Dream Analysis: Spiritual Sulphur

Join Lisa, Joseph, and Deb as they illuminate the mysterious corners of the unconscious by interpreting your dreams, illustrated.
They analyze the dream of a 25-year-old woman who is about to enter graduate school. She expects a profound experience, but finds a strange, sulphury surprise:
“I was walking to the beach with a large group of people. It felt like a school trip. There was this pervading idea that going to the beach would be educative in some spiritual or intellectual way. We got to the beach, which was completely yellow/gray-the sand, the sky, the water. There was such a strong sulfurous smell that I nearly vomited. I saw others walking around, bobbing into the water. The smell was too strong for me. I turned away from the water toward a wooden plank on the sand and saw many small bugs crawling on it. Another woman my age and I left the beach and walked toward a cabin. We entered the cabin and idly chatted; it was friendly and pleasant. We agreed that we wouldn’t go back to the beach. However, I did go back eventually and, with a large group, walked to the shoreline and entered the water. I ducked my head underneath. To my surprise, I could no longer smell the sulfur. I opened my eyes underwater, expecting to be illuminated by some beautiful sight or newfound knowledge. It was just cloudy and that same gray/yellow color. I was slightly disappointed but not surprised. I bobbed my head above water and noticed the sulfur smell again, but it was much less strong.”
Uncover your unconscious and join Dream School to learn how to interpret your own dreams. Begin your journey: thisjungianlife.com/join-drea...

[@catherinezatsick2301]

Thank you for doing dreams. I have been in dream groups for over 30 years. Katy

[@sunset33533]

Dreams are so important. I like using a journal notebook titled My Dreams by Guru Notebooks for keeping track of them and referring back to them later.

[@firatsanliturk]

I don't know if the dreamer has any pre-knowledge on this but sulphur is mythically linked to a transition to the underworld, into a challanging adventure into the underworld (unknown) like the one Dante or Orpheus before him travels to. That's where the spirit goes to die only to be reborn at the exit as another, more evolved spirit. Such fundamental change always invokes some fear, loathing and resistance which calls for some kind of Morpheus to reduce the terror of it all. Sometimes that helping guide is a wise old wizard, sometimes a Virgil, sometimes a spirit animal and sometimes another version of the spirit herself. In her case, I believe the friend in the cabin is a slightly nicer, more experienced version of herself, guiding and urging her onwards, reassuring her about the experience. Her disappointment at the experience is a reflection of her previous words: she says going to college was a life goal of hers which may imply that she had assigned more meaning to the experince than she should and realizing now that it's not that soul-altering afterall. It's intersting, and even fun at times but no passage to the underworld and there's no epic story to tell afterwards. Sometimes a sulphur bath is just a sulpher bath, no daemons involved.

[@consideredwhisper]

My first thoughts went to Citrinitas as the alchemical stage that the dreamer is entering: the yellow. And I would directly associate Sulphur with the ‘spirited’ expansion of thought, particularly as the dreamer is embarking on further education, which may well be increasing her level of consciousness - possibly leaving an old identity behind as her relationship needs (and lifestyle)take another turn. A 7-yr relationship would also tie in with a Saturn square to the position Saturn was in when she met her current partner.