ABOUT CARS SWEPT AWAY BY FLOOD

 

Frannie from Wisconsin sent me this dream for interpretation.

 

It was raining and I was at a family gathering.  We had gotten together to meet in some big building somewhere.  My Mini was parallel-parked against a big muddy hillside on the left.  Water was seeping into the car.  I was sopping a little bit up at a time with a paper towel.  I looked to see where it was coming from and saw that there was a lot more water coming.  My sister had been driving it and had parked next to this cliff that had major runoff. 

 

Your car is symbolic of your persona when you have someplace to go (a goal to be achieved) and represents your attitude in the journey.  Your car being a “Mini” suggests that you don’t like to make a big drama of your personal goals (i.e. driving a limo would suggest dramatic and memorable expectations of the results).  Minis are small and functional and emits more of a “let’s-get-the-job-done-and-move-on” kind of outlook.

 

Heavy rain usually suggests an event which generates deep emotional reactions.  If the rain is relatively normal, it could suggest the event is routine and ultimately becomes cleansing in some way for all those present in the dream.  A paper towel would be a cleanup equivalent to some “wiping away” of certain words said which might have caused pain.

 

In this case, where a car is getting flooded with a major runoff, we can assume that the emotional event is inviting major painful responses from the participants.  The fact that it is Frannie’s sister who parks the car near the hillside downpour suggests that it might be this sister who does something or says something which triggers the downpour of emotions.

 

The water was pouring into the car.  I got in to move it and my control started getting away from me.  I couldn’t maneuver the car and soon I was swept into the flowing river with it.  I don’t remember getting out of the car, but the next thing I remember was swimming upstream, pulling the car, thinking, “This is a light car, I can do this.”  But it was an impossible task with the current against me.  Then the car came apart and I was just holding the back panel and the car itself immediately sunk.  I thought- this is ok, I can get my family and neighbors to help me.

 

This is a warning dream from Frannie’s psyche.  It warns that an event will occur which causes dramatic emotional reactions… not from Frannie herself, who believes herself strong enough to deal with things, but from those in her immediate environment.  At first, she believes she can make things right, despite the odds against it.  But things get out of hand and she ends up trying to manipulate events which are way beyond her control.  It is an “impossible task” to manipulate people to feel things against their nature.  But Frannie is a courageous and heroic thinker.  Thinking she can “drag” a car against the normal flow of events with sheer muscle power is like Atlas pushing a boulder up a mountain.  Even though she’s essentially lost her “vehicle” of progress towards her end goal, she thinks she can still make things right with the help of family and neighbors.

 

I went up to the building on the hill and told my family what had happened.  The guys acted like jerks.  They were making light of it and blaming me for not knowing how to drive.  I said, “Fu*k you all!”, and left.  Then I went back to specify that that comment was only for the guys and not my sisters.

 

She’s heroic and quite disarming.  Even in a deep emotional response of anger and hurt, she still has the kindness to clarify to her sisters that her anger wasn’t against them.  What a gal!  Because the men make light of it, I suspect the “event” which causes the whole downpour is something men generally take lightly but women take more to heart.

  

Mom was staying in one of the apartments at the top of the building and was with her friends.  I got to the top of the building and was looking over the rail to see if I could see my car in the river below and I could.  At that point I wondered if water in the cylinders would ever be fixable.

 

Frannie is really admirable.  A sunken destroyed car and she thinks she can still fix it?  Wow!  Her heroism borders on fantasy.  But then, isn’t that what heroism requires?  We all know that Atlas is foolish to think he can keep pushing a boulder uphill when it’ll just roll down again.  And yet he does it.  Forever.  Isn’t that what makes him heroic?  There is a thin line between heroism and foolishness.

 

I went up there to tell Mom what happened and noted that she still had her crab- fish.  It was in a giant planter pit with soil and was a special kind of crab-fish thing that goes through a significant metamorphosis.  I thought it was kind of sad that he had to live his life in that pot, but also thought it was cool that we could see him.

 

Hmmm… a crab-fish living in dirt undergoing “significant” metamorphosis.  A “crabby” person is one who can be harsh in criticizing others and tends to see the negative side of things.  This is how Frannie views her mother… a person who can knock you to the ground (dirt) with her words but whose criticism can influence people through major change.  Fortunately, this “knocking down” is in a private (planter pit) setting which attests to her mother’s sense of decorum.    Mom is also on the top floor, which suggests that Frannie believes her mother is above it all, refusing to get caught in the drama, even while seeing the events from a withdrawn perspective.

 

Finally, while Frannie regrets that her mother’s view isolates her at times, she recognizes her mother’s value and role as one who teaches those around her a point of view which generates personal evolution and growth.

 

This is a powerful dream for our dreamer.  Frannie, I congratulate you on your bravery and courage and wish you well on this particular journey.