In my capacity as a professional dream worker, I travel all around the English speaking world, (both IRL - "in real life" - and on the Internet), on a daily basis, working with peoples' dreams, and helping them figure out more about what they mean. This gives me the opportunity to carry out an extensive, on-going, informal survey of the collective "trends" in the content and imagery of peoples' dreams. One of the patterns I have noticed, as we approach the millennium, is that more and more people are reporting dreams of great storms, particularly "tornadoes".

At the same time, even a casual eye on the news media in waking life informs us that the world's weather has gotten dramatically "worse" and more intense over the last decades of the 20th century. "Global warming" appears to be the culprit in the waking world, and of course, that, (plus the emotional impact of the news stories of storm damage, and the tragic deaths and dislocations of peoples' lives which inevitably result from these great storms), is sufficient reason alone for the number of "dream tornadoes" to increase - but I believe there are other, even deeper collective/archetypal reasons for the steady increase in this particular type of dream imagery.

The individual and collective problems and dilemmas we face at the end of the 20th century are all, in a very real way, the consequence of incomplete (still evolving) conscious awareness. I am increasingly convinced that it is the huge disparity between our immensely sophisticated knowledge about how to manipulate the physical world, (skills which we inevitably try to use to satisfy the incoherent jumble of our less-than-conscious desires), in contrast with our almost total lack of reliable self-knowledge about the deeper structures of our interior lives, which is the main cause of the terrible situation(s) we find ourselves in at this perilous historical moment.

In the dream world, "wind & water" have been archetypal symbols of spirit ("which bloweth where it listeth") and emotion, (which "runs deep", even when it's still) for thousands (if not millions) of years. In the waking world, peoples from all over the planet share stories where the "voice of the God(s)" "speaks from out of the whirlwind". Non-technological peoples, (including the vast majority our own ancestors, back to the Old Stone Age an beyond), have viewed the "tornado" as "the finger of God", which points with precision and unparalleled power to the psycho-spiritual mysteries of guilt and hidden meaning. Like the imagined "Hand of God", the tornado demonstrates breath taking power, and leaves one life relatively untouched, while the life standing directly next to it is totally torn and shattered forever.

Each time we dream of "tornadoes", these ancient, collective layers of symbolic association reveal themselves anew. Each "dream tornado" is, at some level, a harbinger of change, in the psyche as well as the waking world. Although only the dreamer can say for sure what his or her dream images mean, dream "tornadoes" are compelling metaphors of the individual and collective social change that we "feel", (that we know in our secret heart of hearts), is necessary , and is coming. We intuit, as dreamers, that ultimately the "power of this impending storm" is not just a consequence of incomplete human consciousness and planning failure alone. The forces of change are also "forces of nature" - "divine forces", like nature herself. The dream "tornado", over and over again, turns out to be symbol of the dreamer's own personal relationship to the deepest unasked and unanswered psycho-spiritual questions is his/her life, and these issues always have transpersonal implications as well.

Of course, these inevitable, unconscious, archetypal associations echo back "out" of the dream world into our perception of the changes in the global weather patterns that are the other main inspiration for these dreams. No matter what we think and believe consciously, our nagging fear that these "earth changes" are a "punishment" is an inevitable reflection of our realization that we are misusing the divine gift of increasingly conscious self awareness. This "theological" belief creeps into the emotional tone and rhetoric of our debates over controlling ozone-depleting emissions, and the destruction of planetary bio-diversity in the service of short-term economic gain. We know, from the same deep, unconscious place that the dreams come from, that these global, political, economic, ecological issues are ultimately "spiritual" - that these issues both shape and reflect our deepest relationships with the most important meanings of our individual and collective lives, (a situation which our ancestors have always equated with our relationship to "God" and "the Divine"...)

When such tornado dreams are remembered, it means that the dreamers are, in fact, equal to the psycho-spiritual tasks of increasing self-awareness and self-acceptance that the unknown frightening future demands, whether they feel or believe they are equal to these tasks, or not. ALL dreams come in the service of health & wholeness, and that means that NO dream, (even the dream of the 'terrifying tornado"), ever comes to say: "Nyeah, nyeah, nyeah - you have these problems and you can't do anything about them...!"

All dreams come in the service of health and wholeness. The generic message of every remembered dream is: "There is a potentially positive, creative, transformative role for the dreamer's waking mind to play in the further unfoldment of whatever is being given symbolic shape in this dream." In other words, no remembered dream ever came to say to the dreamer, "Nyeah, nyeah, nyeah - you have these problems and there's nothing you can do about them...!" If the dream is remembered at all, than it means that the dreamer has the inherent ability to deal creatively and effectively with all the problems and "issues" that the dream raises in symbolic form; if this were not true, the dream would simply not have been remembered.

When a dream experience is not remembered, then the health & wholeness promoting quality of the dream must be sought somewhere other than the expansion and development of the dreamer's own waking consciousness. In the case of sleep-walking and sleep-talking, and the special case of "night terrors", (about which more below), the dreamer is most often very difficult to awaken, and if/when it is accomplished, most often does not remember what was going on "inside" that was the occasion for the strange "acting out". Sleep-walking and sleep-talking are most frequent in childhood and usually, (although not always), dissipate and eventually disappear as the dreamer reaches adulthood. I believe that the generic meaning of sleep-walking, sleep-talking, can be summed up in the idea "involuntary theater", put on not so much for the dreamer him/herself, but for the benefit of the others who are awake and observe it.

Let me offer an example, (because I believe that examples often convey theoretical information better than abstract formulations.) Several years ago, I had occasion to talk with a charming young couple after a church service during which I had offered a pulpit address on the importance of paying attention to dreams in the pursuit of moral, creative, spiritual life. They asked me if there was a drug that I could recommend to them that they could give their almost four-year old son to prevent him from sleep-walking.

I replied that fortunately I did not know of any such drug, and that even if I did, I was not sure I would tell them, because I believe it is always far better to seek for root causes and address them, rather than to manipulate symptoms with chemicals and never look for the underlying origins of the situation. I asked them what their son was up to at night that they wanted to find an "anti-sleep-walking drug"?

Dream Analysis and Dream Interpretations: I Am Fleeing For My Life!

The basic metaphor in chase dreams is usually the "death" that I am so desperately trying to avoid. "Death" in the dream world is the single most frequent archetypal image of growth and development that the unconscious has to offer. (Dreams do depict psycho-spiritual growth and change in other ways, but death is by far the most common and universal.) Therefore, if I dream that I am being pursued by dream characters who are out to get me, it is usually a symbolic representation of fleeing from insistent interior promptings, telling me that it is time to grow and change and let go of some cherished notion about who I am. To grow and change, life energies have to be withdrawn from the outmoded parts of my self-image, no matter how good or useful they may have been at one time. This withdrawal of life energy looks
symbolically like death.

Dream Analysis and Dream Interpretations: I Kill Someone, Witness A Killing or Kill Myself

The central image here is the "death" of those dream characters. No matter how distressing these images are during the dream, they are almost certainly symbolic pictures of ways in which I am growing and changing, ways in which my life energies are being redirected from old attitudes, perceptions, and self-images. In my experience, it doesn't make a great deal of difference who dies in the dream--if someone or something dies, it signifies that growth and change are taking place. If the dreamer dies, the changes in waking life are likely to be noticeable and radical, and will probably manifest themselves in personality and opinion changes.

If it's someone else who dies in the dream, this suggests that the changes are taking place a little further away from the sense of core self --but changes are happening nonetheless. Suicide in dreams takes on a particularly ironic and positive quality in this sense; it means that the psycho-spiritual growth and development is taking place as a result of conscious choice and decision. For a person in recovery from addictive behavior, for example, to dream of "suicide" is a particularly positive image, because it usually means that this time, the decision to quit is actually going to stick, and the old, addictive personality really is dying.

Dream Analysis and Dream Interpretations: I Am Menaced By Animals

"Animals" in the dream world are a frequent metaphor of the dreamer's instincts -- those vital energies that are alive and active in the dreamer's psyche, but which are not conscious. The more menacing or problematic the relationships with animals are in the dream -- or the more ill, injured, or distressed the animals appear to be -- the more likely it is that the dreamer is at odds with his or her instinctive energies, and needs to find a way to channel creative, positive expression of those same instinctive drives into his or her waking life. The fact that such a dream has been remembered is a reliable indicator that the dreamer will be able to give creative, responsible expression to his or her instinctive energies -- otherwise, the dream would not have been remembered.
 

Dream Analysis and Dream Interpretations: I Am Surrounded By Water

"Water" in the dream world is most often an archetypal image for feeling and emotion. To dream of an approaching tidal wave usually indicates an apprehension about the emotions that are welling up inside of the dreamer-- he or she fears being overwhelmed, or "drowning" in the feelings and being unable to think or act rationally. Again, the irony is that if the tidal wave dream is remembered in the first place, it means that the dreamer can deal with the full impact of the emotions.

The first step is to acknowledge the full weight and force of these feelings. One of the mythical or archetypal "hero/heroine's tasks" that we all must accomplish as we grow into adulthood is to face our deepest emotions without "drowning" in them. When this important task has been achieved, we are likely to dream of being surprised to discover that we are totally submerged and breathing underwater!

Dream Analysis and Dream Interpretations: I Am Looking For A Place To Urinate

The need to urinate in a dream often means just that -- the dreamer has to wake up and go to the bathroom! However, even when this is the case, the need to urinate is always a symbolic event in the dream world as well, even when it indicates a state of pressure in the physical body. The most frequent meaning associated with this dream is the dreamer's need to express problematic feelings and thoughts in waking life. In order to stay healthy, we all know we have to relieve our bladders regularly. We can decide when and where, but we have no choice about whether or not to do it, and the longer it's postponed, the more desperate the need becomes. The same is true of the need to give expression to our deepest thoughts and feelings. We have a wide range of choice about when, where, and in whose company we choose to do it, but if we are to remain healthy and whole, we have no more choice about self-expression than we do about urinating. We must do it--and the longer we postpone expressing our deepest emotions, the more likely it is we will have the archetypal "I need to pee and there's no comfortable place to do it!" dream.

Whenever such a dream occurs, I find it valuable to go off into a corner and write down all the secret, taboo thoughts and feelings I have (even if I burn the list the moment I complete it). The "desperate need to urinate" dream is a reliable indicator that I need to express myself more fully and honestly, if only to myself. If there is another trusted person in my life with whom I can be completely candid, so much the better, but even if there isn't, I need to be honest with myself.

Dream Analysis and Dream Interpretations: I Am Upset By Excrement Everywhere

The transformation of excrement is one of the great secrets at the center of Carl Jung's work on "alchemy"--the quest to turn base material into gold. It's a universal metaphor of psycho-spiritual development, growth, and maturity. If I can look at the "excrement" of my life--all the places in me that hold the worst things I have ever done, witnessed, or had done to me--unpleasant as that may be, it is also the first step toward turning this "base matter" into "gold." Ironically, it is only by looking clearly at the "excrement" of my life that I can transform it into the "gold" of forgiveness, self-acceptance, and felt-sense of the presence of the Divine. Unless I do this, any seemingly spiritual perspective I embrace will only serve as camouflage for my denial and self-deception, which will betray me in the end.

Freud asserts that the excrement dream is symbolic of money in the dreamer's waking life. On one level this makes sense. The first experience each of us has with exerting ourselves and producing a result, or "product," is moving our bowels. Therefore, we tend to make a symbolic analogy between the "efforts" we put forth in the world and the money we get for it. (In my experience, when the "excrement" in the dream world does equal money, it's a fairly reliable indicator that the waking "trade-off" of time and energy for money is not serving me well. It may be time to look for another line of work.)

There are many symbolic parallels between the "need to urinate" dream and the "excrement" dream. Both indicate an innate desire to express authentic, albeit buried, feelings. If a dream focuses on the evacuation of solid, rather than liquid, waste,there is an added dimension of purging repression and denial. Before I consider fully divulging my thoughts or feelings, I have to admit to myself just how bad things really are in my life. In order to change them, I first have to recognize what they are. So if the dreamer is overwhelmed with excrement, it's always worth asking the question: "What am I facing, or letting go of?" It's important to remember that as unpleasant as it is to face denial in the short run, it is necessary and rewarding in the long run.
 

Dream Analysis and Dream Interpretations: Something Weird Has Happened To My Hair