Anna,
It is not be co-incidence the dream seems to parallel your life. Your dreams reflect your life, past and present except it uses symbols and metaphor to explain your life. And it is the true life and not just the perceived ego life your waking conscious views. But dreams can be literal also, especially if the emotional stimulus is a conscious one. Thus this statement would be a truth,a conscious truth if actually a true experience, an unconscious truth if not yet expressed:
'In the dream I perceived the male figure as the law - and my attempts to warn him of the danger to myself and the children as an expression of my current frustration and political anger - for which there seems to be no avenue of assistance'.

You ask a great question, something I try to illustrate in most dreams because all dreams do address the two aspects.
"Does the dream simultaneously express both past and current repressions?"

The answer is an unqualified yes. Jung states that all dreams have at least two meanings. I repeat, "at least two meanings", or applications that fit the dreamer. One would be a statement about current emotional experiences. A second would be a statement about the past, one directed at causes, experiences, influences about personality, attitudes that have to do with current emotional experiences. They are tied together in some form. But one, or sometimes even both, have a greater emotional energy and would be the primary focus of the dream. The second aspect would be a lesser focus on the surface but related to the first.

Example from my own life experiences:
I had a attitude in my twenties of the need for constant relationships, even though I was happily married and did not wish to change that. Although I can not remember a dream as an example {my awareness of the dream and dream work did not begin until my early 40s} a dream would have been in line as follows:

I dreamt I was constantly in need of taking in stray cats {something I have actually done over the past several years}, feeding them and then putting them out to live on their own no matter their physical condition. My father said that was the proper thing to do, not keep the cats but only give them enough attention/nourishment to make them happy. That would make me happy also.

This scenario would have reflected my true affection for cats {then and now} but would also reflect the influence of early life from my father. He, being a truck driver and seldom home, was a womanizer to the extreme. Although in my earliest years I would have not known what a womanizer was, the psyche picks up on such subtleties {we now know that the psych of infants learn far more than we could ever imagine} and the unconscious influences through those early years have a bearing on later life as an adult. Thus the need for constant relationships in my twenties {which I know now were strictly sexual, a fact that bore on my desire not to want to leave my wife}.

These are the two aspects of the dream. A current experience {affection for cats} and the early life experiences that influenced my adulthood actions.
But my statement was "at least meanings" to every dream. A third aspect would be my strong feminine psyche. That could or could not {up for debate} have been influenced by teh fact that I grew up with 3 sister and my mother. That strong feminine psyche is one reason I believe I have the ability to interpret dreams, have an intuitive feel for Jungian psych {not having known or studied Jung before the age of 42}.

Of course the above is just an example dream but does reflect the true experiences in my life. There was that current waking life experience, the affection for and caring for cats {the need for the feminine, which may have had something to do from living with so many females early in life} and the experiences from early life, the influence of my father's actions that I too possessed as an adult. The actual need for female relationships was a substitute for not having the proper love and attention from my father, played out in my adult life due to the influences of my fathers actions.
This is a common mythological motif, the son looking for the father for reconciliation {in recent lore Luke Skywalker seeking his father and finding him, Darth Vader}.
There are so many aspects of the experiences that can be related to the dream. Jung said we may not understand or realize a meaning until much later. As with me, and not til my 40s, did I realize the influences or would have understood the meaning{s} of the dream.
Fascinating isn't it?

Your statement "I also ask this because I have done a lot of personal work related to my childhood and am often surprised at the ongoing themes in my dreams pertaining to these issues." fits with the above realizations/understanding of the different meanings with your dreams. It is inevitable, it is your life, your true self trying to come through, up from the storage within the unconscious to conscious knowledge.

I truly believe from my working with dreams that nature has provided a mechanism for healing. Just as with the immune system for the body, the dream provides the same function for the psyche/mind. Jung saw this is some aspects of the dream but I have seen such a statement of fact as I have presented it. Our dreams want to inform the waking conscious self of the unresolved emotional conflicts, the objective view and not just the subjective ego perception, so to help resolve those internal conflicts. We know stress can be deadly, makes an unhealthy body and psyche. If not for this mechanism {we need not interpret our dreams for them to be beneficial} our bodies would suffer much worse from stressful emotional events. Nature has a way to remedy what is not balanced.

In ending let me say my work with dreams and the experiences learned have solidified my belief in evolution. It all fits together when thoroughly examined. Jung discovered the spiritual aspect within the human psyche. Not a religious statement but one associated with nature. Nature, Mother Nature, giveth and takes away. Not a divine event but one that has evolved through millions of years of trial and error. The evolution of the psyche, of mankind, is recorded and as time progresses so has the psyche. The knowledge, at least most knowledge, we possess today was not possessed 10 years ago let alone 100-1000 years ago. It all evolves and by exploring the unanswered questions we find answers. I like to think that is what we are doing when we interpret our dreams. Learning more about the human psyche, advancing the knowledge that leads to new discoveries. That is the true fascination I have when decoding the dream.

I apologize for getting off subject but I felt it was the right time to explain my thinking so others would understand how I approach the dream world. So much involved in the process.

Jerry

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Lets add to the posibilities of at least two meanings to every dream a literal and symbolic application to the symbols. The dream images could be addressing both, something not uncommon. An example can be found in my posted dream response Colored Snakes. The new babies could represent literal experiences as well as a symbolic representation.

Jerry

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Just a quick thankyou; I always learn so much from posting.

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