Analysis for Rob, 23 June 2001

This is how you described the room:

Simple room. Wooden floor, no rug. The bed is a cast iron hospital like style. The windows are open and the early morning breeze blows the sheer curtains inward. The air is crisp, much like a spring morning. There is nothing on the walls and the sheets are white. But the glow inside the room is a warm pale yellow.

The initial room is the subject’s childhood. What interests us here is the general atmosphere of the room, in addition to the level of furnishings described by the subject. This comfortable room suggests a childhood that was pleasant. Few, simple furnishings tells us that the subject has few memories of that time.

You wanted to leave the room.

The subject wanted to become an adult.

This is how you described the forest:

The forest, located on the edge of a field of heather, is thick and inviting. Pine trees with a fairly thick canopy. The light that breaks through cuts through in shafts creating puddles of light along the forest floor. The ground is covered in pine needles allowing silent flow through. Nature in it's finest.

The forest is growing up, and the trees are those adults with whom the subject interacted at that time. Tall trees imply that the adults had a strong influence on the subject. A semi-dark forest tells us that the subject felt somewhat oppressed by the attention the adults gave.

This is how you described the path:

The path is a little hard to make out, almost as if following a rabbit trail. I must be very careful to hold it in my sight. I sometime have to take an alternate route around a tree and regain the path but I can follow it.

Adolescence is represented by the path through the forest. Poor visibility of the path tells us the subject was often confused by the changes brought on by adolescence. A narrow path suggests that the subject had limited options for emotional growth at this time. That plants are the major source of obstructions tells us that the subject’s problems arose mostly from interactions with adults.

This is how you described the water:

The sound of the waterfall is what attracted me to it. Simple, non-violent. just a stream about 5 feet across and not very deep. The water is cold and crisp, much like the air. The sound is soothing. Compelling me to rest a while.

The water is the subject’s sexuality. What interests us here is the clarity of the water (representing attitude) and its movement (representing libido). Slow, gently moving water suggests a passive, restrained, calm sex drive. Clear water tells us that the subject has no issues regarding sex.

When you came to the water, you crossed it.

The subject is open to new sexual experiences.

This is how you described the cup:

A plain tin cup. Slightly dinged up but placed carefully, hung by a leather strap from it's handle on a nearby branch.

The vessel, or specifically the practicality of the vessel, is how the subject approaches marriage or bonding. A practical container indicates that the subject is pragmatic when it comes to questions of marriage.

You took the cup and filled it.

The subject is interested in marriage, and sex will be a significant part of that relationship.

This is how you described the key:

It's the kind of key you can have made at the local hardware store. The average house key. I think it unlocks a house.

The key is the ideal career for the subject. What interests us here is how the key appears (representing how others view the career) and what it may open (representing the subject’s goals for the career). Having the key open a house, car, or other commonplace use tells us that the subject has no extraordinary expectations about a career. An ordinary-looking key suggests that the subject desires a nondescript career.

You avoided the bear.

In a crisis, the subject prefers the indirect, non-confrontational approach.

When you came to the wall, you tried to go around it.

The wall represents death: by trying to walk around it, the subject shows an acknowledgment of death, but also a need for an alternative to its finality, such as an afterlife or reincarnation.