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Appendix Two – The Methodology in Action - Page A2-17
I want now to look at the elements of the dream in two parallel threads, one linked to
my personal life, the other to my current professional situation at the time of the dream.
In doing this, I am mindful of Freud’s fascination with the notion of a palimpsest
(1905a/1960), an arrangement of layers of parchment, which are constructed so that
when they are viewed simultaneously (laid one on top of the other), they combine to
convey a picture. In addition, as elsewhere in this thesis, I am making use of the notion
of phenomena and experience being layered.
I want to suggest that in consideration of the dream, it is quite possible and valid to
consider the material in more than one way. In this case, the two columns, personal
context and current professional context, are sites for the consideration.
I will use the following Table A2-3 to illustrate this process. The left hand column
contains keywords for each of the elements of the dream. The centre and right columns
contain, for each element, a keyword to capture the associations arising from the dream
when considered in relation to that particular context. For example, in the case of the pet
cat, she represents familiarity (a deliberately polysemic word) in my personal reading of
the dream (so, well-known, part of the family, a familiar as in witchcraft, and so on),
and my supportive peers in the reading in relation to my professional pre-occupation.
Dream elements considered in relation to both personal context and
current professional context
Dream elements Personal context Current Professional
Context
At house B Rewind Back at the start of my
family
L and T Care and life Resources