Pod

Restrictive and protective influence you break out of. Somebody is said to come out of their shell when they break free of reserve or restraining influences. Parental influence could be symbolised as a pod. The pod might also refer to the experience of being in the womb.

A pod is like the womb which not only protects while vital processes of life are taking place, but also feeds the process.

Being in a pod suggests that you are going through a vital and important growth process.

The seed, falling from the pod, and growing, carries with it the essence of the old plant. So it symbolises reincarnation, the starting again, under the influence of past experience and karma.

Talking about a pea pod that appeared as part of her imagery, Constance Newland shows how it represented her father’s penis. The pea associated with pee or urine, and the pod with a seed carrier, the testicles.

 Example: I watched an insect emerging from what appeared to be its chrysalis – shaped a little like a mermaid’s purse. As it emerged it was vibrant with life, movement and colour.  I watched another insect doing the same thing, and began to realise how life was bursting forth in the garden. Looking up in the hedge I noticed a large pod expanding on top of a stalk. Its was visibly getting larger, like a balloon. Suddenly it opened, forming many stalks with leaves and small rose like buds. Another pod was doing the same.

Example: So I was being born and yet at the same time destroying the person I had been. It was a wonderful feeling to sense the rather restrictive person I had been. Yet at the same time it was a process of growth that had to tear its way out of its pod/womb/chimney. It linked with an episode of the TV series in which an electro/organic/mechanical space ship gave birth to its offspring. To get out the infant ship had to fire a cannon to make the opening wider. It worked without any ill effects on the infant ship or the mother ship.