One of those "weird dream" posts

[hrj]

So last night I had one of those vivid dreams that feels like a "meaningful dream" concerning a paraplegic eagle.

There I was, with all my falconry gear, flying a golden eagle. It was really tame -- sweet personality. (Completely unlike your usual golden eagle personality.) And somehow the eagle got tangled up in high-tension wires and ended up amputating both its wings at the elbow. And I'm standing there with this mostly oblivious eagle with raw (although not bleeding) stumps of wings, and the severed wings lying there on the ground. I decide, "I have to take it to the vet hospital at U.C. Davis for treatment," but realize that I don't have a license to be keeping an eagle. (I think in the dream I didn't have a falconry license at all, but if it had been something common like a red-tail I could have bluffed my way through.) I briefly consider that the bird isn't likely to survive anyway, but decide instead that I'll blythely assert that some random person dumped the wounded eagle on me and I'm just performing the rescue. So I put it into a cardboard carton for transport and drive off to the veterinary medicine school at UCD, arriving some time in the wee hours of the morning when nobody is there. The dream sort of petered out at that point, with me in a dim, empty lobby carrying a wounded eagle in a cardboard box.

It definitely has the look-and-feel of an anxiety dream, although it's not one I've had before and the interpretation doesn't seem to be obvious. Birds of prey usually figure in scenarios where I feel like I'm letting down an authority figure (remnants of my experiences at the UCD bird of prey center). And attempts to conceal or disavow responsibility for dead bodies usually represent a long-term project that has been left undone too long -- although in this case the body isn't dead. I suppose the eagle could be the house remodelling, but there isn't really any significant authority figure involved.

Hey, at least I'm sleeping well enough to be able to remember dreams.

Comments

[patsmor.livejournal.com]

How did you figure out the symbolism of the birds of prey?

[hrj.livejournal.com]

Repetition and correlation, mostly. That and vividly visceral memories of the admiration, awe, and terror in which I held the director of the bird of prey center when I worked there. The time I nearly lost a bird because I hadn't been holding the leash properly (we succeeded in tracking it down and recapturing it several miles away) left an indelible symbol for "letting down an authority figure". I would rather have plucked my eyeballs out than disappoint her ... and all she did was sigh and shake her head.

[patsmor.livejournal.com]

That experience would certainly be a vivid signal in a dream! Thanks.

[green-knight.livejournal.com]

I'm in awe how well you know your dreams. I couldn't make head or tail of the Swamp Thing.

[hrj.livejournal.com]

Don't be in awe -- my "meaningful dreams" are generally about as cryptic as a flashing neon sign. Dreams about not being prepared for some event represent ... feeling unprepared for some event. Dreams about tasks that have gotten much messier and uglier for being put off represent ... feeling like some task has gotten messier and uglier for being put off. Dreams about trying to conceal dead bodies represent ... well, ok, those shouldn't be taken literally. I generally don't try to interpret average ordinary dreams -- just the ones that have that "meaningful" feel to them.

[filkerdave.livejournal.com]

If they figure in the scene that you feel you're letting down some authority figure, maybe the injury is an attempt to reassure your own control and vision (but not fully wanting or being scared of that; hence the attempt to get to the vet so that you'll appear to be doing the right thing)

Of course, I'm a lousy dream-interpreter.

Just Another $0.02...

[shalmestere.livejournal.com]

If I had to guess, I'd say that it had something to do with waiting too long to make a decision--"S/he who hesitates is lost." That would be the probable cause if it were *my* dream, anyway (but what do I know--most of my anxiety dreams involve rodents :-D).