"I am sitting on a large gone-with-the-wind-type staircase wearing a ball gown, complete with crinoline and corset. It feels rigid and tight and I am uncomfortable. I am also sad, rest my head on my hand like I am waiting for someone. There are horse hoofs beating the ground in the distance and I look up to see a carriage approaching. A footman steps out, who I recognize as my brother-in-law, and he hands me an open-faced sandwich, topped with peanut butter and shredded carrot.
“No thank you,” I say and he walks away. Then he comes back and now a second self is sitting beside me and he offers the same sandwich to her. She also declines. I look at her and she looks at me. We think it curious, but are not alarmed by the duplicity.
“Shall we,” I say, and then take her hand and walk over to our mutual brother-in-law standing by the carriage. It is a warm summer night yet the outside of the carriage is covered in ice.
“Can we look inside?” I ask.
He answers gruffly, “Can if you want.” The carriage is shaped like a large pumpkin, perhaps similar to a drawing in a Cinderella book I saw as a child. I move the heavy fabric curtains to the side. It is so cold I can now see my breath. My other self is standing behind me, also trying to peer inside. I squint to see but it is remarkably dark. As my eyes slowly focus, I make out a woman. She appears frozen solid. On her lap curled is a frozen cat. Her hand is wrapped around it as if cuddling in sleep. I look at her face and recognize that it is me in old age. My other self lets out a gasp. We turn and face each other. Then I wake up."
Thanks for sending me this dream- it's strange and I love it! If any of my other readers have a weird dream they'd like decoded, free of charge, email it to me at Rachel.Beezy88@gmail.com.
Looking at the symbols of your dream on a cursory level, I notice that there is a distinct pattern in objects your brain has generated for this dream: an old fashioned ball gown with a corset and crinoline skirt, a footman, a carriage and of course, the big, sweeping Tara staircase. All these items belong in an old movie, and because of their presence, I'm tempted to suggest that these items represent tradition, or the 'old' ways our lives were supposed to go. Of course, this isn't all they mean!
A staircase is a place of change or transition, you are sitting on the stairs as the dream opens, and obviously the fact that it is an 'old fashioned' staircase is a little problematic. I suspect that you are in a place of transition, but you are feeling restricted by tradition. The presence of your ball gown and corset suggest that some rigidity around you is making you uncomfortable- and I would guess that the transition has something to do with it.
Your brother-in-law plays a role here, as a footman. He is a servant to you in the dream, and so when he offers you something pretty gross to eat (a peanut butter and carrot sandwich!) you are free to decline- and so is your twin. Before I move on to the twin, let me mention that this is one of those instances where a person's personal impressions will have a vast impact on the meaning of their dreams. If you love and respect your brother-in-law (as I am lucky enough to) then his presence is likely authoritative and reassuring to you, even if he's offering you something that you don't want. If he's someone that you don't particularly like or respect, his offer of the gross sandwich might be a little condescending, demeaning or unwelcome. Further, a sandwich (as a meal most people eat on the go, and one that is frequently slapped together) is indicative of stress, or a high pressure situation.
I can't help but wonder if the issues that you're dealing with are a clash between the role of a woman in years past and the flexibility of the role of a woman today. It used to be that a woman could be little more than a mother, wife, school teacher, nun or whore; the women's movement did much to open up the options for modern women, but it has significantly complicated matters for some women. We're now expected to make as much money as our male counterparts, as well as having kids, staying fit and beautiful, and a host of other responsibilities. It's hard enough "just" being a mother, or "just" having a career, but the pressure that so many women feel to do it all, well, it seems impossible to live up to all that.
Getting back to the images in your dream, dreaming that you have a twin is a typical way in which your mind draws attention to a part of your psyche that you may have been overlooking or ignoring. Your twin agrees that a peanut butter and carrot sandwich is NOT for her, and the two of you head outside for a carriage ride. Carriages are symbols of outdated ideas; the fact that it is frozen suggests that those ideas have been repressed or rejected by you. Interestingly, what you face within the carriage is a frozen (again, read, repressed or denied) version of yourself curled up with a cat.
Again, personal feelings can have a big impact on the message your dream is sending, but personally, when I see an old lady with a cat, I usually think she's an old maid. Conversely, cats are frequently chosen as symbols of feminine freedom and sexuality, so the addition of the cat seems likely to change the reason why you may have rejected a particular life path, rather than the outcome you feel you may have found there.
I hope that this reading of your dream is helpful, thank you again for sending it in. Please feel free to email me directly with any comments you may have, or for any of my other readers, with dreams for analysis, to Rachel.Beezy88@gmail.com.
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