Canal

The dream is probably a comment on the way you direct your emotions and energy, and what this control or decision making means in connection with your relationships and goals. There may be a link with relaxation or pleasure if you have holidayed on a canal. Or other associations if you live near one. See: River; Water.

Sometimes this refers to the birth canal.

Example: ‘I’m trapped in a long passageway or corridor. I can’t get out. I’m feeling my way along the wall – there is a small light at the end of the tunnel, I can’t get to it. I’m very frightened. I wake up before I get to the end. Then I feel afraid to go back to sleep.’ Margaret.

The above is an example of a typical birth dream, or of someone feeling really trapped.

The canal may also indicate what you have inherited from your family or the past in the way you direct or control your urges and emotions. So the morals you live by or the standards of behaviour you accept might be already formed from the past.

A canal also has the association of danger in that it often has steep banks and people drown or commit suicide in canals. So it might depict the depressed of gloomy side of your feelings.

If the canal is blocked or in ruins, then it suggests your controlled emotions need a bit more flow and freedom to clear away old feelings and experiences that are holding you  back.

Example: The previous night I dreamt I was driving someone else’s car (borrowed) and wasn’t paying enough attention to the fact that I didn’t know the car and managed to scrape it. I just thought ‘I’ll have to get it fixed.’ Then I drove across the road in preparation for a three point turn and found myself at the edge of a canal. I put the gear in what I thought was reverse and pressed the accelerator but I hadn’t checked where the reverse was and put it into 4th instead – I flew over the edge and into the canal. As the car sank I(as in waking me) was rehearsing how I had to open the windows and get out but me in the dream had the thought, ‘Maybe I’m going to die now!’ I wasn’t doing anything to get out and woke up with a bit of a start.
I don’t think I’ve ever dreamt about dying before, so that struck me as significant.

Example: I had a dream last night about my younger sister Ruth wanting to go to a certain place. I didn’t want to go because I had something important to do but she persisted and so I went. Then, we arrived at this dark underground with a wide canal filled with flowing murky water. She was so excited to jump in to the water and swims past a tunnel that stretches to a dark end. She said she wanted to have an adventure in her life and want to see a crocodile at the end of the tunnel.

Useful Questions and Hints:

Is my dream canal flowing well or is it blocked?

What are the surrounding events in the dream and what do they suggest?

If I imagine myself as the canal what do I feel and understand – how do I describe myself?

Try Stand in role; Being the Person or Thing