Dreamer:

“I entered a room with a feeling of excitement.  I felt about nine years old (i am a thirty-five woman) with that naïve optimism  about life.  I was thrilled to see my mother who was sitting in the middle of the room on a throne.  She looked very self satisfied because the room was filled with elaborately wrapped presents, large and small.  The paper and ribbons were all very vivid in beautiful colors  and huge bows.  I said to her, “oh, these are so beautiful!  Which one is mine?”  She looked at me with exasperated distain and said, “none of these gifts are for you!” It was like i was really dumb to ask such a stupid question.  My heart fell with disappointment, but, ever the seeker, i said, “well, what about that really big one in front of you?”  (this gift was really enormous, with even more beautiful wrapping paper and bows.)  My mother’s lip curled in disgust at my questions and said, “this gift is for your sister!”   I became my 35 year old self and became an observer, feeling sorry for the little nine year old me.  As the all-seeing adult, i saw that the gift boxes were empty.  I saw my sister in the background, looking vague and spacey.  I said to myself, in the dream,  “those boxes, pretty but empty, are your mother’s love.”  I felt strong after i said that and then the dream ended.

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Dream analysis:

This is a dream about how children ‘know’ the reality of their family situations, but lack the inner strength and tools to deal with the  heartbreaking information that a parent does not love them.  Chldren keep hoping that things will get better, and surely with all the grand external presents that this mother showed the world, surely there must be some present (love) for the enthusiatic nine year old. Surely there must be some gift from the queen, sitting on her throne in the midst of all those riches!  I believe that the dreamer made some demands on this unloving parent as revealed in her questioning of the mother about her right be have ’gifts.’  parents who do not love a child are usually irriatated at the child’s insistent desire to be loved. 

This dream reveals the mature adult, willing to ‘see’ the truth of the unloving parent, but also she brings a further insight.  The sister, who received the love of the mother, ended up a vague and spacey person.  The adult child sees that the mother’s love was without substance (nothing in the boxes.)  With knowledge comes stength, and the dreamer, after observing the truth about her mother’s inability to truly love,  feels empowered.  I ask the dreamer is she woke up feeling free.

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Dreamer:

A woman whose married lover has moved away and left her with a baby dreams every night of a world event which destroys all the cities in America.  She spends countless nights dreaming of trying to get through the rubble in order to get from Michigan to New Mexico where her lover has moved.

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Dream analysis:

Your dream depicts your inner life of anquish of being left alone and without comfort.  It is an enormous blow to your world to have a lover leave you and move such a great distance.  These feelings are so overwhelming that they persist by becoming a recurring dream.  You are left with a child and all the reponsibilities.  You want to join your lost love but the landscape of your dreams is sending you a message that this is not possible (perhaps you have not accepted the fact that this man left you and did not offer to take you with him, leave his family or provide for your child.)  You send the message of finality to yourself by destroying the country and making it impossible for anyone to walk from Michigan to New Mexico.  The bond to your child is obvious and strong since you keep the baby with you at all times.  My suggestion is to find a way to deal with the mourning of loss and betrayal.