Lithographs from M. E. Descourtilz’s Atlas des Champignons (1827)
Welcome to Dream Interpretation for Dummies, where Dear Abby meets Native Americana. Come to the campfire, peer into the yawning grave, and take a dive into the collective subconscious… or maybe just explore some weird clown imagery. We’ll wait for you here.
Howdy Note: This dream has been very lightly edited. Everything you are about to read has already happened, is happening, will happen…
Yet Another Howdy Note: I still want YOUR testimonials — if you have any! Even an Instagram DM is sacred.
Dear Howdy,
I’ve had this reoccurring dream about seven times now. Each time, it’s a slightly different place, but all usually follow the same series of events. The dream usually starts with me realizing that I’m on some sort of vacation out of the country. I’m usually with a couple of close friends in a house that we are staying in. All of a sudden, I’m overtaken with anxiety and a feeling that I need to be home. I didn’t plan this; why am I here? I start telling my friends that I have to leave, and I just walk out. They don’t say anything. At this point, the dream switches to me out and about in this foreign country, attempting to find a way to get to the airport or on a bus. The fear really starts to set in because I can’t communicate with anyone, and I don’t have a phone. That’s when the dream cuts to the last segment, where I’m outside of this one-story home with a flat roof. There is a shallow pool of water all alongside the left side of the house. At this point, I’m not as fearful or anxious as I have been. It starts to feel like I’m not in a foreign country anymore, and I start to feel more curious about what this house is. In that version of the dream, I’m walking in the water barefoot. I see a crane or a pelican. Some sort of bird like that. Then I wake up.
Thank you for any help you can provide,
Ethan
Dear Ethan,
Thank you for the gift of your dream. At the time of my writing this, I just spent the last week finishing up my master’s program, alongside spending some much-needed time with my friends still in Alabama, so I am ready to dig back into this work. The summer stretches out before us, looming, ready to be bitten into like a fruit. How will it taste?
Anyway, anyway. Into your dream we go: as I’ve said before, I am no stranger to the recurring dream, though I must admit a detail or two of yours stumped me at first glance. My attention first strays to your surprise, which leaves no room for acceptance, only shock. I, too, would be shocked if I suddenly found myself far, far from home with no knowledge of how I got there, but I think there is something deeper at work there. You worry that if you stray, if you press too far, you’ll never be able to come back. Or, worse, you’ll forget why you wanted to stray, to press, and it will have been for nothing. Your friends don’t stop you when you try to leave, nor do they try to comfort you, which signals inner betrayals or fears of that happening. Where is your foothold? How can you find it? This is less a dream with multiple messages and more a dream that presents the same message in different venues — it says: there is so much fear here; why?
You have had this dream seven times, I think you will continue to have it unless something changes.
The next part of your dream is even more foreign and exists in a space that is not, and never can be, your own. You don’t even know the language. Your fear, ever-present, pulsates with this knowledge. All your modes of communication have been cut off, and erased. Then, everything changes. You are becoming settled, less scared. This is a sign, a message, even. One day, you will be able to regard your life, or a piece of your life, with far-seeing vision. The water representing wisdom resides on the left side of the house. The left, here, represents the past, the unconscious. You will be able, soon, even, to use your past anxieties as a future roadmap. You will still make mistakes, yes, we all do, but they will not be quite so devastating as long as you trust in yourself, in your path. The crane, the pelican, the Bird — is simply a messenger, bringing this to you. Accept this, keep it for yourself, and you will signal that you have received it.
I hope this helped. I’m sending you a dream of a long-dead flightless bird, sitting on a windowsill in your childhood bedroom, let me know if you get it.
See you on the other side,
Sad Boy Howdy
P.S. from a Dreamer! “I love the rhythm and structure of your interpretations. Your opening, centering gratitude: "Thank you for the gift of your dream." The refrain of "into your dream we go," launches me into Dreamland, swooping over scenes of orcas, frogs, boxes, and all the rest, a birds-eye view of the readings you offer us. Your writing is full of motion, rolling hills, and codas: "I'm sending you a dream..." I feel this movement from open to close, written in prose of a crystal clear lake, image-rich and alive. I look forward to it each week.” — Shira
Fancy a trip to Dreamland, pardner? Send your best to sadboyhowdy@gmail.com!