Electric Dreams has been experimenting with dream sharing online since the spring of 1994. Many of us have tried various forms of dream sharing online before that time.

We still have several forms, from direct publishing, to informal comments to special projects. But the process that has made the deepest impression on the participants has been the DreamWheel. Included below are the full transcripts from an Electric Dreams DreamWheel dream sharing group that accord the summer of 1998.

I was the moderator for this group and though the participants will remain anonymous, I want to thank them all for their generosity in opening up this group for the public. It is our hope that others will be able to use this dreamwork process in their own groups.

For an more extended history of the evolution of the DreamWheel, see Wilkerson, R. A Short History on the Rise of Dream Sharing in Cyberspace. (Above)

The following group formed from announcements in Electric Dreams, alt.dreams Usenet Newsgroup, and also included students from the DreamGate "History of Dream Sharing"  Class. All members subscribed to the Electric Dreams dream group email list and each member was asked to send all e-mail to the group list, and not to send private notes.

The process followed should be clear in the moderator's notes.

 MODERATOR'S NOTES

Dream 'The Coins of Life' by Tom  

For those of you who are already familiar with the process, please scroll down to the bottom of the page and read the new dream, and send in your questions to tom at (the group address)

If you can, put in the subject line something like " Questions on 'Coin Dream' "

I'm estimating we will be exploring this dream for about a week- week and a half, then move on to the next dream sent in. You can still send in a dream for the group to explore at

rcwilk@dreamgate.com Richard

OK for those of you who are ~new~ to the dreamwheel, here is the short and long of it:

The moderator, (rcwilk@dreamgate.com) picks a dream at random and sends it to the group. The group may ask *clarifying* questions only. (see below for more on this). Then the dreamer may or may not reply to these quesions. They may answer them individually, or wait and answer then all together, as the dreamer chooses.

Then the participants get to take the dream as if it were their own, and comment. I'll have more instructions on this when that time comes. If you are interested you can see a sample session at

http://www.asdreams.org/asd-13/2lb12.htm

ASKING QUESTIONS of the dreamer

In this phase of the process you may ask the dreamer questions about the dream that may clarify the image of the dream. Do not ask questions that call for interpretations.

Example: DREAM: "He turned around and grabbed Bill's jacket away from me"

Questions:

Hi Dreamer, thanks for sharing your dream with us. I was wondering:

1.Who is "he" that grabbed the jacket - did you know him, what did helook like?

2.Are you related to Bill or is he a friend?

3.Were you scared when he grabbed the jacket away?

4.What kind of jacket was it? Dark leather, green raincoat...?

Some questions you *DON'T* want to ask:

Why do you think he grabbed your jacket? (though you might ask if any reasons went through your head *during* the dream.)

Did you know that Jackets represent symbols of appearance issues?

Do you often have men grabbing your clothes in dreams?

What does standing behind someone mean to you?

And to the Dreamers-

If and when you reply to the questions, do so only to clarify the dream. Try to avoid interpretations at this point. If it is not clear from the dream how to answer a question, simply say it was not clear. Usually the dreamer waits until several members' questions have been mailed to the group to begin answering.

=============================================

The Dream

Dream 'The Coins of Life' by Tom

Dad has come home from the hospital from heart surgery. I go to hug him and welcome him home, but I must do so very carefully and gently, so as not to hurt him by accident. We are living in a split level house, and this scene is taking place in an upstairs bedroom. The entrance hall to this house is elevated, and I must go up a short flight of stairs (about 5 stairs) from the den to reach it, and the attached living room.

We have recently put new floors in the house, and they have been placed right over the old ones. As a result we are somewhat nearer the ceiling than before. The new floors are a blonde hardwood, and heavily acquered - almost plasticized in appearance. I think they are very attractive, in their way, but feel uncomfortable walking on them to avoid marring the all-too-perfect surface.

In the entrance hall, the bottom half of the door is evidently blocked by the raised flooring. Likewise the bottom half of the windows are below floor level, and as such, invisble to me.

In this second scene, I am in the den. I hear a loud sound in the living room, and go there to discover the cause. A young asian woman in chinese style black silk pajamas is digging at the floor with a staff she holds in her hand. The floor is deeply scarred and the wood is coming apart and turning fiberous. She has dug into the floor about five or six inches deep.

Although the woman appears real, she resembles Mulan - from the Disney film that I have not yet seen.

I rush at her and shout that she must stop and go away. She lashes out at me with the staff to keep me away. Presently, she runs away. I don't know why, I feel as if I finally frightened her away. I am very smugly satisfied with myself, as I watch her flee. From the window I can see her running away from the house.

Suddenly the scene changes, and I see thousands of Chinese coins with holes in the center. They are all floating in air before me - a curtain of beautiful coins. They are not strung together by string or wire, although in such a curtain they would be. They are simply floating and individually revolving from "heads" to "tails" . The whole effect is very beautiful and delightfully unexpected.

A man's voice comes from "above", but not like the voice of God, more like a narrator in an educational film. The voice says "There is only one life, and it is lived in many simultaneous, but brief periods."

This is the end of the dream.

_______________ ___________________ __________________ ________________

Questions on 'Coin Dream

Tom,

I only have a few questions.

1. Did your father have surgery in reality? (if this is too personal you don't need to answer)

2. How did you feel when you saw the woman digging?

3. What did her staff look like?

4. Where were you when you saw the coin "curtain"?

dana

_______________ ___________________ __________________ ________________

Hi Dana. Thanks for the questions.

1. Yes, my father did have heart surgery, he passed away in the "recovery" room. That was in '91.

2. When I saw the woman digging, I felt both panicked and outraged. She was ruining the floor, she was an intruder, and her motives were unknown.

3. It was an ornately carved staff of a golden colored wood. It's kind of like the one Mulan has in the previews of the movie, and like the Mulan - Secret Warrior doll has.

4. When I saw the curtain, I was watching the woman through one of the windows in the living room. She was running across the lawn. Suddenly the curtain descended before my field of vision. It was not part of the decor of the room - I don't know where it came from. Pleasant Dreams, Tom

_______________ ___________________ __________________ ________________

Questions on 'Coin Dream

Hi Tom...here are a few questions...

1...Is this a description of an actual house or one created within your dream?.

2...Do you live alone in this house with your Dad or are there others?..

3...Are you the age you are now through out the dream?..

4...What time of day did you notice the Asian woman?...

5...Were you outside or inside during the curtain of coins?..

6...In retrospect was the voice familiar?..

Thanks Tom.....Don

_______________ ___________________ __________________ ________________

Hi Don.

1. The house was a pastiche of three houses I lived in while I was a child. In the first scene, the house was like the one in which my mother still resides. I lived there from 6th grade through a couple of years after college. The second scene was like a split level house we lived in briefly when I was in 5th grade, except for the bit about the stairs and the floor, and the view from the window was similar to the first house I remember, the one in which I lived from birth through the 4th grade.

2. Mom, Dad and I live in the house. Mom and Dad are not in the second scene. There are several visitors in the first scene, to welcome Dad home - my sister, brother-in-law, assorted neices and nephews.

3. Looking back on the dream, I wasn't really aware of being any particular age, so -- yes, I guess I was the same age as now - 40, 41 next month.

4. It seemed like early afternoon. The sun was shining, and when I looked out the window everything was bright. I don't remember any long shadows.

5. I was inside when I saw the curtain. I was looking at the fleeing woman through the livng room window.

6. No, the voice was not especially "familiar" it was more "generic" like a TV or radio news person. It really reminded me of one of those out-of-date Black & White 16mm. "educational" films I watched in school in the 60's and 70's. (but the films were from the 40's and 50's.) It was male, but neither high nor low pitched. No accent was discernable. It wasn't like a Divine Announcement, it was dry, factual and "informative".

Pleasant Dreams,

Tom

_______________ ___________________ __________________ ________________

By the way, Dana, thanks for asking if the question was too personal. Obviously, it wasn't, but thanks for your courtesy. I think it's important that the person sharing the dream be allowed to determine the level of engagement, and should be periodically reminded that it is their privilege and also their responsibility to do so.

Thanks again for extending this courtesy to me. Pleasant Dreams, Tom

_______________ ___________________ __________________ ________________

Questions on 'Coin Dream

Hi Tom

Thanks for sharing your dream. i was not able to pay too much attention to the last one, but here I am. I have some questions.

1. Do these Chinese coins seem familiar to you?

2. Do you have any contact with ancient Chinese culture?

3. Do you know the I Ching and the way you ask questions to it?

Greetings, Emiliano

_______________ ___________________ __________________ ________________

Hi Emiliano. Here are the answers to your questions.

1. In waking life I have few associations with the coins except, as noted below, as a way to consult the I Ching. In the dream, the coins have no further meaning to me, except as they seem to relate to the girl in the dream, and also vaguely to the concept of "Eastern wisdom". When I look at them in the dream, I am primarily aware of their beauty and unexpectedness. The main emotion I feel is one of delight.

2. No, I have no contact with Chinese culture, ancient or otherwise.

3. Yes, I know of the I Ching. One of the tasks I performed in connection with my initial work with this dream was to consult that oracle. The lower trigram was Chen, and the upper trigram was Li. The hexagram seemed to relate to some aspects of the dream. I do not customarily consult the I Ching, and did so only because of the curtain of coins in my dream.

I hope these are the answers you need. Pleasant Dreams, Tom

_______________ ___________________ __________________ ________________

Hi dreamwheelers,

Usually this process takes much longer, but with so many people and the dreamer being on top of the questions, we are zipping right along. Let's start the comment phase!

I've included the dream below, as well as instructions for those not familiar with the process.

- Richard

DreamWheel - Comments Phase

<---------------------------------------------->

COMMENT PROCEDURES

In this part of the process, you may comment on the dream. While you are welcome to make any comments you wish, what we are teaching in this group is non-defensive style developed by John Herbert (Montague Ullman stage II variation) modified for email.

This segment is the one in which each group member takes the dream as if it were his or her own and shares feelings and thoughts about the dream and what it might mean in each members life situation.

Making the dream your own:

1. At the beginning of all comment files or e-mail we generally write : "If this were my dream..."

This sets up the general subjective attitude and works as a reminder to the commentor that they are not telling the dreamer what they think the dream means to the dreamer, but rather what the dream might mean if we had that dream.

2. To further this point, use 1st person singular, present tense. "In my dream..."

EXAMPLE: Dream: "I'm looking at my mother walking down a long hall towards an open window."

I might comment "In my dream the nurturing mother has found a new way to escape me."

In my comment, it is *my mother*, *my hallway* and *my dream*. This may or may not provide insight to the initial dreamer, but its surprising how often this non- defensive approach does lead to new insights for both the dreamer and the commentor.

3. Send the comments in to the whole group.

4. The DREAMER may or may not respond as they wish.

_______________ ___________________ __________________ ________________

Comments on 'Coin Dream=

P-

Hi Tom,

Thanks for sharing this dream with us.

If this was my dream, the house would represent the many aspects of myself. The raised flooring has made it impractical yet beautiful. I can't see out the windows as much as I'd like to , not enough light comes in and I am inconvenienced by the doors. I have to walk so carefully because I don't want to mess it up. This represents my self-image...perhaps I am too focused on my appearance and not what's inside.

In my dream the Asian woman represents a part of myself that is searching. She uses a staff-- a symbol for me of the spirit, the search for something divine. Perhaps I don't want her there because I fear the answers.

I f this was my dream I would focus on the words spoken at the end of the dream. They seem to explain so much. They give me comfort, knowing that my father will always live. The words also explain the coin curtain. Each coin represents the the lives of loved ones, past and future, turning, changing. When I can't see one side there is another to take it's place as it revolves. Life is cycle within cycle, and we are all interlinked by unseen bonds like with this curtain.

_______________ ___________________ __________________ ________________

Hi Dana. It's been several days since your reply, and as no others replies have been forthcoming, I would like to take the opportunity to respond to your comments.

You wrote " If this was my dream, the house would represent the many aspects of myself. The raised flooring has made it impractical yet beautiful. I can't see out the windows as much as I'd like to , not enough light comes in and I am inconvenienced by the doors."

This is true. I think it's significant that the action of the second scene takes place in the Entrance Way and the Living Room. Because of the odd construction of the split level house (inwardly divided self) not only is it burdensome for others to enter, but it is crowded in the "living room". In my house there is insufficient "living room" or room for living".

Again, you wrote "I have to walk so carefully because I don't want to mess it up. This represents my self-image ... perhaps I am too focused on my appearance and not what's inside. "

When I think of the first scene, I realize that in it, I must curb the expression of the "inner me" in order to keep from injuring my father. Because he is coming from heart surgery, perhaps I am afraid to let myself be known to him because I will "break his heart". This is a pattern that repeats itself over and over in my life - I find myself living up to other's expectations, simply because I assume that the "real me" is rather hard to handle for other people. I find it much easier to be authentic and "real" with people I don't really know (such as the people in an internet dream sharing group) than with those most close to me. This is what I think the steps and the raised floor in my dream are about.

Dana, you wrote "In my dream the Asian woman represents a part of myself that is searching. She uses a staff-- a symbol for me of the spirit, the search for something divine. Perhaps I don't want her there because I fear the answers."

Years ago, I took a shamanism workshop led by Michael Harner (The Way of the Shaman). At one point we were to partner with another person in the workshop and each do a "journey" to identify the "power animal". In my journey, I encountered a white bull several times, and as the instructions given were "once an animal presents itself three times, come back to normal waking state and tell your partner the name of that animal - it will be their power animal." So, it transpires that my partner's power animal was a bull, and as a result of her journey, I was assigned an American Indian maiden, as in the Disney film Pocahauntus (spelling). Over the years in my dreams and personal meditations, this maiden has appeared several times -- usually to let me know that I currently had the support and power I needed at that time, all I needed was to avail myself of it." I really think the young Asian woman is an aspect of this image, just as in the two Disney films - Pocahauntus, and Mulan.

After the dream, I went to Wal-Mart to find the doll of Mulan that was in the commercial I suspected of being my dream trigger. I found the doll, and on the package she was identified as "Mulan - the Secret Warrior". Pretty apt, I think, for someone who is really doing a service for me by ripping up my floor, but whom I perceived during the dream as a threat.

Finally, Dana, you wrote" If this was my dream I would focus on the words spoken at the end of the dream. They seem to explain so much. They give me comfort, knowing that my father will always live. The words also explain the coin curtain. Each coin represents the the lives of loved ones, past and future, turning, changing. When I can't see one side there is another to take it's place as it revolves. Life is cycle within cycle, and we are all interlinked by unseen bonds like with this curtain."

In a sense, my father does live, since I continue to keep my real self buried under an unimpeachable surface to avoid hurting those near me. I think I learned this habit in childhood, and it will take a lot of courage to CHANGE.

I capitalized the word CHANGE in the previous sentence because I just became aware _today_ that the coins could carry that meaning. We speak of small change, loose change, making change. It makes sense that I symbolized the concept of "change" with the images of coins. Why Chinese? Perhaps I am carrying through the Eastern theme from the young woman all the way through the dream. Perhaps, since I did not recognize her in the dream, but later she seems to be the same as the corn-maiden in other dreams, the Chinese theme could be representing my own "inscrutable" nature that I take pains to keep under the floor.

The Chinese coins are utilized in consulting the I Ching, the Book of Change (see, there's that word again). As part of my initial work on the dream, inspired by the presence of the coins, I consulted the I Ching and generated the Hexagram #21 - in the book I have it is labeled "Reform".

The text for this hexagram is: "Reform will bring progress. It is advantageous to let justice be administered. Aroused consciousness forms the condition for Reform. The ancient rulers, therefore, put forth their laws and clearly defined the penalties."

The commentary in the book says:

"The time calls for energetic Reform. A situation has developed that is at cross purposes to your life and is interfering with the attainment of your aims. This obstacle must be _dug out_ reforemd, and thereby eliminated. Success will come through the enforcement of laws and the administering of justice. There is neither possibility of compromise, nor hope that the problem will vanish. It cannot be rationalized or ignored, and you cannot maneuver around it. It is tangible, real, and a self-generating force in your life and must be severely reformed before it causes any permanent damage to you. There could not be a more appropriate time to examine your character and determine the extent to which any rationalizations, habits, etc., have usurped control of your judgement. Know what you want, know what makes you feel good about hour Self, know what brings you into harmony with others. These are your guidelines and principles. Other factors that assume control of your behavior, or that create inner discord are the obstacles that must be overcome."

The words at the end of the dream seem to mean that I, myself, have only one life -- and it is too brief to allow all this fragmentation in it. If I can begin in some small way to heal that fragmentation, then I can begin to live simultaneously in more aspects of my life - not only the practiced, perfect surface persona - the "perfect" floor that diminishes my room for living, and limits other's access to me, as well as my access to them.

Thank you very much, everyone, for your questions and comment. I apologize for being so long winded, especially since it's about my own dream, and my personal concerns. Thank you again for allowing me to share the dream with you all.

Pleasant Dreams, Tom

_______________ ___________________ __________________ ________________

Two more very brief notes, then I will be through. After writing the previous message, I turned on the TV and Brian DePalma's film Phantom of the Paradise was on. The first thing I heard were the lyrics to one of the songs "To work it out, I let them in - all the good guys and the bad guys that I've been. . . all the devils that disturb me and the angels that defeated them somehow -- come together in me now. This was so appropriate to what I was writing with regard to the fragmented self buried under layers of plastic wood that I was struck by the coincidence.

The other note had to do with the power animal journeys. The power animal I found for my partner was a bull - and her sun sign turned out to be Taurus. The power "animal" she found for me was a maiden, and my sun sign is Virgo. I have thought about this "coincidence" many times over the years.

The word Coincidence means co-incidence, or two things happening simultaneously. In my dream the word "simultaneously" is accompanied by an image of Coin, the first four letters in the word Coin-cidence. That probably doesn't have any meaning, but it is an interesting ..., well,

coincidence.

Now I'll hush. Pleasant Dreams, Tom

_______________ ___________________ __________________ ________________

Comments on 'Coin Dream=

Hi All

Thanks Tom for your beautiful dream. It is undoubtably a special one.

If this was my dream:

In my dream my father is recovering from a heart surgery. I welcome him home. My father is the symbol of some kind of masculine energy. That energy was not working well, so my father having a heart surgery means that this masculine side of me had a poor heart (this is, some problem to face and express my feelings). This problem has been corrected (the surgery). Now some changes wait for me.

These changes are symbolized by the new floors in my house. My house is the symbol for my inner psyche. There is a new presence in the house. A Chinese woman in her pajamas. She means a new way to express my femenine energy. A more spiritual way. She's in her pajamas because she just "woke up". Those energies were "asleep" but now are working. She runs away. I don't know the reason. I feel she must be afraid of me. Maybe I'm afraid of her. Maybe my current state of consciousness is not the right one.

Thjis woman remembers me of Mulan.I didn't see the film, but I know that Mulan is a kind of feminine hero. She does extraordinary things without giving up her feminine identity.

Then, I see the courtain of coins. These are the coins I use for the I Ching, and the ritual of making a question to this oracle implies that you have to connect to your higher self. My higher self seems to be present in this scene, and It gives me something to think about. "There is only one life and it's lived in simultaneous but brief periods". I don't really know exactly what this means, but I have some associations. For instance, life is always changing. (Everything is mutating, like the I Ching says). Nothing is forever, so we have to learn to let things go. We have to learn to change ourselves. Etc. This is a very fine dream.

Greetings,

Emiliano

_______________ ___________________ __________________ ________________

Comments on 'Coin Dream=

Hi Tom

Some comment about hexagram 21 on the I Ching (from memory, I don't have the book here).

Hexagram 21 (and I'm not an I Ching freak!!) is sometimes seen as a mouth that must bite an obstacle that keeps both sides of the mouth separated. This means: bite, which means: ACT. Sometimes the book tells you not to act at all. Sometimes it tells you that you are wrong, or lying yourself, or searching for something that it's not for you. This sign is telling you: you are right. Go on. Act. Change things. your life is not forever. Bite hard.

Thought it may be interesting

greetings,

Emiliano

_______________ ___________________ __________________ ________________

Comments on 'Coin Dream=

If this were my dream, welcoming my father home would be related to my missing him. I hug him gently because he is fragile just as my relationship with him has been fragile at times. I love him and feel love from him but often our relationship was not what I wished it could be. But I pretend everything is okay. The all-to-perfect wood floors represents this pretending, this wanting things to look good. I don't even want to walk on it to mess it up, I only want to remember the good things about my relationship with my father. This false floor though prevents me from going places (blocked doors) and seeing things (blocked windows) as they really were/are. But there is this wise, strong, beautiful part of me (young Asian woman) that knows that this floor is false and there is another floor, other aspects of my father and my relationship with him. But I cannot deny that these other aspects exist(ed) and it is okay. The curtain of coins is one you can easily see through, it does not hide anything, and it is beautiful. It is telling me it is okay to see both the good and the bad in my father and my relationship with him. Life is lived in many simultaneous periods. Myself and my relationships are not all one way or the other but have many aspects to it, good and bad, beautiful and ugly.

Tom - Thanks for giving me this wonderful dream. I will continue to ponder its meanings for me. Matthew

_______________ ___________________ __________________ ________________

Thanks Emiliano. I was confused by some of the images I ran across in various editions of the I-Ching. Most of them had to do with chewing off various body parts. Until your message, I had no idea at all as to what they meant, they were simply disturbing images associated with the Hexagram. Thanks for this insight.

Pleasant Dreams, Tom

_______________ ___________________ __________________ ________________

Thanks again, Emiliano, for your response.

You wrote:

"In my dream my father is recovering from a heart surgery. I welcome him home. My father is the symbol of some kind of masculine energy. That energy was not working well, so my father having a heart surgery means that this masculine side of me had a poor heart (this is, some problem to face and express my feelings). This problem has been corrected (the surgery)."

This is an interesting approach, and one which I had not previously considered - owing to the image being so "personalzed" as to resemble my actual father. I can see how that fits in, though. I tend to be very "approach/avoidance" with regard to solving my personal problems. I'll go hammers and tongs at it for a day or so, then backslide for a week. I have often felt that this was due to either the "puer" nature of my shadow, or to an actual energy imbalance. Thinking in terms of masc./fem. energy interplay is therefore convenient shorthand - something my dreams are apt to use. I would say not that this aspect of myself has been "corrected" but rather that I find myself convalescent, but on the road to recovery. Overcoming that shadow aspect is something I am working, struggling with - and it's not easy. For every two steps forward it's a step back. Even so, I feel that at least "some" progress has been made.

Again, you write:

"Now some changes wait for me. These changes are symbolized by the new floors in my house. My house is the symbol for my inner psyche. There is a new presence in the house. A Chinese woman in her pajamas. She means a new way to express my femenine energy. A more spiritual way. "

I have been going through a paradigm shift (hate the phrase, but it's the only one I know that expresses what I mean) in my spiritual life. I have been for some months now moving from valuing "knowledge about" to valuing "knowledge of". I won't go on and on explaining what I mean, my friends and I have discussed this topic till we're blue. I will simply note that the way you express the underlying meaning of the Asian woman rings true with reference to that shift of values and perceptions.

"She's in her pajamas because she just "woke up". Those energies were "asleep" but now are working. She runs away. I don't know the reason. I feel she must be afraid of me. Maybe I'm afraid of her. Maybe my current state of consciousness is not the right one. "

I am afraid of her - she's wrecking the life I've carefully built up layer by layer, step by step. Your suggestion that she is just waking up is very striking. Thank you.

"This woman remembers me of Mulan.I didn't see the film, but I know that Mulan is a kind of femenine hero. She does extraordinary things without giving up her femenine identity. "

While that is true, factually, I don't really see the connection. Perhaps you would care to amplify

and lastly, you write:

"Then, I see the curtain of coins. These are the coins I use for the I Ching, and the ritual of making a question to this oracle implies that you have to connect to your higher self. My higher self seems to be present in this scene, and It gives me something to think about. "There is only one life and it's lived in simultaneous but brief periods". I don't really know exactly what this means, but I have some associations. For instance, life is always changing. (Everything is mutating, like the I Ching says). Nothing is forever, so we have to learn to let things go. We have to learn to change ourselves. Etc."

I agree about the importance of connecting to the higher self, and my desire to live under it's guidance. That's why, after all, I'm so focused on dreams.

Change is eternal, it's the only thing that is. Perhaps my dream is telling me it's time I changed too. I hope I have the courage, as well as the humility to listen attentively to my higher self. Thank you, Emiliano, for your very helpful comments on my dream.

Pleasant Dreams,

Tom

_______________ ___________________ __________________ ________________

Matthew, you wrote:

"If this were my dream, welcoming my father home would be related to my missing him. I hug him gently because he is fragile just as my relationship with him has been fragile at times. I love him and feel love from him but often our relationship was not what I wished it could be."

I do miss Dad. Oddly enough, he and I were not that close when he was alive. When he passed away, though, I plunged into deepest mourning. My reaction really surprised -- and disturbed -- me. I just didn't know where it was coming from. Only now do I realize it was because I was mourning for the relationship that "could have been". At the time, I simply grieved, and then judged myself very harshly for my grief, because it seemed so out of proportion to our actual relationship. The grief was bad enough, but my own judgement of myself for feeling it was even more awful. I kept telling myself how selfish I was to grieve. How what I was going through wasn't about me - it was about Dad and his passing, but I had twisted it around so that it "seemed to be" about me, myself. It's difficult to describe the hell I put myself through for over a year.

You also write:

"But I pretend everything is okay. The all-to-perfect wood floors represents this pretending, this wanting things to look good. I don't even want to walk on it to mess it up, I only want to remember the good things about my relationship with my father."

I also think it has to do with feeling I had to be "the perfect son" to my parents, and not to admit my failures, or my doubts, or anything, really, to them. If I had to ask for help, or even advice, I felt as if I had failed to live up to that perfect image my parents seemed to have of me. I was my father's youngest child, and my mother's only. Therefore, they lavished attention and praise on me -- it was horrible for a young child to go through that, and left me with a lifelong problem with perfectionism, judgementalism, and hypercriticality. Dad passed away in 1991, and I am only now finding a way to address these long standing life-issues.

"This false floor though prevents me from going places (blocked doors) and seeing things (blocked windows) as they really were/are."

When you put it like that -- "false-floor" -- it makes me think of the false foundations on which I seem to have built much of my life. Seeing things as they really are is sometimes a strain for me, because I find I frequently confuse reality with "realism" in the sense of "pessimism" and "doing my best" as doing a "better than perfect" job. I knew of these tendencies before, of course, but didn't see them addressed in this dream. Thank you for your insight.

"But there is this wise, strong, beautiful part of me (young Asian woman) that knows that this floor is false and there is another floor, other aspects of my father and my relationship with him. But I cannot deny that these other aspects exist(ed) and it is okay."

The last sentence, I guess because it starts with "But", confuses me a little. Could you clarify it? I agree that "Mulan" represents another part of myself - primarily I see her as representing the courage for change and "revolution" that I lack. There are other "floors". I suspect, judging from the actual structure of the split level house in which, as a child, I briefly lived, that there are actually five or six "floors" as there are five or six steps from the den to the entrance hall and living room. In that "real-life" house, the entrance hall, living room, den, kitchen, dining room, etc., were all on the same level. One task I need to perform is to attempt to name each "step" that leads to the final, very high floor. Then I might be able to formulate an action plan to address each one in turn -- literally dig beneath each successive floor until I reach the original one.

Possible trigger: At the time I dreamed this dream, I was having a new roof put on my house. I was concerned that the roofers were working during the day when I was at work and unable to "supervise" them. I even formed the theory that, under those conditions, they could simply slap a few shingles over the roof and call it new, but doing nothing to address the real, underlying roof with it's real problems. After all, who would know? I'm happy to say I was wrong, but at the time it was a

concern.

Lastly, Matthew, you write:

"The curtain of coins is one you can easily see through, it does not hide anything, and it is beautiful. It is telling me it is okay to see both the good and the bad in my father and my relationship with him. Life is lived in many simultaneous periods. Myself and my relationships are not all one way or the other but have many aspects to it, good and bad, beautiful and ugly."

I had not considered it's relative transparency before. If I had the curtain of coins with holes in them hanging before me, people could still see me through the curtain, and I could see them. (Holey (Holy) curtain - makes me think of the Veil of the Temple concealing the Holy of Holies. Also brings to mind the word "whole") The curtain does not conceal, it reveals. Change (the coins) does not conceal, it reveals. The coins are revolving, freely showing both sides of themselves. The presence of one side of a coin implies another side, in the same way that the "perfection" implies it's own opposite. The coins, the curtain are beautiful. If fact, they are so attractive (change is attractive) that I forget to be overwhelmed by the sheer number of them (the changes that need to occur in my life). During waking time, the though of so much to do just fills me with dismay. I need to remember the lesson of how beautiful the coins were -- in other words, take one step (there's that word again) at a time and keep the end product, a new life for me, firmly in mind.

One of my favorite movies (speaking of golden coins) is the silent movie GREED. I had forgotten that earlier that week, I invited a number of my friends over to see it. Maybe it too was a trigger. Originally running in excess of 12 hours, this 1924 film was to all accounts, an astounding masterpiece. Nevertheless, the film was ruthlessly cut by the studio to a running time of just over two hours. The negatives of the excised material were destroyed. After this "hack job", miraculously, the film was still a great masterpiece. An essay on the film begins with this quote from "Three Dialogues" by Samuel Beckett: "Total object, complete with missing parts -- instead of partial object. Question of degree."

Hopefully, because of this dream, and the work you all have done on it, I can find the courage to be such a Total "object", complete with flawed or missing parts, instead of a partial object.

Thank you, Matthew, for your insights. Pleasant Dreams, Tom

_______________ ___________________ __________________ ________________

Comments on 'Coin Dream=

Hi Tom,

Thanks for the wonderful Coins Dream -- it gave me a lift. I'm sorry not to have responded to you earlier with questions, but I was out of town for several days at the end of last week and was busy the first part of this week at work. Anyway, I'll go ahead and give you my comments now on your dream. Preliminarily, let me say how strongly I am aware that I will be projecting, as your dream is so mysterious to me and I don't know you except from this Dream Wheel. I know that's what we we're supposed to do (i.e., project), and to acknowledge, but I wanted to say so anyway. So, if this were my dream, this dream is first of all about what time is and means in my life. My life (particularly, my psyche) in this dream is represented by the house, and the floors especially represent layers of my psyche. The latest layer, the blonde hardwood, has just gone down, and although I like it, it also seems a little too perfect to live on, as if it became a part of my life because of its appearance rather than its functionality. I sometimes am attracted to things because of the image they present rather than what they are (and I've always had a thing about blondes, ironically, including a mad crush on a blond in high school that left me dizzy for years after). I soon find out, however, that I can't necessarily live with what I thought I wanted.

The most striking thing to me about my version of this dream is the "moral", i.e., that "There is only one life, and it is lived in many simultaneous, but brief periods." In my dream, this has several meanings. First is the most esoteric, that is, that my life from the moment of my birth to the moment of my death could be conceived of as existing all at once, with time being the vertical dimension. So, everything exists at once -- past, present, and future -- and every moment of my life is actually a brief period linked to the next by my karma (the Buddha said that there are 450,000 mind moments in every moment). Second, it is lived simultaneously because the past influences the present, the present influences the future, and, I believe, the future influences the present and past, too (and so on). The first two are obvious, but the second is so in my dream ("imd") because my life wants to become something, i.e., it wants to become the deepest essence of me, so my future creates my past and present.

Interestingly, imd, there is a triptych of scenes/periods. In the first, I am welcoming Dad home from heart surgery; in the second, I confront an Asian woman; in the third, I see the Chinese coins. Could these be past, present and future imd? To me, it is important that the house is a pastiche of houses where I lived as a child but in the reverse chronological order of the order you dreamed them. So, I see causation and sequence running in multiple directions here, indicating, imd, multiple levels of meaning, and underlining the mysterious influence that different parts of my life have on one another regardless of when they occurred chronologically. One thing is clear imd: as I grow older (I will be 39 soon), more of the plot of my life story is revealed (and more "floors" are laid down), creating the need for me to constantly reassess and revise and let go, as well as adding and growing new things (see below).

When my Dad comes home from heart surgery, I feel sadness and tenderness towards him and his vulnerability now that he is older. So achingly melancholy how life slips by, how someone who was once strong is now fragile. And I identify myself strongly with him -- in a sense, I have incorporated him into my soul, and now I feel it is my heart that is wounded and that I must rest in my sanctuary, in my bedroom, with support from my family. Time has had an impact on me as it has on my father, and I need to accept that in some ways I too must be more gentle with my heart and my body.

In my dream, too, I feel a sense of claustrophobia in the first scene, because the floors seem to be growing higher towards the ceiling, leaving me less room to live, making it harder to see outside, and making it harder to get outside too. I find as I get older that I accumulate more, both more memories and more things, and it cramps my energy and my freedom to live. So, in my dream, this leads me to the second phase of the dream, where the young Asian woman has begun the task that must be undertaken -- digging the wood so that I have more head room in my house and more room to walk, and scarring it so that I can feel comfortable walking on it rather than thinking I must maintain its perfection. Imd, "Mulan" is heroic -- and an unlikely heroine, because she is a woman who takes on a man's task, and must hide her true nature from all except her dragon/guardian. Why is she an unlikely heroine? Because she has come to help me, and yet at first I reject and fear her -- I don't recognize her for what she is -- someone who has come to help me remove some obstacles to the energetic flow of my life. I am identified with my attachment to the unsullied floor and my fear of her as well as power to frighten her, rather than impressed with her beauty, her diligence, her magical staff, her courage. She is a part of me I haven't fully come to terms with, because I am focused her foreignness, youth, and humility as a woman.

But her work bears fruit in the third part of my dream, the Chinese coins, which imd are liberated energy and wisdom. The I Ching has told me that "the time calls for energetic reform, [because] either an inferior person ... is working against [me] or a situation has developed at cross purposes to [my] life [and is] interfering with the attainment of my aims. The obstacles must be sought out, reformed, and thereby eliminated. ... [I need to k]now what I want, know what makes [me] feel good about [my] Self, know what brings me into harmony with others." Shih Ho -- Reform (Biting Through).

So, imd, my life is trying to heal itself from a wounded heart, and once the work is done, I have the energy and ability to see things more clearly and with greater joy, I.e. I see the magic curtain, the veil of mystery that hides the totality of things. And, eventually, imd, I can see through the curtain to the totality of things -- my whole life included, a magnificent vision indeed.

Thanks again Tom.

Paul

_______________ ___________________ __________________ ________________

Comments on 'Coin Dream=

Hi Tom

About The Mulan paragraph: I meant that a woman can accomplish things without turning herself into a man. Femenine doesn't mean passive. Your inner woman can do great things for you if you let her do them. But she'll do them in a femenine way, approaching the situation in a way that your masculine side may not consider. This asian woman may be capable of helping you somewaht, just let her act and don't be afraid of her way of acting. She's a hero, too.

_________________________ ______________________ __________________

Comments on 'Coin Dream=

Greetings Tom,

Thank-you for sharing your dream with us. I offer just a couple of comments.....if I have repeated any ideas presented by other dreamworkers, I apologize. It is not intentional. If this were my dream my father would represent a part of myself...the patriarch perhaps. And it is the patriarch who rules over society at large and the inner community on a more personal level. The patriarch generally does not rule with his heart, but does so with his mind. That is why, in my dream he has just returned from having heart surgery...to "fix" it, repair it...in an effort to get it functioning properly again. Perhaps at this point in my life it is becoming clearer to me that I need to be able to rely on my heart in important matters more often and less on my thinking ability. Perhaps I am moving into a period of trusting my feelings more.

Because my dream presents to me an image of my psyche/self as a split level house, I am tempted to regard this image as a message that some part of my psyche has been split off from the rest of my conscious awareness. It may very likely be related to my feeling function which is only now getting some attention.

The floors in my dream are a "blonde hardwood". Immediately I get an image of a woman - attractive in a collective sense because she is blonde. But underneath she is hard......perhaps hard-hearted and un-feeling. She is the public feminine self I show the world. I receive praise for this part because it is in keeping with collective standards....but the heartwood is not soft. (am I confusing anyone here?)It almost feels like the layers of new wood over the old are like the layers of makeup some women carry on their faces - a mask (or the persona). These women (to me) do appear plastic or insincere to me....not in touch with their own feelings or their authentic selves. But, oh...don't they look great (!) on the runways and in media.

I find it interesting in my dream that I am in the den while the Asian woman is in the "living" room. I am in the room typically regarded as a man's private haven away from female influence. Again, often a place filed with shelves of books....which of course exercise the mind and thinking......while the woman occupies the living room. The name of this room alone speaks volumes to me. Living/Life Affirming, a gathering place that does not exclude the Feminine/Feelings. Non-exclusionary. Embracing all parts of the psyche...which, of course, means the Shadow parts...or dark, hidden aspects of my personality, as well. The Asian woman in my dream is dark-haired, dark- eyed, olive-skinned. For me there is no question she is a repressed part of my psyche. She even wears black silk pajamas. Dark and sensuous......the "feel" of silk is inviting and pleasant. She digs at the artifical "face" of the floor trying to get at what is old and real...maybe not very pretty, but definitely solid and still there. No amount of covering it up with layers and layers will make it disappear. She digs in an attempt to get closer to the ground level......for me, signalling an attempt by my Inner Feminine to get more "grounded" and bring me to a level of awareness that is deeper and lower and not so much in my head.

As far as the coins in my dream, I am only getting phrases like "doesn't know heads from tails". If they are gold then they may represent the treasure that lies at the bottom of the pit dug by the Asian woman, or more personally, the gifts that lie waiting for me if I have the courage to look deeper within and uncover some of the layers that hide my deeper Self from view. Living a more authentic life, one that may not be collectively acceptable or "beautiful" certainly has its rewards.

Thank-you so much for letting me project my own symbols onto this dream. I find it a wonderful gift of the psyche and once again am grateful to the Unconscious for providing such treasures as guideposts. This is a lovely dream.

Michelle

_______________ ___________________ __________________ ________________

Hello Paul, and everyone. I have been having problems with e-mail for

several days. I'm very sorry for my delay in replying. The downside of living in a technological age such as ours is how dependant we become upon the technology.

Paul, you wrote: "Preliminarily, let me say how strongly I am aware that I will be projecting, as your dream is so mysterious to me and I don't know you except from this Dream Wheel. I know that's what we we're supposed to do (i.e., project), and to acknowledge, but I wanted to say so anyway. "

All we can know of the world is our own projection. Objective reality, if it does, indeed, exist is beyond our ability to know it, since all such reality is mediated - not only by our nervous system but by our interpretation of those "biobytes" of information. Who it is who "knows" is as little understood as who it is who "dreams". It's all conjecture.

So, if this were my dream, this dream is first of all about what time is and means in my life. My life (particularly, my psyche) in this dream is represented by the house, and the floors especially represent layers of my psyche. The latest layer, the blonde hardwood, has just gone down, and although I like it, it also seems a little too perfect to live on, as if it became a part of my life because of its appearance rather than its functionality. I sometimes am attracted to things because of the image they present rather than what they are (and I've always had a thing about blondes, ironically, including a mad crush on a blond in high school that left me dizzy for years after). I soon find out, however, that I can't necessarily live with what I thought I wanted."

That last sentence is to me the most resonant. I can't necessarily live with what I thought I wanted. What i (ego mind) consciously wants is probably miles away from what "I" (the whole me) wants. What is needed for greater self-integration is more reliance on "source" -- that small voice inside that I know I should heed, but dare not.

Again, Paul, you wrote: "The most striking thing to me about my version of this dream is the "moral", i.e., that "There is only one life, and it is lived in many simultaneous, but brief periods." In my dream, this has several meanings. First is the most esoteric, that is, that my life from the moment of my birth to the moment of my death could be conceived of as existing all at once, with time being the vertical dimension. So, everything exists at once -- past, present, and future -- and every moment of my life is actually a brief period linked to the next by my karma (the Buddha said that there are 450,000 mind moments in every moment). Second, it is lived simultaneously because the past influences the present, the present influences the future, and, I believe, the future influences the present and past, too (and so on). The first two are obvious, but the second is so in my dream ("imd") because my life wants to become something, i.e., it wants to become the deepest essence of me, so my future creates my past and present. "

There's a high level concept. Wow. Yes, I am the product of my past, but am I also the product of my future? Yes, I think, because my higher self continually pulls me toward my ideal future self. Yet at the same time, each present choice influences my future and reshapes my past - in that I get to choose which of my memories influence my present behavior.

"Interestingly, imd, there is a triptych of scenes/periods. In the first, I am welcoming Dad home from heart surgery; in the second, I confront an Asian woman; in the third, I see the Chinese coins. Could these be past, present and future imd? To me, it is important that the house is a pastiche of houses where I lived as a child but in the reverse chronological order of the order you dreamed them. So, I see causation and sequence running in multiple directions here, indicating, imd, multiple levels of meaning, and underlining the mysterious influence that different parts of my life have on one another regardless of when they occurred chronologically. "

I had never discovered this, Paul. And I'm still a little unclear as to how practical this awareness is, but it IS true of my dream, and fits in very well with my vision of the cosmos. Thank you for this unexpected, and inspiring gift.

"One thing is clear imd: as I grow older (I will be 39 soon), more of the plot of my life story is revealed (and more "floors" are laid down), creating the need for me to constantly reassess and revise and let go, as well as adding and growing new things (see below). "

Again, right as rain. I read recently of an order of . . . well . . . monks (although they aren't really monks) who are expected to take their received teachings, and improve on them. They are forbidden to pass on anything the same way they got it. Reminds me a little of the parable of the talents. I intuitively feel that there is a great truth here.

"When my Dad comes home from heart surgery, I feel sadness and tenderness towards him and his vulnerability now that he is older. So achingly melancholy how life slips by, how someone who was once strong is now fragile. And I identify myself strongly with him -- in a sense, I have incorporated him into my soul, and now I feel it is my heart that is wounded and that I must rest in my sanctuary, in my bedroom, with support from my family. Time has had an impact on me as it has on my father, and I need to accept that in some ways I too must be more gentle with my heart and my body."

And, I'm not, Paul. I'm not gentle with myself at all. And for that, I am continually skirting the edges of depression. Again, a lesson I need to take to heart.

"In my dream, too, I feel a sense of claustrophobia in the first scene, because the floors seem to be growing higher towards the ceiling, leaving me less room to live, making it harder to see outside, and making it harder to get outside too. I find as I get older that I accumulate more, both more memories and more things, and it cramps my energy and my freedom to live."

I had never connected the cramped feeling with actual things, but it's true. I am totally awash in things that crowd me, but which I worked so hard to obtain that I hesitate to let them go. Great insight - thanks.

_

"So, in my dream, this leads me to the second phase of the dream, where the young Asian woman has begun the task that must be undertaken -- digging the wood so that I have more head room in my house and more room to walk, and scarring it so that I can feel comfortable walking on it rather than thinking I must maintain its perfection. Imd, "Mulan" is heroic -- and an unlikely heroine, because she is a woman who takes on a man's task, and must hide her true nature from all except her dragon/guardian."

I still haven't seen the film, but the way you describe "Mulan" makes me think of how ill-fitted I feel I am inside to be doing the work (both my job and otherwise) that I find myself doing. It is cause of great frustration and gnawing self doubt. I had never thought that the fact that I was actually doing it, and doing it well, as being heroic -- until now.

"Why is she an unlikely heroine? Because she has come to help me, and yet at first I reject and fear her -- I don't recognize her for what she is -- someone who has come to help me remove some obstacles to the energetic flow of my life. I am identified with my attachment to the unsullied floor and my fear of her as well as power to frighten her, rather than impressed with her beauty, her diligence, her magical staff, her courage. She is a part of me I haven't fully come to terms with, because I am focused her foreignness, youth, and humility as a woman."

I don't like messy, I despise disorder and try never to create "waves" because in the first part of my life, I have learned that it's not the squeaky wheel that gets the grease, it's the squeaky wheel that gets replaced. Mulan is making a mess of my floor, my life, and I really hate it - but now there is this big ugly gash and it must be dealt with. I currently miss the curiosity and sense of adventure of digging that deep - what I really see in the dream is a great deal of time and work. I need to "focus", to use your phrase, on other aspects of the situation - the opportunities it presents, the curiosity and adventure, etc., etc.

"But her work bears fruit in the third part of my dream, the Chinese coins, which imd are liberated energy and wisdom. The I Ching has told me that "the time calls for energetic reform, [because] either an inferior person ... is working against [me] or a situation has developed at cross purposes to [my] life [and is] interfering with the attainment of my aims. The obstacles must be sought out, reformed, and thereby eliminated. ... [I need to k]now what I want, know what makes [me] feel good about [my] Self, know what brings me into harmony with others." Shih Ho -- Reform (Biting Through). So, imd, my life is trying to heal itself from a wounded heart, and once the work is done, I have the energy and ability to see things more clearly and with greater joy, I.e. I see the magic curtain, the veil of mystery that hides the totality of things. And, eventually, imd, I can see through the curtain to the totality of things -- my whole life included, a magnificent vision indeed."

And now I see through a glass darkly, but then, face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

"Thanks again Tom.

Paul"

Thank you, Paul. Pleasant Dreams, Tom

______________ ___________________ __________________ ________________

Thanks, Emiliano. One real quality I associate with the Feminine is

patient perseverence - the ability to persevere, and to do overwhelmingly huge tasks a little at a time in spite of the odds. This is something I definitely need in my life. In my life I'm always first out of the starting gate, yet the first to fall along the wayside because I rarely take the time to see things through - growing discouraged less than half way through. The ability to, say, carry a child for 9 months and to lie in labor for hours and hours is simply alien to me, and it's something I desperately need in my life. This is only one of several similar examples I could name.

Pleasant Dreams,

Tom

Hi Michelle. Thanks for your comments.

You write;

"If this were my dream my father would represent a part of myself...the patriarch perhaps. And it is the patriarch who rules over society at large and the inner community on a more personal level. The patriarch generally does not rule with his heart, but does so with his mind. That is why, in my dream he has just returned from having heart surgery...to "fix" it, repair it...in an effort to get it functioning properly again. Perhaps at this point in my life it is becoming clearer to me that I need to be able to rely on my heart in important matters more often and less on my thinking ability. Perhaps I am moving into a period of trusting my feelings more."

That is a correct assessment. I AM moving into such a period. I am much more practiced in utilizing my intellect than my feelings, but am trying to learn. Part of the reason I do rely on my mind rather than my heart is because my heart has gotten me into trouble before. I have a friend, also named Tom, with whom I have been having a similar dialogue for the last several months. He is convinced that, to use the ad-line from "The X Files", the truth is out there - and to that end has taken to studying all kinds of ancient texts to discover in them what he, himself, believes. In him, I can see myself of several years ago, and though I feel I have attained a more complete view of things than I previously had, still "old habits die hard". Now I am "logically" convinced that the "truth" if there is any, is "in here". Still, practice lags behind espoused belief.

"Because my dream presents to me an image of my psyche/self as a split level house, I am tempted to regard this image as a message that some part of my psyche has been split off from the rest of my conscious awareness. It may very likely be related to my feeling function which is only now getting some attention.

"I also feel that it represents a fragmentation of my psyche - and agree that feeling is one part of the whole - but I can't shake the suspicion that it represents a whole spectrum of inauthentic being, learned from a very early age as I had to deal with my:

1. admittedly authoritarian father who prided himself in having the right "answer" for all of life's difficulties, and expected me to agree -- whether or not I did,

2. and my mother whose alcoholism made my formative years very unstable from an emotional standpoint.

I find I have denied these feelings for years, and prided myself on "bootstrapping my way through", and that it was all in the past - over and done with and no good to anybody to stir it all up again. Over the last several months, though, I have become aware of how much work there still remains to do - I had never put these things together though -- my dream and my specific early childhood experiences together until your comments on my dream. Stirring all this old bad stuff is very like digging under the floor. No wonder I became so alarmed in my dream. Major Major Insight - thanks.

"The floors in my dream are a "blonde hardwood". Immediately I get an image of a woman - attractive in a collective sense because she is blonde. But underneath she is hard......perhaps hard-hearted and un-feeling. She is the public feminine self I show the world. I receive praise for this part because it is in keeping with collective standards....but the heartwood is not soft. (am I confusing anyone here?)It almost feels like the layers of new wood over the old are like the layers of makeup some women carry on their faces - a mask (or the persona). These women (to me) do appear plastic or insincere to me....not in touch with their own feelings or their authentic selves. But, oh...don't they look great (!) on the runways and in media."

I agree with your observations, Michelle, but I'm afraid you lost me a little. I do resonate with the feelings of hiding behind the perfect surface.

________

"I find it interesting in my dream that I am in the den while the Asian woman is in the "living" room. I am in the room typically regarded as a man's private haven away from female influence. Again, often a place filed with shelves of books....which of course exercise the mind and thinking......"

My association with the den is that that is where the TV is kept - This is the place where the family can be together, and usually only family or very close friends of the family are allowed there. The den can be seen as the place for the family secrets, as opposed to the living room which is reserved for "company" and is more formal (and less comfortable) - - a place where children are not allowed to play, and the only room in the house in which we have to "dress up" and behave like "grown ups".

"while the woman occupies the living room. The name of this room alone speaks volumes to me. Living/Life Affirming, a gathering place that does not exclude the Feminine/Feelings. Non-exclusionary. Embracing all parts of the psyche...which, of course, means the Shadow parts...or dark, hidden aspects of my personality, as well."

My living room today is the "heart" of the house, mainly because the room I would consider my den is now, for reasons too complicated to go into, is now the junk room. It used to be my favorite room, and now . . . I rarely enter it except to pass through it on my way to the laundry room. Quite a reversal from when I was young.

"The Asian woman in my dream is dark-haired, dark- eyed, olive-skinned. For me there is no question she is a repressed part of my psyche. She even wears black silk pajamas. Dark and sensuous......the "feel" of silk is inviting and pleasant."

The black and other dark colors in this scene contrast vividly with the floor and the sunlight. It's as if my darker, more unknown self is a dark blot against the other colors I chose for the living room. I do think she is a repressed part of my psyche, but not the shadow per se' as she is differently gendered. The word that comes to mind when I picture her is "Ninja", but a very special sort of Ninja.

"She digs at the artifical "face" of the floor trying to get at what is old and real... maybe not very pretty, but definitely solid and still there. No amount of covering it up with layers and layers will make it disappear. She digs in an attempt to get closer to the ground level......for me, signalling an attempt by my Inner Feminine to get more "grounded" and bring me to a level of awareness that is deeper and lower and not so much in my head. "

I agree with this, except your characterization of the floor beneath as solid. Because of some damage to my home, the same damage that turned the den into the "junk room", there are places in the floor that have grown soft beneath my feet. I am reluctant to rip up the carpet to see what is underneath, because I suspect that the damage is worse than it appears to be. At the same time, my health has started deteriorating, due to years of neglect I guess. If, as Jeremy Taylor suggests, there are a number of areas in life that every dream is always about - and if health is one of those -- perhaps digging up the floor points to an unsuspected health problem beneath the surface. This has already occured to me, and I have made an appointment with my doctor.

"As far as the coins in my dream, I am only getting phrases like "doesn't know heads from tails". If they are gold then they may represent the treasure that lies at the bottom of the pit dug by the Asian woman, or more personally, the gifts that lie waiting for me if I have the courage to look deeper within and uncover some of the layers that hide my deeper Self from view. Living a more authentic life, one that may not be collectively acceptable or "beautiful" certainly has its rewards."

I think several people find the coins a bit puzzling. I'm one of those people. The work the group has done, though, has gone far to open the symbolism for me.

"Thank-you so much for letting me project my own symbols onto this dream. I find it a wonderful gift of the psyche and once again am grateful to the Unconscious for providing such treasures as guideposts."

As am I. Thank you for sharing your insights with me, Michelle.

Pleasant Dreams,

Tom

_______________ ___________________ __________________ ________________

The last message here I have left out, it was just a thank you note from the moderator. Usually we like to send a questionnaire here to all participants to check whether or not they felt abused or misled by the experience or process in any way. The questionnaire is being revised and was left off of this group. update.

Richard Wilkerson

Rcwilk@dreamgate.com

~~ I wake up in the morning with a dream in my eyes ~~

Allen Ginsberg