mind. If the cellar in your dream is dank, untidy, and slightly scary, then you need to pay attention to what’s going on in your subconscious mind and bear in mind that dreams are its way of communicating with you! If, on the other hand, the cellar is pleasant and a place that you’re happy to spend time in, then rest assured that all is well with your subconscious mind. It’s not unlikely that you’re involved in a spiritual practice such as meditation or yoga. The cellar can also represent the past; you might have issues from a previous life that you need to reconcile with your current one.
CHALK
Where is chalk used the most? In a school environment. So if someone is writing something on a chalkboard in your dream, you’re being taught something by this person. If you’re using chalk, then you are learning something. If you can discern that you’re reading or what you’re writing, then you’re fortunate indeed. Don’t forget, though, that dream information is often cleverly encrypted. And that chalk is impermanent…
CHAMBER (See Cave)
CHECKERBOARD (CHESSBOARD)
The black and white squares of a checkerboard represent a balance of opposites. The contrasting colors, shared equally on the board, represent good and bad, light and dark, and the essential contrast between them. It’s for this reason that, for example, Masonic lodges often have black and white checkered floors. It’s likely that you have a clear, black and white decision to make in your own life.
CHEETAH
Animals and dreams signify power that’s available to us. The cheetah is fast and strong. Go for it.
CHERRY
Any kind of fruit tends to be a good omen in a dream, but only if the fruit is fresh and perky. In addition, a cherry has the inevitable sexual connotations. What’s the context of the cherry in your dream? If you’re eating the cherry, then your sex life is healthy and interesting. If you’re seeing someone else eating the cherry, this could indicate you’re frustrated in your sex life. If you see a bowl of cherries, then it is a reminder that life is sweet. However, if you see a bowl of cherry stones, it means that you’re expending too much energy and need to ease up a little.
CHICKEN
Traditionally, we associate chickens with cowardice. Are you being less than courageous in a certain aspect of your life? If so, take heart and know that you can change things for the better.
CHIMPANZEE (See Monkey)
CLOTHING
Any kind of clothing that features in a dream tells us about the way we’d like to appear to the world—and also about the way we’d like the world to see us. What kind of a jacket is it? Is it a formal, tailored jacket? Or is it more casual, even bordering on scruffy? Does it feel comfortable? Or does the cut of the cloth make you feel uneasy? The type of clothes in your dream will illustrate how you want yourself to appear to the people around you.
CLOWN
For all their jolly jests, clowns can have a quite sinister appearance. The most alienating aspect is the strange face paint that is as effective as a mask; the clown is unidentifiable, which in itself sets a tone of danger. The clown in your dream might well represent someone that pretends to be something that they’re not, or that you can’t quite get a grip on. If the clown in your dream is unhappy or sad, then you need to think about if this perhaps applies to you or someone in your life?
COCKEREL
The cockerel is a powerful symbol of masculine aggression and virility. It’s also a symbol of the power of the sun. These are all qualities that, according to your dream, are available to you.
CHEESE DREAMS: DOES FOOD MAKE FREAKY DREAMS…FREAKIER?
Does eating cheese actually make us dream more, or is this just an old wives’ tale? And are there other foods that might do the same thing? It’s actually very hard to tell. However, one of the tips for remembering dreams is to break up your sleep pattern; therefore it makes sense that if certain foods are hard to digest, then this might contribute to a restless night, which in turn could help you to remember your dreams more. In addition to cheese, other foods that are difficult to digest include eels, currants, shellfish, cranberries, bananas, and pretty much all types of red meat.
In 2005, the Cheese Board in the UK carried out a pretty extensive experiment on the effects that cheese has on dreams. Two hundred volunteers took part in the study, in which they each ate .7 oz (20 g) of cheese half an hour before bedtime. According to the statistics, there were no reports of actual nightmares, but there were plenty of dreams recorded. This probably wasn’t terribly surprising, but there were a couple of curveballs thrown into the cheesy equation. It seems that different varieties of cheese had different effects; eating Stilton Blue Cheese caused 85 per cent of the women to experience the freakiest dreams. Subject matter for these stiltonian dreams includes: talking toys; dinner party guests being traded for camels; and a vegetarian crocodile upset because it could not eat children.
Here at Freaky Dreams Central, we decided to conduct our own experiments into the effects of cheese on our dreams. Our experiment may not have been as far-reaching as that of the Cheese Board, but yielded interesting results nevertheless.
We asked six volunteers to eat as much cheese as they liked just before hopping into bed. We also asked six volunteers to deliberately avoid cheese on the same six days of the experiment.
THE RESULT?
Here’s the shocker.
Cheese or no cheese seemed to make absolutely no difference whatsoever. Some of the cheese-eaters had strange dreams; so, however, did the cheese-free volunteers. Here’s one of the most coherent dream diaries that we received back from the volunteers. It’s from Dan. He ate the cheese.
Night one: No dreams
Night two: Had a dream that I ate an enormous carton of fries, but the fries were in a big foil tray that was somehow floating in water inside a cardboard box, like a water bath, with Christmas gift wrap on. It looked a little bit like a Bain Marie or something.
Night three: I dreamt that I was in a London pub for New Year’s Eve. Noel Gallagher was in there, and although he would talk to me he wouldn’t let me have my picture taken with him. He kept moving around the table to prevent having his picture taken. His wife/girlfriend kept showing her stomach to people. I eventually had to leave in a hurry as I had spilt gravy all down my gray jumper.
Night four: No dreams
Night five: Had a dream I was at a vacation park on a lads’ holiday for the weekend and got locked in the swimming pool overnight. It was quite lucid and I was quite anxious that I couldn’t get out.
Night six: No dreams
Wow. Fries? Gravy? The Pub? Being locked in a swimming pool? Only Dan could analyze this dream with any certainty, but we’d say that it shows a level of fretfulness about his personal appearance while in the presence of a celebrity. This is quite understandable, but the slightly elusive nature of that celebrity might mean that Dan is frustrated about something. Anxiety about being locked in a swimming pool, and the fries floating in the water bath, might imply a certain reluctance to integrate his feminine side, especially in such a masculine environment. That Dan is scarfing down large amounts of food tells us that he has a strong spiritual side that needs nurturing. And the lady showing her stomach to everyone is just plain freaky.
Another dream diary from a volunteer non-cheese eater came from Laura. Her journal shows some intriguing examples of dreams that involve her childhood and days gone by.
Night One: I’m riding a bike through my family vacation home, but the seat is far too high and I can’t quite reach the peddles properly, wobbling all over the place. I think I’m leaving. I’ve got loads of bags that I’m struggling to carry, I keep dropping things and I can feel myself getting really frustrated and upset.
Night Two: