The Dream: I'm with Clark near the water, along a city seafront. He is paying far too much attention to another woman who, it turns out, is a fish. I am jealous and show it.
Interpretation: Clark has been very involved in caring for his elderly mother. The rational part of me accepts that this is necessary, but the irrational unconscious? Not so much.
So there you are with your everyday animus who is more interested in your shadow who is represented by the fish. Of course you will be feeling jealous as the contents of the unconscious hold so much more fascintation. The ego is jealous at not being the focal point.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if this is not so much about your husband or his mother, but more about your internal landscape/seascape?
Thanks, Rick. As Jeremy Taylor has said, it's not so much a case of "either/or" but of "both/and." The mother-in-law situation, while irritating to me, could well be only the thing that triggered an internal issue.
ReplyDeleteI keep thinking about this fish in the dream - why a fish and not, say, an eagle? Fish has a lot of symbolism, which is easy enough to look up. As it's linked to the underwaters and the Feminine, I am wondering if yet another level of the dream is dream ego's jealousy or discomfort at Clark's energies which are spent not only caring for his external mother, but perhaps paying attention to his inner feminine, or anima. Since jealousy came up as a feeling in the dream, my questions would be "How am I handling my jealousy?". Am I showing it in an unhealthy manner? Do I need to talk to Clark about this, or is there a way I need to take better care of myself during this time? Another way to ask the same question is, does Clark know how all the attention he is giving his mother really making me feel? It came up in my last dream group that the husband's feelings about a situation his wife was going through were not taken into consideration. All the energy was spent on her own self-involvement because of what she was going through. Only after the crisis was over, did the spouse say how he was doing through all of her ordeal. Made her wish she had taken his feelings into account a whole lot sooner! A simple dream perhaps, but it seems they come with levels of meaning!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Emily,for pointing out the subtlety and complexity even a very brief and apparently simple dream can hold.
ReplyDeleteHi Carla,
ReplyDeleteI apologise for lowering the tone a bit but here in the UK we sometimes refer to an older woman as "old trout" don't know if you have a similar saying in the US!
Hahaha. Thanks, Jane. Love it!
ReplyDelete