February 21, 2011

February Snake Dream

In the dream, my mouth felt weird. I ran my tongue over my gums, the way I used to in ninth grade when I had braces on, and I could feel something moving against the dark insides of my mouth. In the mirror, my gums looked swollen. Something wriggled just below smooth pink surface. I reached in with a pair of tweezers, and pulled out a tiny, perfect snake, alive and curling into coils. I dropped it into the grass. I looked into the mirror again, and saw other little snakes, embedded in my gums. “I might as well pull them all out,” I thought to myself. Carefully, with the tweezers, I yanked each tiny snake out of my gums, pulling it from my mouth and dropping it onto the grass.

When I woke up, I could not speak.

17 comments:

L said...

YIKES!!! Now bring on the interpretations, wise and worldly readers!

Cindy said...

Snakes symbolize change, of course, and I'm guessing the mouth symbolizes -- something.

This might your creepiest snake dream yet.

Ricardo Jorge said...

I'm so having nightmares after this..

heidi said...

I don't know what it all means, but it made me gag.

Psycgirl said...

That is so creepy. +1 to Ricardo, I'm totally having nightmares after this

Anonymous said...

Dreams about teeth and gums are about aging, aren't they? I think I read that somewhere. But the snakes just add such a sinister element.

JT

rented life said...

My teeth feel funny. ugh. According to my student who did a speech on dream interpretation, dreams about teeth and gums deal with feeling like you don't have control over something, or you're lost control over something.

Sarah Sometimes said...

Awful dream. One of those ones that make real life seem like bliss. Hope you are feeling better.

Pilgrim/Heretic said...

Wow! - though I have to confess that this struck me as fascinating more than horrifying. (what was the dominant emotion for you?)

Lack of control, plus change, plus speechlessness... lack of control over your words? not being able to speak up about change? snakes have somehow absorbed your words to change them into something you didn't intend? ...Is this something about the editing/revising process?

jo(e) said...

The dominant emotion? Hard to say. In the dream, I was sort of fascinated by the little snakes, which were really pretty cool, but I also had the need to pull each one out.

I remember feeling anxious, like I was supposed to say something, or do something. When I woke up, my mouth felt weird, as if it had really happened.

jo(e) said...

Oh, and when I told my daughter about the dream, she said, "Well, dreams about snakes are usually dreams about change, and dreams about teeth are usually dreams about getting older, which is a type of change, so it's cool that you had both in the same dream."

Anthea said...

Yikes...and eurgh at the same time. Yes, bring on dream symbolism.

Anonymous said...

Isn't the snake a symbol of the power of women? I think it was sending you a positive message.

MF

Mary Stebbins Taitt said...

WOW! Super cool snake dream! I love it! I think with a little work it would make a cool poem.

Snakes do represent power for women.

You are releasing your power in the world--maybe it means your book will soon be published.

YourFireAnt said...

Snakes symbolize the feminine. Teeth symbolize getting that damn book sent out for publication a'ready.

;-)

Anonymous said...

snakes from a mouth symbolize lies

Ted said...

I think it's snakes in the hair that symbolize lies, not the mouth. Native Americans talk about combing the snakes out of their hair as a way of getting onto the right path.

Snakes or worms anywhere on the body have to do with aging, change, and mortality.