Some dreams are terrifying, many are bizarre, few are memorable, but sometimes all three combine.
A few months ago I woke up shaking and dripping with sweat, reaching for my tongue to see if it was still there. Fortunately it was. Star, my parents puppy was not running around their living room with my tongue in her mouth, having somehow managed to prise it out, and all was well.
I hadn’t had such an entertaining and vivid dream since I was trying to escape from a giant bluebottle, the size of pig, that had a penchant for decapitation, or the time I was watching everyone else around me fall down and undergo some sort of brainwashing process, knowing that my time was soon to come…
When I mentioned the dog incident, some very helpful friends decided to interpret my dream. Apparently, this was all to do with having my parents’ affection and attention replaced by their new puppy. I knew they were using this as an opportunity to wind me up, but maybe there was something in all this dream nonsense? I decided to investigate for myself.
The first thing I looked up was “dog”. Here is what I found:
“To see a dog in your dream, symbolizes intuition, loyalty, generosity, protection, and fidelity. The dream suggests that your strong values and good intentions will enable you to go forward in the world and bring you success.”
Well that sounds quite good, except for the fact that Star had taken something quite important from me. I read on.
“If the dog is vicious and/or growling, then it signifies some inner conflict within yourself.”
Inner conflict doesn’t sound so good, but Star was neither vicious nor growling, she was just playful, albeit playing with a somewhat disturbing object. Rather unhelpfully, nowhere did it mention dogs stealing tongues. Is this not a common occurrence? I decided to look up “tongue”:
“To see your own tongue in your dream, signifies the things you say and express. You may have said too much or you may need to express yourself more.”
Quite possibly true.
“To dream that you rip someone else’s tongue out, indicates that you are extremely upset with something that this person has said, but you are not able to fully express your anger. Because you tend to keep your emotions inside, it is finding expression in your dreams in a violent way.”
But it was the other way around! – this dream interpretation thing is frustrating! I continued.
“The tongue is sometimes connected with sexuality and maybe seen as a phallic symbol.”
At this point I decided to end my research.
