Exhibit Fifty-Two: 1st October 2002. Photo created and enhanced by Michael Collins
'Charabanc'
Feeling The Picture
Your feeling reactions to a dream are keys to its interpretation. These are my feelings. If this were a scene in your dream or life, how would you feel about being there?
I feel as if I have travelled back in time but am experiencing everything in less than full colour. I am present but I am not present. I feel as if I have been granted a window of opportunity, a flashback to a special day in history. I feel the sense of occasion reflected in the dress of these people who are out to experience a joy ride in a new kind of carriage. I'm there, but I'm invisible.
The Symbols
Symbols in your dreams often relate to your personal memories and associations, so always consider those first. Then let your mind play with other, more general possibilities. They will not all apply! Just open your mind and notice where the symbol seems to fit and make sense of the rest of your dream.
The most obvious symbol is the era. When you dream of an era before your birth it's very tempting to wonder if you have experienced a past life through your dream. You may well have done, since we can and do experience both future and past events and experiences in our dreams on occasion. Two main questions arise:
First, do past lives exist anyway? We each have our own opinions. My personal understanding is that we have parallel lives that also overlap with those of other people. In a nutshell, for me, spiritual time is all of-the-moment (no past, present or future) and we are all inter-connected as we are all part of the one whole. So, if I were to question a past-era setting in a dream of mine I wouldn't be looking at a past-life explanation, though I might consider that I could be tuning into a parallel life experience or a memory imprint from someone else.
Secondly, and more importantly, if you have experienced many past lives (or parallel lives) why did you have this particular 'past-life' dream on this night? In other words, what is it about your current life situation that makes it wise for you to review this particular experience?
Put more concisely: does it really matter whether your past era dream was a glimpse of a past life, a parallel life, a memory plucked from the collective unconscious or a totally symbolic dream like so many other dreams? The bottom line is that every dream comes up because it symbolises something about yourself that is relevant to your waking life - in particular, relevant to your experiences of the last 48 hours.
Begin by looking at the era. There may be a pun in the time period. For example, this image may be from the early 1900's. It may be representing an experience or belief of yours dating back to when you were around 19. There is a Charlie Chaplin-like figure in the charabanc, perhaps setting this image in the silent film era. This may symbolise your own era of silence. What are you not saying? One woman in the carriage wears a fox fur. Perhaps this symbolises your conflicts or ease with fox slaughter, for example. Or maybe this image is from a later era, the Depression or pre-Depression. If so, this dream image may be bringing up questions of depression or forthcoming depression, emotional or personal financial. (This may be emphasised by the lack of colour in the image.) Or are these people in your dream image to represent the Victorian attitude? What is your Victorian attitude or how do you handle other people who seem to have such an attitude?
The vehicle, the charabanc, is an early form of coach. This may symbolise pioneering or new developments in your life or it may suggest that your drive is outdated, that there are more efficient ways to live your life. Or perhaps the charabanc image teaches the reverse in your dream, that a slower approach to life might be more fun.
When part of a dream is in sepia or black and white, it may symbolise depression (lack of colour) but it is more usually a dream device to draw your attention to your past. Consider what the image conveys about your past or whether it represents old-fashioned or traditional beliefs and attitudes that you've learned through your family or inherited as part of your culture. Are you living in the 21st century with 20th century attitude?
The Questions
Here are some questions the dreamer of such a dream picture might ask to work towards a complete understanding of the dream.
Try these yourself: just give your 'gut reaction' answers to the questions - your answers will surprise you in the insights they deliver. The key thing to remember is, "Don't THINK about your answers - give quick gut reaction replies". Your unconscious will deliver.
If this process can work powerfully for this image, consider how infinitely more powerful the insights are when the image comes from one of your own dreams - direct from your unconscious!
- Why are these people all looking at you?
- How does this attention make you feel?
- Are you about to get on the charabanc and travel with them?
- If so, where to?
- Where are they all going?
- If you are not travelling with them, where are you going?
- Pick one person in the charabanc and imagine wearing their clothes. What feeling does this give you?
- What do all the people in the charabanc have in common?
- What is different about the man standing beside the charabanc?
- How does the man standing beside the charabanc feel?
- Who do you relate to most: the people in the charabanc or the man standing beside it?
- How do you think you would feel riding as a passenger in this vehicle?
- How would you feel driving it?
- If this vehicle had a personality, what would it be? (Use three words to describe the personality.)
- Look at your answer to Q14. List three words that are opposite to these.
- Who, in your waking life, has a similar personality to that described in your answer to Q14?
- Who, in your waking life, has a similar personality to that described in your answer to Q15?
- Are you in conflict with either of the two people mentioned in your answers to Q16 and Q17?
- Look at your answer to Q13. How does this feeling relate to any conflict mentioned in your answer to Q18?
- What is the charabanc situation in your waking life today?
- Would it help, in your situation today, to update the charabanc into another vehicle?
- Which vehicle would best suit the situation?
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The Dream Alchemy Gallery
Quotes from Jane Teresa's book, Dream Alchemy, combined with Michael's photographic images, for you to frame.
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Photographic images set to Jane Teresa's dream insights.
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