I had a dream...

To take this thread back to its original topic and away from the purience it has drifted towards, as an amateur dream interpreter I have this to say about the original, which actually has its own level of passionate repose. In many different branches of psychology, water, and especially a body of water in which one would immerse oneself, has sexual connotations. This has more to do with the whole body experiance of floating or being submerged totally in another state than anything symbolic. The context of the body of water in your dream, its being surrounded by imposing cliffs, populated by an animal which causes you fear, would suggest that presently or in your future you are/will be faced by a romantic encounter to which you are not inclined, despite the approval and even encouragement of others. To put it bluntly, you may be invited to a liason with a person who many would find attractive, but you find distasteful for whatever reason. I say stick with your gut and stay out of the water!
 
To take this thread back to its original topic
Awww, thanks Lithograpgette. I was sure that someone out there would have dabbled in dream interpretation
To put it bluntly, you may be invited to a liason with a person who many would find attractive, but you find distasteful for whatever reason.
Interesting. A distasteful liaison. Someone with bad B.O, perhaps? Or clammy squid-like skin? I better stay away from that 3rd cousin from Innsmouth.
I say stick with your gut and stay out of the water!
Sure thing. My gut and I will stay nice and dry until a tasteful liaison comes along. Thanks again!
 
Drytail medication for hamsters works well on wet-gut too... :biggrin2:
Oh hells bells...cool dreams are fun, and if I tried to understand all of mine, I would be in a mental hospital!
Wait. I am in a mental hospital!

"Nurse, nurse! Bring me my meds!"
Greg
 
Hi Tentacular,

Seriously, I think Lith is on the right track, but I see dreams as revelations of the unconscious mind rather than prophetic messages.

I have numerous dreams about water, many of which involve Cephs. In many of my water dreams, there is a distinctly spiritual "atmosphere". And in my Ceph dreams -- usually involving Archis, kidding aside -- there is an initial experience of fear followed by acceptance, reverence, and awe for the creatures. Of course, in ancient cultures and religions around the world, water is seen as a symbol of rebirth, initiation, and spirituality -- and it is often seen also as a Divine Feminine symbol, in contrast to fire which is similarly seen as a Divine Masculine one. The "feminine" fluidity of water, combined with the phallic shape of Squid, may also represent the fact that spirituality and sexuality are two sides of the same coin. Again, this is a very powerful and very universal archetype: At one point in the Catholic Easter Vigil Mass, a tall ritual candle is dipped three times in the water font; in Hinduism, water is poured over a phallic-shaped stone called a Shiva-Lingam as part of a puja or sacred ritual; and several other spiritual traditions have similar juxtaposition of solid, subtly or overtly phallic objects and water.

There is an air of both vitality and mystery about Cephalopods, and also about water -- which of course is a basic necessity of life for virtually every organism on this planet. Whether or not you have a particular spiritual orientation, the water you wish to enter in the dream may very likely represent your desire to enter a deeper level of self-knowledge, to delve into a part of your psyche (perhaps an early memory) that you have not examined before. Or, because water may also represent your intuitive/emotional life (as opposed to your rational/intellectual life), it may symbolize your desire to "let go" a little more and express your feelings more openly.

The presence of the Squid in this context could be seen either as what you perceive to be impediments to this goal, or perhaps as the necessity to integrate your "inner male" with your "inner female". (I don't know your gender, but I believe that every emotionally healthy person has elements of both in their psyche, whether or not they acknowledge the fact.)

Please take this with a grain of (sea) salt, of course -- since I don't know your personal background, I cannot give an adequate explanation of what this dream might mean to you. While there are many archetypes that we as a species share, more specific meanings are unique to the individual, and ultimately can only be interpreted by him/her -- sometimes aided by the guidance of a therapist or the personal study of psychology, folklore, and symbolism.

At any rate, it's great that you remember your dreams so vividly. You might want to start keeping a Dream Journal to record those you remember, because a recurrent pattern in one's dreams is a message from the subconscious saying, in effect, "Pay attention, I'm trying to tell you something helpful about your life, your relationships, or yourself!"

Enjoy your nightly explorations!

Sweet dreams,
Tani
 
PS: You might enjoy checking out the following fascinating essay on the Octopus as erotic symbol (I posted this link earlier on one of the TONMO Supporters threads):

(READER ADVISORY: Some adult content and images)

http://www.sandplay.org/octoarticle/octopus.html

(Apparently, "sandplay" is a psychotherapeutic practice involving the patient molding shapes and setting up scenes in a small sandbox.)

Tani
 
Thanks for such a detailed response Tani. Interesting stuff. I try to remember my dreams, some are of course more vivid than others. Don’t know whether you saw the animated film “Waking Life”. Aside from being an amazing compilation of philosophical treatises on the meaning of existence etc etc, it also offers some instructions on how empower your dream self – how to actually control and manipulate your dreamscape. The film profoundly affected me, and since seeing it I’ve tried to take a more active, experimental approach to dreaming. Its hard work though. My dream self is fairly lazy.
:lol: :sleeping:

Will mull over this, and perhaps another dream will come along to make things clearer, or murkier!

BTW, I have previously seen the Japanese woodcuts cited in the article you mention, and I really love them. Japan of course has a long and honourable erotic woodcut tradition, of which these form a tiny but fascinating subcategory. Would love to get framed copies but would probably get odd reactions from anyone who happened to see them. :wink:
 
Woah, this thread turned into Frued vs Jung. I would like to think of myself as more jungian, but I don't share Tani's deep knowledge of archetypical history. Although this was not my dream, I feel enlightened!
 
anomalocaris said:
I haven't had any dreams involving squids or octopuses, but I have had a number involving Cthulhu. :shock:

Hi and :welcome: , Anomalocaris! I would love to hear your :cthulhu: dreams, and I'll bet Lith would too -- if this trend keeps up, I think she and I could start a thread called "TONMO Amateur Shrinks' Dream Analysis Clinic (Participate at Your Own Risk)". :mrgreen:

So, tell already -- we're listening!

Freud Reich and Egg Foo Jung
 
Hi Tani and thanks for the welcome!

So, tell already -- we're listening!

Well, at the risk of sounding like poor Henry Wilcox...
(or just some poor geek who reads way too much HP Lovecraft...)

You mentioned the feelings of initial fear, followed by acceptance, reverence, and awe in your ceph dreams and that is a good description of many of my Cthulhu dreams. In one dream, I don't recall how, I came upon R'lyeh once more risen from the sea. It was initially quite strange, huge, and terrifying with horrible geometries, but as I explored it more it became quite beautiful (but still very alien). At the end of my dream Cthulhu appeared and I was stunned and unable to move and was completely awe-struck even though I knew it was time to kiss human civilization goodbye :lol:

A little more disturbing was the dream in which I was a high-priestess (those are pink ribbons on my mouth-parts :wink: ) of the Cthulhu cult and was in charge of, urm, 'collecting' suitable sacrifices. Apparently being dead but dreaming doesn't stop one's hunger. I'm not sure if I want to hear interpretations of dreaming of dimensional portals opening and tentacles coming out to grab the sacrifices :oops: :smile:

There are others, often just an appearance of Cthulhu near the end of the dream, but sometimes I'm involved consciously or unconsciously with the discovery and/or return of Cthulhu. Hmmmm....maybe it's time to move that Cthulhu statue out of the bedroom...

I generally have pretty vivid dreams and they often have a Lovecraftian slant to them. Some might term them nightmares but I quite enjoy them.
 
Hey Anomalocaris.

Of course you know that Cthulhu is said to use dreams as his/her/its primary means of communication with worshipers. Sounds like you’ve been identified as a potential convert. Just as long as the sacrifices are dream people, no problem.... :goofysca: :biggrin2:

I think she and I could start a thread called "TONMO Amateur Shrinks' Dream Analysis Clinic (Participate at Your Own Risk)
Great idea Tani. Reserve a space on the virtual couch for me.
 
So I had a cephish dream last night too! It involved some blah blah about my exboyfriend, which was all obvious references and no need to bring it up here. However, the ceph was a very different sort than the ones others have described here - he was a waiter at a restaurant. Only he, being out of water, could not stand up so was moving himself along on a white plate with wheels on it. The ceph was completely translucent, with some brown red spotting and very big perfectly clear eyes - he looked sort of like a clear gob of jello or something on the plate and spoke with the voice of stephen hawking when he took our order. He was a very effective waiter and also got security to kick my ex out after I threw all my food at him. What does it all mean? I have no idea.
 
I didn't have a ceph dream last night, but I did have a moose nightmare... :shock:

So last night in this nightmare a moose mauled a friend from college with his antlers. It was absolutely horrendous. Then, while I was trying to dial 911, it came after me, and I ran into the woods with the hope I could get behind a tree so the same thing wouldn't happen to me... I then woke up and didn't sleep well (i.e., at all) after that...

Doctors??? :goofysca:
 

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