Someone told me once that one method of Dream Interpretation is to analyze one one's-self. One's own self would know what something symbolizes to them, how it ties in with what's currently happening in their lives. (There is literature out their though that tells what interpretors think different things in dreams symbolize) I'm not sure about a person with no interpretation training hypothesizing about what their dream may say about the future. ???
We are kind of trained in taking for granted the things we are being told; like, some dream interpretation methods speculate that dreams are about the future which already narrows the outlook. I think dreams are the ideal ground to re-invent meaning and methods, to dig your own sources, and to explore not just the dreaming but also what we call waking reality. Maybe just start with a dream journal.
i don't believe symbols are all that universal as jung supposed. it is only within a shared cultural framework that they are. thus the vast majority of our symbols and associations, are entirely our own. nor do i believe most dreams and most things in most dreams, are meant to be interpreted as symbols at all, but as a living, parallel universe experience. some are education, some are simply entertainment, some are our subconscious trying to communicate with our conscious awareness. some are like connecting to some kind of non-physical internet, and/or waking up in some parallel universe, in which we then, when we go to sleep there, wake up back here in this one. mostly i don't believe they're just any one of those things, but each of them, for different people at different times. (and possibly many more i've never yet thought of too, or anyone else has)
