At the start of the dream I am my regular self, and I walked into a graduation ceremony for my college, that is being held for just the Interior Decorators. (Note: At my school Interior Decorators are not well liked. They are considered to be like the rich, dumb, popular cheerleaders at one's high school. Not saying I totally agree with that though/) There are a group of them standing around, and I can hear someone mentioning clothing designer names, I believe Gucci and Chanel were mentioned. As, I continue to walk in the building I come across one of my professors. She, was standing with another group of teachers, and greets me, and wants me to stick by her. She hugs me at some point, but I want to keep moving on. She really wants me to stick with her, and doesn't understand why I want to go. I don't dislike her, I am just unsure how to handle her friendliness. ( I believe she is supposed to represent two of my professors who have acted very motherly towards me.) I eventually leave her, and make my way down to where the chairs are. I sit down, and all of a sudden I am surrounded by men wearing red robes, and holding flame throwers. I get nervous and decide to move away from them. Two of them see me and follow me, and they burn my hand and face. (During this point I change from my normal self, into Alice, from Alice and wonderland. I still have my face, but my hair is blonder, and I am wearing the dress from the Disney version.) The professor from before comes over to save me, she unhinged her jaw, and her mouth hangs down past her stomach and she screams at them. They apologize, and tell her that they had no idea she was a blue screamer (she was wearing blue clothes). I guess the people in charge were wearing blue and red. The teacher takes me to the side of the auditorium to a little door that is in a little tree. While we were in there she basically told me that I was the only person that could stop the red men, and then she had to go back to the ceremony.
At this point the dream seemed as if I were playing a video game. There was a hallway that portals in it, and only one of them was available, as if I had to unlock those portals later in the game. The game text appeared and told me that before I would be able to go through the first portal I had to find the professor's young daughter, because if left unattended she would fall into the open portal. I went back to the room where the teacher was talking to me, and started going through the clutter, trying to find the girl. While I was doing so a rat was talking to me from the other room. He was telling me about the importance of me taking this quest on a Wednesday, because it is the most boring day of the week.
In a corner in the room, I knew that the girl was in it. (the room and hallway still look like the inside of a tree) I clicked on a lamp near by, and started going through the clutter on the floor, but my vision kept going blurry, and the lamp shut off. The video game text told me to "use my grr face". So, I focused and stared while feeling around in the dark. Eventually I felt something small, smooth and plastic. The lights came back on, and it was a figurine of Alice, the Disney version. I knew that it was the girl, and then I came to the conclusion that the only way to keep her safe was to take her with me. So, I put the figurine in my apron pocket. After I put her in my pocket I looked down on the floor, and I saw scattered pills all about. I somehow knew that they were for the rat, and that he was supposed to come with me, but at some point he was going to have to kill himself in order to save us. I went to his room, and convinced him to go, and all the while I was trying to convince him I was thinking about the pills.

We were just about to jump down the rabbit hole..erm the portal....when my alarm went off.

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 22 USA

Have You Posted Before? Date of Last Post {Use Search and Your Post Name to Help Find Last Post} Female

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Owl,
Because dream symbols are often related to mythological themes {especially when a specific theme is outlined in a dream} your Alice in Wonderland may be saying something about your personal growth. Here is a primary theme from Alice in Wonderland:

One theme in Alice in Wonderland dealt with the changes and awkwardness of a child going through puberty. As Alice went through Wonderland and grew and shrank, she had to deal with feeling out of place. It also had to do with a loss of innocence as Carroll admired the purity of youth. As she went through Wonderland she had experiences that cause her to physically grow, but also be face to physical and moral perils that mirror the challenges we face on the road to adulthood.

Another theme from A in W which may fit with your dream is:

Alice struggles with rules constantly, trying to follow the ones she finds acceptable (or is forced into following) and rejecting those she disagrees with. She often feels as though she can never keep up with the ever-morphing logic in Wonderland.

I suggest these two possible themes because your dream language seems to be focusing on inner-outer conflicts {regular self vs. the 'Interior' self}. The professor {female}who wants you to stand by her may represent a need/desire to learn something about your higher self {how you really feel about life, yourself}. The men in flame throwers may be addressing the waking life experiences of fitting in, having to conform to certain set rules {as stated in the theme above about following the rules}.

The first theme I mentioned may fit with the changes in your dream {I change from my normal self, into Alice} and the struggle to fit in as well as being accepted in a world of cliques and rules. The struggle to fit and not lose those inner principles you consider important are at times clashing with each other. Do you be your true self or do you change to suite what others deem important?

At your age life is as much a game as it is reality. To grow you have to go through the different portals, stages with their demands on you. You are trying to find your true self, who you are deep inside, and to do so you must go through all the clutter of the waking life struggles. It is a quest to find something meaningful in your life {thus relieving the boredom}. It is often a compromise that creates the balance you seek {Wednesday being the middle of the week-finding the middle ground}.

There seems to be a deep introspection taking place in the dream which may reflect an outer introspection. You may be having a hard time deciding which way to go in life, what aspects are more important, career moves, etc. Again you focus on Alice, she is you. The rat may represent doubts you have and you may need to overcome those doubts. But there are things in life that you find hard to swallow {pills}. This may fit with a non-conformist attitude. Do you consider yourself a non-conformist?

Generally the dream seems to be addressing those issues of growth and how best to accept what must be accepted yet not conforming to all of the rules set forth by society {as well as peer groups}. Deep down you may hold valued principles and want to live by those {those may have to do with creativity vs social demands}. Unconsciously you know what you want but consciously it is difficult to 'jump' into those ideas because of the social demands of the waking life. It often gets down to being who you really are vs what society wants you to be. But generally speaking the dream may be addressing recent waking issues concerning decisions that must be made in your present waking life {for which only you can know since it is your life}.

Jerry

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 59 Murfreesboro, Tn

Have You Posted Before? Date of Last Post {Use Search and Your Post Name to Help Find Last Post} Male

Thank you for your thoughts and insights.

I have one semester left, at school, and then I will be in the real world. Your thoughts on the what the portals can symbolize seemed to be right on the money. I am unsure at this point what to do with my degree, or where to live. I've been feeling some pressure to come up with a plan, not really from outside sources but from myself. I am torn between feeling the need to do something with my degree (art) and going over seas and teaching English.

Its hard for me to say whether or not I consider myself a nonconformist. In high school I would consider myself one. I dressed different, and my values were in a total different paradigm as the others. (them having small town values, and me not so much) But going to art school, where everyone considers themselves as a nonconformist, and there for are pretty big conformists, I have a hard time putting that label on myself. I just try to do what I think is right for myself, as an artist and as a person. But on the other side of that I hate "losing face" in front of other people. Also I can be pretty introverted and social situations can be pretty stressful/ frustrating for me.

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 22 USA

Have You Posted Before? Date of Last Post {Use Search and Your Post Name to Help Find Last Post} Female

How Did You Find the Dream Forum? no

Owl,
Carl Jung realized early on the associations of myth to the personal, emotional lives of dreamers. Myths/fairy-tales are universal patterns of behavior. For every myth there are millions of people who actually live out the associated emotional patterns. One need only to discover what myths fit with the individual to get insights to what life offers, emotional wise. The psyche does this in our dreams, using associated mythology to describe the emotional attitude of the dreamer. Alice fits with your current psychological state of being, thus the inclusion of the tale in your dreams.

Jerry

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 59 Murfreesboro, Tn

Have You Posted Before? Date of Last Post {Use Search and Your Post Name to Help Find Last Post} Male