As promised here is my translation, from a template I created in Open Office. If there’s a way to send files to anyone around here I can send this template in Open Office or Word format:
[code]Step One – What Do I Know That I Don’t Know I Know
What am I feeling?
Not much of anything – maybe a little happy.
As I think about my Dream do any images come to mind?
I see the dirty Tidy Cat container very clearly, as well as the strange two cylinders with one higher than the other.
Do I have any idea what my Dream is about?
Well I think it might have something to do with dad’s birthday that day.
Step Two – Summarize Your Actions
What was I doing in my Dream?
Spray painting two cakes
Describe my Dream in the third person as though it were a story.
A man and his father are preparing to spray paint their birthday cakes. The father puts the mixture together in a large, Tidy Cat container. The son sprays paint each of their cake’s, starting with his father’s. His father’s hands are also spray painted in the process and his fingers are stuck together.
What is the story or plot line? Try to put it in one or two sentences.
A man spray paints both his father’s and his own birthday cakes.
Step Three – Perform a Reality Check
Is it possible that my Dream can be played out in waking life?
No. As far as I know you can’t spray paint frosting on a cake, and even if you could we don’t have the equipment here. It is possible we could make and decorate some cakes, but highly unlikely.
Are the actions in my Dream similar to any situation in waking life?
No, although I could be covering something up or trying to decorate something in waking life.
Are the feelings in my Dream similar to anything in waking life?
I don’t seem to have many feelings in dreams, but in waking life I deal with a variety. There is some happiness, just as I think there was in the dream.
Step Four – Find the Focal Point
What stands out?
The Tidy Cat plastic container. The liquid inside. Two cakes.
What is not clear?
My feelings. The cakes themselves. The spray device we used.
What doesn’t fit or make sense?
The dirty Tidy Cat container, why we would even have one when we have never used one, spray painting frosting from it, burnished bronze or gold frosting coming from a disgusting, watery liquid. Why there are two cakes when it’s only one birthday.
Step Five – Define The Symbols
What is a plastic Tidy Cat container?
A storage receptacle, a jug, something in which something can be mixed or stored, something which can be cleaned and re-used, something associated with something gross (cat litter) but is usually clean itself. Something rejected, put into storage for later use and dug out when needed.
A watery disgusting liquid?
Something useless, something inert, something which when applied in a positive, constructive way can do something good
A Birthday cake?
Something I shouldn’t eat but will because I like it. Something that signifies an important day in someone’s life.
What does a plastic Tidy Cat container bring to mind?
Cat litter, garbage
The watery, disgusting liquid?
A skill
A birthday cake?
Something sweet. A birthday.
What are my associates or experiences with a plastic Tidy Cat container?
None. I have never used that brand or type of cat littler.
A watery, disgusting liquid?
I think of the flood in Clatskanie, how I saw the water I had been working in after I discovered that some sewage was in it. I also think of paint (or perhaps ink?)
A birthday cake?
They have always brought me joy and happiness and I have always enjoyed eating some. I also think of special occasions.
Is there are part of me like a plastic Tidy Cat container?
I imagine so, that there are parts of me I have rejected or put into storage, which I feel are garbage but which can still be used. Parts of me that need to be dug out and cleaned off. Parts of me that can produce something beautiful even if what’s inside is not. Parts of me that can affect my father in whatever way his hands (work, I think dad’s hand represent his work) represent.
A disgusting, watery liquid?
Yes, there are skills, talents and abilities I have rejected or neglected.
A cake?
Yes, there are aspects of my personality which are sweet, which have brought me and others happiness and joy, which in a sense only come out on special occasions.
Step Six – Unlocking The Dream’s Message
Rewrite the Dream Story using the new meanings.
Dad and I want to cover our birthdays with a large part of someone which we dug out of one of us. Dad pours in a skill. I look down inside it and I see the skill and notice how dirty that large part is on the outside. Then I start covering dad's birthday with the skill. I cover the whole birthday with the skill including dads work which he has placed on his birthday. The birthday and dad's work are now hidden, and dad's work is affected. Dad pulls his work away from his birthday. Next I cover my own birthday.
At some point in the dream there is an image or something about keeping one end higher than the other in regards to the mixture. I see a picture of two black cylinders or something, the one on the right is higher than the one on the left. I ignored this for some reason because I was using the large part of someone.
On last scene here, I'm not sure if it's related or part of a transition. It's of some boys around a van. One of them is quoting something I take to be scripture, something about red ink.
- I think this is a possible legal warning. I get the feeling we have to be careful of the law if we do whatever this dream is signifying we are doing.
What is my Dream trying to tell me?
- Dad worked on his birthday (hands on the cake)
- I wrote all day on dad’s birthday after I got up around 12:00 PM or so (covering his cake – his birthday, with the frosting – my skill).
- Some aspect of my ability to write came from my father (poured a liquid into a container)
- I see my ability to write as useless. It’s too hard to find an agent, to get published. Books take a lot of time to write, and they have to be a certain length. My feelings towards my ability to write colors my perception of my ability (the watery, disgusting liquid)
- Dad pulling his hands away after I have covered them with my skill might mean that he can’t work, or that he simply chooses not to work because he doesn’t have to anymore.
- The Tidy Cat plastic container could represent that aspect of me who is a writer, and in which is stored my ability to write which dad has given me. The fact I have never used such a container might mean that this is a way in which I have never used my writing ability.
- The watery, disgusting liquid could represent ink, which leads back to writing, and the sewage part of it could represent garbage, how I felt that all my writing efforts in the past are garbage. The Tidy Cat plastic container which represents my writing self is not garbage though, it can be cleaned off and re-used for a new purpose, something for which I have never before used it.
- It seems to me that dad may have moved his hands away from his cake after I had sprayed my own cake. This could mean that if I continue to use this ability I have dug out of storage through my birthday he won’t have to work on his next birthday.
- This dream could very well be encouraging me to keep writing on the book I just officially started, on dad’s birthday.
- This dream could also be telling me that if I continue writing through and on my birthday I will have a special occasion to celebrate, perhaps the finishing of the book, perhaps finding an agent or publisher.
- This dream may also be telling me I have to write consistently through my birthday, starting with dad’s birthday. It may mean every day, or it could mean that I just keep at it regardless of what days I write.
- The two cylinders may mean that the days that I write (the right cylinder) must be more than the days I don’t right (not right = left). If this is true then it is most also likely that I have to heed the warning and keep the mixture right, ignoring the large something.
- It seems to me as I think about this that the warning is not to get confident in the simple fact that I’m writing, as if that alone is good enough because it isn’t. I must be sure that I spend the proper amount of time and effort writing at all times.
- Another possible interpretation here is that I focus more on spending time writing (right cylinder) than worrying about how many words are left before I meet my word count goal (left cylinder.)
- For some reason it was important for me to start my book on dreams on dad’s birthday and that’s why I had this dream the night before.
- More work on this is needed. I feel like I may still be missing a few things.
What is my Dream’s message?
If what I think and feel are correct here, and I have interpreted this correctly, than I am basically being told to continue writing my book on dreams and it will be worth it.
What my Dream’s moral? See if I can sum it up in a saying or short poem.
The most valuable treasures,
Are the hidden, unused and rejected,
Skills, abilities and talents,
Hidden deep within yourself.
Step Seven – Applying The Dream Message
Is there any urgency to my Dream?
Yes. I have to start my book on dreams on my dad’s birthday and write through my own birthday. If I do this then my dad will no longer have to work, maybe even as soon as my own birthday, which means my efforts be worth it.
How can I apply my Dream to waking life?
I need to continue writing my book on dreams. I need to be sure that I focus merely on writing it and that I don’t worry about the word count. I need to be sure that I never feel simply writing it is enough and slack off, ignoring the proper levels. I must spend more time writing it than not writing it.[/code]
What I feel I’m missing here is the intended meaning and identity of the liquid, the frosting, the Tidy Cat container, and the image of the cylinders. It’s hard to explain, but as you read the translation it should become clear what I’m missing.
Your thoughts and help are greatly appreciated!
