Living at the Ritz

The Dream: Clark has bought a ski condo at the Ritz building in Manhattan. It is on Central Park South, facing the Park. Our condo is on a top floor and can be accessed only by going up ladders and through openings which look like holes in the ceiling. I find this method of access scary and cumbersome. Once I get up there, I wonder, how frightening will it be to come down?

When we finally get to our condo it’s very large, but dirty—stuffed with old furniture from previous occupants. It’s in need of a paint job, cleaning, clearing out. I’m not sure how this can be done, since there is no elevator and only a small entrance.

I’m in the lobby of the very fancy building, with uniformed doormen scurrying about. At first I feel quite classy for being a resident of such a place, but when I go outside to look at the building I see a marked change between the lower floors and the floor our condo is on. Our floor looks shabby, and it occurs to me that it must have been the servants’ quarters, which explains why it must be accessed with ladders.

I discover, however, that I can take the main staircase up to all but the very top floor. To get to the top I must still use a ladder, made of rope and hanging from the attic. I discover some workmen in the hall who are dealing with the mess upstairs, or attempting to.

Clark is quite pleased with the purchase of this condo, which he made without consulting me. He was uncharacteristically quick to buy it. When I reenter the condo, armed with my insight that it must originally have been the servants' area, I notice that, nevertheless, the ceilings are very high.

Interpretation: In my previous dream I faced my desire for wealth and fame; this dream takes the process forward. The part of me that deals with the world, what Jung calls my animus, is represented by Clark who has bought a ski condo at the top of the Ritz in Manhattan. That’s a pretty clear image of success! But the fly in the ointment soon emerges, as I discover the practical difficulties inherent in this success: it’s difficult to attain (must climb up ropes and go through hoops (holes) to get there, and once I do it’s messy and dirty. And was attaining this sort of success even my idea? The dream hints it isn’t, since my place is crammed with things from the past, put there by others.

To top it off, this success is a sham. My marvelous condo at the top of the Ritz looks shabby when I stand back and look at it, and I discover it once housed servants. But the situation is being worked on. Once my inner workmen clear out the debris left by others and I stop running after a version of success that is not true for me I start to notice the good things about where I am. The ceilings are, after all, impressively high.

Bodice Ripper Scene 5

The plot seems to be advancing very slowly, but I know what’s going to happen. While the Estate and the people still appear to be from the 18th c, World War II has begin. A great social change is in the works. The castle walls with their crenelated surfaces are covered with missiles and rockets to be used against the Axis powers. Yet I know the Nazis will prevail and this land will be occupied by the Germans. The Lady and the Viscount will hide an Asian woman from the racist occupiers.

I see a small attic access point in the ceiling. It has a couple of pieces of cloth hanging from it. At first I think that this is where they will hide the woman but then I think No—that’s too obvious. They know every nook and cranny of this vast estate, and they will find a secure hiding place. It also occurs to me that the practiced artificiality of their lives—the fact they are hard to “read” and don’t show what’s going on with them—will make it easier for them to fool the Germans.

Interpretation and conclusion: The new psychic center, as represented by the union of Viscount and the Lady, has become strong enough to take on a new challenge. The problems of my past recede; change is at hand, and a new battle must be fought. I fortify myself with missiles and rockets against my long-standing nemesis, my inner Nazi. A foreigner (the Asian woman) represents my repressed or unexpressed parts. The united psyche works to find a safe place to hide her from the rigid, overbearing, and limiting collective consciousness, absorbed by me long ago and symbolized by the Nazis. The elaborate cover up of the 18th clothing is no longer important; it’s replaced by a couple of pieces of cloth hanging from the attic, where I at first I think the Asian woman will be given refuge. But she will not reside in my head (the attic); the new psyche will find the proper place for her.

This dream has been interpreted by the well-known dream worker Jane Teresa Anderson in Episode 44 of The Dream Show.