A trained midwife found herself working as a manager for a
large, marijuana-growing establishment. Her experience is described in the
following waking dream.
Her waking dream
“… I decided to take a
job as the fore-woman/manager of a large marijuana growing operation in Sonoma
County. I had a staff of several workers, and things were going well. But one day,
I looked out and saw that the pump house for our well was on fire. I started
yelling at the crew to help me put out the fire. Just as I was getting
everybody together, I looked up and saw that there were state police
helicopters about to land.…We were trying to put out a fire, but I needed to
make sure the whole crew was together so that no one got hurt or implicated in
the police raid. For a while, it was pandemonium with flames and choppers and
people yelling and panicking…no one got arrested. The State Police just made
sure the well was put out of commission. They took our names, gave us a warning
and then let us go…But I was out of a job.”
Important symbols
We isolated the symbols and interpreted them as metaphors.
Tell me about…
* Fore-woman/manager: I
was the one in charge
* Crew: My helpers
* Marijuana:
Medicinally, it’s a painkiller. Recreationally, it just zones you out.
* Pump house: It
protects the water well. It’s important because without water, you can’t grow
marijuana—or anything.
* Fire: Destruction
through heat and flame.
* State police raid:
They wanted to stop us from using water during the drought. They were
trying to protect a scarce resource.
* Helicopters: The
easiest way to get to us—faster and fewer barriers to deal with.
* Pandemonium:
Confusion, fear, disorganization, scattered impulses and actions.
* Out of commission: No
longer functional, dead in the water.
* Warning: Nobody was
punished, just told to stop. We got off easy.
* Out of a job:
Unemployed, no source of income.
Retell the dream
Next, we reassembled the dream using her metaphoric
meanings, and we added phrases as reminders that the symbols are aspects of herself.
There is a part of me
that is in charge of my helpers within myself. Inside of me, I am growing
something that is a painkiller and it just zones me out. Another
thing in me is the substance I use to grow everything inside me (water). I have this
part of me protected and covered. But the protection is destroyed from my own
heat and flame. There isn’t enough of this growing agent inside of me, and part
of me is trying to protect the scarce resource. This protective part of me works
in the fastest way with the fewest barriers to shut everything down. I feel
confusion, fear, disorganization and scattered impulses and actions in me. I’m
no longer functional, dead in the water. No part of me is punished, but I have
no source of income.
Tomorrow
Tomorrow we’ll learn what this poignant message signified to
her.
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