The Dream Stream Flows Again ...

I had a weird dream last night ... and remembered it with the help of notes that were almost indecipherable this morning.

We were discussing painting the children's rooms, making them more conducive to peaceful contemplation, and quiet pursuits away from the communal space. I felt we all needed quiet pleasant retreats.

We decided to go out for a walk with the dogs to discuss it. Kenya and Shea were two of the three dogs and they were off lead. The conversation moved from ideas about painting walls to creating really attractive getaways on all levels ... and then to his concern that we get good speakers for the stereo system because the ones we had were off balance.

We quickly left the sidewalks of the urban area and found ourselves in rough unfamiliar country. The dogs loved it and my companion/mate forged on ahead with them.

I got to a place where I was climbing what seemed to be a crumbling sand bank. Every time I would get a hand or toe hold, more sand would break away. I was beginning to feel a little frustrated ... not scared ... not defeated ... not resigned to falling down the mountain side ... just frustrated. And then I saw the ladder.

It was just an ordinary wooden ladder, the kind shaped like an upside down V. I managed to unfold it so that it was unhinged, and used it to climb to safety.

A second man appeared during this exercise, and simply watched and then joked with me once I was safely on the top of the hill.

The dream dictionary says that ladders represent trying to "get somewhere that is presently out of reach, difficult to attain, or perhaps involves risks and anxiety" ... and "might show feelings of achievement through effort and daring."

Freud also describes the ladder as a symbol of sexual intercourse, the rungs representing the physical movements of sex and the mounting orgasmic feeling represented by the climb.


Well ... I think the first explanation is the more likely. I was certainly not a sex symbol as I clambered, upside down and inside out, up the crumbling cliff and onto the ladder. I looked more like some scrabbling beached whale with fingers and toes.


The dictionary says that hills and mountains represent "difficulty, obstacles, something needing energy with which to deal with it," and that the struggle to climb means the dreamer is "facing problems and overcoming them with courage and skills."

Oh good. Maybe I am getting somewhere.

Walking " usually depicts personal effort, making your own way at your own pace .... The direction you are walking shows where you are aiming to go in your activities and hopes. The future is represented by where you are going."

That's me ... the hermit ... As for where I am heading ... well at my age you sure don't want to be heading down that mountain, do you?

The laughter afterward is exactly what it appears: " release of tension ... ridicule of self, taking things lightly ...".

So I am still dreaming about moving forward into other things, accomplishing something difficult through my own initiative ... and able to laugh at the situation and myself.

What a nice dream.

Maybe I will end up becoming a sardonic oracle/philosopher on a mountain top to whom cartoon characters bring their questions about life.