A FAMILY of YOUNG SOULS, dreams during adolescence
Dreams as a Talisman by Dr. Pam Blosser
Children want to have a sense of control in their lives as they are growing up to be more independent beings and also because much of their life is influenced by other people’s decisions. Sometimes children feel like they are not in control of their lives. When this idea becomes an issue for them it will appear in a dream. Beverly felt out of control of her life which manifested in a recurring dream: Baby aspirin was stacked up around her in her bed and then slowly fell over on top of her. A bed symbolizes a place in mind for assimilation or how we learn from our day-to-day experiences. Aspirin symbolizes a dependency on something outside yourself for your state of well-being and therefore the need to exercise the will power. The action of the aspirin falling in around her represents feeling closed in. The dream means that as she was learning from her everyday experiences she felt closed in by her dependency on an outside influence that brought her a sense of well-being.
About the time Beverly was having this recurring dream her parents were going through a divorce. This was a time when divorce was not as prevalent as it is today. Beverly felt isolated from others, wanted someone to give her comfort and, because it was not forthcoming, experienced self-pity. The self-pity was represented in the dream by the baby aspirin. She wanted something to make everything better. Her self-pity was closing in on her consciousness and distracting her from the learning being offered in the situation at hand, to become more self-reliant and independent.
As dreams reveal when children or adolescents are having difficulty as they mature, they will also reveal when they are reasoning and responding productively to the situations around them. For example, here is Allison’s dream:
I was lost at the airport and separated from my parents. Angela Lansbury from the T.V. show “Murder She Wrote” found me and solved the mystery to locate my parents.
Because airports are places involving planes, cars, buses and lots of people, they represent how you express Self individually and in groups. Angela Lansbury is a female, the same sex as Allison, the dreamer. That means she is an aspect, a quality or personality trait, of Allison’s conscious or outer mind. Parents represent aspects of the Superconscious Mind. As mentioned in Hezekiah’s dream, this is a part of the Self that holds the plan for the fulfillment of your potential. Great wisdom and guidance comes from the Superconscious Mind. Allison’s dream means that as she expresses Self to others (airport) she is using an aspect of her Conscious Mind to be in touch with this deepest part of her inner Self that offers guidance and wisdom.
Here is a recurring dream that Allison had between the ages of eight and ten.
I was being kidnapped by people I didn’t know who had Mohawk haircuts. They took me to a huge indoor playground with tubes, mazes, nets, slides and ball pits. It turned out to be a lot of fun.
People that you don’t know represent qualities in yourself that you are unconscious of. Hair represents conscious thoughts. Being kidnapped represents experiencing being out of control. The playground represent use of the imagination. In this dream when Allison begins thinking in ways where she feels out of control (being kidnapped by people with Mohawk haircuts), and she uses her imagination (the playground), she can figure out what to do and things turn out for her. Allison is usually a positive person, creative, and imaginative. These dreams illustrate these traits in her.
Adolescence is a time of making strides toward personal independence and empowerment. It is a time when physical maturation is quickened. Hormones are starting to be active which means the creative energy or kundalini is being awakened. This is the time when children begin thinking seriously about what they want to do with the adult years of their lives and who they want to be. Whatever they have been imagining adulthood to be, they are now starting to bring that into a reality into their life. There are major changes physically, emotionally and mentally that can sometimes shake their world. The following dream of ten year old Bea reflects this state of consciousness.
I had a mom and a dad, but it was not my real mom and dad and we lived in a three story house and we heard news about a tyrannosaurus and velociraptor in town. Me and my family were driving to the store and we felt the vibration of the dinosaurs feet and we drove back home and hid. The dinosaurs came and roared and chased after us and I woke up.
There are many indications of changes occurring in Bea’s life from the dream. First she was with parents who weren’t her own in her waking state. Parents represent aspects of the superconscious mind. Since these weren’t her real parents and she doesn’t know them, this shows Bea is moving into new, unfamiliar areas of spiritual unfoldment, wisdom and guidance. House represents the mind. The fact that it is three stories indicates the awareness of the conscious, subconscious and superconscious minds — the physical, soul and spirit. As mentioned before dinosaurs symbolize ancient spiritual compulsions connected with how we fulfill our potential to create, give, learn and grow to a point of mastery. Bea’s dream symbolizes that there are awarenesses of how she can create that are overwhelming to her. Adolescents are at a threshold of their life where many changes internally and externally are occurring. Often they begin to entertain the thought that they could do something that would change the world. Their minds are free to imagine what they would like to do with their life and how they will make a difference to those around them.
At the same time what they have seen in the adults around them is the reality of the possibility for their life. If the adults are alive and learning, if they love the work they do, if they are passionate about certain causes in life, or have interesting and creative hobbies, if spiritual devotion is alive and important to them, then the child will reach for adulthood. If the adults are bored, have little purpose in their lives, if they live from day to day, and dislike the work they do, then this gives the child little to aspire to. Most children have had a combination of both types of experiences and therefore have a range of thoughts and feelings about growing up.
The universal condition existing in our society, one that views life from a materialistic, humanistic point, brings about a deeper, more subtle delimma, often unconscious to the individual. In American culture, we are rooted in physical experience and materialism. Collectively our culture has agreed that we are strictly physical beings having physical experiences with an occasional spiritual experience. Children are a different case. It’s okay for them to be free, spontaneous, have imaginary playmates and fly in their dreams. What this means is that it’s okay for them to still be in touch with themselves as a soul having physical experiences for the sake of learning and evolution.
At some point in puberty the individual knows that the consciousness must change in order to “grow up” and be accepted as an adult by others. They must accept the image of adulthood they have been shown in earlier years and be like what they perceive society has deemed adults ought to be. Instead of awakening, the process of growing up is seen as a sense of loss. It means a shutting down of creativity right when the creative energy, the kundalini, is beginning to be experienced more profoundly. This energy should be used to imagine what they want to do with their adult life and how wonderful this process is. Instead of awakening and understanding this awakening, it is only seen as becoming sexually active. As one matures and accepts adulthood and its physical trappings, if one is thinking materialistically the doorway between the soul and the outer self is closed off. This is a time of grieving and is often experienced as depression, anger or a general feeling that life just isn’t going right. I have talked to several of my adult friends who remember that the seventh or eighth grade was the worst year of their life. These attitudes manifest in a variety of types of dreams.
Jennifer, a senior in high school, dreamed she was tied up to a chair and forced to watch as her mother was killed. This dream upset her so much that she came home early from school the next day. Not only were the dream images disturbing but they also reflected a deeper thought that was equally disturbing. Being tied to a chair symbolizes a sense of restriction. Being forced means the dreamer doesn’t feel she has control over the experience. Jennifer’s mother in the dream symbolizes an aspect of the superconscious mind, the highest part of the mind that is closest to one’s divine nature and holds the potential for unfoldment. Death or killing in a dream means change. Jennifer’s mother being killed in the dream means Jennifer’s perception is changing of what her true nature is. This could be the killing of her own sense of herself as a spiritual being. She has no choice in the matter. It is out of her control.
Susan, a teenager, had recurring dreams of betrayal. One specific scenario was that one of her girlfriends was coming between her and her boyfriend and they were breaking up as a result. In dream symbols a person of the opposite sex is an aspect of the inner or subconscious mind. This is an aspect of soul. The other female is an aspect of Susan’s conscious or outer mind. The action of breaking up represents the separating or closing off of the conscious and subconscious minds. What Susan’s dream means is that an outer part of her conscious mind is usurping her ability to be connected to this familiar aspect of the subconscious mind. The joyous affiliation with our inner mind was no longer available to use and she feels betrayed.
When Alexis was 12 and 13 she had recurring dreams that she was falling into a black hole. She would wake up trying to catch her breath. Earth in a dream represents the inner mind substance that is available for creating. Adolescence is a time for creating many changes in your life. It can also be intimidating and overwhelming when the individual may not know what they want. In Alexis’ case the dream was indicating that she needed to become more aware of what her desires were and how she thought. As she was changing she was losing a sense of who she was and what she wanted in life. Growing up is a time to build a more mature identity, one that we can reach for as our bodies mature into young men and women.
During her adolescence Debbie had a recurring dream. She would fall down in the hallway of her school and couldn’t move her legs to get up. A school represents a place of learning in your own mind. Legs represent forward motion. Debbie’s dream symbolized that she felt helpless at times in being able to move forward in her learning. There were several years when Debbie was going to middle school that she had trouble with some of her subjects at school. New math was being introduced and she didn’t understand the concepts. Her parents tried to help her but they didn’t understand it either. There were obviously other areas where Debbie felt stifled in her learning whether it was her academic studies or of a personal nature. Debbie said the dream stopped after she got in college. Her grades had improved by that time, she had chosen her major and knew the career she wanted to pursue.
And then there are dreams of growing harmony within the mind and distancing the consciousness from that which is purely materialistic and physical in nature. Twelve-year-old Briana is striving to mature in a wholistic manner. Her life is surrounded by individuals who want to grow spiritually and are teaching her. She lives at the headquarters of the School of Metaphysics and is schooled by her parents as well as the teachers there. All disciplines are connected in her curriculum. When she cooks, for example, she also learns math, science, art, visualization, and service. Her dreams reflect how her spirituality is growing.
There was a stage in a theater. Linda, my mom, and a man I didn’t know were all singing while the man played the electronic guitar with a puppet too. All of the girls also danced in ballet costumes. We all had silver diamonds on our foreheads because they would cover for the green diamonds for the main performance until we found the green ones.
When we all went backstage, Linda found some green duct tape to use for the green diamonds instead, even though my mom and I were looking for the green diamonds before Linda.
Theater represents an imaginative state of mind and the stage is the place of focus for the imagination. Briana’s mom represents an aspect of superconscious mind; Linda represents an aspect of the conscious mind, and the girls are other aspects of the conscious mind. The unidentified man represents an aspect of the subconscious mind that Briana is not yet familiar with. Singing and dancing symbolize mental harmony; and diamonds are value. The diamonds were placed on their foreheads symbolizing value being placed on mental perception. Duct tape is used for joining or sticking objects together, so it represents a way to join or connect thoughts.
What Briana’s dream is telling her is that she is imagining how harmony can exist among all parts of her mind and how valuable mental perception is. She is seeking to change how she values her perception. Until she finds this value she has a sense of value as well as a way to connect her perceptions. At a time in our society when for most people, the inner mind is shutting off from the outer mind, Briana is expanding her consciousness. She knows that mental perception is valuable and is valuing how she can keep the inner and outer connected. She is keeping the doorway between her conscious and subconscious minds open.
Dreams are a valuable tool for keeping this doorway open. One of the major functions of the subconscious mind is to receive the learning that has occurred in the conscious mind and to store it as wisdom or understanding. This assimilation process goes on while we are asleep. During our sleep time the subconscious mind reviews the learning for the past day and relates honestly where we are with our learning. Dream activity begins in the subconscious mind during this evaluation and assimilation process. Since the subconscious mind only knows learning, it will always relate truth. To understand your dreams and the dreams of your children means you have an honest appraisal of your or your child’s conscious state of awareness. Dreams offer an avenue for the direct grasp of truth that lies in the subconscious mind. The subconscious mind always offers truth and learning to the dreamer. Understanding dreams means the individual’s consciousness is reaching for truth and learning and this in turn harmonizes the activity of the outer mind to the inner, subconscious mind bringing the individual closer to Intuition.
Parents are wise to encourage their children to remember their dreams and to endeavor to understand what they mean. You can start talking about dreams with your children at any time and at any age. Everyone loves to talk about the dreams they’ve had and wants to know what they mean. Children are no exception. A dream notebook by the bed helps to have a place to remember to write dreams down. Then bring the dream notebook to the breakfast table. For busy families who might not have time during the morning of a weekday, plan to talk about dreams on a weekend morning. If parents start asking their children what dreams they remembered, they will volunteer the dreams they’ve had.
Dreams reveal how you are learning and changing. It is a direct link to your soul, to your heart’s desires and to your deep-seated fears. Being interested in your child’s dreams in the least and knowing how to interpret them at best could be one of the most valuable gifts you could ever give your child.
©2002 School of Metaphysics