DREAMCATCHER: Alex Hossack and Catherine Aubrey interpret your dreams

Sam’s Dream:

I hired a small country cottage in England (presently I live abroad). There was a row of six on the edge of the village to choose from.

Kathleen, who has been my friend for 20 years, who lives in America and with whom I have only communicated with but never met face to face, arrived to stay. I was really happy to see her and showed her to her room.

She had a new ring on like an engagement ring that she took off and showed me. I put it in my pocket and proceeded to cook breakfast for us.

Jack, my friend from England, arrived and we played some Hawkwind albums when another girl I knew arrived. I didn’t want her to know Kathleen and I were friends.

Kathleen was a little shy and decided to leave and go back to the USA. I said “oh look, your ring is still in my pocket”. She took it and put it on.

Jack said the cottage was lovely but old and would take some money to fix it up properly. I said to Kathleen that if she wanted to come back to England I would pay for the flights, she replied that we would go 50/50.

I walked her to the village bus where a very young soldier hugged her. I never got time to hug her. The dream ended here.

Dream Interpretation:

This dream is full of vulnerabilities, indecisions, secrets, loss and fear of commitment. The decisions made are of a tentative nature, for example ‘hiring a cottage’ instead of buying.

The theme of ‘arrivals’ is also central and again it could be the return of his own feelings or the return of people from the past. The dreamer may consider who has returned to his life recently.

The dreamer’s ability to communicate with relationships in his past has been sketchy but this could have changed recently. This is indicated by his offer to pay 100 per cent of Kathleen’s air fare to return to England, but only 50 per cent of it being accepted. Thus, the dreamer is in left in a quandary about how much control he can give away and he has to make choices as he ponders whether to make a full commitment to a person or situation.

He becomes distracted and returns to normal activities. This is represented by the offer to cook breakfast after hiding the ring in his pocket, possibly as a distraction as he fears loss and hides his feelings of wanting to make a commitment.

He may be considering whether to revive something that he has kept hidden for a while. This could be activities or feelings and he continues to feel in conflict about multiple issues relating to a situation or person.

In summary, at the end of the dream something needs ‘fixing properly’ before he can feel safe enough to commit himself and move on in his life. There also appears to be an element of age-related fear arising, hence the necessity of returning to Jack and the band Hawkwind, who represent a form of comfort.

However, Jack points out that the dreamer and his relationship(s) or his feelings need to be ‘fixed up’ before he will be capable of moving on.

As the dream ends the dreamer is left feeling a sense of regret for the decisions and actions not taken and he fears it may be too late.

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.