Weird Dream with a Bad Smell

dlgriffin04

A couple nights ago I had one of the weirdest dreams I've ever had. I thought I would get other's take on it if possible. I actually completely forgot about this dream until I was holding my smokey amethyst elestial stone later that day.

Anyways, in this dream I was me, but from what I remember of the dream and my feeling of it, I don't think I was me...I think I was an older man (i am a woman). I was walking next to two very large piles of dead bodies...there was a tree line right behind them as well. Where I was standing and where the bodies were was clear with no trees, but I didn't look behind me, so I'm not sure what was there. There was also a man there with me but he didnt speak. I remember seeing all of the peoples bodies (men, women, and children) and looking at their rotting faces, but was not at all emotional or concerned about the fact that I was standing in front of hundreds of dead people. What I was concerned with was the horrible smell coming from them. I was very angry about the smell....and in my dream I did smell them. I have no idea what a dead body would smell like...let alone hundreds of them, but my guess is they would smell exactly like it did in this dream!

I walked into this two story home fairly close to the bodies hoping to get away from the smell. I noticed it had a front porch and the inside was not modern. It was very simple and there was no modern technology that I noticed. Everything was 'old style'. I remember a window was open in I think a dining room....there was red curtain blowing in the breeze, and I could see the piles of bodies through the window. The man I was with walked in the room and I said something like, "well, I'll never forget the smell of a dead body after this is over with."

I asked a friend about this, who said it sounded as if it was a past life memory...with the possibility that I may have been a Nazi. From what the house looked like on the inside, it looked like it may have been in that era as well. I was also holding the elestial when I remembered that dream....I read that it can bring back past life memories.

I just wanted to get others' take on this dream and see if anyone has any other explanation/interpretation of this dream, or would even agree with my friends thought of a past life memory. If I remember a dream I usually take it as something I really need to pay attention to since I don't but rarely remember them.
 

watchman291273

A couple of things would make me go with a symbolic meaning. The main is it seems quite unrealistic that bodies be left to rot in the air to the point of decay you describe, especially near a house, with all the risks of epidemics it could set off. Another is there's no hint of you being associated with the slaughter.

With a symbolic reading, groups of nondescript people tend to refer to the general state of our unconscious. The dream also bears strong references to the past as you've noted. If we factor in the massacre and your lack of empathy for the victims, one interpretation off the bat would be of an upheaval you went through when you were younger. One that you would fully acknowledge and have come to terms with in your conscious mind - you even see the corpse from the House, which is a symbol of the Self - but that would have left you emotionally burnt out and still haunt you on a deeper level. One extra hint besides the reaction you display would be your being a man. That would be your animus which would have to an extent overpowered your feminine energy inside your psyche.

Does anything resonate with you?
 

dlgriffin04

watchman291273 said:
A couple of things would make me go with a symbolic meaning. The main is it seems quite unrealistic that bodies be left to rot in the air to the point of decay you describe, especially near a house, with all the risks of epidemics it could set off. Another is there's no hint of you being associated with the slaughter.

With a symbolic reading, groups of nondescript people tend to refer to the general state of our unconscious. The dream also bears strong references to the past as you've noted. If we factor in the massacre and your lack of empathy for the victims, one interpretation off the bat would be of an upheaval you went through when you were younger. One that you would fully acknowledge and have come to terms with in your conscious mind - you even see the corpse from the House, which is a symbol of the Self - but that would have left you emotionally burnt out and still haunt you on a deeper level. One extra hint besides the reaction you display would be your being a man. That would be your animus which would have to an extent overpowered your feminine energy inside your psyche.

Does anything resonate with you?

Well, my parents divorced when I was about 10. I was fine with this divorce, and I still have no issues with it. My mother moving us in with a man I had never met before a month after the divorce was finalized did have some effect on me though, so maybe this is the issue you speak of. I do still have some issues with this and how the man treated us, and the fact that my mother always chose him over my brother and I. So, does this sound about on track of what your talking about???
 

watchman291273

That would qualify, yes. The fact children are included among the dead would point to something that has affected you from child- to adulthood. And the anger at the smell would be a reference to the case still not closed properly.

What do you think of the sense of detachment/doom and anger in the dream? Did you ever try to address the issue with your mother? Or is it something you wish will happen one day, or you gave up on it because you think she may not be willing to acknowledge what happened?
 

dlgriffin04

Well, she ended up marrying the guy and he treated me and my brother horrible...she just sat back and watched and didn't say anything. I addressed her then when it was happening....she always stood up for him no matter how bad he treated us. And we talk about it every once in a while even now....she knows now that how he treated us was wrong, but still kinda blows it off like 'oh well, that's the past and thats just how it went'.

So, yes, I can say I still do have some issues with the choices she's made and how she reacted when it came to her husband. She was actually ordered by children services when I was 14 that we weren't allowed to live with him anymore, including her. She dumped us off at my grandmothers (after they specifically told her not to do that) and she went back to him. We lived there for about 3 years. It was definitely a much better life, don't get me wrong, but the fact that she chose him over us just really irked me, and still does to some extent even now.

not quite sure how to incorporate this into my dream though...

watchman291273 said:
That would qualify, yes. The fact children are included among the dead would point to something that has affected you from child- to adulthood. And the anger at the smell would be a reference to the case still not closed properly.

Would do you think of the sense of detachment/doom and anger in the dream? Did you ever try to address the issue with your mother? Or is it something you wish will happen one day, or you gave up on it because you think she may not be willing to acknowledge what happened?
 

watchman291273

Since you said you still bring it up once in a while, I think there's a more or less conscious urge on your part to reach a proper closure on the issue. One that would get your mother to tell you she's sorry or show some real empathy for what you've been through instead of rationalizing, which is btw often a sign of repressed guilt. But every time, it must feel like you're hitting a wall.

So the attitude of the character in your dream would be a close reflection of what you're experiencing with your mother. There's this skeleton in her closet that keeps affecting you and the sense that you're going to have to always put up with that smell because your mother isn't ready to let the healing process begin. You being a man in the dream makes sense as what she does is a way of denying your emotions, symbolized by womanliness (among other things).
 

dlgriffin04

Yes, talking to her about it feels like hitting a wall, thats for sure. And your explanation as to how this all ties into my dream fits very well! Thank you for all of your help with this!

watchman291273 said:
Since you said you still bring it up once in a while, I think there's a more or less conscious urge on your part to reach a proper closure on the issue. One that would get your mother to tell you she's sorry or show some real empathy for what you've been through instead of rationalizing, which is btw often a sign of repressed guilt. But every time, it must feel like you're hitting a wall.

So the attitude of the character in your dream would be a close reflection of what you're experiencing with your mother. There's this skeleton in her closet that keeps affecting you and the sense that you're going to have to always put up with that smell because your mother isn't ready to let the healing process begin. You being a man in the dream makes sense as what she does is a way of denying your emotions, symbolized by womanliness (among other things).
 

watchman291273

Glad it helped dlgriffin. And thank you for the feedback.