I was standing on the verandah of a previous home, the one in which I was raised. Looking down the valley towards Tooronga, I could see present-day helicopters, one of which was a police helicopter. They were circling, about where a small footbridge, over the creek, used to be before they put the freeway along there.
The house wasn't as we left it, with the verandah filled in and the buildings that were on the other side of the street were not there, nor the others built since.
Dream edited for easier reading - JT, 2005
2004
Jane Teresa's View
Jane Teresa Anderson
Overview Interpretation & Dream Alchemy Practice suggestion
OVERVIEW INTERPRETATION
Hi Anne,
When you dream of a house you used to live in, you are comparing something from that time with what is happening for you now. Going back to the past in dreams helps to throw light on the present day. Sometimes those past memories show you how certain beliefs were established that are affecting how you respond to today’s challenges.
When your dream shows the old house changed in some way remember that dreams are symbolic. Focus on the differences to understand the dream.
How old were you when you lived at that house? Think back to those years. Police helicopters are used for search and rescue or for chasing someone suspected of a crime. You identified the helicopters as present day models. What search and rescue are you doing in your life today? Are you doing research? What are you looking for? Are you searching for clues as to how to solve an issue? How about the crime angle? Have you been recriminating with yourself over a past issue, blaming yourself or someone else for your situation?
When you lived at that house, did you use the footbridge regularly? Where did it lead? What happened there? What feelings do you have about that place? Why would your dreams suggest that it is a good place to search for something you have lost, wish to rescue or wish to judge? Think beyond physical loss. Think of emotional loss: loss of identity, of security, of self-esteem, of freedom (to wander wherever you wish) for example. Is it time to rescue a lost sense of identity, or freedom, or to understand why you judged yourself or someone else harshly?
Police are also about security. In your dream your old house showed the verandah as filled in (made secure) instead of open and, in contrast, the view across the street was open instead of filled in with buildings. When you lived in that house, did the presence of other buildings make you feel secure or insecure? How do your feelings about security today compare with back then?
Dreams often highlight an issue by presenting opposites. In your dream I see that what was once open is now closed while what was once closed is now open. I see issues of security – what makes you feel safe or unsafe, emotionally – and a search of your past to understand why this issue is challenging you right now.
If you can identify what you have lost, around a sense of security (or around a sense of how open or closed you are towards other people) then you can ask yourself if you would like to regain or build anew to replace that loss.
You will find it helpful to read ‘Revisiting a past home’ in Dream Alchemy, pages 169-75.
DREAM ALCHEMY PRACTICE
Gut reaction poetry:
The title of your free-form poem is ‘View from the verandah’. Keep it going for 5 - 10 minutes. (See how to do this in next section.)
How to do this:
Take a blank piece of paper and a pen. Set a timer for somewhere between 5 and 10 minutes. Do not allow yourself to think! Start by writing the title as your first line and just let it flow. Keep on writing even if your poem seems childish or nonsensical. No rhyming or verses unless it comes out that way! The only definition of ‘poetry’ here is that you’re not writing sentences and you’re not using up all the space on your lines. Let your words find their own shape on the page.
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 Gut Reaction Poetry as a Dream Alchemy Practice in: “Dream Alchemy”, by Jane Teresa Anderson, pages 324-7 and 334-5.
Jane Teresa Anderson
You can consult with Jane Teresa or her Dream Team and receive your interpretation by email within five working days.
ORIGINAL THREAD
Below is the original forum
discussion on this dream, contributed before Jane Teresa's 2004 interpretation.
John
02:23 18/12/2001
Hi Anne
Just a few thoughts
If buildings represent us, then your home as a child, verandahs are open, as children are. The later version of the house is closed, as we tend to become as we get older.
The footbridge is a simple way of passage, the freeway more complicated, as we also become with age.
Helicopters circling - going round in circles. Police - symbols of authority, which can sometimes be thought of as restricting?
Valleys are generally fertile areas (of learnings as a child?)
So, are some of the aspects of growning older stiffling your learning/progress. Is there a need to "open the verandahs up again" so that some new learnings can come in?
Hope that gives you something to start with
John
Anne
15:39 24/12/2001
Evidently I'm not doing the right thing, as I have had another dream. I was standing across the road from the same house & it was still in the same era, not as the street is today.
I was doing something with someone, but I cannot remember what or who, only I seemed to be facing down the street approx, but not quite, in the same general direction.
John
01:11 25/12/2001
Hi Ann
From your first dream - "The house wasn't as we left it, with the verandah filed in & the buildings that were on the other side of the street were not there" - Something that was in your childhood is not there now?, neither are any of the "changes" that have taken place since.
I don't know the geography of the area you speak of, but get the feeling that it is more rural, or urban than "big city".
Are you now living in a big city and not enjoying the excitement that you first experienced? Is there a yearning for the less complicated life now?
Are there any aspects of your life/lifestyle that are limiting your expansion in some way
I suppose helicopters could resemble birds of prey waiting to swoop. Is there a situation in your life that could give you that feeling, which if made less complex would make life simpler?
That seems a bit disjointed, but I hope you get my drift.
John
John
01:18 25/12/2001
Another thought.
Standing across the street - You are almost there (wherever there is) - facing in approx the same direction - as you did as a child, or as you do now, or are you turning to regain the same direction that you had back then or turning away from that direction.
Taking the opposite view, is there some aspect of your childhood that needs to be "turned away from" ie got rid of?
John
Anne
10:31 25/12/2001
Thank you for responding John. That house was in the suburbs, about 10km SE of the City of Melbourne. I have lived in a rural area for just over half my life now & I love the country (especially where I live now), wouldn't really go back to the city.
My life is very uncomplicated I think, except for one thing - compulsory travelling of about 250km once a fortnight, which I'm not happy about. I can't remember anything in my childhood that needs to be 'turned away from' or to regain, but do get your 'drift'.
Noticed I made a typo with 'filled in'. I just thought the first dream strange, with the mix of the past & the present (with the Helicoptors). In fact, one of those buildings, on the opposite side of & a bit further down the street, was built a few years before we left there & it definitely blocked the view down the valley.
I keep saying 'down', but in reality it is upstream of the creek, suppose it's down from the verandah. I seemed to be me standing there, but not as a child. The same with the second dream & when I think back to that dream, a shovel comes to mind.
I cannot remember whether the railway house (below the level of the road) was in the dream or not, which would have given me a time in space, as it was pulled down before we left. Maybe I should try to go to sleep thinking about the house &/or the area.
John
00:22 26/12/2001
Hi Ann, It's my pleasure. I have had much help with my postings, and whilst being very much an amature, your dream caught my attention. I think it was because, as you say, it is a mix of past and present.
I didn't notice your typo, even when I pasted it in to my reply. As Star says, the way we describe dreams has significance, as well as the dream itself.
When I read your 1st dream, I felt that there was something from the past that has a bearing on the present. The typo in a way confirms that, in my mind. We file things away for future reference. Sometimes we refer to them, and sometimes we forget about them being filed away, and yet at other times we have no need for the item again. So what is in my mind is that the "files" need to be reviewed for current value/usefulness, keeping those things that are useful, and discarding those that are not.
The dreams bring up something that requires attention. And the thoughts going through my mind at the moment are:- Did a certain type of person (or their actions) have an influence that is no longer useful. Is an attitude or belief that you had then no longer valid, or more valid.
The shovel is confusing too. It is a tool that can be used to "dig something up" or bury something. It can be used for planting, or removing, starting or finishing.
Aren't dreams fascinating, and infuriating. Sometimes what seems so short and simple is complicated and visa versa.
The railway house is also conected with travel, like the helicopters. Maybe the compulsory travel is the thing that is bugging you, and your unconscious is trying to have you look at the compulsory aspect as a bonus instead of a chore. After all some chores do have a positive side to them, even if it is sometimes hard to find. Look for the benefits that the traveling can have, direct and indirect.
Lastly, I wouldn't say that you are not doing the right thing. You are looking for the answer to the dream, maybe not quite there yet, but as the 2nd dream is of the same subject and era, I would suggest as before, almost there.
Good luck
Star
04:16 26/12/2001
Hi Anne and John - a bit late but, Merry Christmas to you both.
Love what you have come up with John.
May help Anne - to try and remember the feelings or feeling you experienced in the dreams as they are often vital clues to what the dream message is.
No wrong or right way of doing anything really as I see it, everything just is. I also find it helps if when working with a dream we don't bring other stuff that is occurring for us into the dream recall - yes we need to look at that - but it helps if we do it separately as often it confuses us and the dream message gets lost with logical thoughts about stuff like you're wondering about the railway house - it wasn't in the dream. Yes it has a link to that era for you and is no doubt part of it but bringing things like that into it I have found just tangles us all up and we don't get the message.
I don't know if it helps you any but buildings represent generally a state of mind/way of thinking - there is really no past or future - all "time" is now.
All that has happened to us makes us who we are now. Dreams, present people and events in our lives will trigger supposedly past emotions and subconscious beliefs about ourselves so we can clear them out if they are no longer serving us. When we enter dream state we have access to past, present and future - the eternal now. Time is purely man made or to be politically correct human made and entirely a matter of perception. Everything is purely a matter of how we perceive it.
I had a dream yonks ago with a verandah in it and what I discovered was that it related to an attachment/subconscious belief about myself I had hung onto from childhood. Verandahs are not part of a house but attached to a house. There are no walls (barriers we put up) to a verandah usually but generally speaking they have rooves - in my dream the roof was symbolical of the barrier I had put up a long time ago in order to protect me, that was stopping me from opening right up.
Verandahs are also an extension if you like and as they are on the outside of a house they can represent how we show ourselves/appear to the outside world, extend ourselves in the outside world.
The reference to "looking down" - could imply looking down on yourself, not thinking you are "good enough" perhaps in some areas of your life. This could be, if that's what it is meaning, the filed away subconscious belief about yourself coming from your childhood, that put up the barriers then to being open - to being your true Self.
The valley as John has said I also see as fertile ground - gardens generally speaking represent our inner life/inner growth - so the way I see it you have a beautiful open natural fertile creative space within that you are "looking down" on, perhaps not recognising within yourself that exists.
Words have so many different meanings. Word play and looking at puns and subconscious typos when working with dreams is really really useful.
In the members forum a while back a helicopter was a major symbol - and out of that word I saw hell I copped her. Cop is another word for Police. Perhaps you copped something - perhaps blame maybe for something that occurred in childhood from an authority figure, totally unknown to your conscious mind now that caused you to subconsciously file that experience away and put up barriers in order to protect yourself that have kept you running around in circles looking down on yourself, not recognising/seeing the beauty within and the true Self.
The dreams may be showing you that you don't need to have those barriers up when interacting with the outside world anymore, which as I see it would then see you looking/moving in an opposite direction within yourself to the one you currently are in.
The footbridge is also interesting - bridges get us from one side of something to the other side - movement within occurring or needing to occur. Walking in a new direction within maybe. I also see that a foot bridge is used to cross over something and in cross over I see just that - is there anything that you are feeling cross over/about. You mention the need to travel a huge distance on a regular basis which is annoying you - if you look at why that annoys you - you may get some further answers. Again I see that as purely being a matter of perception.
What would make that journey more enjoyable??? Perhaps you perceive it as a chore - a necessary burden -if the journey is to get groceries and attend to financial matters, perhaps also mail collecting etc., which I am assuming it is - what happens if you don't do it???
Could you not try to look at it as a child would - as a grand adventure - who knows who you could meet or what you will see about yourself on the way - everything that appears on our paths has a message for us once we learn it's symbolic meaning and once we do that life does indeed become a grand adventure - what makes you not want to do it - do you prefer to just be with yourself - do you not want to interact with others when you make that journey?? If so why not???
Not questions for you to answer here if you don't choose to - just throwing them out there.
Shovels for me always imply the need to dig deeper in order to find what is below the surface/beyond the superficial layers.
Hope that is of some assistance.
Star
04:23 26/12/2001
In a shovel I also see the need to give myself a shove - a push to get me moving again.
Star
14:46 26/12/2001
Oh and Anne - just want to thank you for posting this one - I've been too busy with a heap of other stuff around here to look at it in a bit more depth before this morning BUT I went back to bed for a while after working with your dream and had one of my usual movie length dreams with brilliant recall. When working with it later a heap of what I came up with for yours was extremely relevant to me.
Ha the beauty of dreams and mirrors never ceases to enthrall me. They may often appear complex and infuriating as John said but it seems to me that is just our logical perception of them because when you get to the core of them you see how very simply it all fits together. Nine times out of ten what we say to another in response to a dream we actually need to hear ourselves. Our response is so automatic that often we don't even realise what we are in actual fact telling ourselves.
I had shoes in this particular dream. I equated them to taking the next step, which I have been stalling doing and now needing to work out the steps I need to take to getting more of what I want from my life.
So perhaps your footbridge has a similar message.
And the give myself a shove - a push to get me moving again was just so spot on when I was working with my dream.
So, a big thank you for what you have shown me here about ME! Cause now I am so much closer to literally making my dreams reality.
Star
17:38 26/12/2001
Woops, need to clarify.
Not everything that we respond to in another's dream will be what we need to hear. Sometimes we've been there, done that and can see what is clearly there that the dreamer is too close to see BUT I've noticed often that certain things stick out for me more than others in my responses, like the shove/push in this one, the lack of direction I picked up on in one of Tom's posts and when Henry and I had that really long session a while back - re Tina, Lena and Xena - there were certain bits that stood out which I also needed to look at.
Hope that makes what I'm trying to say a little clearer.
Anne
13:59 30/12/2001
Posting my dream, it's a pleasure Star.
Definitely a chore & necessary burden. I suppose it didn't help to have been in a lot of pain for abt 4 mths up to a couple of months ago, & still not right yet.
I don't mind shopping, but going all that way to shop for someone else. A relie (not parents) with a M problem, expects but doesn't appreciate, but not her fault.
If I don't go, she doesn't take her tablets, or feed herself properly. She won't have strangers in her house, even home help, district nurse, etc.
Funny thing, up till 4 yrs ago, the last time I saw this lady was at the house in the dream, which was a considerable time ago. But, thinking back on the dream, I would have said the time of the dream was well before that.
I see a shovel as clearing away.
Anne
09:19 03/01/2002
I have had another dream in this series.
This time I am inside the house, it seems to be night time. There's going to be an auction of household effects & I seem to be an outside Vendor. There is a cabinet there, similar to my mother's crystal cabinet.
Someone is saying we're having a party tonight, you'll have to shift all this stuff out of this room (front room of the house). They then start putting big boxes of things into the cabinet (In reality it wouldn't fit boxes of any sort).
I then had the feeling the auction had started (still night time), although I couldn't hear it. I looked at the cabinet & thought "they'll sell the cabinet with everything in it, as a whole as usual".
So I started pulling the things out of the cabinet & carrying them from that room to the middle room which was a big dining room (15ft x 18ft) when we lived there (there were people there, but they were something like shadows, but a bit more solid & I couldn't see faces).
I was handing someone a bedspread & pillow covering, & was saying that's what it was. There were also things in a room off the dining room (was my bedroom before we left there & my Nanna's before that). Then I was going back for more things & I awoke.
Anne
06:56 18/01/2002
I have had another dream in this series. This time I was in the back yard of the same house. I was with someone, but don't remember who or what we were doing.
