I was in a gym class. I set up the tumbling mat to practice on when I noticed something crawling on me. I pulled it off. It was purple and had little pincers to bite with. It was moving. I put it in a bowl where there were several other creatures like it, but they were dead, or at least, weren’t moving. The others also had what looked like long legs sprouting from them. The live one did not.
My friend looked at them and looked worried. He then grabbed me to ask me something and took me to another room. Suddenly we saw a maggot-like creature on a bench top. It had little legs like a centipede and reared its body up and flew away. My friend screamed out "itchy bite-ies!"
He then grabbed my arm and saw bite marks all over. At every bite there were three spots. I knew the creatures had laid eggs in my arm and those eggs were hatching into these maggot-like creatures that grew under my skin then ate their way out and flew off to infect someone else.
I was the start of a plague, or a breakout. I guess something’s making my skin crawl, or someone’s got under it.
Do you practise tumbling at a gym? I’m wondering if this is a personal symbol associated with your lifestyle or whether it is a total dream symbol. I get the feeling from the way you say “the” tumbling mat that you do practise tumbling at the gym. If so, how do you feel when you are practising the art of tumbling? Is this something you do for fun and relaxation or is it related to your profession? Do you go to the gym to tumble to find your own space?
The beginning of a dream often describes the situation (symbolically) that your dream goes on to address.
Perhaps you go to the gym to ‘work out’ and so your dream is introducing the theme of ‘working out’ something that is bothering you.
The main theme of your dream is the feeling of being infested and invaded, of being nourishment for parasites, of being eaten up from the inside as well. You noticed the dream playing the cliché “under my skin”, reflecting the feeling of someone or something irritating you, getting under your skin emotionally.
The dead creatures had long legs sprouting from them. This suggests that what appears to be dead is actually alive and thriving.
Maggots thrive on decaying (dead) matter transforming the dead into the living, echoing a theme of life evolving from death.
What appears to be dead in your life? What do you feel you have put an end to? Could it be that it is still thriving and evolving?
Is there a relationship or work issue that has been getting under your skin, which you think you’ve dealt with (killed off) but which is, in fact, alive and thriving? If there is an irritation in your life, what or who is it?
What are you trying to put a stop to – without effect?
At the end of the dream you saw yourself as the start of a plague with the ability to infect others. What is plaguing you in your life? In what ways might you be plaguing others?
When you feel irritated by someone, how do you respond? Do you respond in a way that causes you and the other person further irritation? Does one little annoyance easily grow into plague proportions? When you get worried, do you have a tendency to escalate into Drama Queen?
It’s all about correct boundaries. Things can’t get under a healthy skin. You may be vulnerable and open to attack in some circumstances and overly defensive in others. When you feel stung you may sting back hard. You need to set clear personal boundaries, but soft, loving ones, not stinging brick walls.
Affirmation:
Here’s an affirmation using your dream symbols:
“My skin gently protects my being. I am safe within my skin. My skin radiates calm peace.”
How to use your affirmation/ and how often:
Say your affirmation out loud and with feeling 30 times a day for the first week. From the second week say your affirmation out loud and with feeling once in the morning and once before you go to sleep for three more weeks.
How does this work?
This works by communicating directly with your unconscious mind using its own language, to transform the belief your dream is revealing.
More details on Affirmation as a Dream Alchemy Practice in: “Dream Alchemy” by Jane Teresa Anderson, pages 331-333.
Jane Teresa Anderson
