I am 14 years old and have been having a series of recurring dreams. Actually, they have been prequels and sequels to one another, but very frightening. The first was at a church and my friends and I were preparing for a graduation/confirmation type event. We were all quite excited except that one thought sat in the back of my mind. The thought was that they (the runners -my teachers- of the ceremony) were going to kill us after the ceremony as almost an offering. It was a ritual. I remember going to a temple to rehearse the actual killing. My friends planned to escape that event. The temple was full of people’s most priceless belongings; jewels, money, keepsakes. We (my 3 closest friends and I) thought of taking as much as we could before the actual ceremony. I ended up taking 4 wine glasses, one for each of my friends and one to remember that night.

The second of the dreams was the actual ceremony. Everyone was so excited but I was scared. I kept thinking of the killing afterward. The ceremony ended and it was time to go to the temple. I broke away from the line and ran to my mother, bawling. We weren’t even going to get a chance to say goodbye. I refused to go to the temple. My mother explained to me that I didn’t have too, but that all of my friends would be there and it would be like a party. We wouldn’t even feel the gas that would kill us. I still refused. My most hated teacher tried to make me go but I ran away. My last thoughts were that I didn’t get to say goodbye to my best friends. I think that this came about because of my actual middle school graduation and the big step up to the high school.

I would like further explanation of the death and the wine glasses though. Thank you.

--Confused and Frightened, Age 14, N. Kingstown, RI, USA

Dear Confused and Frightened -

I think your dream does reflect some of the feelings you are having as you graduate from middle school and prepare for high school. It is a time fraught with new concerns. High school can seem big and ominous, and certainly unknown. You will be leaving behind your old school, some of your friends may be going to another school (so you won’t see them as much either), and you also, when you get to high school, will be put in with a group of kids all of whom are older than you - or older than your class, at least.

Dreams frequently use the metaphor of death to indicate change or metamorphosis. In this sense, your graduation from middle school can be seen as a “dying.” You are leaving behind certain aspects of your life for good, and soon you will be embracing the new experiences that high school will bring to you.

Your dream, and the fact that it recurs, indicates that you are concerned about this transition. In the dream you want to escape the ceremony, which suggests that, in real life, you may wish you didn't have to go through with it all.

You ask about the wine glasses in the dream, and I think they are a very interesting symbol. Wine in Christian religion is a symbol of metamorphosis. Christ instructed his disciples, each time they ate bread and drank wine, to remember him at this time. The wine, he said, is my blood. The bread is my body. And today, still, if you attend a Catholic or other Christian ceremony, this “ritual” is frequently repeated. It is called communion. When people choose to participate in communion, they symbolically share the presence of Christ through drinking his blood (the wine) and through eating his body (the bread).

I think it is significant that, of all the keepsakes and valuables that you could have taken from the temple, you choose to keep the four wine glasses - one for you and each of your best friends to remember the night by. Instead of holding on to the past (keepsakes, valuables) you choose instead to embrace the symbol of change. It suggests that you already understand this process of change - and that you know how you are going to survive this next period. You will grow and learn, just like you have already done so many times before in your life. And your friends will be with you, and you will be growing and learning together.