I dreamed that there was a contest of some sort & one of the "losers",a man,had his hands cut off. It was devistating especially b/c he was a surgeon. I kept saying" What have you done?! The punishment does not fit the crime!". Then a woman with long blonde hair had her hands cut off...she was a news anchor. I thought that she could at least still do her job...maybe. I felt as if I had truly witnessed mans inhumanity towards man.

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Kate,
Contests are often symbolic of a need to prove oneself, either to others or oneself. Contests are inner struggles. Surgeons go deep inside us {our bodies} and the symbolic value here may suggest that is what you are doing {mid-life issues} or need to do. Both these symbols in these contexts suggest an inner search, exploring the deeper aspects of a problem. Mid-life {40-60} is a struggle for most and exploration and reflection of the past a part of that 'inner' exploration.

Because the dream does show both the masculine and feminine having their hands cut off, this suggests a possible total inability of some sort within your psyche.

"I kept saying" What have you done?! The punishment does not fit the crime! ".
This is most likely a part of those questions facing you at this stage of life. The blond hair and job as an anchor are probably directed at your personality {blond being someone who has a good outlook on life} and personal fortitude {your anchor being a strong feminine self}. These positive aspects are most likely being challenged {contest} in these later years. The world around you has changed and as a whole that isn't as positive as you would like.

Are you a normally a strong feminine type with a positive outlook on life? Are these strong qualities being challenged? I would look to these possibilities first to better understand the dream, and yourself.

Gerard

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This is just my opinion but I believe that the “contest” is a test to see if certain archetypes are going to advance, regress or remain unchanged. It looks like these two archetypes did not do too well in the contest.

The man is a surgeon while the woman is a news anchor. The occupations of these people are probably significant. I would almost always see these types of dream people as being very positive archetypes. The woman with the blonde hair is typical of the well-developed archetype.

So, what archetypes are they? Not too sure. My gut feeling is that the man and the woman are symbols of the animus and the shadow, respectively.

While a “good” surgeon can heal, the “bad” surgeon can torture others. In a similar manner, a new anchor can be a source of news or a she could be a corrupted source of lies.

Thus, I would expect that that these archetypes had, somehow, been misusing their skills. The surgeon would have been hurting rather than healing while the news anchor would have been spreading lies or gossiping rather than being truthful. Thus, they lost their abilities to do their jobs --- more so with the surgeon than the new anchor.

From my own personal experience as well as from looking at the dreams of others, archetypes can regress or advance at surprising speed. What we do, say and even think has an impact on our archetypes.

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