Dream Interpretation

[Sharon]

I've been reading the thread Ashles posted on dreams and it reminded me of a book review I once read. I didn't buy the book but I just wondered what you all make of it?

http://www.uncommon-knowledge.co.uk/dreaming.html


Dreaming Interpretation Example
A woman had the following dream: she would be at the helm of a ship on a sunny day. Everything would be fine until without warning she would be attacked by a fierce witch with two heads. The witch seemed set on making the ship go off course.

In her dream, the woman would feel outraged but feel her 'hands were tied' because she had to steer the ship. Suddenly the witch would produce a sharp knife and begin stabbing her at which point she usually woke up in a sweat.

The woman was asked if there was anything that made her feel angry or defensive on an ongoing basis in her waking life. The woman at first said that there wasn't but after further consideration said that sometimes her mother-in-law would visit on a Sunday ('sunny day' of the dream). Furthermore when these visits occurred they were always unannounced and uninvited (the attacks in the dream always occurred without warning).

Her mother in law was always polite to her but she knew that she had made many derogatory remarks about her to her husband and was therefore rather 'two faced'.
(The witch in the dream always has two heads). On these visits the mother in law would try and 'take over' what the woman was doing in the house and with the children (the witch in the dream is set on taking over the steering of the ship so it goes off course). The woman would feel she was under attack and be relieved when her husband's mother finally left. She felt unable to say anything (her hands were tied).

"The Origin of Dreams" makes much more sense than the ideas about dreams of Freud and Jung."
Dr Andrew Mayes, co-editor of 'Dreams & Dreaming'

Sharon

 

[Bodhi Dharma Zen]

Sharon

The "interpretation of dreams" is not a scientific endeavour, it is, if anything, something like psicoanalisis. I wouldnt take seriously any attempt of interpretation other that a way to learn more about myself using a game of associations.

 

[Bikewer]

Here in the St. Louis area, we have had for many years a group called the "School of Metaphysics". Their main thing seems to be dream interpretation, and they usually have someone on locally-produced TV segments or radio interviews.
It's quite amusing to listen to their stuff; they have built up quite a little dream "cosmology" over the years. For instance, anything involving an automobile is supposed to represent your "life path".

 

[Ashles]

My Mum was big on this. She has a big dream book that she used to use a lot to see what the dream meant.

Apparently dreaming of teeth is about as bad as it can get.
It sems to basically mean death, destruction and global puppy death or something.

Of course it's all rubbish - there isn't an inbuilt symbology dictionary in the brain (cars = life path?). What function could that possibly serve?

I often dream of spiders. It's not because I am going to come into money, or I will be takinga journey or I wish to 'climb' in my career or anything.
It's because I have a massive phobia of spiders.

I'd like to see what any dream book would make of my x-rated gory horror dream in which Pa Walton killed all the other Waltons in a variety of horrid ways.

This isn't all to say that dreams are entirely meaningless - of course they often represent issues that are on our mind. But these are usually fairly obvious connections.

But the symbology described in these books is always a bit Hollywood and neat. An unpleasant mother in law will surely be dreamt of in person as she actually is, not as the delightfully symbolic (although rather obvious) Witch with 2 heads.
We don't have student scriptwriters creating our dreams.

 

[Psi Baba]

Of course it's all rubbish - there isn't an inbuilt symbology dictionary in the brain (cars = life path?). What function could that possibly serve?

I often dream of spiders. It's not because I am going to come into money, or I will be takinga journey or I wish to 'climb' in my career or anything.
It's because I have a massive phobia of spiders.

I'd like to see what any dream book would make of my x-rated gory horror dream in which Pa Walton killed all the other Waltons in a variety of horrid ways.

This isn't all to say that dreams are entirely meaningless - of course they often represent issues that are on our mind. But these are usually fairly obvious connections.

But the symbology described in these books is always a bit Hollywood and neat. An unpleasant mother in law will surely be dreamt of in person as she actually is, not as the delightfully symbolic (although rather obvious) Witch with 2 heads.
We don't have student scriptwriters creating our dreams.

I only quoted you because it's worth repeating. Excellent post, Ashles. BTW, I'd love to see your Walton dream!

 

[Ashles]

I only quoted you because it's worth repeating. Excellent post, Ashles. BTW, I'd love to see your Walton dream!

WARNING - GRAPHIC CONTENT - DEFINITELY NOT FOR CHILDREN OR WALTONS FANS

I dreamt I saw the outside of the Walton house and could hear Pa Walton saying "Goodnight John Boy"... etc.

But every time he said someone's name I saw inside their room and they were all lying in their beds dead, having been killed by Pa Walton in different ways (strangulation, garrotting... etc.).

One of the family had been killed in a way so gruesome that even my own imagination wouldn't let me see it - there was a sheet over their body with bloodstains soaking through, but I couldn't tell what had happened.

Finally I saw outside the house again and Pa Walton was still saying "Goodnight..." to them all, but now he was crying in despair and madness.

I woke up in a cold sweat and couldn't sleep again that night. It was pretty horrible.
Maybe I'd eaten cheese before bed or something.

Anyway that was 8 years ago and I haven't had one like it since.

 

[Sharon]

This isn't all to say that dreams are entirely meaningless - of course they often represent issues that are on our mind. But these are usually fairly obvious connections.

Thanks all.

That's what I thought the answer was and was just looking for clarifcation. I remember when the twins where a couple of months old I read a tragic story about a woman how took a nap with her baby on the sofa and the baby got suffocated and died. Although I never had the twins in bed with me I would wake up for months on end in a panic, would start lifting the covers, frantically looking for them, convinced they where in the bed and that Lee and I had crushed them. So I did think that dreams could have some bearing on issues in your mind yet at the same time when I saw the review, 2004 I think? At the time it made more sense that dreams being psychic symbols.

Sharon

 

[Psi Baba]

WARNING - GRAPHIC CONTENT - DEFINITELY NOT FOR CHILDREN OR WALTONS FANS
*snip*

Thanks (although when I said I'd like to see it, I really meant I'd like to see it!). DARIO ARGENTO'S THE WALTONS