Chakeeta's
DREAMS SYMBOLS
C
CANNIBALISM = A way of assimilating the power of the other person, taking possession of his ideas; possibly an image for living off his money.
It could also refer to the same symbolism in the Blessed Sacrament: eating and
thereby becoming one with Christ.
The most sophisticated cannibals ate only the brains of the other person. The act,
entirely ritualistic and symbolic, implied augmenting one's powers with those
of another. And what primitive men did still lurks in the recesses of the civilised
mind. Wanting to acquire the other person's qualities could indicate envy.
= Devouring passion-'I could devour him'-possibly with an element of oral sadism.
= Being reincorporated into the parents as we were disgorged from them, and
therefore a reversal of the process of birth.
Being CARRIED. = The prewalking stage; may refer to a regresive urge,
a desire to make the minimum of effort. Possibly a sinking into autoerotic
pleasure - and being 'carried away'; but anyway letting others 'carry' the
dreamer, rather than exerting himself.
= The proper acceptance of circumstances that are beyond the individual's control.
If letting himself be carried leads on, in the dream, to danger, disaster, ruin:
= This will confirm that the first interpretation is more likely to be the correct one.
CASTRATION = The fear of being emasculated linked with the desire to be so:
a conflict raging between the masculine and feminine sides of the individual's
personality. the individual may be overidentifying with his Anima;
or more likely, the conscious mind is dissociating from it completely -
instead of knowing and controlling the feminine in him - with the result
that the Anima is initially manifesting her desire for recognition in dreams and
later may erupt into the individual's life by taking possession of his personality
in order to remedy this onesidedness. The dream will more than likely be referring to homosexuality, latent ot otherwise.
= The fear of manhood with it's responsibilities: the fear of grappling
with real life. But this stems from and is intrinsically linked with the
equally strong fear of never growing up, never becoming wholly a man; of being
overshadowed and overpowered by others, especially in competition for woman,
and is related ultimately to fear of impotence in old age. So the dream could refer
to a dire loss of energy, which might be the result of too much self-reliance-and Godlessness.
CATASTROPHIES Explosions, bombs, etc). = The demand for a change of attitude.
CAVES. = The recesses of the mind: the unconscious. The site of mystery and of healing.
Descending into a cave: = A necessary descent from a too exalted conscious position.
Dread of not finding the way out again: = Fear of lunacy.
= An entrance to the realms of the past which lie buried under the earth and in us.
The primitive cave-dweller, to whose instinct for lovemaking we owe our
present existence.
= Entrances into the earth: an image of woman, therefore the vagina and the womb,
and possibly the mother Archetype.
Killing the dragon that guards the cave: = May be in order to gain access
to the Anima, who will in turn guide the individual to the attainment of
wholeness, the treasure of integrity, and so on. More simply, disposing of the
father in order to satisfy an incestuous wish with the mother.
= Hermitages, ascetic isolation; a necessary period of incubation in order to
prepare for renewal, rebirth.
CEMETERIES = Thoughts about someone who is dead; or what is dead and buried,
namely, the past; and that corner of the mind where old impressions have been
buried. There may be something in the past which the dreamer doesn't want
to be reminded of or look at too closely.
= A suitable background to evoke the mood of melancholy and depression in
which the dreamer's thoughts are plunged.
= The place where the dreamer will meet his God" therefore the dreamer's religious
side, as well as his sense of continuity with the past. By presenting a broader
view of the sweep of life, the dream may be trying to mitigate a sense of
inner confusion.
Being CHASED (pursued or followed). = Being obsessed, dogged, haunted by something
that the dreamer longs to escape or evade; but since the dreamer organises all
parts of the dream, there may be a conflict between what the dreamer is
afraid of, yet also longs for.
Being followed by somebody of the opposite sex: = A love that haunts the
dreamer and at least plays a part in his mental life. Or the longing to be
wooed, chased after, loved.
= The person or thing pursuing the dreamer may represent a fixed idea, a reproach,
etc., from which the dreamer cannot free himself. And the feeling of
persecution may in fact be quite un warranted.
Somebody else being chased: = The dreamer's unconscious resentment and aggression
toward that person. Or the dreamer may have projected himself onto the pursuer
and is thus depicting his own pursuit and therefore love of the person
being chased.
CLEAN/Dirty. = Moral conduct.
Dirty clothes, hands etc.: = Behavior the dreamer considers immoral.
For example, after losing their virginity, women have sometimes dreamed of
wearing a white dress with a stain down the front.
CLIMBING. = Striving towards success, to be above everyone else;
may be in sex, ambition, social-climbing, or ideals.
If the goal is unattainable for some reason (perhaps the road is too steep, or the gravel is loose and ground gives way): = The dreamer may be too ambitious-and to no avail-or even too idealistic. if the aim is more
modest and doesn't ignore other important, though less altruistic, features of
life, the final goal may be reached all the sooner. Or he may just be struggling
for a sexual potency that no man possesses.
CLOCKS (Watches, other timepieces). = The heart, and therefore the emotions.
CLOTH (fabric, etc,). = The fabric of life.
The patterns, colours: = These may express the nature of the conflict or whatever.
A square patch of cloth may have the same significance as an abstract square.
CLOTHES. = The individual's facade, or persona: his poses, attitudes, and role in the world; the thoughts and feelings others expect of him, rather than those that are
really his. This facade also serves as a protection against having the skin
(and therefore the real self and real feelings) touched; this can be
carried too far, and become too permanent.
The dream may reveal the conflict between the person's inner needs and what the
world demands of him, or point to the contrast between the performer in his role,
and the individual himself.
Being overdressed, possibly in uniform or even armour; being unable to take the clothes off; the garment that grows fast to the skin, the shirt that
cannot be torn from the body, etc: = The danger of conforming too much to other
people's views instead of developing the character quite independantly.
In order to be true to himself, the individual assumes his particular part in life
merely for convenience, wears and discards it like a costume, never identifying with it.
Being underdressed, wearing rags, underclothes, or dingy or unsuitable clothes ( a transparent gown at a reception), including being naked: = The refusal to play a role, to conform to the way others think of you. This failure
to adopt a collective image, or a deliberate rejection of the whole idea, often
leads to extreme defensiveness, a spiral of defiance, and unsociability; the
individual may become unable to relate to others when he wants to.
Clothes being passed on from one person to another: for example, clothes that really belong to the dreamer's mother being worn by his wife in the dream: = The new person
-the wife in this case-is now playing the same role in the dreamer's life as the
former owner-wearer of the clothes. Some earlier experience is being repeated.
A man wearing women's clothes: = The dreamer longs to display his feminine side,
possibly to the extent of becoming homosexual. His conflict with this tendency
may be expresssed by his wearing women's clothes on the left side and men's
on the right.
A uniform on a woman: = May be to make her seem more masculine.
To change clothes: = An attempt to change oneself, even if only outwardly.
Wearing trousers that are too short: = The wish to be a growing boy again;
therefore infantilism.
Clothes that have been cut off short: = Other pleasures that have been cut
short; pleasures of youth.
Pretty clothes: = Youth, innocence, boyhood; obviously being brought to an
end if they are then dyed black.
Clothes belonging to a particular person: = That person.
Even some detail of clothing may help reveal the true identity of someone in the
dream, especially if the detail of clothing is associated with someone who means
a lot to the dreamer (even though the wearer of the clothes is of no
particular interest).
The setting or place where the clothes are worn may change their implications
drastically. Someone who dreamed of being measured for and trying on an ordinary
suit in a church had a frustrated desire to become a priest.
= Clothes conceal nudity and therefore sexuality; hence they often have sexual implications.Underclothes: = What is not usually seen, hidden (possibly unconscious)
attitudes to sex. A tie: = Phallus. Getting undressed: = Shedding moral inhibitions.
= The colour of the clothing is often significant:Someone wearing black:
= An underlying antagonism toward that person: the dreamer may wish him dead.
Wearing a white shirt and black trousers: = May emphasize the contrast
between the upper conscious attitudes, which would appear to be pure and enlightened,
and the 'shady' instinctual and sexual realms. Similarly, a white square patch on
black clothing: = The conscious approach surrounded by the unconscious.
Coat (and especially cloak). = Warmth, therefore love. In a woman's dream:
= The loving protection of a man (father, husband, etc,).
In a man's dream, a man in a coat: = A man with a wife,
who has seen to it that he is well wrapped before venturing out.
The coat may be too short, not thick enough: = The inadequacies of the love concerned.
= Protection: often referring to the protection of faith and of God, who
provides covering for the birds and animals, as well as adornment for the lilies.
A sheepskin coat: may emphasise this significance.
Fear of losing the coat:
= Fear of losing one's faith.
Hat. = The phallus or the vagina, depending on whether pointed outside
or the hollow inside is emphasised. A woman's or a man's hat may be a phallic symbol.
Something put into the hat: = Coitus.
= Halo.
A child in an odd hat: = Christ.
Raincoat. = Outer protection in general but in particular the membrane enclosing
the fetus before birth. = a womb fantasy.
Shoes. - Lacing up shoes: = A well-known symbol of death.
Veil (or veil-like garments). = Something the dreamer will only
partially recognise, probably about himself.
If the dreamer is wearing the veil: = Something about himself that he
wishes to keep veiled, or reveal only partially.
CLOUDS = Vague reveries: 'head in the clouds'; the unreal.
Or a hankering for escape and the easy way out. Alternatively, a dim,
'clouded' vision; the clouds come between the individual and the sun, a symbol
of the conscious mind.
Clouds laden with rain: = Refreshment for the soil,
which may bring on the harvest, and therefore impending growth, fertility, or renewal.
But also possible devastation and ruin if the rain is too heavy.
COLD. = Emotionally cold, whether hard-hearted or sexually frigid.
Landscapes of ice may have to be traversed, blocks of ice chiseled through etc:
in order to reach someone of the opposite sex. = Fear: 'shivering' with fear as well as cold; breaking into a cold sweat.
COLOURS. - Drab, dull colours (black, brown, dark) predominating: = Depression;
perhaps thoughts of death.
Bright, colourful dreams: = Elated states: great vitality in the dreamer>
A change from dull-coloured or black-and-white dreams to highly colourful later dreams: = The dreamer's improved state of mind; or possibly a process of
spiritual growth at work, especially if a bird were to change from black to white
to many-coloured.
The object coloured will naturally make a difference to the significance
of the colour, so the symbolic implications of object and colour must be juggled
and jostled until some sense emerges. In the 'Bardo Thodol, for example,
there is a progression from coloured animals and figures to coloured images of
deities, which then gave way to misty colours that in turn are replaced by pure
colour, which then vanishes into the primordial Bright Light-all signifying
a gradual movement toward transcending the deception of the senses and the ego,
in order to know reality.
On the other hand, it may be that the significance of the colours has to be
abstracted from the objects, which are merely incidental and can be ignored.
The dream may possibly be referring to something entirely different in shape
and size, but of the same colours, which the dreamer can discover only through
his associations with that colour.
Like the four elements, there are also colours closely associated with the
4 faculties of the mind:
White or Light Blue: = Intellect
Gold or Yellow: = Extroverted Intuition
Dark Blue: = Introverted Intuition
Red or Pink: = Emotion, feeling
Green or Brown: = Sensation
= When a combination of these colours appears in a dream-possibly a yellow house, a green tree, blue and red pictures in a book- it is particularly important
to be able to abstract them sufficiently to relate them to the functions of
the mind. There may be one notable exception.
Black. = The colour of mourning and death. Gloom and depression.
Anything obscure, dark, secret-especially the contents of the unconscious, including
the underworld of hell. = The dark, earthy, and passive principle of Yin. The
feminine and therefore the Mother figure, whose principle colours are black or red.
Blue. = The celestial, the heavenly, and therefore, spiritual energy.
Also the intellect; intellectual understanding, cool, mature reasoning.
Blue has also been associated with fidelity.
A dark blue that would be associated more with water and the depths of the sea than with the sky: = Introverted intuition. An intuitive understanding of inner realities, such as archetypes and patterns of the soul rather
than other people.
Deep blue mixed with green: = Liberation. The freedonm of the sea or a
union of opposites: sensation and intuition maybe.
Brown. = Excrement, which in turn has often been associated with gold or money.
It is also the colour of the earth and is linked with the faculty of sensation.
Gold. = The sun, and therefore the conscious mind and the truth.
The masculine principle. Like yellow, gold may signify intuition.
Gold/Silver: = Masculine v. feminine.
Green. = Everything that grows; vigor, vitality, life itself.
Hope: the green pastures of heaven. Being 'green' implies inexperience, simplicity;
also jealousy ('green with envy'); or simply looking seasick, ill.
Lilac. 
