Posts Tagged ‘dream analysis’

Nurse Nursing

Healing, fears of health, desire to be nursed or cared for, compassion for others. Desire to be loved as a child. The nurse is sometimes used as a figure of fear too, someone who will punish. For some people the nurse is a very sexually attractive person, and so links with sexual needs or desire.  

But if you work as a nurse, then your dream is more likely to be about your relationship with your nursing.

Florence Nightingale with her concept of nursing, and all the women and men nurses who gave and give us so much, all of these figures stand over us and are part of our unconscious experience here in our daily life.

“A young nurse said that she was almost ready to leave nursing. She said that she faced death nearly every day; babies died, children, teenagers, mature individuals, and the elderly all died – everywhere she felt overwhelmed by the emotions of experiencing it all.

The nurses experience was one I recalled easily. She said that her difficulty about death was resolved by the running meditation and she was ready to continue nursing with enthusiasm. I cannot remember her exact words, but it was about the essence of being a nurse. For nursing was not simply handing out medicines or dealing with wounds, nursing was to be a companion during the journey of life from birth to death. As a nurse we walk with the mystery of Life all the time, through the dark moments and light, and our companionship in that long walk give enormous amounts to the others making that journey. That young nurse was ready to continue walking with others making the journey.

It reminded me of when I was nursing on a geriatric ward. A bedridden patient, a lovely old man who had no relatives to visit him, called me and asked to sit and hold his hand. I sat for some time with his hand in mine, but the sister in charge of that ward was like a sergeant major and insisted we kept moving. I explained that to the patient and left him. That night he died.”

Nursing a baby: Caring for ones own infant needs which still exist in ones adult life; giving care and love to someone who is relating to you in a baby way; wanting a baby, or needing to express the depth of your own ability to give and love.

 Example: I was in a hospital. A nurse passing by looked at my baby son and then suddenly looked again and said, “Did you know there is something wrong with your baby?” I told her I didn’t. She said she would prefer not to tell me, and to ask the sister. I knew this was because what she had seen was a serious illness.

Example: I was in a hospital. Doctors and nurses were about. I was led to realise my lungs were filling up with mucous or phlegm. The doctor said to me it wouldn’t affect me in a short term, but if I kept on smoking I would feel the effect badly in later life. The dream was so vivid I decided then and there to give up smoking.

Example: There were a lot of children, mostly girls, who had no parents and were trained for nursing from an early age. One of the girls came to me as I lay in a chair. She wanted a cuddle. I held her for a while. Then a boy came for a cuddle. I said to one of them, perhaps the boy, “There are plenty of mums about (meaning the nurses), but you want a daddy don’t you?” I held him with my strength. One of the children asked me if my nurse friend had got a man yet. I considered for a while, then said no, she hadn’t, as I realised I was not her “man”, only a friend.  Alec.

Alec was a married man with children. His wife had been a nurse. When Alec explored his dream he described what he experienced as follows.

It was clear early on that the nurses represented my wife as she had worked as a nurse, but the rest of the dream was still beyond me. But as I imagined myself as the young boy I knew this was me. I didn’t like seeing that part of me. I had kept it covered up with pride over the years, but it was there and I was at first ashamed to see this childlike, dependent, emotionally hurt part of myself. It was because I related to my wife in this dependent, childlike way that the dream showed me holding him. My father had never really been a man for me and the child me was desperately in need of knowing that strength.

The boy’s question was a turning point for me. In fact my wife didn’t have a ‘man’ yet, because I was still moving toward real manhood. But suddenly I felt what the little girl in the dream meant. I said to my wife, “You’re the little girl in the dream. Do you see? Every time I get back to my warm sexual feelings I’m a little boy again, because I haven’t really grown up sexually yet, and that scares you. Whenever my weak side shows, you feel really threatened so you attack that part of me. It’s because you need a strong daddy because your father never provided it, and every time I show my weakness it triggers the little girl in you whose daddy was weak. He never grew up, so you never had a strong man for a father. That’s why you married me. Okay, I am strong enough now to be your strong daddy like I am in the dream.”

There was more to the problem though. Why did my wife’s little girl trigger my withdrawn little boy? I entered into this. I remembered how, when we had separate beds, I had often wanted to masturbate but had stopped in case my wife heard. I realised how much I wanted to hide my masturbation from her. At the same time I realised how I easily stood before her naked and with an erection, so what was this problem over masturbation? Of course, it was mother again. My mother had given me hell over masturbation as the disapproving mother, and when my wife got into her “downing” role I saw her as the disapproving manhood killing mother again, and was deeply repulsed by her. I am not going to be killed again by/mother/wife, so I will cut off from her and will give my manhood to women who do not kill me.

Useful Questions and Hints:

Is this a desire to be nursed or cared for?

Does this represent a healing activity, or concern for my health?

If I am a nurse, is this about my relationship with my own nursing skills?

Who have I cared for, or who has cared for me?

See Being the Person or thing – Characters and People in Dreams – Magical Dream Machine – Questions

Nut

Feeling a ‘nut’ suggest you see yourself as foolish. A nut can indicate nourishment or wisdom that needs work to get at its kernel. Sometimes used to say someone is crazy. A nut can also be a seed so represents potential. Nuts can represent humanity: the kernel, or soul, is encased by the shell, or flesh and bone. Nuts are also goodness hidden in a hard shell, so represent truths or realisations that were worthwhile working at.

A nut to crack means a problem to solve, or in a nutshell suggests wisdom or information put in a compact form.

The nut on a bolt suggests something that holds things in place, a fastener or indicator of security. So a loose nut could say that there is an impending problem if what it secures comes loose.  People use ‘nuts and bolts’ to mean the working of everyday life.

 Example: I remember as a little girl being able to float upwards and I still dream of soaring upwards at different times, but I have always questioned this in myself and stopped believing I did that as a child. As an adult I thought I was nuts,

Idioms: a nut case; drive you nuts; everything from soup to nuts; go nuts; health nut; a nut; nut bar, nut case; nut house; nuts about; nuts and bolts; nutty as a fruit cake

 

Useful Questions and Hints:

Do I eat nuts often?

What does my dream suggest about nuts?

What sort of nut was it and what associations do I have with it?

See Being the Person or Thing – Summing Up – Questions – Questions Put to Tony

Nymph

See: Fairy.

Oak

Strength, perseverance, mightiness, sheltering, protection, hardiness, fruitfulness. Continuance in the face of difficulties, or facing of hardship. This has probably arisen from some of the harsh climates oaks grow in, like on rocky sea cliffs. Many people translate or understand the cross of Jesus to be a tree. Artists have sometimes depicted Jesus nailed to a tree. Often, this is the oak, which symbolises the power of physical life, the power behind material creation. See: Acorn, Cross, tree.

Oar Oars

The personal energy and skill used to direct our way through the ‘waters of life’, therefore your feelings and social atmospheres and situations; word play for whore; phallic because of its in and out motion. So it is your personal power or skill you use to move through and survive the flow of feelings, social atmospheres and troughs and waves of life situations. Having oars can mean feeling in control in the midst of emotional challenges.

 Example: I’m a young woman standing on a sea shore. I am waiting for my man. I hear the oars in the row locks of a boat, then it comes into view. A man comes to me, and puts his arms around me like he’s known me all my life. My man pauses, turns his head to a man still in the boat and says – Tell them this is it. Phillipa.

Example: I dreamed I was afloat in a rowboat, drifting without oars and wondering helplessly whether or not I would drift ashore or out to sea. I awoke still drifting helplessly with the tide and nowhere near land.

To reach land would represent security that the young man lacks. The sea shows his relationship with the unplanned and unprepared for life situations that he is not capable of meeting without oars. So instead of having the ability to make his own way, he will be moved by circumstances – the tide.

Boat without oars: Ill equipped to deal with the situation you are in. A loss of motivation and being subject to external events to direct your life. So this might point to indecisiveness or lack of initiative.

Having only one oar: Trying to row with only one oar, may suggest your need for a partner or mate. Or mean that you are skilled in sculling, a skill in being independent and directing ones own life.

Idioms: Stick ones oar in; rest on one’s oars.

 

Useful Questions and Hints:

What was happening with the oar or oars?

Was it me or someone else using the oar(s)?

What was the situation on the water?

See Self Help – Life – Individuation – Being the Person or Thing – Conditioned Reflexes

Oasis

The life giving influence of emotions and life processes within the ‘desert’ of intellectualism or materialism. A place to quench a thirst brought on by spending time in a desert. See desert

Dreaming of arriving at an oasis suggest that after difficulties you have or will reach the waters of life, a break from challenges and rest and recuperation. Maybe it is time to rest and take care of yourself. It points the way that you can find life and survival in a sterile or unproductive period of your life.

 

Useful Questions and Hints:

Have I arrived at a place in my life that is like an oasis?

Or is it something like a promise that I see in the distance?

Have I been through a dry and sterile period?

See Letting things Happen – Summing Up – The Seed Meditation – Being the Person or Thing

Oats

Sexual energy; sexual satisfaction. It can also indicate basic nourishment or sustenance. In other words, what you need to grow as a person.  See: Corn

Apart from consumption, wild oats have an important role to play in skincare. They were used as early as 2000 BC by the Egyptians and Arabians to beautify their skins. Oat baths were largely used by the ancient Greeks and Romans for healing skin ailments. Oats are also a great absorber, so they will suck any impurities out of the skin.

 Example: Was in Wilson’s farmyard. There were some puppies or something – not sure – and I went to get them some oats. To do this I walked to the top of the hill where the oats were kept. I had a bucket and a young man came with me. As I was filling the bucket with oats, we saw a bull nearby. It looked a bit thin in the flank, slightly cow like. My friend was a bit nervous, but I told him the bull was all right, and to give it some oats. The bull was so hungry it emptied the bucket in a couple of mouthfuls. So I scooped some more oats out for it. My friend looked at its penis, remarking how huge it was. I said, “I should think so. After all, it’s a long way into a cow.”

Idioms: feeling his oats; have ones oats; off one’s oats; sow wild oats; getting his oats

Useful Questions and Hints:

What was happening with the oats in my dream?

Was I eating them or was something or someone else eating them.

Did sexual feelings come into the dream in any way?

See Eat Eating – Energy Sex and Dreams – Being the Person or Thing – Edgar Cayce  

Obe

OBE’s have been reported thousands of times in every culture and in every period of history. A general experience of OBE might include a feeling of rushing along a tunnel or release from a tight place prior to the awareness of independence from the body. In this first stage some people experience a sense of physical paralysis which may be frightening. Their awareness then seems to become an observing point outside the body, as well as the sense of paralysis. There is usually an intense awareness of oneself and surroundings, unlike dreaming or even lucidity. Some projectors feel they are even more vitally aware and rational than during the waking state. Looking back on ones body may occur here. At this very first stage of complete independence some people experience intense fear. This is most likely due to fearing that one is dying. I believe there is an unconscious connection between the externalisation of ones awareness and death. See: feature on Out Of Body Experiences

Obesity

See: FatPerson.

Obscene

It is reasonable and healthy for all of us to have a dream which surprises or shocks us occasionally. As dreams partly deal with aspects of our urges and fantasies which we do not allow in waking life, such occasional dreams are safety valves. It is healthy to be able to allow a wide range of dream experience, from the holy to the deeply sexual; from outright aggression to tender love. In fact we can gain an idea of the depth and broadness of our own soul – whether our psyche is narrow – from the range of dreams we experience. If obscene dreams assail and worry us again and again however, then there is a problem in the way we are relating to ourselves and the exterior world. Psychotherapeutic counselling might help. See Autonomous Complex; Being the Person or Thing

Obsessed Obsession

We are all obsessed or possessed in various ways. For instance, we may not be able to walk down the street without shoes, or be unable to appear in public without a collar and tie, or properly shaved, or with the wrong people, we are thus literally possessed by social codes, fear of looking a fool, and so on. Being possessed by such things our actions are controlled by such fears. These are the demons that rule our life and enslave us, and that were spoken of in the past as being cast out. These factors are often symbolised in dreams as an obsessing agent. Autonomous Complex

The agent need not be your own fear or drive however. There are other driving forces, such as social pressure, the and great external forces such as government or corporations, that act upon your psyche.

Being possessed by such things means our actions are to some extent controlled by them. The unconscious pictorialises this situation by using the images of demons or dark shapes. These are demons that rule our life and enslave us. It is such demons that Jesus cast out in the Bible stories.

In past cultures the ideas or fears which obsess us would have been described as an evil spirit or ghost taking over the person. This is because the irrational obsession takes hold of us against our will, so is quite an accurate image.

Obstacle

This suggests you are facing some difficulty that you feel is blocking what you want to do, or your freedom of action. The barrier can be external or internal, so you need to consider what it is in your life that is leading to this feeling of obstruction.

Depicts something which causes uncertainty or withdrawal of enthusiasm, creativity or love. Such might be produced by someone’s criticism which evokes our own self doubts; indecision; our own inhibitions or anxieties; maybe even a hidden form of not wanting to succeed because it would confront us with the new – we might fail. The obstacle, obstruction, barrier or interference can be a person, a wall, a river, animal – or it might be an internal thing like paralysis or a lump in the throat. Refer to the entry on the appropriate subject to define what it is acting as an obstacle. See: First example in failure; fence; wall.

Breaking something, or breaking through a wall or obstacle, show you freeing yourself from old habits or restraining influences. Also a fallen bridge might link with a lost opportunity, broken bonds and connections, or broken opportunity or a difficult obstacle. Crossing a river or ditch also represent to an obstacle you are meeting. To jump over something suggests you are making an effort to avoid or overcome an obstacle.

Sometimes a warning of an obstacle can be a warning light, a foghorn or traffic lights on red.

 Example: ‘I have this recurring nightmare. I see my mother standing by my bedroom door, blocking it as if I am being trapped and stopped from getting out. I often call to her ‘Let me out Mum’ but she just stands there staring with no expression on her face at all. I end up getting out of bed and switching my bedroom light on and then she disappears. Sometimes I will see her standing by my wardrobe. It seems as if she is always standing by a door and trying to trap me.’ Natalie S.

Natalie is fourteen and the obstacle she faces in choosing her own clothes – the wardrobe – and making her own decision, is her own dependence upon her mother, and the need to develop a new relationship with her.

 Example: ‘As I was driving along I turned my car over. I wasn’t hurt but could not now get to my destination. I didn’t feel at all upset about the car being damaged.’ Tim K.

The example shows a subtle and self made obstacle, the damaged car. In fact Tim admitted ruining his own work opportunities – the car – because he was frightened of failure.

 

Useful Questions and Hints:

What obstacles can I remember meeting in life?

In the dreams what type of obstacle was it and how was it dealt with?

How do I deal with obstacles I meet in daily life?

See Secrets of Power Dreaming – Martial Art of the Mind – What is the main action in the dream?

Occident

See: West

Octopus

Feeling trapped by the influence of one’s mother; dependence upon mother; one’s own possessiveness or desire to cling to someone in a relationship or to possess them. Hadfield in Dreams and Nightmares says that a baby often seizes upon its mother’s breast with this feeling, so it may represent the desire to posses or devour others. The octopus can also symbolise any unconscious fear which may drag us into its realm of irrational terror, or any influence you fear will engulf you. See Reaction to the unconscious

But being a sea creature it can also represent an important realisation brought to consciousness from the unconscious.

Here is a woman’s experience of dealing with her octopus.

 Example: “If she killed the monster or let it kill her she would learn what it meant. If not it would continue to plague her. And plague her it did. That week she suffered octopus nightmares by the dozen. At the next session, a week later, out of the courage of desperation, she faced the octopus. First she tried to kill it, but found that the knife fell out of her hand. She did not really want to kill it. Then she looked directly in its eyes, at the therapist’s suggestion, and saw her own eyes peering out at herself. She finally understood that the octopus was some denied part of herself. Since it no longer seemed so menacing, she decided to let it eat her, and once inside its stomach she realized her own desires to devour and possess others. She had had them all her life but had never been willing to admit it to herself. The significance of the octopus was now clear and it vanished from her fantasies.” From LSD Psychotherapy

It becomes obvious that the image of the octopus had a dual function. In one way it presented her unconscious feelings. After all, the octopus had to be dealt with in some fashion or another. In another way the image of the octopus performed the function of a resistance to realising her real desires.

 

Useful Questions and Hints:

Do I have problems about letting go of people?

Have I felt difficulties in leaving my mother?

What was the octopus doing in my dream?

See Avoid Being Victims – Individuation – Collective Unconscious – Being the Person or Thing

Oculist

The aspect of self that attempts to improve our view of things, or gives us a false view of things. See: Spectacles.

Odour

Depends entirely upon what is smelt, what emotions surround it. For instance, you can say ‘I smell a rat’, or something smells fishy or the whole situation stinks to high heaven. A perfume can remind you of a particular person, and therefore associate with your feelings about them, or with particular memory or events in life. Odours often represent feelings, attractions, repulsion, fresh or stale, living or dying. They can also represent feelings radiating from you, or from what the symbol depicts.