Posts Tagged ‘dream dictionary interpretation’
Agreement
A harmony of previously unreconciled opinions, emotions, beliefs, etc. It is important to clarify what is being agreed in the dream, and what you feel you know about this.
Agreement or lack of it in dreams shows how easily or otherwise you relate to or work with others. It is worth considering how this reflects on your daily life.
Useful questions are:
Am I agreeing to be polite or do I really feel it?
Does the agreement lead to doing something together of parting ways, and what does this suggest in your waking life?
Is this agreement about an important decisions – if so what is it suggesting about my waking decisions?
Aim
Suggests directing attention desire or emotions toward what is represented by target or goal. Motivating toward something or the power of intention.
Edgar Cayce said that, “Mind is the builder” and so whatever you aim for or strive toward becomes real if you work at it
Aimless: Undecided; conflict; loss of pleasure or what gives pleasure and meaning to life; unacknowledged pain defeating pleasure and motivation; fear. But also it can be about trusting Life to guide you, and not being possessed by ambition and a way of life that constricts you.
Being aimed at: Feeling a target, perhaps of other people’s criticism or attack.
Being the target: Feeling as if you are being criticised or attacked.
Gun or weapon being aimed: Directing or directed anger or serious threat, sexuality or attention.
Useful Questions and Hints:
What am I aiming at?
Does this imply a goal or other important target?
Do I feel criticism or threats are being aimed at me?
Do I know what I am aiming at?
Get a fuller understanding by using Acting on Your Dream.
Air
Dreams use air in two ways. The first depicts the sort of feelings we have if we have ever struggled to breathe through illness or danger. So the lack of air could show a struggle you are having to survive in the present situation.
Air is the tangible opposite to physical life. In most dreams any mention of air is in regard to flying and ones ease or effort to do so. Therefore the air depicts the medium in which we express the pleasure or difficulty of flying. In these dreams the air probably represents the invisible but felt social atmosphere within which we unconsciously exist and strive. Therefore occasionally a dream shows the dreamer losing the air – wind out of the sails – that sustains their flight, suggesting a loss of the support usually gained from public or individual acceptance or approval, or ones own confidence. When we talk about ?clearing the atmosphere? – or there being ?something in the air? this is precisely what dreams of air often refer to.
In far fewer dreams air is mentioned in connection with breathing, as in the example, and depicts, in its absence, a fear of not surviving in connection with what one is facing at the time. In other words a strong sense of being overwhelmed by anxiety or some invading influence, or struggling to survive. See: breath; wind.
Floating on air: relates to ones mind and mental attitude, idealism or lack of it. This may show how we manage to escape from ‘reality’, or painful things such as shyness, by thinking beautiful thoughts, or creating a mental world inside ourselves through meditation. In a positive sense this shows an ability to change your state of mind at will.
Fresh air: Fresh ideas; new approach; mental attitude in which you can feel more alive or creative; an easy ‘atmosphere’ in which to survive.
Poisonous air: Ideas or atmosphere in which you find yourself losing your own identity or deepest motivations; a killing of your own vitality.
Something appearing out of the air: Intuitive perception.
Stuffy air: Mental emotional or social atmosphere in which you are not stimulated or free to think creative or individual thoughts; atmosphere of moral rigidity in which it is difficult to ?breathe?.
Idioms: Free as air; up in the air; light as air; a breathe of fresh air; in the air; a lot of hot air; the air was blue; clear the air; into thin air; put on airs; up in the air.
Example: I am in a cot and suddenly the bottom falls out and I find I am under water – I do not feel the wetness or the cold, I just know I am under water and must not breathe. I cannot hold my breath any longer and gasp for air – still under water – and am surprised I can breathe perfectly normally. Mrs. A. P.
Example: Gliding from a mountain top. Then I am with Pat Brown, a girl friend I knew at school. I am lying on top of her holding her breasts. Then I am led into rooms but avoiding them each time as I felt some sort of trap and threatened imprisonment. To avoid being caught I take a deep breath and this caused me to fly up into the air and away.
The first example illustrates the connection between breath hold and dealing with anxiety. The second shows how flying into the air is an escape mechanism.
Useful Questions and Hints:
Am I afraid of not surviving a situation, or losing support?
What is it I sense ‘in the air’ or atmosphere?
What is my relationship with the environment I am in?
Do the specific events or actions in the dream give a clue to what I am dealing with?
Am I escaping into airy feelings?
Do you problems with breathing, if so see The Slow Breath and The Breath of Life.
Use Acting on Your Dream to define what your dream is about.
Air Conditioner Conditioning
Perhaps ones lungs; methods or techniques you use to ‘cool down’ or calm your feelings or ‘blood pressure’, so a way of dealing with stress; relief. Ways you use to ‘clear the air’ in a disagreement or relationship.
This I believe obviously links with breathing and may be about the air we breath and its quality. See Breathing
Example: They carry me through the window to my basement room I shared with another woman who talks about her boyfriend. Then it is hard to breathe. Oh, I hear a motor and we guess it’s a VW bug or bus and it’s an old man’s wheelchair. Then it’s hard to breathe and we see yellow thin strips of confetti-like stuff all in the air and we are breathing it in. It is in the air conditioning so we all get up and go outside where it is a hot summer night.
But the media has shown other associated ideas we may have with air conditioning. Because air conditioning draws air from outside it may be illustrating that in some way. Also all rooms are linked and so it is often shown how people can get into someone else room/life; or even discover otherwise secret areas of oneself or an escape route.
Example: A couple of years ago I lived in an apartment on the second floor. A skunk had a made its nest on the ground outside, directly below the bedroom window. In the summer in Los Angeles with no air conditioning and the windows open, there were some terrible nights. That’s the only skunk experience I have had and it was pretty bad.
If felt as cold: Something causing emotional withdrawal or coldness. See: air.
Useful Questions and Hints:
What is the air conditioner doing, and how does this relate to you?
If the air conditioner is malfunctioning what does this suggest in your daily life?
If you stand in the role of the air conditioner, what do you arrive at?
Do you problems with breathing, if so see The Slow Breath and The Breath of Life.
For help understanding your dream see Acting on Your Dream.
Aircraft
See: Aeroplane
Airplane Plane
The plane in your dream shows all the amazing possibilities of change, of varied experience, of romance, business and discovery in life today. But it also holds all the possibilities of failure, of not being able to get your projects or relationship off the ground, along with delays, unexpected threats, and the possible tragedy and loss you might meet in life. Your dream airplane communicates this in the action your dream portrays. The plane journey, for instance, suggests a change in your life, leaving your ordinary affairs behind. It is a journey into the unknown, into taking risks. Perhaps you are making a move toward, or away from, love and opportunity. It is risky because the plane can fall from the sky, and you can meet feelings of failure or despair.
A plane can also attack, and this shows fears, anxiety about being exposed to attack from other people or events. This does not mean you will be attacked, only that you fear it.
To climb aboard a plane is to embark upon dramatic movement from one way of life, or one situation in life, to another; a leap into the unknown, into chance – so it is a powerful symbol of change. Perhaps that flight into chance, into life and its mysterious possibilities might be okay. But it might fall from the sky too. Meanwhile, on the plane you will not have your feet on the ground, you will not be secure, everything is ‘up in the air’. The plans, the love, the hopes and efforts might die, might lead to tragedy with all its rippling effects moving into the web of relationships and events connected with the flight of the plane.
In exploring a dream about a plane crash it took a long time to really connect with anything, but when I did the feelings were all about how there has been a crash of my dreams, ambitions, desire for love and the heightened feelings that arose or ‘took off’ in connection with a lover. In comments on planes above I say, “The plans, the love, the hopes and efforts might die, might lead to tragedy with all its rippling effects moving into the web of relationships and events connected with the flight of the plane.” This was true in my life.
An attacking aircraft: Feeling attacked either by your own doubts and self criticism, or that of others.
Being grounded: Sense of not getting anywhere and frustration; plans and hopes that haven’t connected with achievement or opportunity – maybe this isn’t the right time yet.
Biplane: It can represent a more full contact with flying in a plane, and needs a lot more courage to do.
Example: “I saw a biplane fly overhead. Its pilot was performing daring new stunts. I ran into a house to tell a man who was in bed to run out and see the plane. ” David R.
The example clearly shows one aspect of what a biplane means, being daring in a new area, taking risks in life, braving a new work area or relationship.
Difficulty landing: Difficulty achieving goal or making it real in a down to earth way; anxiety about where life events are taking you; feeling out of control or not being in control; difficulties or fears about being in someone else’s hands.
Falling out of plane: Usually anxiety, sometimes about death or failure of high hopes. It is also the opportunity to fly if you can overcome your anxieties.
Flight attendant: A part of you trained in dealing with personal problems, and also emergencies.
Pilot: The pilot is a part of you used to having a much wider and inclusive view of where you are going in your life, so trust their help.
Plane falling rapidly: ‘Pit’ feeling in stomach that one gets when feeling anxiety about the outcome of a situation; sense of failure or guilt; apprehension about the future of a project or direction; anxiety about something.
Plane journey: The plane is also a means of leaving things behind, rising above or finding a way of escaping difficulties or the past. It is a way we move beyond the limitations of any one locality, racial customs, family attitudes or religious environments. It is the power of the mind to move among and learn from or experience these many states of being. It offers a much wider or more inclusive view of where you are and where you are going in life.
Private plane: Ones personal activities and plans not deeply connected with other people.
The crashed or wrecked plane: Worry about failing. Can be anxiety bringing down your ambition or adventurousness; a loss of self confidence or mental equilibrium; warning about a business project; broken dreams and hopes. Sometimes shows or refers to a break up in a relationship or a failed endeavour, a hope, a journey that fails.
Watching a plane crash: A sense of emergency; feeling you are aware of an important social or national event. Sensing something difficult happening or having happened in your life, like a divorce or loss of business or love for instance. Can sometimes relate to childhood traumas that make it difficult for you to get your life taking flight.
The plane journey: Shows a move toward independence; leaving home or friends; success.
Watching a plane land safely: The arrival back to oneself of the actions, words and energies sent out into the world. As a simple example, we may have a carpet to give away because we are moving. We tell a neighbour who passes the information to someone else. This new person wants the carpet. A completely new person therefore lands, or arrives in our life. The landing plane may also mean coming down to earth again, or making something more applicable in an everyday sense.
The example below clearly shows one aspect of what a plane means, being daring in a new area, taking risks in life, braving a new work area or relationship. David is calling on a part of himself that is withdrawn and inactive to ‘get up’ and be involved in something daring. Sometimes the plane in the sky represents feeling threatened by something new or unknown. This is shown in the second example.
Example: I saw a biplane fly overhead. Its pilot was performing daring new stunts. I ran into a house to tell a man who was in bed to run out and see the plane. David R.
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 accepted the fear and managed to press forward with the job.
Useful Questions and Hints:
Am I taking a ‘flight’ into a new or challenging situation or relationship?
What am I leaving behind or arriving at?
Are there radical shifts of life style I am involved in?
Do some events in my life feel like a ‘plane crash’?
It helps to read this Dreams Are Virtual Realities and also Processing Dreams and Acting on Your Dream.
Airport
Refers to making new departures; changes, hoped for or real; desire or need for adventure. This could be mentally, emotionally or sexually; achieving goals; being en-route to something, or something new in life; a checking of one’s own values, identity, a sort of self assessment in regard to independence and moving to new opportunities. Self doubts and uncertainties at this stage stop us from attempting the new; occasionally the departure point for ‘higher planes’; considering that a flight might take us to new places, opportunities or relationships, the airport can represent a terminus or change in connection with any of these.
This could be mentally, emotionally or sexually; achieving goals; being en-route to something, or something new in life; a checking of one’s own values, identity, a sort of self assessment in regard to independence and moving to new opportunities. Self doubts and uncertainties at this stage stop us from attempting the new; occasionally the departure point for ‘higher planes’; considering that a flight might take us to new places, opportunities or relationships, the airport can represent a terminus or change in connection with any of these.
Landing at airport: Meeting a new experience; arriving at a goal or ambition; coming down to earth after being involved in flights of fancy, creativity or change.
Missing a flight at airport: Feeling anxious about plans not working out, or failing to meet deadline; lost opportunity; warning that you are cutting things fine and might actually miss a plane, etc.
Picking someone up from airport: Meeting a change in your life; something arriving in your opportunities or experience that is out of the normal day to day events or routine.
If it is someone you know: it suggests a greater alliance with the aspect of yourself suggested by the person, or perhaps an alliance with that person.
Planning airport stops: Clarifying strategy for a goal you wish to reach, or change you are attempting to make.
Difficulties in realising: The route suggest things you sense stand in the way of realisation of goal. Stranded or delayed at airport:
Difficulties with changes going on; anxiety about changes.
Trying to get to airport: Attempting a change or to get to a goal; moving toward a new departure, or a change from the usual routine – unless flights are part of your usual routine.
See: aeroplane; foreign countries.
Useful Questions and Hints:
Where am I trying to arrive at in life?
Am I trying to escape or ‘fly/flee’ from something?
Is my present situation new territory or ‘foreign’ country to me?
What risks am I taking at the moment?
See Processing Dreams for help.
Air Raid
Feeling under attack, the severity depending on the dream damage. The attack might be emotional from people, or feelings we have about events around us. Things may be going badly at work, and comments be felt like bombshells. Very often though, the threats are purely emotional/mental. We may read of an illness such as AIDS and the anxiety we connect with the idea has a devastating effect.
Example: ‘I am in a house and planes are dropping bombs on it.’ Mrs S. M.
Example: I was in a room with my aunt and uncle. It was dark outside and there was some kind of air raid going on with glowing missiles flying through the sky. I was terrified and tried to draw the red curtain across the window to block them out. The window was a right angle shaped one in the corner of the room. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t cover the whole window. As fast as I pulled the curtain across, the other end would be exposed, showing the missiles. I was becoming more and more frantic and my aunt and uncle just sat at the table playing cards, completely unperturbed and indifferent to my fear. D. K.
This dream from a girl in her teens clearly shows how she is dealing with her fears concerning the world. Her distress is even more intense because the fears of external threats which appear very real to her, are totally ignored by her family. The curtains depict how much she tries to shut these feelings out of her mind, and how unsuccessful this is. The dream is probably dealing with her difficulties in facing life as an adult, and the demands it may place upon her.
Idioms: I feel blitzed; it come as a bombshell; go down like a bomb; go like a bomb; put a bomb under someone; earn a bomb. See: aeroplane; war.
Useful Questions and Hints:
What in my external life am I feeling threatened by?
Are things happening out of the blue that I feel threatened by?
Am I facing new things that I am still learning to deal with?
Can I put a name or situation to what threatens me?
You can gradually change any fear of anxiety you feel by using Carry the Dream Forward.
Air-Sea Rescue
To be rescued from the sea depicts a situation in which you are at the mercy of powerful natural forces – perhaps strong spontaneous emotions or fear – that you are not dealing with well, otherwise you would not need to be rescued.
Even if it is someone else rescued in most cases it still points to an aspect of you that needs help. This may refer to a difficulty in dealing with the demands of life generally, and a dangerous attraction to giving up, losing your identity as you withdraw inwardly. If you are seeing or actively helping in an air sea rescue, this suggests an action to deal with feelings that might otherwise engulf you or someone else. In this case it is showing what strengths or techniques you use to deal with difficulties and challenges. See: Sea.
Useful questions:
What powerful emotions or changes am I dealing with?
Am I feeling overwhelmed by something?
Can I define the strengths and ways I use to deal with threatening feelings?
Do I feel as if I am ‘drowning’ in a situation or relationship?
You can use Carry the Dream Forward to gradually change what you feel.
Aisle
The aisle as a part of a building or plane, represents the way between opposites; a way through. If you are in the aisle it suggests possibilities of being in public view if there are people about; moving between opposites; the experience of connection with other people, or being connected by a common purpose or link. Sitting near an aisle suggests you can get out of the connection with other people more easily, or are more open to whoever or whatever is in the aisle or what it is leading to or connected with.
The aisle often appears in dreams about marriage, and in such dreams probably depicts the powerful social and personal feelings and expectations connected with an approach to the decision making and commitment of marriage. It therefore might indicate the pressures holding you in that place. See: corridor.
Useful questions:
Where is this aisle leading, or what does it connect with?
What do my actions or feelings here suggest?
What is my relationship with the aisle?
Am I connecting with someone, and if so what does this suggest about my waking relationship with that person?
Alchemist
The magical and transformative aspect of mental and emotional action within you. The alchemist depicts the ability you have to transform your feelings, and in fact your nature, by changing your own experience and body. Mostly we do this unconsciously by changing our surroundings when we feel down, or perhaps reading a book or going to the movies. But the alchemist is about taking over the process consciously.
The symbol particularly points to the ability to change what you consider useless, painful or worthless, into something of great value. This links with the process in you that can present childhood trauma or negative family attitudes, and in doing so transform them into insight and useful energy.
Useful questions:
Am I aware of how I allow or work with this influence in my life?
What can I do to increase the power of this transforming influence?
Why am I dreaming of this at the moment?
What is it in myself or life that needs transforming?
Is somebody I know a transforming influence in my life?
See: alchemist archetype.
Alcohol
Is an influence which changes the way you feel, moving you toward negative or positive feelings. It is therefore often used to represent ‘the spirit’ or a power that changes ones heart and mind.
It can also be a prelude to friendliness or intimacy; an allowing into your life of another influence you do not immediately feel is your own conscious will. It can indicate sociability; dependence; alcohol dependence and the loss of ones control over oneself.
The Daily Express reported that “a nap can be spoiled by a nightcap” and that “a wee dram before bedtime…causes insomnia and robs a night’s rest of its restorative powers”. This research evaluated the impact of drinking before going to bed on heart rate and sleep. The study involved 10 university students, who were given low levels, high levels or no alcohol to drink before bed. Drinking higher doses of alcohol was found to reduce the amount of REM sleep, and resulted in a shallower sleep during the latter half of the night. It also appeared to adversely affect the part of the brain that usually controls the body during sleep. From this, the researchers concluded that the alcohol had disturbed the restorative effects of sleep.
In 2015 it was shown that even the lowest amounts of alcohol can lead to Alzheimer’s.
In an inner sense the wine or spirit represents a life changing influence, an influx of power or potential – i.e. a deep self acceptance allowing new and often life-changing experience and energy both from within and from other people and events. In this sense the alcohol or spirit is probably used by the unconscious because the conscious self often feels helpless, or has to surrender control, in order to allow the upflow of what is potential or innate within you to emerge. It therefore relates to drunkenness – drunk with the spirit.
Here is a man experience of exploring his dream about being drunk because men had poured alcohol into him.
As I allowed this I had a deep sense that this represented a profound self acceptance, but also an acceptance of my life situation. I can see this in that I am no longer struggling to climb out of building work or common everyday life. The men I felt as ordinary everyday life experience, and they were pouring the spirit of life on and into me. In other words the acceptance of everyday life opens to a connection with the roots of life within oneself – life that is both common and ordinary, yet profound. At this first part of the dream I also had an image that I was drinking the blood of thousands of human beings. I don’t mean I was drinking lots of blood, but that I was drinking the essence of their blood. This had in it the experience of taking in a huge realm of everyday life. It was the taking in, the acceptance of a wide range of human experience – everything from deep sexuality to religious realms of the supersensual. This I felt was what the wine used in Mass represented.
I believe there is an obvious difference between dreams that warn us of overindulgence or dependence upon alcohol, and those that use it as a symbol of an influence emerging from your infinite potential. In the former, negative feelings of one sort or another appear in the dream. In the latter some aspect of a transforming influence is seen.
Beer Social relaxation; social acceptance – ‘with a glass in my hand I’m one of the lads’; mood change; sedative to drown loneliness or emotional pain.
Champagne Luxury; richness; worldly success; celebration or prelude to sexual relationship. But in life it is a killer of the Life urge in us, as is any alcohol. I wonder if that was why Islam bans alcohol drinking.
Example: I was in a holiday community in which worked. It was a warm sunny atmosphere, and I noticed a wonderful feeling growing in my body with a sense of expansion. A few days into that feeling I was invited to a woman’s party and champagne was being drunk. I was offered some but refused but a woman friend said I was being a downer and poured me half a glass of champagne. I felt nothing unit the next morning when the wonderful feeling was gone and I felt empty of any feelings, especially the feeling of wonder that had been growing in me. So although people use champagne as a great source enjoyment I felt it was only a deadening substance that people maybe use to cover up their own loneliness and joylessness.
Whiskey or spirits: Similar to beer or wine. May be used to refer to the inner power that can spontaneously express through one.
Edgar Cayce said that whiskey is the ancient symbol of evil spirits based on actual clairvoyant sightings of the entities that hang around and attach themselves to the alcoholic fumes, the bottle, the person, or the place where these drinks are served. Often these entities or spirits attach themselves to the habitual drinker, actually urging him to drink more. Whiskey can also be a means of oblivion, escape from reality, a stimulant (temporarily), and a depressant.
Wine I dreams may represent sociability; relaxation; social pleasure; the strange mystery behind the existence of self-awareness; blood or the flow of life force. The possible reason that wine, especially red wine, has become a symbol of the human spirit is most likely due to its method of production. The separate ‘lives’ of thousands of grapes were squashed so their life blood would pour into a common vat. This then underwent a magical transformation by yeast which turned it into alcohol. The connection here is that people who have a direct experience of God or of the spirit, experience it as a unification of all that has lived and is living. The experience of countless human lives has been linked and transformed into a vast sea of wisdom and heightened awareness. It is this we ‘drink’ when we touch our own union with the ocean of awareness that is our spirit. See: blood.
Example: We went to the same restaurant. This time it was narrower. We drank red wine from large goblets. On reaching for my goblet I knocked it over. The wine spread rapidly and I thought it was blood. I felt fear and ran from the dining room. Next I was sitting on a camel, being led by another girlfriend of mine. It was down a street where I had worked. It is called Hope Street. H. B.
The dream shows the connection the unconscious often makes between wine and blood. It shows how the alcohol produces transformations that lead the dreamer to experience fear. In other words the dreamer fears what emerges as the changes occur. Even so there is then the emergence of hope.
Example: I was sitting in a boat. It was a small sailing boat, on the sea. In one hand I was holding an ash tray with a joint, in the other hand was a glass of wine. I realised I couldn’t steer the boat while I was holding both. Bitz.
This dream clearly shows how the dreamer’s habits of drinking and smoking leave him unable to steer the ?boat? of his life properly.
Example: And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans? And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.
And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this? Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine. But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words: For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. The King James Bible. Acts 2:2
Alcohol can represents the activity of a transforming process upon you. One that can change the way you act for better or worse. You need to consider your dream to see which of these it is. Also represents stimulation, relaxation, and a way to face inner anxieties, even if only temporarily. It can also refer to the way you deal with difficult feeling, by drowning them in drink. Or it might relate to sociability in some way, or the escape from the humdrum events of life. See: Coffee.
Useful Questions and Hints:
Is this dream about a transforming influence, or a dependent need I have?
If this is about a transforming influence in my life, can I identify it and use it?
What does the action of the dream suggest about the influence of the alcohol in my life?
What effect is the alcohol having on me in the dream?
If no alcohol is being drunk in the dream, what is the dream indicating about it?
See Processing Dreams to gain further meaning from your dream.
Alcoholism
See: Addicted.
Alien
This usually indicates urges or feelings you find difficult to identify with; feelings of being an outsider in a group or society. The alien can also depict something very new and previously not experienced in regard to your own potential or mind.
Frequently the alien in your dream represents aspects of your mind that have not previously been consciously experienced and so may seem frightening or difficult to understand. Considering that estimates suggest that we only use one tenth or less of our potential, it is not difficult to see that a large mass of our own inner functioning and experience are normally unknown and is called ‘the unconscious’. It is therefore not surprising that we have ‘aliens’ in our dreams and experience.
When some part of this unknown area of yourself emerges, or presses for attention, one may depict it as an alien. Quite often in dreams, or in UFO sightings, the meeting has a strong type of religious feelings. I believe, through investigating this experience, that feelings of awe and veneration often occur when fear is absent and we meet a vastly bigger intelligence or vision of life – even if it is our own unconscious content we are confronting.
While we sleep our conscious self is largely or totally unconscious, and while we dream our voluntary muscles are paralysed – therefore another will or motivating force moves our body. So we have a Conscious Will, and what I will call a Life Will. The first one we have experience of as we can move our arm or speak in everyday activities; but the second will takes over when we sleep. See Sleep Paralysis.
Life Will created your body and pre-existed you as a person you know today. It was working in you prior to your ability to speak or know in the way you do now. But of course it has fantastic wisdom and skills, as can be seen in animals. The human personality – the You that you call yourself, with a name, is only a tiny thing. It is moved and tossed around by all manner of drives, ambitions, emotions, fears, temptations, worries, love and desire with its pains and hopes; it is something we take so seriously and get carried away into awful situations; we take many sorts of pain killers to deal with ourselves.
But it is not usually realised that the whole phenomena of dreaming can occur while awake and you are in a receptive state of mind. Any visions, voices heard or hallucinations are all the product of the dream process breaking through the barrier that usually only allows such things while asleep. If you have had such an experience you will see, if you think about it, that as with dreams, images, people, voices appear as if outside you. That is exactly the work of dreams, which project a whole dream, its drama and characters, onto the screen of our sleeping mind. See Visionary for more information.
Because we are not used to knowing or seeing this wider and huge self our first feelings are that we are possessed by an alien being, or some dark shape or unknown creature. Remember that even while awake the Life will can control movements and thoughts. So any alien or strange thing that you experience needs to be treated like a dream.
That is not to say they are vague inconsequential fantasies, because they are attempts of your Core self – the ET of yourself – trying to communicate a much wider awareness of what you are. Yes, an ET. This Life will can move us to speak, to move our body, and in fact do things that we cannot do with our Conscious Will.
As Freud pointed out this inner will has full access to our memories. So much of our inner enormity is held back by the way we live and our cultural attitudes, that when it does press to emerge it might very well be depicted by our dream making process as an alien of a flying saucer. Nevertheless, often in dreams we feel the alien as an enemy or something to be frightened of. This is not correct, for this is like saying there is reason to fear oneself. In the short term this may be rational as some of our own urges may not be dealt with well, and so may be dangerous. But in the long term we can meet ourselves. See: Life’s Little Secrets; The Two Powers; Accept all that you Are.
Example: This morning I woke up and as I opened my eyes and sat up there was this alien creature there in front of me. I was amazed and felt wonder because it was real and solid and was trying to communicate with me. I felt so much love for this strange creature and its attempts to communicate even though I couldn’t understand what it was trying to say. Then suddenly a switch must have been tripped inside me and I understood and knew the alien. It was my wife, and she was saying, “Tony, turn over you’e snoring.” I must have been coming from a level where my language centre hadn’t yet been switched on and I was seeing my wife as a delightful alien. Example: I then tried to feel my way into the alien. Powerful feelings again – fear – anxiety. Part of it was the feeling engendered by my father’s death. Here one-day, gone the next! But then I got through to seeing and understanding, feeling the underlying alien. It was part that in me, or of me, that watches other people’s reactions to my emotions; watches without feelings, except for cynicism and plotting. But more than anything else, it is my fear of loss of self. I had been thinking of this lately. One loses self to enter the unification of all opposites. I had read this description in the fourth level of psychedelic experience. It was also the fear of being possessed by something “alien” such as I had felt about sex, about having no problems, about the Zen meditation, the void, the egolessness. Example: Taken from a TV interview. “I felt a strange feeling up my spine, like rush up my spine right up to the top of my head. Then I was in a meadow and there were aliens there, not the grey ones but slight and slightly see through. A female alien was holding her baby in front of her, and if I were religious I would have felt it was Mary and her baby.”
This last one has all the signs of an altered state of conscious experience. Also very much likea kundalini energy rush which leads to expanded awareness. The baby and mother is another sign or expanded awareness and so links her with an archetype of motherhood, so she feels in contact with the divine. Devoured by aliens: Forces, fears, neuroses, at work in you that use up your potential energy, and stand in the way of easy self expression.
Example: I had been told by a woman I used to work with, that I was to photograph a wedding near the Aldwych in London. I went there but there was no wedding. I was then in an underground series of tunnels, helping to paint the floor of the large rooms. Then someone killed the woman friend because she would not tell them the short cut through the tunnels. The short cut was then open and people were coming through to where I was painting. I looked to my right through the doors of the large room and saw strange alien type creatures. I felt a bit anxious. They were like skinless creatures. Now I was walking out of the town. It felt like the end of the world, or the end of society. I was walking through lots of churches standing on a hillside, surrounded by grass. They were of all types, strongly built but empty now. I walked past a married couple who were walking up the hill too. As I passed I heard them say something about a shepherd. Looking up the hill I saw the sheep, then The Shepherd. A beautiful aura of many colours surrounded The Shepherd. I looked and felt joy and exuberance rise in me, and I ran to the couple saying it was THE SHEPHERD. Peter M.
Although the drama in the dream does not present a clear and obvious story, the dream does have symbols of unity in the wedding, of the unconscious in the underground, of the previously unmet aspects of self in the aliens, then the meeting with the religious feeling in the Shepherd and Peters joy. The end of society and the empty churches were representative of the changes going on in Peter’s attitudes and understanding of himself in relation to his own mind and religion.
Example: I left the house and went to the church nearby. I opened a door on the left side of the church but shut it quickly because ‘something’ was there. Five or six priests came and knelt down at the front of the church. The Reverend from my local church started talking and I hurried out, not wanting to get involved in the service. I then went to the side of the church and opened the door where the ‘something’ was. I could now see what it was. It was a being from another planet, completely human, but with a furry body and tail. It had a son with it. I slammed the door because I was afraid, but the catch did not connect and the door opened again. I threw a book in for the aliens to read. They threw out a book for me to read. It had loose pages – like my ready reckoner. I put them in order and read the story and lived some of it. As I read some of the words were in alien symbols, but I could understand them. Gradually the book changed to alien words. I/it progressed. All the lines sloped down from left to right. Now the sky was like a vaulted or squared ceiling. The two aliens looked down from one of the open squares and called. There was an answering call from two others of their kind. I knew these were the only ones on our planet. I also knew that they had to completely be themselves. I wondered why, and they told me it was because their whole race was within them. Peter M.
This is a dream of Peter’s that occurred at later date and shows his religious feelings, the church, directly presenting him with something alien. This new experience is gradually seen as himself – ‘I now looked within myself and also began to see all of them within, and was becoming like one of them’. Not only is Peter accepting this aspect of himself more fully, thus not seeing it as completely alien, but also it presents him with a new type of awareness – a feeling of connection with all of his race. In fact Peter had been a loner and very independent, feeling disconnected from society as a whole. This massive change, with very deeply felt fears and joy, is depicted in the two dreams.
Useful Questions and Hints:
What is happening in my life that I don’t connect with, understand or feel is alien to me?
If I identify with the alien creature or thing, what feelings or facets of myself do I encounter?
Can I recognise from the dream the feelings or fears I use to avoid or meet with this alien facet of myself?
For help doing this see Processing Dreams and What we need to remember about dreams.
Allergic Allergy
This may be showing you an actual allergy you have. Or it might be used symbolically. In this case you need to consider what the allergy in the dream depicts. Look it up in the dictionary if possible.
Useful Questions and Hints:
What event, food or other substance might I be having trouble coping with?
Is there something I have a strong feeling reaction to that I need to be aware of – aware that is of how my strong feelings affect me?
If the dream involves people am I not seeing what a bad reaction I have to someone?
You might find it helpful to use Talking As and Processing Dreams
Alley
This is a direction you are taking at the moment. The dream shows you the often hidden side of what you pursue, so the condition, mood and quality of the alley is a comment on what you are doing or feeling. Because most alleys are small, it may be saying you are leaving the main highway of your life. See: road.
Like any road it indicates your prevailing direction in, or approach to, life – this direction/approach can be either self created out of your own actions or decisions, or arise out of other peoples or social influence. But the alley suggests limited possibilities or horizons, or present limited possibilities will be overcome with effort and initiative. The ease or difficulty in the alley shows the state of your present situation.
An alley with a dead end suggests concern about a tight situation that appears to have no easy way out.
Useful Questions and Hints:
What situation in my life does this describe – limited opportunities, lessened horizons?
What is the main action in the dream and is there any connection with situations in my life?
How would I describe my situation in the dream – i.e. happy, lost, searching, etc – and in what way does that link with my waking life?
Am I walking this alley or looking down it – if the latter, what opportunity or difficulty does this suggest?
Am I involved with other people, and if so in what way?
Where am I going or what a I trying to achieve?