Image Fifty-Six: 1st February 2003. Photo by Liana Salman
Snow
Feeling The Picture
Your feeling reactions to a dream are keys to its interpretation. These are my feelings. If this were a scene in your dream or life, how would you feel about being there?
The woman in the foreground contemplates the snow. The feeling I get is one of doubt, of questioning her choices up until this moment, of somehow knowing that this moment is a turning point in her life. She is holding onto the moment, feeling the last seconds before making her decision. The woman in the distance feels joy - especially the release of joy following the making of the decision, the commitment. She feels absolute certainty as she runs to embrace her future.
The Symbols
Symbols in your dreams often relate to your personal memories and associations, so always consider those first. Then let your mind play with other, more general possibilities. They will not all apply! Just open your mind and notice where the symbol seems to fit and make sense of the rest of your dream.
As water often represents emotions, snow may symbolise frozen emotions - either coldness (lack of flowing) or unexpressed (think of storing food in the freezer).
Your personal experiences of snow may override this more common symbolism though. Do you enjoy snow? Is snow a rare luxury, a chance to play and frolic or a sense of wonder? Do you frequently experience snowy winters, the hard work of digging your car from the snow, the discomfort of wearing too many clothes, the sad dirty, brown slush of the thaw? If the snow in your dream is trying to convey a feeling, what could it be?
People in dreams usually represent our own beliefs, thoughts and attitudes. The two people in this dream are almost shadows. Dressed in black with faces hidden they are obscure. Black, in a dream, often symbolises your unconscious mind - what is unknown, difficult to see, dark in contrast to the light of your conscious mind.
These two figures may represent feelings deep in your unconscious mind, unknown to your conscious mind (frozen, like the snow). But look how these dark figures stand out against the snow! They are so clearly seen at the same time as they are, in a sense, hidden. What a paradox! This is exactly how the 'shadow' archetype works in waking life. Think of the shadow as the unknown or flip side to what you regard as your good character. Think of the shadow as being the feelings and beliefs you choose not to express in your waking world, but which live on in your unconscious mind. So far, so good. Until you remember that your unconscious mind is far more powerful than your conscious mind and so your unconscious feelings and beliefs exert their power and affect your waking world situation despite your intentions to the contrary. It is good to know your shadow side through dreams.
Look at the contrast and opposites in this picture! Black and white. Where is the range of colours between? When a dream shows a strong black and white image it may be a visual metaphor for thinking or acting only in extremes. For example, your dream may suggest you are thinking only in black and white, right and wrong with no room for shades of grey let alone the joy of a range of colours.
The positioning of the two women is also important, but it's how YOU see this that delivers the right interpretation for you. Are they back to back, or is the woman in the distance coming towards the woman in the foreground? Are they like mirrors (equal reflections of each other) or are they like opposites (in feelings, movements or extreme positions)?
The Questions
Here are some questions the dreamer of such a dream picture might ask to work towards a complete understanding of the dream.
Try these yourself: just give your 'gut reaction' answers to the questions - your answers will surprise you in the insights they deliver. The key thing to remember is, "Don't THINK about your answers - give quick gut reaction replies". Your unconscious will deliver.
If this process can work powerfully for this image, consider how infinitely more powerful the insights are when the image comes from one of your own dreams - direct from your unconscious!
- How does the woman in the foreground feel?
- How long has she been here?
- Why did she come here?
- What has she got in her pocket?
- How deep is the snow?
- How long has the snow lain here?
- Is she moving or standing still?
- How does the woman in the distance feel?
- Which direction is she facing?
- Is she moving or staying still?
- How long has she been here?
- Why does she have her arms outstretched?
- Where has she been?
- Where is she going?
- Is she as 'real' as the woman in the foreground?
- Is she from the past, the present or the future?
- Look at your answer to Q2. What waking life situation has been with you for this same length of time?
- Look at your answer to Q5. (For example, five cm, five feet ..) Think back this number (example five) of years or months, then think of yourself at that age (in this example, five). What was happening for you then and how did that relate to your answers to Q1 and Q8?
- If your answers to Q18 did not enlighten you, apply the same questions to the number in your answer to Q6.
- Look at your answer to Q4. What message does this object give you? How does it help throw light on your answers to Q18 and Q19?
- What can the woman in the foreground learn from the woman in the distance?
- What can the woman in the distance learn from the woman in the foreground?
- Look at your answers to Q21 and Q22. How can you apply these to a situation in your waking life that you would like to improve?
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