Between a Sock and a Hard Place: Astrological Dreamwork

With transiting Mars and Neptune in Pisces opposing my natal Uranus/Pluto conjunction, I’ve been attracting a lot of clients who request dream interpretations. Dreamwork has long been a fascination of mine. Having grown up in an Ojibwa household, I hold great respect for what our unconscious mind tries to tell us. You see, when you sleep your spirit is free to roam the world. Your dreams are what we remember of its adventures. Asibikaashi, the spider grandmother, taught women how to make dreamcatchers to protect children from nightmares. Any bad experience the spirit encountered would not be able to re-enter the web and gain access to the conscious world of children. The captured bad dream would then evaporate in the morning sun and disappear.

Over the years, I’ve experimented with various methods of dream interpretations from Freud to Gestalt, dream interpretation books and lots of other sources. I found Freud to be pretty useless and the books not a lot of help but Gestalt’s method of getting the symbol of the dream to express its feelings was something I could use. Recently, I’ve started to use Rod Suskin’s method of dream interpretation and I’ve found it extremely useful, both for my clients and also for my own troubling dreams.

If you would like to have a dream interpreted, you can book an appointment here.

Rod’s method uses the consultation chart, rather than the time of the dream itself. The Moon of the consultation chart represents the dreamer while the 9th house (Regiomontanus houses) represents the dream itself. The natal 9th house of the dreamer gives an insight into the kind of dreams the dreamer has.

Dreamwork: A Case Study

A friend of mine (“V”) asked me to interpret his dream. Natally, he has Sagittarius ruling the 9th house (Regiomontanus) with Saturn also in the house. His natal Venus is exactly opposite Saturn and his Moon in Pisces is the apex of a T square from both of these planets. This shows great tension. One way V may try to resolve this tension is through analysing or compartmentalising his experiences through the Moon’s opposite sign (Virgo).

Jupiter, the ruler of Sagittarius, is in Virgo, in the 7th house. V’s dreams may try to communicate areas of his life that need work (Saturn). Saturn in Sagittarius in the 9th would take dreams seriously. His dreams may also involve travelling or may give him the opportunity to examine his personal philosophies through his relationships with other people (Jupiter).

V gave me few details about his dream. Essentially, he had given his brother a pair of socks as a gift and had been thrown out of his brother’s house. From other conversations, I know V and his brother have a troubled relationship and that their mother had recently passed. That V had a dream about his brother seemed to indicate something isn’t settled in V’s mind and he needs to work towards finding a resolution. I found it interesting that V had this dream as natally, he has Jupiter opposite the Moon: this aspect can be over-protective emotionally. Generally, socks represent comfort and care.

The Dream Chart

Using the time of him telling me the dream, I constructed the chart:

V, as the dreamer, is represented by the Moon in Capricorn, in the 3rd. The 3rd house rules siblings and V is the brother who has to work towards resolution (as it’s his dream). Gemini is the sign on the 9th house with Mercury in Cancer as the ruler. The Moon and Mercury are in opposition and so this seems to represent the conflict.

I asked V if the dream was related to his mother (the Moon ruling the Mercury of the dream) and initially he said it wasn’t. However, he later connected that his mother used to give the brothers gifts such as socks and other practical items for Christmas.

The Moon in Capricorn is ruled by Saturn in Aquarius which pulls Jupiter and Pluto into the mix by conjunction. These planets are in the 4th house, the house of roots, home and family. This dream was an unpleasant experience of being thrown out of his brother’s house. Saturn’s modern ruler is Uranus which is in the 8th. The brothers had a conflict over a family legacy and that was their final contact with each other. Uranus makes easy connections to both the Moon and Mercury and so seems to represent the brothers’ estrangement.

Because they are associated with fun and celebrations, gifts are found in the 5th house and that Mars is conjunct Neptune in Pisces is a great match for the symbol of socks and feet. Mars in Pisces is exactly trine the MC, meaning this symbol is seeking exposure to the public. One brother had given the other a symbol of motherly love (natal Moon opposite Jupiter) and the receiver “thanked” the giver by throwing him out of his home. It is striking that V, although he said he would never speak to his brother again, was the one who was instigating family connections in the dream. He was the one who was working towards reconciliation (Moon in Capricorn).

The Natal Connections

Powerful dreams will have connections to the natal chart and we are not disappointed with connections found between V and his dream.

V’s natal Neptune in Scorpio is rising in the dream chart. Perhaps this is why the symbol of socks was able to enter his consciousness and the brothers’ last contact had something to do with their mother’s legacy. However, more than that, V’s Moon is conjunct Mars/Neptune in Pisces of the dream and opposite to V’s natal Jupiter in Virgo. This suggests V associates socks with the comfort he received from his mother. V added he felt he was invisible to his brother in the dream which is nicely symbolised by Neptune as well.

V’s Mars in Cancer is exactly conjunct the Mercury of the dream. V was understandably angry with his brother for his treatment of him. He had given his brother a memory of their mother only to be ejected from the brother’s home.

Most strikingly, V’s Venus is exactly conjunct the Venus of the dream and is the chart ruler of the dream. Currently, Venus is in Cazimi: Venus is invisible. I asked V if he felt there was something hidden. I thought perhaps (as Venus is in Gemini) there was missing information. V felt this represented the breaking of the brotherly bond which also fits the symbol. As V has a natal Venus-Saturn opposition, this seems to be a correct signification of the relationship. V’s natal Mercury is exactly conjunct the Uranus of the dream which reinforces the estrangement.

The opposition between the Moon in Capricorn and Mercury in Cancer seems an apt representation of the tension between the brothers, the memory of the mother and V’s efforts to make amends with his brother in the dream.