Bowel Colon

Links mostly with how you deal with the waste products of your experience and in your body; with what your being rejects as no longer useful. For some people it connects with squeamish feelings about their internal organs and being unclean. Also, if you have had connections with bowel illness it might well point to worries about that.

Some dreams show concerns about what you have taken in that might be ‘rotten’ – and such things can relate to ideas and motivations that do not harmonise with who you are.

The rectum is the final part of the colon or large intestine just prior to the exit, which is called the anus. Sometimes the two words are confused, so the exit might be called the rectum. What matters in regard to your dream is what you have understood it to mean prior to the dream.

This whole area is one that is very sensitive to emotions and sexual experience. It links with very primal feelings and may easily become tense, or respond to hurt in oneself or others. One of its main functions in life, as with the bladder, is to control or release the excretion of faeces. As a baby the process is spontaneous and beyond our control, so has to be learned. It therefore frequently becomes a physical focus for any problems or lessons to do with control or letting go. Thus we have the phrase ‘he/she is really anal’ meaning they hold on to everything or try to control everything.

This holding on or ability to both control and let go, are at the very basis of dealing with adult life, and influence whether we can allow our creativity and sexuality to flow. Problems here deeply influence how we deal with our sexual and emotional love, and our ability to let ourselves flow out into activity and creativity. Tension and holding on can lead to a type of auto-homosexual experience. In other words instead of the flow going outwards to others and the world, it is turned back on itself and become inturned sexuality and aggression.

As already mentioned, this area, which links very strongly with the genitals, psychologically links with the earliest stages of our development and our earliest experiences as a baby. Many muddled or unconscious experiences are contained in this area of our psyche regarding sexual feelings, desires and self expression. So if you are dreaming about this area it might be that you are becoming more aware of these things. If so you may begin to experiences many sexual urges and confusions that previously remained unconscious or buried in your body.

This base area of the body also depicts the powerful instinctive and biological forces or potential lying at the base of our being – at the base of our personal development. These forces, sometimes represented by a snake or lizard – the instinctive reproductive, flight and fight drives – are the power flowing into our life. If they are not allowed to flow into the development of our personality, we will lack energy and power in some way. In other cultures they are encouraged to flow beyond the fundamental pathways of genital sex toward the functions of greater awareness and insight, thus opening their other possibilities.

Example: For the past year and several months I’ve had a recurring dream at least 10 times pertaining to my menstrual cycle and bowel movements. These dreams have always been embarrassing. Either my period has came down unexpected while I’m sitting on the toilet and/or I am catching a bowel movement in my hand and trying to hide it from people around me. I have been thinking of what possible meaning this could be.

This is about the person holding onto their inner emotional rubbish/shit because they feel embarrassed if they allow it to be expressed.

The bowel and everything associated with it are of course a constant source of humour and fun:

Example: a fat hippie guy says, “I have to go to the bathroom. I hope I can make it.” The crowd answers sympathetically. He starts to walk, then his face grimaces up as he has a bowel movement in his pants right there in front of everyone. “Oh,” he cries, “I couldn’t help it, and it’s a hiney.” He turns around so we can see his butt. Two pounds of butter is in a plastic sack and stapled to his shorts. Some guy jokes about it, “At least it wasn’t chili,” to ease his embarrassment. Raul jokes, “Is there any money on it?” (betting he could do better).

Example: It seemed as if I were watching a married couple in their house. The woman had been out somewhere and the man had perhaps eaten something and now had pain. The pain was not specific and he and the woman talked over what began to be felt as a serious developing illness. The morning of the next day the situation was worse. At that point their son, about eighteen, walked in, very bright and positive – apparently now living independently. They told him the situation, remaining bright and positive he asked his father to lay on the bed with head on pillows and knees bent. Then he took hold of his father’s ankles and moved his legs up and down in a pump like action. Farts accompanied each movement and the problem was resolved.

Useful Questions and Hints:

Am I meeting any experiences to do with controlling or letting go – if so what is involved?

Am I getting rid of some of the crap I have carried around internally or externally?

What struggles with infant feelings or sexuality am I meeting – if so what are they?

Am I in any way worried about my digestive system – if so what is the worry, and do I need to have a check?

Am I dealing with difficulties to do with a need to discharge parts of what I have experienced – i.e. do some experiences still remain undigested or are bringing emotional discomfort?

Am I holding myself back in some way?

See Use the body to discover dream power – What is the main action in the dream? –

Victims – Techniques for Exploring your Dreams – absorption – Easy Dream Interpretation – Anus; toilet