Here's the first post.
Here's the second.
And here we are on post #3.

In this post - the third in a series of ramblings on my birthday, my astrological sign and other foolishness I may or may not believe in - I am going to talk about adoption and dream interpretation.

When I looked up "adoption and astrology" through Google one of the very first links I got was on adoption and dream interpretation. Oddly enough, although I'm on the sceptical side of the fence when it comes to astrology, I think there's something to dream interpretation. That's because throughout my life I've had the gift of vivid, memorable dreams that I can usually link to my emotional and psychological state.

For example, the night before last, the night I brought home the very cute dog I found in the road to which my husband reacted with extreme dismay), I dreamt that I had done something to make my husband angry (ate lunch with a male colleague) and he left me.

Now, the reality is I have no 'real-life' colleagues at all right now, just virtual ones, and I actually don't think my husband would freak if I ate my lunch with a man who was not him, unless it was a room-service lunch at a hotel or something, but that was the dream. Reality: husband mad and grumpy. Dream: husband mad and leaves me. Dreams exagerrate reality, but in my experience they often reflect it.

I have anxiety dreams when I'm anxious. I've had dreams where something's happened and then it actually does happen, in a slighty different way. I think dreams can tell us what we're thinking when sometimes we don't want to admit we're thinking about it.

Anyway - about adoption and dreams. Adoption is actually a motif that comes up in some peoples' dreams. Here's what the Dream Dictionary on Astrology.com says about dreaming about being adopted:

Adoption themes in dreams often occur at significant points of transition or crisis in life. Being adopted in your dream can mean either that you have no human connections at the moment or that you require additional connections to remain a viable person. Dreams of this nature may occur during geographic moves, job transitions or uncertainties, or prior to marriage. Crucial questions exist concerning who adopts you, what the relationship is like with them after adoption, and whether you feel glad, ambivalent, or uneasy about being adopted.

Here's what is says about adopting another:

Obviously, the gender of the dreamer has much to say about this dream. Clinical evidence shows that men and women share equal responsibility for infertility disorders.

However, women tend to internalize more anxiety about child-rearing and may feel a need to adopt to resolve that archetypal task of life. Discerning the current status of the self in the life cycle and external circumstances of the woman would be important.

Does infertility run in your family tree?

Are you currently planning to become pregnant, but are concerned that you may not? For both genders, adoption may revolve around a very benevolent view of the self as provider. More and more people find their motivation in an ethic of making a difference in just one life. As such, the quest for justice is shifting from the hero(ine) in the white hat who saves the town to the good person who helps one person less fortunate.

For men who adopt others with ambivalence, there can be questions of virility or competence at stake. Who you adopt, and why, could be important to uncovering the meaning of this dream.

Is there a significant bonding or separation occurring in your life that may be creating some unease below the surface of your emotions?

Do you feel a need for emotional support that is going unmet or that you are finding new avenues to meet?

Here's another interpretation of adoption dreams:

To dream that you or others were adopting a child indicates that you are taking on something new and different. Ask yourself what is missing in your life that would make you happy. To dream that you were adopted suggests that you are longing for the child within you.

These interpretations probably apply best to people who aren't actually adopted or thinking about adoption. I don't think I've ever dreamt about adopting or being adopted, but now that I think of it I have dreamt about being a birth mother, as a matter of fact. The times that I've dreamt about that have been times when I've had a serious decision to make. No doubt my psyche can't imagine a more serious decision than deciding to place a child! In my dreams it's not been a moment of sturm und drang, however. Usually it's been a moment of great peace. I'm not trying to say that actually placing a child is like that - not at all - but in my dreams, since the dreams have been representative of something else going on in my life - the moment of decision has given me a feeling of resolution. I wonder if, now that I'm so much more aware of adoption issues, specifically those of first parents, that if I would ever have that feeling again. Somehow I doubt it. My dream images will probably change to reflect what I now know to be true.

So what do you think? Is this all a bunch of baloney? Or is there something to it?