I’m always astounded by how many dream dictionaries there are on the market. It also amuses me that dream analysts actually exist. Where do they come up with these interpretations? Have they discovered some sort of dream version of the Rosetta Stone that the rest of us are not privy to? I mean, how can they know if dreaming of a shoe means that you’re seeking safety and stability?
Dream analysis became popular thanks to Sigmund Freud. I have never been impressed with the man, because he was too obsessed with sex, in my opinion. And his analysis of patients’ dreams demonstrates more about his obsession than it does about the patients in question. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, as the saying goes.
I’m very pragmatic about my dreams. Often, they’re a complex stew of things I saw, experienced, talked about, thought about, or heard about in the course of my day. That surreal mixture is then covered with a thick sauce of general anxiety much of the time. Often, upon awakening, I think that one element was due to that conversation I had at lunch with my coworker, and another totally unrelated element was something I saw in a movie. And then for good measure I’m usually doing something that makes me feel helpless, like rolling down a hill in a car that has no brakes, or having all my teeth suddenly fall out. My dreams can be quite creative.
I had a particularly strange one last night, though, so I thought I’d let you see what I was up to at 3 am. Tell me what you make of this, Dear Reader.
I was at an airport, getting ready to get on a plane to go home. As I was about to board the aircraft, someone who I knew and trusted (but I can’t place who that person is, in retrospect) handed me this cute little creature, and said, “Take good care of it. It’s really important.”
I always forget the name of this creature, even while awake, so in the dream I thought of it as a water lizard-like creature with cute ears. I could tell that this little guy was supposed to be in water, and I knew that it would die soon if I didn’t find water for him, but no one was taking me seriously. And the fact that it kept trying to get away, and I kept having to catch it, did not help the situation.
I was hoping for, at the very least, a Tupperware container with water in it, but for some reason the flight attendants either didn’t understand me or didn’t care. Meanwhile, the creature was struggling to breathe, and I knew his death would be even more tragic because this species is endangered. I was getting desperate.
Finally, someone gave me a paper lunch bag, and I put him in there. I thought that at least that would prevent him from running away. But I still needed to get water, and I had no idea what these things eat.
Then suddenly, I woke up in a hospital bed. Dear Husband was looking very relieved that I had regained consciousness. I was still gripping the bag for dear life, and I could hear rustling inside it, so I knew the thing was still alive. At this point, though, he (the creature, not my husband) must have somehow exited stage right, because he doesn’t appear anymore in the dream. I didn’t give him any more thought.
Dear Husband had informed the hospital staff that I was awake, and a bunch of nurses and doctors crowded into my room, and they all seemed quite happy. So Dear Husband, who apparently was not yet my husband, decided to take advantage of the joyous occasion to have us get married. He handed me a cardboard paper towel tube with three diamond bracelets taped to it.
We had a Jewish wedding right then and there. (And neither one of us is Jewish.) For reasons unknown, though, I was holding my paper towel tube and the bracelets were swaying and glistening, and we were both naked. As I woke up, I remember thinking, “How’s he going to crush the glass with his bare feet?”
On my commute to work, I thought, “I should blog about this.” But I knew I’d have to Google the lizard thingy. When I got to work, I rushed inside and did just that.
It turns out that it’s called an axolotl. For what it’s worth, they are awfully cute, but they are on the brink of extinction. They only live in one place: Lake Xochimilco in Mexico City. This lake is polluted beyond belief, as pesticide, fertilizer and sewage runoff goes directly into it. The lake is also full of invasive species such as tilapia and perch, which love to snack on the beautiful little axolotls. This information was already swimming around in my head somewhere.
I would never have guessed, though, until I started doing research for this post, that axolotls are carnivorous. Their diet consists of mollusks, worms, insects, other anthropods, and small fish. That kind of gives me pause. I had no idea that a preditor was lurking under that cute exterior.
So there you have it. Interpret it as you will. Just for fun, I went to an online dream dictionary and typed in axolotl. It says it can represent regeneration, transformation, creativity, inspiration, fear, anxiety, or feeling trapped in a situation. And saving an axolotl in one’s dream is supposed to indicate a desire to be pregnant and start a family, or a desire to protect those who are vulnerable.
Well, isn’t that a nice catch-all! I suspect something in there would resonate with everyone on earth. Let me reassure you, though, that I do not have, and never have had, any desire to be pregnant. This vague “definition” reminds me of a psychic saying, “I’m receiving a message from someone whose name begins with S, who says they died of something in the chest area.”
If someone has the wherewithal to pierce the veil between life and death to communicate with a loved one at the exact moment said loved one happens to be talking to a psychic, don’t you think they’d be able to give their full name and the name of the malady that did them in? I mean, that had to have been the most traumatic experience they had in life, so you’d think the diagnosis would stick with them.
So, yeah, dream interpretation. Meh. I don’t take it very seriously. There are all sorts of things to rummage through in the dusty attic of my mind. But I do love it when a strange dream makes me laugh. So I’ll leave it at that.
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