16 x 20 Acrylic on canvas, St.GermainWhy do we dream in symbols? We dream when we are asleep and are not in a conscious state. Symbols are the language of the unconscious.
Everyone has their own unique set of dream symbols, because no two people are alike or go through the very same situations, with the very same intensity of emotions.
All text and images are property of Jeannette Stgermain. You may print - only the posts about Dreams - as long as it is for private use only. No part may be used to be edited or reworked, or used to be sold in any way or form.
A word that works like the hub of a wheel is "association" and will help you to decipher the symbols. For instance "water" is for some one who lives in the desert associated with "life line." For someone who almost drowned, water is associated with "fear" and "death", for a surfer water is associated with "skill", "competition", "fun."
This goes to show you that there are many associations for the symbol of water to be made.
Everyone has their own unique set of dream symbols, because no two people are alike or go through the very same situations, with the very same intensity of emotions.
All text and images are property of Jeannette Stgermain. You may print - only the posts about Dreams - as long as it is for private use only. No part may be used to be edited or reworked, or used to be sold in any way or form.
A word that works like the hub of a wheel is "association" and will help you to decipher the symbols. For instance "water" is for some one who lives in the desert associated with "life line." For someone who almost drowned, water is associated with "fear" and "death", for a surfer water is associated with "skill", "competition", "fun."
This goes to show you that there are many associations for the symbol of water to be made.
Another phrase that will help you on your way with the art of association is "a play on words." A friend of mine had a dream about someone we both knew. The whole dream was that she saw that person getting a call on his cell-phone.
Call - some one's calling, or - destiny. After I concluded what that person in the dream was going through right now in real life, was that he got a view, or discovered his calling, his purpose, or his destiny.
Once I had a dream that I and hubby went to the city that our friends had gone before, and they told us about the nice stores there, etc. When we drove in our car down South to that city, nothing worked out, and it was a very frustrating and disappointing experience.
It was a puzzle to me, until I started playing with the expression "gone South." "Gone South" here in the USA refers to a deal that has gone sour. This dream was a warning, that if we would follow our friends, the deal would go sour on us
Jim Goll, author of "Dream Language" on my Shelfari, divides dreams in two categories:
* intrinsic dreams, whcih are self-disclosure dreams
* extrinsic dreams, which are about outside events.
When our dream discloses our inner self, a number of people may show up in your dream, representing different parts of ourselves. In the beginning this is very tricky,because we normally don't think about ourselves as being more than one person at the same time.
They may show up as one attractive person with blond hair (an attractive part of us), and another, unattractive part of us, as a person you don't like. For me it was very eye-opening, discovering new sides of myself that I did not think I had!
Our dream synchronizes with "the field" you have in life. This field goes beyond our job. They are the gifts and talents we have and our social relationships. It may be a very small field, like being a cash register person in a big department store like Walmart, or a large field, like being the general manager of a company with several thousands of employees. Our field may be small at first, but it could grow, like that of Joseph.
Dreams are shapshots, bits and pieces of your life. They do not tell the whole story!
As a teen Joseph had a dream that his brothers and father would bow before him. That dream came true after a few decades. The dream did not tell him that because he told his brothers and father that dream, he would be thrown in a pit, they would sell him, and he would land in prison because he would be falsely accused of raping the wife of his boss.
For the longest time I could not figure out whether my dreams were about the present, or a reminder that I needed to do something about an issue that started in the past, but still was affecting me, or if my dream was something that would happen in the future.
Fortunately, you dream often leaves you hints.
When it is about the past you see:
a back door, or
back window, or
rear view mirror, or
you are looking behind you, or
you are wearing clothes from a bygone era.
Another important clue is: how old you look in the dream.
* extrinsic dreams, which are about outside events.
When our dream discloses our inner self, a number of people may show up in your dream, representing different parts of ourselves. In the beginning this is very tricky,because we normally don't think about ourselves as being more than one person at the same time.
They may show up as one attractive person with blond hair (an attractive part of us), and another, unattractive part of us, as a person you don't like. For me it was very eye-opening, discovering new sides of myself that I did not think I had!
Our dream synchronizes with "the field" you have in life. This field goes beyond our job. They are the gifts and talents we have and our social relationships. It may be a very small field, like being a cash register person in a big department store like Walmart, or a large field, like being the general manager of a company with several thousands of employees. Our field may be small at first, but it could grow, like that of Joseph.
Dreams are shapshots, bits and pieces of your life. They do not tell the whole story!
As a teen Joseph had a dream that his brothers and father would bow before him. That dream came true after a few decades. The dream did not tell him that because he told his brothers and father that dream, he would be thrown in a pit, they would sell him, and he would land in prison because he would be falsely accused of raping the wife of his boss.
For the longest time I could not figure out whether my dreams were about the present, or a reminder that I needed to do something about an issue that started in the past, but still was affecting me, or if my dream was something that would happen in the future.
Fortunately, you dream often leaves you hints.
When it is about the past you see:
a back door, or
back window, or
rear view mirror, or
you are looking behind you, or
you are wearing clothes from a bygone era.
Another important clue is: how old you look in the dream.
When you do not recognize certain things, such as boats that are also helicopters, some advancement in technology, it may refer to the future.
Remember, you start the language of symbols by learning single words. Then phrases, then a sentence. The grammar comes later (how to put things in the right order!). so do not expect to be able to make conclusions the first few times you interpret your dreams.
NEXT WEEK (S)
depending on interest
- Do colors have meaning?
- Meaning of death
- Wind Directions and Numbers
- Vehicles
- Questions from readers
