A week or two ago, I sent in a
dream I had to the
Danish newspaper Politiken, because they were offering
free dream interpretations. It turns out they chose my
dream for one of their
articles (probably because it is
fucked up), and they had 4
experts try and
interpret it. Here are the
results, as
translated by me, with
commentary in
italics. I reccomend that you
read the dream before reading the
analysis.
1: A poisonous pill
"When you dream something from an earlier school, it is the dream insinuating that there is something you haven't learned in life. The face is about showing who you are, or putting on a mask. The yellow color belongs to the solar plexus chakra, which in turn stands for sympathy/antipathy, shame/guilt, anger/fear, but also confidence and self-worth - or lack thereof.
Your dream is about being able to say when, about being who you are. Maybe you have had to swallow a 'poisonous pill' in your life, have had to accept something, and now have to be honest 'to the skin' (My attempt at translating a Danish figure of speech... I don't think there is an English version, but do /msg if you know one.). Maybe being a bigger brother/the oldest have had its price.
There are a lot of aggresion in your dream, and it is possible that this side doesn't get much exposure in your real life - the dream compensates for it. Walking into a cave with Egyptian artifacts, suggests that you are finding an older more natural side of yourself. When you dream about fire, it suggest that you have enthusiasm and energy and are looking closely at your own perception of life. And when you burn your friend (it wasn't my friend, it was some random character) - who stands for your energy - it means that there is something you need to change - maybe you need to change your behaviour towards others? Do you normally walk around and beat people up, 'burn' them, scare them, because if you do, it is that behaviour that needs to be changed. It could also mean that you are very quiet and don't show who you are, in which case you need to be more noisy, aggressive and energetic."
It is true that I am a quiet person in real life. And I often hate that side of myself, for not being more open to other people. I do feel, however, that I am improving in that aspect, and have been for some time now.
2: Angry young man
"The classroom stands for being taught, learning. Chemicals are an artificial means. The cave is the subconsciousness. Egyptian is a pointer to old mysteries. Noise equals attention. Fire means transformation and change. Hands are giving and receiving.
The dream tells me that the dreamer has inner tensions of more or less aggressive character towards his younger siblings. It is mirrored in the dream by the dreamer's attempt at scaring them, but at the same time, the lecture is that when you hurt others, you hurt yourself. The dreamer understands this, and the pain goes away, and it follows that the dreamer gets the opportunity to dig out old things from the subconsciousness.
Then the dream returns to the 'present', where he shows that he wants to be noticed, and that negative attention is better than none. It ends in a conflict for 'the others', who get beat up. The element of fire tells us that it is time to look at inner tensions to work on the reason that the dreamer is an angry young man."
I used to have massive fights with my brothers when we were small, and it always ended in a deadlock, where I would pin them down and make them promise not to start again, yet I knew they would. I have since become quite good with them though, and I have no problem with either.
3: Attention
"Think about if you are honest towards yourself about your life. It seems as though you need some attention. Also thing about how you really see your siblings as persons, as they tell you something about yourself. Lastly, look at what the Egyptian artifacts tell you. Maybe it is a new and darker side to yourself that you have discovered in the cave. But maybe also something that is not entirely real.
It also seems as though you could be angry with yourself. You don't use the strength that you possess in a good way in your life, which seems emotional currently. I see it as important that you in your real life take good care so as not to get hurt and 'burn' yourself."
I don't believe one can be entirely satisfied with life. I do however feel quite well these days. A couple of years ago I had a major depression and visited a shrink (though I never felt it did any good, it must have).
4: Shadowsides
"That is some dream. A classroom means something needs to be learned. Something old is in you. Rome is a symbol of old things and sights. Try looking at the teacher, what qualities does he have, and then look at yourself. Are there similarities, or qualities that you would like yourself? Do you know him, or is he an unknown side of yourself?
The old that is in you shows itself as the cave, an archetypical symbol. You wish to scare your siblings - who also represent sides of yourself - but suddenly it's serious and it hurts. You want to free yourself from the pain, but it means that you lose face. The dream leads you on and tells you that if you free yourself, the pain will cease and you will gain a greater self.
You burn a side of yourself, the person you set on fire in the dream. Dreams are a product of yourself, and all persons appearing are sides of yourself, that you like or not. By looking at the qualities of the persons, you can learn a great deal about yourself.
Find the thing that forces you down - I think you know what it is - look at it, and it will no longer be scary. The more you refuse to see what scares you in the eyes, the more it scares you."
I like the part about losing face, I didn't even think about it that way myself. The persons in my dream are typically very generic and thus very hard to find certain qualities in, but the guy I burned, I remember him as a real asshole. The kind of asshole that screws up the party. I don't remember ever having done that, though, except New Years eve in 1997 where I fell asleep in the bathroom.
This was quite entertaining, and I am sure that upon re-reading these analysises in the near future, that I will learn something more from them. I do still believe, though, that the dream has the meaning I choose to give it and nothing more.