DREAMCATCHER: Alex Hossack and Catherine Aubrey interpret your dreams

Clare’s Dream: I'm in a place that I feel is a theatre and in a play with three other girls that Simon Cowell (X-Factor) is directing.

He's funny. We all had to get ready for dress rehearsals but Simon wanted us to make sure that our 'hearts' were all ok before we could go on the stage.

However, one of the girls said they could not find the heart monitor. I said there was no point testing mine because when I see Simon my heart would be jumping all over the place. He was laughing at the time but this did not make me feel nervous.

I kept trying to find the theatre but could not do it. I had been in a park where there were big snakes with gaping mouths wide open. People were saying not to worry and to ignore them but I wasn't frightened anyway.

Then I was back in the theatre, high up in the rows of theatre boxes. I began sliding down them but was in control and reached the bottom safely. When I came out of the theatre I could not find my way home and I asked a woman who sarcastically said it was 'over there' near the crowds. The dream ended.

Dream Interpretation: When a 'play' is created within a dream it relates to an aspect of life that is particularly relevant at the time of the dream and one that the dreamer is trying to analyse objectively.

The theatre setting represents a social context in which the dreamer is questioning whether she is 'good enough'. This could be related to emerging anxiety about some aspect of her life or her own psychology.

The dream involves circumstances leading up to the play, which suggests preparation for an event which is to be shared with someone else.

Her 'heart jumping all over the place' indicates something exciting is about to happen about which the dreamer is mildly nervous. While sliding down the theatre boxes she remains excited but 'in control' of her emotions, which are grounded.

The representation of snakes suggests the dreamer is attempting to come to terms with the more instinctive and arousing aspects of her personality. This relates to the harnassing of her sexual energy, possibly triggered by the arrival of someone in her life which links to the previously mentioned anxiety about feeling checked out.

Being in an open air venue such as the park suggests that she feels her sexual emotions are on view, that is she may feel they are obvious to others, but she is not too worried.

In summary, throughout the dream there are themes of preparation, the need for direction and failing to reach the end of a journey. In the first part of the dream the dreamer is preparing for something about which she is excited and mildly anxious, but is not disabled by it. She is working through the situation emotionally and psychologically but has had to find her own way through to a conclusion.

If the dreamer would like to provide feedback about the interpretation, please send it to ACDreamcatchers@mail.com.

Interestingly, we have found it is not always possible to interpret your own dream, probably because it often represents the sublimation of feelings or thoughts that we are trying to avoid in our waking lives. However, with a little assistance from the dream interpreter, the symbols and themes can start to make sense and help us to move forward.

If you are interested in having a particular dream analysed, please send us an account of your dream to the following email address: ACDreamcatchers@mail.com We only have space to interpret one dream a week which will be selected from those received. Please refer to the guidance provided to describe your dream as this will enable us to provide a full interpretation.

Guidance for the Dreamer:

• Record your dream in writing as soon as you wake up with as much detail as possible.

• First of all ask yourself who is in the dream.

• Where are you, what is happening to you and what is happening around you?

• Record how you are feeling about what you and/or others are doing.

• Are there particular symbols or objects in the dream that are unusual?

• Are there any sounds and is the dream in colour or black and white?

• Are you watching yourself in the dream or are you experiencing it first-hand ie: through your own eyes.

Alex Hossack and Catherine Aubrey are Public Service professionals with years of experience as practitioners and managers in the Criminal Justice System.