The Throat Wound

The Dreamer is outside a dense neighborhood with an assignment.

There are buildings, structures, that he is supposed to destroy. Then he is inside a room. A woman who looks like the actress Katie Holmes confronts him, or he confronts her, or they confront each other. He shoots her in the throat with an arrow. The arrow goes through her throat and leaves a gaping wound. The wound does not stop her from approaching him.

Then the Dreamer is in the elevator of a luxury hotel with an unknown woman who is wearing a red silk dress. The passion is contained, but palpable. As they exit the elevator and walk the halls, the Dreamer and the unknown woman cannot keep their hands off of each other. The passion is violent and as they kiss he erotically grabs her throat.

Then the Dreamer is inside of a luxury hotel lobby, which is kind of inside of a shopping mall, waiting for the keys to his room. The hotel doesn’t have his room ready. Then a concierge hands him room key #2. Then the Dreamer is inside of the shopping mall, going to get his wife a luxury gift. He is under-dressed for the luxury shop, but enters without embarrassment. He buys his Wife a string of pearls and gives them to her.

Then the Dreamer is looking for the hotel room, with the wife’s Aunt Elise, who is also looking for her room. They walk the halls of the mall and pass the food court. Aunt Elise remarks how she is tempted by the goodies. The Dreamer is not interested in anything from the food court. The Dreamer also does not believe that their rooms are this way but then they pass a way-finding sign that indicates room #2 is in fact in that direction, past the food court.

Then the Dreamer is at a food court buffet with unknown people, and his Mother. His Mother says that she is still hungry. The Dreamer evaluates her plate, and finds that it is empty. He asks his Mother how she could still be hungry.

Then the Dreamer is with his Wife. They are following the Dreamer’s Mother in Law Marie and her friend Becky down a dark street. The Dreamer and his Wife follow the Mother in Law and Becky into a quaint backyard, into the lobby of a quaint bed and breakfast. Then they exit through the front door to find breakfast. Then the Dreamer is in a tourist town. Then the Dreamer is inside of one of the shops, which has a lot of pig skins and animal furs for sale.

Then the Dreamer is being interviewed on the phone by two unknown men who work in a secret capacity. One of the men asks him pointed questions about the Dreamer’s history. The Dreamer responds with themes that remind the Dreamer of his Father. Then the Questioner asks the Dreamer a technical question about his work life, to do with low-emitting materials. The Dreamer responds: it sounds good but it is factually incorrect.Then the Dreamer is having bad reception and cannot hear the Questioner. Then the Dreamer hears a second Questioner in the background of the call.

Context: This dream continues the recurring theme of “luxury”, “valuation”, “luxury hotels”; also the Dreamer is again passing on convenient foods or convenience items. This dream also continues the theme of a passion that is expressed through strangulation, in two earlier dreams. Also this dream continues the theme of the Mother in Law and Becky, as well as the dream of the Two Wise, Questioning, Men in the dream “Call to Initiation”.

Associations: The actress Katie Holmes was an early crush: when she was in the television show Dawsons Creek, which I remember watching when I was a boy and fantasizing about Katie Holmes being my girlfriend. I associate my Wife’s Aunt Elise as an overweight woman, who tends to like to overeat. I have associations with my Mother and fast food: she loved Taco Bell and White Castles. In the context of this dream, I associate my Mother in Law with someone who could not afford to stay at a luxury hotel: she would instead stay at a shabby b&b within walking distance to tourist amenities.

Feelings: aggression, passion, disgust, over-eagerness

Active Imagination: The Fool approaches the image of Katie Holmes with a hole in her throat and asks her why she has a hole in her throat. Katie responds for him to see for himself. The Fool comes to the wound and looks inside of it: he sees his boyhood room; he hears the theme song from Dawsons Creek “I don’t want to wait, for our lives to be over…” going on repeat; he feels nostalgic and immature; the wound “smells like tuna and tastes like chicken”, which is an old phrase that comes to mind about how his boys group at that age characterized a girl’s “pussy”. Then the Fool goes to visit his Mother at the table of the food court, and asks her what she is doing there. The Fool’s Mother says she is at a Mothering Conference, to learn about how to be a Mother. Then the Fool is brought to see his Wife: his Wife is behind a paned glass window, inside a building like a warehouse. The Wife looks solemn. The Fool tries to cheer her up by being goofy, but she does not budge in her countenance. Then the Fool asks her seriously, what’s the matter? And the Wife shows him a medical table.

Interpretation: This is a dream about coming to terms with the (wounded) feeling function. The Dreamer is on a mission to destroy a complex. He keeps coming back to this theme of deep questioning: “What do you value? Is it luxury hotels? Pearls? Unbridled sexual passion? Greasy food? Your current work life? Other conveniences?” The exercise of active imagination confirms that the feeling function, this evaluation, is stuck in an immature and teenage state. The Dreamer has a valuation of women, or the feminine, that is as disgusting and repulsive as fast food: it’s not healthy or cute. The Dreammaker is suggesting that the Dreamer needs to go on a secret mission of destroying this complex and improving the feeling function.