Letter

Communication or lack of it. Feelings, intuitions or hopes in regard to something received from another person, or a group of people, Hoping to have contact with or news from a person or company. News of opportunity, or love coming to one.

This is about the giving or receiving of feelings and thoughts. But is it a letter received, a letter waited for, a letter already sent and regretted or answers hoped for? If you can look at your dream and see what your relationship with the letter is, then see where this applies to your waking life, you will have a direct connection with what the dream is dealing.

If you dream about old letters, who are they from and what do they say? They are probably connected with memories and how they are still influencing you – or a relationship that is still meaningful.

What is it you are waiting for in your waking life? What do you want from someone else? If you know, perhaps there are more direct ways you can go about getting results. Or perhaps your dream gives some indications.

Who are you writing to and what are you saying? Is it something you have thought about and said already, or is it something new? Sometimes your dream letter reveals things you might not say generally.

If the letter is not opened it usually refers to things you know but have not let yourself really become aware of. Try opening the letter and observing what you feel or think.

Blacked edged: News of or feelings about death.

Letter from particular person: Thoughts about or intuitions concerning the person letter is from; unrealised feelings about sender; hopes – perhaps to have contact with person.

Opening letter: Realising something; receiving news; sexual intercourse.

Unopened letter: Feelings, thoughts or intuitions that have not been made conscious or recognised; opportunity that has not been taken up or recognised yet; virginity.

Sending a letter: The thoughts or feelings you radiate to others, perhaps unconsciously. A prompt to contact the person you are posting the letter to. Desire to be in contact.

Waited for letter: Hoped for confirmation of love, friendship, plans.

 Example: I had felt something of a past traumatic incident arising, and had phoned my wife saying to her that I felt something strange going on and deeply needed to know when she might be coming back. She said she would let me know. So I waited for a telephone call, a letter, some indication, having pleaded with her for this support. Nothing came. No call. No letter. No support. Then the crack widened and all hell broke loose from within me.

Example: Someone had brought him a letter in which were several sheets. On one of these there was a portrait of a former teacher, whom he much admired, holding a torch. Another sheet looked like a big invitation card, seemingly addressed to this same teacher, and having on it the words ‘Request for your Presence’. On the back of a third sheet the teacher had drawn the picture of a liner, and his voice could be heard saying: ‘Here are the cabins you are having, eleven, seventeen and twenty-three.’ As he spoke, he marked them off on the side of the ship, eleven at the top, seventeen further down and nearer the stern, and twenty-three still lower and further aft. The boy then awoke, feeling very unsettled and thinking, ‘I must ask mother which cabin we are going to have.’

The associations came at once and without any hesitation. The three numbers were connected with three different people. Number twenty-three reminded him of a friend of his own age with whom he used to play about in the streets, picking up the fag-ends of cigarettes and smoking them. Number seventeen was connected with another boy friend, who was cheeky, fat and lazy, and loved ragging about. They used to go on camping expeditions together. Eleven was the number of his own home and made him think of his mother.

The dream sketches the possibilities before him. He looks for his teacher’s help in planning the future, and the teacher appears holding a torch in his hand to clarify the situation. There are three directions in which the boy can go. The lowest and least worthy way is to become a guttersnipe, picking up fag-ends in the street. On a higher level, he can become a playboy like his fat friend and live an easy and self-indulgent life. Or, finally, he can follow the urge represented by his mother, one connected, as he explained, with ‘music, mechanics and ideals’. He decides to ask his mother which way to go. Quoted from The Way Within by Wyatt Rawson.

Idioms: chain letter; French letter – condom; letter perfect; love letter; dear john/jane letter saying she/he is with another person; poison pen letter; red letter day.

Useful Questions and Hints:

Was there a message you understood?

Do you depend upon communications for you well-being?

Do you write to people often – and if so for what purpose?

See Being the Person or Thing – Techniques for Exploring your Dreams – Questions