Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Dream Interpretation Alert!

Worked at home today. How is this bold? Well, it's way too handy to take a nap, which I did do (I sometimes "close my eyes a minute" in my serious grownup office as well, but somehow that feels less risky.)

Daytime naps are notorious for producing weird dreams and this one threw me into a drama that felt portentous. As follows:

I was in a house where a spider more than a foot in diameter kept appearing and re-appearing. It was both very disturbing and a little interesting; each heavy segment of its body was a different color, with a skin of what looked like baked-on enamel.

My brother Franc caught sight of it too. We agreed that you couldn't just step on something like that: "it would be like stepping on a rabbit."

The spider signalled to me, nonverbally, that it needed paper and a pen to write something down. I provided these. With one leg the spider wrote something in a sort of shorthand; in the dream I understood it to mean: housewares. But I didn't know what to make of that. I'm not especially domestic, awake or asleep.

When I woke up, I also thought: Ho Wares or Ho Wears. (Prostitution is an element in a novel of mine.) House also brought to mind "publishing house."

Anyway, it felt important. And writing-related, but maybe not.

I know that telling one's dreams outside the company of students of dreams can be considered tedious and obnoxious.

But it so grabbed me that I can't resist. If it triggers associations in you, I'd love to hear.





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6 comments:

kenju said...

None I can think of, but if we think about it for a while, something may come to mind. It may depend on what the spider symbolizes to you.

Lynne Wogan said...

Don't have any interpretation to offer, but what a fun dream. A foot- wide enamel spider that writes in shorthand and might want a job in housewares. Cool. My dreams lately haven't been nearly that creative.

billie said...

Peggy, what a wonderful dream! I love it. Spiders can represent writing. If you have a copy of Ted Andrews' book Animal Speak, read what he has to say about spiders.

Regarding "housewares" - my guess is that it has a deeper meaning that only you will know. Do some work with it, but try not to think too hard about it - come at it from the same place the dream came from and I bet you'll find the answer.

And if not, no problem, because your unconscious will find another way to tell you. :)

Peggy Payne said...

The unconscious does seem to be persistent with its knockings. I know it's the source of everything I write.

Thanks for these thoughts, Kenju, Lynne, and Billie. I'll certainly check out Animal Speak.

Psychologist Husband Bob last night suggested that I talk with the spider, then "be" the spider, and use the same approach with Franc and other players in the dream.

Lynne Wogan said...

Here's a good web page on spiders


http://www.whats-your-sign.com/spider-symbol-meaning.html

Peggy Payne said...

Thanks for the link, Lynne. Interesting stuff. I liked an idea I ran across on that site linking "spider" and "house" to have to indicate "the underbelly of our thoughts."