A lot of e-mail came our way about the symbolic dream article we did last month. They covered a wide variety of subjects. We sorted them and the most predominate subject of all of them had to do with the feeling of abandonement.

One reader, during her pregnancy had recurring dreams of abondoned babies and they all looked like what she imagined her unborn child to look like. That is a common dream among women who are not yet prepared for the responsibilities of motherhood, my friend observed. In the dream a baby, in her case babies, as she had triplets, is present, but the dreamer shows a willful disregard for the child. The dreamers of abondoned babies are resisting social pressures to have children, or they may fear accidental pregnancies. They may be also unprepared for children, due to career, financial, or emotional reasons.

Among my e-mails, the disappearing baby was a common dream among some women who had had, sometime in their lives, an abortion, miscarriage, or an actual death of a child. Second to that came the dream that a baby is present, but then suddenly disappears.

The neglected baby is a common dream among young mothers. It reflects literal anxieties about the responsibilities of motherhood. In more experienced mothers, dreams of neglected babies may symbolize the neglect of the relationship with one's partner, (the fruit of the relationship). It also can symbolize the neglect of oneself, the inner child.

In the face of people opting to have fewer children than their parents did, some making the conscious decision to have none at all, the e-mail on this dream subject surprised me. It made feel like I had lost touch with the sensitivities of the child-bearing age-group. My thinking has now done an about face.

EDITOR'S NOTE:
"Cliff" will be doing a split column next month. He will continue segments of the "Dream Forum" mixing it with the "Relationships Forum". Contact him on site; http://www.4pointspress.com or direct your email to the Editor.