A dream about an attack, strange men, fighting, and a talking fog

"lately I've been dreaming about the same thing for about a week

in every dream someone always gives me a different weapon

it started off with me being at the beach and there was a lot of people there

and I'm always with my best friend but when we leave we leave separate

and I'm always leaving with my uncle (that i hardly ever see) and we get to his house

i shower and get ready to leave but as soon as i leave he gives me a hand gun.

and i put it in my back pocket

as i turn around these 3 guys follow me out the door chasing me as i run away

the first guy is wearing all black

the second guy is wearing all red

and the third is wearing all green but he has eyes as blue as the sky

and the style of clothing is more like a ninja

anyways, as i run through the front door. i kick the door to try to stop them

and for some reason the door gets stuck and they cant move it

so i shoot 2 bullets towards them the first kills the man in the red

and the second kills both men because they were standing behind each other.

every time i wake up its in the middle of the night

between 3:25- 4:00 and I'm confused and a little scared

like i was saying in the beginning all the weapons were different and they were given to me at different times

Monday- they gave me the gun (but this is the only weapon that i actually killed someone with)

Tuesday- a Indian that had came up from the sea gave me a sword (kinda like the ones the grim reapers use)

but it was made out of shark teeth.

Wednesday- my best friend gives me a bow and arrow and she tells me "live every day as if it were your last"

Thursday - no dream

Friday- just as i walked out of the shower and about to put my clothes on a gold pocket knife appears on

top of my clothes i get dressed and everything i open the door and the mirror starts to (de-fog its self very quickly)

the fog disappears quickly and the remaining fog says "keep watch"

i really think my dreams are trying to tell me something

it has happened to me several times but i never really payed attention to them until now

please help me thank you."

Thank you for sending your dream in for a dream reading. I agree, your dreams ARE trying to tell you something! If you'd like your dreams interpreted, please send them to dream.reader@hotmail.com!

Recurring dreams are especially significant, as they are reinterpretations of the same messages over and over again. Sometimes a person can have a recurring dream to alert them of a new problem as it increases in severity over time, while on other occasions, like a nagging doubt, the dream can appear and reappear over a period of many years without any marked changes in severity.

It sounds like, in this case, this dream reflects a new anxiety or fear in your life. Let's see if we can't examine these symbolic elements and get a better understanding of the situation.

Dreaming about being at the beach is a pretty common thing; beaches are places of fun and relaxation, but they are also the place where the known (Land) meets the unknown (Deep Blue Sea). Think of it as a place where your reality meets your subconscious.

Big faceless crowds of people in your dreams represent society as a whole. Your best friend is likely there to stand in for an element of yourself that you both share, this could be a common character trait or element. Depending on how often you are together, the best friend can also stand in for you as a whole, almost like a duplicate you. Because you leave separately, I am guessing that the element that this person stands in for is something that is absent in your fight against this fear or anxiety.

Your uncle, on the other hand, is prepared and able to deal with this anxiety! He represents a strong male energy, a paternal figure, but depending on your relationship with him, I'd guess that there is a different slant to that meaning. An uncle you confide in during your waking hours who equips you in this way is looking out for your best interest, while an uncle you don't like might be involved in the issues to come, or might be setting you up in some way.

That handgun, well, it's your protection. Guns are symbols of anger or hatred, and since this is a small gun, I'd guess that this little hateful weapon is something you've held back in the past for whatever reason.

Now on to the three men. I'd guess based on the colors that they are wearing, and their obviously malicious intentions towards you, that these men represent hatred, carnality, and jealousy. The green Ninja, well, his blue eyes are interesting. I would guess that there is someone who you find attractive in your personal life whom you feel has these negative qualities. You might be playing with fire a little, trying to figure out if this person could be a positive force in your life, or if he's as bad as some might think...

The fact that you slay two of these men with a single shot, and that they are unable to make it through the door, suggests to me that you are able to overcome the anxiety that this dream reflects. The different weapons are likely reflections of a changing situation:

Monday, your protector uncle gives you the gun, the most effective weapon

Tuesday, you are urged to trust your instincts, and use whatever is at hand to keep yourself safe

Wednesday, the insight and influence of your friend can help you, but it won't save you!

Thursday, you likely didn't wake up during your REM cycle!

Friday, you are urging yourself to stay aware of the issue, and the gold knife? well, it's phallic. It's a pure, protective influence, a representation of strong male energy in your life.

Thank you for sending this dream for a dream reading!

a dream about a baby

"I saw your name on the site and I just so curious enough to ask you regarding my dreams for past successive for 2 days its all about baby and a girl.
Before that I have one dream which the daughter of my collegue got an accident and I can see the face of my friends was too sad.
Today I DREAM OF 2 INFANTS WHO is pulling the other arm of my aby since im carrying the infant and I was so panic cause the left shoulder was detached and I was trying to fix it and run to hospital."
Thank you so much for sending me these dreams for interpretation. For all my other readers, if you don't find your questions answered here, please feel free to email me at dream.reader@hotmail.com for a dream reading of your own!
In many instances, we are everyone in our dreams. I know that this concept may seem bizarre, but it is often the case. I believe this is particularly true in dreams about children, infants or protecting something younger than yourself. I think that it is significant that you are dreaming about the dangers to these helpless aspects of yourself- the baby you, the young girl you. It makes me wonder if you're under a psychological assault of some kind? Is someone questioning the validity of you? Of something you believe deeply in, or some aspect of your personal identity?
Dreaming about a child of the same gender as yourself is often a reflection of your inner child. Conversely, if the child is of the opposite gender, it's likely that the dream is about a side of yourself which you do not often think about, but that still exists. Often this is your masculine/feminine side in some form; shoulders are a part of our bodies that we use to carry or support a burden. That your child has a detached shoulder makes me wonder if the aspect of yourself being conveyed in this dream by the symbol of the child is being overworked or overused. Are there demands being made on you that draw up old feelings, or bring up issues from your past?
I would suggest that anyone having dreams involving violence towards children look to their lives for the source of the trauma. These dreams are a call to take better care of ourselves emotionally and psychologically.
I sincerely hope that this reading is helpful to you. Thank you for sending in your dream for a dream interpretation.

a nightmare about family, a creepy old white house, a murder and a devil

"My mother had started seeing a new man, they moved into a house together, although it felt like only my mothers house.
I walked inside, the house was very old fashioned.
The whole house was white, but it was an old cracked white colour.
Every room i walked into, had 20 or so windows. But i remember thinking people could break into these windows very easily.

I walked back outside and walked through an old gate.
I saw my dad urinating against the wall and yelled at him to stop because it was wrong.
He stopped, but when i looked where he was urinating, there was blood. But he couldn't see it.
(As far as i know, my dad is OK)

I then had a flash that someone had been killed in this house.
I saw someone had been rolled up in a red/blue persian rug, and there body was at the bottom of a hill.

I walked back up to the fence, there was a list of names on a peice of paper stuck to the fence.
Each name had a symbol beside it (no bigger than a pinky nail). I cant remember what the symbols were.

I walked back inside the house to find my sister.
I walked into a massive empty hall. It was dark, there were no windows in this room.
There was a door at the back of the empty room, so i walked toward it.

I opened the door, and was horrified.
There was a massive pool of fire, and at the back of this black room, there was the devil's face, it was in flames and he was laughing (evil laugh).
I saw my sister near him, she didnt seem to notice him, but she was walking toward another door beside the devils face.
She needed to get to the room behind this door.

I started screaming for her, and then i woke up.

I have also had numerious dreams about being driven (usually in a bus) down a steep rocky mountain.
The edge of the mountain drops down a cliff, and it is always night time.


Any help of understanding of these dreams would be fantastic.
I know it sounds really creepy... it really scared me and i wont forget this dream, it was horrible but i know it has meaning."

Thank you so much for sending in this great dream, I agree, it certainly has meaning.

First of all, I think that is interesting that the dream opens up on this strange house that feels as though it belongs to your mother, even though your mother is absent from the action of the dream itself. As I have written before, houses are often reflections of our emotional state, so dreaming about your mother's house, and having it be in this seemingly dilapidated condition, points to some things you may be thinking or feeling about the way your mother has influenced your outlook on life.

Mothers are the people who are intended to guide us through life, and through their example we learn how to move about the world. Mothers are the ones who remind us to wash our hands, mind our manners and wear our mittens, and their influence on our perception of the world can integrate itself so completely that we cannot distinguish between their attitudes and our own, at times. So to dream about your mother's house may be an indication of some trouble with the way your mother has taught you to think about the world around you.

The fact that the house is white suggests that the things that your mother has taught you have come from a place of love, or that her intentions are pure and innocent. The fact that the finish on this white-washed house is cracked and old is what tells me that these ideas are perhaps a little outdated or behind the times. And all those windows? Well, it means you feel like you're on display, that people (perhaps even your mother) are watching you. The combination of these images seems to make you anxious from the start of this dream, even before the blood and gore begins, and that indicates that you are experiencing some anxiety, or some turmoil, over both the ideas your mother has ingrained in you, and the way that the outside world looks on them.

Similarly, the act of watching another person bleed can be seen as an emotional plea from your psyche, a sort of red alert to pay attention to yourself. In this portion of the dream, you've passed though a gate to find your father apparently peeing blood onto a wall. The fact that you've passed through a gate here may represent some division between your father's mode of thinking, and that of your mother.

Your father urinating out in the open is another reference to a lack of privacy in your life. What he is releasing all over that wall, well, to you it's blood, an emotional cry of distress, but for him, it's just a little pee. I think that this is significant, and I suspect that the anxiety you've developed is over a situation in which the gap between your parents generation and your generation equates to a very different value system. You may or may not agree with your parents over the issue that is troubling you, and at this point, I would be hard pressed to say exactly what that issue is, but whatever it is, I suspect your parents are both poisonously against you on it. That being said, they aren't trying to hurt you, and they don't think that what they're doing is wrong.

At this point, where your father fails to see the blood he's left on the wall, you get a mental picture of a murder in the old house. In this case, what you remember best is a body concealed in a rug. Murders in dreams are often centers of unresolved anger, and in this instance, I can't help but wonder if your parents attitudes aren't "killing" some aspect of your self, or your life; it also seems possible that the center of the anxiety that produced this dream has to do with those attitudes destroying a relationship that is important to you. The fact that the body has been wrapped in a red and blue rug suggests that they are concealing their attitudes, prejudices or opinions under the guise of wisdom, qualifying these attitudes as coming from a higher authority than themselves, perhaps?

The list of names on the fence, well, it seems likely that this is a list of people being affected or judged by the ideas in question. It is also possible, because these names are "on the fence" that the individuals listed there have not yet been judged. The symbols just add to the mystery of the whole thing, indicating a sort of secret language only understood by the person who wrote them in.

So you walk back into the house to find your sister, and you end up in a dark, massive, windowless room. I suspect that this room is indicative of your own opinions surrounding this group of issues. Without your parents, would you be left in the dark regarding this subject? Maybe not. The door leads you to somewhere even more sinister than the white house, a version of hell that Dante couldn't have dreamt up.

The funny thing is, again, you're apparently the only one affected by the swirling fire, and the face of the devil. What resonates with me throughout this dream is that you seem very isolated from your family, as they repeatedly are not able to see the things you see, and that you are the only one who is afraid. This suggests to me that the crisis that you've been facing is one in which you have to trust your own value system, regardless of the things that you've been taught to believe. Behave with integrity, be cautious with your health and your emotional needs, and you have nothing to be afraid of.

The last thing I'd like to address is the dream about riding a bus down a mountain. Dreaming about driving around is generally a straight line metaphor from our waking lives to our inner thoughts. This means that if you're dreaming about driving a car yourself, and it's going well, you're doing well in your life. In this case, you're being driven around, presumably against your will, as virtually no one is excited about getting onto a school bus, and you're being driven through dangerous places. You're anxious because you may not feel you have the measure of control over your life that you'd like to have.

Thank you again for sending these dreams in for a free dream reading. I hope that you've found my thoughts on your dream helpful.

Recurring dreams about tornados

"For about a year, I have been having recurring dreams about tornadoes, especially within the past couple of months. Sometimes there is only 1, that passes and just keeps going, sometimes, like last night, there were many in a row. They don't do damage to the place where I am hiding at whether it be a storm shelter, or house. It just goes over, I can hear the noise and rumbling, but it doesn't cause destruction where I am. As the tornado(es) go(es) by, it becomes clear. When I see the tornadoes, I am always with 1 or both of my children, and we are running frantically to seek shelter. I am always scared in the dreams. Sometimes it takes a long time for them to get closer and sometimes they get close fast."

Thank you so much for sending this group of dreams in for a reading, and if you'd like your dreams interpreted by me, please send them to dream.reader@hotmail.com

This set of dreams is a perfect way for me to discuss my theory on the significance of the tornado in dreams because it's not a single dream, and the symbol of the tornado doesn't always appear the same way in each of the individual dreams. I've actually thought seriously about placing a moratorium on any further discussion of tornado dreams in this blog, similar to my reluctance to discuss any more dreams about werewolves, because such a large number of the dreams that I read are about either of these two symbols. I hope that by facing this set of dreams I can answer multiple emails that have been sent in to me.

A tornado is a violent force of nature which tears through an environment, destroying everything that winds up in it's path. Personally, I wonder if the folks who tend to dream about tornadoes are typically those who live in areas effected by them- as a native Californian, I've dreamt about tsunamis, forest fires and earthquakes, but I've never had one about a tornado or a big storm. It stands to reason that the existence of a violent weather event in the waking life of a person may create the fear that would cause the same event to exist in their dreaming lives; while the natural inclination may be to believe that these dreams are prophetic, it is more likely that they are just manifestations of fear rather than harbingers of destruction.

So really, if you're dreaming about a tornado, you're dreaming about a force larger than yourself that is destroying homes and lives around you. In the case of a string of dreams such as yours, it doesn't have to be the same fear that causes the dreams in all instances. The specifics regarding the speed, duration and number of tornadoes is most likely a reflection of your real-life stresses. Perhaps the things that were beyond your control a year ago generated a dream where a single tornado was after you, perhaps in these recent months you've had more to worry about, more factors that you cannot control that are directly threatening you.

That the tornado(es) do not actually do anything to you, but merely pass over you with rumbling and noise, implies that while these forces scare you, they haven't yet torn your life (or house) apart. You have always been able to find shelter from the violent storms of life, and I sincerely hope that you are always able to do so.

I hope that you've found this reading helpful, thank you so much for sending your dream into me for a reading.

a dream about a shooting, a tuna fish sandwich and an old friend

"I had a dream that I was in a room - I shouldn't have been there but I don't remember why. I ate a tuna sandwich and I went to the bathroom but didn't flush it. Someone I didn't know came into the room with a gun and moved the curtains - across the street was a shooting. I was afraid that whoever was across the street would see the curtains moving so I ran across the hallway to another room.

Eventually the police came and they were going to determine what the person that went to the bathroom had for dinner and it was going to be found out that I was in that room. I had told them I was across the hall the whole time.

Thanks so much Rachel. It was a very vivid dream...I woke up remembering that dream but also that I was in a field feeding some small animals with some water on crackers and saw a friend and her daughter who I am no longer friends with, looking at me as they got into their car."

Thank you so much for sending this dream in for a free analysis! I'd like to thank you sincerely for waiting so patiently for me to get back to you on this one. Be forewarned, I've received a lot of emails recently and it may take a month or more for me to get to everyone- but rest assured, I'm doing my best.

In this dream, you start out by going about the mundane details of a normal day- except for the fact that you are somewhere that you don't belong. Overall, I believe that this dream is about being exposed; in this case you would not be exposed for anything you have actually done wrong, but exposed none the less.

So your mind has set up the dream in such a way that you are anxious from the start, finding yourself eating a boring lunch in a place where you wouldn't expect to find yourself. Eventually, a specific danger presents itself, both in terms of the entrance of a man with a gun, and also in the possibility of your being falsely accused of being involved in the shooting simply because you found yourself in this strange place.

Being in a situation where you feel you need to hide in your dream is often a reflection of a fear of being exposed in some way. The addition of the police investigation obviously adds to that idea, and your fear of being caught in that strange room of course cements it.

The thing that interests me is that you lied to the police in the first place. I suspect that the root of this dream is in some deception that you may have created in your waking life. This may be something small, or it may be something larger, only you can be sure. It's possible that rather than telling some specific lie, you may have simply mislead someone to think you were something that you're not, or you might have held back some information because it was not advantageous to say anything about it. This has become some sort of dirty little secret (not unlike the floater you left behind in the bathroom of that small room) or a source of shame, and you're anxious about being misunderstood when found out.

Although it may sound very literal, I believe that this is what the first part of the dream is laying out before you. The second portion is also interesting, and quite possibly related, as an old friend sees you doing something rather benevolent. Feeding baby animals in your dream suggests that you are nurturing something, or someone, as best you can. Depending on your impressions of this former friend, and perhaps more importantly, their feelings about you, this action may be seen simply for what it is. Conversely, this might be something quite different. If this person is someone who you stopped being friends with because you argued, their appearance in your dream might indicate some personal growth on your part. It might also mean that you have been critical of yourself where you did not deserve it; it could also just reflect a pattern in waking life, if you have thought of this person recently while awake.

Only you can be sure what your dreams mean, but I hope that my thoughts help you come to some conclusions on them. Thank you again for being patient and waiting for an embarrassingly long time for me to finish your dream!

A dream about a T-Rex, and a dream about bunnies!

"I had two different dreams last night which I just can’t shake. Keep trying to figure it out! J

1. The first dream was about a tyrannosaurus rex. Very “Jurassic Park”. He was destroying things and killing everyone. I was running through a building, trying to hide from him around corners. Finally his head broke through one of the hallways where I was hiding and when he saw me he didn’t kill me. I was actually the only one he liked. So I guess I befriended the killer T-rex!

2. The second was the complete opposite. I was walking through the water, what I first thought was a ocean, but now it seems like it could have been a really large lake (no waves). The water was only about ankle deep and I was only about 8 feet from the shore. I noticed as I was walking that there were rocks that protruded out of the water. I look over at the shore and see a few white adult rabbits sitting on the shore looking out at the water. When I look back out at the water ahead of me I notice that there are about 10 white baby bunnies scattered among the protruding rocks. They were small enough to fit in my hand but their ears were as long as their bodies. They are alive but limp/partially conscious. Somehow in the dream I recognized that they were stranded out there when the tide came in. Even though the water was only ankle deep they could not get back. One by one I picked up the bunnies, washed them off in the water (they were covered in dirt/debris) and returned them to the shore with the adult rabbits (I think it may have been their mothers). The adult rabbits & bunnies never seemed alarmed by me, just sat and waited quietly."

Thank you for sending me these fantastic dreams, I can't wait to get to them. Additionally, thank you for waiting and being patient while I got my act together this summer. I am back to the blog, fully recharged and ready to attack my burgeoning inbox!

Alright, so this first dream just makes me laugh. I've had a few dreams like this, where people are running and screaming, and even I'm running and screaming, but in fact, there is little or no actual danger. For instance, I once had a dream that I was being chased by a man in a bear costume- but of course, I really believed he was a bear while I was running!

Of course, your dream is very different, as the Tyrannosaurus Rex is a pretty dangerous character. In dream lore, a dinosaur is often symbolic of old ways, old habits or outdated ideas, and being chased by one could be seen as a fear of becoming obsolete. However, with the emergence of the T-Rex in popular films like Jurassic Park, Land of the Lost and a million others, I think that lore needs to be restructured. T-Rexes are voracious, massive predators, and very few are able to escape from them. Your dream reflects these ideas in it's action, focusing mostly on the violent nature of the creature. I would suggest instead that the Tyrannosaurus Rex you're dreaming about is something more like a natural disaster, he's an unexpected catastrophe that endangers everyone around you- yet somehow, you find yourself immune. Lucky you! He likes you, and just wants a belly rub. Start scratching, sister, because whatever situation he represents, (and again, I stress, this is a dangerous, sweeping scale situation in your immediate surroundings that has passed you over despite the fact that he has massacred others) is a situation you may still need to tip-toe around. Be careful, be observant, and rub his big scaly belly until he falls asleep- then sneak out quietly!

The second dream suggests that resolution to this situation has already come, however. As you mentioned, you are standing in a calm body of water, which you initially thought was much bigger than it actually was. Innocent little baby bunnies are stranded on rocks, and you very graciously collect them and return them to their mothers. These docile little animals are emblematic of good fortune, renewal and fertility. Further, these animals have giant ears, which suggests that they have listened too closely to some over-spun hype, creating a situation in which they are unable to help themselves. Though the two dreams may at first seem very different, I think it is likely that they are closely related.

Qualities that you possess make that big scary T-Rex want to be your buddy, and I suspect these same qualities enable you to wade through the water to rescue those little bunnies. One dream is a notification of the truth behind a problem that others are fighting, and the other is a reassurance that while other people are telling you that there are big waves in the ocean, and that the high tide is coming, you will be able to rescue your hopes from the rising waters.

I hope that this analysis of your dream is helpful! Thank you for sending your dream in for a free dream reading.

a dream about random parties at random houses, pot, and cute guys

"I was at a party in an unfamiliar house. I knew a few people but the rest were strangers. I wasn't seen until the end of it, I went into this room to find one of my friends from my old school. She usually is very cautious and wouldn't really try anything daring. I walked in on her smoking pot. she asked me "Hey Jess, wanna try it? Just once" I said nothing and walked out the room and found myself in a gym class that I had never been in. I sat down in the group of students like I would any other day. I saw this really attractive guy sitting next to me, listening to the teacher talk. Suddenly the guy turn to me and said "We're gonna be dancing soon, I hope you don't have a partner already." One of his friends said something that I don't remember and before I knew it, the attractive guy's arm was around me, like we knew each other. I believe it was my first day at a new school (in the dream) but in real life I recently finished off the year at a new school. He just kept staring like he was in love with me, and I felt a strange connection as well...IN THE DREAM.

and then i woke up, very confused and sad
This dream barely make sense but I think it means something"

I agree with you, I think this dream means something as well!

Thank you so much for sending your dream in for a free dream reading, and thank you for waiting patiently while I was getting my act together this summer.

One thing that you've mentioned here, and that is running all through out the images of your dream, is being in unfamiliar circumstances. As "the New Kid," everyone, and everything, can seem a little unpredictable and unsure, and hopefully, as the new school year rolls around, you'll find yourself among friendly faces again.

This dream seems to shift from some situations in which you'd be understandably uncomfortable, like your conservative friend suddenly experimenting with weed, to one which more closely resembles a sort of wish fulfillment, like a cute boy who clearly likes you in gym class :)

I think the sadness and confusion that you're describing upon waking is the same sense you'd have if that cute boy was suddenly transfered out of your class or school. Remember when Cinderella said that a dream is a wish your heart makes? Well, it's not a false statement. Our dreams will often provide things to us that we deeply want in our waking lives, and love is no exception. If I had a dollar for every dream I had (prior to age 15 or so) in which some beautiful young man looked into my eyes and we fell instantly in love, I'd be dreaming on a giant mattress stuffed with dollar bills! The only thing I did in my teens more than actually fall instantly in love with some beautiful young man whom I'd only just met was dream about falling instantly in love with some beautiful young man! I know it sounds silly, but it's the absolute truth. I suspect the hormones are to blame!

At any rate, I hope that this reading was helpful, and I'd like to thank you for waiting patiently while I got it together and started working my way through my inbox again.

A dream in which someone is about to die, in which the dreamer is late for an interview and running on ice

"So in my dream, I was living in a very large mansion with an elderly couple and a few other girls (none of which I know in real life). While it was extremely lavish, I had an eery feeling the entire time I was there - I sensed that someone had died somewhere in the house. I decided to go exploring in each of the rooms.

When I went into one room it turned into a huge new hotel and I was at the check-in desk. It was a beautiful hotel and looked like I had suddenly gone to Japan. I checked in and realized that my graduating class was all there and finding their rooms upstairs. I saw my current boyfriend (real life) walking across upstairs and he was dressed very business like; a suit, suitcase, talking on a blackberry.. the whole deal. I tried calling his name but he was too busy talking on his phone to notice.

I found my hotel room and there was already a note that I needed to attend an interview for a job in 30 minutes. Figuring I should get ready, I went into my bathroom in the hotel. Immediately upon entering the bathroom the eery feeling that I had in the mansion I began the dream in returned. I felt really scared and looked into a full wall mirror to see an asian man and woman (never seen before in my real life) looking at me from the shower. I quickly turned around and slowly walked towards them with my arm extended to see if they really existed. In my dream I felt like they were maybe ghosts or I was just seeing things. They gently touched my hand and pulled me closer to them as they stepped out of the shower.

They both looked at me and then at each other and smiled before my "mother" told me "we've missed you for so long". My heart was beating really fast and I thought "I've never seen you before, who are you?". They led me back to my room and sat me at the head of the bed. My "father" stood behind my "mother" who was sitting in front of me and my "mother" told me "we are your real parents. we are so sorry". While I never spoke to them, I still thought "what do you mean?" And without me saying that, they answered the questions I thought directly.

I glanced at the clock beside the bed and noticed that I really needed to leave for my interview. I thought that I had to leave soon and my "mother" said "We will see you later, we love you so much and we are so sorry". She leaned in to hug me and I became more scared and felt very trapped. She began crying and hugging me tighter and then I felt a burning pain on my upper right ribs. I looked down and realized that she was pulling my rib out and making it poke out of my side. I was shocked and felt more scared than I had throughout the entire time; I kept trying to push her off but she was immovable. I was thinking "what is she doing? please make this stop." In which she answered "this is the asian tradition". They both left my room quietly and I remained confused and frightened.

In order to make it to my interview on time, I ran through the hotel trying to find my interview room. While running I noticed a teacher from high school that I had a crush on sitting at a table eating lunch and laughing. I did not stop to talk to him but continued running. I ran to a night club within the hotel and it was a complete obstacle course - it was an ice rink with large glaciers and even ice slides. I tried running through but was thrown down multiple times. When I finally reached the interview door, I opened it only to be returned to the room I originally had entered from the mansion. I ran through the mansion attempting to find the elderly couple who had let me stay there but the mansion was completely empty.

I'm sorry this dream description was so long, this dream has just really scared me and I've been dying to get some insight on it. I hope you can help."

Thank you so much, dreamer, for taking the time to write out this "long" description of your dream, for sending it to me, and for waiting for so very long while I got myself together in order to respond to it! I will be in the process of catching up on the dreams I've been sent over the summer, so if you've sent me one, don't worry, you're in the pipeline!

As has been discussed before in the blog, dreams in which a house plays a key role are simply expressions of the self. The characteristics of the house correspond to the feelings that the dreamer has about themselves- so in this case, I'd venture a guess that overall, your self-image is fairly good. That the house is a mansion, and that you describe it as lavish suggests that you at least like the way the world perceives you. Additionally, the elderly couple and the young girls in the house are again reflections of aspects of yourself. Elderly people tend to take on roles of wisdom in dreams, while young girls tend to reflect naivety, impulsivity and emotionality.

Interesting that you feel that someone has died in the mansion, and that this sense is what sends you on a trip through all its various rooms. That a presence remains in the rooms of your mind, so to speak, makes me believe that what has "died" is some aspect of your self, or of your self image. What that aspect is, I cannot say for sure, but there are some other details of this dream that suggest possibilities.

So you enter into a room and suddenly find yourself in a rather exotic hotel. Hotels are places of transition, change, motion and public image, and the fact that you mention the appearance of your graduating class furthers this idea. Graduation is also a time of shift, transition and in this economic climate, uncertainty. You also see your boyfriend, but he's too wrapped up in "business" to pay you any mind. Just from these few lines alone, I would suggest that the entire dream may be a reflection of your fear of not finding a purpose or occupation post-graduation. Since I have just recently graduated college myself, it is certainly possible that I am merely projecting my fears onto your dream- only you can know for sure! However, this idea of your boyfriend not hearing you call his name, well, it seems clear cut to me that you're anxious that his professional life will divide the two of you.

The next set of images reinforces the idea that the dream may be about a fear of a loss of identity, or a confusion of identity, surrounding the complex issue of what to do post-graduation. You arrive in your place of transition (aka your hotel room) and you receive a note that says you have a job interview that you need to get to. When you go to prepare yourself for the interview, you find a couple whose ethnic/national identity presumably does not match your own, yet these people claim to be your biological parents. The confusion comes with the fact that if they are your parents, you must now question the most basic things that you know about yourself, from your lineage forward.

That these people appear, and that your eerie feeling returns, as you are supposed to begin your job hunt suggests to me a definite link between questions of personal identity and questions of employment or occupation. On a social level, this link makes perfect sense, after all, one of the first things a new friend will ask any of us, after our names, is "what do you do?" And the response that you give them says something about who you are!

Here's where it gets really interesting, at least to any readers who may also be horror fans: your "mother" begins to pull a rib out of your body! Let's think about the implications of this injury for a moment, on both the literal and figurative levels. I wouldn't be a good literature graduate if I didn't mention that in the Christian version of the Creation Myth (big EMPHASIS on the MYTH part) God pulled a rib from Adam and used it to create Eve. In this instance, your "mother" (person you should be able to trust with your life, confide in, etc) is a God-like figure, so I couldn't help but bring this myth up. She is someone whose appearance changes your mental landscape, she is a mysterious figure who claims to have brought you to life; yet when you succumb to her embrace, she injures you. Not only is this injury physically painful, in real life, this could be a life-threatening injury. The ribcage of a human being contain ones most vulnerable, and vital, internal organs. The ribcage is the protective housing for the parts we cannot live without.

To have a rib pulled out, then, by a mother figure, suggests that the changes you are facing are ones in which you have been left in the hands of a mysterious force which you cannot control, and that there is a good possibility that you will be in great peril. Again, this act is a reflection of a deep-rooted fear.

You escape from your "parents", and you see another figure whom you have trusted, a high school teacher whom you have previously admired. Rather than being able to consul you, or help you, this teacher is oblivious to your needs and goes on talking and laughing. Is it possible that the people whom you used to look to for guidance no longer have the answers that you need?

Finally, you attempt to get to the interview. In this portion of the dream sequence, you are working as hard as you possibly can to regain control of your fate, or, if you prefer, to make it to your interview. You're running on ice, again, metaphorically this is a dangerous situation, an seemingly impossible situation, but you do everything you can to get there. Additionally, glaciers and ice are symbols of winter, a time in which the ground is frozen, and historically, food is scarce. The inclusion of this imagery suggests to me that perhaps you don't think that your efforts in finding work, and defining yourself socially, will be rewarded right now. Incidentally, the high rates of unemployment suggest that you may be right, but I would advise you to do exactly what I'm doing- tap your contacts, and think about what you really want in a job. Not just the end result, but think about the kind of job you'd like to live your life around, and then figure out how to get it.

I realize that my response to your dream is coming months later, and I do wish I would have kept plugging away at the blog over the summer. With all the craziness of graduation, moving, breaking up, and just plain living I lost my way, but I'm back now and I hope you'll both forgive me, and find some value in this dream reading.