Guest Dreamer: Weird dream last night with a very strange man in it. He was taciturn, tall, of sallow complexion and said very little. I had apparently met him a couple of times but not got to know anything about him. Now he was coming to my house. He said, "I have a car but I don't like to take it anywhere". However, it appeared he was prepared to drive this to my house.
Then it seemed I was in his car and so was my daughter Diana, and she was grown up, not a little child as she so often is in dreams. We were driving to his house. I heard her saying, "Mum, there is a poster flapping about on the front of the car, about something that happened in 1931!" Then I opened my eyes, which I did not know were shut, and looked out along the bonnet, which was green and of a long, rectangular shape. I realized this was a vintage car, so I told Diana that the poster was meant to convey that the car was authentic. The bonnet was made of loose plates of metal that were not firmly attached, and were rattling and flapping about.
At the house it got even weirder. This house was built to his own design and we were walking down a narrow corridor which had cages built into the wall, floor to ceiling and stretching out either side. The cages were full of little animals, mice, hamsters, even some small cats, and there was mechanical apparatus - like toys and railways, connecting the cages and the animals were going on rides round and round. They were all silent, but had bright eyes and looked healthy. They were all dressed in exquisite small garments in bright colors - they even had hats and bonnets - all neat, clean and well washed. Since there were so many, I thought he must spend a great part of every day washing, ironing and dressing these creatures in clean clothes. I got the impression he was looking for a woman to do this for him, and then Diana told me, "He says he is into submissive sex, he wants a woman who will give up her free will and do whatever he says." I found this oddly fascinating - that was the end of the dream!
Carla's thoughts: This dream has some similar elements to a dream that Firequeen posted on this blog some time ago: Previous Dream If it were my dream, I would first look at the similarities and differences between the two dreams. In the first dream I find the man very attractive; in this dream he's sallow and uncommunicative. In the first dream he has presented me with an exciting red car that he offers to teach me to drive, and in this one he doesn't even like to drive his own. If, as in the last dream, he represents the part of me that works and engages with the larger world (my animus), I'm fed up with that world at the moment! However, in this dream I think he represents something else.
My (inner) child and I leave the place where I live (my customary way of looking at things) and join this rather unattractive fellow en route to his house. The dream mentions the year 1931, so I need to puzzle out what that particular number means to me. Did something significant for my life happen that year? If not, I need to look at the number in a different way—for example, was my 1st, 9th, 3rd, or 19th year important in some way that influences me now? (The dreamer will have to mine her own associations to figure out what the number means to her.) Excavating its significance may be difficult for me, because it is something I have shut my eyes to without even realizing it. But they are open now.
The long rectangular shape of the bonnet makes me think of a coffin, but the fact that it is green, the color of new life, implies that the part of me that has died will be replaced with something new and vital. Vintage evokes something that has improved with age (my understanding, perhaps?), and once I become aware of this in the dream I know that my dream (the car, the vehicle) will take me to an authentic insight. The hard things I've had on my plate (the metal plates) are not firmly attached to my journey, and after they rattle and flap around for a while I expect they will shake loose.
Nevertheless, I still have this house—the one I don't inhabit—to contend with. My journey has lead me here, so what will I discover? The house was designed by someone else. The corridor is narrow, implying that the vision of my life as seen in this house not of my making is constricted. My animals, that is, my instincts and life force, have been caged. This confinement of the vital part of me goes back to childhood, to the time of toys and little trains. And trained I was: to be neat and tidy and clean. How much time have I spent since then trying to make my animal presentable (acceptable)? The rules of society are attached to the “father” archetype, and my inner child (my daughter) knows this. She points out that “the man” is looking for submission: Be a good little girl and don't make a mess! At this point in my life I am fascinated to discover the unconscious forces that have shaped my life and behavior.
Mmm Carla! I have to think and let this settle. There are many insights and much I can relate to, but it is complicated and will need more work from me. Thankyou for this and I will write again soon. I was surprised at the reference back to the other dream, and this yields food for thought also.
ReplyDeleteYou see the man as ‘the part of me that engages with the world’. And this is silent and uncommunicative (very unlike my normal self). He has a car he does not like to use. This makes sense as my life is now vastly different from how it was in the previous dream, where I felt joy in the presence of the other man, sexual desire for him, and he was about to teach me to drive a red car. At the time of that dream I was on a high, I had found two very reliable women who were going to promote my books, I had a new dog and was full of life and vitality.
ReplyDeleteI have just been through a hard time physically, and am not clear of it yet. I had a muscle injury to my thigh through over-exertion in ball-throwing and have not received any help or satisfactory treatment for this from doctors, so that since May last year I have become increasingly physically restricted. Two months ago I decided to seek private medical assistance and began seeing an osteopath. I feel I am now steadily improving but still need a stick.
So I see that my outer persona - the one that engages with the world, has become ‘shut-down’ and ‘does not like to use its car’ - in astrology we regard ‘the vehicle’ as representing ‘the body’ - so I ‘have a car but do not like to take it anywhere’ - my body is now not up to very much range of movement. In the dream the car is rattling and threatening to fall to bits - no doubt subliminally that is how I regard my physical state - an old banger!
It makes tremendous sense that the animals represent my libido - which is now caged and restricted. It still looks good (I always look in good health) and has kept itself presentable, but it is not getting much out of life. The man’s day, I feel, must be entirely taken up with maintaining the animals - this is the extent of what I am able to do. I can get through the daily tasks, and walk my dog, and that is the end of it. There is no more to life than that.
There is also perhaps a sense of the renovations to the house that I have just been through. I had to move out and put my furniture in store while my house was ripped apart. All my beautiful panelling and wallpapers were torn out, and the whole place papered and painted in complete magnolia by the Housing Association. The man in the dream in fact fits the description of Eric, the man in charge of the renovations. I saw a great deal of him, and liked him (when I was not arguing with him) but knew that, because of my age, I could never take this further - hence the taciturn, silent man who cannot communicate. So my life is like a ‘narrow corridor’ with its ‘caged libido’ - I must follow the straight and narrow, keep quiet and ‘be good’ - ie not show any sexual interest in a younger man.
These are my thoughts at the moment.
Thankyou Carla, and sorry this has been such a sad dream!
Thanks for your comments, Geraldine; they are as interesting as the dream. I don't think it is sad, although it has some sad elements. The green car tells me that you will soon be going places, full of new life.
ReplyDeleteWishing you continued improvement for your leg-- Regards, Carla
Thank you Carla. I do hope you are right.
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