Thread: Vivid dream....Masks. Wire. Tears. Crying. Help...

Although in order to provide a more accurate interpretation it would usually be best to have some general background information about you (and a description of events just before this frightening dream), a few ideas can be tried out to see if they might fit your personal situation in some way.

Just to start off by saying that dreams perform psychologically something like the body does physically. That is, dreams try to balance out an attitude or general outlook etc. etc. that could become harmful to the individual if persisted in. This is something like physical symptoms alerting a person to the need to attend to some kind of bodily problem.

So with your dream, it’s possible that either a certain way of acting or thinking etc. has perhaps been building up over a period of time and has reached a kind of climax when it should be looked at more carefully, or a recent unusual incident somehow highlighted an underlying problem which your dream is trying to show is important to look at.

In effect, the dream shows the need to “look at yourself” and to “reflect” on what you see by symbolically picturing you as looking into a mirror.

Your hands are shaking. Perhaps something the masked man has been saying upset you.

In any case, the mirror cracked, distorting your image.

The fact that the man is masked could mean that you are too unaware of an inner psychological figure who is tending to influence you too much.

The man is dressed in black and white which might suggest that he affects how you look to others in a certain way.

This is because clothes generally relate to the “mask” we put on with others, redoubling the idea along with his mask that the dream is dealing with the basic issue of the persona.

Jungian analyst Daryl Sharp describes the persona as follows:

‘The “I”, usually ideal aspects of ourselves, that we present to the outside world… Originally the word persona meant a mask worn by actors to indicate the role they played. On this level, it is both a protective covering and an asset in mixing with other people. Civilized society depends on interactions between people through the persona.’

After setting up this possible basic theme, the dream moves to another location, namely the beach.

A beach usually symbolizes the space where emotions and many other contents from the unconscious (as symbolized by the watery sea) come into contact with and affect the ego (as symbolized by the more solid beach).

Again, the scene is upsetting where people are swept into the sea, apparently including people you know. In addition, some kind of explosions are occurring.

Symbolically, this situation points to the idea that in some way, you could be at this time or in the future too much at odds with what your overall unconscious mind wants you to be like in order to fulfill yourself as a person overall.

This ties back to the idea of the persona because as Daryl Sharp writes:

‘A psychological understanding of the persona as a function of relationship to the outside world makes it possible to assume and drop one at will. But by rewarding a particular persona, the outside world invites identification with it. Money, respect and power come to those who can perform single-mindedly and well in a social role.’

So perhaps the idea could be that you might be drifting into a situation where a certain role is tending to take over too rigidly or too often etc.

Possibly, this might potentially result in a kind of overly ‘black and white’ attitude similar to the man’s clothes, i.e. there might not be enough room for the ‘real you’ in daily interactions etc. but only for a kind of ‘on or off’ representation of your surface self.

Perhaps unfortunately there have already been a few unpleasant physical symptoms or an occasional clash with others that have appeared on the scene as symbolized by the rising and falling sea along with the explosions.

If so, the dream might be saying that it’s important to look head-on at any such occurrences instead of maybe allowing yourself to be caught up in wanting nothing to change regarding a certain interaction with others that usually provides feelings of success and accomplishment for example (e.g. you allow the unknown masked man to drag you away into a shed instead of trying to find out what’s really going on about the explosions etc.).

The shed scene with its high wall could be showing that despite any fears of losing status etc., it’s probably important not to try to suppress any such qualms and seemingly ‘overcome’ them on the surface (e.g. you doggedly climb the spiked wall in an attempt to escape the ‘pursuers’ who may or may not have been chasing you but instead, the masked man).

Doing so would apparently just put you in the power of the masked man who in the end enjoys your discomfiture in seeing your self-image being cracked and damaged.

In addition, your unconscious mind could all the same remain activated in a negative way (e.g. gunshots are heard and the ‘pursuers’ could eventually scale the wall as well).

Generally, the image of a male in the dreams of a woman symbolizes ‘mind’, intellect, thought, opinions, focus and assertiveness etc. etc.

If the male is negative, this could represent the fact that the woman is plagued with a kind of rumble of self-hurtful opinions and judgements etc. along the lines of ‘You’re just a nobody so why do you pretend to be otherwise?’ etc. etc., and possibly this is what could unfortunately be developing inside yourself.

Anyway as mentioned, without knowing anything 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.

If something does seem to click about your own situation in the ideas presented above, you may like to explore the idea of the inner male figure which affects the behaviour of women (just like an equivalent inner female figure affects that of men).

For example, a general overview is presented in one of the chapters of “Man and his Symbols” edited by Carl Jung.

A more detailed description makes up “The Ravaged Bridegroom” by analyst Marion Woodman.

A comprehensive but lively and interesting analysis can be found in “The Animus: The Spirit of Inner Truth in Women” by analyst Barbara Hannah. It’s contained in two volumes and maybe you could try one to see if you like her engaging style.

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