OVERVIEW INTERPRETATION
Hi Tingting,
Dreams often use word play so your seals may symbolise sealing a contract or a seal of approval. It’s interesting that you were crossing a bridge when you saw the seals as bridges enable us to move from one point of solid land to another, often representing a life transition from one point to another, such as leaving home, marriage, becoming a parent and so on. Bridges in dreams are often about one-way journeys, no going back. Have you been thinking of sealing a relationship, for example, or do you feel you need a seal of approval to continue?
Dreams also play on clichés and since we talk about bridging gaps perhaps your unconscious mind is expressing a fear or need to seal or bridge vulnerable gaps in your life.
Bridges also enable us to cross water without getting wet. So do ships and these featured in your other seal dream. Water often symbolises emotions, so travelling over water without getting into it may symbolise an avoidance of an emotional issue.
In the second dream you are avoiding an issue in running away. When you run away in a dream you are generally avoiding facing something you need to face.
Seals live in water and on land. They have thick layers of fat to insulate their bodies from the icy seas. Of course seals are well adapted to living in water, but I wonder if the seals in your dream suggest that you are insulating yourself from icy emotions. Perhaps you are sealing yourself off from an emotional issue (hiding in the toilets in your dream), instead of getting in touch with it, feeling it, facing it and resolving it.
Animals in dreams can reflect our own animal instincts, particularly our survival instincts. When you think of a seal, what instincts come to mind? What do you see as the personality of a seal? How does a seal approach life? What instincts do you share with seals? Which of those instincts might be helpful to you right now and which might you be acting upon out of fear rather than out of consideration?
Isn’t it interesting how many of these alternative meanings overlap here?
You will find it helpful to read ‘The awesome wild animal’ in Dream Alchemy, pages 150-6 and ‘I’m being chased or followed’ in Dream Alchemy, pages 219-24.
DREAM ALCHEMY PRACTICE
Gut reaction poetry:
The title of your free-form poem is ‘Seal power’. Keep it going for 5 - 10 minutes. (See how to do this in next section.)
How to do this:
Take a blank piece of paper and a pen. Set a timer for somewhere between 5 and 10 minutes. Do not allow yourself to think! Start by writing the title as your first line and just let it flow. Keep on writing even if your poem seems childish or nonsensical. No rhyming or verses unless it comes out that way! The only definition of ‘poetry’ here is that you’re not writing sentences and you’re not using up all the space on your lines. Let your words find their own shape on the page.
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 Gut Reaction Poetry as a Dream Alchemy Practice in: “Dream Alchemy”, by Jane Teresa Anderson, pages 324-7 and 334-5.
Jane Teresa Anderson
You can consult with Jane Teresa or her Dream Team and receive your interpretation by email within five working days.
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