Vampire bats caught in a house

Hi, this is my first post here, so sorry if I miss something...

I had a dream last night, which I have had a few times before over several years. I rarely remember dreams, and always forget to write them down, so here is what I can remember...

I'm in this house, and I do not know whether it is mine or not, which has vampire bats in the attick. I've been told by someone (the (former?) owners?) that these bats need to be allowed out every day by opening the right windows on the first and second floor... Also you cannot be in the house while they fly out, since they'll attack you if you are (being vampire bats and all that)!

Whenever I have this dream I am always stubborn and think I can get them out of the house by opening a window on the 2nd floor. For some weird reason I chose to stand on a balcony on the 2nd floor close to the open window... Of course, the bats cannot find their way out, and all congregate on the 2nd floor ceiling. When I try to open the balcony door, there are bats in front of that door, so I cannot open it without hurting and disturbing them. and when I try to close the gap, I need to carefully push side one bat to prevent it from getting caught.

Then I woke up...

I remember feeling both anxious, afraid for the bats to catch me while caught on that balcony, and irritated at having to allow them through the entire house...

Now some IRL info:
Married with 2 kids, owning a house (well, the bank mostly owns it, but anyway...), finances are very tight, always wondering by the end of the month whether I can pay all my bills. Not certain whether this has relevance, but I've been working for almost 10 years for the "same" company now, which was bought by a larger company, which was then bought by an even larger company. All times I've moved along, but still stayed within the product group. The product group is now being sold to another company, and all of my teammates (who are in the USA) are going along. I am the only one of my team outside the USA, and I am not moving (too expensive), so I am forced to move to a different product group...
I cannot think of further IRL details that might be relevant to this dream.

Thanks in advance...

There might be some sort of evil or negativity being invaded into your safety (vampire bats in your house), and you have to constantly get rid of it (let them out daily). I don't believe the fact that they'll attack you has any meaning, but if it does it could be that this danger can be rather aggressive towards you if it isn't avoided (or taken care of perhaps?).

Your stubbornness in the dream may be interpreted the exact same way in waking life; you could be stubbornly trying to go about the solution. You have decided to get out of your safety zone (the house) into the balcony as a way to leave the house so the bats won't attack you, and you did open one window so they SHOULD be able to get out, right? This doesn't work and the bats remain in the house. Now, you are stuck on this balcony because the bats are blocking your way back into the house. It seems like this might be a prediction of what problems may occur in the future; There is a solution to a problem (open both windows and get out of the house while the vampire bats leave) but you don't exactly fulfill it (you only open one window) and there are consequences (you're stuck on the balcony). Or this might already be happening (your financial situation)?

I'm no dream interpreter :D.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ParanoidLlama

I'm no dream interpreter :D.

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You're doing a good job despite not being a dream interpreter... ;)

Of course, I'd also like to hear other's opinions...

I've done some reading before coming here too (forgot to mention that)...

I know that *usually*:
A house means your own self
The attick represents the higher subconscious
Bats can represent rebirth, unrealized potential, the need to change. In groups they can also act as a reminder to remember the strength of working together with others.
But bats also have negative meanings, a threat, being in danger of other people (or entities), or neglecting relationships or our own souls...

It's the context and combination that I cannot interpret... ;)

It looks like your dream might recur every once in a while in order to comment on a bout of stress that’s occurring in your life on top of the usual ones related to finances etc.

Perhaps it has even occurred around the time when the various company takeovers have taken place.

It’s generally true that a house symbolizes the dreamer’s overall personality, along with mostly unconscious factors that are “in the basement” or “in the attic”.

But details are very important in dreams, so the fact that you’re not sure if the house is yours or not is probably meant to alert you to the idea that maybe there could be an aspect of yourself which possibly is “missing” and might be needed in order to make the house your “own” in a real way.

It’s safe to say that any winged creature like a bat usually symbolizes a “messenger” from your unconscious mind (also further implied by the darkness in which bats usually live their lives).

In this case, it looks like a certain “stubborn attitude” possibly doesn’t really want to look at the messages that could potentially be delivered by the bats.

For instance, the previous occupants of the house didn’t take any measures to humanely have the bats removed from the house in order to find a more “natural” habitat for them.

Instead, a sort of awkward compromise was devised to let them out every day, apparently to feed, but this is obviously not really a good solution to their being confined in the attic.

Also, it’s not clear whether they’re to be let out at night which would be their normal time to hunt, so again, their “well-being” is not being tended to enough.

Symbolically, this could mean that certain unpleasant and nagging realizations etc. are perhaps kept from consciousness too often when instead, their inherent value in providing needed guidance should be acknowledged more fully.

Another very important detail is that these are vampire bats, meaning that they feed only on blood.

The previous occupants also warned about the need to be out of the house when releasing the bats so that you’re not bitten.

At some point, you might have read or heard information about vampire bats but mostly forgotten it, but the dream is using it as part of the dream, changing details where necessary to help make its point.

For example, it’s unlikely that if a person were standing fully awake that a vampire bat would attack because they draw blood only from sleeping prey.

So symbolically speaking, getting “bitten” in this case is meant to describe the idea that the bats would be “angry” with you for largely ignoring them.

In a practical sense, a bite would unfortunately mean the appearance of one or more unpleasant physical and/or psychological symptoms.

It’s even possible to make a further leap in this meaning of a “bite” by linking it to the vampire myth.

In a nutshell, a vampire is a symbolic image that expresses the psychological reality that a part of the dreamer’s psyche has been or could be split off from conscious awareness.

Usually, an aspect of the person’s basic makeup has been or would be rejected because it could cause some kind of emotional pain or anxiety etc.

A couple of examples of this would include the cutting off of any expression of anger or aggression, or even the rejection of an innate talent because the person thinks that all the work of developing it would not lead anywhere for example.

However, the problem with doing this is that often, some essential reality in the person that must be paid attention to is in danger of being totally cut off, so it never gets expressed although it has the innate right to be.

Then the grave danger is that one’s “blood”, that is, being emotionally alive, would be “drained” by the “vampire”, namely, by the cut-off part of oneself.

In a worst case scenario, a person would often feel listless and depressed but wouldn’t easily be able to put their finger on why, partly because other parts of their lives such as a career etc. may be going well enough in general terms.

But because something vital has indeed been cut off, there is often a constant sapping of one’s energy caused by this inner ignored part of the person.

In the dream, you want to open only the window on the second floor, likely where the bedrooms are.

This might suggest that you want the bats to somehow get what they want while you’re “asleep”, i.e. unconscious, and not aware of any real messages they might want to deliver.

Also, it’s implied that you want to avoid them entering your “living space” on the first floor, i.e. consciousness, because this could upset things too much.

Maybe a kind of half-hearted realization exists that you somehow have to deal with the “bat situation” in some way, but not enough is being done and this could lead to the impasse described symbolically in the balcony scene.

So it’s possible that the recent need to work with a different product group has stirred up various painful emotions etc. once again which are maybe only being partially felt.

Therefore, the idea of this recurring dream might be that, if such emotions were faced more fully, different and more helpful “messages” could appear from your unconscious in the form of spontaneous thoughts and ideas, intuitions or “gut feelings” about what the right thing to do is in various situations etc.

To help with any such situation, you might like the book “Emotion: A Very Short Introduction” by Dylan Evans.

Anyway, I hope these ideas can be helpful.

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

Thanks, All this makes a lot of sense, but also has me a bit confused...

First off, to address a few details I inadvertently left out, but which I now realize/remember again due to your interpretation.

To timing: The bats need to be allowed out at sun-set, which would be the normal time for them to forage.

The vampire bats are very much related to the vampire-legend type of vampire bats (I know bats, and am very aware of the reality of vampire bats, but the ones in my dream are the 'dangerous' type that attack you and feed on your blood, overwhelming you by numbers, instead of the stealth real-life vampire bats use)...
The underlying feeling is that if you remain in the house while they exit, it could be very dire, possibly lethal. Of course there is no empirical evidence in the dream for that, only the hearsay from the people that told me (of whom I do not even know whether they are (former) owners or bat experts, or something else. I also never see them, I just 'know' they told me!)...

Although in the dream I am never actually in the house, so I do not know for sure, I somehow know that either the balcony I am on or the window I opened close to it (or both) are connected to the bathroom. (Note: Here in NL, the bathrooms are rarely directly connected to any bedrooms. Usually our homes have a single shared bathroom from the common corridor on the 2nd floor)

I am aware there are aspects of my talents I haven't (fully) developed, simply due to practical limitations (money, tools and time needed, etc.), and I do want to do more with those, but I am not suppressing those...

Painful emotions there are plenty off (parents divorced when I was young, being bullied and harrassed in school, ex-girlfriends, etc.), but again, I am not particular certain there are any suppressed emotions or part of my psyche.

As a former army medic I am very much aware that 'wounds' need to be cleaned and dealt with, or they will fester, so I'd rather know what the issues are and deal with them, so I'd love to know and fix, rather than wonder and muddle on...

My biggest challenge here is that I hardly ever remember any dreams, so the signs I get are lost most of the time... :(

PS: I am very much a logic/brain person, and have a tendency to overthink things, instead of going by instinct/gut feeling, but OTOH when I am troubleshooting/problem solving, I usually 'know' the solution before people are done explaining, because I have - almost subconsciously - almost instantly analyzed the situation and cross-referenced my knowledge and experience to either take from that experience, or use it to extrapolate to come to a solution...
I have been referred to as an 'old soul' from a very young age, and even at early teen ages had people confiding in me things that normally one would not share with someone at that age, and people (whom I sometimes only have known for a very short time) still often confide in me!

Hi again,

The fact that the bats have to be let out at sunset reduces the idea of things being sort of “out of kilter” in how they are treated but probably emphasizes that what they symbolize “can’t clearly be seen” most of the time because of the reduced “light of awareness” (sunset) being involved.

The idea of the bats overall relates to the symbolism of animals of all kinds including insects, birds, reptiles etc.

So in addition to their being potential “messengers”, they include the basic symbolism of animals, namely the dreamer’s connection with and overall attitude toward natural instinctive reactions, strong emotions, vague feelings, intuitions and similar inborn earthy traits.

As touched on earlier, dreams where any type of animal, alone or in groups, attacks the dreamer means that, in some way, an important aspect of the instinctive side is not being nurtured and cared for adequately.

Dreams express themselves through analogies and metaphors, so just like dealing with a snarling dog or other enraged animal or snake etc. in outer life shouldn’t be taken lightly, one has to be careful when approaching instinctive emotions which are “in an attacking mood”.

In your dream, the fact that “if you remain in the house while they exit, it could be very dire” seems to point to the need for great care in delving further into certain underlying issues for example.

This could be part of the dilemma expressed by the balcony scene where the bats won’t leave but you also can’t enter the house.

For example, while the dream is probably trying to say that it would be best if the problem of the bats in the attic were dealt with, it’s also advising that this could possibly be very difficult to handle alone.

That is, it looks like it could be best to avoid doing what previous occupants symbolically did in trying to handle the problem themselves without calling in outside help.

The overall analogy of the bats might also include the fact that in outer life, people are very upset by having bats in their homes and usually make every effort to call in experts to solve the problem.

The fact that the balcony door likely opens into a bathroom expands on the symbolic meaning of the second floor, adding other implications to those already mentioned, e.g. symbolically being “asleep” or too “passive” (lying down) in some way about an underlying problem.

For instance, peeing occurs in a bathroom. The medical term for peeing is the “expression of urine” and this links it up via analogy to the free and open “expression” of feelings which shouldn’t be “held back”, just like not peeing can lead to serious medical problems.

In addition, excrement and pee can symbolize, as an example, the “disgusting” results of having to “absorb” and “digest” various realities regarding our own lives and those of others.

The “by-products” of this process include such things as anger, resentment, jealousies and grudges etc. etc. which somehow have to be “gotten rid of”.

Similarly, giving up control, pride or fear is equally part of the “elimination” that is vital.

“Giving all of this up” in the end product of feces is therefore a sign in a way of the great value of the process overall which has led to new understanding and maturity even though part of the process is indeed very “smelly” and “disgusting”.

This idea is seen in many dreams and folk tales etc. where feces changes to gold in a miraculous way.

Also, many young children conceive theories about childbirth being related to feces and therefore see their own excrement as proof of their own creative magic.

Also, the idea of transition and change is also included in the image of the bathroom because symbolically, a “bath” suggests the water of “baptism” which relates to moving into new strong new attitudes and beliefs which can carry a person through difficult times. Today, many people have to find such a “baptism” outside of organized religion.

So it looks like being kept out of the bathroom could imply that the process of absorbing certain unpleasant issues more fully might be impeded in some way, therefore slowing down your self-development and renewal in a couple of areas.

You mentioned that you’re working at various talents and this supports the idea that perhaps the real problem being dealt with by the dream relates to a need to deal more fully with one or more of the painful issues which you described.

Since you’re very much a logic/brain person, there can be an extra difficulty in handling certain “non-rational” things such as very painful emotions.

The dream might have been hinting at this in general by setting up the scenario where certain unknown people who you don’t even see have described the bat situation but in thinking back on the dream, you kind of doubt their advice in retrospect because it’s not clear whether it’s empirically based.

That is, you apparently might usually mistrust certain advice that isn’t “scientific”, “logical” or “rational”, thereby often excluding just “knowing” that something is correct in the circumstances (e.g. via an emotion, a visual intuition or a gut feeling etc.).

This non-rational advice may appear from outside or from within but in either case, the information is at least slightly discounted (e.g. you don’t fully follow the advice given in the dream which apparently does cause the problem of being stranded on the balcony and the bats haven’t been allowed out to forage).

This is of course a very natural reaction because your usual way of problem solving works so well.

From how you described this process in yourself, it looks like your chief means of orientation is, as you said, via thinking/logic which uses facts as gathered and stored over time from “the five senses” as it were in order to reach a conclusion.

One theory would take this to mean that the opposite of thinking, i.e. using values and emotions to decide on a direction in any given situation, is far from being available for easy conscious use.

The use of intuition might be present but could possibly “come and go” unreliably in general terms.

However, its presence might be the reason people have continued to confide in you because they sense you “know” intuitively “what’s wrong” and “what to say” in order to help them.

So it’s possible that values/emotions and intuition would tend to be your “blind spots” which could cause problems, depending how unaware you are of these aspects of yourself.

You might like “Personality Types” by analyst Daryl Sharp as a brief starter book to help explore these ideas further.

An equally valuable starter book related to looking at your dreams is “Inner Work” by analyst Robert Johnson.

So overall, you can try thinking over these ideas to see if they may fit your circumstances in some way and whether the recurring dream is perhaps advising overall the need to speak with an outside source such as a professional counsellor in order to deal with certain unresolved issues from your past.

Anyway, please let me know if you have any further questions or comments.

Thanks for the further clarification... Sometimes having 'hyper-active brains' is a curse... You can't just turn off that hyperactivity when you want to sleep, for instance, and not remembering one's dreams most of the time doesn't help much either!

I'll think on this, and get back if I have more questions...

My first thought was bats are anxiety and fear, sucking your energy. As a few times before over several years?
Hence needing to let them out before this darkness gets the better of you, when it thrives. Don't want them in you.
Yep, the classic campire motif, perhaps that you do not believe can be real yet are, or should not be, and attack you and feed on your life or energy, overwhelming you by the amount of fear or darkness.
But maybe you can't be there when they are let out into the world, or they'd feed on - you. Your life out there.

The best way to find what the dream is about is to think of what has been on your mind like this, which is why you now remember your dream, as something is affecting you, like the times before. But your work or financial situation fits. What situations caused the dreams before?

Maybe you do not know whether it is yours or not, this strange side of you, so may suggest is caused by others.
You're stubborn and think you can get rid of it by opening your view, where you stand near and overlook. Or stubbonly think you can overcome it, which is the right sort of attitude at least.
But you can't without distubance and hurt, so the fear accumulates in your mind, so you close the door to the balcony door which seems to define your fear regards the outside world, and you may feel trapped and out of control which breeds anxiety. Opposite to the situations allowing you solutions easy as your second nature.