Hoover Dam

[mistyjune]

When I was 10 I had a dream where my dad took my 5th grade class on a field trip to Hoover Dam. In the dream while we were touring the dam I looked over the railing and fell in and down into dam, where there was a big hole under the water or something. I had this dream repeatedly for a few years (and even now I can still visualize it). When I was 14, my dad took me to Hoover Dam. Needless to say I stayed away from the railings. I never had the dream again after that.

[Athanor]

Although it would usually be best to have general background information about the atmosphere of your early years up to about age 14 or so in order to provide a more accurate interpretation of this upsetting childhood dream, it’s possible that you have been moved to find out the meaning of this specific dream because it has come to mind recently in the context of the various dreams which have been appearing.

For example, the basic theme of anxiety and worry which appears in the Hoover Dam dream also appears in the war-related dream.

It’s of course very likely that around age 10, you saw a TV program or photographs of the dizzying height of Hoover Dam along with the gigantic amounts of water that it was holding back. Pictures of the spillways and hydro-electric-related tunnels probably rounded out the overall powerful impact on you of this immense dam.

Dreams speak by using analogies, so perhaps the image of Hoover Dam became an appropriate image to appear any time that you were faced with challenges and situations which caused any very strong doubts and worries.

That’s because water often symbolizes emotions and perhaps you were a child who tended to “dam up” feelings of fear etc. and didn’t express them very much if at all.

If so, even at this early age, the repeating dream might have been pointing out that not somehow facing and expressing scary emotions etc. would tend to cause them to “back up”, leading perhaps to “falling into” them and being “sucked down” by the powerful strength of such feelings.

In this approach to the dream, your dad would have symbolized the “wisdom” of seeing such a situation and how it was best to face fears head-on as you moved ever more steadily out into the world of interactions with others and the various challenges which would appear.

Perhaps visiting the dam at age 14 when you stayed back from the railings (in reality, understandable for people of any age) sort of “decommissioned” the dream from being very useful as an analogy because nothing bad really did happen like “falling in” at the outer dam.

Your recent dream of setting off for the prom places you back in your teen years, perhaps suggesting that sometimes, like everyone else, you tend to develop a kind of “adolescent” attitude about certain issues.

For example, you might be tending to ignore certain developing matters in favor of living in a sort of romantic haze of thinking that says “everything will turn out all right” (enjoying kissing the boy, being in bed with your formal clothes on).

This state of mind might hark back to earlier years of the Hoover Dam dream when you were understandably afraid as a child to face certain strong anxieties.

The same general theme turns up in your other dream of being back in high school walking hand in hand with a friend.

The area is “dim”, that is, there apparently is a certain lack of awareness again about an underlying situation.

In outer life, you used to sometimes walk hand in hand with this boy but never dated, so it’s possible that the dream is using an analogy to suggest a kind of “incompleteness” in the relationship with your inner so-called “masculine” side.

For example, a male in the dreams of a woman usually symbolizes such aspects of herself as critical thinking, focus and assertiveness for example. His action and appearance in the context of a dream or better yet, in a series of dreams, can provide the dreamer with an idea of how this side of her is performing overall in general terms.

For instance, if collectively held opinions and beliefs about “what the right thing to do is in this or that situation” are substituted too often for the individual’s really focusing on the facts of her actual circumstances, then inappropriate decisions can be made over time, gradually leading to growing inner conflict and serious doubts (the war) about one’s basic lifestyle situation, even though at first certain fixed opinions and ideas can create a feeling of certainty and suppress any upsetting doubts and worries.

The dream seems to show that you possibly might be relying on certain beliefs and opinions which almost magically rescue you from the violent and dangerous situation of having to take risks in your life or to face some painful realities (the boy easily gets you away from the conflict).

The clue about an underlying problem to this way of approaching various situations is the fact that you are shown as being totally calm and unafraid, the exact opposite to what you would feel in such circumstances.

So in this approach to your dream, it would be trying to show that you possibly SHOULD be afraid of certain anxieties and doubts etc. that may tend to “break out” over time if a perhaps more individual approach to what you’re doing with your life isn’t taken.

Anyway, these are just some thoughts about your dreams which might not fit your personal circumstances very well, but if anything seems to click, you might like to read Marion Woodman’s “Conscious Femininity” or some of her other books that touch on the inner masculine figure who appears in the dreams of women.

[shadowofwind]

This may not be very relevant or helpful, but to me the dam is a metaphor for control or suppression of reproductive power. When I saw the first Transformers movie, and the dangerous/evil power was frozen inside the Hoover dam, it fit so well it was beautiful.

[mistyjune]

[quote="Athanor"]That’s because water often symbolizes emotions and perhaps you were a child who tended to “dam up” feelings of fear etc. and didn’t express them very much if at all.If so, even at this early age, the repeating dream might have been pointing out that not somehow facing and expressing scary emotions etc. would tend to cause them to “back up”, leading perhaps to “falling into” them and being “sucked down” by the powerful strength of such feelings......"

I didn't want to leave your whole response when responding but thought what you said made a lot of sense. I used to think the reason I had the dream and then stopped after visiting the dam was because it was telling me to be careful when I went. But what you said also makes sense. My childhood was a long time ago it feels but I do remember many things- we were taught to suppress our emotions a lot, especially by my mom. When I was 10 two important people (my paternal grandpa and my teacher) died and again the response was that I was to suppress my sadness over missing them and it is the first conflict I remember having in relation to the set of beliefs I was being raised with. It was highly frowned upon to grieve, instead we were supposed to be happy those people had "moved on". I thought it was wrong to equate missing someone and downplaying the grieving process in lieu of the beliefs held as to what happened after they died.

You said so much more, and tied my dreams together in a way I never really thought about before. I had tried looking up the different symbols but of course trying to make a dream make sense to an individual is not always as simple and I'm still very new to actually trying to evaluate my dreams. I've had a few that really stick out to me, I haven't shared them all just this one and the recent ones. Now I think I'm going to write them all down and look at it with your response here with this different perspective. Thanks

[mistyjune]

This may not be very relevant or helpful, but to me the dam is a metaphor for control or suppression of reproductive power. When I saw the first Transformers movie, and the dangerous/evil power was frozen inside the Hoover dam, it fit so well it was beautiful.

It is a beautiful metaphor. Who knows? It may have been as simple as a metaphor for my reproductive state, since all those fun feminine issues started at almost 14. Both these responses are really awesome perspectives. I am really enjoying hearing how people interpret dreams.

[mistyjune]

Since we talked about ALL the dreams I've posted on this site here already I figured I'djust add these other two dreams that I remember really well. Funny how other dreams come up once we really start thinking things mean something. Anyway-
1. Before I even had entertained the notion of having sex I ihad had a few sex dreams, some with people I remember. I chalk that up to teenage hormones of course. But I had this one dream, before I had ever been close to having sex or thinking about doing it (like years before) and so of course I obviously wasnt' pregnant at the time but I had this dream where I was pregnant. I was lying inthe hospital bed staring at the monitor with the picture of the unborn baby in my uterus up on it, just watching it and crying. I was crying because I was losing the baby. I was watching the baby that I was told was dying. I kind of felt in the dream like I had had to make the decision, a kind of take the dr advice about the baby or neither me or the baby were going to survive but I was alone in the room in my dream so no one actually told me that in the dream. I was just sad, staring at the monitor of the baby that was not going to be born, and just crying over it. It was such a dark image and stuck with me.
2. I had a dream during the first few months of living with my now-husband. I had a dream I was walking out of WalMart and my ex came up angry at me and grabbed me from behind. I was trying to fight him off. Unfortuantely, I can't remember much more about that dream because I wake up when I move in my sleep and in my dream I was trying to hit him off me with my elbows, and I was doing that in my sleep and was hitting the man who is now my husband. Whenever I move or talk in my sleep it wakes me up because I am a light sleeper. Lucky me my husband was very nice and calm, he just asked me if I was dreaming and if I was ok. I remember feeling a mix of fear and anger in the dream as well as determination to get away.

[mistyjune]

And it seemed that my ex was trying to force me to go with him. Kind of like kidnapping

[shadowofwind]

Probably stating the obvious....An implication of the second image is that the thoughts and feelings you developed during previous relationships can adversely affect your relationship with your husband. There are probably also things about your husband that are like your previous boyfriend, which he is a symbol for.

I have had strong feelings of being pregnant and miscarrying, though I am a man. I don't find this strange, since with one X chromosome men are modified women. I also had a dream experience with my daughter before she was conceived. Its clear to me that these experiences aren't entirely 'pretend', even though it can be difficult to understand where they come from and how they tie in with a person's life.