I awoke from this dream upset.  Yet the meaning, once interpreted, isn’t upsetting.

In this dream, I went to a church I had never been to before because a few friends invited me.  My husband went with me.  We stepped inside and were greeted by members of the Church who happened to know us.  They immediately pointed out the construction going on within the Church sanctuary.  There had been a huge tree in the center, the size of one of the giant Redwoods of California.  It had been cut down and a huge stump remained.  The members of the Church had decided to turn it into a giant altar and use it for worship services.  Workers were busy carving designs and shapes into it to make it beautiful and useful.  Freddie and I were both amazed and I thought I would like to try this Church out and see if I liked it.  We sat at a table to talk to some of the people.  A new parishioner sat with us.  He had red hair and a red beard and appeared in his thirties.  He was recently “Born Again”.  I knew him from before, when he still drank and did drugs.  I happily greeted him and asked him how he was.  He smiled and told me about the changes he had made, then arose and went to speak with his fellow parishioners.  He told them about me and what I believed spiritually.  Immediately, some of them came to me and ran me out of the Church.  Freddie and I ran hard, into the inner city, and found a place to stay in an empty apartment building.  It appeared to be a condemned public-housing building.  We settled into our apartment.  Then a friend arrived, a famous black movie actor.  He had helped us to safety.  I took his arm and stepped out into the hall with him.  I wanted to thank him in private.  I told him I was sorry  for the trouble we had caused and thanked him for his help in saving us from the people who hated us.  Then suddenly one of those people was there, a middle-aged woman with blonde hair.  She immediately attacked me verbally and came at me.  The friend and I ducked and grabbed the other two people in the apartment and ran out of the building.  Somehow we blocked her so that she couldn’t follow.  We walked away on the city street.  A dark-headed woman who was with us smiled and said she had taken care of the problem.  The apartment exploded in flames.  We continued on and my husband went to work.  I returned to my house and my sister-in-law came to visit me.  She told me I needed to hide from the people who wanted to hurt me.  She told me I needed to hide on the property my mother-in-law had owned and lived on.  There was still a trailer and vehicle there, but I told her I thought my husband would let me buy an RV to live in  while I hid out.  I would park it next to my mother-in-law’s old trailer.  She said that was a good idea and thought it would work.  She then commented she needed to leave her truck there as well in case I needed it.

SIGNIFICANT SYMBOLS

Church-Symbolic of religious or personal beliefs or a childhood association with religion.  One’s spiritual or moral life.

Husband-My literal husband or what he represents to me.

Friends-Wanting to be friends with the person in the image or to be more intimate with what they represent.

Tree-Knowledge or belief systems.  Possibly symbolic of the Cross, and/or Enlightenment.

Altar-Corresponds to ritual or faith.

Hair-Ideas, thoughts, creativity, intellect, state of mind, mental processes.

Beard-Proliferation of ideas or creativity.  Or possibly the need to hide.

Red-Energy, trouble, misunderstanding, anger or lust.  One’s desires.

Chased-A conflict  between others or portions of oneself.

City-One’s community, environment, or current situation.

Apartment-Temporary lodging or condition.  One’s current situation or experience.

Condemned-An idea or belief system that has been condemned.

Actor-That personality we present to the world.  Associated with the role we play in life.

Woman-Can represent the emotional, intuitive, family, or maternal instincts.

Blonde (yellow)-Intelligence and power, wisdom.

Attack-A conflict with oneself and others or portions of oneself.  Associated with feeling weak, inferior, or criticized.

Running-Associated with that part of oneself that is running away from something.

Dark-The unknown, the mysterious, or the unconscious.

Explosion-To discredit or prove false.  Can represent a sudden or dramatic change.

Home-One’s personality or current situation or experience

Work-One’s present occupation and/or one’s duty or obligation.

Sister-in-law-A close relationship with one who is like a sister, and/or what she represents to me.

Mother-in-law-The individual or what she represents to me.  The need to look after one’s activities.

Land-The place of consciousness represented by my mother-in-law.

RV-One’s current situation or experience that is mobile or temporary.

Truck-That which can carry people, belongings, ideas, etc.  May be associated with oneself, one’s work, or one’s current situation.

In the dream, I am exploring new Spiritual/religious beliefs I am not familiar with (going to an unfamiliar Church).  My husband (literally) is with me in this endeavor.  We do this because we know people who have these beliefs (friends) and they attract us to this thinking.  We observe in this particular spiritual/religious belief (Church), those who follow it (friends) are turning what remains of an old belief system that was amazing and awesome (stump of giant old tree) into something that aids in one’s spiritual faith (altar).  It appears beautiful and amazing to my husband and me (the work being done is beautiful and intricate), and I know I want to explore it more.  We try to become more familiar with the people who are doing this (friends working on this endeavor).  But there is  a belief represented by my old acquaintance (young man with red hair and red beard) that does not allow us to stay.   He represents the thinking within the spiritual/religious belief I am exploring which does not accept some of my personal spiritual beliefs and experiences.  It is a misunderstanding in thinking (red hair) and possibly also a need to hide from some of the truths I believe in (red beard) which causes them to have conflicts with me (chase us off) and try to hurt us.  In our efforts to escape this conflict, we move into a temporary (not our apartment) belief system that has been condemned (condemned building). It was a progressive belief (city) but has already proven unusable (condemned).  I used a particular personality to accomplish this (as represented by the actor).  It seemed to work well until I am confronted again by emotional/intuitive (woman) wisdom (blonde/yellow hair) that represents a conflict within myself where I feel weak, inferior, and/or criticized (attack), which I must overcome.  I try to escape this conflict (running from woman) and manage to block those feelings within which are bothering me so much (block the woman from following me).  Using the mysteries of God thinking (dark-headed woman), I discredit or prove false (explosion) those feelings, or make a sudden or dramatic change (explosion) that will eliminate those feelings.  I then return to my normal personality (home) and am presented with a new place of consciousness that I think will work best (moving to my mother-in-law’s property).  This is an independent way of thinking-being my own boss yet open and friendly to others-as represented by my sister-in-law and mother-in-law.  At first, I will stay in this way of thinking temporarily (RV).  I can use some of my sister-in-law’s ideas/beliefs (her truck) to help me in this.

This dream is about my spiritual journey.  I would like to incorporate more traditional Christian worship into my life as I see beautiful aspects to it that I think are amazing, but some of the beliefs I hold are not respected by traditional Christians, and are even feared.  Some churches would even force me out if I tried to talk about what I actually believe.  And so I have left the traditional Church and tried to find my own way on my spiritual journey.  I moved into a temporary state of mind that involved contemporary thinking/beliefs but which I already knew wouldn’t work in the long run.  This state of mind still left me feeling vulnerable and subject to criticism for what I believe.  And so I have moved again into my old, familiar place of consciousness which does work for me, but still leaves me vulnerable.  I decide to try a more independent, self-reliant form of thinking to protect myself from other’s criticism and attacks, but which is also friendly and open.  I believe this will work best, but it remains to be seen.

As you can see, one’s personal spiritual journey can involve several evolutions as one finds their way.  But you must be faithful to what you believe, and eventually your path will be made clear.