PRINCIPLES OF DREAM INTERPRETATION

By: Patricia Darrow, Astrologer

darrowmp@verizon.net

Your first step in analyzing your dreams is to take a look at the action. Anything that appears in the dream was put there by the dreamer. He remains responsible for everything that takes place whether he tries to rescue figures, alter action, or remains passive.

An individual’s personality appears in dreams as three separate figures. Sometimes as known people, sometimes as fictitious characters, and more rarely as other images. The dreamer’s most negative side of his personality is called his Shadow, the personification of his worst faults and weaknesses.

The Shadow is the person you fail to recognize in your dreams. Think of the person you detest most in the world, mix in the most negative characteristics of anyone you know, and you have a fair idea of your own Shadow. At times your Shadow may appear as someone you dislike or envy.

An encounter with the Shadow is usually painful. The shock of seeing ourselves as we really are at our worst. This is the negative side, the potential we never developed or recognized. A courageous individual will have a cowardly Shadow and a loving person may have a bitter and brutal Shadow.

An unknown figure of the opposite sex represents the feminine figure within the man and the masculine figure within the woman. They are the source of our understanding of the opposite sex and enable us to reconcile intellect with feeling.

Since dreams attempt to compensate for lopsided conscious attitudes, the female persona appears when a man is neglecting the feminine side. All of the women he has known in his life, but especially his mother – will have helped to form the image of what is feminine.

The unknown male figure represents the masculine features in a woman’s character. When this male appears it is to remind her of a need to develop the masculine qualities he is expressing. The more frequently he appears, the more urgent the need to develop the masculine and intellectual side of her nature.

Remember the people in your dreams are important – they may be you! Observe what they do and how they act. They may have the answers to your every predicament.