I am walking around with a bag in my hand--some kind of plastic atrocity. Within the bag is my head, which I cut off myself. Strange, I still have a head on my shoulders. What a relief! And the new one may even be an improvement, I think. Acquiring the ability to re-grow vital body parts is a plus, too. But we'll see (that is, I won't chop other bits of me off as a test...)

But I must dispose of the old head. My first inclination is to bury it. I'm not guilty, or fearing discovery; I just think people will be slow to believe that it's mine, and delay is a bad idea--the head is decomposing fast. The bag is starting to look a little gross. What if it bursts?

I'm around the bridge that crosses Lake Eucha, less than half a mile from my parents' house. I look out over the water. Someone suggests I throw the head into the lake. I don't want to do that; I worry that it may float and I'd see it. I do NOT want to look in that bag. Ten minutes ago, it felt like a pliant bowling ball; but now it starts feeling like I'm carrying around a bag of rotten vegetables, as if the mold is spreading.

After talking to some stereotypically mafia-esque man, I decide that I should lift the tiles off of a bathroom floor, drill through the concrete foundation, and then bury my head in the dirt. Of course I'd repair the cement and re-tile after burying my head. I mean, I think the bathroom is public...

I occasionally think "I'd like to see my new head." I picture it looking much the same yet somehow more refined, with a decidedly more attractive face. I feel excited and want to look, but I'm relishing the anticipation; I even hold off looking into the water, until I bury the old head. First things first.

NOTES

After turning it over a time or two in my more awake head, I began to piece together a bit o' interpretation. This is one of the more overtly symbolic dreams I have had in a while, and I can't seem to stop thinking about it.

• My mood was anxious but excited, with a dash of incredulous. I was really puzzled by the whole regeneration bit.
• Lately, it seems that my life is at the edge of a dramatic change. I have been stressed by a growing distance between me and some of my best friends. I feel that the philosophies they're adopting clash with mine. There's some tension over the fact that I am not into their lifestyle, but it's probably created mostly by myself. I worry about them. These are some of my closest friends, and I'm the kind of person who doesn't keep too many close. It's definitely added to my daily psychic/emotional stress.
• At the same time, I am obnoxiously in love. I believe I have found the 'man of my dreams' (ha ha) (sorry). There has been talk of marriage. As he is an officer in the Army, we could travel overseas and immerse ourselves in other cultures (something we both crave). I am very excited about this life development, even if it's a little scary. Obviously, change is probably a-comin' in my life (oh, and I graduate with a BS in one school year, yippee!)
• The severed head represents my old ways of thinking and views on life. It could also be my old life in general--if I end up moving to Italy or Japan for a few years, it would be a brutal disconnection from my family and friends (thus the ghastly symbolism of a severed head), whom I depend on a lot more than I let on.
• The bathroom was vivid (I recall how the tiles looked) but I haven't figured out the symbolism

--Ceridwens_descent

EDITOR'S NOTE

Obnoxiously in love, eh? (giggles). Sorry, I just love the phrase. Don't bite my head off!

Ahem, the dream, yes. Yeah, I've had these too--a gruesome, severed something-or-other (some of them painfully intimate something-or-others), that turns out to be a pretty auspicious omen of change when you stop to think about it.

About that bathroom: why do I have the feeling that Ceridwen will marry her guy, get stationed in Italy or Japan , look for off-base housing... and walk into her dream-bathroom halfway round the world? My dreams have played too many jokes of that sort on me, I guess. If my life were a popsong the chorus would be "So much for symbolism."

Oh, well. Off with the old head, on with the new...

--Chris Wayan

World Dream Bank homepage - Art gallery - New stuff - Introductory sampler, best dreams, best art - On dreamwork - Books
Indexes: Subject - Author - Date - Names - Places - Art media/styles
Titles: A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - IJ - KL - M - NO - PQ - R - Sa-Sk - Sl-Sz - T - UV - WXYZ
Email: wdreamb@yahoo.com - Catalog of art, books, CDs - Behind the Curtain: FAQs, bio, site map - Kindred sites