Dream Analysis for Sand Tray Therapy Class Sandtray

by Sand Tray Therapy Student
(Decatur, GA)

This was the dream for dream analysis that I described in last week's sand tray therapy class, rather than the dream I put in the sandtray last week.

In the dream, which has recurred twice over the past 2 years, I know I have been asleep in my own bed, but I wake up somewhere else. The first time I had the dream, I woke up at my ex's house. The second time, I woke up at the hair salon that I use. Both places were welcoming to me.

But during the dream, I am absolutely certain that it is not a dream--that's what sets this dream apart from others--the absolute certainty.

I keep asking everyone how I got there, but no one really answers that question. At the beauty salon, however, Connie, my hairdresser, keeps telling me that the answers lie within me. Then my younger son, Danny, is there. He shows me a picture of a refugee girl, kind of like the one in National Geographic a long time ago--the girl from Afghanistan. He tells me the answers are in the picture.

When I wake up and realize it is just a dream, I am sad. There is this longing that goes with the dream.

In my sandtray, I made a river down the middle. If the water symbolizes mother, then my mother is pretty small in the tray. That means to me that she is not a mother who I would have felt safe confiding in her. The bridge symbolizes the dream itself. On one side of the river is my bed with the cat, though I really have a dog. The cat symbolizes my pet.

The seashell symbolizes me. Interestingly, though I chose the shell, because it has another matching half to put on the other side of the river, shells symbolize my inner desire to be sheltered, nourished and protected from life's problems. It also can indicate that I am closing myself off emotionally. That describes me perfectly.

On the other side of the river are symbols of the places I end up without knowing how. The Playmobil Indian is my son, Danny. He looks like a Native American with his chiseled features and long, beautiful hair. Indians, as dream symbols, can symbolize wisdom. I do see Danny as having wisdom; he is an old soul.

The pink chair, the blue flower, and dresser symbolize the hair salon and Connie, the hairdresser. The shell is me, again. The empty vessel (green) are unanswered questions for me. The lion symbolizes my ex. He used to carry around this lion picture, whereby the female lion was bullying the male lion. He really believed that was what male/female relationships were about.

I think the dream analysis means that I want to get back to where I was before my ex and I broke up, and I do not know how. Notice how much more decorative the landscape on the other side of the river is. I really did shut myself off emotionally after the breakup.