Dream Interpretation Suggestions, Pls

[ButterflyWoman]

I can't work this one out. Any thoughts welcome.

I was with someone I knew (possibly a family member, such as my mother in law, but it's not clear and they were only present in a "token" way), and we were in a house by an ocean bay. For some reason, there was a line of furniture in the bay, standing in the water. One of the pieces of furniture was an antique writing desk we own, which once belonged to my husband's grandfather and then to his father. As I was watching, I saw the waves getting bigger and bigger, I suppose it was a storm (don't recall any other stormy signs, though, just the high winds and big waves). Soon, the waves were crashing over the desk, which was standing open (it's got a drop-down front), and that worried me, because the waves were so high, so I left the house to go wade out into the water, intending to shut the desk. Woke up just as I was going into the water.

Some background on the symbols: the desk has no personal or sentimental meaning to me, other than being a quite nice piece of early 20th century furniture which I appreciate, and it's where we keep some of our significant papers (birth certificates, marriage certificate, lease, etc etc). The desk stands in my office, about two metres from my computer desk, so I see it out of the corner of my eye all the time. The only time we open it is to get out or put in some paperwork or other. The drop-down front has a lock and key, but the lock has been broken for who knows how long, and we wouldn't keep it locked even if it did work (no need, really).

The symbol of the ocean seems to have dream meaning in the form of "transition" or "change" or something along those lines. Possibly, it's a combination of water (rebirth) and travel (journey, passage, etc). In waking life, while I appreciate a good ocean view, I never swim in the ocean and generally won't go in the water any deeper than about my knees, because I just plain do not like swimming in the sea (and Australian sea water is full of poisonous and biting things, or at least, that's my excuse ).

I suspect that the "open desk" symbolises something to do with being concerned that the big waves would cause the papers inside to be lost, but I cannot for the life of me figure out why the hell the desk - and a bunch of other furniture which wasn't mine - would be standing in the bay!

Any insights, thoughts, etc. welcome. I'm usually reasonably good at dream interpretation, but this has me stumped!

[Beekeeper]

I'm glad there isn't a lot of rain there right now, CW, or I'd advise that you ensure you've got flood insurance.

[Korpo]

Hello, CaterpillarWoman.

Some background on the symbols: the desk has no personal or sentimental meaning to me, other than being a quite nice piece of early 20th century furniture which I appreciate, and it's where we keep some of our significant papers (birth certificates, marriage certificate, lease, etc etc). The desk stands in my office, about two metres from my computer desk, so I see it out of the corner of my eye all the time. The only time we open it is to get out or put in some paperwork or other. The drop-down front has a lock and key, but the lock has been broken for who knows how long, and we wouldn't keep it locked even if it did work (no need, really).

Your first actual association is what you keep within the desk, and usually leave closed up: the papers. In a modern society all of these define your identity. Here your identity is wide open.

The furniture is standing in the sea. So it is connected to what's happening in the sea - the turmoil, the upcoming storm.

You want to shut down the desk so its contents won't get wet. So, you're trying to protect your identity from whatever it is exposed to.

The dream itself yields no clue to what is ailing you in a direct way. Flows of energy are often represented as water, and the sea can stand for many things: Union, as in a drop and the ocean that it unites with. The forces of nature. Nonphysical reality (being immersed).

I would say the sea here has to do with the forces in play, represented as forces of nature. There's a progression - a build-up. There's your need to protect yourself (your identity, your papers) from these build-up of forces around you.

Other dreams may yield further clues to what is actually meant.

Oh, and totally what Beekeeper said - best to err on the safe side. Australia seems to have its share of natural turmoil recently for sure.

Cheers,
Oliver

[Beekeeper]

I was joking.

Oliver's interpretation may reference the effect of your recent illness on your appearance perhaps, CW?

[ButterflyWoman]

We actually live in the foothills of a mountain range, so flooding isn't a big issue for us. We had a road near our house flooded earlier in the year, but it was actually in a causeway, so it's not really flooding, exactly (just an overloading of the volume of the causeway).

I think the "identity" thing is spot on. I suspect it has to do with core identity, and certain attachments to that which have rather abruptly let go (causing all manner of reality fluctuation and certain realisations, etc. I think it was a "warning" dream, as in, "It's coming, and you can try to stop it, and you will, but there's nothing you can do about it").

I can usually interpret these "brace yourself" kind of dreams, but this one eluded me, probably because I've been unwell and it's hard to brain (I has the dumb).

[Beekeeper]

Being unwell is part of it, isn't it?

I think I'm just beginning a similar identity overhaul myself.

[ButterflyWoman]

Yes, the illness is part of it. It broke up my usual routine and made everything totally weird, materially (everyone in the family got sick, it's been bizarre), and during certain phases of the illness, some attachments of my own were brought into my awareness, things I'd never even thought about (funny how a fever and pain can make you just delirious enough ).

I can't say I've enjoyed the illness (rather the contrary), but I appreciate it as a catalyst for change.

Oh, and I realised that I no longer suffer. I still feel pain, anguish, even, discomfort of all kinds, etc. etc., but it's not suffering, it's just pain or emotional turmoil. It is what it is. Like the weather, it all comes and goes, and I'm not attached to any of it. I don't think the illness necessarily caused this (detachment from suffering was already well underway), but it certainly gave me a lot of stuff NOT to suffer with (and therefore notice that while I was damned uncomfortable and even in pain, I wasn't actually suffering ).

[Beekeeper]

I know what you mean about pain without suffering. It's an attitudinal thing. You distance yourself from it, probably because you know pain is a recurring thing on planet earth and suffering doesn't make it any better.

[ButterflyWoman]

A big part of my constructed identity was always She Who Suffers. I had left most of that behind, but there were some remnants to that identity. I realised this as I was drifting to sleep and thinking about this conversation. It was so startling it woke me up and I actually muttered, "Oh, DUH!" out loud (albeit quietly). Part of the release of identity going on here is She Who Suffers, or whatever remained of her. Can't say I'm going to miss her (any more than I miss She Who is Perpetually Furious ).

I'm sure there are other aspects of identity (i.e., individual pieces, as in, documents for this or that, papers to show something or another) that have gone or are going or will go. The dream was about those bits and pieces. The whole of identity has not been much of an issue for some time, but this is about those lingering little pieces (and my desire to protect them, even in the face of forces far too great to fight).

So, I surrender. Again. I am finding that surrender is a process that happens over and over again. It is ongoing. Perhaps one day, I will have surrendered so much and so often that I will be in a perpetual state of surrender, who knows. For now, I surrender all the bits and pieces of "identity". They're unimportant, and I don't need documents to prove who or what I am. (Note to the Universe: This is not an invitation to cause the loss of all our legal documents. It's symbolic. I don't care to have the experience of replacing everyone's birth certificates, our marriage license, cat's registration papers, lease, whatever else is in that cabinet.... )

[Beekeeper]

"She who Surrenders."