Posts Tagged ‘dream dictionary interpretation’

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.

Odyssey

Usually symbolises the problems, of a personal and inner nature, that we have to deal with in order to find greater maturity or wholeness.

Offer Offered Offering

To offer something in a dream, or be offered something usually depicts some sort of change, perhaps one in which a decision has to be made – whether to accept or not. It might also suggest extending yourself, or being reached out to in some way. This might involve some level of risk or exposure to rejection or being used.

Our human ability to move among and learn from or experience the many states of being shown as all the characters we dream about. It offers a much wider or more inclusive view of where you are and where you are going in life. Characters and People in Dreams; Imagination

 Example: A woman who was a radio researcher was offered the job of presenter. She was thrilled but dreamt she was in a road walking and planes flew overhead dropping bombs and shooting. She had to dive into a ditch to avoid being killed. When she explored the dream she realised she was afraid of facing the public directly and this fear if left unconscious would have caused her to refuse the job. She meets the fear and managed to press forward with the job.

Example – This is my dream. I am driving my car, alone. I can see a female friend and stop to offer her a lift. I partly want her to be impressed by my new car. She looks at me. Now she tells me she doesn’t want a lift and I am watching her walk off with a man I do not know.

Example: But then I was shown the way out – it was by admitting that I was a heap of shit, and asking for help as the twelve steps in Alcoholics Anonymous define it. In opening myself to that wonderful otherness my heap of shit became a compost heap which offered new growth.

 

Useful Questions and Hints:

Was I offering or offered to?

What was it being offered and what does that mean to me?

Did I reject what was offered and can I say why?

See Summing Up – Deciding – Yes-No – Writing it Down

Officer Official

Mostly symbolises the part of you in control of a particular area of yourself. Love for a husband and children may act as a controlling factor on desires to have a good time with others, or cover innate laziness. Or fear of being a nobody may direct ambitions and plans. Sometimes represents a feeling of confidence or wholeness that brings authority to guide and direct.

It also associates with any dealing you have with authority, and what this invokes in you. So it might refer to your father in some way. It can therefore show how you ‘authorise’ your own actions, or how you judge them,  our sense of right and wrong; a co-ordinating or directing function in ourselves; a sense of sureness out of wider awareness or experience. It often indicates your relationship with authority or officialdom.

An official can be someone like a teacher or headmaster, a police person, a doctor or any person who may be an authority. We often relate to them in dreams in a positive helpful way, or in a way that takes away our own initiative and will.

 Example: A Nazi officer got out. He looked at me and told me that I was under arrest. I was to report to headquarters. I asked, “Where is it?” He said, “Follow me.” So the kitten and I walked along. He went too fast (the officer), and I lose him. I didn’t know where headquarters was, so I asked directions!! It finally dawned on me that I could escape, that I was being really silly following orders.

Example: In the dream I was attending an adult class with about 20/30 people, mostly men, in it. The teacher came in. He said something and a man asked a question, or spoke back. The teacher got really angry and hit him with a walking stick. Someone else in the class remarked on the beating and was attacked also. A man sitting next to me on my left said that if the teacher hit him he wouldn’t sit and take it. But as the second man was hit my companion said something like – Bloody hell. The teacher landed two mighty blows on his arse, but he didn’t move. I said in horror, “Good God,” whereupon the teacher moved to hit me. I stood up and said, “If you hit me with that thing I will whack you in the fucking ear.” I felt fired up ready to fight. He backed off and threatened to get the headmaster in. I told him to try it. He said if I could do better, do it. So I took over the class and it went really well.

Here the dreamer questions and confronts authority than can do damage to peoples confidence. Many people are told things by authorities that they never question. I have met people who were told that they could not sing and so never ever sang again, or were told they were stupid or couldn’t learn and so gave up. The truth is we each live in a unique world and so see the world in unique ways. In looking at a lake, an artistic child would see its form and colour; a child who had interest in mechanics would see the potential for hydro electrics; a nature lover would see all the places where creatures lived and how to find them.

 

Useful Questions and Hints:

Do I always do as I am told by an authority, or do I asses the situation for myself?

Can I learn from someone in charge or have a problem with authority?

What do I feel about officials?

See decision – Autonomous Complex – Habits – Being the Person or Thing

Ogre

Feelings developed in relationship with ones father or mother; lack of sympathy or understanding; being inconsiderate; feelings about authority. A criticizing, reprimanding and ignoring parent or person – is it a picture of you? In fact is there a situation or event in your life in your life that was felt as overwhelming, even terrifying?  The ogre can also show how you feel about people in authority, your boss?

Ogres can represent a destructive, oppressive force that threatens to devour individuality. They often appear in dreams in relation to discipline problems. They may concern father-child relationships or may be about self-discipline issues. Dreaming of slaying an ogre can be about getting rid of a hated father.

 Example: If we learned to solve our problems in our lucid dreams by magically changing things we don’t like, we might mistakenly hope to do the same in our waking lives. For example, I once had a lucid dream about a frightening ogre, whom I confronted by projecting feelings of love and acceptance, leading to a pleasurable, peaceful, and empowering resolution in my dream. Suppose I had chosen to turn my adversary into a toad, and get rid of him that way. How would that help me if I were to find myself in conflict with my boss or another authority figure whom I might see as an ogre, in spite of my being awake? Turning him into a toad would hardly be practical! However, a change in attitude might indeed resolve the situation.  Quoted from Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming by LaBerge & H. Rheingold.

However, I see it as a better solution to actually understand the roots of the dream or become the ogre, for the image is simply a cover for the real feelings you are trying to flee from. Here is a much better way that enables the dreamer to realise his own human feelings and deal with them.

 Example: I thought about the dream that I had about L., the dream was that L. had a very red face when she told me that she was pregnant. But I didn’t think that I could have made her pregnant and I told her so. She then changed her mind and said, ‘OK then I’m not pregnant’.

In working on the dream I imagined becoming L. I entered into her pregnant body and felt her sexuality and understood the dream. She had offered herself to me, her sexuality and her body but I didn’t recognise it, I couldn’t see it and so she withdrew. L. wants another child and she had offered herself to me but I couldn’t give myself to her. I have never given myself before. In the dream I felt I was not responsible for her pregnancy which represents the denial of my own sexuality and of all that results from it.

This is when I entered into the house of God. At first I saw the image of a huge cathedral or church with a magnificent domed roof and I knew that I was in the house of God. I felt the utopia, I felt like I have never felt before, so very good, so excellent. I knew all things. I didn’t have to read the bible or any kind of teachings because the answers are all here in the presence of God. In this state I could ask any question and know the answer. I knew God, yet I was God because there was no separation. Neal

 

Useful Questions and Hints:

Did I run in fear or cower when facing the ogre?

When have I faced such feelings in my actual life?

If I faced the ogre and defeated him what was the result for me?

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