DREAMCATCHER: Alex Hossack and Catherine Aubrey interpret your dreams

Chris’s Dream:

It was a Sunday afternoon and the kids were playing outside in a country park. Stuart, my brother’s partner and I were considering cycling up a hill but it was very muddy and I didn’t think we could do it.

We had a tandem and Stuart kept on encouraging me, saying that we could do it so I went on the front of the bike and he behind. It was a struggle and I still kept thinking we couldn’t make it to the top but Stuart kept on pushing and I began to feel a sense of achievement.

When we eventually got to the top we went into a house and I asked where my brother, his partner, was. Stuart said that he was away on business. I asked if they were getting on ok and he said “no” indicating that they were finished as a couple.

He said he was thinking of going to my mother’s tonight which I found unusual as they do not get on. However, he seemed happy and upbeat and I was pleasantly surprised.

Dream Interpretation:

To dream of riding a bicycle represents the wish to have a sense of freedom without responsibility, which is depicted in the beginning of this dream with the dreamer’s description of a country park. However, the thought of getting on a bike in challenging conditions represents the acknowledgement of a problem or struggle developing that she fears may be difficult to overcome.

Fortunately, the encouragement she feels from friend(s) and companion(s) is positive and so she takes the lead in addressing the issue depicted by her taking the front rider role on the tandem bike. There is some sense of satisfaction achieved about taking on this issue and reaching the goals set out for her which is symbolically represented when she reaches the top of the hill.

However, at this point she receives news of the symbolic split up of Stuart and her brother, but the change in Stuart’s attitude to her mother indicates the possibility of a positive conclusion to this problem.

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.