Wednesday, March 23, 2011

i have a dream(s)


Did you know that one side of your hair grows more quickly than the other?

Neither did I. The woman who gave me the Kate Middleton told me.
And get this: it's the side of your head that you sleep on the most.

Which brings me to sleeping, and dreams.

I have recurring dreams. Not every night, and not the exact same sequence of events everytime, but the same type of dream nonetheless. In fact, I have three of the same type of dreams. This hasn't been forever either, it's kind of manifested over the last few years.

The three dreams I have at least once a month are:
1) House dreams
2) Snake dreams
3) A particular person dreams

And less frequently, depending on how turbulent my life is, I'll have a water dream. Scary water dreams - like I'm trapped in a swirling river, or under the sea, or in a tsunami flood, that sort of thing. But usually these dreams go away.

The other three? All the time.

The house dream is the most common. It's fucked up.
It's always some form of the house I grew up in, which in real life was a beautiful Victorian style higgledy-piggledy place in which I lived for the first 18 years of my life. I was - and still am - very attached to this house.

The dream usually involves millions of rooms, secret passageways, overgrown gardens, and a neglected empty house - and it's always, in some form, the house I grew up in.

There's always a presence of sort, watching me.
A ghost of some sort, an evil thing in the house. Or I'm being torn away from the house somehow, not wanting to leave it. The last one, I was in my room, having to pack my things up. I was crying and screaming that I didn't want to leave my home. Which, in reality, was very real for me. Growing up, whenever my parents threatened to move somewhere I'd get ridiculously upset.

Well, I'm still dreaming of my old house, years later, and the fact that's either haunted or I'm being torn away from it. It's a horrible dream, yes.

Dream websites reckon 'I'm going through personal changes,' while another suggests 'unfinished business' and each room I dream signifies various stages and emotions.

Either way, it's the most common dream I have, and it's fucking unsettling.

The other dream I have is the snake dream. Which has had me, over the years, waking up in a cold sweat, screaming and then tearing the sheets off my bed.

I'll dream they're everywhere, in the sky, on the floor, I simply can't avoid them. They're poisonous, but they don't usually bite me. Well, they've started biting me. Sometimes they float through the sky, and more than once I've dreamt they're wrapped around my neck, which is quite literally, my worst nightmare.

Freud says I have a fear of the penis (Nosiree!), and Jung sees it as a symbol for medicine (vodka?)

I suppose the one thing that hasn't happened is a dream about my old house with a snake inside it.

Anyone else out there have snake and house dreams?

6 comments:

Kerry said...

No, but I have particular person dreams ALL the time! Thank goodness it's someone nice. :D

Katinafrica said...

Every nightmare I ever have is set in the house that I lived in from the time I was 5 till I was 14. It was in a small town called Harding and I was not happy living there. The house burnt down when I was 7 and was rebuilt then it was broken into three times. Probably not suprising its the place I go to in my dreams whenever I have great stress in my life. No snake dreams but I also have water dreams when I am really stressed or worried. Usually that damn house flooding:)

Peas on Toast said...

Kerry - that's a relief! Mine aren't always so nice :(

Kathleen - oh thank fuck for that, I'm not alone. Your house sounds like it was the subject of much sadness and disruption, so no surprise at all!
My house is wierd - as I had a great childhood there and loved the house so much. I think the angst comes in when my folks got divorced and Dad left, so mum had to sell. At least I think that might be the issue...

annette said...

My dreams don't involve snakes but spiders. I will often dream that I am in room filled with spiders, they surround me and I can't get out. This is my worst nightmare as I have a phobia about spiders.

Peas on Toast said...

annette - Eek sistah, that's a horrible dream!
I think there's a parallel here though - my phobia is snakes and yours is spiders, so makes sense that the dream is born out of intense fear for the creatures...

Chantelle said...

I have terrible recurring snake dreams- sometimes they are multicolored, or just plain, but in every dream they are coming after me and they can float and climb and basically get everywhere I go. Very frightening. Recently they have also started biting me, always on the back of my ankle and then I wake up so I never know if they were venomous or not. Would love somebody to analyze it for me!
I am glad I am not alone!