Self-analysis of dreams: an example
The self-analysis of dreams is a very difficult practice, as our personal interpretation always tends to validate what we already know. While the dream, which comes from the unconscious, tells us by definition things we are not aware of.
With the OniroTarology method, the Tarot can be used as a tool for self interpretation and self-analysis of dreams. This is possible because the Tarot catalyzes our unconscious within archetypal and universal images, thus providing us with an “unbiased” reading of our dream.
Here is a real example of a personal dream, apparently simple. But I admit I would not have recognized its deeper meaning without this practice.
I dreamed that small flowerpots were placed on a shelf, but the strange thing was that they were “stacked” one on top of the other. In the dream I knew they had been there for a long time. I then decomposed this pile, as the bottom of each flowerpot covered and crushed the surface of the underlying flowerpots. Only the last flowerpot was uncovered making its contents visible: it was a kind of small plant. As I was breaking up the pile, I realized that even in the lower flowerpots there were some seedlings, although they were withered and suffering. In fact the flowerpot resting on it took away their oxygen and the possibility of being watered, which, however, I hadn’t done for years. (Actually I don’t have any kind of plant at home! ^ _ ^).
Meaning of the dream with the Tarot
The superficial meaning of the dream seemed quite clear to me, but here is often the bias of our consciousness that leads us to see what we are already aware of. The dream certainly was speaking of neglected energies, new ideas or projects that I did not cultivate and blah blah blah. But I already knew this. The meaning had to be more precise, more detailed, the dream had to tell me something I did not know, or that I did not know fully.
I then took my Tarot cards and reviewed them, thinking about which Arcana most faithfully represented the dream situation. My attention fell on Arcanum XVI, the Maison Dieu. We see a construction developed vertically (like the pile of flowerpots of my dream) and whose top is uncovered, just as in fact only the last flowerpot enjoyed the sunlight (the solar disk of the Maison Dieu).
Self-analysis of dreams and interpretation with the Tarot
In my onirotarological interpretation, the Maison Dieu takes on the sense of energies that are released, of questioning the “construction” of our life, of our identity, of shaking from the foundations what we have become today to free new / old dormant energies. In this way, the link with your roots is recovered and the contact with mother earth is found, starting from scratch.
Here is a clarifying intuition: we build our lives starting from the bottom (the basements) and then build the ground floor, then the first floor, and so on. They floors pile up one on top of the other, taking us up and further away from our roots. But this is not sustainable and sooner or later the tower collapses due to its height: it is also necessary to develop the construction on the “horizontal” plane. Something inside me was making “clicks”: when an interpretation touches the right spot it is perceived as a “click” and it is what signals that we are on the right track.
The Maison Dieu teaching
The point is that every subsequent plan we build often neglects the vitality linked to the previous plan, just as my seedlings were suffocated by the topmost flowerpot. And what the Maison Dieu teaches us is to rediscover what is below, to inhabit all the “floors” of our life, not just the last one. It was like saying: you are giving energies only to the last flowerpot (and moreover, not even many since I did not water it!), while you let die the seedlings you had planted before. You tend to repeat the same mistake: the top jar is destined sooner or later to be crushed by a new jar. You have to uncover this tower, destroy it! Free all the plants, even those on the ground floor must see the light of the sun!
Self-analysis of dreams and self-awareness
I was on the right track, but I wasn’t satisfied yet, as in my approach I always try to find practical feedback. In what sense is my life like that pile of jars? What am I neglecting to water? And here is the second decisive “click”. I realized how “monomaniac” I am. I always discover a new interest, a new passion, and I dedicate all my energies to it, until the interest is exhausted. Then I forget it; I discover a new overwhelming passion and again channel all my attention there, and in doing so the previous “plant” withers.
Going deeper into the topic, I discovered that this is a typical problem of the “intuitive” types (I refer to Jung’s theory of psychological types). Understanding it so clearly allowed me to open my eyes and take my countermeasures! You can afford to keep the route you want or always make the same mistakes again, the important thing is to always be fully aware of our choices or not choices!
The theme of the “jars” in dreams can also be approached using the Star and Temperance, with different nuances, but maybe I’ll talk about it in another post.
