Gerard,
I interpreted the essence of the following dream to signify self examination utilizing the Animus or unconscious self to work through conflict 'tearing down' old modes of self to create a more balanced self incorporating a better union of the male/female or conscious/unconscious with the 'pill' reflecting healing. However I'm unsure of the significance of the child and splinters scene. Is it the female resisting the male strength and trying to mend in a more gentle feminine way? Or reference to childhood issues that contributed to the 'empty and broken' aspect. Only by inserting the second splinter & removing them both the one (whole self) will remain? Appreciate your thoughts.
Thanks,
Kathy

At my house, walking with a construction man telling me it needs a lot of reconstruction to fix it and doesn’t know how much it will cost. It will cost alot. He’s showing me what needs done. I’m worried. I don’t have the money to pay for it but it must be done. I don’t tell him I don’t have the money. I know I will get it somewhere, I have to. Driving to my home, construction site. Large dump trucks full of bricks and pieces of my house are driving away. I park and go into my house. A large, tall brick wall with paneling removed to expose the brick. Other men there. Dr. Gulupa in a white Dr coat, two other men in suits. Seated at a round table outside on the patio. Dr. Gulupa is to my left talking to me about how quickly the work is being done. Dr. Prenger, wearing his white dr coat, walks in. My attention is on him, wanting him to see me. The head construction man tells Dr. Prenger he’s afraid to tell me of all they have torn out for fear I’ll be upset. He tells Dr. Prenger they’re almost done tearing out the brick wall. Dr Prenger happily tells the man I’ll be fine with it, looks at me, and says the sooner they get it done the happier I will be. This makes the construction man happy and he’s no longer afraid to tell me. I saw and overheard the conversation so he doesn’t need to tell me. Sitting at the table, tell everyone I’m going to bed I want to be up early. They discuss why women go to bed earlier and get up earlier than men. Someone says that women are used to getting up early. It’s dark when I wake. The others are sleeping in the bedroom, each in separate beds. Dr. Prenger, he is lying there awake. I get up, naked, and he sees me. Put my white robe on. He gets up. Tells me he wants to be up early, too. We quietly gather our clothes to keep from waking up the others and leave to get dressed. I walk into the bedroom with the construction expecting to find holes in the ceiling and the outer walls gone. I expect it to be cold in there, winter winds blowing in. I’m surprised to find the room walls paneled. From the doorway I look around several times trying to figure out what’s different. The room is much larger than before. I don’t know how they did it. Then think the brick walls were 3 feet thick and they removed almost all the extra brick which made the walls thinner in turn making the room much larger and nicer. I walk across the room to a closet opening the door. Again, I expect to see holes in the ceiling and walls missing and to feel cold winter air blowing in. I look up and no holes, walls are there, I think to myself it’s warm, no winter wind blowing in. I go downstairs. Anthony is sleeping on a mattress on the floor. I see he’s wet the bed. I wake him & tell him he must get up and change his clothes because he wet the bed. He’s wearing jeans and a diaper underneath. He’s sleepy & I ask him where the extra diapers and clothes are. He gets up and leads me to a dresser. Anthony is yanking out the drawers one after another, 3 of them, which are empty and broken on the inside. I’m putting them back in and trying to fix the broken bottoms. I tell Anthony not to pull so hard on the drawers, he’s breaking them. He has a splinter in his finger. He must put in another splinter to remove the first splinter. I show him a place on the broken drawer with splinters and tell him to put his finger there. He finds another place and pulls a splinter off, shows it to me, and says use this one. He puts the splinter in his finger. I ask him if it hurts and he replies no. We can get out both splinters now. He turns left to another dresser and that’s where his clothes and diapers are. In the kitchen with Dr. Prenger preparing to leave for the day, dressed in business suits, standing, talking and finishing our coffees. He asks if I have a pill as he forgot his. I say yes but only one and we can split it. Walking out, my hands are full and I can’t carry the pill. I know he won’t take it, he doesn’t think it’s right to share medicine not prescribed for a person, even if it’s the same medicine, so I put it on my tongue. Outside on the porch, cool spring or summer morning, sun rising, walking to his car. He asks if I have the pill. I reply I had nowhere to put it so I stuck it to my tongue. He says I should take it. I tell him I don’t have water to take it. He replies I should have taken it while we were inside but there’s water or coffee in his car so I can take it then.

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 42

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? Central OH

Kathy,

What is the relationship if any to 'Anthony' in your waking life. Is this a real person ot just a dream figure?
Anthony seems to be a part of your unconscious or subconscious foundation {Sleeping on the floor}. Changing his clothes is probably a change within you. Diapers may be something that helps aliviate uncontrollable instincts or urges. The dresser may be a play on words meaning you. It would also represent you. Three is a number in Western cutlures as being whole. But Jung saw it as an Eastern symbol {relating back to the primitive mind} as not yet complete {4 being the number for wholeness}. The inside is broken which must mean something with inside you is broken. Anthony, an undeveloped masculine aspect? is causing the damage.

Fingers point. Splinters may represent a small part of yourself. Placing another splinter {another part of you} inplace of the first splinter is replacing one part for another. Also this may be 'splintered' part of yourself, found among the many splinters in a certain drawer {emotions, attitudes, aspects}. There is no pain in the exchange of splinters.
If there is not any childhood experiences you consciously know of then the boy {Anthony} and the splinter are probably the changes you have undergone since you started your self analysis. Anthony {undeveloped macsuline aspect} is probably the conscious ego not wanting you to discover the inner truth {the conscious ego will fight to keep its controll over unconscious contents}. But you have already discovered the splinters within and Anthony has lost control, thus becomes the developing integrated masculine aspect that takes you from 3 to 4. The now powerful feminine aspect {integrated with the masculine aspect}is the replacement for the splintered aspect. Since there is no pain then this would suggest a harmoneous transformation, a very positive sign.

Again, if Anthony is not a symbol of childhood experiences, I believe he is the last remaining part of your splintered self. You are at a plateau of higher understanding, a harmoneous integration of unconscious and consciousness. If you go to Campbell's Hero motifs and the steps involved of the hero adventure you may discover where you are in your journey. Reaching one plateau is just a part of the process, but a hugh one at that. This may be the crossing of the first threshold

Let me know your thoughts.
Gerard