Charlie Blackmon’s Dream, Interpreted via Science

I just had a dream that a sea turtle bit my finger off. I’m not sure what that means. But I think it’s good luck

— ChuckNazty (@Chuck_Nazty) December 13, 2012

“Via science” is probably an optimistic description of how the author proposes to interpret Charlie Blackmon’s dream with a turtle in it. “Interpret,” itself, is also not quite accurate.

“By copying down entries from The Little Giant Encyclopedia of Dream Symbols (ed. Klaus Vollmar) that belongs to the author’s wife — and then allowing the reader to reach his or her own conclusions”: indeed, this is much more precise.

Here, for the benefit of the readership, are five entries relevant to Charlie Blackmon’s dream of late — reproduced in the exact order in which they were referenced by the present author.

Turtle/Tortoise: Hiding behind a character trait (according to Wilhelm Reich). Patience, wisdom; or hiding something essential.

Bite: Aggression (“sharp tongue”), chopping up. Often points to the animal side in humans. Vicious personality, social inhibition, in many ways related to the acceptance/rejection of one’s own “animalistic” side. Also, on another plane, reference to eating habits, with the ability to chew. See: Eating, Teeth. Who is biting whom? Being bitten by an animal: contact with one’s own drive. See: Animal, Vampire, Bite.

Finger: Manual dexterity. According to conventional psychoanalytic theory, a phallic symbol. Folklore: Suggests that looking at your own fingers, in a dream, means you want to fight.

Animal: The animal, compulsive nature of human beings. Instincts, according to Freud and most other dream interpreters, removed from awareness (animus); or awareness removed from instinct (anima) in human beings. The image of the suppressed or of the shadow, suggesting a chance for integration.

The type of animal in the dream is important. Jung suggested that we find out more about the innate character of the animal we have dreamed about. According to Freud, small animals always symbolize children and siblings, while wild animals are a symbol for sexually excited or exciting people, evil urges, or passions.

Charlie Blackmon: [No entry.]