A dream symbol is quite often not important by itself - it in some way represents an emotion or situation that we link with that symbol. For instance we associate "community spirit" and "helping others" with a community centre. Think how such themes are imporant in real life right now - this dreamer had been thinking "I don't want to get into the habit of helping this woman."

THE DREAM I dreamt that I was in a jungle like setting with me and my eldest sister. It was a community with houses surrounded by trees. There was morning dew all over. No neighbours said much if anything.

Me and my sister were led out by a community leader. To our left was a large snake laying dead and bloody like it had been cut. When I spoke the snake began to move. Me and my sister ran outside. So when me and my sister were saying good-bye to the community leader the snake was waiting for us across the street. We ran but it moved very swiftly.

I told my sister that it wants me to look after its child. When I said this it stopped as though it was in agreement. But I did not want to do this so I started naming different people. As I named them the snake kept getting larger and larger. It was upset that I could not read its mind. It kept breaking up into pieces then it would die again. Whenever I spoke it kept getting larger and larger. It also kept following me around until I woke up.

THE REALITY The dreamer was a property manager for low income housing. He had for the previous month been picking up a child for the a tenant from school because her mom was at work. But he would rather not do this permanently.

DREAM INTERPRETATION Often snake dreams link to day to day issues and problems which can strike at any time. They are very often associated with accidents or problems or deceit. Generally the snake may symbolise anything bad in your life right now. It may link to people you do not like or traps that you have got caught in.

There is one issue which springs immediately to mind for the dreamer. He was having to pick up a child from school but overall would rather not have this responsibility. So lets look for evidence to support this idea. Do the other symbols help confirm this?

The dream features a community leader. This is a good help as that clearly is a symbol which is consistent with the ideas put forward. The community leader in this case represents the community spirit in which the dreamer at first agreed to help his tenant out by picking up the child.

One clear indication is that the snake wants the dreamer to look after its child. That's a very literal representation of the truth. But it also indicates what the snake symbolises too. The snake symbolises the devious nature of the dreamers tenant and her ability to move quickly in trying to persuade him to change his mind. The snake gets bigger because he knows she will try anything to trap him into agreeing. In its simplest form the snake represents the dreamers feelings that as soon as he tells his tenant he is no longer willing to pick up her child from school she will be a dangerous and tricky creature to be around - it shows that he would like to tell her and then quickly get out before she has chance to persuade him round to her way of thinking.

So why is the sister in the dream? Sisters symbolise emotions and openness to explore new feelings. They represent the way that sisters sit around and explore every aspect of some emotional issue. Here it probably links to the dreamers worries about how his tenant is likely to react. He obviously does not want to say the wrong thing and wishes to find the right words.

Symbolic Meanings
COMMUNITY LEADER : "Helping people around you - the dreamers good nature in agreeing to pick up the child from school"
NAMES : "Specific reasons the dreamer names for not picking up the child"
RUNNING : "wanting to tell his tenant and quickly get out"
SISTER : "working out what everyone's feelings are"
SNAKE : "Problems and traps - Fears of how his tenant will react when he tells her he no longer wishes to continue picking up the child"

DREAM MEANING The dream captures the following feeling within the dreamer - "One of my tenants has been asking me to pick up her child from school. I am going to tell her I do not want to do this on a permanent basis. But I know she is not going to like this and will try to twist things that I say".

The snake symbolizes represents the manipulative tendencies of a woman he knows