Witches in dreams can represent real people - usually women. Who is witch like? Who is evil and selfish?

THE DREAM In my dream I was somewhat lost in an abandoned building (looked like my old elementary school) and I ran into another woman who seemed to know a bit more about the surroundings than I did. Then I looked down and found a scrap of paper with lots of pictograms from different cultures all describing a sort of predator. We puzzled over it a minute when the woman I was with disappeared. I knew she had been taken by whatever the predator described on the paper was. Somehow I found it's home and was invited in by the woman I had been with earlier. She was very frightened and tried to hide in a pile of odds and ends. It didn't work and I was found when the predator came home. It was a monstrous old woman and I immediately stood up and spoke to it. "Grandmother! I'm glad you are home, I got you two presents but you seem to have found the first already." I pointed at the other woman who looked even more frightened and tried to hide in a corner. "I also brought you this ball, I didn't know what it was but I thought you might like it grandmother." I handed her my stress-relief squishy ball and she popped it in her mouth, exclaiming that it was horse-meat and told me to set the table. We chatted as I set the table for two and I learned that her name was Baba Yaga, she was the old Russian witch who ate people. I took my chance and seized the fork and got up on the table so I could reach her face and yelled. "Baba Yaga! I am your old enemy and tonight you die!" I stabbed her in the eye and killed her. I woke up just as help was arriving.

THE REALITY The dreamers grandmother(who drives her nuts) was coming to visit for six months because she was suffering from ill health and needed 24 hour care. Coincidentally, the home of Baba Yaga in the dream is identical the spare bedroom the dreamers Grandma sleeps in when she visits.

The dreamer is studying anthropology in real life. She made the following comment about the symbols in the dream "it parallels the traditional fairy tales of the native Americans and the Russians. The young person always respectfully addresses the monster as grandmother or grandfather and in turn the creature is obligated to treat the hero as they would their own grandchildren. Then the monster is usually tricked into killing themselves or giving the hero an opportunity to kill them."

DREAM INTERPRETATION Witches tend to be quite predictable symbols. The witch usually symbolises some evil or manipulative female who tries to selfishly get exactly what they want. Its just a matter of asking yourself who the witch is in your waking life. In this case the dreamers grandmother was just about to come to visit for a long stay. Since the dreamer had a quite negative view of her grandmother then its clearly related to that. So now its just a matter of seeing how the symbolism worked.

In the dream the pictogram probably represents the dreamers worst possible view of how things could turn out. Pictures tend to link to things that we are imagining and picturing in our minds. In such cases we tend to exaggerate things and fear the worst.

The dreams draw on the dreamers studies in anthropology and use symbols from native American fairy tales and Russian culture. We draw on symbols that are significant to ourselves. But really the symbols are all standard symbols. We have witch who captures the dreamers feelings about her grandmother and the monster who symbolises her fear that things will get out of control. In this dream they also make a very specific point about the dreamers strategy for dealing with her grandmother as the young person always addresses the monster as grandmother. So maybe it suggests that the dreamer is going to be always respectful to her grandmother so if any arguments take place then she can always blame things on her grandmother.

Also we have hints as to how the dreamer is approaching her grandmothers visit. She stabs the witch in the eye. So that's suggests that she is going to stand up to her grandmothers worst excesses.

Symbolic Meanings
MONSTER : "Some form of behavior that is totally out of control - in this case a wish that her grandmas behavior does not get too out of hand"
PICTOGRAMS : "something that you are imagining in your mind - in this case how bad her grandmas behavior can become"
STRESS BALLS : "The dreamer hands the monster the stress balls because she wants to clearly communicate her views to her Grandmother"
WITCH : "A selfish and manipulative figure - the dreamers grandma tends to drive her nuts"

DREAM MEANING The dream captures the following feeling within the dreamer - "My grandmother is coming to stay as she is ill at the moment. She drives me crazy. I am going to make sure things do not get out of control."

See how the symbolic meanings use metaphors to describe the dreamers grandmother