More signs that the season is changing, that the planet is continuing its path around the sun. I saw some snow on the prairie in a pasture the other day, the sun has moved enough so that it shines through my east facing window and into my face through a break in the foliage of the photinia as it rises in the morning while I sit at my desk reading and writing requiring me to wear my ball cap until it gets higher, and the season of beautiful sunsets is starting, witness the one last night.
I was musing about the significance of water in dreams. I wouldn’t say that it is a frequent element in my dreams but I have had some memorable dreams throughout my life in which water was featured. When I was around 8 or 10, I woke up one morning convinced I could breathe underwater and it took awhile to shake that certainty that the dream I had had of swimming underwater without needing air had left me with. Another one I remember from my early 20s married to my first husband involved finding him with another woman and I left walking down a road with him following me in a golf cart trying to talk me into coming back. I ignored him until the road disappeared into a body of water and I couldn’t go any further. I waded around in the water before deciding to go back but when I woke I knew that it was over and I divorced him about 6 months later. Another dream involving water probably in my 30s I was at a beach watching as all along the shoreline were artists facing the water painting on easels when a huge wave came and washed over us all sending everyone tumbling and I was immersed in the water which didn’t recede. There was more to that dream but that’s the part that I remember. And now this most recent one. Certainly there have been more involving bodies of water but these are the ones that have stuck with me.
Curious, I asked the All Knowing Oracle what water in dreams represents. Apparently it’s a common theme and can represent any number of things.
“Dreams about water are symbolic of your emotions during your waking life. They're said to be linked to the deepest recesses of your subconscious mind and your intuition. Water is also associated with fertility, creativity, emotional well-being, renewal, purity, and new endeavors.”
Another list of possible connections.
- Emotions: Water can represent your emotions, and how you feel about life.
- Subconscious: Water can symbolize the unconscious mind, and the depths of your psyche.
- Life: Water can symbolize the source of life, and the wellspring of growth and vitality.
- Fertility: Water can be associated with fertility, creativity, and new endeavors.
- Purity: Water can symbolize purity and cleanliness.
- Flow: Water can represent change, flexibility, and rejuvenation.
- Birth: According to Freud, water in dreams can be closely linked to birth.
- Overwhelming emotions: Tidal waves or flooding can symbolize overwhelming emotions or a sense of being overwhelmed.
- Personal growth: Dreaming about waves of water could symbolize a desire for personal growth.
- Need for connection: Dreaming about waves of water could symbolize a need to connect with nature.
I don’t know what was going on in my 8 - 10 year old life but I think I can discount emotions, life, purity, birth, and connection but change, feeling overwhelmed, and this last one, fertility as in new endeavors maybe relates to the transition I’m going through probably giving up glass as an artistic medium and working in watercolors and colored pencils instead. Although the rest of the dream is a big what the hell was that all about or maybe the challenge involved.
Anyway, interesting stuff.
I have always connected water in dreams to the subconscious! I haven't had a water dream in a long time!
ReplyDeleteI've always heard that water in dreams is about emotions but I can see a connection with every one of the things you listed. Water is everything and just as you- I have always been drawn to it and soothed by it.
ReplyDeleteFascinating- Water dreams and flying dreams ocuur frequently in my slumber land - both are loads of fun though water is more interesting. Plus we are a large percentage of water, I forget- is it like 90%? Water is us.
ReplyDeleteI fly often in dreams, just above roof top level, very happily, much more acrobatic than in real life. I'm glad I don't dream of water, a dry land person, me.
ReplyDeleteAlas, I no longer remember dreams, present or past. Has a lot to do with head injuries, I believe.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if people who have water dreams wet the bed!
ReplyDeleteI don't dream all that much, but do remember most of them -- at least, until I put my feet on the floor. I've never had dramatic water dreams, or flying dreams. A couple of times I've been in old trucks bumping down dirt roads looking for flowers, but that's not hard to figure out! You're right about the season changing. Morning sunlight comes through my windows now; in another few weeks my patio will be in full shade. Even if the temperature is dropping as much as we'd like, the shortening days are bringing the migrations, and fall-blooming flowers.
ReplyDeleteThat list covers almost everything and mostly positive stuff. So you are safe there apart from the tsunami of feeling overwhelmed. I watched an online presentation on AI today and among other stuff way beyond my understaning there was section on harvesting brain images via functional MRI from people while they are asleep. How anybody can actually fall asleep inside a MRI tunnel was not explained but the colourful images were amazing and apparently each colour corresponds to a certain feeling and experience.
ReplyDeleteAnd once again, I'm amazed that you remember not only recent dreams, but those from years and years ago!
ReplyDeleteMy recurring dreams are usually about houses with lots of different rooms, most of them a step down or a step up, and I can never find the person I'm looking for. OR I dream about finding toilets in public places & using them anyway. Ha!
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