Dreams - "Castle"

(Vienna - woman, age 27)

I'm in a very green area, the leaves and grass around are the healthiest green colour I've ever seen. It reminds me of a meadow but not exactly. There are very high hills in front of us. I'm with my brother and mum. On the top of each hill there are statues of people, like some kind of heroes and each hill has them in groups. I'm trying to take a nice photo but I can't find the right spot. Somehow the branch of a tree is always in the way.

“We have attachments. But even without a family, I can promise you that, that yearning to be with other people is powerful. That emotion is the foundation, of what makes us human. (Dr. Mann, Interstellar)” - Christopher Nolan

In the end I give up. I'm still in the same place but now it feels like it's from a different perspective. I can see a castle on the hill. I'm there with my mum and brother and we decide to go up but before that we want to take a photo. It feels lovely because we barely, or if ever spent such a nice time together. I take a photograph and I notice that, there is waterfall on my left side and strangely when I look straight in front of me, I can see the very same waterfall with three pictures which appear on its surface in the form of holograms. Now my cousin is standing next to me and we are looking at the pictures together. On the first picture it is both of us, and also there is a cat. I don't like cats and I know that this is not a real memory. We are younger in the photos but they definitely are not based on real memories. We laugh as we say we look funny. On the next picture we are sitting next to each other and I pay attention to my clothes. Just the bottom part. I'm wearing black ankle strap high heels and black trousers. It's elegant but also sporty and doesn't seem like my style. Third picture is blurry and I can't see anything. Then I am alone and I walk to the castle. Inside I find my dog whom I lost years ago. Together we go up on a board made of wood to the room and we lay down and rest. I give her so many kisses and so much love and I'm just happy that she is with me again. I feel how warm she is and the smell of the top of her head.

Dream interpretation:

Attempts to photograph statues at the hills are likely a reflection on dreamer's struggle to connect with the collective unconscious or if you like an allegory for the dreamer to find her place in the world. She describes it as “I can't find the right spot” somewhat literally; because the tree branch is in the way every time. The tree is a symbol of the self and this indicates an inner conflict. Left side is associated with unconsciousness; the heart is on the left and things that are coming from that side tend to be uncontrolled. That's why the waterfall which she sees on her left side is most likely an aimless stream of thoughts. The very same waterfall straight in front of her brings to light an intuitive interposition of three pictures as they appear in a form of holograms. She can not recall these pictures from her life and describes them as amusing yet surprising. Holograms ought to be taken as advice for the dreamer resembling an answer for a question asked on the subliminal level. On the first one she is surprised to see herself with the cat because she doesn't like cats and this could be an overcoming of some sort of superstition or prejudice. On the second one she is surprised with an outfit she wears. She describes it to be not quite her style and sporty but elegant. This could hint at the need for adaptation to something in reality. Last picture remains blurry as the future is not yet to be known and so not all can be said at this point. Castle is a symbol of a well-protected place and its inside resembles perception of the depths of the self or the soul if you like. She approaches it completely alone and there she finds a long lost dog. Board of wood brings up a thought of the tree as the self; earlier as a form of an obstacle, now manifested as a bridge to the room where she comes to the state of completeness. Deep and vividly experienced connection with her dog reveals a deep need to be loved.

DREAMS - "Grandparents"

(Pascal - man, age 40)

"I am at my grandparent's place in the countryside. I used to spend a lot of time there when I was a kid but in a dream I am at my normal age. I am with some people standing outside of the house and we are discussing if during the advent everyone should be fasting. I agree with them despite the fact that I don't fast myself.

"Love of two is one Here but now they're gone Came the last night of sadness And it was clear she couldn't go on" - Donald Roeser

I see my grandmother on the way back to the house and I realise that I should be looking after my grandfather who is very ill. I'm going back inside and I rush to make my bedding before grandma will notice that I haven't done that either. Then me and her are going up the stairs to my grandpa's room. As we are getting closer to the room, I'm getting more anxious because I completely forgot to look after him and I have a bad feeling that he may even be dead. When we enter the room I'm relieved as he looks alright. He is in bed. He says that he was sleeping for a very long time and grandma replies that he is ill and he must sleep more to rest. When she talks, the tone of her voice is warm and I can tell that she truly cares about him. He is disappointed, he has hoped to spend time with her but says “yes dear” and goes back to sleep. She walks out and plays guitar and sings a song for him."

Dream interpretation:

Fasting from a purely physiological context is a practice to cleanse the body, but when seen in a dream, fasting can hint on the cleansing of the body or the mind in reality. Dreamer admits to the group that fasting is the right thing to do. At the same time he doesn't fast himself and this may point to some compulsiveness he possibly experiences in reality. The idea of his grandmother finding out that he hasn't done the bedding seems like too much of a concern for a man of his age. It's very likely that he may as well feel overwhelmed by the constant need to behave appropriately all the time because of strong controlling mechanisms of his ego. He also realises that he is supposed to be taking care of his ill grandfather. This triggers a load of guilt which accelerates with every step he takes while he goes along with his grandmother to the room to find out that actually nothing bad has happened. Grandfather symbolises an old part of the dreamer's psyche which is no more useful to him. It’s the time to let go of something in other words to change. But his ego is strongly attached to old matters. Thought of this could lead back to the first part of the dream and point to the situation when the dreamer denies himself to agree with a group of people because he may struggle with some compulsion or complex in his real life. But it may as well refer to something completely different. Surely the thought of letting go triggers feelings of guilt. Grandma is a projection of the dreamer's shadow; in a sense of his inner wisdom. Her presence triggers the need of vigilance in the dreamer but at the same time she frees him from guilt. The song at the end is the dreamer's inner parable of liberty.

DREAMS - "Downtown house"

(Anton - man age 35)

"He is a very good friend of mine - we have known known each other for years and back in time I looked up to him a lot - and we are on the way to visit someone who my friend knows. It's in my hometown, but we are using phone navigation and it surprises me that where we are going is actually very close by. I expected it to be somewhere along suburban parts of town.

“The dream is a little hidden door in the innermost and most secret recesses of the soul, opening into that cosmic night which was psyche long before there was any ego-consciousness, and which will remain psyche no matter how far our ego-consciousness extends.” - C.G Jung

We arrive next to the tenement house. I am standing by the door - buzzer buttons have no names assigned to them. My friend tells me to press any one, as it doesn't matter because someone will open the door anyway. I press the button and door opens. We are in a dorm house with a square in the middle. We enter the kitchen. There is a sudden rush because the owner's wife is on the way to find out that he was cheating on her in the bathroom. She does not appear but the owner walks into the kitchen and says that all this is not true and he was in the bathroom fixing the flood. What's interesting, is that there was a flood in my bathroom a few days before this dream. We are trying to blend in without being noticed - we sit at the kitchen table, at the table next to us there is an owner with his friend. I take a look at them and they talk about studies and work. The owner has a good job but he is not quite happy. Also he says that he wants to change the subject that he studies at the university. Next I find myself in a hallway with many doors like in the dorm and I enter one of them. Inside there is a girl. She has noticeable eye lashes and resembles a rather vulgar type. We are making out she gets undressed and I pleasure her with my month and after I lick her ass. I hear the owner in the hallway, knowing for how long I was gone and which way I went I hear him enumerate on which room to find me. “I hope you are not in this one” he says. By the time he opens the door we are outside. He finds us there. I am scared but he says with care in his voice that he hopes that the girl is not pregnant because “she is trouble”. Him and the girl are talking - they look like they know each other well.

''You should leave this guy'' he says to her as he is worried about me.

''But I really like him'' her reply makes me feel good.

Dream interpretation

It’s dreamer's hometown - nevertheless he knows the neighbourhood well, he is taken to a place he never knew was there. This indicates that he ought to learn more about himself. His friend's advice to press a random button to open the door seems like a small effort but the intention needs to come from the dreamer. As the dreamer used to look up to this person, his fiend may represent his intuition. Next - the owner of the house is being put in a situation when he needs to explain himself. This hints at an inner conflict between dreamer's ego and self. Going forward the owner says that he was actually fixing the flood and this was something that really troubled the dreamer not long before the dream. Perhaps the dreamer's ego is drifting too far off from reality. During the conversation at the kitchen table, the owner (the self) is talking about a change to chase something meaningful in contrast to a good but dull reality. Dreamer then wanders off and finds a girl in the room. She is a projection of his Black Anima. Being under her control, he finds pleasure in pleasuring her. This projection would indicate an auto-erotic capacity of love in reality. Unfulfilled anal fantasy is dreamer's fear of destroying this nurtured inside image. Dreamer can hear the self looking for him and fears that his fantasy will be revealed and hence killed. The owner finds them both outside of the building and shows a care for the dreamer rather than anger - “This girl is trouble” - means that this undeveloped Anima stands in the way of the dreamer's individuation process. When she makes a point to the owner (the self) to stay away and says "but I really like him” - it makes the dreamer feel good and shows how narcissistic his feminine side is.