Nightmare that I had that woke me up early in the morning

-Me exploring some sort of house that had different floors to it -- some of them actually being replicas of outside that happened to get inside. My dad and brother trying to find me and me trying to get back to them. One of the layers looking like the back of a friend's house that I used to play at. Mom also trying to go and get us. Dad running into bogeymen that took the shape of cats and dogs, one of them being called "Tiptoe Man".

-Some sort of journal I kept with a lot of quotes.

Just to clarify, do you think the dream has something to do with the horse or something? I know that in the dream, I could, remarkably, control the angry horse. Does it have to do with me getting something under control?

Animals in dreams are always a representative of some primal trait within yourself. Often, the trait relates to the opposing gender within yourself (being female, this would be the masculine traits in your personality).

To understand the horse, you first have to address what horses, as animals, represent to you...

Common knowledge regarding horses to consider ::
-- Horses are highly intelligent animals, that have come under domestication. They weren't, however, always domestic animals. They are often seen as loyal and caring, too. Wild horses often represent something unmanageable and frightening. The fear is in that they cannot be tamed, but in many scenarios and stories the wold horse simply needs to be better understood. --> To get the best understanding you have to answer the question yourself, though.

COnnecting the window and the horse, there is this mysterious person, whom you give no name or face. The person is luring you out of your building, but you are saved by... "The Bad Wolf"??? ((I'll admit here, I don't know the reference or name...)) What I see here is that you're finding safety in your primal/instinctive side. the "wolf" has taught you to calm a horse and ride it to safety.

--> What was making the horse angry? How did you calm it?
--> Is there some voice you're following that you aren't sure you can trust? (I laugh here, because this could literally be anxiety over the interpretations you're getting here : voices without faces to go with it...)

Buildings typically represent the dreamer as a whole physical being...or aspects of their life that have been segregated. Here we see you trying to reconnect with your family - and this detail that your dad and mom are separated as well (are they divorced/living apart?)... Here again, we find an antagonist taking the form of animals. I'd be willing to throw in a bet that you're fighting your intuition on this. Instincts and intuition are often represented as animals.

Then we have your dad running into a boogeyman (textbook definition for the personification of the Shadow Self). The name "tiptoe man" has a lot of connotations... IS there an issue your family hasn't wanted to address head on? Something they've been "tiptoeing around"???

That could be the case. I have talked about not feeling like other women, and how I should be as a woman, what I should like, things like that. (And I already ranted about Amy from Gone Girl, which, the good thing is I brought it up at dinner with my gaming group and we started discussing all sorts of awesome villainesses, which was really fun) And having certain...I guess masculine traits. The closest I can think of in terms of masculine traits though is stuff I have in common with my dad -- anger problems, anxiety, height, sense of humor, etc. (Out of curiosity, what is embracing the feminine/masculine aspects of oneself? I've heard the theory, but I'd like to hear your take on it)

"Bad Wolf" is a Doctor Who reference. It's kind of one character's super-powerful side she taps into when she's trying to save the Doctor -- at the near-cost of her dying. (He saves her) So there's probably some sort of potential in me I have yet to unlock. In terms of something unmanageable and frightening, I'd say my anxiety feels that way, as does my OCD. I'd have these awful thoughts and have no idea if I was bad or something. So maybe it's a metaphor for me learning to understand my anxiety and OCD and cope with it. As for what set off the horse...it was basically another character at my horseback riding class (who does not attend my horseback riding class, so I think she's some sort of other facet or something I need to acknowledge) committing an act of



that set it off. And I calmed the horse down just by getting it out of there and into the stable. I don't think I'd ever seen the horse before in my life -- it was an all-black horse.

I guess I'm starting to doubt myself on certain things, what might have happened, and the more evidence that comes up, the more I wonder if I'm on the wrong track somehow. I hope I'm not on the wrong track, at least. (And honestly, your interpretations make a lot of sense the more I really think on them. I think it explains why I have the nightmares even though I do everything to make sure I don't have them -- there's issues I haven't really resolved)

In terms of the building -- well, I can remember that it looked a lot like a childhood friend's house that I didn't really see in quite some time (she's in college now. We met in pre-K and we were very close -- playing outside, using these journals back and forth to communicate so we could vent about things or talk about how stuff was going and offer support; it was sort of, I guess, a non-evil version of Tom Riddle's diary, I guess. XD And we just talked about things -- it was when we were younger, especially when I was in middle school). We also played video games, played outside, watched movies...it was a lot of fun, really, those times. My mom and her mom were also very good friends. Unfortunately, I haven't seen her in some time. A lot of my old friends seem to have different stuff going on, and I think starting in 2013 or earlier, I kind of withdrew from the world, maybe because of all the issues I had. So the dream is kind of me having to reach out to her. And I remember that in the dream, I was running through the house, exploring it, and it was later in that house I found the Tiptoe Man and such. Plus, other layers of the house led outside, where it was snowing.

No, my parents are not divorced or living apart. I think the living apart thing might be a metaphor, like I'm feeling more attached to my dad at times than my mom. (Which is definitely odd because our relationship at the moment...I wasn't really a Daddy's Girl from what I can remember. I was very close to my mother. Most of my memories of my dad involve him telling really groan-worthy "dad jokes" or us being at each other's throats. The most I remember as good parts of our relationship were in videos when I was little and now that I'm a young adult and we're more on kind of equal terms. I guess it doesn't help that we're pretty similar, personality-wise)

And I might be. The animals there took the form of cats and pug dogs -- in terms of my association with pugs, I remember some sort of blog on Tumblr that actually kind of gave me some useful information. And they could speak as well, which was unsettling -- I think that the Tiptoe Man was actually using that pug dog as a bit of a vessel, which made things scarier. I think the Tiptoe Man might have also said something about coming to get me or something and I think my dad might have actually been familiar with it. In terms of the issue



I feel like even if it wasn't the case, they're hiding something because their reactions get downright weird when I ask them, and I don't know if it's my anxiety talking or something else, but I feel like they're covering something up. It's just a feeling; I'm a bit suspicious. So maybe I should trust that feeling?

So maybe all this is actually some sort of anger at my father? It might be, actually.

Yes, getting your own anger under control.

I think so. I think the earliest I remember having anger issues was using it as a defense mechanism against my teachers when I actually thought that they were threatening me. (Come to think of it, I think I had instances of feeling kind of...detached, I guess, from my body during those times I felt threatened. Like it was some sort of a nightmare) I felt like a very timid, powerless kid at times, and so I guess I wanted to fight back. I think it started around fifth grade, actually. That feeling of anger, powerlessness, occasional bits of alienation. Third grade was pretty bad, but I don't think I ever felt as downright threatened. I'm still trying to manage my anger, from the minor inconveniences to the sorts of cruelties in the world I'm not sure I'll ever really understand. I just hope I can be successful.

There will situations in life that will cause you to be angry. You were using your anger to fight back and attempt to control the situation.

You're absolutely right, actually. I thought that anger was really the only way I could be in control -- I mean, I kind of felt like a helpless kid. (All things considered, I probably was) And I kind of felt timid and afraid and hated myself for it, so there was that too. And yeah, there's always going to be stuff in life that's just going to infuriate me. It's just a matter of...well, using more constructive methods for my anger, I guess. Coping with it.

"Translate the anger to positive motion, and move forward in life"

I think that's a good way to put it. I'm just going to have to put it into creative work, helping people, talking with people, etc.

There's a saying I read the other day...

Student asks their teacher : "I'm feeling discouraged, how can I change that?"
Teacher replies : "Go out and encourage others."

That's an awesome saying. And I definitely hope I can encourage others. I know that there are people out there who need it, one way or the other.