Interesting dream.

I was with my daughter and we were about to walk through an Haunted House adventure.  We both knew the “monsters” we would see inside were just actors in costumes, but my daughter was still very scared.  She seemed only to be going because I was with her.  As we approached, I noticed one of the actors peeking out and knew I needed to be ready as soon as we walked in.  We entered the front door into a hallway.  It was empty.  We followed the hallway into another hallway, again still empty.  It was getting darker and darker as we went.  The second hallway led into a third, which appeared to be almost pitch black.  Again I saw one of the “monsters” peeking out and knew this was where they would finally start scaring us.  We stepped into the dark hallway and turned a corner and there were two of the “monsters”.  They were dressed all in black and had the appearance of being vampires, but their skin was blue and their eyes red, so that they also appeared to be part zombie and/or alien.  They had vicious looking, sharp teeth.  One of them approached within touching distance of me.  I put my arm up to stop him from touching me, and he went to bite my hand.   I wasn’t expecting that but it turned out to be funny as it felt like he had a plastic mouthguard in his mouth and merely applied pressure to my hand.  The bite wasn’t even hard enough to leave a mark.  This made me laugh and I was suddenly no longer afraid.  I told my daughter about the bite.

SIGNIFICANT SYMBOLS:

Daughter-Can represent the relationship with your actual daughter or a warning about your daughter or what she might represent to you.  That part of one’s self that might need direction.  Might represent someone else who is like your daughter in personality or relationship.

House-one’s personality or current situation or experience. The status of one’s state of consciousness.  For example, type of home or whose home can be a more clear indicator of what exactly is being addressed.   A friend’s home could indicate you are experiencing a current situation very similar to how you view your friend as living or thinking.  A haunted house adventure would indicate travelling through an experience which can be scary but is controlled.  An actual haunted house would indicate a state of consciousness filled with fears, thoughts, the past or that which keeps haunting one’s self.

Monster-corresponds to irrational thoughts or behaviors.  Repressed or ignored portions of oneself.  One’s own fears.

Actor-that personality we present to the world

Hall-transition from one consciousness to another.

Three-body, mind and spirit. Trinity.  Great strength.  May represent a particular situation or experience of the same age in your life.

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

Black-knowledge associated with the unknown, the unconsciousness, or the suppressed. Mystery.  The unknown or unconscious knowledge we have which is being brought to our awareness.

Costume-the role one plays in life.  Also associated with ideas, thoughts and experiences.  Something a person hides behind.

Blue-often associated with spiritual truth or insight.

Skin-associated with self.  Corresponds to one’s own situation or the environment in which one lives.

Red-Desire (lust), energy, trouble, misunderstanding or anger.  One’s desires.

Eyes-the ability to see, vision.  The windows to the soul; one’s own individuality.  May correspond to one’s own outlook on life.

Vampire-associated with something that sucks or drains one’s life, emotions, energy, or patience.

Zombies- an instinctual or mindless way of reacting and/or behaving when in specific situations or relationships.  An idea that was killed and should have remained dead, suddenly resurfacing.

Alien-Corresponds to that which is out of place or from another environment.  Maybe associated with a foreign or unknown part of one’s self.

Arm-Ability to reach out to others or the ability to give expression or service to others.  Work, duty or responsibility.

Teeth-Symbolic of one’s words; what one says.  Metaphorically, can be used as follows:  getting one’s teeth into it- getting involved.

Bite-Can symbolize that which is gnawing, irritating or bugging one.  That which is sucking the life out of you or another.

I am either literally working with my daughter and/or  working with a part of myself represented by her, which in my mind is my spirituality (daughter).   I(We) am/are about to travel through an experience which can be scary but is not harmful (Haunted House adventure).  We will be facing irrational thoughts/behaviors/fears (monsters) but we also know logically they can not hurt us because they are something we hide behind as we present ourselves to the world and are not real (actors in costumes).  We begin the transition in consciousness (hall).  As we do, we go deeper and deeper into the unknown or unconscious knowledge we carry within ourselves and which is now coming into our conscious awareness (dark/black).  This journey is through body/mind/spirit, as represented by the (three) hallways.  When we turn a corner in our spirituality,  as represented in the dream by turning a corner in the hallway, we are confronted by two irrational thoughts and behaviors and/or fears (two monsters) about our roles in life (costumes).    These thoughts/behaviors try to suck the life out of one (vampires) and are an instinctual and mindless way of behaving (zombies) as well as seeming foreign or unknown (alien) to myself.  They reveal some spiritual truth or insight about one’s self (blue skin) and they also reveal our desires in regards to our outlook on life (red eyes).  These thoughts/behaviors try to effect my ability to reach out to others or be of service (arm).  They are represented by words said that appear harmful (vampire teeth) and I find them irritating/gnawing at me (bite).  But I find to my delight that I am completely unharmed and consequently no longer afraid of facing these “monsters”.  I explain to my daughter what I have discovered.

All of us have dreams of what we would like to do in our lives, but in the end what actually does occur is limited by our own willingness and talent to make those things happen.  I believe this dream addresses my becoming more honest with myself about what I am capable of accomplishing and what I am actually willing to accomplish.  For example, perhaps I am smart enough to be a doctor, and the idea sounds wonderful (helping people, the prestige, the money), but am I willing to work really hard and for a very long time to accomplish that goal? The answer is no.  The idea is nice, but the reality is I am not willing to do the work to accomplish the dream.  I believe this is true of most dreams people have.  There are many things we find interesting or enticing, but we need to be honest with ourselves about what we are actually willing to do to make those things happen.  We can waste a lot of time thinking we want something to happen, but if we gave the matter real thought and considered the consequences of what would follow, we might quickly realize “I don’t want that.” I’m not saying to give up on your dreams.  I am saying be honest with yourself about what you are actually willing to do so that you can better focus on what will work for you and not waste time and energy on something that won’t work.  If you do this, you will find yourself happier because you are making choices based on who you really are and not on an idea of who you like to pretend you are.