Symbol Watcher

Follow-up To My Blood Dream

I think I’m beginning to better understand the menstrual blood dream I wrote about on January 4. I felt the dream was trying to show me that I (as represented by my female co-workers in the dream) am using or disposing of the creative life within me (the menstrual blood) in the wrong way, in the wrong place (on the floor rather than in the trash).

In the dream — even though I never see my co-workers and they don’t tell me directly — I understand they have bloodied the office bathroom because they’re dissatisfied with where they’re working and angry because they don’t believe they’re being treated well.

I know their emotions are a depiction of my emotions — specifically, how I feel about the lack of support and faith I’ve received from my family over the last several years. My family is suspect of my choice not to seek a full-time permanent job that doesn’t involve writing. They are unsupportive of the man I choose to live with because he’s of mixed ethnicity. They are even suspect of how I spend my money and how I treat other people — including my pre-school aged nieces. I have told them if they have questions about me or my life, all they have to do is ask. I have been upfront with them about what I’m doing and what I’m trying to accomplish. But they see me as an outsider now, no longer like them. My family would rather make comments under their breath and slither innuendo out of their mouths.

So, yes, I don’t like where I’ve been working emotionally and I’m angry about the way I’ve been treated. My family relationships have grown increasingly toxic in the last few years — to the point where I’ve allowed their negativity to settle in me and develop into my own anger and resentment. These negative emotions have caused me to misuse, or waste, my creative energy. I’ve spent all my time trying to understand why I am now an outsider, why I no longer have their faith and support. I understand the dream is telling me it’s ridiculous to waste my creative life obsessively trying to understand my family’s behavior toward me. It’s time I used my creative energy to bring new life into my life.

– Writeye

Dis-ease of Body and Mind

My 9-year-old cat Piglet

Yesterday we found out our cat Piglet has cancer. It’s an open, oozing, furless sore that’s taking over the left side of her face, at her mouth and jawline. It’s incurable. The vet assures us she’s not in pain, a piece of information I’m leaning toward believing because she’s still enjoying her food and our company. Piglet could undergo the painful procedure of cutting out her jawbone to remove the cancer, but it would only extend her life by a few months.

Cancer is an odd disease. It is growth and destruction all at the same time, like a wild fire I suppose. It destroys our tissues, blood, organs and bones as it picks up speed and proliferates until there’s more of it than us.

Thinking about cancer over the last few days has reminded me of the importance of both health and “dis-ease” from a symbolic perspective.

Our dreams often speak of our psychological health in terms of physical illness. For instance, if I dream I have brain cancer, then I need to ask myself, “What is taking over and threatening to destroy my brain life (the intellectual, cognitive, unemotional side of my life)”? Or, “In what way am I allowing this side of my life to grow out of control and dominate other areas of my life”?

If I have cirrhosis of the liver in my dream, I have to ask myself, “What are my associations with the liver”? The liver metabolizes nutrients, breaks down fats, filters toxins. In ancient times, the liver was said to be the seat of anger, but it is also the only organ that can regenerate itself. So if my liver is dis-eased, my dream might be telling me that I am having difficulty processing my negative emotions and moving on. It may be telling me that I am having trouble processing what life is sending my way (nutrients, fats and toxins = good and bad life experiences).

What if I have suffered a heart attack in my dream? Most of us can think of many things the heart symbolizes. It is the seat of human emotion, the carrier of love if it’s open and hate if it’s closed. It’s the doorway to the individual soul and, anatomically, it’s the pump that keeps our life energy (blood) flowing.

So whenever we dream that some part of our body is diseased, it is helpful to think about our associations to that body part and how those associations might translate into a symbolic message concerning our psychological health.

Please let us know if you’ve ever had a dream of a diseased body part that made you realize some psychological aspect of your life was out of balance. Also, has anyone ever had an actual illness that you think was a physical manifestation of a psychological ailment? I’d like to hear your story too. Thanks.

– Writeye

Symbol Brief — Blood

Blood letting was modeled on the process of menstuation, stemming from the belief that menstruation functioned to purge women of bad humors. Source: Wikepedia

Blood letting was modeled on the process of menstruation, stemming from the belief that menstruation functioned to purge women of bad humors. Source: Wikepedia

For many of us, the sight of blood — whether in conscious life or in our dreams — can be a scary thing. It is, after all, our very life energy coursing through our bodies. It is the divine force. To some of us, blood represents our actual individual spirit. If we are drained empty, we return to dust.

Blood’s magical associations can be seen in many ancient traditions and modern-day idioms. In Mithra and Cybele cults, the blood of a sacrificed bull was poured on people in the belief that the doused would take on the life energy of the powerful animal. And, of course, the ritual of drinking the Eucharist wine provides Christians with the ability to embody the life force of Christ.

Common phrases such as “bad blood between them,” “cold-blooded,” and “blood thirsty” are all succinct ways in which we describe someone’s life energy.

Although we earthly creatures all share the collective experience of being blood born, there is one type of blood that is unique to being female. That, of course, is menstrual blood. Menstrual blood contains within it the ability to create new life — someone who is a part of, yet separate from, the woman. Symbolically, menstrual blood represents a woman’s creative life. This life can be either physical and psychological, or both. Some myths emphasize that even shed menstrual blood will make soil fertile wherever it flows.

And unlike men, women can bleed without dying. It’s a fact that we see has caused some patriarchal societies who are fearful of being overpowered by the feminine to label menstruation as dirty and impure. Some cultures throughout history have even gone so far as to separate women from their communities while they are menstruating.

So if we dream of blood, we have to ask ourselves what is our interaction with that blood — that LIFE force — in our dream? Or if it’s menstrual blood, what is our interaction with that CREATIVE life force? Are we drinking it? Whose blood is it? Are we trying to internalize the energy of that being and make it part of who we are?

For instance, are you trying to stop a bleeding wound because your life energy is leaving for some reason? How successful are you at stopping the bleeding? What part of the body is bleeding? Analyzing which part of the body is bleeding can provide further insight into the root cause of the life force injury.

Are you drowning in a room full of blood, feeling overtaken by life energy?

These are only a few of the many possible associations of blood symbolism that may appear in our dreams.

Maybe you’ve had a dream similar to the one I had last night. I’m still trying to make sense of all the particular symbolic details but the dream expressed my core problem as follows:

I am at work (my office in dream life, not conscious life). I walk into the women’s restroom and find the floor covered with menstrual blood and used tampons and maxi pads. I’m disgusted by the sight. The blood is everywhere in the stalls. I can’t believe the women who work here would just throw their feminine protection on the floor and not keep the bathroom clean. I think they are doing it because they are disgruntled, dissatisfied with where they’re working. Now I am in one of the stalls and feel something wet dripping down on me. I look up and realize blood is dripping down on me from the ceiling. I know the women on the floor above me are doing the same thing as the women on my floor. I see that blood has dripped on the front of my clean white blouse, right on the stomach area. I am angry about this.

I’ll provide an interpretation for this dream as soon as I have a better idea of what it’s trying to tell me. I know the women who’ve left the menstrual blood all over the bathroom are a part of me. I feel the place I work is the place I’m working at, or through, psychologically. But other than that, I’m still trying to understand the message. In the meantime, please post any insights or symbolic interpretations you have for my dream or for blood symbolism in general.

–Writeye

“The Spirit” Didn’t Move Me

Last night, I saw the new movie “The Spirit,” based on Will Eisner’s comic books and I just didn’t get it. At first, when I saw the Octopus’s henchmen — Pathos, Ethos, Logos — I thought, okay, this might be interesting symbolically. Three methods of persuasion and all that.

The movie portrayed death as a female water nymph and I thought, oh, she represents the destructive aspect of Spirit’s anima, etc. But then the whole thing just fell apart for me. It got so campy and inanely silly with the Samuel-L.-Jackson-dressed-up-as-Hitler bit that I couldn’t take it seriously on a comedic or symbolic level. I just can’t connect the symbolic dots. And maybe I’m not supposed to.

Can anyone out there who is familiar with the comic books (which I’m not) please tell me if I am trying to find some psychological diamond in what is intended to be nothing more than flickos dumbos?

– Writeye

Symbol Brief — Wreath

Just like I do every holiday season, a couple days ago I put a fresh evergreen and pine-cone wreath on my door. It’s a tradition for me, but I realized it’s a tradition I don’t know anything about.

I’ve read that wreaths were our first crowns and were set upon the heads of those we wished to glorify or esteem. This makes sense when we remember the symbolism of perfection and wholeness associated with the circle. (Maybe that’s why the square holiday wreaths I’ve seen in stores the last several years don’t hit me quite right. They don’t tie in to the wreath’s origins.)

As far back as ancient Greece, wreaths made of certain materials were associated with certain gods: Apollo – laurel, Zeus — olive, Demeter — ears of grain, Poseidon — pine needles and cones.

In Christianity, wreaths stand for a defeat of darkness and sin. Roman emperors attempted to mock Christ by making him wear a crown of thorns rather than their traditional rose wreaths. Of course the thorny crown became the headdress of martyrs. The advent wreath sits on a flat surface and has at least four candles in it, each representing one of the four weeks of Advent, or the weeks leading up to Christmas. Some have a fifth candle to symbolize Christ.

So what about people like me, who hang a wreath on their front door each year? Well, I haven’t been able to find much information on the subject, but according to Arcamax.com, the tradition dates back to ancient Rome. In honor of their New Year, ” . . . Romans wished each other “good health” by exchanging branches of evergreens. They called these gifts strenae after Strenia, the goddess of health. It became the custom to bend these branches into a ring and display them on doorways.”

– Writeye

Of UFOs and Rainbows

A couple nights ago I had this dream:

My husband in “conscious life” and I are traveling down a two-lane highway. He is driving and I am in the passenger seat beside him. The road ahead is smooth and flat. The surrounding landscape is covered with short, clumpy grass and dirt, like you’d find out West. The sky is cloudy and gray, but I look up to the left and see that the clouds have broken enough to create a rainbow. At first the sight of the rainbow makes me happy, but I begin to be suspicious of it or doubt it for some reason.

Then I look to my right and see a UFO up in the sky. It is round and spinning and hovering over my side of the car. I realize my husband does not see it. I am the only one. A bright white beam of light comes down from the center of the UFO and shines on the right side of my face and neck. I am terrified. I am afraid they have come to take me up into the spaceship or that they are going to implant a chip in my neck so they can track me and control me. They don’t do either. Still, I know they have chosen me for some reason. I am now one of their test subjects and they are going to continue to follow me, study me and observe me.

This dream has really affected me and I’ve been thinking about it a lot over the last two days. The seemingly incongruent symbolism of the reassuring rainbow and the frightening UFO has intrigued and touched me. I feel the dream is trying to tell me something very important about my development.

First, the rainbow is on my left (the side of the unadapted, unconscious reactions). My personal associations of a rainbow is that it is particularly beautiful, a unique and rare mix of rain and sun. It appears after a rainy or stormy period and marks the first appearance of clarity bringing sunlight.

As I’ve researched other symbolism for a rainbow, I’ve come across the story of Noah and the rainbow. It’s a story I probably heard as a child, but it didn’t come to my mind. When the flood waters receded and Noah landed on Mount Ararat, a rainbow appeared in the sky as God promised Noah he would never again destroy the earth with a great flood.

Both my personal associations and the story of God’s promise to Noah ring true to me when I think of what the symbolism of the rainbow means in my own psychological development. Like a flood, I have been overwhelmed by my own unconscious contents during the last several years. I’ve felt brought to my knees at times by my own intuitions, instincts and neuroses and by those of my family, friends and other people around me. I think the dream is trying to show me that this period is ending. The rain clouds are clearing. Maybe I could even go so far as to say that without the experience of the flood, the beauty of the rainbow would not be possible. But I’m still skeptical. The overwhelming experience of being swept away by my and others’ unadapted and unconscious emotions has been so painful for me that I’m doubtful the sun is actually coming out.

So if the rainbow is telling me that my experience of being overwhelmed by unconscious contents is coming to an end, then what is the UFO saying? This has been more difficult for me to figure out. I don’t really have many thoughts about UFOs. I’m certainly not so egotistical as to think we humans are the only beings in the universe, so I’ve always accepted the possibility that there are other life forms in the universe. I feel unsettled by the thought of UFOs landing here because I imagine them to be somehow more powerful than or of superior intelligence to us (since they have the ability to get to us but we haven’t been able to find them). To me, this means they have power over us (which is why I was so frightened in the dream).

Interestingly, when I researched how a Jungian might interpret this symbol in dreams, I discovered that Jung had actually written about UFOs. In The Science of Dreams: An Analysis of What You Dream and Why, Edwin Diamond says Jung believed UFOs in dreams “. . . should be treated as psychological projections – visions of wholeness [due to their archetypal round shape and their position in the sky, e.g., coming from spirit] in response to a lack of wholeness . . . ‘What can I do to save myself?’ Jung’s patients asked him. The UFOs in dreams and myths bring the answer. ‘Become what you have always been, namely, the wholeness we have lost in the midst of our civilized, conscious existence . . . ‘. “

As I said earlier, I’ve felt overcome and overwhelmed during much of the last few years. I haven’t been able to get my footing or my place, back in the world. At times, I’ve felt life was kicking me so hard I couldn’t get up. The flood wiped out the old me, my old world.

Maybe going through the upheaval is what has allowed the prospect of wholeness (the UFO) to come into my consciousness as a possibility. It is above me, shining its light of superior knowing and identifying down on me. Like wholeness, the UFO has found me, but I’m afraid because I don’t know what it’s going to do to me or require of me. So why should I be afraid of it? It isn’t taking me from my journey on earth. It isn’t trying to control me with an implanted homing device. Wholeness is just letting me know it’s out there and it’s keeping an eye on me.

– Writeye

Symbol Watcher

Follow-up To My Blood Dream

Dis-ease of Body and Mind

Symbol Brief — Blood

“The Spirit” Didn’t Move Me

Symbol Brief — Wreath

Of UFOs and Rainbows

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