Sunday, May 12, 2002		Dream Theme

Dreaming of abortion
Vinaya Katoch Manhas

Abortion as a symbol in dreams can be associated with the themes of children and death. A person can see the abortion of his or her living child, or of a child not yet born. Both these dreams portray the anxiety of the person regarding the welfare of the child. If an unmarried woman sees such a dream, it symbolises the death of a dream.

According to Indian thought, to see the birth of a child is thought to be an auspicious dream. Extending the same logic, to see a miscarriage or an abortion is not thought to be lucky. It could spell downfall in personal, business, and family matters. The dreamer could also stand to loose in financial matters.

According to western thought, for a woman to see that she is undergoing an abortion is a warning to her that if she does something that she is contemplating, it will bring her disgrace and unhappiness. The reason why in almost all cultures dreams of abortion are considered unlucky is because no religion or culture approves of abortion. If the abortion is accidental then one pities the woman, but to intentionally abort a child is taken akin to murder, although now almost all religions have accepted that abortions may be necessary under certain circumstances.

Psychoanalytically speaking, dreaming of abortions portrays a desire to reject a feeling, emotion, belief, or concept, which could prove to be troublesome in some manner. This could be a new way of thinking, which one has tried to adopt, but which after further consideration one feels needs to be rejected. Dreams of miscarriages basically point to the fact that one realises that something is not right. It also suggests a loss that one has recently suffered. This could be the loss of a job, of some particular project or maybe even a part of the body. It also means that one should give oneself time to adjust to changed circumstances. Women who have recently had a miscarriage would often dream about it.

A man of 34 often complained of having dreams of miscarriage, something he could not relate to as a man. On analysing the history of the person it was found that his wife had miscarried their first child. Whoever he spoke to about it said that it was fate and could not be helped. Somehow this statement was so deep-rooted in his mind that he had unconsciously adopted this policy in life. Whenever anything went wrong in his life he would take it as god's will and his fate. Somehow subconsciously he always managed to associate it with the miscarriage of their first child.