Liver

Apart from being a body dream that may be pointing out some dietary need, it often symbolises a state of irritability or long suffering.

Irritability; suggestion for health or diet changes, perhaps in connection with alcohol. See: body; Dream Body.

Livers were often used in the past by diviners to tell the future.

The liver also carries a lot of glycogen. If you eat far more carbohydrates than you need, glucose and glycogen can be turned into a long-term storage form – fat. If really starved of fuel the body can break down protein in muscle tissue to use as fuel. Sugar and most sweeteners including honey, malt, maple syrup, molasses and very refined foods, like most biscuits, cakes, white bread and cereals, whose processing and overcooking has already turned their complex carbohydrates into simple sugars, are fast-releasing. Hardly requiring any digestion, they release their sugar content so rapidly into the bloodstream that they are akin to putting racing fuel into a mini. The blood sugar level rises rapidly, often giving a noticeable boost to energy, then the body races to lower blood sugar levels to avoid flooding, and blood sugar levels plummet, often too low, causing a drop in energy one to three hours after eating. This is called low blood sugar or hypoglycaemia in the blood often causing headaches).

Glucose levels in the blood are our short-term storage of fuel. The more even this supply, the better our cells can function. They are neither starved nor flooded with fuel and can call on reserves when needed. The blood sugar balance is carefully controlled by hormones, chemical messengers released from endocrine glands. Insulin from the pancreas helps lower blood sugar levels by helping to transport glucose from the blood into the cells. The manufacture of insulin depends upon vitamin B6 and zinc. Drinking alcohol is bad for the liver because it uses up the B vitamins the liver needs.

Around fifteen thousand deaths and two hundred thousand injuries associated with drunken driving occur yearly in the United States. Alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver is one of the major causes of death; vast absenteeism, accidents, and job loss in business and industry occur, with an annual estimated loss of $500,000,000; many, if not most, divorces and broken homes occur in connection with excessive drinking; one-third to one-half of all traffic arrests are for drunkenness, far outnumbering any other category of arrest; 60 per cent of all arrests are for offenses directly related to use of alcoholic beverages, and 50 per cent of those in prison committed their crimes after alcohol consumption.

Example: I go out of my house to get in my car and discover the side has been bashed in. “I know who did that,” I say. “My father.” (My father stilted my ambition, my motivation to be/do something by always putting me down, making me feel inadequate/not good enough. My body the side of it=the liver, weakened from drinking – a legacy from my father?)

Example: Dreamt Ann had become my lover. Also, as I drove back to Welcombe from marketing, I realised I had recently several times mentioned Prometheus chained to a rock and having his liver devoured – by, as I added, guilt. My liver and large intestine have not felt comfortable and I wondered if there was a connection.

Useful Questions and Hints:

What does my dream point to – a physical or psychological situation?

Have I felt guilt recently?

Do I drink a great deal?

See Avoid Being Victims – Life’s Little Secrets – Defence Mechanisms and Resistances – Life Changes