[rdgrad15]

I had a dream where I was going to my college I graduated from a couple years ago to watch a casual friend graduate. She will be graduating in May in real life as well and I do plan on attending. So me going to graduation in the dream was not odd. What was odd though is that I saw a coworker there too. It was the day before the actual ceremony but I still went to visit and I was about to go down to the gym to see the setup and get my ticket for the ceremony that would take place the next day.

When I was on my way down to the gym, I saw a coworker there and we talked briefly. She asked me why I was there. I explained why and was about to ask her the same question, since she never went to my college before and knows no one there, which meant she had no reason to be there. The dream ended before I got a response. What does it mean to plan on attending a graduation ceremony and visiting a college you already graduated from? Also, what does seeing s coworker, especially outside of work, mean? Just wondered what it could have all represented.

[Gojamadar]

Originally Posted by rdgrad15

I had a dream where I was going to my college I graduated from a couple years ago to watch a casual friend graduate. She will be graduating in May in real life as well and I do plan on attending. So me going to graduation in the dream was not odd. What was odd though is that I saw a coworker there too. It was the day before the actual ceremony but I still went to visit and I was about to go down to the gym to see the setup and get my ticket for the ceremony that would take place the next day.

When I was on my way down to the gym, I saw a coworker there and we talked briefly. She asked me why I was there. I explained why and was about to ask her the same question, since she never went to my college before and knows no one there, which meant she had no reason to be there. The dream ended before I got a response. What does it mean to plan on attending a graduation ceremony and visiting a college you already graduated from? Also, what does seeing s coworker, especially outside of work, mean? Just wondered what it could have all represented.

Hi,
Dreams are dreamt to do certain tasks during the sleep. Your dream was dreamt simply to wake you up.
Itis probable that the thoughts of attending the graduation of your casual friend intruded into your stream of thoughts and your subconscious used the surprise element of seeing your co-worker there, woke you up.
Contrary to the general belief that dreams mean this or that, dreams have very little meaning. However the dream text often indicates the reason the subconscious created the dream for.

[Thunder Bow]

The co-worker is a part of you in that situation. You were interacting with yourself there. You may have graduated recently in real life, such getting a promotion at work. Or, you feel like you are going to soon graduate in real life to something new or better.

[Lugus]

Intro Comments:
1. I believe that most of our dreams are not meant to be taken literally but, instead, use symbols of archetypes from the collective unconscious. (However, as Carl Jung stated, we can never know the complete meaning of an archetype. Likewise for our dreams – we can never have a complete understanding of dreams that contains archetypes.)
2. I also believe that the purpose of most of our dreams is to give feedback to the dreamer. They let the dreamer know how he or she is progressing spiritually and psychologically.

It does seem like most of us have had school dreams. In typical school dreams, the dreamer is often having a difficult time in school. He/she is unprepared for a class or test, or the dreamer cannot find his/her classroom. The dream school is the school that we all attend; it is the school of life.

But this dream is different. In this dream, a casual, female friend is going to graduate. As the reader might guess, graduation is almost always a good sign. And as mentioned by the dreamer, he had already graduated. Thus, this friend (which is probably a symbol of the anima as noted below) is becoming the psychological/spiritual equal to the dreamer. This is very good!

In this dream, the dreamer represents the dreamer’s ego. For a Jungian, the ego is the center of consciousness and has nothing to do with egotism. As for the two female coworkers, it is unlikely that they represent actual coworkers but are, more likely, archetypes from the unconscious. It also sounds like the graduating coworker is not actually shown in the dream.

In our dreams, the sequence of events is often very important.
1. On the day before graduation, the dreamer arrives at his college. He sees a coworker.
2. On the day of graduation, a different coworker graduates.

To understand this dream, we first need to take a look at archetypes. An archetype comes from the collective unconscious. We see symbols of these archetypes in our dreams.

There are all kinds of archetypes. Some are people. Others are animals or plants. Some are shapes or objects. Some are types of action.
1. In this particular dream, the dreamer is not really an archetype but is the dreamer’s ego. The ego is the center of consciousness.
2. Although there are two ladies in this dream, I believe that the both represent the same archetype, the anima. The anima is always female and is only found in the psyche and dreams of men. She is capable of going through four stages of development.
a. In the first stage, she is the primitive woman. She may be physically attractive but is more likely to be crude and somewhat disgusting. At this stage, the anima is often a woman of another race.
b. At the next stage, she is the romantic figure. She is often young (a teenager or in her 20s) and almost always attractive. I sometimes call this the “girlfriend” archetype.
c. Eventually, she may reach the third stage. At this stage, she is the “good woman.” She may appear as a nun, a Quaker woman, a loving mother etc.
d. At the fourth and final stage, she is the guide to the lower realms of the unconscious. She may appear as a goddess or perhaps she will have name that helps to identify her – such as Sophia. She is sometimes dressed all in white or black. She may have several arms or blue skin and be reminiscent of a Hindu goddess.
These stages will usually take, as a minimum, several dreams to develop. And most men never reach the final stage.

I believe that the two ladies in the dream are both symbols of the anima. When we first see her, she is going to the gym. That is, she is strengthening and improving herself in preparation for the next stage of development, which is her graduation.

Hope this helps.
Lugus