THE DREAM I was being chased in a church. There were people out to get me. They were firing arrows at me. I realised that I had nothing to defend myself with. Then someone threw a spear at me.

Later in the same night I had a dream about being chased along some lane. There was this small girl (not that scary) who was some kind of child killer who was out to get me. Then there were people chasing her and killing her who were saving and protecting me.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION The dreamer had chronic mental health problems. He did not like dealing with people at all. He had lost an identity card and needed it replacing which was a major crisis for him because he would have to deal with people. He decided to go to a further away office because this would make it easier for him. This would make things easier for him because he preferred dealing with people who he did not know so much. At his local office he was well known and this made him nervous.

DREAM ANALYSIS: Dreams are often easy to understand if only you link them to things which are going on in your mind. People see dreams where you are being chased as vague and meaningless because everyone feels the kinds of thoughts associated with being chased dreams (e.g. under pressure). However, if you just restrict the time period to the day before and things which bothered you at the time of the dream then it's much easier. The meaning of a dream becomes something very specific rather than something vague. In this case the dreamer was worrying about having to replace an identity card which was a major crisis for him because he hated dealing with people full stop.

So when we have an obvious issue that can cause dreams of being chased then the two "being chased dreams" are easy to understand. They simply mean "I am worried about having to deal with people to get my card replaced." This issue was something that he had to do and so metaphorically the issue was "chasing him around."

In the first dream the dreamer is being chased by people with bows and arrows and spears. These are more hand to hand weapons and this obviously has a symbolic meaning. The dreamer was fearing having to deal with people "at close quarters" in replacing his identity card.