I am looking out of a window with my sister Suzie at a snowy landscape (with the feeling of our childhood garden but also different - a field). First I see there's a giant seagull and it's trapped in the tree at the bottom of the garden/field. It is motionless but I don't know if it's dead. I point it out to Suzie but am hesitant to go out and get it down/save it as there are lammas, bulls and rams out there. Suzie bounds out and says confidently 'look at this' expecting two of the lammas to move away, but she is surprized when they don't and stand there threateningly.

We decide to go into the house and check another room. A man is up in the attic - this feels quite creepy. He hears us and drops a key on the end of a string through a hole in the ceiling/trapdoor. Suzie pulls it and a dead gull is at the end of it.

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 43 London

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Debbie,
I will dissect your dream Monday. My best intuitive mind is in the mornings. At the moment I seem to have a blockage to that intuitive self.

Gerard

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 56 Murfreesboro, Tn.

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Many thanks Gerard.

My ideas about it are around my creativity - I'm a writer fighting against a massive wound around my writing and to my inner self and burgeoning sexual self when I was 11. Every criticism I get still feels deeply personal and wounds me too much.

Suzie is someone who was given enough encouragement my my parents to become a successful dancer.It is interesting that I get her to do the active/scary things.

I know it is almost impossible to analyse ones dreams, so I would be fascinated to know your thoughts/what your intuition comes up with even if it has nothing to do with this.

Many many thanks

Debbie

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Debbie,
Thanks for the additional information. It is always helpful to know personal information, especially those that may be associated with the possible message of the dream. In part, with this knowledge I will compare what I see in the dream symbology to your described life experiences as a child.

The snowy landscape with the feeling of our childhood garden but different may be addressing childhood experiences-but different since you are now looking back at those experiences. Fields are open spaces which may indicate a 'different' and more open view of past experiences. Seagulls are birds that tend to be persistent, even to a point of being something that can be a brazen pest. The gull may represent persons, or even the experiences, that are still pestering you, keeping you trapped in that childhood garden you once knew. Here, the dead symbol associated with the gull is probably a reference to you. That part of you, the experiences of childhood still affect your emotions, yet you live with it {the gull is motionless but not dead}. Suzie represents your positive aspects. Llamas, bulls and rams are all aggressive animals which may indicate your past experiences are aggressively confronting you at the present. But even with the positive attitude you are still unable to move away from your past. They still threaten you.

But this is only one aspect {rooms} of your whole self {house}. Attics are often symbolic of the thinking mind. This is where those 'creepy' experiences are stored. The man may represent the aggressive aspects of the masculine self-i.e., persistent and threatening-which are still a part of your life. You are at the ceiling of endurance, the trapdoor has you locked in. Your positive self is dead.

Past experiences, a central theme of the dream, may be addressing the creative Self. Like you Suzie is also a creative person who is active {dance}. Along with her representing the positive, she also may represent that active creative aspect which is your escape from your past {this may be why she is used as the symbol that counters the active/scary things}. But because the past still haunts you. Even the creative self can not escape the past.

In Jung's view the 'shadow' must be confronted. Even though there is not a 'shadow' figure in your dream {the Shadow is always the same gender as the individual}, we know from your second post there are those past experiences that do not contribute to your positive aspects. The question is 'what have you done to confront your past'? If you are still fighting those past experiences then there are reasons that they persist. Until you resolve these issues you will never be 'whole'. The dream message may be just that; you may need to confront this part of your life once and for all.

Your thoughts will be important. If you can provide your impressions to my interpretation then perhaps we can gain new insights to the dream, and a way to move on.

I appreciate the fact you do understand that dream analyse is not black and white. Working with dreams successfully often requires a lot of expanding on what is know by the dreamer and what can be discerned by the interpreter from the symbols as well as real life experiences. Working together I am confident that we can discover what the inner self requires to realize that whole self. And with that your creative self will succeed beyond your wildest dreams. I think so.

Gerard

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Dear Gerard

Thanks to your intuitive self (fully alert!) for your full and rich ideas about my dream.

The majority of what you say rings true - I'm still struggling with having had an abusive and aggressive father in terms of drawing to me variously disturbed male partners. I've been single since Jan. So I suppose even though it was a long time ago it still bothers me. re: coming to terms with my past, I've had a whole lot of therapy (years of it) and about to start group therapy. The attic man was wearing glasses which means thinking type to me, so that also feels right. He's also around my age.(??) I used to be very scared of the trapdoor to the attic when I was a child - have real night-terrors about lions pawing me from above- sleepwalk etc. I'm not so sure the man in the attic is an aggressor - rather it's the feeling about the dark attic that is scary to me. He seems just intent on showing me that key and perhaps that bird.

I'm not sure what you meant about my positive self being dead. Do you mean the more active side represented by Suzie?

thanks also for your kind thoughts re me coming to terms with my past and my creativity. I am so glad I found this site. I used to be in a dream group but there are none where I live now.

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Debbie,
Thanks for the response and additional info. The trapdoor incident as a child would help explain that part of your dream. Since you describe the man in the attic as wearing glasses and about your age, he most likely is symbolic of your masculine aspects {thinking instead of intuitive/creativity}. Unless there were traumatic experiences to do with the attic {other than your general fear} then that connection is most plausible.

Suzie would indeed represent the more active self. Because of your struggle with past experiences with the male gender, the symbolic value may be that you are unable to be that vibrant, active self as represented by Suzie. I would venture to guess it has gotten in the way of your creative self also. Creativity is related to the intuitive and if that mechanism {more readily available to women} is not functioning then the choices you make are often the wrong ones.

Your statement, "I'm still struggling with having had an abusive and aggressive father in terms of drawing to me variously disturbed male partners" shows once again the pattern of abuse as a child that is carried over into adulthood. We tend to make wrong choices because of these past experiences and most often we are unconscious as to why. Breaking that pattern is so hard to do. Working with the creative self can help with the intuitive but it may require much more to deal with real life experiences that have cut off that intuitive device provided by nature.

It is often befuddling why we try to impose self inflicted pain upon ourselves in an attempt to reconcile that love and acceptance that was not provided in childhood. My personal life was influenced by not having that love and acceptance from my father, and it greatly influenced my actions throughout my adult life. It wasn't until I came across Joseph Campbell, and ultimately, Carl Jung, that I realized the unconscious influences. That was the beginning of my healing process. A thorough inner search {Jung's Individuation Process} was my path to self realization and recovery. And I did it alone, without professional guidance other than that of Jung and Campbell {and others who share the same philosophies}. I hope you take some time to investigate the pages at MDS. Perhaps it will help in your search. Powerful stuff within these pages for those capable of comprehending the possibilities. And creativity is a source of reflection upon that true inner Self. I have little doubt that you possess those capabilities. The next step is one of discipline.

twat twam asi,

Gerard

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You are very kind Gerard. Many thanks for your guidance. I will follow up with Jung and Joseph Campbell as well as reading about the indivuation process and more of this fascinating site.

I don't think anything traumatic happened with the trapdoor btw.

I've done well considering my beleagured intuition - I am starting a creative writing and personal development M.A. in the autumn. But I do struggle with motivation and ideas sometimes. Things will be better for me all around if I can heal my intuition and send my inner male on a course of self improvement. Many many thanks

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