Poaching in Summer Camp/At the Candle Exhibition

[Korpo]

We might be at some summer camp or something similar. This night we decide to go out and "poach." We're waiting in a ditch, surveying a forest clearing around us. For some reason I think "poaching" means to collect eggs (illegaly still). Maybe because of the term "poached eggs."

As I lie there a wild pig, looking similar to a warthog, parades her piglets out of a hole under a stump. I think "Now we're in trouble!" because a mother sow can get pretty aggressive but nothing happens. The clearing fills with animals trotting around in rows, it reminds me of a shooting gallery, but in 3D, with the rows of animals intersecting, etc.

Suddenly I realise this is what the hunt is about, and we're supposed to shoot them with bow and arrow. I remember going unconscious at this point, but I remember the taste of grilled meat in my mouth, thinking it is boar. In hindsight, however, it was a bit sweet and didn't seem gamey at all.

The next day I and others go out to hunt. There's an old co-worker with me, he's mighty chatty (both in dream and in physical reality). We're getting to the ditch, and I remind him to shut up so the animals will come, but he's kind of talking about shutting up, almost like in a silly cartoon.

However, something happened to the clearing. We're now at a tourist restaurant. As I look at the floor it looks like board-walk, and through the cracks you can see they lie on glass, and under the glass is the flooded forest floor. A guy who is with me spots something like a squirrel and draws his bow. As we walk home we compare our catches, and it seems like one of us has caught a small platypus. (It doesn't quite look like one, I guess, but I identified it as such in the dream.)

As we arrive someone has drawn a table on a big blackboard. I can decipher the numbers, but not the writing. It's supposed to be how much everyone caught so far. There also seems to be some value assigned to each item, like an amount of dollars. I know what the columns mean, but I cannot match it to the writing above. Then he asks me about what I caught and I tell that the day before probably nothing (as I could not recall what happened) and told him about the hunt today.

Now I'm in a completely different scene. It's a room full of candles of all sizes, all lit-up. It's some kind of exhibition. It's a beautiful light. I run around, blowing out some. I notice a woman who does the same, it's a fun game of mischief, blowing out candles at the candle exhibition. Somehow there's the idea that we get something if we blow out the candles on top of it. She runs over to a table on the side that is not part of the exhibition, but belongs to a private party. I mock her - "If you blow out all those candles, you still do not get to keep the groom!"

Now I stand in front of her and blow at a candle, but I'm already out of wind and so cannot blow it out. She wets her fingers and douses the candle. I protest that that is not part of the game.

I look down at the floor. There's an empty can of either hand or diaper cream. There's a picture of my toddler boy in there. Excited that he might be around I start to look for him.

I wake up.

I have little idea about this one. The quality of the light is usually a hint to the quality of the dream. I also have dreamed about platypuses once before, but then they were giant ones.

Oliver

[Beekeeper]

This is what I've got for you so far; gotta get rid of some spam:

We might be at some summer camp or something similar. This night we decide to go out and "poach." We're waiting in a ditch, surveying a forest clearing around us. For some reason I think "poaching" means to collect eggs (illegaly still). Maybe because of the term "poached eggs."

A forest clearing suggests some type of clarity within the fertile world of the subconscious.

The misunderstanding about eggs might be deliberate on the part of your dreaming mind. Eggs are potentialities. To poach and eat an egg might suggest that some potential has been experienced.

Any dream where there’s shooting might be about aggression. If your target is animals, it’s possible you’re denying or attempting to destroy instinctive aspects or, maybe, you're trying to "pin them down."

The bow and arrow is different to a gun, I feel. It’s more traditional and, because of its two parts, not strictly a masculine symbol. It has possible associations with Cupid. The arrow seems like the male part and penetration of an animal’s skin could be sexually suggestive. (Suddenly I’m seeming very Freudian).

As I lie there a wild pig, looking similar to a warthog, parades her piglets out of a hole under a stump. I think "Now we're in trouble!" because a mother sow can get pretty aggressive but nothing happens.

This is, to my way of thinking, a reference to birth. The sow has a number of piglets; she’s very fertile. The suggestion is not to fear the instinctive aspects of the self because they can be very creative.

The clearing fills with animals trotting around in rows, it reminds me of a shooting gallery, but in 3D, with the rows of animals intersecting, etc.

This is a strange juxtaposition of the instinctive and the orderly. Maybe this is what you’re shooting for? Perhaps an orderly parade of animals allows you to take a good look at them.

Suddenly I realise this is what the hunt is about, and we're supposed to shoot them with bow and arrow. I remember going unconscious at this point, but I remember the taste of grilled meat in my mouth, thinking it is boar. In hindsight, however, it was a bit sweet and didn't seem gamey at all.

This is an interesting development. When you go unconscious is that a reference to giving rein to the subconscious? Does this result in fulfilment? Possibly going unconscious suggests that killing the instinctive aspect is an unconscious act that results in rewards.

The next day I and others go out to hunt. There's an old co-worker with me, he's mighty chatty (both in dream and in physical reality). We're getting to the ditch, and I remind him to shut up so the animals will come, but he's kind of talking about shutting up, almost like in a silly cartoon.

He represents an aspect of you. In what way do you feel you need to shut up and let the animals come?

We're now at a tourist restaurant. As I look at the floor it looks like board-walk, and through the cracks you can see they lie on glass, and under the glass is the flooded forest floor.

Treating your subconscious like a tourist – a quality of detachment? Getting glimpses of your instinctive self as well as the deeper flow of emotion and energy within you.

A guy who is with me spots something like a squirrel and draws his bow. As we walk home we compare our catches, and it seems like one of us has caught a small platypus. (It doesn't quite look like one, I guess, but I identified it as such in the dream.)

This is a unusual and, for someone in Germany, exotic animal. It’s a very elusive little creature and, again, it has the ability to live in water (emotion) even though it's a little mammal with lungs, so it must surface.

As we arrive someone has drawn a table on a big blackboard. I can decipher the numbers, but not the writing. It's supposed to be how much everyone caught so far. There also seems to be some value assigned to each item, like an amount of dollars. I know what the columns mean, but I cannot match it to the writing above. Then he asks me about what I caught and I tell that the day before probably nothing (as I could not recall what happened) and told him about the hunt today.

Perhaps this references your ability to capture the messages from your subconscious, perhaps in the dream so far.

Now I'm in a completely different scene. It's a room full of candles of all sizes, all lit-up. It's some kind of exhibition. It's a beautiful light. I run around, blowing out some. I notice a woman who does the same, it's a fun game of mischief, blowing out candles at the candle exhibition. Somehow there's the idea that we get something if we blow out the candles on top of it. She runs over to a table on the side that is not part of the exhibition, but belongs to a private party. I mock her - "If you blow out all those candles, you still do not get to keep the groom!"

[Korpo]

Hello, Beekeeper.

Very good interpretation!

He represents an aspect of you. In what way do you feel you need to shut up and let the animals come?

He seems to be a mixture of "chatterbox" and "scatterbrain." He could be the monkey mind. He's continuous chatter is preventing me to get "what I am shooting for..." I think you hit the nail on the head with this phrase, that's the key.

The animals might indeed be a reference to the instinctual, so this could be access to my subconscious. I know that my thinking mind drowns out the possibility to receive other information - here represented by the inane chatter.

At the same time the old co-worker used to represent this is one that sometimes gets on my nerves, but he's a very agreeable fellow, full of obscure details and knowledge and I like him very much. So, if that's the attitude towards my thinking mind then that's not too bad...

The platypus lays eggs, right? So, that's the second reference to eggs. Potential? I like it. Usually I would have portrayed potential as seed of any kind, but of course eggs are the same.

The bizarre appearance of this egg-laying, venomous, duck-billed, beaver-tailed, otter-footed mammal baffled European naturalists when they first encountered it, with some considering it an elaborate fraud.

(from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platypus)

I'd say the platypus is "the rather unique outcome of the attempt to integrate many seemingly conflicting characteristics."

The platypus is the second reference this week to "living in two worlds" after the toad symbolism.

The interesting thing is that I operate at one level in the beginning of the dream, then go unconscious, and then find, as I try to revisit that level, something else to be layered on top of it but the old level visible through it.

Candles are "illumination" - I just don't know why I have fun blowing them out.

Cheers,
Oliver

[Korpo]

And then I saw this on my break:



This must have been the first appearance of a platypus - ever!

Oliver

PS - yes, I am a geek...