Wednesday, March 27, 2013

The Thief


The Dream:
I see a man entering apartments in an old building that closely resembles an apartment building I once lived in. He has a rectangular device somewhat bigger than a cell phone that he puts up to a locked door, and it opens immediately. I am surprised at how easy this is. I watch him open a couple of apartments this way. Then he comes to the apartment where my friends / family are having a party. As he attempts to enter I grab him, unsure about whether or not I'll be able to overcome him. I yell to the others to “Call 911!” They come to my aid, and we subdue him.

Interpretation:
The phrase that came to my mind when I thought about this dream was the “thief of time.” Is the cell phone an “I” phone? Am I unlocking some old doors, and having a difficult time with what I find? The setting is dark and gloomy, the badly lit stairwell and hall of an old tenement something like my mother's Brooklyn apartment and my own apartment on 90th street in Manhattan. The intruder, Time, has gone into these places where family and friends once lived and stolen them, leaving me calling for help. Life goes on; with the help of other friends I subdue this thief, at least for a while.


2 comments:

  1. In my imagined version of this dream, which I am very attracted to, particularly because of the intriguing image of the thief as rendered here, I too am the thief. The thief evokes a Trickster quality for me, and the phone is present to ask me to receive an important message. As the thief, if this dream were my own, I am able to open new doors of my self (the Jungian Big Self?!) and the trick that's being played is one that involves my consciousness - I am recovering something of great import and mystery in the dream and by subduing this thief, I am seeking to make that energy part of my own waking awareness... I seem to need to recognize that a senseo f my life is that something is being taken from me, at the same time, 'unawares', but really, it's a recovery, because myself and my helpers/friends make contact with the thief and so it's an invite to integrate this 'sleight-of-hand-like' part of my own nature. Thanks for sharing this one - it resonates deeply with me! Travis W

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  2. Thanks, Travis, for pointing out the Trickster quality of the thief--which does, indeed, come out in the illustration. Something that is taken and at the same time given back, or integrated--that is worthy of Trickster!

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