A typical dream symbol for the structure of the psyche is a house (or similar living space). Discovering a new room may indicate new psychic territory. Descending to the basement or lower levels implies movement into deeper unconscious layers. Cooking in the kitchen carries themes of alchemical transformation brewing within. Bathrooms to the urge to expel and release shadow material.
Share your house dreams in the comments below. I’ll be offering some reflections (utilizing an archetypal and symbolic perspective). Feel free to comment on other dreams if you’re inspired or have an insight to share.
In film school I remember discussing this. Sometimes you can watch a film, understanding that a house represents the psyche. Hitchcock’s film “Rebecca” is one such case. This would apply to books as well. These creative works are often inspired by dreams, or at least connect to our subconscious.
Fascinating! Did you cover over other typical symbols in film school as well?
I agree, creative works find their roots in the unconscious. Fiction, mythology, art, films, books, etc can be approached in similar symbolic modes of interpretation.
Definitely. Joseph Campbell's book "The Hero With a Thousand Faces," where he describes this universal story idea of a "Hero's Journey" and his archetypes are foundational to screenwriting these days. I know he was heavily influenced by Jung.
He was indeed heavily influenced by Jung. Great to hear that Campbell's work is incorporated into film and screenwriting. I think having a grasp on symbolic and archetypal perspectives can really enrich one's art. It's also interesting how these elements can happen spontaneously via film, etc when it wasn't intentional.
I saw this at the perfect time bc I have a reoccurring dream (nightmare) and I just had it again two nights ago. The dream is I’m trying to rent an apartment and I’m always back at this same building that has a haunted floor/unit. It’s the only room on that level, number 5. It’s run down and there’s a spirit in there that I can’t see but it tortures you - I try to escape using an elevator but no matter what floor you go to, it always takes you back to number 5. In the dream when I revisit, I know to stay away from this room and somehow I always end up back there and if I don’t run out fast enough I know I’ll get stuck there forever. I have never told anyone this and was gonna reach out to Demi about it but I guess I’m typing it here. Thx for this.
Hi Tess 🙏💜🙏... Could the Spirit you speak of be your fear that you need to face? A shadow from the subconscious? You always return to the room with the spirit. There’s no escape but to face what you fear. Something persistent, and not yet resolved, dissolved or released, that keeps pulling you back. May I suggest, that you let the dream play out next time and feel no fear, then what you fear dissipates? If you feel fear go with that until you learn what you need to overcome it… 🙏 take it for what it’s worth leave the rest.
That is a good suggestion - to try and stay in the room the next time that happens. I can’t even remember when this started and have no idea where it’s coming from. In time I’ll find out. Thank you ❤️🙏
I agree with Elliot. This has elements of classic shadow interaction dreams. Especially that it is repeating and you keep finding yourself back at the room. Something inwardly wants to be known, but as it lies in shadow, it brings up fear and resistance. The greatest challenge with these types of dreams is to meet the entity that feels overwhelming. A first step can be to set an intention before bed "rather than run away, I will engage with the spirit." Or meditate, journal on it, etc.
Holy shit. That is scary. It would be cool if you could redirect the dream to meet the spirit to find out why no. 5 is calling you, it could be a benevolent spirit? (I am not making light of this, and my default is remake the future in a hero’s journey.
I am constantly dreaming of packing up and moving. It has been a motif for years, one that I have never really been able to unpack the root of or understand much at all. It's never the same house. Some are places I recognize. Some are in locations I recognize or have lived, but one thing is consistent, I am always leaving and the packing isn't going well. I think I am just about done and then I open another drawer or closet and there is a bunch of crap that isn't even mine or there is something to repair that has been left unattended to the whole time we lived in the house. I am also always moving my family with me, and no one is helping me pack and get us ready to go. Some houses are also really disturbing, run down, terrifying shacks; most though are just random houses that it's time to leave.
I wonder what the theme of packing up and moving says about the house as a symbol for the psychological space you inhabit, a feeling of being "at home".
That it is recurring is important to note, as dream series often speak to dynamics that are ongoing, unresolved, being worked on. When they continue for so long, it often implies that something is yet unfinished.
I wonder if there has been attempts during these years to establish a change, movement, to head on to the next chapter (next house). This may subtle or more explicit psychological/emotional development. But each time it is thwarted by some kind of unfinished business. Things people have left behind (perhaps this symbolizes other people's stuff that you're carrying?) or something that needs tending to that you've been unaware of.
A transition is being blocked, and perhaps the key to making the full change comes from tending to the elements you notice (the repairs, the extra stuff).
Now that I see this and continue to consider it all, I think that I have never really felt "at home" anywhere that I have lived IRL. I moved a lot in my 20s and immigrated to Canada in my 30s. I did so because my DH is Canadian, and we wanted to raise children here. But, Vancouver isn't my home.
My childhood was very stable in terms of homes, but not family. I was forced out of my family home and that is what started my moving every 18 months or so in my 20s.
There is a lot of baggage with them and I have found myself very alone in the uncovering and sorting through process. Every time I think I am done, there is something more that no one remembered or I found something that wasn't ours but still needed tending too.
Thank you, there is so much here now, another closet to unpack and sort through, I suppose, but your insight did open a floodgate where I didn't see one on my own.
You're welcome, I'm glad the reflections helped provide insight. It makes sense these dreams have been recurring so long given your history. It's amazing how our dreams can clue us in to what is happening inwardly, even if we aren't fully aware of it consciously!
I hope the insights help to deepen your exploration on these topics :)
This is timely, as I had a house dream just last night…. In the dream I was living in the countryside in a modest house. My husband commissioned an architect to help reconstruct it to better meet our needs. I felt intimidated by the architect initially because I worried I wouldn’t have any insight to contribute. However I also felt strongly that the house needed more windows in the front and an expansive front porch. (In waking life I have always been taken by front porches, especially in southern homes). The architect suggested the same, and I was heartened that we shared the same idea.
This figure feels a bit archetypal with a title like "the architect". I would approach this as an inner figure, a part of yourself that holds wisdom, knowledge and insight.
The architect of the psyche, who can safely build and expand the indwelling structures of one's self, also agrees with your perspective. Perhaps there is more alignment with where you're wanting to grow and develop than you recognize on a conscious level.
What does more windows and an expansive front porch represent for you, what does it feel like when you see those qualities in a home?
I rarely remember my dreams but when I do I have two recurring locations and one of those is a building with lots rooms. Sometimes it's been a house with twisty halls and many, many rooms. It can also take the form of a hotel or hospital. Buildings with lots of rooms and halls and doors. Usually these dreams are dark and shadowy.
How long would you say this dream has been recurring? Does it align with times of inner work or self-exploration? Twisting halls and many rooms, with the added layer of being dark and shadowy, makes me wonder if it reflects a searching within. Sometimes these dreams come up before we know we need to do the inner work...so it's possible they have been repeating as a compensation to invite you to these dark rooms within.
In my house dreams, I always find evidence that someone has broke in through a window or door and I can’t seem to make them lock or shut properly. Sometimes I see the shadow of the person lurking outside at night. I struggle with boundaries a lot I guess.
Struggling with boundaries is a good insight. It's interesting that they're coming through windows or doors. These are thresholds, places where we can enter and exit. It's more vulnerable in that way, especially when you're not able to lock it properly. It's meant to open, to invite in, but then we also need to shut things up too. This mechanism is difficult for you in the dream, which could point to the boundaries issue.
From your description, it doesn't appear to be a break in that was particularly destructive. I find that part catches my attention. A potential alternative to boundary issues might be that something shadowy within wants to be known, and it's attempting to break in and get your attention. It's lurking outside, and often shadow figures will try to make connection with us in our dreams. This usually feels scary or fearful, which is why we usually run away, or feel as if our boundaries have been crossed.
Very interesting! In other house dreams, there’s a central core room or stairwell that is haunted and very frightening that I stay away from. I wonder if these are related shadow elements wanting to be noticed.
Jeremy Taylor used to say that a dream always comes in the service of health and wholeness, and also that it doesn't come to tell us what we already know. Could these unlatched doors and windows be the places where you want to connect with others, where it would be appropriate, but you are scared to? I like what Alyssa suggests about shadow. Often, when something frightens me in a dream, I try to use active imagination to see the dream from the point of view of the other being. I once dreamed that a house was trying to crush me, Wizard of Oz style. Reviewing the dream from the house's POV made me realize it was trying to protect me by covering me up. It made me understand how vulnerable and afraid the house (my psyche) was, and that I needed to assure it that I was strong enough to deal with my problems.
I find interesting that even though we moved out of my dad’s house like 7 years ago and we never visit, I still dream like I live in it and the house we’ve been living now has only appeared a couple of times in my dreams.
It’s like my unconscious didn’t fully move out. And one recurrent theme is that I’m there looking through old stuff, things I didn’t took to the new place and constantly searching for ‘something’ that will resolve a situation of my present. Unresolved issues with my dad and that part of my life that I’m still trying to make sense of!
Recently I had two dreams, in the same night, where I was living in two different houses (not my dad’s neither the one I currently live in), one was really spacious and clean and it felt like I’ve been living there for a while and I was comfortable, the other one was old and far from the city and I was worried I wasn’t going to feel right there but I started to notice little details that filled me with hope: flowers in full bloom in the front yard, a big, tall table for my sewing projects, etc.
It was very significant as I feel like I’m entering a new stage in my life with my Saturn’s return.
I dream more often of my childhood home than the one I live in currently, or the other one's I've lived in during my adult years. I always see it as an invitation to contemplate dynamics surrounding that time of my life. The part of my psyche that still lives there. I love this wording you shared, "It’s like my unconscious didn’t fully move out." I think parts of us never truly move away from those foundational experiences.
Interesting to have the contrast of two different house dreams in the same night. Does one feel more inviting than the other? Did you have the sense that you might go live in the second one? Movement from one, that feels comfortable, to another that has some uncertainty yet hope. Saturn return is a time of great change, development, new structures to be built and old ones that may dissolve. Perhaps the new house is part of that change?
Thanks for your response! I agree that a part of us can't be separated from those roots.
It was weird, because both of them felt welcoming yet I knew I had to *respond* different for being there, and both provided what I needed to do so. I'm still working with those images to see what can be built from them :)
I had a house dream a few weeks ago. I was in a house I used to live in, and had snuck in because I forgot something (even though new people now lived there). They were shocked I was in their house and started yelling. I was trying to calm them down and get into my old room but they wouldn't let me. I turned and left and down the hall saw a whole huge part of the house they had added, a new living room and stairs that I wanted to climb but didn't. It was all wood and hadn't been decorated yet. I took it as a sign to stop going back to past situations and realize the growth I've made since then.
I like your insight, but there's something about the dream that makes me wonder if your return has another meaning as well. While not dwelling on the past is good, the new addition particularly catches my eye! It's not the same old house...and maybe the hostility from the inhabitants is an uncertainty you might need to break through to see this new insight or perspective. Just another potential meaning to consider :)
I dream a lot of houses and places generally. One common thing is that the places I dream of are often places I’ve been in real life - I know specifically in the dream that this is my house, or this is a base I was at, etc - but the places as dreamt of bear no actual resemblance to the places they are supposed to correspond to. They are usually much larger and grander, even fantastic. For example, the military college I went to crops up in dreams a lot, but the dream version of it has been a gigantic gothic style complex carved into a mountain, sort of like the city in the Lord of the Rings movies.
Yes, rarely are the environments in my dreams mundane, they’re almost always fantastic. In the dream though I have no awareness of that; only after waking do I realize the strangeness of the places. There is also a sort of dream geography I have, in my dreams I am often traveling north. And a whole fantastic geography of the North that bears little resemblance to the real world, but which has become familiar to me over time.
What do you think north represents to you? Is the landscape growing more sparse, cold weather, etc? Perhaps north carries something more unique to you and the hints are in the geography of your dreams. Another idea is perhaps traveling north is like following the north star, a compass, a way to orient?
Wow I actually don’t even know where to begin with this. I have sooooooo many dreams in houses and a lot of them are re-occurring houses or different houses but a re-occurring dream. I guess the most common one lately is the house (it can be a different house depending on the dream) is full of rooms and I’m going through each one. Again depending on the dream some are scary, some are very mysterious, some have sad memories, and some rooms I never want to leave. The most common theme is I’m typically moving up towards the attic.
Does the movement upward carry any meaning to you? From a general archetypal perspective, we sometimes look at that as an ascent towards higher consciousness, a desire to move away from things, scaling to new heights, or maybe finding something hidden that is above rather than below.
I’m usually looking for something. I had a dream once where I got up into this old attic and it was full of old memories and heirlooms I had forgotten about or didn’t know existed. But most of the time I’m not sure what I’m looking for but I feel safer or better moving up.
Interesting! I wonder what this means in contrast to searching below. At times, repeating motifs speak to a kind of pattern we are in (sometimes in a way that is avoidant or stuck, sometimes in a way that reveals a resource or strength). It may be worth considering what it would mean to go downwards in these dreams vs upwards, as a kind of imaginal play. It may reveal some interesting thoughts and insights :)
This is an interesting twist on the house dream! Seeing the floor plans makes me think about what's being constructed inwardly, how you're designing the living spaces, potential for creative development. It begins with a dining table - so something around nourishment, gathering, perhaps? And then sofas...comfort, rest, relaxation, entertainment? I would recommend reflecting on what each of those items brings up for you. Thanks for sharing :)
I have recurring dreams of moving out of houses without enough time to finish. It is generally an Airbnb type situation and there is way too much stuff for me to even pack into a vehicle to go anywhere.
You may find the comments I sent to Robin above of interest. Similarly, she dreams of trying to move but something always blocks the process.
If you're trying to move out of Airbnb's, that carries some difference than a normal house. These are temporary, they mimic home, yet are not meant to be permanent. While moving out of a regular house might speak to transitions between new states of being, this makes me wonder if there is something blocking a space you were meant to inhabit only temporarily?
What associations does Airbnb bring up for you? I think about vacation, time off, needing rest, a time out...maybe there's an urging to move on from something that is just a holding space, to something more permanent, an actual home?
Packing up into a vehicle (movement, volition, new direction) is also being blocked in the dream by too much stuff (too much baggage of some kind?). Maybe some of these things you're trying to bring into the car are things you don't need? When we go on vacation, we usually travel light. Why is there so much stuff in the Airbnb?
I used to have this dream where I started in the basement of a house. The environment is dark and shaded - haunted house-esque. I’m surrounded by family members (I don’t recognize these faces in reality). With my family, I progress through the multiple floors (levels) of the house. There are 2 stages I recall. Each floor has a challenge. One of the first floors was full of large spiders (I’m terrified of spiders), the next full of giants. At each stage, my family members sacrifice themselves for me. I feel extreme remorse for this but continue to press forward. I’m confused why I’m being sacrificed for. When I get to the attic, it’s dark, bare. There’s a barred window I move toward it to peer out. It’s dark and stormy outside but I come to the realization I’m stranded on an island. I feel isolated, alone, and afraid. I lay down on the ground in the attic feeling helpless and grieving. In the dream, I awake, almost as if I just got out of a haze, in the same attic but it’s lined with red silk. My dream family is surrounding me, checking in on me, asking if I’m okay. I awake from the dream.
Movement in dreams is something I like to pay attention to. From the depths of the house, the basement, all the way to the attic. What does that directionality say about what was happening in your life at that time? Were there attempts to reach new levels of understanding? Grow something from an uncertain place to a more certain one? Perhaps challenges inwardly or outwardly?
Each level requires you to face something scary or overwhelming. The family act as sacrifice but I also have the sense that they are resources, able to act on your behalf, to support you through the process. The confusion makes me wonder about worthiness, or allowing a natural process of "letting go/dying" that often needs to happen when we are in modes of change.
The scene changing and your family returning is also quite interesting. Allowing them to be sacrificed didn't result in their actual loss. What was the red silk room like? Did it feel different than the house before which was more haunted house like?
A reoccurring house-adjacent dream I've been having lately is one where I'm back in college. We're all returning to campus after summer break and it's a few days before we all settle into classes. Throughout the dream, I'm with my college friends and towards the end, I realize that I don't have a roommate for the dorm I've committed to while everyone else has figured out who they're living with
In some initial research, the reflections that resonated were that I'm feeling a sense of uncertainty about aspects of my life and that I'm at the cusp of significant change that's unfolding. The sentiment of feeling excluding in my waking life resonates a bit less
I like to focus dream elements first and foremost on our inner reality. Needing a roommate makes me wonder about feeling companioned with another part of ourself that can be with us through the change that is unfolding. Perhaps you're desiring an inner resource that can be with you, cohabitate, that compliments. I think an interesting exercise would be to consider: what kind of roommate might this be? What are their qualities? What would you be looking for at that time in your life? Once identified, you can work to more consciously bring in those skills, qualities, etc during this time of life.
These comments are so interesting. This certainly fits with my experience of dreams that take place in houses. One big theme of my dreams growing up, and even into my 20s, was trying to tell everyone in my childhood apartment to leave the building because something bad was going to happen, and no one would listen, so I would try to get out on my own. I usually either had trouble finding my way out or something in the lobby of the building would distract me, and I would have to go back upstairs. Sometimes I realized the threat was not outside when I got downstairs, and I felt silly. trying to leave But when I went back upstairs, I felt it again, so the process would start over. Regardless of the order of operations, I rarely made it off the block. And when I did, I was like "What's it all for?" I had these dreams for many years, until I managed to shift my mind from saving my family to making a life for myself. So, I guess that was my psyche, entangled in a fearscape. Dreams that have taken place in my current home have been about renovating or telling people I don't want around to leave, which is much more empowering than the old themes.
This is a wonderful example of how repeating dreams can really tie into core issues, struggles, unresolved dynamics, etc. The change usually won't happen till we integrate something meaningful, have a realization, make a change.
Your newer dreams do sound empowering. Renovating shows an ability to bring about development to the structures you inhabit. Having boundaries and authority to tell others to leave, as you have ownership of the space.
Hypnosis!! I've done only one session before. For me, the state it induces is similar to that of a deep active imagination. Because of that, it really does help to interact with deep psychological material.
Your dream is quite intense, I love how the house evolves to be alive. Perhaps that trauma work and the dream are indicating that there is now a lot of new, expansive horizon to explore in the psyche.
I wouldn't mind what format it took. I'm interested in how whether or not one can self-hypnotise, how one might use audio-visual strategies, whether Jung ever use it - that kind of thing.
This week's dream: I am checking meters in the house and realise that there is a white door with a metal handle on it behind the meters. I open the door to find that there is a basement level to the house that contains all the things that make it function: boiler, pipes, other meters, sort of the mechanics of the house. I think that this is meant to be a safe room against intruders but I also think that it would be an un-safe room because there would be no way out of it if trapped.
Ohh, this one is quite interesting. I wasn't expecting that turn of events!
I'm drawn to the polarization in the dream, a safe room but it is also feels un-safe. It contains all the things that make the house function but you might also be trapped.
Might it feel sketchy at this moment to dwell, poke around, or be close to the "mechanics of the psyche"? Are you contemplating some big developments? Or wanting to re-assess certain structures in life? If so, perhaps the dream is showing that there is hesitation from the dream ego's perspective.
Interesting comment, it does feel dangerous to be poking around at the moment, as if content from the unconscious can cross a threshold at will. The following night I dreamt that there were workmen on the landing when I got up because my partner had instructed them to replace the flooring with fire cladding material. I'm in week 16 of Jungian analysis so it may be to do with its necessarily destabilizing effects and my earthside ego is afraid.
Being in a long and committed analysis can certainly have that effect. I do find the beginning of the dream important, that you discover a kind of hidden door. Perhaps that feels a little scary at the moment, but these sort of discoveries do often allow a meaningful and serious development in our psychic work.
I had a dream recently that my dad found some sort of device that was activated and a missile from Russia was fired, destroying our family house.
I walked around aimlessly feeling sorry for myself telling people that my house was destroyed. I heard there was a place where it still existed so I cycled to it. It was through a muddy field and there was a girl nearby to where the 'house' was on the map. I saved her from a magician type man by getting him to disappear. Weirdly, I was talking to my therapist about the dream and she told me about Jung's illustration of the shadow in the red book that looked identical to the magician in my dream!
Before bed, I saw this old Victorian-looking house for sale pop up on my Facebook timeline and the dream house was a mix of that house and my childhood house. The layout was a mix between the two and the house sat in a cul-de-sac and had a shed and everything.
When I first get to the house, I walk in and it looks like the pictures from the posting but there’s vines sweeping overhead and spread across the ceiling like a jungle. It's not a natural MESSY jungle, but a planned out one, like someone decorated it in rows of vines. Everything had it’s place. There’s fake colorful birds hiding and resting on the vines above me, a puffy yellow bird, and throughout the house are hidden speakers that play bird sounds. It was completely fabricated. I look up and above me is a victorian bird cage. I don’t see anything in it.
I go upstairs and there’s a bedroom with a low hanging ceiling. Next to it is another bedroom. And another bedroom. Each one has a different low ceiling and they don’t impress me like the jungle entry did. The last bedroom has a washing machine and sink/counter combo though and that was cool but nothing stood out so I go upstairs again and the sunny vine energy is completely gone. This staircase is more narrow and everything is antique. Dark colors, deeper browns. Mahogany and dust. Nobody had been there in a long time. There’s a box on the stair landing that opens into a zodiac music box. All the pieces are made of tin and are broken and laying inside of it but I don’t know what means what.
I keep going upstairs and its more narrow and dark. My deceased aunt and her grieving husband are there and its their house (or tour guides). They show me more antique things but I don’t remember what, maybe pictures. We go to this hallway, and there is a set of French glass doors that are curved at the top much like the bird cage from the first floor.
I look through the door and there are two lumps sitting, covered by a dingy, washed out quilt. One of the lumps has a foot sticking out. There’s a mass of flies covering them except for the foot. Somehow the door is open a little or opens and a sick, sweet smell comes out for just a second and I know what it is. I think my aunt shuts the door and looks at me, scowling through her eyebrows. Somehow I know the body is of Cecilia (no idea who that is). I tried talking to someone about the body but they didn’t think it was a threat. They told me that there was a reason and that it belonged there and shouldn't be moved.
Vague memories of spilling something and the house absorbing it through the corner of the table but there being no crack.
Horror films made them something else, in terms of archetypical inversion. Hollywood is a haven for occult rituals. Films are deeply invasive, ingraining unhealthy patterns of mind, as apposed to the Right Mind of The Eightfold Path.
In a series of dreams recently, in the first one, I am following my mum. We are in a new house I bought, and because some of my family and my husband's family were visiting, I was trying to manage and ensure everyone had beds to sleep in. So we go to what seems like a hidden, undiscovered lower part of the house, and we discover 5 new bedrooms with beds and everything. Initially, I am happy because now everyone will fit, but as we go around checking the bedrooms, we find one with a little dressing table and a big bed in the middle of the room. A bell and some strings hang from the ceiling in the middle of the bed, and my mum says, "Do you realize what this means? This means the family that you bought your house from has someone kidnapped here." In that moment, I am looking at the garden, a big one that we were planning to redo, and I have the thought that the family (a couple with 5 young children, all with different disabilities) had killed a young woman (maybe their oldest daughter) and had buried her in the garden. I think that is the reason why they sold the house so quickly and cheaply, and I think that if we start doing the work we wanted in the garden and dig it, people will find the body, and they will accuse us of killing her.
Wow, lots of really intense themes. You said these are a series, is it the same house each time? How long have the dreams been going on for?
I mentioned that movement to lower levels can imply that what is being explored is deeper, and often less conscious, parts of our experience. Perhaps dynamics that are unresolved, things we have forgotten, or even aspects of our personality that is in development.
It seems to center around children, either kidnapped, disabled or killed. These of course carry symbolic significance, so I wonder if there is a child like aspect (which can represent new life, new beginnings, potential) that is being explored. In this case, the children aren't able to express their essence fully, whether that is a natural handicap or something done to them.
Maybe you've moved to this house to excavate this child essence, to understand it better, to find it even if it has been buried deep underground.
Thank you! This all sounds so interesting! the second one It is the same house although it doesn't look the same but I know it is if that makes sense? In the second dream, I was in the same house but I was having a party.... because it is big there were lots of people there in each area there were people from different areas of my life. (like school friends, uni friends, mum friends, different jobs...) I am struggling to host everyone while I know I am waiting for someone really important to come so I keep checking at the door and trying to talk to people and feed them ....
In the third one, the party is going on and keep waiting for the person.... at some point I stand with one of my mums friends and I can see a message on the wall, a glowing message, we discuss the message, I tell her is a very important one for me and that's why is there... she says this message you need to remember... but then, when I wake up I could not remember it... I go back to waiting and hosting and the dream ends with me waiting...
These dreams were going on for three weeks, one every week approximately a month ago.
There are elements of stress dreams present, the struggle to host everyone. But it seems centered around the anticipation of waiting for this person...who might that be?
In film school I remember discussing this. Sometimes you can watch a film, understanding that a house represents the psyche. Hitchcock’s film “Rebecca” is one such case. This would apply to books as well. These creative works are often inspired by dreams, or at least connect to our subconscious.
Fascinating! Did you cover over other typical symbols in film school as well?
I agree, creative works find their roots in the unconscious. Fiction, mythology, art, films, books, etc can be approached in similar symbolic modes of interpretation.
Definitely. Joseph Campbell's book "The Hero With a Thousand Faces," where he describes this universal story idea of a "Hero's Journey" and his archetypes are foundational to screenwriting these days. I know he was heavily influenced by Jung.
He was indeed heavily influenced by Jung. Great to hear that Campbell's work is incorporated into film and screenwriting. I think having a grasp on symbolic and archetypal perspectives can really enrich one's art. It's also interesting how these elements can happen spontaneously via film, etc when it wasn't intentional.
I saw this at the perfect time bc I have a reoccurring dream (nightmare) and I just had it again two nights ago. The dream is I’m trying to rent an apartment and I’m always back at this same building that has a haunted floor/unit. It’s the only room on that level, number 5. It’s run down and there’s a spirit in there that I can’t see but it tortures you - I try to escape using an elevator but no matter what floor you go to, it always takes you back to number 5. In the dream when I revisit, I know to stay away from this room and somehow I always end up back there and if I don’t run out fast enough I know I’ll get stuck there forever. I have never told anyone this and was gonna reach out to Demi about it but I guess I’m typing it here. Thx for this.
Hi Tess 🙏💜🙏... Could the Spirit you speak of be your fear that you need to face? A shadow from the subconscious? You always return to the room with the spirit. There’s no escape but to face what you fear. Something persistent, and not yet resolved, dissolved or released, that keeps pulling you back. May I suggest, that you let the dream play out next time and feel no fear, then what you fear dissipates? If you feel fear go with that until you learn what you need to overcome it… 🙏 take it for what it’s worth leave the rest.
Great insights, I agree!
That is a good suggestion - to try and stay in the room the next time that happens. I can’t even remember when this started and have no idea where it’s coming from. In time I’ll find out. Thank you ❤️🙏
I agree with Elliot. This has elements of classic shadow interaction dreams. Especially that it is repeating and you keep finding yourself back at the room. Something inwardly wants to be known, but as it lies in shadow, it brings up fear and resistance. The greatest challenge with these types of dreams is to meet the entity that feels overwhelming. A first step can be to set an intention before bed "rather than run away, I will engage with the spirit." Or meditate, journal on it, etc.
I wrote about this idea more here: https://alyssapolizzi.substack.com/p/pursuit-and-chase-dreams
And perform protection spells and rituals beforehand. 🙏
Holy shit. That is scary. It would be cool if you could redirect the dream to meet the spirit to find out why no. 5 is calling you, it could be a benevolent spirit? (I am not making light of this, and my default is remake the future in a hero’s journey.
It is but a forgotten part of the subconscious, but in the realms of consciousness we best have insurance 🙏
I am constantly dreaming of packing up and moving. It has been a motif for years, one that I have never really been able to unpack the root of or understand much at all. It's never the same house. Some are places I recognize. Some are in locations I recognize or have lived, but one thing is consistent, I am always leaving and the packing isn't going well. I think I am just about done and then I open another drawer or closet and there is a bunch of crap that isn't even mine or there is something to repair that has been left unattended to the whole time we lived in the house. I am also always moving my family with me, and no one is helping me pack and get us ready to go. Some houses are also really disturbing, run down, terrifying shacks; most though are just random houses that it's time to leave.
I wonder what the theme of packing up and moving says about the house as a symbol for the psychological space you inhabit, a feeling of being "at home".
That it is recurring is important to note, as dream series often speak to dynamics that are ongoing, unresolved, being worked on. When they continue for so long, it often implies that something is yet unfinished.
I wonder if there has been attempts during these years to establish a change, movement, to head on to the next chapter (next house). This may subtle or more explicit psychological/emotional development. But each time it is thwarted by some kind of unfinished business. Things people have left behind (perhaps this symbolizes other people's stuff that you're carrying?) or something that needs tending to that you've been unaware of.
A transition is being blocked, and perhaps the key to making the full change comes from tending to the elements you notice (the repairs, the extra stuff).
Now that I see this and continue to consider it all, I think that I have never really felt "at home" anywhere that I have lived IRL. I moved a lot in my 20s and immigrated to Canada in my 30s. I did so because my DH is Canadian, and we wanted to raise children here. But, Vancouver isn't my home.
My childhood was very stable in terms of homes, but not family. I was forced out of my family home and that is what started my moving every 18 months or so in my 20s.
There is a lot of baggage with them and I have found myself very alone in the uncovering and sorting through process. Every time I think I am done, there is something more that no one remembered or I found something that wasn't ours but still needed tending too.
Thank you, there is so much here now, another closet to unpack and sort through, I suppose, but your insight did open a floodgate where I didn't see one on my own.
You're welcome, I'm glad the reflections helped provide insight. It makes sense these dreams have been recurring so long given your history. It's amazing how our dreams can clue us in to what is happening inwardly, even if we aren't fully aware of it consciously!
I hope the insights help to deepen your exploration on these topics :)
This is timely, as I had a house dream just last night…. In the dream I was living in the countryside in a modest house. My husband commissioned an architect to help reconstruct it to better meet our needs. I felt intimidated by the architect initially because I worried I wouldn’t have any insight to contribute. However I also felt strongly that the house needed more windows in the front and an expansive front porch. (In waking life I have always been taken by front porches, especially in southern homes). The architect suggested the same, and I was heartened that we shared the same idea.
This figure feels a bit archetypal with a title like "the architect". I would approach this as an inner figure, a part of yourself that holds wisdom, knowledge and insight.
The architect of the psyche, who can safely build and expand the indwelling structures of one's self, also agrees with your perspective. Perhaps there is more alignment with where you're wanting to grow and develop than you recognize on a conscious level.
What does more windows and an expansive front porch represent for you, what does it feel like when you see those qualities in a home?
I rarely remember my dreams but when I do I have two recurring locations and one of those is a building with lots rooms. Sometimes it's been a house with twisty halls and many, many rooms. It can also take the form of a hotel or hospital. Buildings with lots of rooms and halls and doors. Usually these dreams are dark and shadowy.
How long would you say this dream has been recurring? Does it align with times of inner work or self-exploration? Twisting halls and many rooms, with the added layer of being dark and shadowy, makes me wonder if it reflects a searching within. Sometimes these dreams come up before we know we need to do the inner work...so it's possible they have been repeating as a compensation to invite you to these dark rooms within.
Usually the dreams I call "dreams of many rooms" appear during periods of upheaval or stress more than periods of inner work.
That makes sense too. Are there noticeable emotions present that match up with times of upheaval? Stress, fear, anxiety, intensity?
In my house dreams, I always find evidence that someone has broke in through a window or door and I can’t seem to make them lock or shut properly. Sometimes I see the shadow of the person lurking outside at night. I struggle with boundaries a lot I guess.
Struggling with boundaries is a good insight. It's interesting that they're coming through windows or doors. These are thresholds, places where we can enter and exit. It's more vulnerable in that way, especially when you're not able to lock it properly. It's meant to open, to invite in, but then we also need to shut things up too. This mechanism is difficult for you in the dream, which could point to the boundaries issue.
From your description, it doesn't appear to be a break in that was particularly destructive. I find that part catches my attention. A potential alternative to boundary issues might be that something shadowy within wants to be known, and it's attempting to break in and get your attention. It's lurking outside, and often shadow figures will try to make connection with us in our dreams. This usually feels scary or fearful, which is why we usually run away, or feel as if our boundaries have been crossed.
Very interesting! In other house dreams, there’s a central core room or stairwell that is haunted and very frightening that I stay away from. I wonder if these are related shadow elements wanting to be noticed.
I have a lot to think about, thank you!!
You're welcome :)
Jeremy Taylor used to say that a dream always comes in the service of health and wholeness, and also that it doesn't come to tell us what we already know. Could these unlatched doors and windows be the places where you want to connect with others, where it would be appropriate, but you are scared to? I like what Alyssa suggests about shadow. Often, when something frightens me in a dream, I try to use active imagination to see the dream from the point of view of the other being. I once dreamed that a house was trying to crush me, Wizard of Oz style. Reviewing the dream from the house's POV made me realize it was trying to protect me by covering me up. It made me understand how vulnerable and afraid the house (my psyche) was, and that I needed to assure it that I was strong enough to deal with my problems.
Great ideas. Love reviewing the dream from a different perspective, that is a really interesting way to approach interpretation.
I really like this. Thank you for sharing!
I find interesting that even though we moved out of my dad’s house like 7 years ago and we never visit, I still dream like I live in it and the house we’ve been living now has only appeared a couple of times in my dreams.
It’s like my unconscious didn’t fully move out. And one recurrent theme is that I’m there looking through old stuff, things I didn’t took to the new place and constantly searching for ‘something’ that will resolve a situation of my present. Unresolved issues with my dad and that part of my life that I’m still trying to make sense of!
Recently I had two dreams, in the same night, where I was living in two different houses (not my dad’s neither the one I currently live in), one was really spacious and clean and it felt like I’ve been living there for a while and I was comfortable, the other one was old and far from the city and I was worried I wasn’t going to feel right there but I started to notice little details that filled me with hope: flowers in full bloom in the front yard, a big, tall table for my sewing projects, etc.
It was very significant as I feel like I’m entering a new stage in my life with my Saturn’s return.
I dream more often of my childhood home than the one I live in currently, or the other one's I've lived in during my adult years. I always see it as an invitation to contemplate dynamics surrounding that time of my life. The part of my psyche that still lives there. I love this wording you shared, "It’s like my unconscious didn’t fully move out." I think parts of us never truly move away from those foundational experiences.
Interesting to have the contrast of two different house dreams in the same night. Does one feel more inviting than the other? Did you have the sense that you might go live in the second one? Movement from one, that feels comfortable, to another that has some uncertainty yet hope. Saturn return is a time of great change, development, new structures to be built and old ones that may dissolve. Perhaps the new house is part of that change?
Thanks for your response! I agree that a part of us can't be separated from those roots.
It was weird, because both of them felt welcoming yet I knew I had to *respond* different for being there, and both provided what I needed to do so. I'm still working with those images to see what can be built from them :)
You're welcome!
Love how simply you put all of this, so good!!
Thank you!
I had a house dream a few weeks ago. I was in a house I used to live in, and had snuck in because I forgot something (even though new people now lived there). They were shocked I was in their house and started yelling. I was trying to calm them down and get into my old room but they wouldn't let me. I turned and left and down the hall saw a whole huge part of the house they had added, a new living room and stairs that I wanted to climb but didn't. It was all wood and hadn't been decorated yet. I took it as a sign to stop going back to past situations and realize the growth I've made since then.
I like your insight, but there's something about the dream that makes me wonder if your return has another meaning as well. While not dwelling on the past is good, the new addition particularly catches my eye! It's not the same old house...and maybe the hostility from the inhabitants is an uncertainty you might need to break through to see this new insight or perspective. Just another potential meaning to consider :)
I dream a lot of houses and places generally. One common thing is that the places I dream of are often places I’ve been in real life - I know specifically in the dream that this is my house, or this is a base I was at, etc - but the places as dreamt of bear no actual resemblance to the places they are supposed to correspond to. They are usually much larger and grander, even fantastic. For example, the military college I went to crops up in dreams a lot, but the dream version of it has been a gigantic gothic style complex carved into a mountain, sort of like the city in the Lord of the Rings movies.
That's an interesting detail! Do you find this to be true with other dreams as well? Do they appear more fantasy-like?
Yes, rarely are the environments in my dreams mundane, they’re almost always fantastic. In the dream though I have no awareness of that; only after waking do I realize the strangeness of the places. There is also a sort of dream geography I have, in my dreams I am often traveling north. And a whole fantastic geography of the North that bears little resemblance to the real world, but which has become familiar to me over time.
What do you think north represents to you? Is the landscape growing more sparse, cold weather, etc? Perhaps north carries something more unique to you and the hints are in the geography of your dreams. Another idea is perhaps traveling north is like following the north star, a compass, a way to orient?
Wow I actually don’t even know where to begin with this. I have sooooooo many dreams in houses and a lot of them are re-occurring houses or different houses but a re-occurring dream. I guess the most common one lately is the house (it can be a different house depending on the dream) is full of rooms and I’m going through each one. Again depending on the dream some are scary, some are very mysterious, some have sad memories, and some rooms I never want to leave. The most common theme is I’m typically moving up towards the attic.
Does the movement upward carry any meaning to you? From a general archetypal perspective, we sometimes look at that as an ascent towards higher consciousness, a desire to move away from things, scaling to new heights, or maybe finding something hidden that is above rather than below.
I’m usually looking for something. I had a dream once where I got up into this old attic and it was full of old memories and heirlooms I had forgotten about or didn’t know existed. But most of the time I’m not sure what I’m looking for but I feel safer or better moving up.
Interesting! I wonder what this means in contrast to searching below. At times, repeating motifs speak to a kind of pattern we are in (sometimes in a way that is avoidant or stuck, sometimes in a way that reveals a resource or strength). It may be worth considering what it would mean to go downwards in these dreams vs upwards, as a kind of imaginal play. It may reveal some interesting thoughts and insights :)
One dream seeing several floor plans of a room with just dining table. Rest of the room vague.
Next dream floor plan with two sofas placed at an angle.
This is an interesting twist on the house dream! Seeing the floor plans makes me think about what's being constructed inwardly, how you're designing the living spaces, potential for creative development. It begins with a dining table - so something around nourishment, gathering, perhaps? And then sofas...comfort, rest, relaxation, entertainment? I would recommend reflecting on what each of those items brings up for you. Thanks for sharing :)
Thanks 💙💫
You're welcome :)
I have recurring dreams of moving out of houses without enough time to finish. It is generally an Airbnb type situation and there is way too much stuff for me to even pack into a vehicle to go anywhere.
You may find the comments I sent to Robin above of interest. Similarly, she dreams of trying to move but something always blocks the process.
If you're trying to move out of Airbnb's, that carries some difference than a normal house. These are temporary, they mimic home, yet are not meant to be permanent. While moving out of a regular house might speak to transitions between new states of being, this makes me wonder if there is something blocking a space you were meant to inhabit only temporarily?
What associations does Airbnb bring up for you? I think about vacation, time off, needing rest, a time out...maybe there's an urging to move on from something that is just a holding space, to something more permanent, an actual home?
Packing up into a vehicle (movement, volition, new direction) is also being blocked in the dream by too much stuff (too much baggage of some kind?). Maybe some of these things you're trying to bring into the car are things you don't need? When we go on vacation, we usually travel light. Why is there so much stuff in the Airbnb?
I used to have this dream where I started in the basement of a house. The environment is dark and shaded - haunted house-esque. I’m surrounded by family members (I don’t recognize these faces in reality). With my family, I progress through the multiple floors (levels) of the house. There are 2 stages I recall. Each floor has a challenge. One of the first floors was full of large spiders (I’m terrified of spiders), the next full of giants. At each stage, my family members sacrifice themselves for me. I feel extreme remorse for this but continue to press forward. I’m confused why I’m being sacrificed for. When I get to the attic, it’s dark, bare. There’s a barred window I move toward it to peer out. It’s dark and stormy outside but I come to the realization I’m stranded on an island. I feel isolated, alone, and afraid. I lay down on the ground in the attic feeling helpless and grieving. In the dream, I awake, almost as if I just got out of a haze, in the same attic but it’s lined with red silk. My dream family is surrounding me, checking in on me, asking if I’m okay. I awake from the dream.
Movement in dreams is something I like to pay attention to. From the depths of the house, the basement, all the way to the attic. What does that directionality say about what was happening in your life at that time? Were there attempts to reach new levels of understanding? Grow something from an uncertain place to a more certain one? Perhaps challenges inwardly or outwardly?
Each level requires you to face something scary or overwhelming. The family act as sacrifice but I also have the sense that they are resources, able to act on your behalf, to support you through the process. The confusion makes me wonder about worthiness, or allowing a natural process of "letting go/dying" that often needs to happen when we are in modes of change.
The scene changing and your family returning is also quite interesting. Allowing them to be sacrificed didn't result in their actual loss. What was the red silk room like? Did it feel different than the house before which was more haunted house like?
A reoccurring house-adjacent dream I've been having lately is one where I'm back in college. We're all returning to campus after summer break and it's a few days before we all settle into classes. Throughout the dream, I'm with my college friends and towards the end, I realize that I don't have a roommate for the dorm I've committed to while everyone else has figured out who they're living with
In some initial research, the reflections that resonated were that I'm feeling a sense of uncertainty about aspects of my life and that I'm at the cusp of significant change that's unfolding. The sentiment of feeling excluding in my waking life resonates a bit less
Curious if you have any thoughts on this dream!
I like to focus dream elements first and foremost on our inner reality. Needing a roommate makes me wonder about feeling companioned with another part of ourself that can be with us through the change that is unfolding. Perhaps you're desiring an inner resource that can be with you, cohabitate, that compliments. I think an interesting exercise would be to consider: what kind of roommate might this be? What are their qualities? What would you be looking for at that time in your life? Once identified, you can work to more consciously bring in those skills, qualities, etc during this time of life.
love this analysis of getting in touch with an inner companion! thanks for this – lots of food for thought :)
You're welcome!
These comments are so interesting. This certainly fits with my experience of dreams that take place in houses. One big theme of my dreams growing up, and even into my 20s, was trying to tell everyone in my childhood apartment to leave the building because something bad was going to happen, and no one would listen, so I would try to get out on my own. I usually either had trouble finding my way out or something in the lobby of the building would distract me, and I would have to go back upstairs. Sometimes I realized the threat was not outside when I got downstairs, and I felt silly. trying to leave But when I went back upstairs, I felt it again, so the process would start over. Regardless of the order of operations, I rarely made it off the block. And when I did, I was like "What's it all for?" I had these dreams for many years, until I managed to shift my mind from saving my family to making a life for myself. So, I guess that was my psyche, entangled in a fearscape. Dreams that have taken place in my current home have been about renovating or telling people I don't want around to leave, which is much more empowering than the old themes.
This is a wonderful example of how repeating dreams can really tie into core issues, struggles, unresolved dynamics, etc. The change usually won't happen till we integrate something meaningful, have a realization, make a change.
Your newer dreams do sound empowering. Renovating shows an ability to bring about development to the structures you inhabit. Having boundaries and authority to tell others to leave, as you have ownership of the space.
Thanks for sharing :)
I wrote about this dream I had after a hypnosis session. The dream itself is the last few paragraphs in the post.
https://open.substack.com/pub/ericaphillips/p/adventures-in-hypnosis?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Hypnosis!! I've done only one session before. For me, the state it induces is similar to that of a deep active imagination. Because of that, it really does help to interact with deep psychological material.
Your dream is quite intense, I love how the house evolves to be alive. Perhaps that trauma work and the dream are indicating that there is now a lot of new, expansive horizon to explore in the psyche.
Alyssa, pardon for intruding into this conversation, but a session on hypnosis would be great!
Like a class?
I wouldn't mind what format it took. I'm interested in how whether or not one can self-hypnotise, how one might use audio-visual strategies, whether Jung ever use it - that kind of thing.
I had a similar interpretation. My cousins helping me through some more difficult passages was also encouraging. I am not alone in this new journey.
Your cousins as companions, related and yet different, are a wonderful resource from the dream too.
This week's dream: I am checking meters in the house and realise that there is a white door with a metal handle on it behind the meters. I open the door to find that there is a basement level to the house that contains all the things that make it function: boiler, pipes, other meters, sort of the mechanics of the house. I think that this is meant to be a safe room against intruders but I also think that it would be an un-safe room because there would be no way out of it if trapped.
Ohh, this one is quite interesting. I wasn't expecting that turn of events!
I'm drawn to the polarization in the dream, a safe room but it is also feels un-safe. It contains all the things that make the house function but you might also be trapped.
Might it feel sketchy at this moment to dwell, poke around, or be close to the "mechanics of the psyche"? Are you contemplating some big developments? Or wanting to re-assess certain structures in life? If so, perhaps the dream is showing that there is hesitation from the dream ego's perspective.
Interesting comment, it does feel dangerous to be poking around at the moment, as if content from the unconscious can cross a threshold at will. The following night I dreamt that there were workmen on the landing when I got up because my partner had instructed them to replace the flooring with fire cladding material. I'm in week 16 of Jungian analysis so it may be to do with its necessarily destabilizing effects and my earthside ego is afraid.
Being in a long and committed analysis can certainly have that effect. I do find the beginning of the dream important, that you discover a kind of hidden door. Perhaps that feels a little scary at the moment, but these sort of discoveries do often allow a meaningful and serious development in our psychic work.
I had a dream recently that my dad found some sort of device that was activated and a missile from Russia was fired, destroying our family house.
I walked around aimlessly feeling sorry for myself telling people that my house was destroyed. I heard there was a place where it still existed so I cycled to it. It was through a muddy field and there was a girl nearby to where the 'house' was on the map. I saved her from a magician type man by getting him to disappear. Weirdly, I was talking to my therapist about the dream and she told me about Jung's illustration of the shadow in the red book that looked identical to the magician in my dream!
Before bed, I saw this old Victorian-looking house for sale pop up on my Facebook timeline and the dream house was a mix of that house and my childhood house. The layout was a mix between the two and the house sat in a cul-de-sac and had a shed and everything.
When I first get to the house, I walk in and it looks like the pictures from the posting but there’s vines sweeping overhead and spread across the ceiling like a jungle. It's not a natural MESSY jungle, but a planned out one, like someone decorated it in rows of vines. Everything had it’s place. There’s fake colorful birds hiding and resting on the vines above me, a puffy yellow bird, and throughout the house are hidden speakers that play bird sounds. It was completely fabricated. I look up and above me is a victorian bird cage. I don’t see anything in it.
I go upstairs and there’s a bedroom with a low hanging ceiling. Next to it is another bedroom. And another bedroom. Each one has a different low ceiling and they don’t impress me like the jungle entry did. The last bedroom has a washing machine and sink/counter combo though and that was cool but nothing stood out so I go upstairs again and the sunny vine energy is completely gone. This staircase is more narrow and everything is antique. Dark colors, deeper browns. Mahogany and dust. Nobody had been there in a long time. There’s a box on the stair landing that opens into a zodiac music box. All the pieces are made of tin and are broken and laying inside of it but I don’t know what means what.
I keep going upstairs and its more narrow and dark. My deceased aunt and her grieving husband are there and its their house (or tour guides). They show me more antique things but I don’t remember what, maybe pictures. We go to this hallway, and there is a set of French glass doors that are curved at the top much like the bird cage from the first floor.
I look through the door and there are two lumps sitting, covered by a dingy, washed out quilt. One of the lumps has a foot sticking out. There’s a mass of flies covering them except for the foot. Somehow the door is open a little or opens and a sick, sweet smell comes out for just a second and I know what it is. I think my aunt shuts the door and looks at me, scowling through her eyebrows. Somehow I know the body is of Cecilia (no idea who that is). I tried talking to someone about the body but they didn’t think it was a threat. They told me that there was a reason and that it belonged there and shouldn't be moved.
Vague memories of spilling something and the house absorbing it through the corner of the table but there being no crack.
Horror films made them something else, in terms of archetypical inversion. Hollywood is a haven for occult rituals. Films are deeply invasive, ingraining unhealthy patterns of mind, as apposed to the Right Mind of The Eightfold Path.
In a series of dreams recently, in the first one, I am following my mum. We are in a new house I bought, and because some of my family and my husband's family were visiting, I was trying to manage and ensure everyone had beds to sleep in. So we go to what seems like a hidden, undiscovered lower part of the house, and we discover 5 new bedrooms with beds and everything. Initially, I am happy because now everyone will fit, but as we go around checking the bedrooms, we find one with a little dressing table and a big bed in the middle of the room. A bell and some strings hang from the ceiling in the middle of the bed, and my mum says, "Do you realize what this means? This means the family that you bought your house from has someone kidnapped here." In that moment, I am looking at the garden, a big one that we were planning to redo, and I have the thought that the family (a couple with 5 young children, all with different disabilities) had killed a young woman (maybe their oldest daughter) and had buried her in the garden. I think that is the reason why they sold the house so quickly and cheaply, and I think that if we start doing the work we wanted in the garden and dig it, people will find the body, and they will accuse us of killing her.
Wow, lots of really intense themes. You said these are a series, is it the same house each time? How long have the dreams been going on for?
I mentioned that movement to lower levels can imply that what is being explored is deeper, and often less conscious, parts of our experience. Perhaps dynamics that are unresolved, things we have forgotten, or even aspects of our personality that is in development.
It seems to center around children, either kidnapped, disabled or killed. These of course carry symbolic significance, so I wonder if there is a child like aspect (which can represent new life, new beginnings, potential) that is being explored. In this case, the children aren't able to express their essence fully, whether that is a natural handicap or something done to them.
Maybe you've moved to this house to excavate this child essence, to understand it better, to find it even if it has been buried deep underground.
Thank you! This all sounds so interesting! the second one It is the same house although it doesn't look the same but I know it is if that makes sense? In the second dream, I was in the same house but I was having a party.... because it is big there were lots of people there in each area there were people from different areas of my life. (like school friends, uni friends, mum friends, different jobs...) I am struggling to host everyone while I know I am waiting for someone really important to come so I keep checking at the door and trying to talk to people and feed them ....
In the third one, the party is going on and keep waiting for the person.... at some point I stand with one of my mums friends and I can see a message on the wall, a glowing message, we discuss the message, I tell her is a very important one for me and that's why is there... she says this message you need to remember... but then, when I wake up I could not remember it... I go back to waiting and hosting and the dream ends with me waiting...
These dreams were going on for three weeks, one every week approximately a month ago.
You might try incubating a dream to see if you can get the message again. I discuss the technique briefly here: https://alyssapolizzi.substack.com/i/118167773/dream-incubation
There are elements of stress dreams present, the struggle to host everyone. But it seems centered around the anticipation of waiting for this person...who might that be?
Thank you! I will try the incubation! :) not sure who the person is....
Good luck :)
Interesting, something like...only that bare structure is left? Stripping things down to their essence? Seeing the core of the house, perhaps?