I need help interpreting a recurring dream.

Hey. Me and my friend have been trying to interpret this recurring dream of mine. I first had it when I was about age 5 and I had it again just recently. I’ve had it quite a few times in the past. I’ll copy the log from my dream journal:

5/7
Recurring returning home dream. The last time I had this dream was quite possibly 5-6 years ago. I escape from a twin-islet city at night. Get a ride from a pair of ladies who happen to be pretty laid back. The car is a convertible, old style. There is a scooter or something similar mounted on the middle of the car. We travel across windy and hilly roads while it is dark and rainy. We then work our way across some steep rocky cliffs and ledges. We stop off at a small shack and sleep the night there. Next night, we get up and it is still raining. We then get in the car and drive off towards home. After a while, it gets to day and we reach a GIANT quicksand pit with small islets inside of it. I had to get across the quicksand pit with the guidance of a talking dog (new this time around) and getting across to all the islets to the other side. Rowan Atkinson happens to be standing in the quicksand pit with only his head and upper torso above the sand. He’s wearing a butler suit. I got approximately half way and then I woke up.

Note: How the dream continues, at least every other time. I get across to the other side and then we get into the car. It becomes dark again and we drive into a small suburb/town to stop at the servo. I take off the scooter like thing and start riding down the street. The street leads to the Adelaide hills, which I am riding down on a scooter, in the darkness with dawn approaching. I get an exhilarating rush riding down the hills, but I never actually seem to get home.

Things:
Me and my friend seem to have determined the quicksand pit as important as that’s the only thing that ever seems to change. I’ve crossed it with a variety of means. Building a raft, Pole vaulting, island hopping, swimming etc. One time I tried walking through the waist-deep quicksand but got held back by a tide. I then built the raft in that one.

I’m also feeling that it’s meaning may have changed over the years. In the earlier occurences, there was a feeling of detachment and loneliness. Now it has a sense of fear and anxiety.

I’ve broken the dream down into 3 parts:
Intial, Night and Escape
Middle, Travelling the path, the journey
End, Rebirth, Dawn of a new day.

I’m open to any ideas others might have.

Cmon?

Even any small detail you can pick up or something you can notice would be a help. Really!

Even if you think it’s obscure or possibly useless, I want to hear. I’m not good at picking up signals and signs but I’m good at putting them together. Any little bit helps.

hmmm… okay, well generally its pretty tough to interpret dreams especially as an outsider, etc…

But there are a few things which I myself would pick out…

It seems that theres no other obstacle on the way except for the quicksand pit, and this is something like you said, you deal with differently each time. Im not sure how to extend from this since Im no expert, but if your looking to interpret it as something, you should maybe look at your current RL situation when you get this dream, is there something you can relate it to, or something that you have to solve?

The fact that the dream dosnt end with you getting to your destination seems to be meaningful too, and i would guess this might be the reason it keeps reoccurring?

Another thing which seems to reoccur within the dream are the islets, and thats the first place you escape from…

hmm… there are quite many things, which seem to play an important role in the dream, which are there all the time, like the scooter, but before you can take the scooter as your own travelling means, you have to travel with someone else.
And there must be a reason why new things are introduced too… Im not sure, but you should maybe try to identify the new things introduced, and what significance they have to you, and why there are the same things throughout each dream. I would suggest you try to relate these to RL experiences, do the people remind you of someone you know, ( they dont have to, they can just be your dream helpers), and it dosnt have to be in RL, it can just be in your mind.
The mood in the dream is important which is easily forgotten, are you scared and escaping because of that, or are you at piece, or is it nightmarish, even if there are no scary elements in the dream…?

I dont know how much that helps, just my 2 cents, but hope it gives some pointers…

Thankyou. That will help me a fair bit.

I’ll have to carefully consider all the points you raised. Hopefully I will come to a meaningful conclusion.

Surprisingly, I’ve had a dream sort of like yours. The dream began when I was in this very old, dilapidated, run-down house. The room I was in was also populated with 2 or 3 other people. The first time I had this dream, someone in the group of people told me we were fighting this wicked witch that haunts the old house. I mainly worked with the group of people to try to escape from the witch and such. When the game was over (either I was defeated or the witch was), my dream ended and I either went on to another dream, kept sleeping until I woke up, or after the dream I’d just wake up immediately.

The funny thing about this dream is it happened two other times after that. The second time it happened, I think the group of people and I were trying to jump in the basement, which was filled with water and floating objects which held up our weight. The witch touched me, and I guess that meant I lost, and the dream ended. The third time this happened, I acted as the group leader and gave suggestions on what to do (since I had already been in the house two other times). I don’t think we succeeded in defeating the witch, but we went pretty far! If I do go lucid or just happen to come to this same house in the same setting again, I’d really enjoy seeing what I can do!

Anyway, this whole dream has so many details: other dream characters, the plot/objective of the dream, the surroundings/environment, and so much more. The three dreams all had the same environment and plot/objective, but different people in the group. This may explain that you were on a journey in your dream to accomplish something (in your case, get home) but you take into account ways of getting there (building a raft, isle-jumping). Look closely at what you want in the dream, who you’re dreaming it with, and most importantly, the ways you try to accomplish your goal. It may help you to realize what you want to really do, then if you do it in a later dream, you can hopefully resolve the situation you are in (which is not being able to go home/accomplish your task)

I hope this provides some in-depth info about your dreams. I’ve probably talked my brains out, but try and read everything and think about what I’m trying to get across. If you have any questions, feel free to IM/e-mail/PM me. Thanks a lot and let me know how it goes!

All I can say is…wow. You’ve obviously put a lot of thought into it, and for that I thank you. Those are some good ideas to consider. I’ll have to find some quiet free time and think about it.