Interpretation of dreams connected with fairy tales

a) Studying the connection(s) of dream elements

with a personal life history.

b) Studying the matter further with the suggestions provided by my book

Identification of emotions is also important for dream work

Dreams are personal stories based on culture and its the mythical tradition.

In them the links connecting events inside the dream with situations of everyday life is based on free associations, not on any kind of logical thinking. If somebody is hungry when falling as asleep, his association may start from getting food. After that, different events will appear for example: eating in restaurant, dancing on a dance floor, problems in relationships. So the key to understanding dreams is to understand ones own line of associations based on different emotions. The associations may be following by 'the guidance' of situation or a metaphor or a phrase. The situations connect events based mainly on ones life history. If two or more thought appear at the same time, they will be later connected to each other. Also, many other kind of connections may happen: a fruit can express fruitfulness, ice express coldness, a baby can express new ideas or ways of life and so on. In the human mind the phrases, expressions, often used connect many kind of thoughts together. We speak, for example, about a flood of feelings. So, in dreams a strong emotional situation can appear in the form of a flood. Many families have developed their own collection of phrases. The associations may also use metaphorical connections. For example, a serpent can mean erotic power, a bear spouse, food and earth can mean mother, and so on.

Most of the associative connections come from the common language, whose richness is very often carried to us stories and fairy tales.

    In the process of dream interpretation the following two stages are useful:

    a) Studying the connection(s) of dream elements with a personal life history.

    In other words, the person first finds out the stage of his life to which the subject material his present dream has brought up to be significant. Often enough, certain details embedded in the dream indicate this aspect. Normally in this context the dream personalities, and the age of the central characters in the dream are significant. It is advisable, however, to bear in mind that all dream characters very often represent the self at different stages of life. Seeing a child in a dream can mean  the dreamer experience as child.

    The dream often readily suggests the dreamer’s age. Helpful indicators are also the stage of life and the surroundings - such as buildings and other living milieus, that one finds himself in a particular dream. Figures usually refer to the number or age of the persons that are significant to the subject person, the dreamer. For example, room eight on the third floor can suggest the figure 38, which possibly stands for an age. In this context, it is also important what happened in this particular room: for instance, what happened there may give the reasons for the individual’s troubles or disturbances in his present life. In other words, the cause to his present problem lies in that particular stage and age of his life.

    In addition, the significance of each person and event to one’s present life is always worth studying. What matters here is what our first encounter was like with the persons and events in the dream, as emotions are often attached to the very first encounter with any event. This does not preclude, of course, the fact that also a later meeting can be equally significant. If we see a dog, for example, in a dream, we are wise to recall what the dogs were like that we shared our lives with and what was our first encounter with a dog like.

2. b)Studying the matter further with the suggestions provided by my book: Find Your True Self through Your Fantasies and Dreams by Olavi Moilanen, Ph.D, published by Atophill in USA 2009
   

    Any stage or part of a dream, can be referred to for its connection with the myth tradition with the help of the index at the end of this book. This reference may be helpful in providing a link from the dream to the phrases, the folklore and myth common to a cultural community, and help in this way dream interpretation.

    What is essential in an attempt to interpret a dream is to identify its persons and situations. It is for this purpose that I have included the chapters dealing with the most frequent archetypical characters and stages of events recurring in dreams.

    Invariably, the most fertile approach tends to be the identification of the mythical essence of the dream characters. To ensure this, it is highly recommended to study this particular chapter so well that one readily identifies that character by his or her clothing, behavior, age, situation, or any similar feature. Whether he be familiar or unknown, certain features are always detectable that revealing his true character. A dream character often represents an archetypal actor manifested by mythical tradition. There are more of these actors, of course, than those presented in this book. Experience proves, however, that this character gallery is sufficient for the successful identification of the significance of almost every character appearing in a dream.

    Dream characters familiar to us are recognizable by force of their essence and relationship with the dreamer. Members of the childhood family, as well as, the present family are readily recognizable, as their archetypal significance is direct: father stands for the father archetype, mother for the mother’s, sister for the sister’s, and so forth. Friends and acquaintances are recognizable by their essence, age, or clothing. For the dream characters that are unidentifiable by the hints provided by everyday experience, on has to resort to the suggestions offered by the dream.

    Dream scenes are often clearly reducible to simple facts. What matters most is finding out whether the dream is connected to the element of emotions (water), reason (air), everyday life (earth), or spirit (fire). It is true, however, the dream does not always follow this schematic division. The interpreter always needs creativity to find the required additional cues from his personal background.

Identification of emotions is also important for dream work

Various dream elements give rise to a variety of emotions; they are, indeed, products of emotions themselves. Most of our abilities and experiences exist only in the form of an emotional state of readiness. To dream is to seek forms and expressions for these kinds of emotional conditions. It is essential for us to look at the things that are, or have been experiences, as difficult; such as some early occurrences in childhood, separation from a parent, rejection by a first love, divorce, dismissal or being laid off from a job, illness, and other similar critical life events. Crises are, as a rule, such difficult issues for anyone to handle and process as to contain unworked mental material to later life, principally emotions. Dreams brings to the surface these ’forgotten’ feelings.