THE DREAM My father ( whom I haven't seen for quite some time ) was sleeping on the sofa, in the living room ( he used to do that after lunch ) and I was sitting somewhere listening to the sound of digging coming from the outside. For some reason this sound was terribly frightening. My father awake and I asked him who was digging right in front of the window but he didn't answer. He stayed there laying on the sofa. For some reason I knew someone was burying a corpse. I risked looking through the window and I panicked as I saw an old fat man with a shovel, grinning in front of a grave shaped like a human body. He had just buried someone there, the grave was not completely full yet. I started to scream and I feared it was my mother's corpse ( she went to Japan last Thursday and I haven't heard from her since then ).

I turned my back to the window and found the old man in the middle of my room, his face was red and he had a demonic grin. I realized he was a demon and he threatened me saying he would possess my soul. I imagined a light barrier around me, sweating as I struggled with the demon, trying to avoid my soul to be drained. He looked at me with anger, he was sweating too.

As I won, the red disappeared from his face and he gave up draining my soul. He suddenly turned into a hobgoblin or something. The dream ends with me looking at a small towel with the picture of Santa's gnomes I had over my bed as a child.

I woke up thinking about my mother, how can she be?

I remembered something. I don't know if this has any relevance but the night before the dream I was a bit upset. Everyone was buying gifts for their mothers and I remembered my mother had gone to another country and she didn't even make a call to tell me everything's okay.

THE REALITY The dreamers mother had just set off for Japan. A co-worker of the dreamers mother had said that her mother was actually planning to stay in Japan rather than just go on holiday. This doubt had left the dreamer not knowing what to do.

DREAM INTERPRETATION Dreams help us confront major areas of stress in our lives. During the night we undergo a process of self healing. At night we maybe dogged by some issue that we just cannot get off our minds but by morning we awake refreshed. The issue suddenly seems so less important. It was the case in this dream. The dreamer was upset the night before but she woke up feeling refreshed. She had to adjust her mind to the thought that her mother may not be coming back.

When the dreamers mother set off for Japan the dreamer - because of rumours about her mother - was prepared in her mind for her mother to stay there. She had a previous record of going on holiday and staying - when the dreamer was just a teenager her mother went to another city and stayed for several years.

On the day before the dream the dreamer had been upset because everyone else was buying presents for mothers day. Her mother was in Japan and had not even phoned.

The dream starts off with the dreamers father - that symbolises how the dreamer is thinking. She was thinking about a parent now gone. In her mind she has to deal with the possibility that her mother will not return. In the dream mind if someone has gone from your life then they may as well be dead. Indeed the corpse of her mother symbolises an effective end to the relationship(at least on a close level).

Demons in dreams are symbols of fears. But these are not normal fears - they are the type that possess your mind(you cannot think of anything else).

Hobgoblin's are symbols of the unknown. They are not real and so they deal with things which exist only in the mind. In this case they represent the dreamers doubts and uncertainties. Dreams feed on uncertainty. In this case the dreamers mother had gone to Japan. However, although her mother assured her she was just going on holiday she had a reputation for disappearing and not coming back.

We are closest to our mothers when we are young. In this case the dreamer reflects back to a time when she was young. The Santa's Gnomes towel links to a time when you give presents. That directly links to the dreamers thoughts of presents and mothers day.

Symbolic Meanings
CORPSE : "thoughts and relationships which are not alive and flourishing in your mind"
DEMONIC : "almost possessed by some thought"
GRAVE : "having to put something behind you - moving on"
HOBGOBLIN : "not knowing what to think about her mothers intentions"
SANTA : "thoughts of Christmas past and the importance of family"

DREAM MEANING The dream captures the following feeling within the dreamer - "My mother has left for Japan. I have heard a rumour that she will stay there permanently. I know she has done that before. She just leaves without a warning. Its been worrying me."

See how the symbolic meanings capture an assessment of her mothers personality