DREAMS

The examples given below are actual dreams to illustrate different qualities of a dream's lysis.  As a learning aid, we will correlate a dream's lysis to each of the three astrological houses: the 4th, 8th and 12th Houses, (see illustration below).  It must be said however that this is not an attempt to fit the meaning of a dream's lysis into an astrological framework.  Rather, we are utilizing astrology to help us understand the scenes, people or qualities present at a dream's ending.  This can assist the dreamer to resolve the dream's overall symbolic or literal meaning.

In 'Flat Tires', the dream ended with the dreamer stepping out of her car and seeing her car's four flat tires.  No resolution to that dilemma was indicated in the dream.  A crisis soon followed in her waking life.  Dreams often end this way, with the dream ego in some sort of surprising or uncomfortable situation which feels unresolved, unfinished or all too familiar.  It's the ego's task then to respond to the question or situation as indicated by the dream's symbolic or literal message.  An example:

'An unknown man is giving me money.  I pretend to act surprised, but really I’m not.'

Here, a question is posed in order to uncover the dreamer's real, or authentic, feelings about accepting what apparently seems to be a gift.  In his own work on the dream, it soon became apparent to him that he was able to recognize his own false sense of humility in his waking life, and how this, in turn, had its own negative financial consequences.  The dream's lysis attempts to correct this blind spot from the perspective of his own 'unknown man', his own shadow.

Lysis' of a Fourth House Nature
Compensation of a conscious view is an attempt to widen the perceptual field of the ego.  It's a very common theme within most dreams.  For example, dreaming of a person who is much more important than you had consciously assessed him or her to be is a simple form of compensation, correcting a conscious level view of that person--provided that a subjective level interpretation of that person is most appropriate.  A dream's lysis may also comment on the need to correct for a lack of emotional awareness or sensitivity in the dreamer.  In another example,

'My car is teetering on the edge of a cliff, but I remain calm.  Then I wake up.'

Given that the dreamer's ego-image is one of calm, controlled or overly organized response to daily living, the above interpretation would be valid.  This is another blind spot that may result in harm to her physical body if she loses her 'balance.'

Being or acting in ways that are foreign to us, or utilizing capacities in our dreams that we do not see ourselves as possessing consciously can be indications that our Guiding Self is attempting to tell us something that we do not know about ourselves, but are free to go in that direction, and perhaps should develop.  Dream imagery originates from a deeper place than our ego, even though the development of those dream images may not be 'good' for our present state of mind or health it may be a step toward our own individuation.  What is healthy for one dominant ego-image at a particular life stage may be decidedly unhealthy for the next one.  In other words, the health of the ego and the process toward individuation is not always aligned, and this change can be prefigured in our dreams.  (Individuation is usually termed as being a dynamic and cooperative relationship between the conscious and unconscious minds; it usually leads a person to a conscious realization of their own unique emotional, physical and psychological reality.  This path is usually fraught with difficult experiences as one battles not only with one's previous inner constitutional states but with consensus reality in general).  We all have dreams that in fact comment on such transitions; that we have reached the end of one road and will soon begin to walk down another.  Common motifs are crossing bridges, traveling on new roads, entering foreign cities, discovering strange landscapes, building a new house, etc.  For example,

'I'm walking through my neighborhood.  I don't recognize any of the houses, but I'm curious and just keep walking anyway.'

Sensitivity to the changes in scenery or landscape, or even new people who catch our imaginations in terms of their dress, mannerisms, etc., may be telling us that we're closing one chapter in our lives and entering a new one.  And with it the previous ego-image must go as well.

Lysis' of a Eighth House Nature
The 8th House alludes to a symbolic death and rebirth process inherent in any psychological development.  The old ego-image must 'die' and either be contained, captured, or killed in order to enable the creation and discovery of a newly felt identity.  That which the ego-image does not allow into its self-concept or reality concept (which is sometimes a result of past conditioning and habitual habit patterns) will often result in the experience of repeating dreams, (8th House) with little or no variation, occurring over years--even decades, after the original trauma or shock to the ego.  Here's an example of an endless repetitive impasse as clearly indicated within this dream's lysis.

'We are to be buried underneath the grain, but I jump out take him by the hand and walk out, and the whole action starts all over again and again.'

The dream action seems to imply that the refusal to let herself be buried, or killed, leads to an endless repetitive impasse.  Mythology has entered the picture here as the granary was frequently the place where the year king accepted death in order to ensure rebirth: the growth of new crops.

Being bitten by various animals in our dreams is also a common form of initiation from which one should neither identify nor flee.  These events often abruptly end the dream as we all know; it's too frightening or painful to stick around!  The offending animal or figure usually wishes us no harm.  It's more likely that some sort of union or relationship (8th House) is desired but we are, however, repulsed.  Mythology is rife with such juxtapositions of good and evil, beauty and the beast, etc.  We need to begin to relate to the 'offending figure,' to find out what it wants; to understand its motives.  A fairly solid psychological maxim goes something like this:  If you're not running away or scared from something on the inner level, its corresponding form in your waking life won't scare you away either.  A different approach to the same idea says that if it's not a reality on an inner level it won't last long exposed to the pressures existent in one's waking life.  Doing dream work from these perspectives, keeping these ideas in mind when we feel threatened by 'hostile' forces, may be a key to help us to solve a variety of 'mysteries.'  We begin with the dreamer's own personal, subjective associations to the imagery.  Then, if it is relevant, amplifications could be added linking the animal, human or 'demon' to mythological story lines and outcomes.

Lysis' of a Twelfth House Nature
As we move symbolically into the 12th House from the 8th, we come to a fork in the road.  On one road, a 12th House lysis will offer what is potentially available as an answer or resolution (12th House) to a challenge or problem, showing a way out of the impasse.  Responding to the dream's lysis will often address a requirement of growth or evolution in the dreamer's waking life.  We may be free to take this road as we pay special attention to the end, or the last scene of a dream, as we make a sincere attempt to understand the role that our own Guiding Self plays in our dreams and thus our lives.  For example,

'A carpenter brings me a new boat to repair, assuring me I can do the work in my shop.'

Since the dreamer was unsure of his potential, skeptical about the outcome, and had a positive relationship to the carpenter, the dream is an assurance of the success of the task.  This dream's lysis is also compensating the dreamer's conscious view of his own capabilities.

The 12th House also represents one's own self undoing, either through inattention, by neglect or simply turning one's back on valuable but unrecognized aspects of oneself.  Even so, they will often reappear in one's dreams as 'enemies' whose hostile actions seem unjustified or without cause.  Sometimes we have to employ 'dream logic' to give ourselves the key to free ourselves from our own self-imposed prisons.  For example,

'I'm covered in bugs.  I'm terrified but I don't move.'

When asked how she would behave if that had happened in her waking life, (applying logic to the situation in her dream) her response was much different than how she behaved in her dream, as expected.  Her personal associations to the bugs made it clear to her what the dream meant and what it required of her in her waking life.  It was the last bug dream she's had.

On the other hand, sometimes we encounter an impasse in the dream's lysis which does not suggest nor show us that there is any way to resolve the situation.  Sometimes one must simply wait, watch and trust--often for similar themes or people which reappear in later dreams.  Support of this process is an important ingredient in the transformation of the psyche.  At other times we are not meant to 'do' anything but to encounter the problem or situation symbolized in the dream in waking life, and then deal with it as best we can.  There are times when it seems that this was the intent of some lysis' all along.

Since nearly all dreams are said to have a prospective function and role; any lysis may comment on one of many possible futures for the dreamer.  Therefore, a 12th House lysis can lead us out of our own self-exile, patterns of self undoing or waking life inexperience as we approach the lysis from various points of view, as illustrated here.

Finally, solving a problem only in dream is not sufficient.  An equivalent activity in waking life must still follow.  It requires our living with the images and attempting to work with them in daily life.  Experimenting with the dream's message contained in the lysis is to carry the emotional and spiritual wisdom, with the help of the three astrological water houses up from below, to renew our lives.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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Spiritus Creative Services was founded in 2000 by Charles Shaw, an author living in Chicago.  A graduate of Boston University with degrees in Literature, Psychology and Creative Writing, Charles' work focuses on ontological themes such as Jungian Individuation, Humanism, Synchronicity, and Existentialism: the enigmatic meanderings of the Mind, Body & Soul.  He is a staff writer for J. Harrison's nationally syndicated radio show Reality Check and has published a number of freelance articles.  His has recently completed his first novel, Unfinished Portraits (excerpts) which is planned for a 2001 publication. Aside from his large body of fiction and essay, Charles has worked extensively writing and directing film and theatre, and in propagating reform in the treatment of Addiction and Mental Illness.

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