Exploring the Unconscious World of Dreams
Personal Dream Analysis
General Guidelines For Dream Submission
A Response to Each Analysis is Required. Failure to Provide A Response May Suspend Future Posting
These are general guidelines for posting dreams. It is most important that you provide your age and gender for me to provide a proper analysis. Other information will help provide insights to possibilities of the dream message. In general an experienced dream analyst can only provide an outline of the emotional energies within a dream. Personality traits, attitudes, underlying causations are what come through in most dreams. Recent personal experiences related to those energies are not normally readable but will likely be related to the traits/attitudes/underlying causations.
Why do I need to provide age and gender
The age of the dream will help me determine whether to look for more general personal associations as with a younger person's dreams or more symbolic references as with an older person's dreams. Because dreams are about our emotions, the emotional experiences that are in conflict are what the dream attempts to help the dreamer resolve. An older person has accumulated emotional 'baggage' whereas a younger person is still in the process of accumulating such 'baggage'. This comes through in our dreams.
The gender of the dreamer is important in determining how a gender character {male/female} is to be interpreted in the dream. An unknown/unnamed man in a woman's dream usually represents her masculine aspect{s} or the animus whereas an unknown/unnanmed woman in a man's dream would usually represent his feminine aspect{s} or his anima. This applies especially if the male or female characters are unknown or unnamed. Even named persons {especially if they are friends or acquaintances} can also represent these anima/animus qualities. Usually it is personal qualities a friend/acquaintance possess the dreamer identifies with, traits, attitudes within that person.
Posting a dream. Post the dream just as you remember it and as it plays out. It is best not to add any comments that were not a part of the dream. That should be done later in the comments section. Write down the dream just as it happened. Be precise as possible with the exact actions/experiences in the dream. Each dream symbol has a meaning and if not properly conveyed can alter the interpretation.
Use proper sentence and paragraph structure if possible. A posted dream that is written without paragraph breaks can be confusing. Just as with any prose the developing story line should be written to highlight the thoughts and actions. Running paragraphs together can diminish the affect of a 'story'. Every dream is a 'part' of the story of the dreamer's life. If you have problems with proper structure do the best you can.
Comments/Associations about the dream. If there are any personal associations about the dream you 'feel' important provide that information. If there are stressful or emotional events or recent experiences taking place in your life you feel may apply to the dream provide whatever information you feel comfortable with. Dreams are therapeutic in they attempt to help resolve emotional conflicts in the dreamer's life. Your dreams are about you and reflect present and past waking life experiences. A good and proper interpretation will 'fit' with your life unless there are deep emotional issues within the unconscious that may have been repressed or forgotten. Interpreting several dreams will eventually bring these issues to surface and your conscious attention. This is a primary function of the dream, its therapeutic value in helping resolve emotional conflicts, whether they are superficial or traumatic. If it is a part of a dream then there is enough 'emotions' involved with the experience to create a conflict. A bad day on the job as well as those deeper issues that may involve negative physical or psychological experiences.
Feelings About the Dream/Waking Feelings or Impressions. If you have 'immediate' feelings or impressions about the dream or parts of a dream when you first awake you can post those at the end of the dream. Waking feelings/impressions are important. If there are foreboding or negative feelings, or positive emotions from the dream that can say a lot about what the dream message is. If you develop an impression or feelings about the dream post those separate from the dream since they were not an original part of the dream.
Understanding the Interpretation. A good interpretation will usually 'hit a cord' when read. You will most likely recognize aspects that 'fit' with your life. Sometimes an interpretation will hit home squarely and you may have an 'ah! ha! moment. More often it takes some thought. Some aspects of the interpretation may fit while you may feel unsure about other aspects. Dream interpretation is an art as well as a science. The science is provided by Carl Jung, his experience with working with more than 80,000 dreams and analyzing patients as a patients being accepted
theory {Freud is no longer seen as the authority on dreams}. The art is the intuitive abilities of the interpreter to read the dream. My personal abilities in interpreting dreams have evolved over a long period of time {working with dreams since 1998} in which my natural intuitive 'instincts' have developed and been enhanced. I am able to recognize emotional patterns from the symbolic language and this allows me to 'read' a dream beyond what even most trained analysts can. It is a developed skill with a even more developed intuitive sense {intuitiveness is antural aspect of the human psyche but has been lost because we no longer need it for survival}.
Dreams speak in a language of symbol and metaphor. The real art is in interpreting the symbols and understanding the application of the metaphors to the dreamer's life. But even the best of interpreters of dreams are 'reading' the periphery {outline} of the dream and can not 'know' the exact representation of every symbol. The personal experiences are seldom provided in terms that can be understood unless the analysis has an in-depth knowledge of the dreamer's life. Every person is different and the same symbol in one person's dream may have a different meaning in another person's dream. Some symbols have a 'fixed' meaning but others may have multiple meanings or a meaning that fits with the dreamer's personal psyche. There are some that are pretty much fixed, as in the image of a house which most always symbolizes the dreamer; the house is the dreamer {the house being a symbol and metaphor of the dreamer}. A car is also a pretty much fixed metaphorical symbol for the dreamer. A dream involving a mother's house is usually saying something about the relationships between the dreamer and the mother {your dreams are about you and the mother is a part of your life}.
Note: My concept of some images having a fixed meaning/application is different from many trained Jungian analysts. Their analysis is predicated on strict Jungian concepts whereas my analysis of dreams uses only the general concepts. I have found great success using this method as can be seen {and verified} in the posted dreams, analysis/interpretations, and responses by the dreamer at the Power of Dreams Dream Forum.
