Mouthful of Pins

photo by Steve A. Johnson

I just listened to a radio broadcast by one of my favourite dream gurus, Robert Moss. He talked about the importance of "naming your dream" when trying to interpret it because the name that easily comes to you can provide the focus of the dream.

The dream I named "Mouthful of Pins" was actually quite long and contained lots of different symbols and scenes but I'll focus on one part. In this scene I had been given a large, beautiful wooden sewing box. It had lots of little drawers. Some were open and overflowing with ribbons (like place awards from a track-meet) and also little flags. One I recognized was from Great Britain. There was a sign above the box that said "Happy Mother's Day" but it changed back and forth to "Happy Anniversary". I wasn't sure if it was a gift from my spouse or my mother. Suddenly, I was aware that my mouth was full of pins. I couldn't speak because every time I did they would overflow from my mouth and prick me. I was trying to spit them out or pull them out with my hands but it hurt and I couldn't get them all.

The sewing box: boxes are containers and in dreams, containers "contain" stuff like our emotions. Sewing refers to mending or
fixing something. The ribbons could refer to my achievements. Flags, as dream symbols, usually represent values or ideas from the country they are displaying. In my case, my ancestral home is Great Britain so the flag could be a symbol of my family's traditions. (I neglected to mention I was also wearing a black and red tartan shift dress - very cool, very Vivienne Westwood, which also represents Britain).

In waking life, pins can be used to either hold something together or used to hurt (poke or prick). In my dream, they definitely hurt me, almost like someone was trying to pin my mouth shut. Mouths, as an images, symbolize the way we communicate.

The changing signs for mother's day versus anniversary, and whether the box originated with my mother or spouse, perhaps shows conflicting feelings about the different roles I play as wife, mother and daughter. Where is my "Self" in all this? Maybe it is the box that contains my achievements and traditions. Did the pins in my mouth come from the box (like these are the things that are preventing me from communicating)? Or should I have taken the pins out of my mouth and put them into the little drawers? (It seems like the pins would belong in there.)

Anyways, I love that this dream contained so many symbols that are rich in meaning. So now in waking life, I am trying to be aware of what things (long held beliefs, people's expectations) are holding me back from saying what I need to.