Monja in Johannesburg, South Africa writes:
Hi Cortney, I had a dream about being in my childhood home, but unlike my home, it has two stories and belongs to my brother (he’s not in the dream). I am there with my brother’s 15-year-old son and my son 8-year-old son. We are outside the house, when suddenly these armed men start appearing out of the bushes. I run inside and lock the doors. I feel safe. Then the front door opens and a woman says, “They made me swallow the phone.” When I shut the door, my sister-in law’s voice tells me “What you need is in the top cupboard.” I go upstairs to look in the top cupboard, but I don’t know what I’m looking for and feel uncomfortable being there.
Then my son and nephew give me two guns. My nephew says, “Dad says you must put bullets in these.” I search in the cupboard again and find traditional bullets as well as strange looking grenade things that are black and red and made of lightweight steel. I use the traditional bullets in the one gun and then put these other things in the strange gun.
Suddenly, two heavily armed men wearing green shirts are in the house. The boys shout for me to shoot. I use the funny grenade gun, and the bullets fly out and attach themselves to the men. I realize that the bullets will explode, so I shout “duck!” to the boys. After the bullets explode there is blood and gore everywhere. My son comes around the corner, covered in blood and gore and gaping like a fish. My nephew calls out that one man is still alive, so I lean around the corner and I fire off two more “grenade things.” Afterward, I grab my son, saying, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry” to him. Then I wake up. This dream disturbed me a lot. What does it mean?
Hello Monja,
To touch on the obvious first, do you feel safe in your home? Are you concerned for the safety of your family? Does your brother use physical force when he’s angry? (I ask this question because the house in the dream belongs to him). If you answer no to all of the above, the dream may be reflecting some fear and/or anger that stems from your childhood. You might even have some anger toward your brother that’s emerging now. Or perhaps it’s simply time to stand up for yourself during challenging situations.
Looking at the dream in more detail, swallowing the phone might indicate you feel blocked when expressing yourself to others. The way to resolve the issue (whatever it is) is to use your higher consciousness (second floor), which holds the key to resolving the situation. This higher state of awareness may involve the healing of an emotional wound through forgiveness, compassion and releasing the past.
It’s intriguing that both your sister-in-law and brother advised you to use force as a way to protect yourself. In waking life, how do you feel about their way of resolving conflicts? Is their method(s) right for you? Because the violence in the dream disturbed you, you might want to analyze how your family handles anger, fear and threats from outside sources. Hope that helps!
Sweet dreams,
Cortney
