Читать книгу Understanding Dreams: What they are and how to interpret them - Nerys Dee - Страница 29

Traditionally, it was thought that every disease produced a characteristic dream as a warning sign. Chest complaints were said to manifest as fights. When we speak of ‘fighting for breath’, we are, perhaps, glimpsing the origin of this belief. Many illnesses do, in fact, express themselves in dream form but not consistently enough to be totally reliable as warning signs. For example, a high fever is often interpreted by the dreaming mind as a fire. Similarly, a pain which is not sufficient to wake us but is nevertheless disturbing, may be symbolised as a thorn in the flesh, the pounding of sledgehammer or a wild animal biting into our body in the region of the pain.

Kidney complaints and problems associated with the urinary tract were, not surprisingly, said to conjure up scenes of water and over-full rivers, while seeing a canal in a dream heralded a birth. Stomach and digestive ailments give rise to dreams about disputes, while warnings of liver disease presented as green and yellow objects. These are the colours of bile, a product of the liver. Anaemia was said to cause feelings of suffocation and weakness, again a representation of the physical symptoms.

These interpretations are unreliable indicators of ill health but, knowing that our bodies do ‘speak’ to us in ways other than through pain, it would be advisable to consult a doctor, should dreams of this nature persist.