Page 13 - April 2025

Here is an example from my Workbook
of a compensatory dream that clearly
stated a conflict the dreamer was
embroiled in suggested something
deeper needing to be addressed for
her own well-being.
A woman I will call Jennifer had a
successful import/export business. She
had several employees who were
actively involved in sales for her
company. She had hired one girl in
particular whom I will call Susan, who
over time elicited a sense of revulsion.
She described this employee as a
person who exaggerated her
importance and talked incessantly
about “who” she knew — the mayor of
the city, the richest people in the area,
etc. She bragged constantly about her
sales ability and generally repulsed
Jennifer. It started to drive her nuts, so
much so that, although this girl was
doing her job and doing it well, Jennifer
wanted to fire her. She couldn’t stand
Susan anymore and told me so. I had
come to visit and stayed with her and
her family for a few months as I was
writing my workbook. I noticed Jennifer
doing the exact things she was
accusing Susan of and her teenage
daughter, Amy and I talked about it. It
became very obvious to both of us and
together we told her. At first she hotly
denied it, but because she was an
introspective woman, she said she
would think about it.
Things got worse before they got
better. Jennifer resented me for
pointing it out, but because I was a
guest in her home, she couldn’t exactly
get rid of me. Then one night during all
of this, Jennifer had a dream. She
dreamed that Susan, her employee, was
walking toward her with a cigarette in
her hand. Susan took the cigarette and
swallowed it. Jennifer took this to mean
that her dream was showing her that
Susan was obnoxious. “She’s even
swallowing cigarettes,” she said to me
— which would be a very literal
interpretation. The unconscious gave
her this dream to show her this figure
was inside her, that she was blowing a
lot of hot air and she needed to swallow
it. In other words, she needed to own it.
It was a great example of a
compensatory dream and how the
unconscious is offering up a solution
for this split-off part of her psyche. It
made a statement to correct the denial
of her conscious mind. From studying
and practicing dream interpretation, I
knew that dream figures often
represent your shadow, especially if
they are a person you can’t stand. It
became a touchy subject for her, so I
didn’t tell her what I thought the dream
really meant. I let it alone and allowed
her to process the information in her
own way. Life itself helped her get
clear. One night we were all at dinner
with a new prospective client.
My Indigo Sun -13