Saturday, July 22, 2006

Charlotte's Web, it is not.

I had a dream the other night that is still with me. I was with a friend at Crater Lake. My friend had been there before and I was driving to it with her. We got out of the car and I was so excited to take a picture. The water was so clear and calm. My friend pointed out that all the glints of silver you could see just beneath the surface were fish. I was amazed and leaned in to take a closer look. I then saw something that looked like a small x-wing fighter zooming up from the depths right at me. As it breached the surface, I dodged it - or so I thought. I looked at my finger and there was a really big spider on it. I tried to shake, then pull it off. My friend looked at me and said, "Oh, those - yeah, you have to watch out for those." I stammered, "What? You knew about these and didn't warn me?" My friend replied that she didn't think it would be a big deal. I looked at my finger again, and now there were three big juicy spiders covering my finger. I tried to step on them (and my finger) and then tried to peel them off. They wouldn't budge. I asked my friend (and some random guy who had suddenly appeared) how to get them off. The man answered that there was no way to remove them, I had to wait 'til they were done feeding on me - and they were thirsty buggers. I looked down again and noticed that my finger was covered by 5 spiders and they were all sucking on it. My finger was pulsing. I was completely horrified by it. At that point, I woke up, woke Cowboy up, and made him assure me that the spiders were not going to get me.
I have had other spider dreams. The last one involved me pulling out a giant spider and its yarn-like web out of my throat. The friend I told about that the next day thought it was Freudian. I don't think so - all my spider dreams freak me out too much. (Funny, too, b/c I'm not at all afraid of spiders in my conscious life) In fact, I'm pretty sure that the act of looking for a meaning in it is as Freudian as it gets. After this one, though, I looked it up. I didn't find any sexual connotations (told you!) except a possibility that the spider represented feminine power. Other possibilities include a good/lucky omen (hard to believe), the sense that the dreamer is feeling like an outsider (?), and the possibility that the spider represents someone who is the cause of the dreamer's stagnation (maybe...).
I'm not sure I believe any of it. But, the fact that spiders have a role in my dreams, I'm going to root for the good luck omen meaning. Maybe next time it will seem less horrifying.

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