Pee, Fawns, Genital Piercings, and the Color Pink: Not What You Think

This is a demonstration of a dream interpretation.  If anyone would like me to interpret a dream--with or without posting it anonymously online--please let me know.

A note on anonymity: all dreams are used with permission. No defining characteristics will be shared that may lead to a discovery of the "donor's" identity.  The gender of the dreamer is kept intact, unless requested.

Here are the dreams:

The dreamer is lying on a couch in pajamas. Her brother is lying on the couch across from her. They are both very lethargic, even though it is late in the day. The dreamer pees all over the couch. She panics. She runs to get paper towels and a spray bottle. Her mother cannot know about this, and she tells herself that she will just blame it on the dog.


Interpretation: The dominant feeling in this dream was that the mother might find out about the accident on the couch.  Is the dreamer hiding anything in real life? Is there anything she is frightened about her mother finding out?

Urine most obviously symbolizes shame/embarrassment, or a feeling of a loss of control over oneself. Urine, being water, can also symbolize emotions.  Upon further investigation of the dream, the dreamer recalled not feeling any particular urgency to get off the couch. Along with the fear of discovery, there was a sense of relief.  Urinating symbolized releasing emotions, and releasing these emotions brought about relief.

After this realization, things fell into place. Couches are associated with therapy.  The dreamer had recently begun seeing a therapist, something she felt she needed to do, but she didn't want her mother to know about it. So, although she was relieved to be seeing one and expressing upsetting feelings, she was also very nervous about her mother finding out.

The next dreamer had a dream with what she felt was rather disturbing imagery.  In this dream, she had a genital piercing, specifically, two safety pins that pinned her labia shut. She was desperate to remove the safety pins, but she was in a very busy bookstore.  She went into the bathroom, which was hot pink, and went into the first stall, but the toilet wasn't flushed. She found a clean stall, and tried to remove the piercings while a friend (nobody from real life, just a dream friend) called out to her outside the stall.  She managed to remove one of the piercings, with great fear of "tearing herself up."

Interpretation: This dream caused some anxiety to interpret, as the dreamer was embarrassed.  It was concluded that perhaps the piercing of the labia shut was an expression of shame about sexuality. However, the fact that she wanted the piercing removed was a sign of healing, and reclaiming of this sexuality.

It must also be noted that labia is another word for lips, that is, the lips of the mouth. The dreamer had been feeling stifled in waking life, but was getting better at communication. Again, the removal of one piercing was a good sign--she felt stronger about speaking her truth. However, the fact that one piercing still remained indicated that there was still work to be done. Perhaps her subconscious was telling her that she needed to communicate better with herself.  The dreamer felt that there were messages coming from a very primal part of her, but she felt like she was "blocked" from this information.

The appearance of the friend outside the stall indicated a need for boundaries and periods of solitude, balanced with friends who cared.  The dreamer was touched that the dream friend was concerned about her, and didn't want her to go away--just give her five minutes alone.

Pink, since it comes in many shades, comes with different interpretations.  The hot pink of the bathroom  was described by the dreamer as warm, flirty, fun, and glamorous--all can be adjectives used to describe a healthy female sexuality.

Public bathrooms are places associated with embarrassment, shame, and filth, and also symbolize boundaries and privacy.  Going to one stall, deciding she wasn't going to use it, and moving on to another, cleaner one shows autonomy and some power to make decisions. She is also getting better at placing boundaries, because there are stalls in the bathroom.  A stall-free bathroom indicates a lack of privacy and frustration about this lack.

The unflushed toilet shows a need to resolve emotions, to "flush" them away.  When questioned about this, the dreamer said she had been feeling frustrated, and was working out some unpleasant memories.

The third dream involved the dreamer being in a friend's bedroom. The bedroom was very large, dimly lit, and in soft, soothing rose colors. Along the walls were little rooms with glass windows. One was an aquarium, full of small, phosphorescent fish and a very tiny glow- in -the- dark turtle. In another "room" were some wolf cubs. One of the wolf cubs was in the room above, cuddling with a new fawn.

Deer, particularly fawns, are symbolic of gentleness, grace, and innocence.  This fawn was cuddling with a wolf cub, a symbol of the balance between loyalty and individuality.  Both of these symbols can also be considered "feminine" (the deer because of its delicacy, and the wolf for its association with the Moon). Turtles are symbolic of a talent for negotiating Earth and Water.  Both are feminine elements, the Earth the element of practicality, the physical, fertility, and abundance, and Water the element of the emotions, the unconscious, and the imagination.  Both are elements of creation, making the Turtle a creative, sustaining creature in mythology.  The phosphorescence of the turtle and the fish meant that they were equipped to go diving deep to find treasures, something the dreamer hoped she would do, metaphorically, with her friend. Further, fish are symbolic of the Water attributes, as well as the long life (they looked to be like tiny, glow-in-the-dark koi) she hoped for the friendship.

The dreamer had this dream after arranging to talk to her friend after a period of very limited contact. She was excited to speak to this friend, and saw her as having all the qualities embodied in the animals. However, she wasn't exactly sure what to expect after so long, and it was concluded that the dream was her subconscious reassuring her that the conversation would be quite comfortable (as seen in the lighting of the room and the bed). There was also a hint of sadness to the dream, as the animals were behind glass and she couldn't touch them or interact with them.  She decided that she would love to see her friend in person.

Going deeper, it was suggested that, since all elements of a dream are aspects of the dreamer, that these animals were reminding the dreamer that she, too, must strive to be gentle, loyal, and willing to dive deep and create.

So, those were the interpretations! What did you all think? Please leave any additional insights in the comments. If you would like a dream interpreted, either privately or to be posted here (with 100% anonymity) please e-mail me at turtlephoenix@gmail.com

How Stagnant Water Saved My Sanity: Dream Interpretation

For this entry, I would like to chat about how to interpret dreams.  First, I would like to give you an example from my own dreams, because seeing the process makes it easier to do.

A while back, I was having recurring dreams about water. The water was always deep, stagnant, and oily. In one dream, I was on a yacht made out of paper trash.  When the yacht started to sink slightly, water lapped against my foot, and I panicked.  Using willpower, I forced the yacht to become more buoyant, raising it out of the water.

In my other dream about water, I was inside a boat garage, which is basically what you'd think: a garage on stilts, with a door the owner could open to drive the boat in. The garage was out in the middle of a large body of water. Any light that came in came in through cracks in the moldy, gray walls. The water was dead still and tarry. As I lay on the dock inside the garage, some of my hair trailed in the water, and I flinched away from it.  Paper floated on top of the water. There was a tiny raft outside the garage.  I remember not knowing what to do--I didn't know how to open the garage door, and I wasn't sure whether to wait for another big boat to come, or just take the raft.  I didn't know if there was any land nearby.

In my waking life, the image of that dark, stagnant, oily water disturbed me. It was undoubtedly menacing, but I wanted to know why.  Why was my subconscious showing me the same image? There was nothing obviously frightening about the water, at least not in the sense of a great white shark's dorsal fin slicing its way through the waves. There were no basketball sized giant squid eyes peering up and taking me by surprise.  The water wasn't even rough.  It was eerily calm.


I decided to do a little subconscious spelunkin' and figure out what the heck was going on.  The exercise that would help me with this was first told to me by a wonderful man named Ray Myers.  Almost ten years later, Martha Beck would also recommend this exercise, in her book Steering by Starlight.


1) First of all, write down your dream. It's best to do this first thing. I can't tell you how many times I told myself I would write a dream down and then forgot it. Write as many details as you can.

2) Second, pick an aspect of your dream that sticks out to you. For me, it was the water.

2) Third, imagine yourself as the aspect of your dream. What do you look like? What is your motivation? What are you feeling?  In my case, I had to pretend I was the water.  "Well, I know how you felt when you were water," you're saying. "You felt insane, because you are."

Be that as it may, read on.

This is my water monologue (or waterlogue. Get it?) from my journal.

I am the water. I am deep. I am dark.  I am oily. I'm stagnant. There are probably unwholesome things swimming down there [insert dirty joke here].  
I feel...I don't know.

After some minutes of frustration, I decided to come back later.  Finally, there was a clue.

I am the water. I am cold. I am numb. I feel nothing.  

Then I realized what the water symbolized.  It was clinical depression, something that I have been struggling with since I was about eight years old.  My subconscious was telling me that so far I had been able to keep from sinking into it again, but it may be only a matter of time.

This was a very sad and terrifying revelation for me.  I am grateful that my subconscious was able to send me warning signs so I could take action.

This is why it is a good thing to learn the language of our dreams, what Caroline Myss calls symbolic language. Symbolic language is how our minds give us knowledge about ourselves. You may wake up and think, consciously, I am depressed, but your subconscious mind may be giving you hints long before hand through your dreams, just as mine was.

Learning to understand your dreams also helps hone your intuition. One of the most arresting I've read is about a woman named Tricia Coburn, who kept having a recurring dream of people standing behind a barbed wire fence. The people looked like they were in a concentration camp. They were wasting away, and they were staring at the woman with imploring eyes. Sometimes, they would shout at her.

Something told Coburn to go to the doctor. They examined her, and found nothing wrong. The dreams continued.

Finally, she dreamed of the barbed wire fence, only there was nobody there. A voice said, "look deeper."

Coburn went to the doctor and had a colonoscopy. She had colon cancer, fast moving colon cancer. They had gotten it just in time.

 It is very enlightening, and simple, but sometimes not easy.  The meanings behind symbols sometimes leap out at you, and sometimes they play peek-a-boo until you understand, and sometimes they're very maddening sphinxes. Any way they show up, have fun, and have an open mind.

If anyone needs help translating a dream, please drop me a line at turtlephoenix@gmail.com.  I can walk you through a more in-depth dialogue, by e-mail, or, if you prefer, by Skype or phone. Also, please share some of your memorable dream stories in the comments.