So, last night you dreamed of a wild horse, a chainsaw, and a purple martini with your ex. You wake up going, “what the—?”
We’ve all been there. Those dreams that warrant the endless stream of symbols where some connect, and some don’t, and you’re not sure where to go. A lot of times, a dream will be playing out smoothly like a movie, but packed with a lot of images.
Recently, I had a dream that started with being in a line toward a church where someone had passed. There was a bright blue sky that caught my attention. As I neared the church, a man, priest maybe, was holding a list of names. The word, “sinners” was bold, as well as “heaven”. Once inside the building, it wasn’t a church, but a mostly empty space that looked like it was undergoing a total remodel. There were partitions in random places. At one end, there was a huge old fashioned, paned window. Kind of like the ones you’d see in an old-time store front. On the wall adjacent, was a fireplace. Someone handed me a porcelain doll in a white dress. I placed the doll in a wooden box with a glass front and up on the mantle. The doll definitely creeped me out, and I watched it, thinking it was going to move. Eventually, it did. Its head drooped to one side, and its face transformed into a deep frown with glaring eyes. In a moment of insanity, I started screaming and furiously pointing at the doll, as if to blame it. I didn’t want it. I mention something about “clearing it”. I ran outside to calm down. Dave was there. Soon, I headed back in, and again starting hysterically screaming at this doll. After, I started to walk away again, and I noticed Dave, angry, hitting one of the partitions with a large sledgehammer. He was swinging, and swinging, trying to knock it down. The wall was this deep teal color, with a fancy wallpaper-like pattern on it. I wondered if I should help, and in that moment, the hammer came flying out of his hands at me and landed at my feet. I told him to be careful, and I woke up.
There was more detail to this one, yet I’ll spare you! So, as you can tell, there are many symbols throughout. When you have a dream like this, it's good to break it down and look at individual parts first.
A good practice is to make a list of all the symbols you spot in your dream.
For me it would look something like this:
Blue sky
Words: sinners, heaven
Doll
Box
Window
Blue wall
Hammer
Etc.
Feel free to draw these out if you feel you’re a visual learner, and or, like to draw!
After, you can complete an exercise called “word association.” Simply brainstorm, next to any given symbol, all the words, feelings, thoughts, that immediately come to mind. Jot down as many as you can think of. Once you have all your associations splattered all over the page, take a moment to identify up to 3 that really resonate with you for each symbol. This may take a bit of feeling out, as your list may be long. Circle those, or write them in a separate list.
At this stage, the next crucial step in the unfolding process, is to write down all your feelings associated with your symbols and symbol associations.
The next task is to then figure out if your symbols and associations are literal, or figurative. If they are a metaphor, which in most cases, they are, then feel free to write down those meanings. During this process, as you get to be your own personal sleuth, you will begin to make some important connections.
Going back to my dream, which I originally titled “Insanity” then renamed to “Doll in the Box”, I came up with associations like:
Blue sky = happy, warm, clear
Sinners & Heaven = religion, right and wrong, church
Doll = creepy, childhood, decoratoin, fragile
My feelings were: Sad, confused, angry, anxious, and afraid.
When it came time for me to see what was literal or figurative, I concluded that:
The doll was figurative- a metaphor for my old self
Death was figurative- a metaphor for transition
The wall was figurative- a metaphor for something in the way, that needed to be brought down
And so on.
Another way to play with symbols in your dream is to determine if they are of something inner or outer. This is similar to literal and figurative. Except this time, you are looking to see if you can identify if a symbol is part of you, or something, or someone outside of you.
For example, I determined that the doll was something inner- a facet of myself, my life from the past. It was fragile, just like how I felt I was in the past.
(I actually remember having a doll like the one in my dream. I think it was from my dad. It was just a decoration that used to sit on my dresser. I never had any attachment to it. But, after this dream, I called my parents and asked them to send me a picture. Strangely enough, it was extremely similar to the one in the dream. The only difference was the face and lips! Creepy? Yes. Definitely.)
I believe, and I’ll admit haven’t concluded yet, that the wall was something outer, that literally affected Dave and I’s relationship way back. Him knocking down the wall represented breaking a barrier between us.
What all this boils down to, is that the images you see in your dreams are YOURS and only YOURS. Meaning, you CAN look in a dream dictionary for guidance, but try not to rely on it to give you cut and dry answers, because it’s YOUR subconscious that’s trying to communicate with you. Your symbols will relate to you on a personal level, always. What a doll means to me, may be something completely different for you.
And, one final note, the weirder the symbols, the more your subconscious is trying to get your attention. And the same goes for the more frightening they are! I was absolutely terrified after my aforementioned dream, and stayed awake for over an hour.
So, quick recap:
Make a list of your symbols
Write out all associations
Narrow that list down to 2 or 3
Identify pertinent feelings
Decide- inner or outer
This is just a start to get you on the path to having an “aha” moment with your overall dream. In my next post, I’ll explore further steps and techniques to bring closure to your dream.
Rest well, and dream well!
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