Lesson Eight Dream Interprataion
Many famous painters have gotten their inspiration from scenery in dreams, like Surrealist Giorgio de Chirico and Belgian Surrealist Paul Delvaux. Salvador Dali worked to remember the details of his dream landscapes, he would sit in a chair dozing, his chin resting on his hands and his elbows supported on a table. So every time he fell asleep his chin dropped and he would wake, thus enabling him to remember his dream landscapes, which are a big part of his paintings.
Dream landscapes are not just background but are often deeply experienced, rather than just observed. A landscape may ache with loneliness or be overflowing with a mysterious sense of well being. So it is important to remember the landscape in your dreams. If your dream takes place in a garden, is it a formal design or informal? Is the garden well kept or overgrown? Say there is a road in your dreams, is it long and winding, or is it straight? See the scenery can represent a different person or a different aspect of the dreamer's personality, so it is important to remember where the dream took place. Do you live in the setting or know who does? What emotions does the scenery bring out in you? Research has shown the house to be the most common setting.
Animals featured more prominently in their dreams than in those of adults and they are more frightening animals like lions, gorillas, and alligators than non-frightening animals like lambs, butterflies and birds.
Children report twice as many aggressive acts in their dreams than adults. Sometimes they are the aggressors but most often they are the victims and fear has been shown to be their most common dream emotion. The wild animals, monsters and bogeymen of children's dreams also seem to symbolize children's inner impulses.
Common in children's dreams is being eaten alive; this may represent a terror of losing an emerging yet fragile sense of self in the face of powerful conflicts between inner impulses and outer demands. The bogeyman of children's dreams can also symbolize parents or other powerful adults, see the children have a hard time putting together the idea of the loving part of the parents with their function of agents of discipline. However the images, events and symbols of childhood dreams are understood, there is no doubt that these dreams play an important role in the psychological development of children and that they can have a powerful influence upon what happens in the years to come.
A fence or hurdle commonly stands for a challenge confronting you in your waking life. Jumping over the obstacle may mean the possibility of success, but also confidence.
Winning a race indicates recognition of the potential within our selves. To come in 2nd or 3rd may suggest aspirations beyond your abilities.
Being chased by an unseen but terrifying presence usually means that aspects of the self are trying to be part of the consciousness.
Being arrested often means feelings of guilt, especially if stolen goods are involved.
To dream of failing to get what we want often suggests a lack of communication between the conscious and unconscious minds.
Dreams of being trapped may also indicate that desires or creative energies have been repressed and must be revealed before they damage the conscious mind.
The appearance of light in dreams "always refers to consciousness". Profound insights are illumination or about to illuminate the conscious mind of the dreamer, he or she is about to "see" the light. Bright lights or colorful lights often indicate the onset of a "grand dream" involving archetypal symbols and themes! Orange is often used as a symbol of hope and well being.
True or False
1. Dreams are most often in familiar locations.
2. Dream landscapes are important to remember.
3. 60% of adult's sleep is spent in REM sleep.
4. Boy's dreams last longer than girl's dreams.
5. Children dreams are often of frightening animals.
6. The bogeyman may represent the child who is dreaming.
7. A fence in a dream may symbolize a challenge.
8. Colorful lights often indicate the onset of a "grand dream".
9. Archetypes are present in "grand dreams".
10. Do you dream in color often?
