Dream Interpretation 23

DREAM 23

10 January 2012

Last night I didn’t take any of my 5-HTP supplement to see if I would achieve better dream recall in the morning. Although this dream was not a lucid dream, it was very lengthy (it seemed to continue for about an hour, although I do not know exactly what stage of sleep it occurred in) and vivid. When I first awoke this morning, I could recall the latter part of the dream really well and tried to focus on remembering the remaining ‘gaps’ whilst I was using the bathroom, but unfortunately I couldn’t piece it all together.

Main environment

• My ‘dream town’ – various locations - including a building with double-glass doors on the lower floor and two long ‘trestle tables’, arranged length-ways on either side – it appeared to be a community centre; several exterior environments which appeared to be residential streets.
• The living-room of a house, looking out to a garden

Timing

Night-time

Characters

• Myself (first person perspective – I did not see myself)
• Various family members – cannot precisely recall who was/not present
• A young male adult with white skin and brown hair – unknown to me in real-life, but my good friend in the dream
• A middle-aged white female – standing behind the trestle table to the right of the door
• Various persons in and around the building – I spoke to some dream characters, but my memory is a blur

Narrative 

There was an event being held at the building (which may have been a community centre – it wasn’t referred to as such, but it most closely resembled that type of public building) in my recurring ‘dream town’. I think the dream took place here as I mentally meditate on that place and previous dreams of that place as part of my mnemonic technique. The building wasn’t in the city area of the town – but in an area where there were long residential roads and a lot of greenery. It was night and the streets were illuminated by streetlights. I felt very calm and peaceful as I walked down the roads – I could see terraced houses with lights shining through the windows. There were lots of stars in the sky and I knew I was on my way to the event, which I think may have been a sort of party for both adults and children. My family were going to be there. I got to the building and there were a few people standing around on what looked like a dance-floor. Either side of the door were the two trestle tables – I think there were table cloths (at this stage, I will admit I did not know what a trestle table is – until I did some Google research – and I can now state that the tables I saw in my dream were a form of ‘trestle’ – specifically a cheap-looking Formica tabletop with folding metal legs). I suddenly had a carton of fresh orange juice in my hands and I hid it behind the table to my right-hand side. I think I may have had a conversation with someone at the building, but I can’t remember. I then left the location and started walking back down the street. I cannot recall much detail from this segment of the dream. I must have arrived at some sort of house or other building, because I recall being inside an interior with the male companion. I was telling him we were to return to the party and I mentioned the orange juice. He told me I would have to go back and get it before someone else found it. Then it seemed as if it had become daylight. I was sitting beside a window, with what appeared to be natural sunlight coming in through the open curtains, which were white and filmy. Through the window you could see a garden. I was reading a newspaper and suddenly saw an image of a shop window filled with television screens (in my dream mind – I think I was still sitting in the room with the newspaper). Everything was dark around the window and the televisions were tuned to ‘white noise’. I do not remember what happened in the interim, but I was back to the exterior setting of the residential street – the same one as before. I was with the male friend and we stopped to look at something on the pavement. It was oddly-shaped and looked like a collapsed, slimy blancmange – a deep burgundy colour, like red wine, about the size of a microwave oven. The male said “we need to check if it turns from red to brown”. I was then back at the ‘community centre’. Through the open double doors I could see all the guests had arrived and I knew my family was present. I went over to the right-hand trestle table. The woman standing there asked if I wanted any of her refreshments, but she didn’t seem to be overly pleased to be offering. I didn’t accept anything from her. I was mingling with guests, but decided I wanted to leave as it was boring. I thought ‘I’d better get my bleach’ (the orange juice referred to earlier was now bleach, I didn’t question why this change occurred). I went back to the trestle table and told the people standing around to move so I could reach behind it. I collected my bottle of bleach (and saw a corner of a tablecloth – confirming that there may have been table-cloths on my previous visit) and left. I woke up.

Potential Triggers

• Mnemonic techniques triggering a return to a specific dream location?
• I used bleach to clean some coffee-stained cups the day prior to the dream
• I cooked a meal using a bottle of red wine as ingredients for a sauce on the day prior to the dream
• N (the dog) has recently had a severe gastrointestinal illness which caused him to vomit and excrete blood – we had been asked by the vet to check that his faeces had returned to normal (brown) as opposed to red and bloody
• Menstruation – blood turning from red to brown
• A friend was playing with some ‘science slime’ at the weekend

Interpretation/Analysis

City/town:

1. An organisation or group of people with things in common, such as location, goals, beliefs, culture etc.
2. The actual city or place or the people there
3. An event or memory that happened there or that brings that city to mind - consider what the particular city means to you personally

Night:

1. Mystery; stealth: secrecy; uncertainty
2. Something in your real life happening without others finding out or where stealthy motives are involved
3. Something in your life that you keep to yourself and do not tell others about

Night sky:

Infinite possibilities; the power of nature; wonderment

Stars:

1. A star in the sky can represent a goal, dream or lofty idea (as in ‘shoot for the stars’)
2. Connectedness across space and time
3. A source of insight, knowledge or direction; a higher power
4. A magical feeling, positive mood or a feeling that good things are going to happen; things are good in life or everything is as it should be 

Light/illumination:

1. Hope, goodness or assistance - especially when it appears in the darkness
2. Clarity or understanding, as in ‘shedding some light’ on a particular subject

Building/house:

1. You; yourself; or your working life.
2. Basement – subconscious; loft/attic/top-floor – spirituality; floors in between – current life
3. Setting; context; atmosphere of the dream

Doorway/entrance:

1. A door, gate or portal etc can represent a passage or transition from one area of space or time to another
2. A new beginning or a transition from one phase to another in your life
3. An entrance to a different reality
4. A dream cue to indicate passing from one setting, context or time frame in the dream narrative 

In my dream, the doorway was wide, open – and transparent – which can be interpreted as me being ‘invited’ to the party – at which family and friends were present. However, I sensed that the ‘party’ (see below) viewed as an outsider through the doors – and then experienced from inside – was ‘boring’ me and thus on my first visit, I was not compelled to enter and on the second, left soon after. This may symbolise my current real-life anxieties regarding an anticipated return to my hometown and the close family life that would result from a life change.

Party:

1. Recent or imagined interactions with people around you
2. Social mood/socialising

Being a guest:

1. A new or different experience of a temporary nature
2. Feeling or being new to a particular environment or situation
3. Support or welcome by others
4. Feeling honoured by others or recognised in a special way

Road:

1. A way to get from one place to another - either literally or symbolically, as in series of events, or one action leading to certain results
2. Your life path or life journey, or a portion of it - past, present or future 

Travelling (walking):

1. The passage of time or making progress or moving forward in life
2. A transition to show a separation or passage of time between topics portrayed in a dream
3. Moving along your life path
4. A real-life activity, such as in a dream where you're exploring something that happened on an actual trip or walk recently 

Room with a window:

1. Openness to the world around you
2. Vulnerability and exposure

Curtain:

1. A division or dividing line - for example, curtains in a window divide the inner world and the outer world.
2. Privacy, protection or personal boundaries
3. Opening your curtains could represent a mental or emotional openness to others or the world 

Sitting:

1. Resting or taking a break
2. Physical, mental or emotional exhaustion

Newspaper:

1. News; new information; change; a message; an update
2. Communication in general
3. The media or ‘the establishment’

Television screens:

1. An actual TV, the media, or another type of media
2. Your connection or interaction with the world, people, places, experiences etc - especially a detached interaction, since a TV allows you only a one-way, passive interaction

Shop/store:

1. An area of your life, such as work or home-life
2. Almost any public place
3. Abundance or availability

Garden:

Yourself and aspects of your life - consider the state and contents of the garden (I cannot recall these aspects of my dream) 

Sunshine/light:

Emotional or situational breakthrough; reassurance that you are on the right 'track'

 

Time passing in a dream:

The passage of time, or a series of events, can represent time passing or a series of events in real life

Strange object: 

I have no idea what the misshapen, slimy red/brown object observed on the pavement was or represented, although, given the associations I have been able to make (blood in faeces; menstruation; red wine in beef stock) I have been able to make the following observations:

1. Something full of life and vigour becoming dead - the recent, traumatic illness of N the dog (reported elsewhere on various posts in this Blog) – bleeding from the stomach and colon leading to a combination of red and brown in his bodily excretions; menstruation blood – fresh and red then darker, almost brown; the red raw beef (once a living animal) with blood, marinated in red wine which turned thick and brown as it braised and reduced down in the oven
2. The reverse of above – a signal of health and vigour – the healing of N (red turning brown); the essence of menstruation – reproductive health; fertility; fecundity etc; the nourishment offered by food (and perhaps nurturing aspects of the self – food preparation etc...)

Slime:

Inability to place trust in someone/something

Male:  

The male companion in the dream was certainly a symbol for a person known to me in real-life, or perhaps a composite of more than one real-life person. I cannot remember much about this character and therefore cannot interpret who he may have been. However, bearing in mind, the above interpretation of ‘doorway/entrance’, I believe the male may represent relationships in London (PS? in the dream I was aware I was not in a relationship with the male character) – i.e. I left the ‘party’ attended by my family – which therefore represents my other ‘life’ away from London – to join him in another location, where I sat and ‘rested’ before returning to the party, albeit to simply leave again. It may also be that instead of reflecting my actual physical movements between these ‘places’, the transitions refer to my current mental state – flitting from one idea or solution to another and then ending up in a circle argument with myself and others (my mum; PS; other friends and relatives).

Older woman:

Specifically within the dream, I was turning down her (not so gracious) offer of nourishment. Females typically represent either a person known to you in real-life, or generally, archetypal characteristics associated with the feminine, such as nurturing etc. The day before of this dream, my mum called me to tell me she had been trying to find me a suitable flat for rent in my hometown where I may be relocating in the future. As I was stressed at the time of the telephone call and felt she wasn’t listening to my concerns about cost/practicality (and was annoyed that she seemed to be taking my hesitance to simple agree to the first place on offer as a personal insult – i.e. after the effort she had put in on my behalf; ‘beggers can’t be choosers’... etc), I began arguing with her, telling her I would be only be willing to settle for something I deemed fit and shouldn’t be made to feel guilty for turning down options she might come up with – the same way I wouldn’t feel guilty for turning down properties found by an estate agent. I would like to point out in this section, that my mum is not old – she is in her early 50s and did not resemble the woman seen in the dream, who was much older – nearer the age of my nan (PC). I think the dream character of the old woman may have reflected the earlier altercation with my mum in real-life, perhaps using an archetypal older female character to symbolise the real-life relationship dynamics.

Table:

1. Depends on the type of table and context
2. Family; familial relationships; relationships with others

The table in my dream was one which could be folded up and stored away – therefore it was impermanent; perhaps only brought out for a special occasion i.e. the party? Perhaps the tablecloth represents an attempt to ‘dress it up’ for the occasion? This could represent my feelings towards the earlier request for help from my mum – my perception of the way the help was offered, and subsequently, my rejection of her suggestions as being half-hearted (even though they were of course, done with in my best interests – my aggressive reactions during the telephone call were as a result of heightened stress/PMT).

Something that is next to something else (i.e. tables placed next to open glass doors, leading to the party; the older woman by the table) could represent:

1. A feeling that the two belong together, are involved with each other somehow or have something in common
2. Objects that are close together spatially
3. Events that are close to each other in time
4. People that are emotionally close to each other
5. Companionship or a desire for companionship 

Hiding something (i.e. the orange juice/bleach):

1. You feel the need for self-protection
2. You're thinking of doing something secretive, manipulative or dishonest (such as lying)

Orange juice:

1. To see or drink orange juice in your dream symbolises energy and vitality
2. Consider also the initials O.J. (this was a particular interpretative website online – I do know of one particular person by these initials, but I have absolutely no idea why he might be relevant to this dream as I do not know him very well!)
3.  In particular, to spill or dump orange juice in your dream implies a need to get out of your shell and be more sociable

This interpretation is really unusual – I found it on various dream interpretation websites and it seems almost too coincidental that there is a symbol of ‘dumped’ orange juice relating to a need for greater socialisation – given that it was outside a family party to which I was invited, but reluctant to stay/enter.

Orange (colour):

1. Bold; outgoing; assertive; invigorated
2. Autumn, or the ‘winding down’ of a phase or cycle

Red:

1. Anger; vigour; passion; sensuality; stimulation
2. May appear in a dream to mark something as being significant

Brown:

1. Earthy or natural
2. Plain or basic
3. Autumn, which can represent the ‘winding down’ of a phase or cycle (as with orange – see above)

Bottle/container for liquid:

1. Drinking, quenching or satisfying
2. Containment or control
3. Abundance
4. The idea of generosity or something ‘pouring forth’
5. The idea of flowing, free-flow or controlled flow

Bleach:

1. A desire to remove or get rid of something (characteristics, flaws, differences, evidence, mistakes etc)
2. The idea of purifying or purging
3. Worries about what other people think of you; an attempt to avoid being judged by others

Leaving  a place/situation:

1. The end of a phase, project etc in your real life
2. A desire to escape or avoid a real-life situation
3. A feeling that you're neglecting a responsibility or promise
4. A desire to be done with something or to leave something behind in your life