A Friendly Oppressor

The Dream: I'm at a large dinner party. My older brother is sitting at the table, about three-quarters of the way down from me. I'm near, or at, one of the heads. I am crying because my other brother has died. A young woman, a friend, sits on my lap. At first I think this is a joke, but after a while I realize there are no other seats and she means to stay. This begins to feel oppressive.

Interpretation: I don't have the inner resources to take care of a need (there are not enough seats for all at the table). I only have my head (logic). Yet feeling cannot be denied, and I am crying. My brother's death, and the realization that I am three-quarters through my own life, is the oppressive thing that sits on me and won't go away. It's no joke. Yet my oppressor is friendly, why is that? Because she is there to teach me an important lesson, to make me aware that death is a reality I shouldn't run from, but must accept.

My New Pet

The Dream: I have a new pet. She has landed on my lap and is happy to sit there and be petted. She is very content to sit quietly, and it seems this is her only activity. I think this will be the perfect pet, not at all demanding.

Then practicality intervenes. She will no doubt poop, but I get around that difficulty by thinking she'll probably use something like a litter box. Will I need to take her to the vet? That could be expensive. And then she'll die—how will I handle that? I know that some people eat this sort of animal, but eating one that died of old age—and that was one's pet—strikes me as creepy.

Interpretation: I had this dream during a visit to Yellowstone after a day viewing wildlife along the Hayden Valley. At one venue a bison carcass was being eaten by birds and wolves. People we chatted with said grizzlies had been feasting earlier in the day. The animal in this dream embodies my own life force. She may be very tame, happy, and undemanding right now, but I can see that problems, rooted in the physical realities of life and death, will inevitably occur in the future.

Won A Million!

The Dream: I'm in a black, luxurious car, traveling along a forest road. I signal the driver to stop and pick up Clark. I'm sitting in the front seat. Clark starts to get into the back seat, but I tell him to get into the same seat I'm in. I sit on his lap (or vice versa), and I wonder if I'm making him too warm. We are very happy and excited, because we've just won a million dollars.

Interpretation: Black is the color of night, the time of dreams. It refers to an unknown and unaccepted part of myself. The car tells me that I'm en route to something, and the forest, with its earthy breath of mystery, evokes untamed nature. I'm now ready to experience what has been buried (in the dark). The fact that the car is luxurious and that I stop for my husband—not to mention all that lap-sitting and warmth—hints that the new growth has to do with close attachment, love, and sensuality. And that's a prize that's worth a million!