Posts Tagged ‘dream analysis’

Koran

Expression of spiritual insight.

Krishna

The Indian Christ. See: Christ.

Label

A description, or ‘label’, you may be applying to yourself. So the label might be about an image you have of yourself. You may also have unconsciously labelled somebody else. If the label is obviously about an object, then it can be describing a quality you have, negative or positive. Sometimes the label might be about information you hold unconsciously that is helpful.

Self image; how you feel others see you; your view of what is labelled; definition of your feelings if labelled to someone else. If the label is obviously about an object, then it can be describing a quality or purpose in your life of that object, or what it represents. Sometimes the label might be about information you hold unconsciously that is helpful.

If the label is on a letter then see address. If the label is on you or another person, it may be some sort of judgement you or others have attached that needs re-evaluating; or it may be bringing something important to your attention.

If we label our beliefs, religious or otherwise, and our scientific findings as sure knowledge, we are on a slippery slope. The reason is that history shows us that knowledge and beliefs are always changing. Even if an old piece of knowledge still stands, the new will certainly shift our view of it. See Enlightenment

Be careful of the labels you put on yourself, because they are usually restrictive, and medical and psychological labels often pathologise the situation.

Example: At first with laughter, then with pain, I saw that this had made me suspicious of my own mother. I had not fitted the ‘norm’ in terms of size, strength or behaviour, so not only had I lived with a ‘danger alert’ process going all the time, but also with the realisation I was not up to scratch. Instead of the full term child who is more adjusted to the environment I had emerged still in a condition adjusted to the womb. My psychological state was also, I felt, quite different, a sort of experience of the death world, the world before birth and after death.

Society, I felt, has a sort of labelling or measuring system. It has emerged out of biological criteria of survival and fitness, and is largely unconscious. People haven’t even acknowledged they are acting under such drives. ‘My genes are best, and everybody else’s are abnormal. But only the best of mine are going to get through’. Out of this I sensed that mothers who have children who are not ‘the best’ suffer a great internal struggle about their child. Part of them cries out, ‘That is no child of mine!’

So the child/person who is not seen as ‘fit’ are not given social rewards, starting with such rewards as recognition and warmth from ones own parents, and escalating from there into recognition and rewards from social groups and organisations. I personally felt as if I were not seen as fit for several reasons. My premature birth led me to be slightly less robust, and also my mixed cultural background during a time of war made me less fit. I didn’t have the right label attached.

Example: Bernard said that as he felt what it was like to be a new born baby, he experienced what he called an instinctive expectation of being greeted by warmth and welcome. This wasn’t provided by his parents. The greeting seemed harsh, as his birth had complications for his mother. The absence of warmth and welcome led to a feeling of not wanting to emerge, of wanting to ‘stay in the egg’, as he put it. This decision of not wanting to get involved in the new environment of life outside the womb had persisted unconsciously all his life, causing him to be an introvert who did not want to be involved with other people except as necessity dictated.

Bernard had always explained his tendency to withdrawal as his natural character. He had never thought of it as neurotic behaviour. This is often the case. We rationalise what pushes from unconscious sources. It is only when such behaviour becomes very disturbed, or continually thwarts our attempt to love, or create, or lead a life free of depression or panic, that we might begin to re-label our behaviour. An important point to remember is that at the time of it original occurrence, the links or decisions we make are rational and perhaps a very important part of surviving.

 

Useful Questions and Hints:

What do I unconsciously label myself as?

Do I put labels on other people?

What was the label in the dream?

See Avoid Being Victims – Martial Art of the Mind – Techniques for Exploring your Dreams

Labyrinth

See: Maze.

Ladder

This shows you attempting get somewhere that is presently out of reach, difficult to attain, or perhaps involves risks and anxiety. Depending upon your feelings in connection with the ladder, it might show feelings of achievement through effort and daring.

The ladder is sometimes a symbol of social success or failure, so if there are such feelings involved, it would seem you are meeting feelings about social or work standing.

Freud also describes the ladder as a symbol of sexual intercourse, the rungs representing the physical movements of sex and the mounting orgasmic feeling represented by the climb.

Ladder Your feelings – whether anxious or secure – about reaching situations or opportunities in life that are new, presently out of reach, or not easily attained. Attainment through effort and daring. Or the heightening of insecurity, anxiety or feelings in life or sex – getting up – getting it up. Sometimes it represent reaching a new realisation.

Rungs: The separate stages or efforts or skill necessary to ‘climb’.

 Example: I am at the fairgrounds in my hometown. People are all over carving stuff of stone. I go up a ladder to a second story and a woman there is even carving a cradle of stone. There is some type of art show they are getting ready for. Also a book has been published with several different stories by people but there is nothing of mine in the book. I don’t know any of these people except one man.

The woman has climbed up the ladder for at least two reasons. One is to get a better view of where she is in life, an understanding of what she has achieved, also to see of she has climbed higher is social recognition. The fact nothing of hers was in the book shows that she rates herself as not important.

Idioms: Top of the ladder. See also: stairs under house.

 

Useful Questions and Hints:

What was the ladder going to be used for?

Was I involved or just watching?

Did I realise anything new?

Was a relationship involved?

See Decision – Being the Person or Thing – Conditioned Reflexes – Characters and People in Dreams

Lagoon and Lake

The inner world of our feelings and fantasies; the unconscious. The mysterious waters are a powerful symbol of female sexuality, especially if the dreamer is male.

Sinking into: Becoming introverted; giving up on trying, or expressing oneself.

Looking into depth: Self awareness; looking into oneself.

Dirty water: Difficult feelings; being unsure of oneself; depression. See: water.

Drowning in a lagoon: Can indicate sexual difficulties. But it more likely shows the dreamer finding it difficult to deal with a rush of fantasies or feeling of losing touch with reality.

 Example: I am watching a dirigible (blimp) full of people in the gondola trying to escape. It is shot down over a lake. I have a lot of problems getting through the soldiers who are surrounding this lake. Finally I succeed and I see that they are pumping the water out of the lake to get to a truck full of gold down at the bottom. When they have finally succeeded I realize that only a few people must have died as there are few or no signs of death around the scene.

This illustrates that deep within us in our unconscious is a great treasure if we are not afraid of death and can dive deeply into ourselves.

 Example: I realise this was my place with them, to help them understand themselves.

They then asked me if I would get some water for them, as there was no water in the house. To get water one had to wade into the middle of the lake. They explained that only in the middle was the water suitable to drink. Even in the middle it looked murky, but I thought we could boil it. I waded in and suddenly realised that something strange was happening. Visions or hallucinations occurred stronger and stronger the further one went into the lake. I also realised that all the others had been in the lake and immersed in the visions. As I pressed on I knew that most people became so involved in the visions they lost grip of their purpose to walk on. I had the visions, but found I could maintain the decision to go forward – i.e. most people lost sight of physical surroundings and became absorbed in the visions.

The dream shows that because the dreamer was willing to help and because he could face his own inner difficulties, he could pass through the usual fantasies and neurotic influences and get the precious water.

 

Useful Questions and Hints:

What were my feeling about the lake?

Was there treasure to be found?

Did I manage to get under the surface?

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

Lama

See: Guru.

Lamb

This may refer to the childlike, dependent, vulnerable part of yourself. There are other possible meaning though, such as new life. This might link with your own child or childhood, and with innocence. See: Animal.

In Christianity the lamb has always been linked with Christ. As innocence and purity the weakness of the lamb has enormous power, and can defeat evil. In ancient societies who bred sheep, the spring lambs were a sign of survival of the often harsh and hungry winter. At last there was food. So the sacrifice of the lamb was linked with the feeling of being given life and redemption.

The childlike, dependent, vulnerable part of self; new life, and so perhaps ones own child or childhood.

Innocence; Christ, as innocence and purity; the weakness of the lamb has enormous power, and can defeat evil.

In ancient societies who bred sheep, the spring lambs were a sign of survival of the often harsh and hungry winter. At last there was food. So the sacrifice of the lamb was linked with the feeling of being given life and redemption.

Useful questions are:

Does this remind you in any way of your own child, childhood or a child – if so who or what?

Is there any suggestion of sacrifice in the dream, and what would that link with in your life?

What is your relationship with the lamb and what does that suggest?

Lame

The difficulty, or lack of confidence or strength you might face in making your way through the events of life. It can represent any impediment in your being that makes going difficult. Lameness can also represent uncertainty about how or where you ‘stand’ in life.

Lameness if often associated with the ‘wounded healer’ the one who in finding their own wholeness receives a wound that does not heal , and may cause them to be lame in one leg. See Archetype of the search for self

The symbolism of Jesus healing the lame man, Math. 11:5 is the power of wholeness healing the difficulty. The contact with our own wholeness enables us to face life with the energy and capacity each event demands instead of being ‘lame’ in the way we face people and opportunity.

Left leg: Weakness in the feelings and ideas out of which we gain support.

Right leg: Weakness in dealing with our external activities.

 

Useful Questions and Hints:

Do I feel an obstacle will hinder me from achieving?

Have I been wounded in myself in some way?

How have I dealt with the lameness?

See – Avoid Being Victims – Martial Art of the Mind – Programmed

Land Landed

Potential; the opportunities you meet to make yourself real in the world, to create something from within yourself. This might sometimes represent the undeveloped parts of your own nature that need attention and cultivation or character building.

A land of opportunity and freedom: This probably shows a turning point in your life, or it is about your future because you know deep down where you are going – to a brighter future.

A new land: This may require attitudes and activities which when we get there are no longer needed. The farmers who travelled West in America needed to drop their nomadic life once they had arrived. It can also be about a new area of you that has been uncovered – not unusual considering the amazing potential/possibilities we all have.

Difficulty landing: Difficulty achieving goal or making it real in a down to earth way; anxiety about where life events are taking you; or feeling out of control or not being in control; difficulties or fears about being in someone else’s hands.

Landing: It could be a landing from a sea journey or by air. By sea it could be about starting a life independently of others, or the end of a relationship. By air it means a new opportunity in a new place. Often such things take time to appear. See A Dream is Like a Seed

Land the job: Often this about something you wish to happen and is not about a reality. But if the dream has a feeling of success about it the wish might be true.

Land of subjugation: This about the way you feel or about the way you have been treated and so are shown in your dream. In our dreams we can fight back, even though there does not seem any hope for that in waking life. By learning to hit back in your dreams it often changes the situation you face. See Summing Up

Undeveloped pieces of land: This is a sign that you have a great potential that if you work at it will provide rich harvests. The opportunities you meet to make yourself real in the world, to create something from within yourself. This might sometimes represent the undeveloped parts of your own nature that need attention and cultivation or character building.

 Example: The plot of land had something of the feeling of an allotment. It was well tended, and I had the sense the young man had been doing most of the work on it. The soil was rich but at the moment dry. A few shoots were just breaking the ground from hundreds of bulbs which had just started shooting.

Example: I went out to go downstairs. It was a huge staircase. Lounging at one of the landings were four youths. I knew that they were thugs intent on beating me up. It was too late to run away, so I charged at them uttering a terrible scream like a roar of fear to destroy their morale. The scream woke Brenda who woke me.  

 

Useful Questions and Hints:

What was I doing in relationship with the land?

Was it cultivated or needing working on?

Where did I land and how did I get there?

See Martial Art of the Mind – Decision – Techniques for Exploring your Dreams

 

Landscape

Landscapes particularly depict your feeling moods and attitudes. They show what habitual responses of feeling you meet the world with. This is because in dreams you create your own surrounding and environment out of your unconscious attitudes, fears, or wisdom. These surroundings, like your dream houses, show what attitudes or feeling atmosphere you live in most of your life. See: Countryside.

If the landscape if urban, it often reflects whatever you feel about it. Do you feel a buzz of excitement or a feeling of being lost in a massive concrete jungle?

If the landscape is of natural surroundings, forest or open land, then it often reflects you own relaxed and natural feelings. Try using Being the Person or Thing 

Gloomy: Pessimism; self doubt; depression; a gloomy view of life which could rob you of motivation.

Sunny: Hopeful; optimistic; something to look forward to. Life-giving.

Recurring scenes: Habitual attitudes with which you approach situations.

Recurring scenes of past residence: A stance or attitude you developed from that period of your life.

Recurring landscapes: Areas of our feelings or psyche we often return to or experience.

 

Useful Questions and Hints:

Do you ever go to a place to recover or feel good in?

What sort of places do you avoid and why?

Have you ever felt the presence of something more than human there?

See Conditioned Reflexes – Meeting a god – Being the Person or Thing – Emotions and Mood in Dreams

 

Lamp

Your focussed attention and what it reveals. See: Light

 The lamp seems to represent awareness, consciousness or way of viewing life that gives insight into what would otherwise be missed in the darkness of ordinary sight.

Lamps were originally with flames lighting a wick, so were like a small fire that lit ones home or way. Because of the wonder ancient people felt for fire and light and because it was for them a symbol of their life, needing fuel/food to keep it alive, it was felt as having special or magical qualities. Thus the story of Aladdin’s magical lantern.

This gave rise to the eternal flame that must always be kept alight, and represents the eternal that lives within the transitory human body. Fire was not only essential, but sacred to the ancients.  Whenever the Greeks emigrated to foreign lands, they brought a portion of their home fire with them as a link to their homeland.  Similarly, women leaving their family at the time of their marriage brought part of the fire from their mothers’ hearth to their new home. It is a very important inner link that exists within our dream life. See conjuring trick

Lamps are also representative of enlightenment, awareness, insights, perception.

Lamps also symbolise birth, as in lighting a lamp or candle and death extinguishing a lamp or candle. In a dream, these may represent phases of your life or influences that are either coming into being or passing away.

Seven lamps or seven candle are also often used in dreams, and represent the story and mystery of life. See chakras; kundalini

 Example: I am in a very cramped office talking about a light or lamp that I have in my home. My office mates don’t think I have this lamp, but I have had it for a long time. They are surprised and happy. It seems to have some religious significance.

The dreamer obviously is dreaming about his inner light, which he has had for along time, even though his outer life – the cramped office – does not show what he has.

 Example: I was peeling brown paper off a hanging lamp, it came away very easily. I was saying to my self, There it looks much better, gold and shining, instead of brown paper all over it.

The woman is discovering that under her rather tatty exterior she has an inner light that is golden.

 

Useful Questions and Hints:

What am I seeing or discovering by the light of the lamp?

Do I feel any inner or religious feelings about it?

Am I using the lamp to throw its light on something?

See Myths Legends and Fairy Stories – Being the Person or Thing – Life’s Little Secrets

Language

Communication, and therefore understanding or misunderstanding. The unconscious often uses mysterious or foreign languages to express what lies within yourself that has never been thought about or put into words. Much of your most fundamental childhood experiences were pre-verbal, and so only accessible as powerful feelings and feeling responses. Even from babyhood you can make profound decisions about what you will reject or accept. These decisions are formulated entirely as profoundly potent feeling responses. Dreams sometimes express these, and intuitions about your own wholeness, as strange words or a mysterious language. If you play with the sounds and let them develop what they contain can become verbalised.

But everyday language is often taken by people as if the word they use to describe a cat or a person is somehow the cat or the person.  But such words are simply sounds we use that are different in hundreds of world languages, and in no way give us any real understanding of the cat or the person. They are simply sounds we make to indicate to others that we are trying to tell them something we have seen, or are refer to. that we have given the sound ‘cat’ to.

See: language – foreign or strange; Language And Dreams – How it Flows; Using the Voice.

Lantern

Unlike lamp, the lantern is usually significant of what shines out from yourself, perhaps as feelings, understanding, or wisdom. Also, it is the insights or understanding that you use to guide you in your life journey. See: lamp; Light.

Useful Questions and Hints:

What am I seeing or discovering by the light of the lamp?

Do I feel any inner or religious feelings about it?

Am I using the lamp to throw its light on something?

See Myths Legends and Fairy Stories – Being the Person or Thing – Life’s Little Secrets

Larder

Hungers; sensual satisfaction; your store of memories or feelings that satisfy or nourish you. See: Eating; Food.

Large

If something is big it usually says you have a lot of feelings about it, or perhaps you feel threatened by something. It can also mean it is important, or you feel inferior to whatever it represents. See big

How important we see something, or what feeling impact it has on us, or how we feel in relationship to the person or object. 

Importance, or to do with a relationship – as when we feel small beside somebody with a ‘big’ reputation.

Idioms: Big of somebody; big brother; big fish/noise/wheel/shot; big guns; big head; go down big; big time; too big for shoes; big time.