despite waking

My drum set had some strange gunk on it, so I decided to soak it in the aquarium. It was not an assembled drum set, but all the drums were there, floating about with the fish and decorations- quite a large aquarium! In fact, there were also turtles and alligators alongside these huge goldfish, which were eating the gunk off of the drums. It didn’t seem to bother the fish at first, but then they all started to die. As they died, they transformed from huge goldfish to (freshwater) angelfish, and they sank to the bottom of the tank with their faces pointed down, almost like they were spades stuck in the gravel. The fish were a faded orange, and looked like arrows pointing down.

Suddenly there were fish all over the floor of the apartment, in neat and precise rows, stuck in like spades or tacks, and it was almost as if the whole place was an aquarium even though it wasn’t submerged in water.

At one point in the dream, I wrote this all down so I wouldn’t forget to put it in the journal. ;)

What to think of all this? Well, in real waking life, I have neither a drum set nor an aquarium. Drums call to mind marching to the beat of a different drummer, which applies to me in terms of originality, eccentricity, and also stubborn insistence. Perhaps drums symbolize my own different way of doing things. So it appears that my own different way of doing things is not quite pristine- in fact, it’s a little gunky. I’m inclined to believe in this case that the gunk might be interpreted as mud, and that since my drums are muddy, it means that my way of doing things (drums) has been criticized or beset (mud-slinging).

In order to right this, I have set the drums to soak in the aquarium. Aquariums, being water-filled containers, often refer to the subconscious mind or emotions. My way of doing things has been criticized, so I am trying to see how I feel about that.

Alligators and turtles may refer to being thick-skinned or hiding in my shell when it comes to these criticisms.

The goldfish are representative of luck and wealth (being gold) and the bearers of significant emotional insights (being creatures of the water). The goldfish eating the gunk are literally digesting the criticisms against me. What insight do they bring? They transform into angelfish, where angels are heralds of important messages and of spirituality. They also, by transforming into orange angelfish, transform into orange arrow-shapes, like those used in construction signs or warning signs. Pay attention, they say. Be careful.

The fact that the fish die is not really bleak, it is simply another change (as from goldfish to angelfish) and signifies changes which need to or will occur in my emotional understanding. It is more important that the “arrows” are pointing down, in the gravel, which means I need to be more grounded. Maybe some of the criticism against how I do things is grounded. Maybe I am walking about with my head in the clouds and I need to pay attention and be more practical.

That the arrow/angelfish are no longer confined to the aquarium but line the floors of the apartment as well shows that this message needs to come to conscious awareness and be applied to real life. The importance of the message, or the effect of the changes I need to make, is all pervasive, and, apparently, will impose a very impressive order as well (all lined up in neat and precise rows). That the floor is involved may show that I will be supported or find support as I implement these changes- although the tack analogy means that this process might not always be comfortable, and the spade reference might mean I need to do a little more digging before I can really proceed.