reflection, self-realization. They may indicate narcissism, as in the myth of Narcissus who was so enamored of his own reflection that he drowned in the water that was his mirror.
 
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Purses: For women especially, this often symbolizes identity or security. Lose your purse, lose your power.
Flowers: These may indicate positive growth and beauty. Sometimes flowers have specific associations, such as roses for love or lilies for resurrection.
Automobile: Often a symbol of energy, especially sexual energy for both men and women. Are you in the driver's seat? Or is someone else driving you? Is your energy at a stoplight, or heading for the highway? Is your energy parked (passive) or in gear (active)?
Action
You can almost hear your dream director call the shots. ''Action!'' And so the dream begins. The plot points may seem downright weird, but they serve a purpose. As with any script, they establish a story line, build to a climax or crisis, and point to a resolution. Are you flying? Are you running? Does someone start an argument with you? Do you step on stage and begin to sing? Forget to take a test? Arrive at the office in your underwear? In about one third of dreams, the basic actions are similar to those we engage in most during childhood: walking, dancing, running, playing. In about one quarter of our dreams, we are talking with or observing others. Sexual activity is another common dream action.
In the past, striking differences appeared between the action that takes place in men's dreams and what takes place in women's. Men still dream a great deal about aggressionwhether they are acting or being acted upon. But according to the 1991 article in the
International Journal of Psychosomatics
, men no longer show a greater tendency than women toward aggressive behavior in dreams. Previously, the only known excep-
 
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tion to the observation that men's dreams contained more aggression was that adolescent girls tended to show more aggression in their dreams even than adolescent boys, perhaps reflecting the tendency for girls entering puberty and for menstruating women to be more in touch with their sexual power and to have more violent dreams. That women today express more aggression in their dreams suggests that, as society is changing, dream content is equalizing somewhat. Although women continue to dream more about people close to them, infants and children, and indoor settings, they dream about male characters, friendliness, sexuality, weapons, and clothes as often as men do.
Of course, most of what happens in your dreams is unique to you and your life experiences. Here are a few of the more common actions or plot lines in dreams; see whether some of them ring true for you.
Flying: When most people dream they're flying, they feel a sense of freedom as they leave the ground and sail through the air. Indeed, some dream theorists believe a dream of flying is actually an expression of the idea of freedom from physical limitations, from everyday life. Flying may also suggest feeling "high," rising above restrictions to a new level of happiness or success. The Freudian interpretation of flying is that it is an expression of sexual desire. Some experience flying as a higher consciousness, and believe that it can be a forerunner of an out-of-body experience, in which you truly feel as though your being or soul has left your body to travel on its own. Flying can also have negative associations, such as being ungrounded or out of control, or having an inflated sense of self.
Falling: A dream in which you fall, whether down a cliff or simply onto the floor, may suggest the feeling of losing control or having a decrease in physical, mental, or spiritual energy. In a
 
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positive sense, it can suggest a very willful letting go. Freud saw it this way, but from a typically sexual standpoint, arguing that a falling dream symbolizes giving into sexual temptation. People often stop themselves from falling in a dream, sometimes by waking up before landing. This may be where the myth of dying if you hit bottom in a falling dream comes from. If you dream that someone else is falling, it may indicate an unconscious death wish, either toward the actual person or toward that part of yourself.
Sexual activity: Overt sexual activity occurs often in dreams, and researchers today believe it has significance beyond the mere wish fulfillment that Freud suggested. Sexual intercourse can represent a positive merging of various energies and aspects of oneself. (If you dream you have sex with your boss, for example, it may suggest a merging of the authority part of you with the worker part of you, resulting in a potentially more powerful, take-charge personality.) A dream about sex with someone of your same gender (a more common dream than you might think) reflects not necessarily homosexual desire, but an expression of greater self-love and acceptance.
Toilet activity: Anytime you dream about going to the toilet, think about what needs to be eliminated from your "psychological intestinal tract." In particular, dreams about bowel movements suggest a positive process of getting rid of some "old shit" that you don't need anymore. Being constipated in a dream, on the other hand, may indicate you are holding on to or suppressing some "old shit." Dreaming of diarrhea might mean that you feel unformed or out of control; it might also be an expression of strong emotions you can no longer contain. A stopped-up toilet might mean you are withholding feelings; an overflowing toilet, however, may indicate you are welling up with emotions you need to express.

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