I had driven into a very long driveway and stopped just inside the gate for while, as I felt tired. I couldn't see the house from where I sat. There seemed to be trees blocking the view. It was a dry scene in the middle of the day and the driveway was fairly straight.
I started to drive and roll down the driveway. As I got closer, I could see the faraway hills in the background and as I got near to the house I could see there'd been a fire, just wisps of smoke from the scene. I felt devastated believing I was looking at my home absolutely destroyed even though the house had an extra shed on the side of the garage. Nothing else seemed to be burnt.
I still felt devastated after I awoke.
The differences between the dream scene and reality are: my driveway has a right angle bend in it and as you drive up to the house you can't see the faraway hills in the background with the trees around the house.
The scene is one I usually look at every time I drive into my driveway. My dog would have been in the house and not in the hot car. I had been planning to build an extra shed for quite some time to cover the tractor from the weather.
The dreams I have of present day fires are usually precognitive (12 months to some years before the event). It was a short sharp dream.
While some dreams do turn out to be precognitive all dreams (precognitive and otherwise) carry symbolic meaning. So, even though you feel your dream may be precognitive (and you may take appropriate precautions) the best precaution you can take is to consider what the dream is reflecting about YOU and your life – particularly your inner beliefs.
You say the dream house and land varies from your actual situation, so it’s especially informative to look at what changes the dream has included, as these symbols are obviously highlighted:
It has a shed.
Your dog is in the hot car.
The road is straight.
The house is burned and destroyed.
You can see into the distance.
Fire, in waking life and in dreams, can mean enthusiasm (fired up and ready to go) but too much enthusiasm, too much effort, easily results in burnout.
Fire can also mean passion, or fiery tempered, so it can represent passion of any kind, but particularly anger. When we’re irritated or ‘hot under the collar’ we’re feeling angry but trying to suppress it, for example.
You have experienced many fire dreams and you have also been extra aware of fires. What this may mean is that you are suffering from suppressed anger and/ or you get so fired up and passionate about things that you burn out easily. (What we experience in waking life can be seen as a reflection of what we experience in our inner life.)
In your dream you had driven a long way and you felt tired. This suggests you have been ‘driven’ (fired up) and you are tired enough to be heading towards burn out. So it’s not surprising to see your house (self) in your dream all burned out.
Dreams enable us to see our situations more clearly. In your dream you see into the distance, perhaps seeing that this fired-up/ burnout cycle may have been with you for a long time. In your dream it was the ‘background’, so think of this cycle as possibly being the background of much of your waking life situation.
Your dog may represent your instincts. Your dog is in the hot car: an instinct to put yourself into uncomfortable fiery situations?
Why the shed? It sounds to me as if this is a dream pun. It’s perhaps time to shed some of your fiery (straightforward, like the road?) approach. It’s perhaps time to shed some of your workload and /or beliefs/ feelings that are tending to tire you out, to burn you out.
You say you have been planning to build an extra shed to cover the tractor from the weather. Even though this comment relates to your waking life, you can still look at this symbolically. The tractor is the workhorse, right? It needs rest from the heat (work, anger, drive). Maybe it’s time to think ‘shed’ both as in ‘release’ and as in ‘rest’.
Dialogue:
Your dialogue is between the shed and the fire. Start with the shed saying, “What are you all fired up about?” and see what the fire automatically answers. Keep it going for 20 minutes.
How to do this:
Give yourself no longer than 20 minutes. When you do this exercise do NOT think! Don’t plan ahead. Just let whatever happens happen. Let the two entities speak to each other on paper using whatever words come up. It’s a bit like writing a film script or play – but without the brain being involved.
How does this work?
By not thinking, by keeping the words flowing, you are letting your right brain and unconscious mind do most of the work. They created the original dream so they know what these symbols mean for you. They will reveal. You will be surprised.
More details on Dialogue as a Dream Alchemy Practice in: “Dream Alchemy” by Jane Teresa Anderson, pages 321-4 and 333.
Jane Teresa Anderson
