Dr. Katia Romanoff interprets symbols in dreams and co-writes an advice column with Dr. Lauri Loewenberg called the Dream Zone, appearing in several newspapers around the country and Sedona Magazine.

Below are dozens of Dr Katia's interpretations of dreams, nightmares and waking visions people send in to her. The same symbols appear in paintings, songs, and religions of the world. Just start reading at the top and see if you find any symbols with a message for YOU.

Dreamwork Home | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012

June 10, 2004

This is a dream that I used to have as a child, and then I had it again when I was about 22. I'm a child and in a very old, one room house. The place is decorated "creepy," like skulls for candle holders and spider webs everywhere. In the kitchen area there is this old witch. I say hello to her and she asks me if I want to learn how to do magic. I tell her yes and she tells me what to do. As I start to do it the skulls turn into Mickey Mouse heads and everything sorta becomes animated and starts singing "It's a Small World." I look outside the door which and I see that the cabin is flying just over the treetops of the forest! I am really excited that I am doing all of this. I look back to the witch to for her approval but see that SHE is actually the one doing it. She didn’t want to disappoint me by telling me I couldn't do it. Then I wake up - Jose 29, Las Vegas, NV

This dream is about the mysteries and wisdom of life and how we all learn them "like magic." You had this as a child any time something happened in waking like to make your self-confidence drop. The dream would come to show you that ancient wisdom (the skulls and spider webs) are really as wholesome as Mickey Mouse and any kid can learn to fly to the heights of life (forest) and get the big picture (see the forest instead of the trees). We see your self-confidence drop in each dream indicating you doubted you could really be successful and competent. But the "witch" is really YOU -- she's your inner teacher, a wise old woman who is part of your unconscious mind. When you had the dream at age 22 you must have been worried about success and competence again. You may yet get it again some day, it's a nice mechanism that comes to take the fear out of "ancient" instinctual wisdom -- something you can wield and put to work in your life for the good if you so choose.

I dreamt my husband and I were walking through the woods. They were normal, except the ground was sand, not dirt. My husband was bitten by a snake, so I beat the snake to death with a stick. Then a gorilla started chasing us through the woods. I was having to hold my husband up as we ran. We reached a wall we started to climb when I noticed two dobermans were trying to jump up and bite us. As we made it over the wall, I asked the pair of dogs to leave us alone. The dogs immediately became friendly, and one said, "Make sure you don't take each other for granted." - Susie 37, Plano, Texas

The woods symbolize the world in which you live, your circle. Walking the path is your "journey" of marriage (and life). Something recently "wounded" or "bit" your husband and you defended or aided him adeptly and even aggressively. This is the opposite of the damsel in distress theme, so good for you, that's woman power at work. You are avoiding something that is trying to "catch up" with you (the gorilla) but are facing some obstacles. The gorilla is some issue you'd rather not deal with right now. But the dogs represent an issue you have addressed, and once again adeptly. They did not actually bite you as did the snake and this is because you "disarmed" the situation by speaking up. You reasoned with them rather than ignoring them and suddenly they become a force for the good, a force of wisdom in your lives. Very nice dream with good symbols! You should definitely take the advice given, not to take each other for granted. It sounds so simple, a cliche, but when you think about it we ALL are guilty of taking loved ones for granted. The advice is in many ways a warning, too. So try TRY to take it to heart and put it to work as a standard rule in your marriage.

June 12, 2004

In this dream I'm like 38 years old. I'm in an alley walking to someplace important and an old guy -- I'd say in his 60's -- is walking behind me. I turn around to hit him and he stabs me with a can opener. Then I die. what does this mean... I'm worried because most of my dreams come true. - Allison 16, Tucson, AZ

Interesting! Can-openers represent technology and the ability to eat well all year round (something our ancestors didn't have). They also can indicate preservatives. This dream is telling you that if you don't start eating right, cutting back on foods with preservatives, junkfoods, non-nutritious foods, etc., you are going to get sick when you are in your late thirties, and maybe even develop a cancer in the region you were stabbed. The old man could represent Father Time or the Old Man of death. So practice nutrition now, make it part of your life. No more sodas and garbage-food!

I dreamt of a disgruntled female grocery store clerk that was stocking shelves and started whipping different items at me. Cans of things, even some produce. However, I never got hit and managed to dodge everything that was being thrown. I tried throwing things back. Then I ran out of the store to jump in my car & she came running after me. I got home thinking I'd lost her. Inside I came around a corner into the kitchen and saw a group of girls I figured were her friends. Then she came at me. What do you think? Granted, I'm sick right now and this dream was induced by some Nyquil. – Kelly 25, Cleveland, OH

Nyquil and many medicines have ingredients that suppress the appetite. She is the part of you that wanted food while you were sick and was disgruntled by the chemical changes brought on in your body by the medicine and the illness itself. It's no use to avoid her because she is part of your inner food processor -- that's why she showed up in the kitchen with her "friends" -- other elements of your psyche and body thrown off balance by the illness/medicine. Cold medicine does peculiar goofy things to the brain and thus the dreaming mind!

June 21, 2004

I was traveling abroad with a friend (we had gotten separated from the main group) and were in a small jazz club where an attractive woman was singing. My attention was on the man seated ahead of me, who was twirling a diamond ring. He called his wife on a cell phone, to tell her they were over, as he handed the ring to a woman next to him. She was wearing a large flower on one side of her head to hide her missing eye. A man behind me started to bark and I woke up... – Caroline 27, Memphis, TN

In some off-the-beaten-path realm of your life there is risk of an unhealthy transition taking place. All the people and symbols in your dream are pointing to events and perhaps decisions in your life right now. Some alliance you made is ending in an unwholesome abrupt way with unfaithfulness playing a large part. This is shown in the dream by a marriage being ended. It may be a financial alliance or something that you thought was "forever" (hinted at with the diamond ring symbol). The old way is being dumped in favor of a flawed new alliance that is lacking in perception, even deceptively masking its inability to see clearly (missing eye covered with a flower). The barking sound represents a warning -- pay attention, it says! This dream is trying to get your attention so that you will beware of any unsavory transactions, transfers, transitions or alliances that might be in the making in your life. Be careful with what and whom you get yourself involved in.

I was swimming in what seemed like an aquarium and there were other people swimming and doing tricks like the whales and dolphins do at Sea World. In the sky there appeared this naked woman who was just still and you could see her from a side view. She was gold colored. In the dream I kept chasing this child, who was an excellent swimmer. I was watching the child to make sure that nothing happened to him. Then the child in the dream turned out to be my smallest child who is a boy. Then I awoke. – Mary 43, Fishkill, NY

You are swimming around in the waters of life -- the aquarium represents the emotional realm and some people are quite adept at expressing and disciplining their emotions (acrobatics). The naked woman is YOU in an exposed and vulnerable state but yet still and beautiful like a classical goddess statue. Her gold color means you have a "heart of gold" and the fact that she was suspended in the sky means you are "worth your weight" in gold, both indications that you have good intentions and are doing the right thing in your life even if it is sometimes difficult. The nudity, a good sign of openness and having nothing to hide, also can mean you are feeling vulnerable and exposed. How are your emotions "open to view" by all? Your son is learning to express his emotions in a healthy way (good swimmer) but you are still worried about him as he navigates the waters of life -- as any good mother would be.

June 27, 2004

I had this really strange dream in which I was following a friend down the road. We were walking. Then, we began walking across a long narrow foot-bridge made from wooden planks, which stretched across a deep valley. It was dark out. Then, suddenly I was alone on this bridge and there were tall fences on either side of me, so that I was fenced in. As I began to feel trapped, giant pandas crawled up over the fences and onto the bridge. They were crawling towards me and when I turned around more were behind me. There were hundreds of pandas and they were huge. I could not escape. I cannot figure out what in the world the pandas mean. Any ideas? - Laura 21, Pittsburgh, PA

Panda bears represent some compromise you are having trouble reaching. Notice the other compromise symbol in your dream, the middle ground you are suspended above symbolized by the deep valley with a bridge across it. Being "up in the air" and suspended indicates you are having difficulty making serious decisions. It is actually a good sign for the pandas to be seeking you out, trying to reach a compromise of some kind. But you feel trapped, hemmed in and enveloped in darkness, thus unable to resolve whatever situation this is. What middle ground are you having trouble with? How are you struggling to please different people (or satisfy different personal goals) so that everyone including you is satisfied?

My dad died thirty years ago right when our son was five months old. After the funeral was over and family and friends had left, I had this same dream three times. In real life, my dad had his legs amputated and he never wore a white shirt, knit pants or boots, which was part of my husband's wardrobe. In my dreams, I find myself in an open area where I see vehicles just sitting around with grass grown up inside them. As I am walking around, I see a dwelling that looks like an adobe hut. I walk in and my dad WALKS out to greet me wearing a white shirt, maroon knit pants and cowboy boots. He was usually a guy who jokes around, but he got right to the point and told me that he would be taking care of our son in heaven. I started to cry and he soothed me by saying that it was not my present son, but the son I would lose later. I turned and walked away and that is when I awakened. I dreamt this dream three times. About nine months later, I miscarried at six weeks and I truly believe that the baby was a boy. Just recently we lost my mom. A week later, in a dream, I find myself in the same setting as before and my dad comes up to me to let me know that Mom was there and he was taking care of her. – Willow (f) 51, Brandon, MS

Your dream is about the continuity of your family tree (and all families). Your family is eternal in essence and has been surviving for thousands of years. It will march ever forward into the future yet it is always tempered by sadness and loss. Two currents flow thru every family, the loss and sadness current and the hope and birth current. That's why babies are so wonderful because they are part of that hopeful anti-loss current. Vehicles represent healthy bodies and the ones in your dream cannot travel and have been that way a long time (the grass) thus representing your father's state of immobility. The adobe hut indicates he is content now with what he has in the afterlife and doesn't desire any more. Those cowboy boots represent hope. Boots are made for walkin' as the saying goes, showing that your father's spirit is whole now, not in a wheelchair, a condition you always hoped for him. He is content and taking care of other departed kin until such time as they decide to come back as new family members. A modified form of the reincarnation doctrine teaches we are our re-born ancestors born again to the same family lines after we die. Your dreams are helping you get in touch with the "destiny" of your family and are serving the very important purpose of soothing your sadness any time someone dies. The message is, don't fall into despair over death, it is not permanent and the souls of those we lose are taken care of [until such time as they decide to come back -- perhaps as a grandchild, niece or nephew. Always be on the lookout for ancestors among us and don't forget you are one of them yourself!]

July 4, 2004

I have a recurring dream which can be quite terrifying at times. I'm laying in bed and I hear voices that keep saying "It's time" over and over and then snakes start to come out of holes in the top corners of my walls and hundreds of mice start to crawl up the sheets from under my bed and some sort of demonic being is trying to come in through a door from another dimension. I can have this dream numerous times in one night and the only thing that allows me to go back to sleep is jumping out of bed, turning on light and seeing that none of these occurrances are really happening. – Debi 47, Suffolk, VA

Ack, how disturbing for you! Those yucky entities represent trials that will soon come to test your courage and compassion. It truly is "time" for you to embark on the spiritual quest -- an important journey we must all take because we tend to focus all our lives only on the body and mind while neglecting or underdeveloping the spiritual third of our lives. Before we can embark on that quest we must first be "tested" in life to show we are properly prepared and the testing takes the form of trials and such. Snakes are actually a sign of spiritual initiation -- another symbol that it is time for you to be initiated into life's meaning and mysteries. I strongly recommend you read the book, Awakening the Heroes Within: Twelve Archetypes to Help us Find Ourselves and Transform our World, by Carol Pearson. You will find yourself therein (not to mention all your relatives and co-workers!) and find where you are in the great quest journey that is life.

I had a dream that I was responsible for throwing my mother a surprise birthday party. A little background - It is not her birthday, I have never thrown her a birthday party. We did just lose my dad the first of the year and yesterday was the first Father's day without him. – Nikki 25, Des Moines, IA

Your Dad's death explains it. Every year on your mother's birthday she probably got special treatment from your father. His absence will be most painfully felt on holidays so your subconscious is sending you a hint that your mother needs some extra personal attention (symbolized in your dream by the birthday party). The dream is telling you it is your responsibility to give your Mom an emotional boost right now. Be there for her as much as you can even if it's just to go to the grocery store or sit and watch a movie together.

July 7, 2004

Your Dream Report:
I am a widowed woman with two children that recently got remarried. My first husband died very unexpectedly of a heart attack 6 years ago. After he passed away I felt him at night when I was trying to sleep. I would feel a cold touch on my leg that went from my hip to my ankle. Now that I have found love again I am not so sure what to make of my dream that I had last night. I was sitting in the kitchen when I saw him walk in the door, he looked very tired and he just started talking like it was 6 years ago. He gave me a hug and told me that he missed me. I just held on to him for a long time and we talked. I awoke with a very heavy heart. Can you tell me what this all means.

Dear Jenna:

Your dream is about absorbing and coming to terms with great loss. Six years is still a relatively recent time for the psyche and the subconscious. It takes time for the subconscious to really "feel" a loss in the first place. Then longer to start the true healing process. Many people in your situation grapple for years with this healing mechanism and the dreams that always seem to come with it. You may yet have more dreams like this. They will stop when finally all parts of you feel healed and whole again. Your psyche was disoriented after such a shocking, close death. It was a surprise death and the psyche takes longer to handle surprise deaths, not to mention the deceased was the father of your children. Part of you in some tucked away corner of your inner self may always feel a link there, may never quite accept the "till death do us part". Since you have two children, it makes the tie back to him seem "alive" to your subconscious. The dream portrayed you as still married, indicating this hidden part of you still feels married to him, and thus is mourning for him. That is natural and healthy, you mustn't worry about it. As he said in the dream, he misses you, and you felt heavy hearted when you awoke. It's actually very good you were able to feel that sadness. It's a sign the resolution (coming to terms with it all) is taking place.

This dream did NOT come to make you feel guilty in any way. It is part of a natural healing process everyone who loses a loved one goes thru. Your feelings toward him have nothing to do with your current marriage or relationship. It is important to remember that. This adaptation, this grappling with a loss, would be going on whether you had found love again or not. And it's only happening in your sleeping subconscious mind -- not your waking mind. The waking person (you) has already healed and found a nice new future and new goals, etc. Only in the deeper more hidden aspects of the self are you still "figuring things out."

It will eventually resolve itself -- a healthy subconscious always heals and everything about your dream and your report indicate you have a healthy subconscious! The subconscious may not be as "clever" as the waking conscious mind, but it is oh so much more powerful. We've all heard about the "power of suggestion," "mind over matter," and "subliminal" advertising -- things that somehow harness this deep part of our psyche. That's why dreams can be so worrisome because such a potent force is at work within. If you have a similar dream and wake up sad, you might try closing your eyes and just lying there -- THEN change the ending. See him go up into the higher planes of existence with a light step and a happy smile. Picture yourself hugging him, saying and waving good-bye. Let golden tears like drops of eternal liquid sunlight (power of life) roll down your cheeks as you smile. Saying good-bye and tears are the closure that funerals (attempt to) bring to the waking mind. So visualizing a happy goodbye-ing can bring closure to the deeper mind. It may take a few times, but this technique is often all that's needed. You don't have to wait for the dream to recur to try it. If you are really wanting to accelerate your healing and you feel it is the right thing to do, you can try re-imagining the dream and adding your new ending with the good-bye session. Do it just before sleep as you are lying in bed. If you don't feel the need to practice this technique, just let it go and let nature take her course. She knows what's best for you and your dreamweaver will continue the healing process without you having to do a thing. You are on the right track no matter what you do, see?

Wishing you all the best,

Dr. Katia
The Dream Zone

July 14, 2004

Your dream report:
A few months ago I dreamt I was checking my lottery ticket against the winning numbers, and they all matched. In my dream one of my friends was in my house and I asked him to verify my ticket. He did so and the numbers were matched. After that, I woke up and wrote all the numbers down. In California the sixth number is called mega number, in my dream, even the mega number was clear and by itself.
I have been playing those numbers ever since.

My interpretation:
This is very fascinating and points to the powerful connection between your subconscious mind and the outer reality. You have been wanting to win the lottery so much that your subconscious got the message and is trying to work on winning for you. The subconscious mind is not as clever as your waking conscious mind but it is so much more powerful. It can actually affect the outer world, believe it or not, and this is where all the stories and legends of magic and magicians come from. However, it is not infallible! Those lottery numbers represent your subconscious mind's "best guess" -- there is no way to know if they are an accurate picture of a future winning combination. In fact, you will never know unless those numbers do indeed come up! This is of course very frustrating for you, so you have to make the call. Keep in mind that numbers are powerful archetypes in and of themselves, each number having a message. I would especially look at that mega number and see if it has any significance to your life.

There may be another reason those numbers came to you. Perhaps the dream is trying to reassure you that prosperity and abundance are already in your hands (the ticket) and the skills and talents the Divine gave you "match up" to the universe making you a "winner," as opposed to a loser. Many times we feel secretly guilty on some deeper level about wanting to be wealthy. We should never feel guilty about wanting to survive and thrive in this world. Get rid of any guilt and remind yourself that you DESERVE prosperity.

If there is any message in such a dream it is that you have what it takes, the right combination, to be a winner in life! That is always a good message to get from your dream weaver.

If you have any other similar dreams or if something big happens, be sure to write to us again at http://thedreamzone.com

Warm Regards,

Katia Romanoff, Ph.D.
The Dream Zone

July 28, 2004

I have had a recurring dream. Sometimes, I am in a barracks, and I put on my uniform. On another occasion, I go back to Officer's Candidate School (OCS). [In real life, I had failed OCS when I attempted it back in 1987, and I was forced to serve out my contract as enlisted. I later served in the Persian Gulf War (Saudi Arabia), but I was in a supply unit. I served as enlisted.] In my recurring dream, I am convinced to re-enlist. I then regret my decision, but there is no way to turn back. – Joe 45, Virginia Beach, VA

This dream is triggered in your current life whenever you feel the same way you felt back then: forced into something that there is no way back from. Each time this dream recurs be sure to analyse your waking life and determine what issue, situation (or person) is filling you with regret, making you feel trapped, and stuck with a decision that wasn't really decisive at all, but rather forced due to circumstances. This dream is not about failure or that you are a "loser." It's nothing of the kind. Your mind uses the powerful symbolism of your OCS disappointment and war (now that's a potent archetype!) to get the message across. Your deeper mind is using those symbols any time it wants to help you avoid current disappointments, making poor decisions or getting stuck in no-way-out "deals." Be sure to listen up!

I dreamt that I was in a forest, except that instead of trees, there were huge, sprawling mushrooms providing shade. As was walking through the forest, things became distorted. Colors ran along the mushroom trees and the edges of things became extremely fuzzy and wavy. Upon exiting the forest, I saw a city far into the distance, and my vision became very clear. I grew scared and ran back into the forest, whereupon I felt a rush of happiness. – Charles 18, Cypress, CA

The forest is some issue, situation or relationship in your life that you need to move out of. The mushrooms are your shelter while there. Mushrooms symbolize fantasy and imagination, but also mind-altering substances, as you probably know. Make sure your imagination is your shelter rather than drugs! You might be projecting imaginary good qualities or fantasies onto someone who doesn't really fit the bill, thus blinding yourself to their true colors. Notice the running colors and fuzzy vision -- both part of mind-altering experiences, but also indicating your inability to see the situation clearly. The city in the distance is your higher self, your destiny. Your vision becomes clear when you exit this relationship or situation -- when you are out of its influence. Right now you are afraid to make the quest, the journey of life -- only natural, perhaps you are still preparing to launch into adulthood -- so you go back to what's familiar and safe, even though it's not the best for you. The pain of initiation -- going out into the world -- awaits you and its gift is clear vision and finding your destiny, your higher self.

August 7, 2004

Ever since I was little I keep having a recurring dream that my family and I are standing outside the front door to our house looking in and up the staircase to the second floor. There staring back at us are our ghosts -- the ghosts of ourselves. What is this all about? - April 20, Norfolk, VA

This dream is quite fun because it could contain many layered messages, not just one. Here are some of them. It may indicate a fear you have that you and your family are "dead" to the world and only appear to be alive. The dream might recur whenever you feel like your family is emotionally dead, only going thru the motions of life rather than living it to the fullest. It could mean you realize the fragility of life and that we are all "food for worms," eventually and therefore need to settle things. It could be a connection backward and forward to your ancestors, since the Celtic belief of reincarnation is that we ARE our ancestors and are reborn into the same family lines. In other words you are seeing yourself as both alive and "dead" at the same time as a clue that souls live in cycles not from beginning to end. This also shows you are a very old soul and will go into the future ad infinitum

I had a recurring dream as a child....I am watching, from a second floor balcony, a ballerina doing a painfully slow tightrope walk over a square, between several buildings. For some reason the tension is unbearable. Later, I go to ground level, and a friend gives me a small piece of wood. Somehow this is reassuring. What does it all mean? - Steve, Victoria, BC

The ballerina represented an agile clever aspect of your young personality that was stressing over a transition or "over-coming" something. Over the square, between buildings symbolizes that transition, a difficult change and something you had to "over-come." You probably got this dream whenever you were "up too high" suffering either from childhood anxiety or pressure to do something. Your psyche knew when you needed to be grounded and would bring you back down to earth, present you with wood and make you feel better. Wood means stability and calmness, and brings to mind the knock-on-wood concept when we want to reassure ourselves that good things will continue without bad luck intruding.

I had a dream that I was running away from a snake and then got bitten three times by two different snakes. I could not find anyone to tell about the bites. Then my husband found me and I could not speak to tell him about the bites. But he took me to the hospital and I still could not speak. As I was lying in the hospital bed, I had an out of body experience and was looking at myself in the bed. That is where the dream ended. – Crystal 30, Haverstraw, NY

Snakes are a very potent and ancient element in human dreams. They represent our deepest instinctual fears coming to pass, but also the highest form of spiritual wisdom and initiation into the mysteries of life. Getting bitten by a snake in a dream is a sign of the latter. So you received a three-fold initiation -- started on a new phase of life after coming to certain realizations -- in two separate but related areas. But also ask yourself how you might have feared this change, how something good for you might have been scaring you -- and silencing you. Notice you felt unable to discuss these realizations, this new worldview you've arrived at. How have you felt that no one is listening to something you have to say, or that no one cares about your fears? (Symbolized by not being able to find anyone to tell, and by your mute-ness). Your husband's participation in the dream shows that you feel confident he cares about your fears even when you can't verbalize them -- always a good sign for a marriage. The OBE is telling you to step outside a situation and look at it as calmly, coldly and detachedly as possible, allowing your solution -- and the words to express it -- to come.

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August 7, 2004

I dream this dream many times. I dream that I am in my dead mother's or dead great aunt's houses. They are there with me and they are dead also. However, we are trying to converse but things are so hectic. I am trying to take care of many things that are happening, but things just keep getting more hectic. They are always there, but just seem oblivious to what I am doing. My other dead relatives are there also and in a dead state, too. These are people who played a crucial part in my life, but were very destructive toward me. I almost hate to go to sleep at night because I am tired of having to deal with these folks. What can I do? - Rose 56, Virginia Beach, VA

Dear Rose: This kind of dream pattern is common to people who were abused either verbally or physically by loved ones. This is you trying to grapple with this unpleasantness that still exists in your memorybanks. You were let down by loved ones when you were young but now you want to heal and move on. But your psyche keeps reminding you of the pain, of their uncaringness. They behave in your dreams as they did in real life -- oblivious and completely uncaring about your feelings of being overwhelmed, and the frenetic "hectic" tension they caused in your life. Such people were very selfish, Rose, and chose to grab and take and steal whatever they could out of life, even from an innocent they were supposed to be caring for. You are not like them because you choose to be warm and connected to loved ones, not devouring them, neglecting their needs, or using them. You can overcome these dreams by a couple methods. The best way is to write a letter to each destructive relative you are tired of dealing with. They will come back to "haunt" you in your dreams until you finally and thoroughly give them a piece of your mind. Allow yourself to be angry at them, to chew them out, tell them how wrong they were. They were the adults back then, you were the child -- they had NO RIGHT to be selfishly injure you. Say all the things you would have said if you were an adult. Call them the cowardly addicts they were. You DESERVE to feel the way you do. You don't have to send the letters -- they will "hear," and your psyche will get a sense of closure, of having the last word. Because Rose -- you DO get the last word. You are the survivor, YOU are the future of that family, not them. They are nothing but bad memories and they brought it all on themselves. Your good actions, good heart, have brought subsequently good things into your life, and you will continue to prosper.

August 14, 2004

A few months ago, I dreamt that all of my friends, me and my boyfriend were in a college class together. In the class we each got a pet squirrel to care for, kind of like the fake baby you get in highschool health class that cries and such. Everybody was doing fine with their squirrels, except for me. My squirrel hated me and bit me constantly. At one point in the dream I had huge welts and bruises all over my face from where the squirrel was attacking and biting me. So I tried to contain the squirrel by putting it in a metal bin with a bucket but it still escaped, I then tried to bash it with a bat, but it still lived. Finally (get ready for this it's weird!) I put it in a glass pan, like one you might use to bake a cake, and filled it with a green goo. Then I froze the squirrel. After it was frozen I took the squirrel and bashed it with a bat, shattering it into a million pieces! - Kelly 19, Rocky River, OH

The squirrel represents some instinct or urge you think is getting out of control in your life. Perhaps you secretly desire to have a baby and do the motherhood thing (hormones and biology are powerful forces working inside each of us) but your intellect wants to do the college and career track. Your feminine instincts are embarrassing, and might cause you to lose face in front of your friends and boyfriend. That's why the welts and bruises were primarily on your face. You had to contain your biological instinct (in the glass pan), cover it with immobilizing fears (goo) and further paralyze it (freezing). Only then with your control over yourself restored, could you destroy it. Whew, what a battle! You were victorious, though -- at least for now! Biology usually wins in the end, you know, so be on guard for more instincts and urges to come to the surface. Rest assured that nobody really notices your inner battles and in fact have their own internal warfare. You only THINK everyone has their life under control because they all look so calm. This is why in your dream it seemed you were the only one having a problem.

Hi, I have a scary dream that I cannot get out of my head! In my dream, I am in a house that I lived in when I was in grade 1 or 2. It is an older house and the stairs going up lead right to a bedroom on the left and right of the top of the stairs. My husband and I are upstairs in one of the rooms. I hear the front door open downstairs and my husband yells that he is home now. I look downstairs and tell him I will be right down. I look at my husband upstairs and tell him to be quiet and to stay put, while I go downstairs. Downstairs, my other husband is on the computer and I hug and kiss him. Then the other husband comes downstairs and taps the one at the computer on the shoulder, to get his attention. This is when I wake up because these husbands are the same guy and look like twins in my dream. I woke up very scared and almost felt like something bad would happen if I saw both husbands look at each other. What could this mean?! - Jessie, Victoria, BC

You split your husband into two beings, illustrating that you want him both upstairs and downstairs in your life. You like the intimate guy in the bedroom and like the working man who inhabits the downstairs part of your "house", but lately you are afraid he is changing. You fear he will not be able to successfully "merge" his working everyday self with the loving husband and physical mate you cherish. You are worried another side of him is emerging that will cause trouble in your relationship. Have you ever felt he is duplistic or "two-faced"? You may have had a similar fear regarding your father since the dream setting is a childhood house. Perhaps it was impossible to merge the two personalities of your father -- the working "go-away" man and loving father-at-home man. If he was an angry person or in any way abusive, that could also cause this "split" man in your mind. Consider the different aspects of your husband's personality and if anything about him might be triggering some deep inner worry. If he spends too much time on that computer you saw him at, ask him what the heck he's doing plugged in all that time. You could be harboring a fear regarding the computer making him two men instead of a "whole" and healthy being.

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August 17, 2004

lauri writes:

Is it possible for someone to never ever have a sex dream? And if it is true that this person has never had a sex dream, can they not induce one?

Well, damn. Yes, actually it is possible that someone could go thru life without having a sex content dream; but what's more likely is that they've had such dreams -- maybe one or two -- and those are the ones they don't remember.

I myself have only had about a dozen sex dreams in my entire adult life (poor me!), so they can be rare. I have had clients tell me they don't ever get them, so I guess we have to believe 'em. Hah.

If it's a man I don't believe him. <snort>. No, seriously, if it's a man it's really rare indeed because their hormones are such that they cycle every twelve hours and this inevitably happens from time to time during sleep. They have 365 chances a year to have a hormone triggered dream, in other words, whereas women have only about 24, some women having also the night before their period begins as a hormone trigger "event", so that makes 36 times a year at most. BIG difference. Now not all sex content dreams are hormone triggered, but usually. There is also the psychological and personality thing to consider. Some gals are nymphos and some (very rare) men are saints/celibates.

How to trigger one! Well, that's a good question! Compensatory sex dreams come to us when in waking life we "ain't gettin' enough," so I guess one could starve themselves(!) while awake to trigger one. But that's a lame idea, if you ask me. It all comes back to lucidity I would think. That's the only option! Or wait! Unless one uses tantric or sex magick techniques. Approaching orgasm but not climaxing for several nights in a row before sleep is bound to produce the desired results! Contact your dream lover for sure. This is taught to advanced initiates in Mystery Schools (not mine!) as part of making love to angels or one's anima/animus or one's "divine lover." In the middle ages you know what they called these lovers -- succubus and incubus. Very scary indeed, they were, but now we know it's actually quite healthy to have a DREAM lover.

Hope this helps, let me know if you need more info or have a specific question. Sex is always a fun topic. Hah.

Katia

August 21, 2004

My mother has worked for UPS for like 20 years now. I haven't had this dream since I have been married and out of my parents house. But when I lived there I used to dream that the UPS driver would come to my house and take my mom out to his truck and cut off her legs then bring her back in. And that is all of the dream I can remember but it was a recurring dream that I had a lot as a child and teenager. – Jessica 21, Brookhaven, MS

As a child, you had an inner conflict regarding your mother working. Although it's a job that keeps your mother on the move, you have always secretly feared that her mobility has been cut off. You don't think she's ever going to "get anywhere" with UPS and you mistrust her employer. As a child you unknowingly mistrusted or even resented something that your mother spent so much time on. So many kids quietly resent their mother's job -- and don't even know it. Now married and out of the house the dreams have stopped because you don't need (or crave) your mother's undivided attention any longer. Your recurring dream must have been triggered whenever you felt the pain of the separation caused by her work.

August 22, 2004

I was a werewolf, transforming into/out of one a few times in the dream. I could feel the pain during the transformation from the depths of my gut to the center of my face. My mouth would salivate profusely and my fangs were Alien-like; long and thin, ice-pick sharp and made of what seemed to be an exotic shiny silver metal. I remember the cold feeling of them. The frequency of my transformations in the dream diminished each time. In the first transformations, I attempted to resist their onset, but it was too overbearing. They were very forceful. I became better able at fending off the transformations with each passing one. During the last transformation I was able to fend it off...almost completely. I was weary of resisting by the time only superficial indications of the werewolf became apparent. At this point, the transformation ebbed and I was left exhausted, sitting against a wall (I think) on a floor or it might have been on a step in a stairwell, sitting against the wall. – Kent 29, New Braunfels, TX

Are you resisting any kind of "transformation" in your life right now? You are afraid some role or personality is taking you over -- what kind of person do you NOT want to be? It could be an anger problem -- you don't like when anger takes you over and makes you a ravening beast. But it could be any "beastly" trait that you secretly fear will "transform" you into something you are not. Ending up against a wall is an interesting cliche -- ask yourself what "wall" you are "up against". If you were on a stairwell that is yet another symbol in dreams of transition and transformation. You triumph in this dream and that is the strongest message I see -- very positive outcome. Though it can exhaust us, the process of self-improvement and resisting unwholesome elements is vital. Your progressive adeptness at resisting this "evil" is a very encouraging sign.

August 29, 2004

I had a dream once that I was with my brother and looked down to realize a gun was in my hand. Before I knew what I was doing, I shot him in the foot. I felt so bad and wanted to help him but for some reason, I couldn't. Then, out of nowhere, my manager, Casey, came into the dream. She also had a gun. Casey said my brother had seen too much and shot him in the head. I want to know what this dream meant. – Stacie 18, Clarksville, AR

Don't worry, it doesn't mean you secretly desire to harm your brother. In fact, it means the opposite! You were worried he was getting around too much, going places he should not go. Shooting yourself or someone in the foot means slow down and stay put awhile -- that's what you wanted him to do. If you had wanted to totally immobilize him or otherwise ground him you would've shot him in both feet! Now your manager-boss symbolizes an authoritative "bossy" part of your OWN personality. That part of you is also worried about your brother, but fears he has "seen" some things he shouldn't have. The saying, "There are things you can't un-see," comes to mind. Perhaps you are afraid he will be tainted or traumatized however slightly by something he has seen or experienced. It could also mean you are afraid he "knows too much" about something you've done and want kept secret. Are you trying to protect him, are you worried about him, or are you afraid he'll go and tattle-tale on you! This dream might have a double layered message.

I entered a motel that looked deserted. Then a person I work with (Michele) appeared. I tried turning on the lights and nothing happened. I told Michele I was there for the evening and was heading out of town the next morning. All of a sudden a dog/cat appeared and I found myself telling Michele that the animal had gone to the bathroom on me and I had to go back home to change clothes. The next moment I was in the car driving. My eyes were heavy like I was going to sleep. I turned a corner and my eyes closed shut. I tried to open them and couldn't so I slammed on the brakes. The car didn't stop so I tried to open my eyes with my hands. Then all of a sudden arms came through the seat and wrapped around me (like a big bear hug) and I heard a man's voice say "Welcome Home". I immediately woke up. What could this possibly mean? - Ellen 43, Brown Deer, WI

The deserted motel represents some temporary dilemma you are in. You feel helpless and unable to shed any light on the situation (lights won't turn on). You want to move beyond this problem, whatever it is, and is has to do with being "pissed on." What person, thing or situation made you feel suddenly betrayed, abused or "dumped" on. You really are trying to move on and get over this, that's why we see you in your car next. But you still can't see clearly. First you were in the dark regarding this matter and now you have your eyes closed to the situation. What in life might have you "blind-sighted," or what suspicions are you closing your eyes to? Part of you is trying to get all the facts and see the reality of it all, but another part won't let you look. Your common sense says, "Fine then! We will stop everything until this is settled!" (slamming on the brakes). If you felt at peace during the welcome home hug, it means you are soon going to resolve this pain once and for all. But if those arms coming out of nowhere frightened or made you nervous, it could mean you are still resisting the solution, and fear the conflict it might cause. The dream has a positive message however because it shows that your common sense is at work and you are seeking clear vision in all matters of your life.

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September 2, 2004

Dear Dream Zone,

I have a recurring nightmare that I am about to die. In my dream I know that if a black veil or object covers my face I will die and I have to wake up before it happens. It's like I can see the blackness coming over me and I have to force myself awake or else I know I will die. I usually wake up screaming "No! No!" It feels very real to me even after I am awake.– Lisa 42, Manitoba, Canada

Dr. Katia: What in the world are you up against in your waking life? Whatever it is, 'tis truly daunting. Are you battling occasional bouts of depression. extreme feelings of loss or a fear that you missed out on something important? This big fat disappointment or depression, a memory or fear you'd rather not "face" (the veil tries to cover your face) keeps threatening to overwhelm you. But you are able, by the use of self discipline, to "force" yourself into a solution. It feels so real because your subconscious wants to warn you this is about a real situation you need to face, resolve and put behind you. Before you go to sleep tonight lie there in bed and replay this dream in your mind. But when the veil gets to your face GRAB it, and rip it in half. It tears like silk. Throw it down and see it shatter into a shower of rose petals. They flutter to the ground at your feet in an actually pleasant and aromatic way. You step forward and onward. Onward into your life free of fear and anxiety. Practice this visualization as many times as possible -- once each night if you can -- till this unpleasant dream stops recurring.

September 8, 2004

Dear :

If you believe in past lives -- and that's a big IF -- your complex dream could indeed be a past life "glimpse." Reincarnation is such a touchy subject. So many of the world's religions teach it or at least hint at it, but of course there is no way to prove people are really born again into new bodies. There is also the theory of genetic memory -- we inherit memories of our ancestors via our DNA -- that unbroken chain leading back thru the minds of each and every ancestor. Then there is the psychic theory of "residual material" you might "pick up on" because for some reason you resonate with the life of that young woman who appeared in your dream. In other words, you were not her, but her life -- and possibly her death -- have a strong message for you and reach you by the collective unconscious. When we sleep we are tapped into the collective unconscious and just because someone has died, doesn't mean their residual memories, fears, pain, realizations don't linger awhile. Also still in the psychic phenomenon category there is the proximity element to consider -- perhaps she died at the exact moment you were born in the same hospital you were delivered. You never know...

I would be remiss if I did not now explain the skeptic point of view, which would say the so-called power of suggestion caused that dream to occur because you wanted your mind to create something about a past life. We are all good script writers -- we learn drama and relationships from an early age in our media TV culture. So your subconscious might have simply invented the whole dream to send you a message in picture language, not to tell you about a past life. Now let me tell you what the messages of your dream are if you consider it a teaching dream, not a past life glimpse. Scroll down and find my interpretations inserted within the text of your dream report:

_______________________________
YOU WROTE:
First, I'd like to begin by saying that I was born in 1974 and I've been reading a book about dreams and past lives and in the book they say to ask yourself or rather your subconscious a question regarding your former life... Something you want to know about it... If you do this usually your dream will answer you... So, I asked myself over and over as I was falling asleep "In what past life was I most happy?" and this is the dream I had...

************** As you probably have already considered, there is no way to know that this was your happiest past life. It may have just been the most recent, OR may be a "regular" message dream created by your sleeping mind commenting on and teaching about your current life situations and relationships.

Beginning, it's afternoon and by everyone's clothes and cars I believe it to be in the 70's... I'm in a store maybe a gift shop in a casino.

**************Casinos in dreams represent risk-taking and that part of you that wants to take risks but maybe shouldn't. If you are the kind of person who hesitates or is afraid to do something new, this dream may have chosen the casino setting to tell you it's time to put yourself out on a limb and take a chance. However, if you are already a risk taker this dream setting might be telling you to carefully consider this time before doing anything drastic.

I'm there with a man. He has dark hair and brown eyes, he is wearing a royal blue suit with a white shirt, no tie. He has someone with him, an employee or bodyguard. He is also wearing a suit with no tie. It's brown with a cream colored shirt. He has brown, bushy hair that is combed back in flybacks.

**************The man represents your inner beloved, the masculine "soul mate" side of your psyche. We all have an inner soul mate that we try to find reflected in a real person. For men this contrasexual self (psychology term) is called the anima, in women the soul mate is called the animus. So he is possibly your animus appearing in this dream in an effort to communicate with you and achieve the eventual goal of perfect union with you. Your animus may appear in future dreams and won't look like this darkhaired man. He can look very different but each time you will feel VERY in love with him and he will be of numinous almost other worldly quality -- you feel a psychic connection. That is your clue that you are dealing with your animus.

There are two other women with us, I'm not sure who they are and I don't really remember what they are wearing. The dark haired man and I start to argue about something, I'm not sure what. I tell him that it is over but I'm not yelling. I leave the group of people and overhear the dark haired man tell the man in the brown suit to have me followed. As I'm leaving the shop or whatever it was I tell myself to take my time going back to the car because I know he'll be there. I'm walking and I look into my purse, a small over the shoulder bag with a short strap, it's brown and made out of a soft weave material. I notice an electronic device inside flashing, I assume it's a tracking device and I ditch it by a slot machine on my way out. (This leads me to believe we are at a casino)

**************You are having a conflict with your animus right now but you know he'll always be there because he is part of your psyche after all. All the brown indicates it might have to do with some earthy or "down-to-earth" issue. The tracking device and having you followed are both symbols of the automatic link that exists between you and your animus.

I begin to carry my purse like I would a pair of books, cradled in my arms and I walk out into the parking lot and spot my car. It's blue and small like an old Mercedes. I see an ambulance in the parking lot and paramedics giving someone on the ground CPR. When the person is revived and stands up I notice that it is the dark haired man! I instantly drop my purse, call out his name "Vin!" and run into his arms. We embrace for a moment and he drops a kiss me the top of my head then tells me that everything is all right.

***************Even if you try to ditch him or sever that link, your love for him will take you back into his arms. You love him because he NEEDS you to complete him and because your psyche needs HIM to complete your own wholeness. Once you unite with him in harmony you can find true wholeness in "real" relationships, in your marriage. Like magic, once your inner conflicts are resolved (and your husband's) the two of you will realize you truly were made for each other and reaffirm all the reasons why you got married in the first place. Completing this process (or not) is what makes some marriages life-time successes and others not. So this is a good thing to work on.

Suddenly, it's night we are standing in the back of a club. There are red carpeted benches behind us. I'm wearing a thin, white dress. Vin is looking around as I cling to his arm and kiss his is neck. I ask him to leave because I think something is going to happen. He refuses but suggests that I go home without him. I refuse and tell him that if he is going to die then I want to die with him. Again, I cling tightly to him, feeling very much in love with this man.

****************We see here more feelings showing up in your dream to tell you this is your soulmate; showing that you are profoundly connected to your animus. Your dreamweaver uses the color white (bridal, sacred feminine) to illustrate your innocence; the thinness of the dress showing you feel vulnerable and about to be exposed. Notice your fear that something big is about to happen. Ask yourself if you feel anxious about something unexpected happening in your waking life.

Then we are now sitting on the red carpeted benches next to two women. Not the same women that were with us previously. Vin begins talking with them while my arm is still linked around his. He ends up talking them into going home with us. Apparently, he wanted me to sleep with the women and him. I had unsure feelings about it but I am so in love with him I agree to do it.

****************This part of the dream tells you that although you sometimes fear you will not be the center of his undivided attention you shouldn't let love make you do something against your principles.

The dream then turns to morning. I'm lying on the foot of a round bed with red, silky sheets and I'm alone. I'm half asleep. Vin is dressed in a different suit, white with a black shirt. Again, with no tie. He is standing over me and places a gentle hand to my forehead and softly stokes my hair. As he leaves the room his employee is standing outside the room dressed in the same brown suit. I hear him tell Vin that he doesn't understand why he would need other women when he has me. Vin is angry and tells him to mind his own business. He shuts the door behind him.

***************/Now here we see the part of you that does NOT want to go against your principles standing up for yourself. You question your beloved (that employee in the brown suit is an aspect of your own personality) and are not afraid to incur his wrath.

This is all I remember but for some reason I have a vague recollection of being shot and Vin crying. What is this about?

****************The ending indicates that when it comes down to it, you will deprive your soulmate of your company by "killing off" the relationship if he does not start focusing on you and only you. The dream may have taken a turn here and be commenting on your own life. How do you feel that you are not getting the undivided attention you deserve? Do you feel undervalued in any area of life -- relationship, work, etc.? If so, this dream could be telling you to stand up for yourself, don't let "love" blind you to uncomfortable harmful situations.
_________________________________

Your dream is overall very fascinating because it not only exhibits psychic phenomenon but also -- at the same time -- could have messages for your life right now. Be sure to keep a dream journal and record any other psychic type dreams that come to you. There is so much about consciousness and the great collective human mind that we just don't know. You are a pioneer to study and record your dreams with the reincarnation aspect in mind. Good for you and keep exploring!

And of course keep dreaming!

Warm Regards,

Katia Romanoff, Ph.D.

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September 11, 2004

The other night I had a dream that I was in my elementary school gym with the children in my class when I was in elementary school. They were all in about 5th or 6th grade while I was in the present grade which is 9th. They were all running around, playing in gym class while I was just standing there in the middle of the gym floor standing in front of my 8th grade teacher who died in November of this year. We were standing still while all these kids were running around us, I'm sure they didn't even notice that we were there. He was talking to me a lot but yet I only remember him saying, "Well Maura at least we can talk in dreams now." I've had several dreams about him and his four year old daughter, and my best friend has as well. - Maura 15, Holmes, NY

You have gained some maturity beyond your years because of a the sudden death of your teacher. A teacher is a strong part of a kid's life and to lose one is almost like losing a parent. It affected you deeply while others seem not to even notice. The world goes on all around you (the kids playing) but part of you feels frozen in time, standing still, unable to move. This dream and any dream about a deceased person who was a big part of your life shows that you are still struggling with the loss. The subconscious takes awhile to heal from such a thing -- often years and years. Your dream also serves to reassure you that he will connect to you thru your memories of him and you can heal thru your dreams. Dreaming of his little daughter shows that you connect to her (via empathy) on some level because she is profoundly affected by his loss, too. The whole subject is depressing, but you will go on. You and the children whose lives he touched, whose minds he opened doors inside, are the future. You and his daughter carry his essence and his goals into the far future. In this way people who do good works and make a helpful difference in the lives of others are "immortal."

I dreamed that there were bats in my mother's house, and while I was trying to hit them with a bat, they just kept coming, more and more. I got bit in the forehead by one of the vampire bats then my face started to sink in because they were poisonous. I was on the way to the hospital, but then my fillings started to fall out as a result of the poison. I could actually taste the fillings and feel myself crunching on them. That's when I woke up. – Kyle, Newburgh, NY

Wow! this dream is a clear case of losing face and subsequently losing your sense of security. Teeth represent our feeling of permanence and security so when they start to fall out or break down as in your dream, it means we fear something bad is happening that will change our lives forever. The bats represent people or forces that seem out to get you -- or nasty/unkind words that were hurled at you. You tried to defend yourself by "batting" back but one of the hurtful things (something someone said, or an event that occurred lately which hurt you) caused you to lose face. Ask yourself how you have felt embarrassed or "attacked" lately? This dream shows you are able to defend yourself. Going to the hospital indicates you know it's better to attempt to heal from this rather than lash out seeking revenge. That's a good sign.

September 22, 2004

I was in a room with people I knew and there was unrest and conflict. There was a gorilla that the conflict needed to be settled with. I said I would be the one and I had to have sex with him. I kept telling myself, I can't have sex with an animal, I couldn't even have sex, because I am not married. I was very conflicted yet, knew I had to do this to appease him. So I relented reluctantly, and as he started to lay over me it turned into a "black" man. That was the end of the dream. (We didn't have sex, and no, I have not seen or even thought of King Kong or any other type of primate.) - Pennie 49, Gilbert, AZ

Ask yourself three quick questions to determine what part of your life this dream is trying to correct. How have you felt forced to "submit" and relent in your life? Who or what have you felt compelled to appease? What forces have created and used unrest and conflict to manipulate you? Gorillas are black, and as it transformed into a manlike figure, it kept that dark color. Black represents the unknown or shadowy aspects of your life. The gorilla is a "beastly" fear you feel helpless "under." Besides being a symbol of repressed sexual energy, gorillas in dreams can mean you are going too far with something, over compensating, over doing it. There is something going on with you that requires you to stand up for yourself and say, "No, I am not an appeaser. I have to answer to my own standards and desires, not yours."

I have had this dream only once and have never forgotten. In my dream, I awaken and see before me a land in ruins. My view in the dream is panoramic and all I can see is people in despair as if a great war has occurred and these are the survivors. As I gain awareness of myself, I see that I am above everything floating in the air. I take my hand and move it from right to left before me in my line of sight. As my hand passes in front of me, the view changes from death and destruction to fields of green grass with large Oak trees where the people are happy and playful. About half way across my field of vision, I stop to see both the good (to the right) and the bad (to the left). Then I move my hand to change all that I see to the fields of green grass. – Brian 34, High Point. NC

Just changing your point of view helps you deal with cataclysmic change in your life. Your worldview, your perspective, can be changed instantly and effortlessly by a mature or enlightened outlook. Tragedies and disasters, even fears of the world's end can be conquered by realizing you are above both pleasure and pain/despair, that neither can affect the eternal essence of your immortal soul. Your hand movement is you taking steps to resolve a conflict (the classic conflict of all time) between good and evil. We see you conquer and rise "above" the pairs of opposites by healing the pain, making your world new again and putting an end to suffering. Ending suffering is the divine commission, the messianic "urge" of all great ones. So good for you...and wow what a spiritual life you are meant to have! The key phrase in this dream is quite potent: "gain awareness" of self. Self-awareness, self-realization -- knowing with your gut rather than your intellect -- is the goal of spiritual seekers the world over. This dream reveals you are about to take your mind (consciousness) to the next level. Evolve!

September 29, 2004

Last night I dreamed that my friend and I cut off all our hair and traded, she attached my hair to her head and I attached her hair to my head. I then dreamed I was taking care of my ex mother-in-law's dog that was much smaller than it should've been but I forgot it in its cage causing it to be left there for 24 hours. I remember being very upset about this, as I have three dogs of my own that I really love. I woke up feeling pretty horrible. – Melana 26, Norfolk, VA

The hair switch indicates that you want to switch attitudes with your friend -- especially regarding health or sensuality. It also shows you too exchange a kind of sisterly love. You want her to have your attitude about something, and she wants you to have hers. Dogs represent people or things in your care. Have you felt lately that you let someone down or neglected to take care of a project which depended on your input to survive? You are feeling way to much guilt over it. Guilt is a four-letter word, so that's a no-no!

I was in some other world; everything was sharp and made of glass. I'm running down the street from a giant glass ball, my feet don't want to run very fast. I look up and am running up a hill, the ball still chasing me. In the far distance I hear a loud shrill scream. Then I wake up. I had a repeat of the same dream the next night. – Joel 19, Hawthorn, CA

Being in a glass world might mean you feel like you're being watched all the time. Glass is a substance easily shattered, like our feelings and sense of security can be. Examine those areas of your life and make sure you are not trying to get away from some vulnerable or "exposing" situation. Being chased in a dream often means there is something we don't want to face and in your case you also fear you're fighting an uphill battle. When a dream comes more than once it is trying to convey a vital message. Have you made sharp or cutting remarks that offended others -- or are you avoiding someone or some situation because you've been hurt by such?

Vulnerability, confusion and frailty. You may have difficulties in communicating your thoughts across and getting the right words out. Alternatively, it may symbolize your hurtful and cutting comments. Perhaps you have been hurt or disappointed by something that someone had said. Or you need to be careful in how you phrase and word things or run the risk of offending others

To see broken glass in your dream, signifies a change in your life. You will find that a situation will come to an abrupt and untimely end.

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October 3, 2004

Hi Katia!

I’ve been asked this question a lot lately and I do not know the answer nor have I been able to find any information about it…

Certain prescription drugs cause nightmares, vivid dreams and so on. Do these dreams still have a meaning?

Thanks!!

-Lauri Quinn Loewenberg, D. Div.

KATIA ANSWERS:
-- "it depends". Hah. You have to spend a bit of time with the dreamer in such a case so that you can get a good picture of their dream life before they started the meds. You look at each current dream and ask them specifically about it, "Is this dream in keeping with your overall dreaming pattern -- or is it an anomaly, a bizarre kind of dream for you?" If it is only a little more intense than their normal dreams, it is "valid" and you should interpret the symbols therein. If however, the "new" dreams are full of anxiety and qualify as nightmares, provided the person did not have nightmares like that before, than the dreams/nightmares are an anxious/negative reaction of the brain to the meds. Certain medicines (and even foods!) freak the sleeping brain out -- making it SEEM anxious, afraid, when really it isn't. It's unpleasant for the dreamers, but there is no meaning to the dreams other than the brain chemistry change. Sometimes you can still look at the SYMBOLS used in such a medication-inspired nightmare and find clues to what's bothering a dreamer, but you always have to keep in mind (and explain to them) that such dreams are an exaggeration of what they really feel or fear.

October 4, 2004

I dreamed that my two cousins (both of whom I haven't seen in years) stole my clothes. I was very upset by this. I managed to get my clothes back from them but I still felt betrayed. I awoke from the dream with this same feeling. I went back to sleep and had another dream but this time involving closer family members (my mother and sister). Again my clothes were stolen. I also lost my baby (I don't have any children). But by the end of the dream, I was able to get both back. This dream was not as upsetting. – Dawn 25, Toronto, ON

Clothes in dreams represent your public self, the attitudes, personality and character traits you show the world. You feel that something from your past that you haven't been paying attention to (symbolized by those cousins) has stripped you of self-esteem and robbed you of your good character forcing you to fight to restore it. Ask yourself what or who has made you feel betrayed or robbed lately. Is there a situation or issue you are facing which has made you feel vulnerable and exposed (without clothes)? Another thing clothing can represent is status. Did you recently feel knocked down a peg in your mother or sister's esteem? Babies represent vulnerable new projects so you should examine any project or relationship that was "stolen" from you forcing you to scramble to get it back on track. The fact that your dream ends with you less upset and back in control of both baby and your appearance is a good sign. Any betrayal or feelings of vulnerability will be temporary because you are the kind of person who will DO something about it, not just sit back and take it. Good for you!

I have a recurring dream that I am lost in the jungle/rainforest and I am frantically running away from something, sometimes it is dogs, other times I don't know what it is. I come to a trailer in the middle of the jungle and I run inside, all the way to the end of the house, screaming for someone to help me. When I get to the end of the house, there is a very large man, lying naked in the bed. He looks at me and says, "There is only one way out of here," (like he wants to get me in a sexual way). Sometimes the dream ends there and sometimes I turn around and run. I was wondering if you think this is somehow related to me being sexually molested as a child. It was not by a heavyset man though, and he was not naked. It wasn't even in a trailer or the woods. I hope you can help. – Jennifer 23, Warsaw, NC

The jungle in dreams represents inhibited things in your psyche that are now breaking loose in a good way. Because of your awful experience as a child your sexuality has been inhibited for years. The jungle dreams are coming to help you break free, but it will take time because you are still running from the idea of being sexually desirable (VERY understandable). You were burned and "damaged" by some jerk's perverted sexual desires. So the concept of being desirable looms large (big man) as a fear in your psyche. Him being naked now indicates you have stripped your bad experience of some of its power; you have exposed its weakness. The trailer symbolizes temporary status and impermanence, meaning your fears and inhibitions won't last. (Healthy sign!) Running and being chased in dreams always represents something we don't want to face. But because you are having these dreams it shows you are on the mend and have actually begun to realize what the problem is. That's very good considering how young you are. Many abused people take a lifetime to heal, but you are working this out in time to have a normal life!

October 12, 2004

I'm looking through my own eyes in this recurring dream. I'm standing in an all white room (white walls, white ceiling, white tile floor). Sometimes there are two tiny windows, most of the time not. There's a little girl standing in the corner. She looks about 8 or so. She's in a white old fashioned nightgown. She has very long, straight black hair, and very pale. My dream starts focusing on her face, getting closer and closer until it's the only thing I can see. She has no eyes, just cold black sockets. – Amanda 21, Houston, TX

You have lost not only your innocence and naivete (all the white) but also your old fashioned values. The black sockets are a death symbol showing that at least on the surface of life (the girl's face) you have lost much. Perhaps you are feeling cornered are not "seeing" something. Have you focused too much on the surface ("face") of some issue or relationship and ended up blind to something vital? The tiny windows also symbolize the inability to see and the failure to shed light on a situation.

My mom passed away in July of this year and every night I have recurring dreams of talking to her but last night I had a really freaky one. I was on a path on a mountain. There was an opening in the mountain so I walked in. It was like a mausoleum. I was stepping on all these graves and then walked to my Mom's. The grave turned into a wall which my uncle opened up and we pulled her out. All of a sudden the cave was a maze that I had to go thru. When I got thru the maze my Mom was stretched out in a plastic bag lying on a hospital stretcher with plastic on her. Her eyes suddenly opened and she was trying to gasp for air. I removed the plastic and when I did she turned really young and she had a bright look in her eyes. After that I woke up crying. – Amaris 23, Hollywood, FL

The path on the mountain is a classic dream symbol of the "journey of life." You are going forward with your life after your mother's death but you are still grappling with her loss. It takes the deep mind a long time to deal with the loss of a loved one, and dreams are a huge part of that healing process. Death causes confusion in the subconscious who desires to solve everything so that all "comes thru" in the end. This is symbolized by the maze in your dream, from which you got thru okay. You want her to come back to life; you want to pull her out of the grave. Plastic is a fascinating dream symbol which represents the seeming immortality wrought by technology and modern medicine. Technology and modernity can suffocate us, however, doing more harm than good. The dream ends with a wonderful message showing that even though you wish you could bring her back you realize it's best to free your mother's spirit so that she can be forever young and bright-eyed. Interestingly, spirit means breath. We see you helping her "breathe" freely at last, thus allowing her transformation and your own healing to progress (your cathartic crying at the end).

October 19, 2004

Dear Dream Zone,

I had this dream only once several months ago but it has puzzled me ever since because I remembered it so vividly. I am riding an old girl's one-speed bicycle and have stopped at an intersection in an unfamiliar residential neighborhood. I don't recognize any of the large, old homes across the street and as I am standing there trying to decide which way to go now, I look over to my left. Several yards away stands an adult leopard. It slowly turns its head to look at me and as I stare it suddenly leaps right toward me. I wake up. Any thoughts?
- Leslie, 50 Victoria, BC

Leopards symbolize uninhibited feminine passions, both physical and mental (your wild woman side!). You are in a state of important decision making in your life right now, trying to find what direction to drive yourself. The leopard aspect of your psyche leaps at you in order to merge with you, become one with you. On a different level, leopards represent impossible change. Leopards have spots that cannot be changed, which could be a message or warning that some one or some thing in your life is never going to change. The old "one speed" bicycle is a metaphor of your own body. Bikes are about balance -- you are trying to balance health and sexuality, perhaps. You feel like you can only go one speed these days and sometimes feel lost in unfamiliar territory. Maybe your hormonal "change" is going on? If so, you are entering the wisewoman phase of life where all power, including the feminine feline ferocity of the leopard, is yours, all yours. Embrace it! Revel in it!

I dreamt I was having a party outside. I was standing with a friend and we were both looking into the woods and we saw a small unicorn, about the size of a cat. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I asked my friend if she saw it too and she said yes. Then the unicorn scurried up into a tree like a squirrel! - Liz 30, Dayton, OH

Cool! Lucky you to see a unicorn. Unicorns are an awesome symbol of the sacred feminine, of a "goddess" hidden in our Western religions. They only show themselves to the pure in heart. In what area of your life have you been pure-hearted, insisting on integrity and honesty above all things? The unicorn in your dream also represents a magical and powerful "force" at work in your life (with the power to change the world, in fact!) that only you and your friend have the right mind-set to see at this time. It is still elusive, only showing itself to you when it chooses and scurrying away in fear of being misunderstood. It could represent a mystery you are about to solve, a spiritual path you are about to embark on, or a hidden truth you came to realize, or a secret of the ages....or all of the above! Tis very fascinating all around!

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October 27, 2004

I dreamt that I woke up one morning and I was VERY pregnant. I just began my day as usual and all of a sudden I went into labor and it occurred to me that no one knows. I had to call my husband and tell him that I am having a baby right then. At the hospital I gave birth to a large baby boy. (I would place him at about 6-9 months) Fast forward I am at home and I hear him cry. When I get to his crib there is nothing there. The baby is gone and there are lots of little frogs jumping around everywhere. Then my dog tells me not to worry, that the baby went for a walk. I breathe a sigh of relief and go back to bed. My husband asks if I am ok and I told him that the baby went for a walk and the dog is watching the frogs in the bed. We kiss goodnight and that is all I remember. Just so you know, I have no children and I am not pregnant. Strange? - Christina 26, Las Vegas, NV

The kiss at the end shows that you found your prince and he is no frog. Lucky you! Frogs symbolize fertility and eroticism as well as "leaping" from one thing to another unable to decide. Are your baby-making hormones jumping around inside your mind and body? Are you wanting to do the immortality thing (have a baby) but still uncertain? No one knows your biological clock is speaking to you about motherhood, not even you, as shown by the opening of the dream. The dog represents your instincts telling you all is well even though your nest is empty. At your age there is plenty of time to become immortal by having a child. But if you want that kid to have siblings to call on the phone when she/he is 30 and lonely, and if you want fun family gatherings with more than one offspring and later multiple cousin/grandkids running around, NOW is the time to get started. Have a couple kids before you're 35 and be done with it. Frogs are fertility symbols after all, so this could be a message from on high!

I dreamt of my ex-girlfriend, with whom I broke up two weeks ago. We were both in the same space, sitting on the floor with crossed knees. We were facing each other. She was dressed in white and so was I. I have some sort of jewelry in the palm of my hand. It might have been a diamond necklace I offered her a while ago. I showed her that necklace in the dream. Then she stood up, took off her clothes, and all her body (except her face) was covered with golden-feather-like shapes. We had a peaceful break up. I still feel a lot for her. – Jon 29, Boston, MA

Underneath the surface (her clothes), your ex turned out to be incompatible to you. Feathers represent many things such as the cowardly inability to commit to a partner, and also the transitory nature of life. Nothing is forever, things change, losses occur. The golden color reminds you that all that glitters is not gold. Even though you might have thought she was the one, the real thing, she isn't. Diamonds are not forever in her case, symbolized by the diamond necklace. There is another soul mate waiting in the wings for you. It may take awhile for her to appear, but she will materialize when you are emotionally ready.

November 4, 2004

CARDBOARD RING DREAM

I had a dream that my boyfriend and I got married, but the ring was a cardboard cut-out of a heart, really cheap looking. Then his ex-wife (he's been married before) called and was telling him that she misses him, and she was glad they got to kiss again. I was really upset in my dream, then it turned into me hanging over the side of a pool, watching old friends play volley ball, THEN it turned into a bath tub, and the dream ended with a co-worker shooting me. Then I woke up. What does that mean? - Marie 23, High Falls, NY

Your dream switches scenes alot because you are emotionally bouncing around about your boyfriend right now. Part of you wants to marry this guy but you are afraid his commitment to you (ring) might not be "the real thing" (cardboard). You are sometimes worried that he might have lingering feelings toward his ex-wife and any exchange of feelings between them (kiss) would be rock your world at this time! The pool symbolizes artificially contained emotions but then it transforms into a cleansing situation (bath tub) indicating you need to clean up your emotional "mess" and find a little healing. The volley ball game reveals that you could go either way, left or right, about him. Are you undecided or uncertain of the outcome of your relationship -- worried that it might not even lead to marriage, just shacking up? If the co-worker and you have any tension between you, that part of the dream is obvious. You feel threatened by her. But if that's not the case, the co-worker is being used as a symbol. What does that co-worker mean to you? Describe her in the first three words that pop into your head when you think of her. Those three things seem to be "wounding" you. Examine any areas in your love life especially where you feeling wounded, shot down, or perhaps even shot thru the heart.

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KING KONG DREAM

I used to have this dream often (esp. as a child) but now it's only on occasion. I am back at my childhood home being chased by several King Kongs. I try to run into the house but can't, so I have to hide in the trees. I usually wake up terrified and cannot go back to sleep. In the dream I'm whatever age I am at the time of having it. – Alaina 35, Arlington, TX

This dream has come to you throughout your life any time you feel a situation in waking life is getting out of your control or feel threatened by your own primitive impulses. Those King Kongs are actually part of you. They represent YOUR vital power (and sometimes repressed sexual energy) which can get out of control causing you to fear it. Hiding in the trees is actually a good sign -- you are taking refuge by seeking out stability. Notice you use your natural instincts after your animal instincts got out of hand. Trees also represent linking the material up to the spiritual realm. Climbing one so quickly shows your clever ability to solve emotional and personal problems and achieve life successes. Note your instinct for upward mobility toward the "high places"

November 5, 2004

SHAPED BRUISES DREAM

The only part of the dream I remember is looking down at my legs and feet and seeing black and blue marks, they were all over, from the bottom of my thigh to my feet. They weren't the usual blackish purple, they were totally black. Some were circles and some were shaped like rectangles. The round ones were on the insides of my kneecaps the rectangle ones were on my ankles and tops of my feet. I just kept thinking where did I get all these bruises. I wasn't even concerned that they were totally black and odd shaped. – PK (female) 42, Mentor, OH

Wow, this dream is chock full of symbols! Let's take a look. Bruises in dreams indicate stress is mounting. You are under alot of pressure in your life and it has to do with your balance and support system and/or the need to make a stand (legs). Also your foundation and freedom of mobility may be injured (feet) while the direction you need to take is unclear (ankles). The shapes of the bruises are (of course!) symbolic too, and are intriguing. The circle bruises mean you are going in circles or are caught in a "vicious circle." Rectangles mean stability and foundation, just like the feet those rectangles appear on in your dream. Knees also have to do with support, especially emotional support, but also with courage. The circle bruises on the insides of your kneecaps mean you feel a bit "weak in the knees." What happened to your sense of security and support system lately? Something has thrown you into a very precise, clearly defined but multi-shaped predicament. Ask yourself how have you been called to "make a stand". It is time to heal these man made artificial shaped bruises and restore your ability to navigate thru life. Stand on your feet, don't let fear fell you to your knees, and get moving beyond your hurts.

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SHAVING LEGS DREAM

My sister gave me a gift of an electric razor and this seemed odd to me. However when I looked down at my legs, my left leg was actually furry, my right just had a little stubble. I realized that she was trying to tell me something. I immediately began to shave my left leg and made quite a mess with all the fur flying everywhere in the room! The dream went on with other family members gardening or something - but at least my legs were smooth. – Tamara 38, Oakville, Ontario

When you realized in the dream that someone was trying to tell you something, that is a powerful indicator that this dream has an important message and needs to be interpreted. Legs symbolize the optional life-paths open to us and how we navigate them. Apparently you have very opposite choices facing you at this time! One path -- the lefthand path(!), is animalistic and instinctual (fur). The other path is "normal" and easy to fall into. You want to walk both and to smooth out the differences between the two. The razor is the magic tool, the cure-all that has been given you, almost thrown into your lap. What issue recently has required you to even the odds, balance out an inequality or maintain equilibrium? You made a mess, got in an argument (fur flying) while restoring that balance. Was there a family tiff? You are an optimist who believes the ends justify the means ("at least my legs were smooth," you said) but the fur flying may have disturbed you or one of your relationships. Now that you've shaved, you might should see if any feathers need smoothing among your loved ones!

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November 9, 2004

…when someone complains of dreaming of getting cut in their dream and then they wake up with cuts on their arms? I asked her if she has a history of sleep walking, etc. She says she doesn’t and that her nails aren’t long enough to cut herself.

Egads, that's the dream "morning after" effect that for CENTURIES has convinced people demons visit them in their sleep. It's supposed to mean a succubus came to sleep with her or a demon came to attack her. The Devil is called Jack Scratch because he scratches victims during sleep. A Devil's scratch is very scary BUT in some cases was milked to its advantage to get a person attention (usually women, like the teenage women accusers in Salem witch trials). Is she a teenager? Young twenties? If so, it may be she's making this up, imagining it, trying for attention. OR it can be she scratches herself during sleep -- that's the standard modern debunking of the devil visitation stories of old. It is now believed that the victim scratches themselves in sleep. Then you get folks who come to you saying their dream scratches are on their back and other places they couldn't possibly reach. Hogwash usually. A female especially can reach every part of her own body. Males cannot reach certain parts of their back. Is this gross or what? Hah.

Now your dreamer is using the term, cuts. Hmmm. There are self-destructive people with OCD out there who will cut themselves for attention. I had a client like that back in 2001. She would cut herself when way stressed out. We cannot know that your dreamer with whom you've only had the smallest contact is suffering from OCD but if the cuts are real, there is some hand doing the cutting! You can tell her that science and sleep lab observations -- extensive ones -- have proven that such injuries are not supernaturally caused, nor do they spontaneously appear during dream state because of something in the mind "suggesting" it! It may indeed be that her mind/dreams are "suggesting" cuts and she is then inflicting them on herself while asleep. Maybe it's her bed partner doing it and as he cuts her she feels it and instead of waking up incorporates it into her dreams. The woman is probably unstable in my not so humble opinion and you should not feel sorry for her and obligated to help her. My bet is she wants attention.
If she is willing to admit (after you suggest it) that she might be doing the cutting herself during deep sleep (tell her it's not during REM but the emerging states which mimic yogi type meditation and Joan-of-Arc type vision states) then you might can help her a bit. Yeah, by telling her to go see a professional! If she writes back, let me know and I'll see what my intuition is saying, what her words lead me to. If you want, go ahead and send me what she's already written to you so that I can (maybe) see if I'm way off with this.

Katia

November 14, 2004

I dreamt my grandfather called me from heaven and told me he is doing well, and all was alright...I remember telling him he needs to also call my sister who would love to hear from him, and he said he would try to call her later. My grandfather did pass away 2-13-04, and this is the second dream I've had of him "contacting me". – Amy Jo 34, Mt. Pleasant, PA

This may very well be what some dreamworkers call a "contact dream." Perhaps our loved ones do exist in a nebulous after-realm as they wait to be born again. usually choosing rebirth into the same family lines. Not only does this family reincarnation theory mean that you might be your great-grandmother or some other distant relative all but forgotten; but also your grandfather who just passed away this year may someday come back as your son, grandson or nephew. The other possible meaning behind such dreams (and both can be true) is that your own subconscious is healing from his loss and consoling your inner spirit with the news that he is okay. How very unselfish of you to also think of your sister's grief while in the dream state. It's one thing to have a tendency toward thoughtfulness while awake, but quite another to think of helping someone else while the mind is dreaming.

I dreamed of walking thru a church where all the lights are off. I can hear a party going on in the other end of the church. Suddenly a sweet looking old lady rushes by me with a silver tray in her hands. I go down the hall to find my family. When I get to the party it is totally silent, everyone is totally still. I then hear my son calling me and realize that everyone in there but my son is dead. If you touch them, their head will fall off, or they break in half or their arms come off. Then the sweet old lady walks by and I realize her silver tray is a blade & she has killed everyone. I grab my son and run out! - Cheryll 37, Walls, MS

Currently you feel that you and your son are somehow "alone against the world". What have the two of you survived, gotten out of just in the nick-of-time? Some kind of family disruption perhaps since you thought your whole family was at the party; or some spiritual crisis since it happened in a church. Also ask how the family seems to be falling apart (symbolized by the heads and limbs falling off). The old lady and the tray/blade are symbols for issues in your waking life that appear harmless but are really a dangerous threat to your well-being. You and your boy have survived the crisis because of your quick protective instincts, so the dream has a positive outcome despite its unsettling nature!

November 23, 2004

I had a really strange dream last night about me kneeling down next to my dog Hunter. I don't know why I was there or if he did something wrong, which is doubtful. I was putting one hand over his nose and one hand over his mouth so he could not breathe. Hunter was lying there for awhile, then started crying. When he started crying after awhile, I finally let him go and I started crying. I felt bad in the end. I love my dog Hunter, and I would never want to hurt him in any way. What do you think this all means?? - Lynn 22, Bethesda, MD

Your subconscious used your dog as a symbol. Of course you would never hurt him and this does not mean you harbor secret aggressive tendencies toward him. He symbolizes something or someone in your care right now. Consider any project or person that you care about or care for but might be suffocating. Suffocating is not literal but figurative. Who (or what?) might you be smothering with too much attention? This dream is telling you to step back and implement a hands off policy before you end up hurt and feeling guilty. Guiding dreams like this are a good sign that your dreaming mind is healthy and fully functioning.

I was at an outdoor party....lots of familiar faces...there were big snakes everywhere and I found myself running from them....I ended up in a tunnel underground which had many turns and twists.....I got myself backed into a corner.....on the right tunnel stood a crocodile....on the left tunnel there was a huge snake...the crocodile opened its mouth but the snake got me 1st! I woke up with a huge jolt!!- Michelle 34, Bathurst, NSW

Ah, this is a fun dream to look at. You have been under pressure, somehow backed into a corner in your life. The issue may be deep in your subconscious (tunnel) and is definitely complicated and complex (twists and turns). The twists also have to do with indecision. You are faced with two possible personas to embrace and feel like you have to choose the lesser of two evils. Your first option is to become the crocodile and lash out with harsh lacerating words. But you chose the snake option (or it chose you!) which is far more spiritually advanced, so good for you. Snakes symbolize ancient wisdom and escape from naivete'. Being bitten by one indicates reaching a new level of spiritual and consciousness development. Snakes are some of the most ancient, fearful yet amazing symbols appearing in human dreams.

December 1, 2004

Dear Dream Zone,

Last night I dreamed of my dad. He died 2 years ago. I was playing a soccer game (which I do play soccer) and he, along with the rest of my extended family, came to watch. I remember assisting goals to my team mate and she would score. I noticed a man sitting in the net in a dark shadow, because a blanket covered the net. I remember hugging my dad and not quite believing he was there. I don’t remember him smiling that much... is this trying to tell me anything? It has stuck with me all day! - Shay 16

This dream is indeed trying to tell you something. It is a message of healing and resolution after such a terrible loss. Losing a parent so young has a profound effect on the psyche and dreams are a large part of the healing process. They show that our inner mind is working thru the loss, coming to accept it. You see him in a very focused place (soccer goal, the focus of the game) perhaps indicating achievements ("goals") you have recently made that you wish you could share with him. The death symbols of shadow and the blanket (like a shroud) are there because your dreaming mind knows he is deceased. It is the reason part of you that doesn't believe you could be hugging him because that part of you has gradually over the past two years come to realize that he is gone. However, your spiritual side, your intuitive side, knows that he does still "exist" and it's not just a mental game. He is alive and thriving right in your own DNA. Those chromosomes and genes you got directly from him will carry him physically into the future. You are his immortality, as your children someday will be yours.

Dear Dream Zone,

This is a recurring dream....It takes place in a museum in which I am now living in the upstairs section. I walk down the street, enter the museum (two huge lion statues rest beside the steps) and walk up a white marble staircase to my living quarters. As I walk up the stairs I see many strangers walking around the museum and they are curious that I live there. When I go into my living quarters, there are a series of rooms. In those rooms are all the people from my family who have died. My Mother (the one who died most recently) is there and we are in the kitchen, talking and doing different chores. We often look out the back window and see the outside, which is in disarray. One time she was sick and we had brought her home from the hospital and she sits on a couch with my living brother. I constantly wander around the living area and note strange connections, lack of walls, false walls, etc. It's a strange place to explore... but not frightening because I have been there so many times to be with my family. – J.R. 63 (female), Nashville, TN

This unique but not frightening place of exploration and family communion is your very own soul/spirit/psyche/personality. A museum holds priceless artifacts and valuables of our heritage and origins. Your own inner self is full of such priceless gems -- good memories that cross the barriers of time, pure-hearted thoughts, inherited talents, self-taught skills, pleasant personality traits. Everything in that museum is part of you and this dream shows how strong your kinship ties are (very healthy). It reveals that you know your place in the family as well as in the scale of time and you have healed from any pain from childhood or your past. The large white marble stairs are a great symbol of climbing to spiritual and enlightened heights. If you were going down, that would not be a good thing! Being in the kitchen at work shows you are not a lazy person and are one of the few people left(!) with a traditional work ethic. The outside is in disarray because you are probably an introvert who finds her peace within. This may be warning you not to forget the current issues in life needing your attention -- those things "outside" your refuge. The missing walls are barriers or obstacles you have overcome, separations that you have mended. Lack of walls also symbolizes openness. The false walls are artificial separations or barriers to your happiness and relationships. They might need taking down, but on the other hand could serve some "cosmetic" purpose to hide "secrets" or private areas you are not ready to reveal in your life right now. The key is if any element in the dream makes you feel uncomfortable, disturbed or worried, it is an issue requiring you to take action.

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December 14, 2004

I had a dream the other night that seemed disturbing. I cuddled up for the night and thought it was my housemate coming home. I heard music coming down the hallway and noises outside my window. I thought I had woken up but I couldn't seem to wake. When I did, nothing was there. I went back to sleep and fell into the same dream. This time suddenly I felt someone was in bed with me. I felt an arm come over my chest and when I asked "who is in my bed?" There was a female voice that said just me. I threw the arm off of me and it came back. I even remember saying "what the f*** are you doing in my bed!?" I tried to wake up...I tried screaming...I even tried to reach for my cell phone to call for help. Each time I thought I was awake, I couldn't see the alarm clock lights or even my cell phone light. When I finally woke I was sweating and my heart was racing. Please help me know what it is all about. CL (female) 41, The Colony, TX

This nightmare came to you with an important message. The reason it used fear tactics was to get your attention. The woman in your bed is "just you," another part of your psyche that you haven't been allowing "air time." You need to let her out, let her express that part of you that is "asleep" but trying to awaken. There is fear involved because she is the unknown. Reaching for one's phone to no avail means you have been trying to call out for help in some area of your life but feel like no one is listening. This "woman" is part of your personality that can help, though taking the leap and expressing "her" is going to be a big change for you. Notice also the symbol of not being able to "see the light." You couldn't see the alarm clock lights, nor your cellphone. You can't see your way out of a "sleep" you've been in lately. You are seeking a solution to something, trying to find resolution and end the anxiety. Try to determine what skills or talents you have been keeping under the covers and that are now holding you down (that arm across your chest). Let it out, let your voice be heard, be all that you can be!

Good question! Usually we don't hear about other peoples' dreams regarding a person's life. How interesting that you are not dreaming the dreams yourself, but rather are inspiring others' dreams! Did you share the "pain" of your breakup with your best-friend and sister? Were they there to support you during the entire thing and did you perhaps tell them you wanted to get him back? Your male best friend's dream seems to reflect a small inner fear he has that his friendship with you caused your marriage to end, or at least helped its demise. He knows it is unusual for a married woman to have a man for a best friend and part of him can't help but worry if your ex thought it was more than unusual. As for wishful thinking, it very well could be. I doubt it's prophetic (also called precognitive). You are so beloved by all of these friends that you and your partner loss are on their minds when they sleep! What a nice support circle you have.

December 18, 2004

I am a heterosexual male (married), and I had a dream where I swap bodies with my wife's cousin in a family reunion (a beautiful, busty, 28 year old girl!) I could feel my heavy breasts hanging from my chest, my long hair, and the sound of my voice! A gender change! I could also see my male body (inhabited by her!) from an outside view! And what is very strange is that even though she was in my male body she still wanted to dress as a woman, and I had to wear her clothes as well. I saw my male body in a dress and makeup (we were invited to a wedding and I was wearing a tight dress, and i could see my cleavage, the breasts seemed and felt enormous!), and I was really turned on! What does this mean? - Alo (male) 30

Hah. This dream is a riot. It means you are dealing with your contrasexual self otherwise known as your "feminine side." This dream tells you it's a real turn-on if you respect and empathize with the feminine side of life. You stood in her shoes, felt what it's like to BE woman, thus helping to accent your (obvious!) love of woman. <chuckle> Seeing your male body dressed in women's clothes is a message saying, hey, don't knock your seemingly feminine traits, nurturing, receiving, physical beauty. Let it all hang out!

I dreamt about an evil shadow that killed my husband and son. I got a preacher to get the evil out of my house but this shadow followed me everywhere trying to get to me and my daughter. – Mandy 27, Chesapeake, VA

This nightmare was triggered by a very natural fear you have that you could lose your loved ones to "evil." You are afraid it will wipe out your entire family, even you. There is a lot of yuck in the world today and you are more sensitive to it than others. Your dream may also be indicate that you fear some negative force is about to overcome your husband and son. Maybe it's materialism, greed, uncaring or lackadaisical attitude that you are afraid is going to engulf the two of them. Maybe a sexist attitude? It has something to do with "the house" because you felt the need to cleanse that. The preacher was a part of you that is attuned to spiritual forces and can thus "do battle" with the negative aspects of life. You are fighting some invisible "dark" force it seems, perhaps a fear of loss or fear of corruption. You identify with your daughter because she is your same gender, so perhaps the force that is overtaking the males of your family is some kind of "guy thing." How are your son and husband "open" or vulnerable to something that you and your daughter are not? And what force seems "out to get" you and your daughter lately?

Recently my sister had a dream about me and my family. She and I have never had a close relationship. Separated as children. Now we live close and try to stay close as ever. The dream was; I had applied for the new show called Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. Which in real life I did! I have not heard from them but anyway she dreamed that I got picked and when my house was finished all the new appliances were in front of all the old ones! I had also got a new shuttle bus handicap accessible with some type of writing on the side it wasn’t clear what it was. She was with me as the show showed us around the newly remodeled house and all the living room furniture was new and it was all brown shiny leather! I seemed really happy she said. What is the meaning of all the old appliances being behind the new ones? -- Brandy

Your sister's dream reveals that she worries a renewal of your house will not be quite enough. She thinks that even if you get new surroundings you will not be able to make a clean break from some old issues that haunt you. Maybe she feels you need a morale boost and a revival of "family spirit" more than to get on that show, although the beautiful new furniture would make you happy on the surface. She is afraid you will not be able to completely do the out with the old and in with the new.

I keep dreaming about stairs. Going down, and up, but there is always a problem in the stairs, the steps are too far apart in one place, and the man who is in front of me that has helped me down this spot before, keeps walking, and my ex-husband suddenly appears and wants to help, or I am going up some, and there is a little girl putting on a ballet slipper, and I have to navigate around her. Then when I get to the top, there is nowhere to go safely. Or I am in a church going up the stairs and at the top is an odd-shaped window you can't get through and an empty space on the other side of me. People are also following me. - Susan

Stairs in dreams represent life changes. You are going thru a serious transformation phase of your life right now. Going up means you are making progress either emotionally or spiritually and is always a good sign. The little girl obstacle you have to navigate around represents your longing for childhood "magic" and worry-free life. But you do get past her, so that's good. When you are having trouble going DOWN stairs, it means there are repressed issues and emotions you'd rather not face, stuff you just don't wanna think about. You are afraid to confront something from your past that needs acknowledging -- this dream seems to say it has to do with your former marriage and ex-husband. What still bothers you about your time with him? The church indicates your spiritual progress in life. You have noticed that mainstream religion will help you up, but there is an emptiness all around, perhaps having to do with the lopsided masculine-only deities religion asks us to worship. Where is the sacred feminine in Judeo-Christianity? She was yanked out and a lot of people are noticing Her absence and that emptiness (the people following you in your dream). The odd-shaped window impossible to get thru symbolizes the "enlightenment" that mainstream religion prevents us from finding. Research esoteric religion -- you might find all your paths cleared and empty spaces filled!

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Dr. Katia Romanoff is a symbologist who works with spiritual symbols found in dreams, paintings, "visions" and the world's religions. She is co-founder and Directress of the Esoteric Mystery School. If you would like to submit a dream for interpretation, please visit The Dream Zone.