Stairs at Night

Dear Peregin,

I have reocurring symbols in my dream. Almost every night I can remember for the last 3 years I have dreamt about water and staircases. I am not always in the water - only when it's calm. When it's the ocean - it's violent and people are usually dead or dying. I have to run a specific path, sometime it's an obstacle coarse, but there are always stairs. They go up extremely high and have some amusement park ride. Or they go down to another level. Some times they are ecsalators. Other times they're wide Victorian staircase.

If you had any imput or therories I would love to hear them.

Thanks,

Tina

Good morning, Tina.

I most often see stairs as representing levels of consciousness. Climbing stairs can then be seen as becoming more aware, or as learning. Descending stairs then represents a deeper consciousness. Some people use descending stairs as a self-hypnosis method, to deliberately go deeper into themselves. It could be that you are envisioning the stairs as part of a transition from one type of sleep to the next.

Water has so many different meanings that it's hard to pin one down. It sounds as if you're only in the water, not only when it's calm, but when it's a small body of water. When I had a similar type of dream as a child, I later learned (from an unlikely source) that it was telling me that I was afraid of violence. It could be that you avoid possibly confrontational situations, and this is why you stay out of the violent ocean. But if the violent ocean represents confrontation, then the water in general is likely to represent relationships, and in the same manner that water is the basis of life, so are personal relationships necessary for personal growth. You cannot avoid them completely, but you prefer to remain in very calm, predictable relationships -- like the calm pools that you dream yourself in.

Pleasant dreams,

Peregrin