Blue_Opossum

Morning of December 12, 2015. Saturday.



In this dream, we have a pet penguin. The setting is our present home on W Street mostly as it is in real life. We are in our bed which seemingly has correct orientation regarding the overall layout.

Nothing much happens over time other than the penguin rolling around and standing up near me a few times, mostly on my right (my wife Zsuzsanna being in bed at one point though on my left). It is not really that annoying. The detail seems fairly realistic. There seems to be no stronger concern regarding the idea of being nibbled or pecked even though that potential is vaguely in the back of my mind.

A penguin has wings but cannot fly, so on one level, it is a “failed flight” feature relating to the waking transition, especially when not in its natural environment or swimming. This is validated by my “Penguin in a Jar” dream (1975) where the penguin takes on the symbolism of a fish and swims in a downward spiral deeper within the aquarium and my dream becomes more vivid, because on another level it relates to the dream state itself. The penguin being in our bed and not swimming (and lacking the ability to fly even though it has wings), it is metaphorical for my final stage of waking.

One of my last dreams relating to a penguin was a distortion of the waking mechanism as well, when the alarm clock’s radio came on and I remained in my dream for a time and the announcer appeared in my dream as a chattering (and cartoon-like) penguin, wandering crazily through a random maze seemingly on the surface on a pinball playfield.

Edited for clarity on Friday, 8 April 2016.