This dream is five fragments...

I am packing up my car and going on a trip with many friends. It is dark out, and I am driving. This alerts me, that I am "in charge" as driver.

I am living in a small apt. complex in an area that looks like the Catholic school I went to. I am inside the apt., I see down the hallway that the flooring is getting repaired, and that the complex actually looks like a big house with many small apts., ...meaning....the apt. themselves are individuated, but are all together in one large building. The building feels like one large comfortable house.

I am intentionally putting piss in many water puddles. I see a black puddle and think if I put the piss in it, it will kill any bacteria growing in the puddle. Putting piss in water puddles seems to feel like my "job", it's something I am intended to do.

I am at a table with a group of men. One says something to the effect of, "who puts their wife away for three days?" (saying this as unbelievable). One man says "I do!" and explains why. I am agreeing with him, replying "It's called 'survival'". He sends me out on an errand while telling me a story about him doing something that is wrong, and is known to one of the other guys. The other guy keeps his mouth shut about it though, and I say "it's a bribe" while this man hands me money. I get in a metal, industrial looking vehicle, that is open, no doors, feels more like a huge golf cart made of heavy metal. I pull out of the shop I'm in, it is dark and raining heavy, and see a friend of mine with a woman sitting next to him in his truck. She is wearing the veil of Mother Theresa's order, a long white veil with blue stripes across the forehead. This area that I am in feels like the town I grew up in.

Sandra Bullock and Jesse James are not together. I ask if he is available, I'd like to go out with him. He is dating Katarina Witt, and I say she is so similar to Sandra Bullock.

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 41, PA

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

Maureen,
If you will look at the symbols in your dream as a representation of your own psyche/personality I believe the pieces will fall into place.

The first fragment about the car and your trip. Cars in dreams most often symbolize the dreamer. The many friends most likely are the positive aspects you possess. The trip may represent changes, possibly needed changes within your psyche/life. Taking control may be an aspect of your personality, or an aspect that should be more a part of your personality. Are you the type who takes control of situations? Or is this something you need to give more attention to so you can be more in control?

The small apartment complex may be your own complexes. Being small may indicate there is too narrow approach to certain aspects in your life. Perhaps spiritually {Catholic school} your foundations need repair. Since you are at that
'mid-life' stage this is a common occurrence.
Overall you are happy with your life but there are those deeper aspects that may be in need of repair.

My thoughts a about water is it often represents unconscious aspects. Piss, urine, may represent a cleansing. Perhaps placing piss in the puddles is addressing unconscious attitudes that are in need of cleansing. Since it is intentional you may be consciously aware of these emotional forces but have yet to act on them.

The spiritual concepts that most Americans, indeed most Europeans grow up with are patriarchal. And even though you as a female are trying to live a spiritual life the concepts that patriarchy bestows on the developing psyche denies the feminine its rightful place. You can be Mother Teresa but you still must wear a veil in the eyes of the patriarchal system of Western religions {and some Eastern religions also}. It is most difficult for a woman to 'survive' the tyrannical aspects of this system.

Sandra Bullock and Jesse James are seen by many as heroes yet they are opposite. Bullock is the feminine heroine of good whereas James was a hero even though he was an outlaw. They are not that far apart but in your psyche there may need to be a uniting of the opposites aspects they represent. The masculine, patriarchal system that you grew up with has yet to be reconciled with the feminine system that provides the energy for growth and expansion. Perhaps the trip you are on is the one that brings all of these opposites together so to provide that balance you seek in life.

Gerard

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 56

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

Thank You for your reply, Gerard, your interpretation resonates.

[The masculine, patriarchal system that you grew up with has yet to be reconciled with the feminine system that provides the energy for growth and expansion.]

Could you expound on the 'feminine system' for me? This is something that I've been dealing with for a while and am still trying to get a handle on. What are the characteristics fo the "feminine system"?

Thank you...
Maureen

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 41, PA

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

Maureen,
What is the feminine system? That is a important, and yet complicated question. I will try to approach the question in several different ways to help promote what I believe is the most important issue in our understanding of the psyche and the importance in accepting the feminine as equal if not superior aspect. Spiritually, and naturally, it is imperative that humans recognize and give the feminine aspect its due if the planet is to survive. The collective feminine is born from the Great Mother and from her comes all living things which are connected. It is not just a matter of psychology that we must better understand this principle but also the connections between humans, the planet {environmentally speaking} and future life on earth itself.

The Power of the FeminineHurricane Katrina may have very well been the 'shot across the bow' in the earth's disparate cry for help. Katrina also showed the true colors of George W. Bush, the antichrist of the environment. In nature of things, what goes around comes around.

The first thing I will offer up is an interview with Marion Woodman that looks at the feminine in balance with the masculine.
Woodman is a guru of thought when it comes to the feminine. Her insights are invaluable. I believe this article will shed some light not only on the association between feminine and masculine but the collective psyche {the Great Mother being the center} as well. Here are a few of the questions posed to Woodman in the interview:

Question: In your book Dancing in the Flames, you describe the figure of a black goddess or Madonna that has been appearing with increasing frequency in the dreams of many contemporary men and women, and you describe this as an indication that the feminine is "push[ing] through from the very depths of the collective unconscious like a universal force that speaks individually and culturally." What exactly is happening here, and what does it mean?

Woodman: Well, as I see it, we've lost touch with the feminine, with our feelings in our bodies and with the planet itself. Now, collective dreams are presenting new challenges. For example, lust in the body now needs to be united with love in the soul. The Judeo-Christian tradition has split the body from the soul, and so now these dreams of the black goddess are bringing up the image of a very lusty, passionate woman who values life and is in love with life. For example, I'm looking out the window now, and all the buds are coming out and the flowers are all bursting forth in the garden, and there's that luscious, delicious sense of loving—loving and living—that is the recognition of the birthright of life itself, in which lust and that love are expressed together. And this is one of the most crucial problems of our culture: Too much feeling is repressed in our own "human earth"—which is to say, in our own bodies. For many people, "playing it cool" is the biggest, most important thing; one should not get heated up over anything. In other words, they cut out the passion: then life becomes boring until they explode in a fit of rage.

Question:How do we know that the goddess is, as you're suggesting, an emergent, impersonal, feminine cosmic force that is revealing itself to an increasing number of human beings with the intention of revolutionizing human life and consciousness?

Woodman: I don't. I don't know that. How could we possibly know? All I can say is that I believe that God—masculine spirit and feminine matter—is speaking to us directly through our dreams. Dreams, being metaphorical, being the connection between the spiritual and the physical, are the language of the soul. And I've seen messages from this black Madonna in hundreds of dreams, and they all seem to have a creative intent in the life of the person to whom they come. So I see the black goddess as representing a cumulative insight that will eventually have an impact on the planet. It's not just happening here, you know; it's happening all over. And this goddess is, by the way, beloved in India—Kali, the goddess of life and death, of creation and destruction, is the most revered Hindu goddess. But our country hasn't dealt with Kali at all because we don't like to think that death is part of life—even though we've just finished with winter! I mean, if we gave any thought to it at all, we'd know that death leads to new life. So I don't know, but I think we have to learn to accept mystery, to accept that the Divine is mysterious and that if we think we know everything, we are grossly deceived.

Here is the whole interview

Taming Patriarchy

The Emergence of the Black Goddess

I will attempt in future postings to provide a better understanding of the feminine aspect in a way that hopefully will define the 'power of the feminine' and the place of the feminine psyche as a collective agent that can provide spiritual and creative nourishment to anyone who seeks to discover the centre.

Observation: A perfect symbol of the masculine in balance with the feminine is that of Jesus. He was a male who lived not from patriarchal rule but from the feminine side of the psyche. Although historically there is not a figure on the scale of Jesus represented by a woman, there are many examples of the perfect woman figure in association with the masculine. An evolving figure is Mary Magdalene.
A 20th century example would be Gandhi, where you have that magnificent femininity along with incredible masculine strength.

Gerard

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 56

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

< Excellent! >
Your reply is very much appreciated, Gerard!

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 41, PA

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

Maureen,
I am delighted my approach pleased you. Since I seldom have the time to detail my own thoughts as thorough as I would like I often use available resources to convey my intent. I am a mere conduit to those who have the insights to the answers. Woodman is one my favorites.

Here is another link that will provide further insights to the psychology of Carl Jung and the feminine. It delves deeper into the applications of the anima and animus, but I sense {intuitively} that you are fully capable of understanding and comprehending the language.

When Anima Meets Animus

Gerard

Age & Gender & Location {Required}: 56

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

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Jun 19th, 2006 - 3:42 PM