DREAMCATCHER: Alex Hossack and Catherine Aubrey interpret your dreams

Barbra’s Dream:

I was out with Chloe my sister, my mother and possibly my partner Andy, somewhere in a suburban area. We were going home.

They drove in a car and I said I would walk on my own to a place a bit further along where they could pick me up.

Mum lent me her brolly because it was raining lightly.

It was daytime as I walked past a couple of boys sitting outside a shop. They jumped up and wacked my brolly. He also gave me a shove and when I looked the brolly was broken and the material had come away from the spokes/frame.

I said to them “why did you do that ... you’ve broken it”. They laughed. One was younger than the other.

People started gathering around as I started to confront the boys but they didn’t say anything, just carried on laughing. I said I would take a photograph and call the police because it was criminal damage and started to get my camera out.

I can’t remember if they stayed but a man came over and said he could fix the brolly. I was upset because it was mum’s brolly and she had lent it to me and I thought that she might be annoyed it was broken.

He took it into a room. I was there and still explaining that it was criminal damage. Andrew, my partner, came in as the young man was fixing it. The young man said: “They did it because they said she is beautiful, if she had been ugly, they would not have bothered”.

Dream Interpretation:

This dream relates to the dreamer returning to old territory ie returning to past unresolved problems in her life. This is indicated at the start of the dream with her going back home and feeling alone without protection until she is eventually left feeling frustrated and insecure.

The umbrella presented in the dream is representative of ‘protection, shelter’ or some sort of sanctuary.

Any problems with this sort begin as we mature and develop coping skills, which are represented in imagery by a ‘protective covering’, inferring power and safety.

However, in the case of this dream the ‘protective cover’ has been damaged, which has left the dreamer frustrated, promoting a sense of feeling alone with a lack of care. This is represented by the boys continuously laughing at her which she feels is unjust.

Nevertheless, she has maintained optimism for the future with the appearance of the younger man, who states that he can repair the problem represented in his statement about ‘fixing the brolly’. This is accompanied by the appearance of her partner at the end of the dream.

The positive statement made about her being beautiful may represent the possibility that there is something better on the cards.

In summary, the dreamer has returned to a problem she has had before except this time she either accepts the situation as it is, or believes there will be changes about to occur in the future.

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.