Hi, let me start by saying the main people in this dream are friends of my boyfriend, and ones I haven't met yet as they live in another state. I have only seen 'Chris' in a photo, and his ex, not at all.
The dream starts with me being in my backyard (which is not my 'real' one, this one is long and narrow). I look over the fence to my neighbors yard, and see Chris tilling his garden. The plants are lush and green, the earth rich and dark. I'm thinking that he is doing such a lovely job of it, maybe I could ask him to till my garden. Then he is in my backyard. I can see my boyfriend in the backround, farther out in the yard. Chris has his son with him, only he is like five instead of three. I see a skunk walk into the yard, and the bottom half of it is red (belly, legs, feet), I knew the skunk was going to spray Chris, so I took his son by the hand, and said 'we need to go inside now.' We watch from the backdoor window, and the skunk sprays Chris right in the face. The boy and I look at each other and smile. When I look back out, Chris is now a woman. She says to me, 'I told Aiden (the boy) all about you so he would be comfortable around you. I see that he has made himself at home.' Thats all I can remember. However, when I told my boyfriend about this dream, he ask me what the woman looked like. Tall, slender, with long dark hair. He laughed and said I just described Chris' ex, who is Aiden mother.

Just wondering what your thoughts would be one this one, if any. Thanks

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Jennifer,
Was there an attraction, albeit unconscious, to Chris? The lush, green garden over the fence may be appealing. Tilling your garden may be metaphor for 'secret' desires {although innocent}. Your boyfriend being in the background and the 5 to 3 age may be comparisons.

The skunk spraying Chris may be a defensive mechanism, unconscious guilt to such an attraction. Red is a color may be an embarrassment at such thoughts. The woman {who your boyfriend says fits Chris' ex} may represent you, in her place {even though you have never seen her, such things are possible}.

If this doesn't fit then we will need to consider these symbols as aspects of your own psyche. I don't see that right off but it could be possible.

Gerard

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Jenifer,
Another thought. Perhaps the attraction was to Chris' situation and not Chris per say.

Gerard

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I really don't see that I am attracted to Chris, subconscience, or otherwise, as I am crazy about my boyfriend, but, I will confess to be, at times, a little envious of the closeness he has with my boyfriend. I do realize that this type of connection takes time to build, but as your typical Aries, I tend to want to rush things. Maybe it is my desire to feel closer to my boyfriend that I 'want' to be closer to his friends??

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Jenifer,
That could very well be the connection. As I was typing my response I was thinking about how dreams function. Chris would not actually represent himself as a rule but some aspect of yourself. The envy you possess about the relationship between your bf and Chris would fit with that. Your bf is in the background which would also fit as would the lush, green garden {wishing your relationship with your bf was as good as it is with Chris}. The skunk spraying Chris would also address the envy you possess {in your face type reaction}. Being comfortable around the young boy may also be addressing the relationship between the two.

Looks as if you have put the pieces of the puzzle together. Dreams are much like puzzles. You can identify the pieces but putting them together is the difficult thing to do.

Gerard

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Thanks so much for helping me put this together. I, myself, was thinking on this, and I figured the only embarassment I'm going to feel is when both of them read this. I enjoy your site so much, I passed it along to them.
Thanks again.

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Just to add a few more ideas about potential meanings of your dream, it’s possible that Aiden is more of a central character than he appears. Aiden means “fiery” and perhaps this connects him to the partly “red” skunk that, although apparently unthreatened, deliberately “enters the space” where Christopher has been recently welcomed and sprays him, thus putting a fast end to any potential improvement of the garden. So the skunk and the little boy may be one and the same thing. Since you are aware the spraying will happen, this links you as being in collusion with the skunk/little boy.

I would guess that if you look back to what was happening around five years ago (the age of Aiden in the dream) you might remember some attitude of mind that took hold around that time or which was blatantly displayed in some way, and which perhaps continues to appear on occasion.

This attitude or outlook etc. may be at the root of some “fiery emotions” such as envy, jealousy and so on that may tend to flare up at awkward moments, or there may be some more indirect symptoms of an underlying situation. If so, this condition of things thwarts the greening of your soul, that is, the improvement of your garden.

It’s possible that you may not be connected securely enough with your inner so-called masculine side as likely represented by your boyfriend who is “in the distance”. This masculine side can be such things as assertiveness, courage, knowing what you want and going after it, but it all depends of the specific person.

In any case, this “insecurity” related to not adequately being in touch with your inner masculine aspect might be getting projected and seen in any situation that mimics “being on the outside”, not being as “close” to your boyfriend as some others etc. etc. Some sort of flare-ups may occur because of this “narrow” approach to things (narrow garden) that tends to ignore a valid need in yourself to develop and make your own aspects that may be seen in your boyfriend for example.

To really stretch things, Christopher means “Christ-bearer”, that is, the bearer of the heavy burden of developing all aspects of our personality in spite of how difficult this is. But he gets sent packing after an initial acceptance. In fact, he is replaced with a figure (his ex) that may represent a basic and hurtful “separation” from this inner aspect of yourself. She also wants you to continue your relationship with the boy/skunk as well, and this too may symbolize a negative approach overall to certain issues.

So there may be some need at this time of your life to re-examine what central talents and abilities you have which may require bringing up to speed, thereby tending to give you a stable feeling of who you are and needing less dependence on outer “connections” although these of course will remain very important and crucial as well.

Looking back to what was happening a day or two before the dream might provide a clue as to why this possible scenario was stirred up in this way.

If any of these ideas seem to fit your personal situation at all and you’re interested in exploring further the idea of your inner masculine side, you might like Marion Woodman’s “Leaving My Father’s House”, and “The Ravaged Bridegroom”.

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