My daughter dreams that she is in a building with her 5 year old daughter. In the center of the building there is a hole, with water in it. Her daughter, thinking it's shallow, jumps in. It turns out to be very deep. My daughter jumps in after her. She tries to grab her hand, and each time she only brushes her finger tips, as her daughter is sinking faster than she is. She realizes her daughter is drowning. She awakens. When she went back to sleep, she had the dream again.
I have studied Jung Dream Interpretation, but I find that at times the closeness of the dreamer can cloud my objectivity. Can you shed some light on this dream please?

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 59 Atlanta Georgia

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Hi Marion,

The building can symbolise your daughters 'construct' of herself, and the hole in the centre with water in it - the unconscious.
Her daughter may signify innocence, or something that happend to her in childhood. This being so so is drowning in her unconscious, perhaps fleeting memories of what happened then. She is reaching out but cannot grasp the memory.

Another possibility involves issues around mother-attachment / separation.
Have a look at water in the dream dictionary.

As you know, recurring dreams are the unconscious's way of getting our attention - and maybe your attention as well

JC

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 47 Brisbane Australia

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

Marion,
I will try to build on Justin's interpretation. As all interpreters of dreams know {at least those who use Jungian psychology} every dream may carry two or more meanings. Justin provided some good points in his assessment.

The first thing to consider are those inherent fears that a mother possesses when it comes to any child. Fears are definitely a part of the dream structure. Often there are other related issues that are addressed in such dreams having to do with the dreamer's psyche.

Let's look at the dream as representative of your daughter's psyche, those aspects having to do with 'her younger' feminine self.
The building would be your daughter and her 5 year old
daughter {your granddaughter}could symbolize the feminine child within. The hole would represent a hole in your daughter's life, a void, something that is lacking.

{It would be interesting to know if there were any experiences in your daughter's life that could relate to this dream when she was actually 5 years old}

These issues surrounding this 'hole' are very deep. This younger aspect needs help and the mother's {in this case representing your daughetr's mature psyche} wants to rescue her inner child. The rescue is for naught but there is an attempt to rescue herself even while she sinks deeper into this 'hole'. She is drowing in emotions, perhaps unconsciously motivated emotions having to do with childhood experiences {again the age 5 may have significance}.

For clarity purposes, when I say inner child I mean those experiences of childhood that still remain with your daughter in her adult life. Or some undeveloped attitudes/aspects that may have to do with childhood development.

In your post you mentioned the fear of clouded objectivity. This gives me cause to believe you have some idea as to what may be the focus of the dream. After reading my interpretation, if there are circumstances that surround your daughter's life that may shed light on this 'hole', your response about those will most helpful. Of course I respect your privacy and would not want you to post anything that you feel too personal. Generalities would suffice.

Gerard

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 55 Murfreesboro, Tn.

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First off, thank you, gentlemen for your insightful interpretation.
Her father and I divorced when she was 8. It was at that time when the secure world she knew altered. When we have spoken of that time, she has no recollection of events, and especially how painful it was for her. While I can't say for sure, but the age of 5 could be significant for her as that may have been when she first became cognizant, at some level, how shaky the marriage actually was.
I did not seek custody of my children, since at the time I had gone thru life changing events of my own. It was a result of these events that I felt, for especially my children that I leave the marriage. Trust me when I say that if there had been a custody battle, it would have been a blood bath, and I didn't want to drag my children thru something like that, especially my tender hearted little girl. She would have enough pain to deal with by the divorce. She cried for a long time, but eventually accepted the unacceptable. She did well in school, and completed college even. She has had many dreams indicating that she needs to get in touch with some feelings rooted in her past, but any suggestion that she seek counseling is met with high resistance. Maybe someday. Personally speaking, I have gone deeply into my unconscious, coupled with dream interpretation. While the garbage out process is at best uncomfortable, it offered a deep understanding and knowledge of not only who I am, but insight into the dynamics of my own primary family. It was a journey that also has helped me to walk in another's shoes, and to see more of the sameness we share with one another, rather than the differences.
Again, thank you. Now that I shared some events, you will see how on the money both your interpretations were.

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 59 Atlanta Georgia

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

Marion,
Many thanks for the detailed reply. It helps me verify my own understanding of Jung. I am most thankful for everyone who do take the time to respond since it gives myself and others the actual experience in dream interpretation, and also creates a record that can be analyzed. All can see Jung had it right.
I like to think of the Forum as a learning place.

I asked about the age of 5 because I often see dreams with numbers and often they are related to actual ages of an experience. Numbers often have meaning in dreams whether it be age or addressing some other aspect. Whether it was 5 or close to that age, your daughter's psyche was affected from the experience. That is what comes back in our dreams, the unfinished business dealing with those experiences. In our big dreams the archetypal symbols are bound in primtive experiences. This quote from Campbell's Transformation of Myth Through Time Says so much about the primtive mind.

I first want to present a couple of simple ideas. The first, which I've discussed many times, is an idea of the German anthropologist Adolf Bastian. He recognized that throughout the mythologies and religious systems of the world, the same images, the same themes are constantly recurring, appearing everywhere. He called these "Elementary Ideas", Elementargedanken. But he also recognized also that wherever they occurred, they appeared in different costumes and different interpretations. He called these differences "Folk Ideas", or "Ethnic Ideas" - Volkgedanken.

If you take this statement and apply it to dreams, it will help you with the understanding of dreams.

Your daughter's dream is about the Elementary Ideas.

I sensed the dream was most likley about your daughter and less about your granddaughter. We all have inner fears about our children. But I often sense early on whether it is about the outer fears or the inner fears. If it seems illogical then often that points to the metaphorical reference instead of the literal.

The structure of the dream is also very telling. For me the motif is often easier to read in short dreams than in very long dreams. As in most dreams it starts out with a metaphor for the physical dreamer; the building. Water often is addressing unresolved conscious/unconscious attitudes/aspects. One purpose of dreams according to Jung is to help resolve those issues.

The hole in the building, the water, and the drowning
provide clues to the dream message. Since the most likely aspect of the dream for me is focused on the inner child of your daughter, then the natural conclusion can be that she has a whole and she is drowning in it. The actual life experience is known only to the dreamer. But with training dreams can be read around the periemeters. And with some intuitive development the dream message can often be.

Your daughter jumping in after her child. For me that came through as a reference to the inner child. Sometimes dreams can be vague about which child it is addressing but if you look at all dreams as having tow interpretations, well one usually comes to forefront of possibilities.

Your journey into 'Individuation' is very similiar to my discovery. I think of it as gnosis, the inner knowledge you gain when you do psyche yourself and by yourself work through all the garbage and clean house. I stress clean house because too few people have the discipline to do that, even after they get an idea what rooms they need to clean. Thye hero/heroine of myth finds that discipline, and with it th helpiing hands of fate that leads them in their journey, slaying the dragons and reaping the rewards {a balanced, harmoneous life}.

I noticed you made a post to Aaron's dream. That is great. I invite everyone to participate with interpretations. I believe the Forum is becoming a place where people can come and find answers about dreams, not silly or promotional stuff but logical answers. There are many in the world who have an intuitive ability that helps thenm understand dreams. Of course some extensive training in Jungian psychology is paramount to be able to read dreams on a consistent and correct basis. Please feel free to participate whenever you can.

Gerard