Example: ‘1 look down and the stairs and bannister rail are swarming alive with a black moving wave of crawling things, like some awful insects; and in the hallway is a swamp with crocodiles and other hideous things. My terror is terrible and I cry out to stop dreaming this nightmare.
The person who actually lived in this part of the house was the owner’s mother. She treated me badly but no one knew as she was artful in her abuse. She pulled me along by my hair, locked me in a cupboard, and once locked me in the orchard—four high walls and a hidden door’ (Rita). Something below us: as in Rita’s dream, where there is fear, it can depict past trauma which is not being faced (literally run away from); something we have left behind or we feel ‘above*.
Descent, going down stairs or in a lift: getting more down to eanh or practical; a return to difficulties after living in our fantasies or escapism, depression; sexual restraint; a return from meta conception (See Also: aura). Descending into cave, cellar, hole: awareness of unconscious content, experience of womb existence. Example: Then I was climbing down a steep hill. Arriving at the foot I found rippling sparkling water. I stopped and looked around and found everything incredibly beautiful—the green fields and the pebbles in the water, the soft fresh air, then I looked up and the sky was a glorious picture, the sun so warm and the clouds fluffy and soft and pretty. I felt at peace and so happy, and thanked God with all my heart for giving us so much beauty’ (Mrs RE). Going down a hill: can mean loss of status, ageing, failure or death, but is also, as shown in the example, a positive sense of life after death. Idioms: feel down; down and out, down in the dumps; down to earth.
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