Time to Get Rid of Tired Old Ideas

The Dream: My uncle S is a very old, decrepit man. He walks bent over and is housebound, yet his spirit is domineering, his voice is strong, and he's calling the shots. My daughter, about 5 years old, needs a home and I've “placed” her with him. She comes to me saying he's kicked her out; he has someone older, an adolescent girl who can do chores. I wonder if he has a dirty old man's interest in an attractive teenager.

I realize I need to find a new home for my child, but resent this intrusion into my work-a-day world. I have so many projects—now this! But I soon realize what my true priority should be: taking care of my child.

Interpretation: This uncle represents the stern, unattractive  side of my animus, my own internalized patriarch. Forty years of feminism have weakened him, but his voice remains strong, and he has made no place for the feminine except as a convenience (a doer of chores) or a sex object. Of course I'm everything in my dream, so neither have I! At first I am too preoccupied by the busyness of contemporary life to pay much attention, but the dream tells me that this should be a priority. I need to care for the vulnerable (young child) part of myself, my inner femininity, and the first step will be to stand up to my own faulty conceptions of masculinity and femininity.

Wicked

Do you have a dark side? Yes, you do.

The Dream: An image of a wicked woman; her hat is composed of a lampshade in yellow, green, and orange. A voice in the dream says that a lampshade both conceals and reveals illumination.

Interpretation: This dream attempts to bring my dark (wicked) side to some level of consciousness (illumination.) The dream hints that I won’t get it, at least not entirely. It tells me that what’s on top of my head (my current thoughts, symbolized by the lampshade) conceals as well as reveals insight (illumination). From the way I have drawn the wicked woman I can see that I find her attractive and powerful—she's not something I am likely to eradicate. That might be okay, as long as I can know her for what she really is.

Anne Dyer

The Dream: I am sitting behind a woman with curly blond hair. I say something; she recognizes my voice and turns. It is Ann Dyer. She says she likes my short hair, but it is apparent we are evaluating each other, noticing if we’ve aged. We didn’t even recognize each other--at least not by sight, only by voice. 

Interpretation: Since hair comes out of the head, it can represent our thoughts. In this case the hair is blond, so the thoughts might represent a sort of enlightenment. The lady’s name, Ann Dyer, is the clue to the meaning of this dream. My mother’s name is Ann, and she has died. She likes my short hair; she’s trying to tell me that my thoughts are limited by my earthly status, but that’s okay. We struggle to recognize each other, as we now live in different dimensions. I can no longer see my mother; but her voice (my inner voice) remains.

A Bossy Woman

The Dream: A stout and bossy woman, in an office, is talking too loud. She is promoting some sort of “help” she pedals to groups. At first it sounds interesting, and I wonder if she might be a good speaker for a women’s group I belong to. I try--again and again--to ask if she would like to do this, but she won’t let me get a word in. Her over-loud voice is embarrassing, and her bossy manner and unwillingness to listen, annoying. Finally I just want her to go away. She exits to the left.

Interpretation: In my last posted dream it looked as though I were reconciling conflicting parts: the stay-at-home femininity of my youth with the woman-active-in-the-world of my adulthood. But just as I thought progress was being made a shadow figure emerges to let me know that I haven’t finished. And she wants to be heard! (She's very loud.) Jung says shadow figures contain parts of ourselves that we dislike and don’t want to acknowledge. I push this bossy, embarrassing creature back down into the unconscious (she exits to the left). Want to bet she’ll be back?