I was on a boat, one that carries around 5-8 people. Suddenly the boat tipped over and one of my friends was dragged down further into the deep sea by a killer whale. We all went down and saved him, bringing him back to the surface. A dolphin then got my friend Chook’s leg, dragged him down into the sea and passed him on to a killer whale. Chook disappeared under the coral.
Surprisingly I had scuba diving stuff on so I went down to the coral to look for him. I turned on my thermal goggles to look among the coral but I wasn't looking for Chook anymore. My mind was set on looking for a talking possum.
When I found the talking possum it was crying and ran away from me. The scene had changed to a nightclub bar type of thing and a girl. I can't put my finger on her face - her face was blurry - but she worked there and I was in a relationship with her. Whenever she came past I would hold her in my arms and give her a kiss or vice versa. She was wearing a red dress.
Once you’re in the ocean in a dream you’re often looking at emotional issues deep in your unconscious mind. The solid land, in dreams, often represents our conscious mind – what we see and know about (just like the land), whereas the ocean often represents our unconscious mind – what we can’t see so easily and don’t know about (just like the depths of the ocean).
No matter who is in a dream (you, your friends), start by looking at whatever happens to anybody, or at whatever anybody does, as if they were all you in different guises. Everyone in a dream represents something about you. All the parts in the dream play are really played by the same actor in different costumes.
So, you encounter a killer whale (dangerous) and a dolphin (presumably not dangerous, friendly, perhaps a life-saver according to some stories).
Animals in our dreams represent our own energies and feelings, so here you are suddenly exploring your unconscious mind, and investigating issues of danger and safety. (These are my suggestions. If you think about a whale and a dolphin, what energies do they represent for you?)
Eventually you go deeper to look for Chook – to explore your feelings of danger and safety and this transforms into a quest to look for a talking possum. (Isn’t it interesting that chook - Australian slang for ‘chicken’ – can mean fear – as in being chicken about something?) Somewhere in your dream you worked out that underneath concerns about danger and safety lays the real issue – symbolised by a talking possum. When you found him, he was crying.
What energy does a possum have, in your opinion? As a child, did anyone in your family use an expression about possums, such as the familiar Australian endearment, “poor possum” or whatever? If so, how could this have impacted on you?
Somewhere inside you is some sadness represented by the crying possum. What could it be, do you think? What is the possum part of your nature?
The possum ran away from you and you were left there. Did you feel abandoned? Is this sadness about someone who left you, or about feeling alone – poor possum?
Well, in your dream you began to face this, so the sadness began to dispel.
It’s interesting that in the next part of the dream you’re in a relationship. The colour red stood out for you. What does the colour red make you feel? Do you have any special associations with red? It’s possible that red is expressing something about the sadness that is ready to be released, or about how you will feel once it is released.
Dialogue:
Your dialogue is between the talking possum and you. Start with the talking possum saying, “You didn’t know possums could talk, did you? Ask me a question!”, then see what you automatically answer. Keep it going for 20 minutes.
How to do this:
Give yourself no longer than 20 minutes. When you do this exercise do NOT think! Don’t plan ahead. Just let whatever happens happen. Let the two entities speak to each other on paper using whatever words come up. It’s a bit like writing a film script or play – but without the brain being involved.
How does this work?
By not thinking, by keeping the words flowing, you are letting your right brain and unconscious mind do most of the work. They created the original dream so they know what these symbols mean for you. They will reveal. You will be surprised.
More details on Dialogue as a Dream Alchemy Practice in: “Dream Alchemy” by Jane Teresa Anderson, pages 321-4 and 333.
Jane Teresa Anderson
