Hi Kate,
Yes, rain in a dream can reflect depression, and if this was the feeling it gave you, it probably is.
Water generally represents our emotions in a dream and the feeling the water gives you is a good guide to the emotion it is symbolising. (Boiling water: anger; Calm deep water: calm on the surface but what lays deeper?; Muddy water: unclear emotions etc).
Different dreams may bring different 'feelings' of rain: a light rain giving a feeling, perhaps of cleansing, washing away, refreshing, nourishing and promise of growth to come.
But generally rain does tend to reflect depression or feeling depressed. (i.e. Everyone feels depressed* from time to time as opposed to Depression with a capital D as a longer-term symptom of dis-ease .. not being at ease.)
Whatever the family stress is, at the moment, your dream is taking you back to the time of your childhood (childhood home) to show you the origin of the stress. The fence most likely represents a limitation or barrier of some kind. When you think about your childhood home now, do you think of the fence as keeping you feeling safe inside or as keeping you closed in, not free? Did the fence shut you out from outer world influences? On reflection, how do you feel about this now?
Other people in our dreams often symbolise our own beliefs and attitudes ... which, in turn, are usually those we have learned or acquired from other people, often, of course, in childhood.
Your new brother-in-law is reminding you, in some sense, of some beliefs or attitudes within yourself or within your early childhood home. In the dream he is muddy (unclear? or seen as 'unclean??) and is sitting outside the fence. He is cold.
In what sense might YOU have been left "out in the cold", in your childhood, by being left "outside the fence"? What was it that made you feel excluded and cold?
In the dream you encourage him to come inside to get clean and warm. This is you, as an adult, wisely encouraging the younger you (represented by your new brother-in-law) to cross the line (fence), to come inside (inside yourself) and clean up (clean up old attitudes and beliefs from childhood which are still leaving you 'out in the cold') and get warm (open your heart - nourish yourself).
In the end, it is we who stand in our own way. If you can relate to this, Kate, you have the power to bring yourself in from the cold and nourish yourself no matter what the rest of the family think or feel. You can choose your own reactions and feelings, and, above all, choose which side of the fence you wish to live your life ...
Hope this helps ... let us know how you feel about this.
Another possible thing to look at is where you were at when you were 29, since you specifically mention this man's age and this may be what he is symbolising in your dream.
Any other suggestions, anyone?
Jane Anderson
* Other dream symbols of depression can include going down steps into the dark with a feeling of lowering or emptiness; uprooted trees .... though these can mean other things as well, depending on the storyline of the dream and other factors.
Jane |
