OVERVIEW INTERPRETATION
Hi Helen,
How old was the baby in the first dream? Have a rough guess. How old you perceive a baby to be in a dream is often a clue to the waking life situation it represents. For example, if you felt the baby was about six weeks old then it may refer to something that has been in your life for about six weeks. It might be a project, a course of study or a new relationship perhaps.
You uncovered the baby by accident and later wondered how you could possibly have forgotten about it. This suggests the waking life situation might be one you put into motion but then forgot about, or have neglected. For example, you might have started hunting for a new job that many weeks ago but lost impetus, forgetting all the good reasons why you had the idea in the first place.
By now you have probably identified the ‘baby’ in your waking life. In what way have you starved it? If it’s a new relationship, for example, in what ways have you neglected to nourish it – and, in this way, also nourish yourself?
You had only an almost empty bottle and you worried that it might not be sterilised. The almost empty bottle suggests your resources are low. Why have you let your physical, mental, emotional or spiritual resources get so low Helen? If you’re still looking for clues to identify this situation, ask yourself where do you feel under-resourced in your life, and why.
While real babies need their bottles to be sterilised, waking life situations such as new relationships and so on may suffer under sterile conditions. Where might you be overly sterile in your life, or overly concerned with contamination? If this dream baby was a book you have been thinking of writing, for example, worrying about sterile conditions could represent perfectionism, or worrying about how your work might be judged, preferring to protect it from public contamination by holding it back –not doing it.
In your dream you had to give the baby the possibly un-sterilised, almost empty bottle anyway because it was all you had and this was an emergency situation. In an emergency we have the opportunity to ‘emerge’ from the crisis in a transformed way, to overcome the odds. This dream baby is crying for help and, at least in your dream, you suddenly realise that you must own this situation (“it was mine”) and do something about it, for your own nourishment and survival.
Well, you can’t get much closer to owning up to having a baby than giving birth to it! This baby was being born with its mouth open – was it hungry or was it ready to speak up for itself? What are you labouring over, or working hard to produce in waking life? Is this where the hunger comes in? Are you hungry for progress, or is your hard work fuelled by a hunger for money, success or accolade for example?
You decide in your dream that you need to be patient and to let the birth happen in its own time. How does this apply to the waking life situation you have identified? Is patience the missing virtue? What can you do to nourish yourself and the situation while patiently awaiting its fruition?
You will find it helpful to read ‘Losing or forgetting the baby or child’ in Dream Alchemy, pages 61-8.
DREAM ALCHEMY PRACTICE
Affirmation:
Here’s an affirmation using your dream symbols:
“My baby and I are both well fed and nourished, before, during and after the birth and always.”
How to use your affirmation/ and how often:
Say your affirmation out loud and with feeling 30 times a day for the first week. From the second week say your affirmation out loud and with feeling once in the morning and once before you go to sleep for three more weeks.
How does this work?
This works by communicating directly with your unconscious mind using its own language, to transform the belief your dream is revealing.
More details on Affirmation as a Dream Alchemy Practice in: “Dream Alchemy”, by Jane Teresa Anderson, pages 331-333.
Jane Teresa Anderson
You can consult with Jane Teresa or her Dream Team and receive your interpretation by email within five working days.
|
