Thursday, January 05, 2006

Give the Little Lady a Hand

A few nights back I had an icky dream. Or really, a dream snippet.  Hands were breaking through the ground, hands covered with what looked like rivulets of blood or perhaps red vines snaking around them.  Dear Husband says this is a direct result of the movie War of the Worlds, even though I didn’t watch it. It just seeped in. The one image I did catch was of a city covered in red vinous stuff.  So, yeah, I guess there’s a connection.

On the other hand (ha!) some of my most vivid nightmares have featured hands.  When I was 5 or 6, I experienced a series of nightmares that I can still vividly recall:

Nightmare 1:  I am in our living room (of the house I grew up in) and there are dismembered hands and fingers lying on the sofa, end tables and chairs. There are no evident signs of violence, no blood. The room is well-lit; there are no shadows.  It is very quiet, and eerie. My father comes in and begins putting the hands and fingers into a brown paper bag. My mother is there, too, but she does not seem to be paying attention; she is staring off into space.

Nightmare 2:  I see an expanse of desert covered with hands, as if there were bodies buried there with just the hands showing. On the horizon is a man dressed in dark robes, on horseback.

Nightmare 3:  I am in a neighbor’s bedroom (a teenage girl who lived next door). On her dressing table is a hand. It looks something like a mannequin’s hand. It “stands” on its wrist, all the fingers extended, as if its purpose were to hold rings and necklaces. The hand has long, red nails. I go up to it and touch it, and it grabs my hand.

So, why do I dream about hands? Do they have a symbolic significance? Dear Husband thinks they are related to the ability to act. So I guess following that thought that severed hands indicate impotence. That does have a nice Freudian ring to it.

Would anyone like to play armchair dream analyst?

9 comments:

  1. Maybe you just need a really good manicure? I got nothin', although I think DH may be on to something...it's hard to do much without hands. They are also used to express oneself and to touch and caress...so maybe feeling powerless either to do or to love as you wish? Or maybe you just need a really good manicure. And I'd throw in a pedi, too. And a glass of wine...

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have no idea, but your nightmares have a fine twilight zone quality to them. Especially the one with the hands on the sofa and Dad sacking them up.

    ReplyDelete
  3. If you really want a peek at it, go to www.dreammoods.com. They have a huge dream dictionary that has helped me make sense of my odd dreams before.

    One thing I saw that it said was that hands represent a form of communication and that the left hand is related to female things while the right hand is representative of male things. Oh heck, go read the explanation.

    Try other keywords in your dreams to get a better picture of exactly what your mind is trying to tell you. It is a pretty cool website.

    ReplyDelete
  4. first though was Ez 37 - God breathing life into the bones - here rejoining hands back to the body - could be about church and disunity?

    I'm sending your link to my friend - she's good at this and a Christian too.

    thanks for sharing!

    Lord give Alice peace even if she dreams this again. In your mighty name! Amen

    ReplyDelete
  5. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I think Derrida has a whole book on hands. I don't know what your dreams mean, but hands are certainly deeply symbolic. I'll have to think on this some more and get back to you.

    ReplyDelete
  7. sounds like your husband has a good instinct for dreams. I think he close to the sctual significance of the symbolism of hands in your dreams. dreams are the way we try to add meaning, process our lifes, and express are awake frustrations. most of our dreams spring out of our imagination, past, persception, psyche . . . you're dreams are you . . . 100%. I'd have to know you personally . . . your background . . . past events . . . Your husband is your best resourse here. he knows your past. he knows your fears (does he?). i'm sure you guys talk. maybe there something you did or didn't do (hands= action or inaction. maybe someone did something to you in the past and you're afraid that someone might hurt you in the future . . . disconnected hands are anonymous and mysterious. good for you paying attention to your dreams and trying to consider them in your awake hours.

    ReplyDelete
  8. So many good thoughts here. Images of hands with no bodies usually give me a twinge of unease (I'm looking right now at a reindeer Firecracker made with her hands as antlers). Funny what can do that. I'll have to post some time about pasta noodles, which in a particular configuration make me feel a bit faint.

    I'll probably go with supressed and squelched energy and volition, with some return of the repressed thrown in.

    And I'm curious to find out what Derrida said on the subject, although I'm not sure I would understand it. Scrivener, you may have to translate it into layman's terms.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Bad Alice, I'm emailing you. Be careful how you try to interpret any dreams. God will reveal what you need. Honest!

    Praying for peace and clarity.

    Lord in Your mercy let the light shine over this wonderful daughter of Yours, and her family. Surround them, and let Your love be their shield. Amen

    ReplyDelete