I've been having disturbing dreams the past couple of nights

[AlienGirl]

The night before last, I dreamed I was on a bus with a lot of other people. There were some dogs running around near the road, and the bus driver had us all get out and try to get them to this little enclosed space, and then he shot them. All the other people were acting like this was an everyday and expected occurrance, and were surprised that it upset me. I was so rattled by it that I became suicidal because I couldn't imagine living in a world where this was just normal, and the other people on the bus were derisive about that too.

Then last night I dreamed about a small horse being used for riding lessons. The horse was far too small and too weak to carry the student, who was a very large man, and it upset me.

Any help figuring these out?

Tucker

[Der Blaue Engel]

1. Let's see...you live in Bush's America? n/t

[MercutioATC]

2. Moon phase?

Actually, I'm serious.

My ex-wife (with whom I'm still relatively close) had some very vivid dreams the night before last (the kind where you wake up a couple of times during the night and still continue the same dream when you go back to sleep).

I don't work the same way, but her "strange" things seem to pan out quite a bit of the time, so I'm comfortable just admitting that I don't understad any of it but it certainly seems to work.

[Whoa_Nelly]

3. Sounds like you're carrying a large load for others

and feeling overwhelmed.

Read you gave your two weeks notice at work! And you are also a mod here....not to mention that you are, no doubt, a very caring person, and there has been a lot to deal with from the outside world these days as well.

I like the way Fritz Perls put it:
You are everything in your dreams

I dreamed weird shit all night last night...Anderson Cooper even invaded my dreams...Saw icebergs in the bay water of coastal CA in aftermath of a mega-storm...ice crashing from the coastal cliffs, snowflakes as large as dinnerplates, and yet, it was also a mix of rain and the usual light coastal fog...could be have been watching TOO much news...

[AlienGirl]

8. Interesting interpretation!

My usual "overwhelmed" dream is about having a cage of rats I have somehow forgotten to feed. This set seemed to be working on something else.

Though I recognize the "you are everything" sort of dream, I also often have dreams that are trying to inform me of something. When I feel like my life is out of control, for instance, I'll dream of trying to drive but having no brakes, and I know that means to slow down and be careful. When I was a kid, a dream of a litter of rabbits always meant I was about to get ill. (That one started because of a coincidence, when I had several rabbit dreams right before getting very sick. From then on, oncoming illness always brought dreams of rabbits right before symptoms began.)

Tucker

[alittlelark]

4. The first dream is obvious.

The second one is more complex..... yet w/ the same inferences... the strong ($) riding (coercing, cajoling, propagandizing) the weaker into a 'submission'.

They are fears you hold for the future - that are sinking tendrils in now.

[AlienGirl]

6. Actually, I think I just figured it out

I think the "bus" in my dreams (it recurs, always in a negative way) is a stand-in for something else my "dream-censor" finds too disturbing to look at directly--an older image, scarier. And I think animals in my dreams sometimes stand for people--like in the burning barn of distorted horses. Interestingly, in the first dream, the dogs had human-looking eyes (just like the horses in the burning barn of distorted horses).

I think the first was closer to literal--my mind saying, "I don't want to live in a world like that"--and the second was more symbolic.

Tucker

[Gloria]

5. Funny, I never remember my dreams, but this morning I did and it

involved a dog. I could see into a large arroyo (sort of like a canyon, but not as high) and I saw big birds walking around..black, the size of ostriches...yet, I knew they were buzzards. I noticed a large, dark dog dead with a head wound. When I looked closer, I saw the wound was a large cut, as if a knife had drawn through the flesh. Then, in the distance, I saw saw tan-colored horses, all sitting on the ground. I thought they were dead, but then they got up.

Interesting that we are both dreaming of dogs and horses!!!!

[AlienGirl]

7. That is interesting!

In your dream, what looked dead survived. That could be a hopeful sign! What associations do you have for dogs (and dead dogs)?

Tucker

[Gloria]

9. I looked up dogs and horses in a dream book I have but nothing

really applied at all. The horses were alive, but the dog was dead. I thought the buzzards had wounded him, but when I looked closer in the dream, it was clearly a deliberate cut with a knife....

[AlienGirl]

10. Dream books don't work

Every person will have their own associations with any given thing in a dream, so there is no standard interpretation that applies to all instances of a symbol. For example, most people dreaming about rats would have a negative association: the rats in their dreams would probably be scary, filthy animals, because that's what they've been taught rats are like. I have had many pet rats, and they're one of my favorite animals, so when my life is going well, I will often dream I have found a rat with some unique coloration (like Irish-setter red) who is very beautiful and might produce lovely babies.

What do dogs and horses mean to you, in particular?

Tucker