Posthip

So, let me tell you about this dream I had… Actually, three dreams that I’ve been having as long as I can remember, since I was a little kid.

One dream is the dream of tornados. It’s always different, and I’m never hurt, but it usually involves watching multiple tornados approaching and then destroying everything around me, while me and whatever I’m hiding behind/under/on is moved across the room/field/highway. I last had this dream earlier this year.

The second dream is the dream of overcoming car thieves. What happens is either I’m in the back seat of the car while someone else is driving and a thief somehow gets into the car and takes over, or else I’m not in the car but someone I know is, and then the thief gets in and I have to somehow get into the car to save my family member/friend. The strange thing about these dreams is that they always end exactly the same, with me apprehending the thief and taking control of the car, driving down the same exact country road, and turning right at the same exact silver barn. I haven’t had this dream in awhile, and I had it a lot more before I learned to drive.

The last dream is the dream of floods. I didn’t realize that what I had dreamt about all these years was actually a flood until New Orleans flooded and I saw all the pictures of interstates leading underwater. That’s what I would dream– that I was either driving or the passenger in a car that was crossing a lake and the road would dip down under water. Sometimes it was still passable, sometimes I had to abandon the car and improvise my way across.

And maybe it’s because of New Orleans, or maybe it’s because I spent four hours floating in an innertube down a river a couple of weekends ago, or maybe it’s because I’m sleeping in a hotel room in a town whose claim to fame is a flood that killed 2000 people over a hundred years ago, but whatever the reason, I had the flood dream again last night. It was more elaborate this time, with multiple roads and more rushing water, but it was the same dream.

The general consensus on flood dreams is this: “Because water is a universal symbol for the unconscious, a flood dream can indicate being overwhelmed by unconscious material, such as repressed emotions. It can also represent a feeling of being overwhelmed by circumstances in one’s life. Floods are related to initiation in the sense that they can symbolize the destruction or washing away of the old in preparation for something new. Finally, a flood, as the bursting forth of fluids, can also be deemed as a sexual symbol.”

Bearing all of that in mind, I’m suprised I don’t have that dream every night, and I’m sure the other two dreams are very similar in their interpretations. Still, it’s nice to know that my conscious and subconscious are so well aligned.

(Originally posted September 12, 2005)