Dream: I was in this town on the edge of the woods, very beautiful, but I was being pursued and didn’t know why. I came to the edge of this creek and took my boots off to cross, when this beautiful girl asks me what on earth I was doing. I told her I was trying to get away, although I wasn’t really scared or nervous. I crossed the creek and proceeded to a house, which I knew was an elderly couple’s who had recently passed away. The house was unlocked and I thought I could hide out there. It was a massive two story house overlooking town with a hallway upstairs with windows. I looked out the window and noticed a cop (very traditional 1920’s uniform on). He saw me and began to alert other officers. I quickly bolted down the stairs and out the back door. Before me was this large open field with a slight hill and woods approximately half mile away. I began to run across this field from the cops. I noticed when I was running I wasn’t nervous or scared of capture, as if it was a game. As I was running I felt as if my boots were heavier then normal. When I reached the woods I heard the sound of dogs so I knew that they had got dogs to track me. So I thought I could lose them in the smokey forest ahead (a large forest with smoke and fog so thick I couldn’t see but a foot in front of me). As I was heading to the smoky woods the girl appeared again and this time wanted to go with me. We ran into the smoke and ran for what felt like a long time. I knew we lost the authorities because I couldn’t hear the dogs anymore. We came to this cliff and jumped into this giant well of water, not knowing for sure there was water due to the fog and mist (as if it was a leap of faith). We survived, and after exiting the water we were in a familiar place on a dirt road. We saw a motel so we ran to it. It was run by an older couple and they agreed to give us a room. We stayed in the room together for what felt like a couple days. I got this feeling that we were gonna be caught. Sure enough, I opened the door to the room and I could hear a private detective asking the couple about us. We then decided it was time to give ourselves up. I had this odd feeling that I was going to be able to get the private detective to let us go. I was somewhat disappointed that we didn’t finish whatever journey we were on, and I was sad to be separated from this girl. Then I woke up.
DreamsMaster: What an involved dream! What particularly strikes me is the amount of confidence and faith you exude throughout the adventure. Despite all of the obstacles and challenges, the whole thing feels like a game to you, not to be taken too seriously. I don’t know you personally or what current life challenges you face, but the message that comes through to me from this dream is that you are fully capable of handling whatever is thrown in your path. And even if you don’t succeed in crossing the desired finish line of this particular leg of life’s journey, you will be all the more enriched for trying.
That said, let’s get down to more detailed dream interpretation. There’s so much to this dream, I’ll just go with the symbols that feel the strongest to me. As I put my ideas forward (my own projections), look internally for more pieces of the puzzle to reveal themselves to you.
These symbols appear multiple times:
- Boots (taking them off to cross the creek; feeling heavy while running): A form of protection; sense of groundedness
- Water (creek, giant well): Emotional/spiritual state
- Trees (woods, smokey forest): Obscure one’s direction or path
- Elderly couples (in both instances, the owner of dwellings): Could represent wisdom that comes with age and experience
- Shelter (house, motel): Often represent one’s ego or self – the house is massive, multi-dimensional, with windows to a full view; the motel is a temporary dwelling, a place to hide out
- The Law (old-fashioned cop, private detective): one’s conscience or superego
- The Edge (of the woods, of the creek, of a cliff): a metaphor for living on the edge?
- Beautiful girl (in both cases appears just ahead of immersing in water): The yin to your yang; inner harmony and balance
And this thread throughout:
- Being pursued
- Trying to get away
- Hiding out
- Running
- And finally, peaceful surrender
As I run through this exercise and project my own meanings onto your dream, I arrive at this message, phrased as if it were my dream:
I have a desire to make certain life choices that may not be completely acceptable to others or to myself. A wise part of myself is in support of these riskier choices, and feels safe to take a leap of faith. Another part of myself is trying to stop me from veering away from the more conventional or righteous path. Both of these sides are equally compelling and I will be fine with whichever direction I take, but I may be somewhat disappointed and experience a sense of loss if I surrender to the more righteous path.
See also: