The slanting autumn sun got me musing today about light, and the meaning of light in dreams. I’ve noticed that when creative dreamers are struggling, stuck, blocked, frustrated, screaming, or banging their heads against the wall, their dreams tend to be set at night, or in dark rooms, or in other dim places.
Goethe’s last words (“do open the window so that more light can enter”) are used as a metaphor for understanding: when we “let in the light,” we bring awareness to whatever is vexing us, inside or out.
Notice the presence and absence of light in your next several dreams. For a hint about what you may need to bring awareness to in your life and self, explore where light is absent: are certain places dimmer than others across several dreams? Do they share a common theme: a relationship, activity, or point in your life that needs more clarity and consideration?
Sometimes we have dreams in which the light is staggering. We are transfixed by the brightness of the world — the sun sprinkling the woods, tiptoeing over the waves. Do the places where there is lots of light have anything in common? Those might be the “places” in your life and in yourself that you know most about and nourish you best.
Next time, dreams and darkness (it is October, after all!). Until then, sweet dreams…