Bulldog

[Omega]

I know a little boy that gets ill and they can't find what's wrong. He has spells of fainting.  Last night I dreamt he was in a cot, like for a younger child with a bulldog. The bulldog would faint and come to and then he would faint and come to. Then I left him for one second and the bulldog lay on top of him and seemed to cause his death. I didn't even get as far as grief in the dream just shock and disbelief. The bulldog then seemed to be dead, tied with a leash on the bars of the cot.

The little boy has had many tests and nothing conclusive. He experienced trauma a few years ago when a friend of his was killed and this still worries and effects him. On a personal note I really hate Bulldogs as a breed and wish they weren't so popular. It's about the only animal I don't like. In the dream the bulldog was in no way aggressive however, it was even quite gentle, just heavy and not suitable for being in a cot with a young child.

Being the thing:
cot- I am childhood protection
Bulldog- I am invasion, clumsy, burden, dumb, insensitive.
Child- I am soft, beautiful, intelligent, sensitive.

[Christine]

Bulldogs have very strong attachments to and are very protective of children.  That is not a bad thing for a pet.

If there is someone who is acting like a bulldog around the child, which might feel like a burden or weight to the person and/or the child, that could be problematic.  Or if the child now feels protective of another child, as in a younger sibling, because of the trauma, that might be the bulldog attached to him.

When I was in elementary school I used to faint quite often.  It was usually in school, which was Polish Catholic, or church.  It could have been something simple as in skipping breakfast or lunch, or blood sugar fluctuations.  I do remember feeling weighed down, like I could not breathe in school and in church.  The burden of having to be perfect and behave perfectly or be punished.  I was given the strap at home for punishment.  Fear of being punished by my parents and God was pretty overwhelming.  I do not remember being conscious of why I felt terrified most of the time.  I saw my Dad try to kill my Mom when I was 7 and blocked it out until I was 35 years old.  Fainting as a child may have been my psyche protecting itself, to avoid consciously knowing why I felt terrified, which I could not have handled at the time. 

A young child might see death as a sort of punishment by God.  Bulldogs are also bred to reduce and/or remove their aggression.  Feeling aggressive and not being able to express it for fear of punishment (death) might be the weight he is carrying in his unconscious.

The child may be helped by something that works on a subtle unconscious level.  Reiki or homeopathy.

I realize the above is probably more about me than you.  You might find something meaningful in it or not.

[Omega]

Thankyou Cristine, that is helpful. Especially about the psyche protecting itself. That was something I was wondering about.

Of course today because of the outcome of the dream, I'm terrified something is going to happen him, so getting to talk about it at all is a relief. He is an incredibly loving, naturally sensitive boy (is normal for a kid).. He definitely is carrying a huge burden just by being that type of spirit in this world. I asked him about his dreams and he said he keeps having dreams of people with guns or bombs coming to attack him and his family.. He is terrified of death. I tried to give him a new way of understanding it by relating it to the dream world and the immensity of the universe. Kids are amazing, it's the smallness of possibilities adults present them that hurts them, infinity they can cope with.

I think Reiki is a great idea but don't think it will be easy to organise.

[Tony Crisp]

OK Omega - and Chris - you have it. But you live in a world and country where guns are common and bombs are threats.

But statistically you and I have very little chance of being shot, bombed or being crushed by a falling building. But there is every likelihood that we are already imprisoned, even tortured or manipulated by things we do not even acknowledge as being dangerous or capable of trapping us.

We must all at times have seen something or heard something that circumstances assured us shouldn’t be there or should not have happened. One that has occurred to me a few times is that I step into my house and see someone standing in the shadows who shouldn’t be there. My heart speeds up, and for moments I am frozen. Then with relief I see it is a coat hung on a door. All the fear drains away and my heart slows down again. Or it could be a sound of something or someone in the house when you are not expecting anyone, or can’t understand what the sound means. Whatever it is, until you understand the cause – recognising the coat on the door for instance – your whole body and emotions respond as if it is a reality. What you believe to be real is responded to completely as if it IS real. Fear of things in you creates dream images as if things are or will be real. So you live your life in such false realities.

Obviously we have to keep watch for danger - like animals that run in panic when a predator attacks - but they are immediately at peace as soon as the dangers has gone. But as humans we have the awful ability to keep the fear in place - anxiety is the most common illness.

The child is not in danger in the inner world and probably not in the outer world. See http://dreamhawk.com/approaches-to-being/martial-art-of-the-mind/

Tony