Anna – You always ask some interesting/difficult questions. Often I do not know the answers, but in writing about the dream answers form themselves.
But recently I reworked the ‘compost’ entry, some of it might apply -
http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/compost-poop/ You start off outdoors, as your natural self, and as such one often needs to poop – it is natural – part of nature.
The autumn leaves are everywhere, suggesting thoughts or feelings about ageing – the autumn of your life – not your winter. You are reticent about unloading your poop in public, and your response is a breakthrough because you re-absorb it.
I go off course here a bit because you tensed up to avoid doing something that is natural for most people – but it led to greater energy. You did something unnatural – and it reminds me of part of what was written in Archetype of the Outsider – those who do not comply to social rules. “Through their lives they began to form the possibility of a new direction for human beings, a new inner or mental life. It developed alternative ways of experiencing oneself, or living in society, and of discovering ones inner resources. And out of those many lives and the new ways they developed of relating to their mind, their body and the world around them, a new paradigm has arisen that I see is now transforming the unconscious life of many people.”
In a sense you took into yourself what most people think of disgusting, don’t want to touch or even admit to; you took the compost and used it as energy. Such energy lights up our awareness, making it able to see more of what is happening around them and in ordinary things. In a sense you did not throw away what many people see as rubbish, craziness, of no interest, and used it as fertiliser for new growth.
So much so it led you to see within the autumn leaves – dead things to clear away – enormous personal resources – money.
It is the way of Life that does not waste anything, but transforms it.
I do not know what the washing machine drum means to you – but like the rest of your dream, it deals with stuff that would be seen as useless.
Energy in itself is often not visible. But in seeds, a tiny thing holds stored energy that it has gathered from dead things, compost, dropped leaves, the earth, and stored it as the treasure of growth energy. That energy can remain unexpressed until the right circumstances occur - usually moisture and warmth. Then growth energy in plants tends to follow certain forms of expression – the rose seed grows a rose. But humans too may express their energy in certain ways like sexual activity, striving to survive in difficulty, seeking ‘fun’ and entertainment, desire to earn more than others, to express a creative urge – so humans can make a choice about how they want to ‘spend’ their energy. As said above about outsiders, sometimes they choose a new way.
Tony