I’ve been collecting notes on my dreams since I was 12 years old. You know how you wake up from a dream and it’s so vivid, it feels positively magical, and you just *know* it’s trying to tell you something? Dream interpretation is the answer.
Worrying about what your dreams mean, and wondering if they have prophetic significance, or if they’re even a direct message from God, goes back thousands of years. It was already happening in the Old Testament.
When I have a vivid dream I often reflect lightly on what it might mean, hoping for one meaning, ignoring the other possibilities. But this year, with so much going on financially, professionally, and within the family… I began to take the idea of doing a psychological dream interpretation more seriously. If for no other reason than given my current state, psychological realities could have a huge bearing on my future. Even without any magical prophecies of any type.
So I started collecting dream interpretation worksheets and dream interpretation lore. And I started to apply them to actual dreams. On paper. Remember that for me, doing things on paper is a spiritual exercise all by itself.
Currrent Dream Interpretation Practioners Say …
Most current dream interpreters seem to doubt the utility of using dreams for fortune telling. Psychologists seem to think of dreams as a way to get down to what you’re really thinking. To which I might reply, “Oh, come on now, I already know what I’m thinking, what *I* want to know is the future, the current intentions of the Power in the Universe, stuff like that.”
But apparently, generally, this isn’t the dream’s purpose. According to psychology
If Dreams Aren’t for Telling You The Future, What are They For?
The psychological use of dreams, for getting to the bottom of your inner id, your wounded child, your past life regression, etc., is alive and well. A search for “dream interpretation worksheet” turns up a lot of materials. See the bottom of this post if interested.
My own dreams have ranged over a wide ground of events and interpretations. I’ve dreamed of falling, dying, being poisoned, love’s true kiss … water, large bodies of water, again and again. And deserted cities. Also, more than once, being late for work. I’ll see if I can do some dream interpretation here below. I do have three interesting dreams to relate.
Dream of the Blue Girl
The other day, I had a particularly vivid dream. It was just one picture. A girl in blue, with long, dark hair, was looking at me holding up a pencil. She was in a schoolroom and there was a wide window which let out on a garden behind her. The image was enchanting. Was I this girl? Could I become her somehow?
I began looking up dream worksheets, and even ordered a dream symbol catalogue from the public library. I had to find out what the dream meant! What did I need to do, or not do, to get into the garden? After all, these days I have a fair amount of freedom. That said the problem with freedom is, you don’t always know how to use it. Sometimes freedom can be wasted or misdirected.
Working up a dream meaning, according to Dr. Michael Lennox of Complete Dictionary of Dreams (the very good book I got from the library) could be as simple as writing the story of the dream, laying out the plot, considering the symbolism, and the feelings the dream invokes, and, reflecting a moment, seeing if the whole thing isn’t obvious.
Symbols in the Blue Girl Dream
With this in mind, I looked up the symbols in this particular dream and wrote a list of their meanings or associations.
- Girl: A child in a dream could have many meanings, but most common are new plans, new future, or reconcilation of previously opposing forces.
- Long hair: According to Dr. Lennox in my dream dictionary, hair is symbolic of femininity, and of beauty, but also of power: long hair in particular is associated with strength. Think of the story of Sampson, who held his superhuman strength only as long as his hair was uncut.
- Blue: I find from Bob Hoss’s theory of dream colors, blue can be associated with “I need a relationship free from contention in which I can trust and be trusted.” Also, from Lennox, “blue is the color of communication … “
- Pencil: The next three notes are all from Dr. Lennox: “This is a dream that is about communication that is changeable … you may be dreaming about undoing something that is not aligned with your original intention.”
- Schoolroom: “In a dream, school represents the desire to grow and expand in wisdom.”
- Window: “You may want to see more deeply into some situation … the dream may express a desire to move into new territory … “
- Garden: I don’t need a dream dictionary for this one. A garden symbolizes renewal, beauty, love, joy … the Garden of Eden was a paradise, and being expelled from the Garden of Eden was the beginning of pain. Also, the garden “represents the feminine principles of creativity and nurturing.”
I Have to Admit These Symbols Give Me Some Dream Interpretation Leeway
Dream Interpretation: I’m going to admit right up front that I selected the symbol meanings that *seemed* most relevant, which may mean the meanings that I liked the best. That said, this dream appears to be about moving into new territory in my future, and suggests that I have the strength to succeed in a quest to build new relationships and structures in my life, to seek wisdom, and to find peace and happiness. It does sound like in order to do so I’ll have to be ready to change, including possibly undoing wrong communication from the past, and look deeply into myself and possible mistakes that may need to be corrected.
Far more difficult than figuring out where the garden is and climbing through the window.
Married to Boba Fett?
Another dream. Almost a year ago, I dreamed I was flying in a military paratrooper aircraft over a mountain range. In the plane with me was Boba Fett. You know, the bounty hunter in the Star Wars series. The one who captured and imprisoned Han Solo, one of the most dashing and handsome characters in movie history. A villain, therefore, although it seemed at the time we were getting along. Boba and I were riding in the airplane, but since it was a paratrooper flight, the door was open and the paratroopers line flapped in the wind rushing past.
Suddenly, with no warning, Boba went too close to the opening and he was sucked out. I looked down and there he was, falling to earth. His face showed such surprise (I remember this clearly, although it’s strange, since Boba Fett always wore a helmet and I can’t imagine what his face looked like, but my perception in the dream was I saw his expression of surprise).
I watched, mute, unable to do anything. I was horrified, and yet, as he became smaller and smaller, a light dot on the dark mountain shadow below, and then finally vanished from sight, I realized, this fall was Boba Fett’s problem. It wasn’t actually a problem for me. He had done both bad things and stupid things in his life. And he had caused his death by going foolishly close to the opening. Still I was shaking. I was shocked. How could such a thing happen so suddenly and so completely right in front of me.
I didn’t need to do a bunch of worksheets about this dream. I knew that the dream interpretation was about the divorce and Boba Fett was Leo.
And Then There Was … The Toilet Dream
I must report another dream. I was poking around an old house in an overgrown garden and I came upon a disused bathroom, and there in the middle of the bathroom was a toilet. Suddenly, without understanding how this happened, the toilet expanded and started to suck me in. Someone was there, however, a woman, and started to try to help me escape, pulling my by the shoulders and encouraging me to struggle to free myself.
I woke up with a start, I hadn’t escaped in the dream but had woken in the midst of the crisis. “Oh thank God it was only a dream,” I thought.
Dream Interpretation: You need background detail here. This week I got a package in the mail from Leo. It contained a pink Lululemon hydroflask-type water bottle. I called my friend Kay and told her this, and she said “send the water bottle back!”
But it’s a Lululemon!
“”But it’s a Lululemon,” I said. “And it’s *pink.”
Leo had written and enclosed a note with the water bottle. “I couldn’t help buy this water bottle for you, it seemed so truly *you* and I could imagine you hiking in the mountains carrying it … “
He was right. It was perfect. I didn’t want to give it back.
“If you don’t send it back he might send more gifts and then …” Kay told me.
I said “Okay, Okay, I don’t know what to do or say tonight. Let me think about it.” Of course, I knew even then I had no intention of sending the water bottle back. I was going to keep it.
Thus the dream. Poking around in a old, damaged, overgrown garden … suddenly getting sucked back into the whole sordid mess of the past … be careful. Everything may look completely innocent and then suddenly …
I have to admit, I still don’t want to send the water bottle back.
Annotated Bibliography of Dream Worksheets
I’m afraid my method for finding these worksheets wasn’t particularly scientific. They are taken from the top ten Google hits for “dream interpretation worksheet.” However, I have carefully studied each worksheet and analyzed its strengths for dream analysis work.
Three Worksheets …
Dream Interpretation Worksheet PDF from Robert Hoss at Transformational Dreamwork.
This one is pretty highly detailed. It has a lot of questions and sections, including exploring underlying emotions and archetypal figures in the dream. Of particular note is a chart with meanings of various colors in dreams, which I referenced in my “blue girl” dream above. The author, Robert J. Hoss wrote the book “Dreams that Change Our Lives” among others.
Happier Therapy Dream Worksheet
This dream worksheet is almost a one pager and follows the simple explanation of dreams, including details such as symbols, emotions, how did the dream end, current situations that the dream might be related to. Happier Therapy is a website that collects mental health worksheets in one place for practitioners.
Lorraine Tolmie’s Dream Interpretation Worksheet
Lorraine Tolmie begins her discussion of dream interpretation with the insight that “While it might be tempting to use a Dream Symbol Dictionary, your personal associations are typically much more valuable.” Her dream interpretation worksheet is a one-pager which focuses on one particular symbol you feel is important in your dream. She also offers one-on-one dream interpretation sessions.
And an Information Packet
Rusk Psychology Dream Interpretation Packet
This interesting upload discusses different theories of what function dreams really serve, starting with Freud’s claim that all dreams are wish fulfilling, going on to Activation Synthesis Theory which argues that dreams are relatively random snippets of neurological firing and have no mystical or psychological utility, and finally landing at Information Processing Theory, a kind of backlash against Activation Synthesis Theory which argues that, as many now believe, dreams are one way our psyche has of working out problems.
The document appears to be an assignment worksheet from a college course; however, it is rich in information about how modern psychological dream interpretation theory has been developed. The homepage this upload came from is named simply “Psychology.”