Image Sixty-Three: 1st April 2004. Photo by Michael Collins
Mushrooms
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?
I feel a sense of magic, both in the sudden appearance of mushrooms on the path and in the ethereal pink-green light. There is also a feeling of purity as the mushrooms are so fresh and new with no sign of ragged edges or brown patches. Their softness reminds me of the feeling of touching a baby’s skin, velvety yet delicate. The sensation is so strong I wouldn’t be surprised if the mushrooms smelled of milk or baby powder.
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.
Look for dream puns. Could these mushrooms be a dream pun on ‘much room’?
Look at the shape of the symbol. These mushrooms are quite phallic. Could they symbolise fertility of the body or mind? Could they represent a Yang (male energy, left brain, outer world) readiness to push forward, to take action, to be proactively productive?
Mushrooms are fungi. They thrive in damp conditions and are often associated with rotting. On the good side, rotting is a process of breaking down and recycling the old to create fertile conditions for the new. There’s a link there with the phallic shape! On the negative side, rotting is a process that takes place when something has been neglected or become waterlogged. Why might rot feature in your dream?
In the garden or in the wild, mushrooms surprisingly spring up after the rain. They appear as if from nowhere, as if by magic. No wonder fairies live in toadstools, not too far removed from mushrooms. Magic mushrooms enhance the link with magic. Are your dream mushrooms magical? Could they symbolise beliefs in magic, the concept of imminent sudden change or a magical shift in vision?
Mushrooms are a commonly eaten food. They may represent nourishment, especially for vegetarians. They are manna-like, which, combined with their overnight appearances, may represent divine abundance or harvesting your needs freely from the universe.
Bunched together as in the image, they may look like a family or group of individuals forming a community, all relying on a common basic root for their nourishment. How might this fit in with the rest of your dream?
Or are they toadstools, or poisonous mushrooms? Could they represent possible deceit, a test of faith or the need for discernment?
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!
1. What time of day is it here?
2. What can you smell?
3. Imagine touching one of these mushrooms. What sensation do you feel in your body?
4. How do the mushrooms feel about being here?
5. If you had to take the place of one of these mushrooms, which would you choose to be?
6. Following from your answer to Q5, which position would you feel least comfortable in?
7. Look at your answer to Q5. What are the advantages of this position?
8. Look at your answer to Q6. Why would you feel least comfortable here?
9. Look at your answer to Q7. Where in your life do you feel like this?
10. Look at your answer to Q7. Who in your life occupies a position like this?
11. Look at your answer to Q8. Where in your life do you feel like this?
12. Look at your answer to Q8. Who in your life occupies a position like this?
13. Look at your answer to Q2. What feeling does this smell give you and where do you feel it in your body?
14. Look at your answer to Q13. When in your life do you feel this?
15. Look at your answer to Q3. When in your life do you feel this?
16. Look at your answer to Q4. In which situation in your life do you feel like this?
17. Are these mushrooms safe to eat?
18. Look at your answer to Q17. If you answered no, why?
19. Look at your answer to Q18. Which situation in your life feels like this?
20. Pick one of your life situations that you have named in this quiz then look at your answer to Q10. What next step would this person take in your situation?
21. Still thinking of the situation you named in the question above, look at your answer to Q12. What next step would this person take in your situation?
22. What is the magical message of the mushrooms?
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