This morning in the midst of a nightmare, I achieved lucidity, as I am wont to do in the midst of nightmares. Something about the absurdity strikes me as so irrational I realize it must be a dream, allowing me to wake myself from the unpleasantness.
I dreamt there were snakes crawling into my body through my feet. At one point my feet were stuck together by these awful things worming their way inside of me. I tried pulling them apart like the two pieces of bread stuck together by a stringy mash of melted cheese. Once I was free to walk, I found a doctor, a beautiful woman in all white, she stayed calm and pulled from a jar a glowing white worm which she told me to swallow. She said its presence would “overwhelm” the others and they would leave. Then she held a lantern up to my body and my skin appeared transparent, revealing the squirming shadows inside of me, writhing around in my legs and sides, but she said, “It’s okay, they won’t harm the baby.” At this I realized there was something small growing in my womb, it rested peacefully, unaware of what was going on all around.
Soon, these snakes began coming out of my every orifice. The beautiful doctor stood behind me as she pulled them from my body, and I was calm and not afraid, though also not fully present as I put all my faith in her. Then she told me, calmly she told me, “grab that one and pull it out” and I suddenly saw a tiny hissing snake head before my eyes, emerging from my mouth. I grabbed and pulled on it, but it bit my hand. “Smash your fist into the wall” she told me, still calm, and I did as she said. It was just after this that I became lucid to the dream state and I took it all in for one more moment before opening my eyes.
Most people wake from nightmares upset, but I was delighted! What a dream to interpret! What a wonderful gift from my subconscious!!!
THE INTERPRETATION:
The snakes: I kept referring to them as snakes in the dream, but in fact they were parasites. I once watched an episode of House where he made mention to these parasites that live in desert sands, and if you walk over them barefoot they will crawl into your body through your feet. This information was filed away into my brain and therefore accessible as material for dreamstuff.
Those parasites are all the bad feelings, all the toxic feelings that have been feeding on me, depleting me, stealing my energy, all those parasitic things, etc.
And what’s more—“everyone in your dream is you.” That’s a staple of dream interpretation. This beautiful doctor, she is me! My inner strength. The one telling me, “No, these feelings don’t have to be inside of you.” Remaining calm and positive in the face of a troubling situation, shining her light and making me transparent, seeing, not ignoring but acknowledging the bad things inside of me and casting them out.
And the baby? My future self, perhaps? My better self? Rebirth and all that. Becoming a better person, growing, changing, ridding myself of what’s unwanted and nurturing and protecting that which is.
In light of recent events, this nightmare gives me great hope.
