Help me understand my Nightmare?

Hello could you help me figure out the meaning of my nightmare? (btw I'm a 22 yr old, female college student)

It started with me in a big house (that I don't recognize, looks kinda like these picture I found on Google) Attachment 8870 Attachment 8871 Attachment 8872 I was at what looked to be a birthday party for little kids, none of which I recognize (5-11 yrs old). Then I remember running upstairs with a woman I don't recognize, us both being chased by something. We lock the upstairs bedroom door and she tells me I need you to get out, save yourself by going out the window. (Bedroom/nursery looked like this) Attachment 8873 Someone is banging on the locked door, trying to get in. So I climb out onto the roof and look back in the window to help the woman get out. She turns towards me me calmly, still by the door and says "keep your eyes open". She then calmly opens the door to reveal the children from the party standing in the doorway, but they look demonic and their eyes are scratched out. The woman smiled coldly at me. I woke up panicked, heart racing after that. The whole time the woman seemed eerily calm, like she was only a bystander in the situation.

This nightmare has really been bothering me since I had it two days ago, so any feedback would be appreciated! :)

Sounds pretty frightening, nothing like demonic kids for those creepy feels. The pictures are a good touch, makes imagining the dream much easier.

You said the woman was helping you but you didn't know her. She then turns and betrays you. Can this have something to do with a fear of being betrayed by someone you know, like a teacher or a co-worker, someone you have a working relationship with? Her calmness might also mean something. It's not only really creepy, but she has no emotional reason to betray or attack you. This also leads me to think that it has something to do with working relationships.

"Keep your eyes open" sounds really scary and she says this before the betrayal. This can be some kind of advice? Your mind might be afraid of people turning their backs on you, and this advice is to keep you alert and ready to spot betrayal. It also has a creepy element to it, as once you heard it you saw what the children really were, demons, as if you were seeing the true reality of the situation.

Those are my two cents. Hope it gives you something.

Although in order to provide a more accurate interpretation it would usually be best to have some further general background information about you (and a description of events just before the dream), an additional approach might be to see this unpleasant nightmare as fulfilling the usual role of nightmares; that is, to emotionally awaken the dreamer to a situation or attitude etc. which is not seen or is being taken for granted etc.

The unknown grand house can be understood as a “structure” or “complex” in your mind at this time which causes you to react in a habitual way to certain situations etc.

If this isn’t the typical kind of house that you’d be hanging out in, then the image overall might contain a clue as to the “complex” that’s apparently tending to dominate you too much of the time.

For example, you may have been doing very well lately in college and/or in other activities, perhaps gaining a lot of admiration etc.

If so, this could be like the meaning behind a birthday party, e.g. where a kind of “rebirth” occurs along with feelings of encouragement which indirectly fuel confidence and the further growth of various social skills and abilities.

The latter are possibly being emphasized by the wide range of ages of the kids at the party, suggesting aspects of yourself that began to develop literally in a range of 5-11 years ago.

But something goes terribly wrong in the dream, especially given the birthday party setting, and you’re chased upstairs along with an unknown woman to a nursery/bedroom.

She urges you to go outside onto the roof where apparently there may be no way down, and then she unexpectedly unlocks the door to let in whoever was knocking.

A frightening scene emerges where the now “demonic” children appear with their eyes having been scratched out.

This could possibly suggest that somehow the cold, eerily calm woman caused this terrible mutilation to happen.

In any case, she probably symbolizes a dangerous, dark side of your personality that everyone has which is called the “shadow” by one school of psychology.

So the nightmare could be saying that you’re too unaware (e.g. don’t know the house, the children or the woman) of some kind of growing negative attitude etc. (as symbolized by the shadow-woman) which could become terribly destructive if not stopped in its tracks as soon as possible.

For example, children are of course naturally curious, loving, instinctive and they like to explore all sorts of different things.

But your inner symbolical children could be in danger of becoming seriously hampered in pursuing various new aspects of life because of some outlook or attitude etc., possibly that of being overly related to outer success and attention (e.g. the palatial house) at the expense of true relationships and natural instinctive reactions over time.

Unfortunately, these inner children could then potentially become “demonic”, meaning in a practical way that one or more of a limitless choice of unpleasant physical and/or psychological symptoms could possibly appear on the scene over time.

For example, a person could become prone to many headaches, digestive upsets or a more than usual number of illnesses in general etc. Psychological symptoms like anxiety for no apparent reason or eating disorders etc. might appear.

This could be the type of situation which the very frightening nightmare is trying to wake you up to in order that appropriate actions can be taken to prevent any such problems.

However, it’s very important not to take this nightmare as showing something in a symbolical way which is “inevitable” or “inescapable”.

Instead, it’s likely what’s called a “Prospective Dream”, saying something like “If you keep doing (such and such), then this is what could happen”.

To help find out the personal meaning of your dream, you can try focusing, for example, on the image of the interior of the house.

Then write down every spontaneous memory, thought and feeling that comes to mind.

Sifting through what emerges will hopefully provide a clue about some unhelpful way of thinking or acting etc. etc. which you might be slipping into without really knowing it.

If so, you could then make any appropriate changes to slow down a self-hurtful direction and this would help to insure that you won’t have any more alarming nightmares.

Anyway as mentioned, without knowing anything much about you, this way of looking at your very upsetting dream might not fit your personal circumstances very well, but I hope these ideas can be helpful in some way.

Please feel free to ask any questions or to make any comments about this particular way of looking at your dream.

Is there something in your past that bothers you or that you harbor guilt over? I find that simple changes in attitude in life can drastically affect such things in your dreams. For example: Discontinue gossiping about others, worry about yourself, always try to be positive, help others, show compassion, and attempt to be happy.

Cause in the end, life is really about yourself, and nobody else can live it for you. I wish I had more to offer you on this subject.

I have had many dreams with negative energies/ shadow entities that bother me, and I changed my outlook on life and these dreams have stopped. If friends ask my opinion on gossip these days, I change the subject, or tell them that I do not wish to comment on someone else's life. Good luck