Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Why Elephants?
After weeks of being unable, upon awakening, to recall the merest shred of dream and worrying that this inability signaled the beginning of general memory loss (does our age have any greater personal fear?), I have been happy the last two mornings to have carried a few images into my first conscious moments of the day. The images are not important in themselves; it is remembering them that is important. Today, for instance, I remember a mother elephant and her child, separated from one another in a large, abandoned garden surrounding an old mansion. "Why elephants?" my friend Laurie would ask, wanting to find significance for the dreamer in the dream. Why indeed? There was an elephant in one of my dreams the night before, also. All I can say is that as last night's little one trotted anxiously about the garden, looking for its mother, its ears flapped up and down in the most adorable way, just as my Nikki's ears (much smaller) used to do when she trotted around the yard here at our old farmhouse. And the night before, besides the elephant, there was a little black dog in my dream. The comfort in this is that as long as my memory serves me, my dear dog will continue to be with me in spirit.
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5 comments:
Lucky you! I consistently dream of shame and humiliation, the disapproval of my family, being fired by my boss, being lost and confused. This despite what feels to me like a great day-time life and good-enough self-esteem.
Perhaps you are equating elephants with Republicans and deciding a new Republican president (as far-fetched as that seems) wouldn't be all bad. But it's more likely the mother in you is remembering the primal -- and animalistic, because we're animals -- satisfaction of that role.
I was waiting at the counter of Barb's Bakery this morning for my coffee when the book title DON'T THINK OF AN ELEPHANT came into my head, and I exclaimed aloud, "Oh, no!" But I don't think the animals in my dreams were partisan. And yesterday was my son's birthday, too.
I have an insight into "Why Elephants:"
Elephants are associated with long memory. You've been worried about YOUR memory (dreams, faculties), symbolized by the little e. searching for the big e. Your happiness at finding that you've "still got it" is represented by your delight at the flapping e. ears reminding you of Nikki's flapping ears as she ran; delight at seeing Nikki again = delight at finding your memory again.
This is my opinion, with which I opine, and it is mine, and therefore opined by me [as my s-in-law Susan would express it].
Glad your dreams are still accessible!
Love,
L.
Love the imagery of the elephants, whatever they may represent. And I think Laurie's opinings may have some merit!
I've heard that animals who visit in dreams are spirit guides. Elephants are stoic, familial and enduring. Maybe *your* elephant is guiding you through or showing you something with those qualities.
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