Example Interpretation

In this interpretation, all lines from the original dream will be in bold. Lines of interpretation will not be in bold.

I heard that dad & my brother were killed in a strange accident.

Scene ONE: The first sentence often gives the clue as to what the dream will be talking about. Two male aspects of yourself (think of three adjectives to describe what your dad and your brother might mean to you in this dream) are killed by an unusual event. Not murdered, but accident. You might look at what masculine aspects are currently needed or not needed in your life right now.

My step Mom was devastated, she couldn't do anything. For some reason I was the only one who could handle stuff. I was confused because I thought dad was already dead & going through it again was weird. I had the same feelings I had when I heard dad had died.

Scene TWO: A motherly older feminine (wisdom?) is unable to function because of this loss. You, the waking conscious self seems to be the only one that can handle this loss, but, even so, it is confusing for the waking mind because this has happened before. (Is there another time similar to now in your life?)

Next, I am at this hotel in the city. We, some guy & I, go down to the second floor & go swimming. I think it is my friend W. Anyway we are swimming in a huge pool & it is nice. The pool walls are a greenish sageish color. Then we have to get out of the pool.

Scene THREE: The dreamer is now in a place where strangers live together temporarily, on their way through to someplace else. A Journey. A rest on the journey, to be precise. Friend W. (Be ILL, possibly other personality factors about him that you are looking at in yourself) and you are swimming. Sometimes water is the unconscious, sometimes the emotions. It is beneath the surface, anyhow. This part may be about relationship (not necessarily about you and W.) but maybe your relationship to aspects of yourself. It sounds like things are going "swimmingly" or well. (Lots of puns in here) Nice healing colors.

I look out & down the valley & I see 20 or 30 red foxes with bushy tails running towards us. It is really cool, but a little worrying. On the hill behind the pool I see huge elk through the trees. There are about 4 of them. One elk is heading down the hill at the far end of the pool towards the foxes area. Then there are no more elk but 2 or 3 rock mountain sheep ramming each other.

Scene FOUR: Can you get a handle on what is worrying about seeing these foxes in the dream? There is a wonderful abundance here in the wilds (Mother Nature, the great feminine). All is going as it should be. Plentiful life, everyone doing as they naturally should (with the exception of the forewarning of something being worrying). (Give three adjectives for each type of animal to see what part of you they represent. Wily foxes? Powerful elk? feisty mountain sheep?)

Then they turn into ugly elves. I think they are evil. I am scared. Someone is coming after me I have to leave. I run to the elevators & I press the down button, but the elevator is going up. I look back I don't see anyone. I press the buttons again. I see that the elevator is going to stop at the 2nd floor but it will go up. I want to go down to the lobby & leave.

Scene FIVE: Transformation. That which was vibrant and alive becomes frightening. The dreamer runs away from this possible evil. The dreamer chooses a mechanical device, not the dreamer's own power, and the device fails (as they usually do in dreams). One must rely on one's own strengths and capabilities. What would have happened, I wonder, if you had chosen not to run, but to face the evil elves. Would they have transformed into something harmless? Are you running from something you can fix or that isn't really evil? You (in the dream) want to go to the lobby (want to be grounded). (One can use several techniques to reenter the dream and change the action. One way is to literally rewrite the dream. Another is to "incubate" this dream image with the thought that you will become lucid during this dream. Another technique is to look at the waking life and find some place where you are scared and running. Stop and face that real life problem and watch as it transforms.)

I decide to run for the stairs. I go down the stairs & come out into the lobby. Then I leave out the front doors of the hotel. I look around at the city full of cars & people. Then I woke up.

Scene SIX: So you take action, use your own powers and run downstairs (away from the intellect and toward the more basic chakras) You leave this temporary place and are in the mainstream of life again. There is also a possible birthing feeling here, going down a channel (the stairs) and out the door, the vagina. If you are interested in Freudian dream stuff, going up and down stairs can have sexual connotations as well.

It is also interesting to notice the incongruity of forest life (nature) and city life. Clearly the dream likes the natural one more than the contrived one.