Talking White Dog ( incredibly startling dream)

Hello everyone. This is my very first post and I would be forever grateful if someone can help decipher me this incredibly startling dream I had few days ago.

First of all, I would like to give some personal background about myself. I'm female and I'm 23 years old. Animals are no strangers to my dreams. I dream of them often and with time, I have learnt to associate you them with the correct symbolism and the corresponding psychological state. I dream of bugs when I'm stressed. When I'm scared, I dream of crocodiles. When I'm feeling good, I dream of lions or eagles and so on. So in most cases, they are connected to me directly. In this dream however, I felt like it was something else entirely, something beyond my own subconscious.

The dream goes like this.

I was nowhere to be seen in the dream. I was seeing it unfold like you would see a movie scene. Objective, distant and at times I felt like I was intruding on something I shouldn't see. During the whole dream, I felt nothing (strangely apathetic to the whole scene).

There was a room. A ruined, torn down, broken filthy room. Its walls and floor were so black with filth that they were almost impossible to tell from each other. The walls were cracked and full of holes. There was almost little to no light around.

In the middle of the dirty room. There was a a man. A filthy barefoot man. Holed, torn rags were barely hanging off his dirty body. Some parts of his body were left uncovered. His hair was long, falling down his shoulders in a tangled greasy mess. The hair covered all of his face and I couldn't see his eyes.

Beneath his bare feet, there were crushed pomegranate grains, a lot of them. ( I never dreamt of them before).

The man was standing still, head down. He looked so defeated and weary.Right at the other end of the room, there was a dog.

The dog was looking right back at the man. His fur coat was white as snow.Between his jaws, runny blood-like substance was dripping down his neck and running down his fur, matting it with red. It was the juice of a crushed blood orange.

In his eyes, there was pity and sorrow as he looked at the man. The white dog, staying where he was, said to the man :

"Barefoot fool,
Filthy fool,
Look at you now
Naked and nothing.."

His said the words in my family's native tongue which I rarely dream in. ( I mostly dream in English.)

And then I woke up. I was so startled by what I saw. I looked at my phone and it was 4.30 a.m. I couldn't go back to sleep after that.

The dream was so unlike any other I ever had and the images are stuck with me, even right now. It was so weird and disconnecting. It was like was seeing a memory or a dream of someone else. It didn't feel like my own and it shook me up.

Later in the day, I found out by someone in the family that my grandfather did not die naturally like everyone else says. He committed suicide ( shot himself in the head).

I don't why but I felt like the dream was connected to my grandfather, even though I didn't know the truth of his death at the time of the dream. I never knew the man, he died young at 24. My mother was only one-month old at that time, so she never knew her father either. My grandmother rarely speaks of him and his death is almost never mentioned. For so long, I thought he died of a heart disease and I'm shocked that to know the truth. No one knows why he did it and no one speaks of it. Do you think the man is my grandfather ? or is something else that has nothing to do with him ? Who is the dog ?

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 this very upsetting dream), it’s safe to say that the presence of the talking dog shows that your dream came from the deepest levels of your psyche.

This type of dream is called “archetypal”, and is more “collective” than “personal” in its nature. Such dreams appear at important transitional points in the dreamer’s life. In your case, you’re just starting out into adult life and it looks like a very important issue is being presented so that you can move forward more effectively overall.

The situation or problem etc. which the dream is trying to communicate is apparently very far from your conscious awareness (e.g. you view the dream as if it’s a movie, everything feels distant, the dream is like a memory or dream of someone else).

The dark, ruined, filthy room also symbolizes this idea that a part of yourself is “hidden away”, unconscious, and it could possibly be upsetting to find out what it means (e.g. it felt like you were intruding on something you shouldn't see).

Of course, the important part of the dream involves the man in rags who reminded you later of your grandfather and his sad fate. In addition, the white dog is also a very significant image.

The fact that, after your dream, you found out how your grandfather really died, and that you connected the man in your dream with your grandfather points to the idea that all of this was what is called a “synchronistic event”, or more simply, a “meaningful coincidence”.

In this type of happening, two events are not connected by “cause and effect” (that is, the dream didn’t “cause” the relative to tell you what your grandfather really died from), but two events in a meaningful experience are joined by “meaning” (that is, there could be a symbolic analogy between what happened to your grandfather and yourself which would be useful to find out about).

(If you’re interested in learning more about “meaningful coincidences”, reliable books about this subject by professional analysts include “There Are No Accidents” by Robert Hopcke, “The Tao of Psychology” by Jean Shinoda Bolen, and “At the Heart of the Matter” by J. Gary Sparks.)

Although it might seem to be an unusual idea, the man in your dream could symbolize your so-called “masculine” side.

As a general example, if a woman makes her main decisions by using her values and emotions (along with intuition, or by paying close attention to the five senses), her “mind” side and critical thinking aspect is usually less well-developed and reliable.

Other so-called “masculine” aspects of herself include focus and determination, being target-orientated, assertive, showing initiative and clear thinking and having an overall ability to look at things as they are in order to decide what’s best for herself instead of maybe following along too much with what “everybody else does” with what “everybody wants her to do”.

While there are very many possible meanings for the image of dogs in dreams, one analogy is possibly apt.

That is, most dogs are extremely sensitive to how they are treated.

Therefore, a dream can use the image of a dog to symbolize how sensitive the dreamer is to listening carefully to instinctive cues about her or his overall physical and mental well-being.

So there could be something which your “inner man” is being driven to do because of some kind of strong, fixed opinion or belief etc. which doesn’t fit your own personal situation closely enough, and which therefore, could become harmful over time (e.g. the dog points out how the man has been a fool about something).

As a very general example, a woman might have a fixed thought like “I must always ignore my own feelings and do what others want from me.”

If so, the dream seems to show what is needed to help prevent any such state of affairs from becoming the norm.

For example, the crushed pomegranate seeds at the man’s feet are strongly related to the feminine side of life. They have apparently been “misused” and are not suitable for “planting” in a psychological way in order to bring forth nourishing “fruit”.

So it’s possible that, in some way, you might be tending to avoid looking at how nature and life as a whole have both good and bad sides to them.

This situation could lead to becoming a less well rounded and conscious individual over time.

Also, the blood orange is symbolically connected with the idea of heat, growth, transformation and maturation.

The dog has a red, blood-like substance dripping down his neck, and he looks at the man with pity and sorrow.

This image suggests the idea that, in contrast to your apathetic attitude to the scene, warm feeling and sympathy may be needed regarding something that’s happening which is tending to hurt an important part of yourself.

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

Please feel free to comment on, or to ask any questions about, this particular way of looking at your dream.

Thanks Athanor for the well-thought reply :) I'm thankful you took the time to write it down for me.

The thing is, the man in the rags felt familiar. During the dream ( even though I didn't feel much for him), I still felt like I ought to know him. The fact that I did not sympathize with his misfortune was due to this overall feeling that " he got what he deserved". Even the dog's words gave me the same feeling of ' the man made his bed, now he is laying in it'. or so to speak.

The rags that he was wearing were remains of a male traditional robe of my own native country and that's why I connected him with my grandfather even more. I think he symbolized something cultural/ancient in me. The root or the early ancestor. For so long, I have felt disconnected from my own heritage, from my own bloodline and maybe the dream is a reflection of that. A tribal Seer once told me that I'm here to cleanse the blood of those before me. Her words were : " Your here to reset what was left broken." She added that I needed to break the cycle and rinse ancestral Karma.

To be honest with you, I didn't understand a word of what she was telling me. I thought it was utter nonsense and I just kept nodding. I mean those ancestors led their own lives the way they chose and they made their own decisions depending on their circumstances, what do I have to do with any of that ? I understand the concept of personal Karma and I do believe it to a certain extent. But 'ancestral' karma ?

In your reply, you mentioned masculinity and femininity and how they are represented in my dream. I have to confess, I've always struggled in connecting with my feminine self. Emotional trauma taught me to be tough, thick-skinned and unyielding. IF anything, I'm too 'masculine' and I intimidate most men I date. I can see how the crushed pomegranate could connect to me directly.

So following the logic of your analysis, I'm likely hurting myself in repressing my femininity which is represented through one's connection with heritage, ancestry, land and mother Nature, so to speak. I'm still unsure about the dog but he could be a symbolism of my most inner voice and in a way he is warning me not to end up like the man, spiritually " barefoot, dirty and naked." Do you think that's an accurate/correct way of looking at it ?

Hi again,

Feeling that the man in rags felt familiar and that you ought to know him probably symbolizes that, while you feel some of the effects of an inner, unconscious male figure, you aren’t at this time very aware of where these effects are coming from.

While you don’t sympathize with the man because he “got what he deserved”, and this is similar in part to the dog’s attitude, the crucial difference is that the dog feels sorrow and pity for the man.

This suggests that the man still deserves a “second chance”, as it were, because we all “make mistakes” at times.

Just to explain further what the “inner man” (which is called the “animus” in Jungian psychology) who exists in the psyche of a woman, relates to: when the ego has a conscious, ongoing relationship with this figure, it can become a kind of bridge to the deeper levels of the unconscious mind over time.

This takes the form of spontaneous, creative thoughts and ideas for projects etc. that are suited to the woman, and which can further her unique self-development.

This link with a deeper layer of your psyche is what gives such a figure the feeling of being cultural and ancient.

You’ve described the sad fact that you suffered emotional abuse, and unfortunately, this has tended to often make you tough, thick skinned and unyielding.

It looks like the sort of “masculine armour” you wear (which is very understandable in the circumstances) has forced your inner man into a role for which he isn’t suited.

That is, he is part of the persona or mask which you present to others in the outside world instead of fulfilling his role of being a guide to your unconscious.

This situation apparently has “worn him out” and he’s not able to give you much positive guidance in everyday matters and in leading you in the longer term to deeper levels of understanding. This could be part of why you’ve felt disconnected from your own heritage and bloodline.

So the “traditional” role of this figure is apparently in “rags” and, from the dream’s point of view, he needs to be helped at this time instead of being left to his own devices as you seem to want to do.

This is because, as Jungian analyst Jane Wheelwright describes in “Death of a Woman”, “When not consciously related to, the animus causes a woman to be opinionated, argumentative, rigid, controlling, and excessively critical of herself or others”.

For example, partly depending on whether the unfortunate emotional abuse began when you were a young child, you might unconsciously have buried in your psyche the belief “I’m no good, so this is why I’m being treated this way”.

If so, a stream of vague, negative and self-hurtful thoughts might sometimes flare up along the lines of “This guy can clearly see that you’re a waste of time, so why bother with him?” etc. etc.

Also, the man in your dream was partly linked with your grandfather because of the traditional robes. In addition, he’s apparently in danger of being “cut off” and “dying” (i.e. becoming “totally unconscious” to you) just like your grandfather was cut off too early in his life.

The idea might be that your grandfather had certain fixed traditional and family beliefs such as “A man must never show any weakness by expressing his feelings” etc., and, if so, this may have prevented him from seeking any help when he was feeling depressed.

The nature of his death was also treated by the family as a hidden, guilty secret. The problem is that any such hidden secrets can have a poisonous effect on the lives of family members, including those who are unaware of the truth.

So it’s possible that the tribal seer was someone who actually had a genuine intuitive insight (albeit in symbolic terms) regarding your overall family.

For example, she said that you’re here to cleanse the blood of those who came before you, that you have to reset what was broken, and rinse the ancestral Karma.

Symbolically, the “ancestral Karma” could possibly consist of fixed ideas and beliefs which contributed to your grandfather’s untimely death, and possibly to equivalent tragedies in earlier years. In a way, your ancestors weren’t actually “making their own decisions” as you believe because their decisions were apparently being influenced or controlled by certain negative “pre-ordained rules of behaviour” etc. etc.

If so, the cause of this loss of “blood” and “life” (whether physical and/or spiritual) has to be “reset” and “rinsed clean” as it were, possibly including the factors that led to your own terrible emotional abuse.

The idea might possibly be that your own gradual bringing to light the ideals and beliefs etc. of your close and extended family which are negative in some way could potentially “cleanse” yourself and other members of your family who would learn and change by your example over time.

So you would have broken the chain of a “bad Ancestral Karma”, potentially allowing for future members of the family to live lives that are better fulfilled in some general way.

A very good start to this overall possibility is that you have a strong relationship with your instinctive side as shown by the fact that you pay attention to your dreams and keep an eye on how the animals in them are doing.

In general, animals in dreams symbolize the dreamer’s connection with, and overall attitude toward, natural instinctive reactions, strong emotions, vague feelings, intuitions and even cold thoughts and actions that are sometimes needed to defend ourselves in certain situations (just like a quiet mother bear etc. will suddenly turn very savage if her cubs are in danger).

Sometimes, the more “feminine” side of your instincts might tell you that it’s OK to just “be” instead of trying to “do” things all the time. Also, they may encourage you to just accept things as they are, and to accept the natural flow of things from good to bad and back again. In addition, they might encourage you to be open to the “irrational” such as the meaningful coincidence that seems to be related to your dream.

So the talking white dog is indeed a reliable inner voice and it looks like he is warning you not to end up like the man, spiritually "barefoot, dirty and naked” because you have so much more to offer.

Anyway, I hope that these additional ideas can be useful, and please don’t hesitate to ask any other questions you may have.