Thread: Railways and someone I like getting married?

Although in order to provide a more accurate interpretation it would usually be best to have some additional general background information about you (and a description of events just before the dream), the image of a train in dreams tends to carry the meanings connected with any “vehicle”.

For example, it’s an emblem of energy, both bodily and psychic.

This implies a certain mix of physical attributes and energy levels etc. along with a mix of psychological leanings and interests and so on which together form the basis of how the dreamer moves through life in a day-to-day way.

A train is also a collective image of a vehicle as opposed to, say, a car, motorcycle or bicycle which the dreamer is directing.

So a dreamer’s riding along in a train can tend to suggest that she or he is possibly being “carried along” too much by generally accepted mores, beliefs and the overall zeitgeist of the society where she or he lives as opposed to being more of an individual in general (e.g. as symbolized by the fixed rails whose location and direction an impersonal company decides upon as opposed being able to rove more freely).

Although you’re in the engine cabs of the various trains, apparently you have no role as a driver who would be controlling at least in some way the movement forward of the trains, perhaps therefore emphasizing a possibly mostly passive role in influencing the direction of your life.

In addition, you’re “always going in the same direction”, of course generally determined by where the fixed rails of the system have been laid down.

Apparently the dream wants you to take a serious look at the result of any such generalized movement in your life by having you follow a sharp bend in the tracks which lead into a forest, i.e. into a rarely visited part of your unconscious mind.

There, the tracks are overgrown and unused, probably emphasizing the idea that your usual state of mind doesn’t venture very often, if ever, into certain areas of your personality.

The fact that you rarely remember your dreams but that this one stands out is also a sign that your unconscious is likely encouraging you to explore a certain side of yourself which may tend to be overly neglected.

For instance, the image of a forest also suggests the area of the instincts and nature.

Similarly, camping in the woods with a simple fire and warm cider available adds to this idea of an instinctive, earthy side of one’s personality which should sometimes take precedence over more routine tasks (e.g. the campfire is in the middle of the tracks).

The appearance on the scene of your friend to whom you are quite attracted adds to the whole feel of emotions and natural reactions etc. which can “warm up” anyone’s life (e.g. you both poke the fire together to keep it going).

Perhaps the dream is hinting that you could unfortunately “miss out” on this side of life if you’re not careful (e.g. although your friend finds out about your feelings for her, it’s too late to go back on her marriage plans).

The young lad could possibly symbolize a certain down-to-earth and enterprising attitude in yourself which wants to delve into the world of practical relationships.

Instead though, you might tend to be content, as it were, with simpler and less complicated fare which provides a certain kind of “animal comfort” but which unfortunately could tend to leave you with no fixed abode in the years ahead (e.g. you leave the marriage scene with a cheese and onion pasty).

Anyway as mentioned, without knowing anything much about you, this way of looking at your 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.

Thank you so much for your response!

What you've said has already sparked off some thoughts.

So I've been living as no fixed abode since May last year. I've been hitch hiking around this little island visiting friends, family and working at festivals and things. I've been feeling very much like the usual schedule of the 9 to 5 world is behind me and not in front. Since about November time when it started getting cold and wet I tried to settle in my hometown to hibernate for the winter, that lasted two weeks and I went through several different places until I ended up where I am now for three weeks. I'm leaving again today to travel and visit people and festivals despite the weather because I just can't feel good about staying still at this moment in my life. This may be what the trains were about because as much as I've been in control of my travels lately, I've felt decidedly like I've had very little choice.

This friend I'm definitely going to be teaming up with at some point to go to festivals and fun things like that this summer. But she is planning to goto University after the summer. I would definitely be very impressed if she decided to come and learn about the world the way I learn about it but perhaps this is what my dream was trying to show me - We may journey into the wilderness together but she'll go back to that world eventually. Which I'd be encouraging for her but actually inside I'd be disappointed... at least I'll have a cheese and onion pasty...

Welcoming any thoughts if you feel to give any. Thank you

My take on this is that there is a part of you that desires a romantic companion - someone to share good times with, perhaps even passion (stoking a fire) - but that is not possible with the way that you live your life (hopping from train to train). Your dream source may be trying to show that unless you want to settle down and grow roots, you'll miss out on opportunities for intimacy, like the one with your friend. And while your conscious ego loves the life of freedom, there might be a less conscious part of you that wants a partner, like your female friend. From AuntyFlo's online dream book I pulled this from the entry for onion: "having dreams about onions also represent frustration, an upset as a result of jealousy or spite as well as a level of envy of others." Could you be jealous of her partner? Also, I associate onions with crying. I also associate blue (like her wedding dress) with sadness. Not to say your actual friend is sad, but maybe it has to do with the state of your inner woman/anima.



I hope you find something that resonates with you. Good luck.

Hi again,

I think you’re right in saying that the trains probably represent this feeling of you having no choice but to continue on travelling even in spite of the extra bad weather that the UK is experiencing this winter.

The zeitgeist side of this train-like momentum to constantly “move on” as it were might possibly relate to our world-wide societal tendency to avoid introspection.

As the noted Jungian analyst Marion Woodman has said, most societies to-day tend to be “compulsively extroverted”.

Of course it’s never a question of being extroverted or introverted but always of the need to maintain a reasonable balance between the two regardless of which of these modes of orientation that our own personalities are weighted toward.

It sounds like you could generally lean towards preferring the extroverted side of things, so introspection might seem a waste of time to you.

However, your restlessness in wanting to move on almost constantly might possibly be a kind of symptom that’s expressing indirectly the need to stop avoiding looking at some perhaps painful experience or other issue that it would be best to address.

Regarding the image of your friend in the dream, generally speaking, if her image was on the whole an exact photographic likeness and not “different” from the outer girl in some way, then it’s possible the dream might have been more likely commenting on your direct relationship with her.

If on the other hand, her image was “different” in some way, then she was most likely representing some aspect of your own make-up as a person.

So there might potentially be an attitude or way of acting etc. inside yourself which sometimes either tends to be like her in some way or which perhaps you should cultivate from scratch.

When we are mostly unconscious any relevant inner similarity, it automatically and unconsciously gets seen in outer people and it often plays a part in our wanting to start a close relationship with someone.

In your dream, her symbolic movement from living rough in the forest to getting married in a conventional but beautiful way could possibly mirror the outer girl’s movement away from her generally unfocussed teens towards solidifying her personality by appropriately moulding her aptitudes and abilities into a career which would form the foundation of the further well-rounded fulfillment of her personality in the long term.

Anyway I hope that these additional ideas can be helpful and please don’t hesitate to ask any further questions that may come to mind.

As a Natural Lucid Dreamer i have had many Occurrences were my closest friends and family begin to go in opposite directions from me just like in your dream were this close friend of yours who seems so close to you just goes in a completely different direction of you. What I'm interpreting is that you are worried you'll lose this person either from another person or you guys will just eventually drift away from each other because of different interest. It's obvious that you want to be around Her and maybe eventually even be a couple. I believe that is what you mind is trying to tell you, and being so far away from her makes you think more about it.

Hiya! Just popping in to say thanks a load you guys! I haven't got time to respond right now and some very interesting stuff has been happening. Just didn't want y'all to think I'd gotten a response and then never came back. Cheers!