Image Fifty-Seven: 1st April 2003. Photo by Michael Collins
Faces
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 a sense of other-worldly loving support, of peaceful overseeing. I feel a duality of being as if I'm looking in on two different dimensions existing in the same moment. Is the light around the woman's face emanating from her or reflected from the man? One of these people is in spirit or in dream - but which one? I feel a sense of peace.
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.
When a person from your waking life appears in your dream, they usually represent an issue or personality trait within you. People are not who they appear to be in your dreams! If you dream of Mary, ask "What three words best describe Mary's personality or approach to life?" Look at your answers and then write down their opposites. You now have six words. Those six words most likely describe the issues currently conflicting within you.
People from waking life may symbolise other things in your dreams. This is a huge subject, covered in my book, Dream Alchemy pp 302 - 312.
Now - what about those people who appear in your dreams who are unknown to you in waking life? The women often symbolise your Yin, your inner world or your right brain qualities. (These are three different ways of describing the same essence: creativity, intuition, nurturing, being rather than doing, spirituality, wholistic approach.) The men often symbolise your Yang, your outer world or your left brain qualities (reasoning, competitiveness, assertiveness, doing rather than being, mechanistic approach). Ideally we are all, men and women, in equal balance of Yin and Yang. Our dreams indicate when we are out of balance.
Here we have a male and a female face. Are the Yin and Yang in balance?
Although the Yin is right brain she is often on your left in a dream (the right brain controls the left side of the body) and the Yang is often on the right - as seen in this image.
An important part of interpreting a dream is looking for images that are plays on words. Faces, in a dream, may be a dream pun on 'face' up to something - usually yourself. These faces are in profile. Is the dream focusing on your profile - business profile, how you present yourself?
Hats may emphasise thinking processes (heads) or may play a dream pun, "keep your hat on", "keep it under your hat". The man does not appear to have a body - the dream emphasises the heads. Such a dream may be focusing on thinking processes in contrast to feeling processes (head versus heart).
Always remember the influence of your personal associations. These people are clearly South American. If this was your dream and you had spent time in South America, these people could be guiding you to look back at that time in your life.
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!
- Which person feels more familiar to you, the woman or the man?
- Are they standing still or moving?
- If one or both are moving, how fast?
- Are they together or just passing?
- Do they know each other?
- Is the man aware of the woman?
- Is the woman aware of the man?
- Where is the light coming from?
- Does the woman know about the light? If yes, how does it make her feel?
- Does the man know about the light? If so, how does it make him feel?
- What is the man wearing?
- Where are they going?
- Where have they come from?
- Do they both exist or is one in the mind of the other?
- Is one guiding the other? If yes, which?
- How is the woman feeling?
- What is she thinking?
- How is the man feeling?
- What is he thinking?
- What message might the man give the woman that could benefit her?
- What message might the woman give the man that could benefit him?
- Look at your answers to Q20 and Q21. How might you apply these in your own life?
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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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