Shirts versus Skins

 

The dream this morning, I must admit, is a strange one. It seems packed with a lot of symbolic imagery. Let's try to unravel this one as best we can.

I am on a football field with five men. We are split up into two teams. One team is shirts and the other team is skins. I am on the shirts team. We all seem to know each and are part of some elitist club or fraternity of some sort, and this game is part of some initiation, or activity we regularly do, and it is not just an ordinary Sunday afternoon pastime.

The rules for this game are unspoken, they are complicated, secretive and nothing is written down. Everything is done from memory and often are creatively elaborated on when ever it suits a member of the group. The more weird and unconventional the better.

However, the football game begins in the usual sort of way with a kick off. The skins have the ball and are awarded the kick off. It was agreed upon by everyone ahead of time that they would get the honour.

I receive the ball and run the length of the field for a touch down. Yay! From this point on things take a turn for the weird. Everyone then retreats to their own respective club houses in the far end zones. Shirts to their house and skins to theirs.

A young woman approaches me and reminds me of the unwritten rules. She tells me I am entitled to go to the opposing team's club house and demand my complimentary ice cream cone. I have earned it and I am expected to go into their clubhouse to demand it.

So I go to the club house and there are lots of guys there and they are ignoring me. I demand they give me my ice cream and then the captain of  their team relents, scoops some ice cream on a cone and hands it to me. This is so bizarre! I take my cone and head back to our club house.

The next play must then be done by the skins. The two other shirt guys and I are sitting in our club house waiting and wondering what will happen next. With this game anything strange and unexpected could happen any second and we are expected to react in a way that is on par with the weirdness or top it with something greater.



Suddenly, we see the skins team approach our club house. They are in an Everglades air boat! They are speeding toward us by way of a swampy moat around the perimeter of the foot ball field on the left hand side. Why is there a moat round this field? Who knows. This is certainly bizarre and out of the ordinary. I can see the skins captain piloting the boat. On the boat above and behind him is the carcass of a freshly killed lion. The lion is huge!

The captain loses control of the air boat, as it circles around the end zone, and our clubhouse. The boat wildly careens onto the outer right hand bank of the moat just before our end of the field. The carcass of the lion then falls on top of  captain/pilot and the teeth of the lion penetrates his right shoulder and he lets out a blood-curdling scream. We all watch this in sheer amazement and horror. I wake up startled by it all.

What a crazy dream! Clearly all the news about the American dentist that recently poached a lion in Zimbabwe is playing out in my unconscious. Thus that might explain why a dead lion appears in this dream. All this other imagery of this dream; i.e., the football game, the ice cream, club houses, the moat and the boat all seem like random high weirdness to me. Perhaps, if we dig a little deeper we might gain some insights.

The football game, with it's secret unwritten rules, reminds me of previous dreams regarding secret societies. The actions and behaviours displayed are all quite similar. The club houses could be construed to be synonymous with a lodge or temple that all such societies seem to have, and use.

The ice cream suggests some kind of sweet reward of occult knowledge that a secret society initiate might expect after being brought into the fold. This summer has been a hot one and I have been indulging in ice cream at night every time I come home from work. I am actually eating too much of it of late and I am getting fat.      

The whole shirts and skins aspect of the dream suggests the a separation between initiates and members. The members are more comfortable in their skins? The shirts are more conservative, reserved and connected with and to greater outside society?  

The moat? A moat is generally what you find around a medieval castle or fortress. They are used as a defensive  barrier. They would often get filled with sewage in ancient times and would become an obnoxious miasma. Interestingly it would be an offensive obstacle to both those attacking and those held prisoner in said castle. A moat suggests also that I am setting up some kind of emotional barrier around myself with others. I should note there was no audience visible or colour commentators at all, sitting in bleachers watching or speaking about this unusual game. I am, generally, not the sort to be real sociable or join any groups or secret societies. I am a very independent and private sort of man for the most part. I find it comfortable to be the center of attention.

The airboat represents a shattering of the hedge of emotional protection the moat represents. The airboat is a loud symbol and an interruption to the fortress of solitude within our club house. The peace is shattered and the opposing team is wild, crazy and reckless. They have arrived to push us out of our comfort zone. They are a metaphorical agent of chaos. I think it is very curious that the shirt team might have to be coming to their rescue with first aid. That is the direction the dream seemed to be taking before I woke up.

The lion  is the symbol of strength, courage, royalty and proud thinking. The skins football captain thinks he has acquired these qualities after slaying the lion and displaying his trophy on top of his boat. The lion, however, gets the last laugh or bite if you will on the hunter. A dead lion is regarded as an invitation to change one's whole life and direct it on a right path. The lion is the most determined and most relentless fighter in the animal kingdom. Not even death was able to subdue his fierceness. The lion is also a symbol of the weak versus the strong. The is an underlying element of competition here between the shirts and the skins. A question to ask myself: "I am winning the contest in my life or the dream?". Do I need to make more radical changes in my life? Will fighting like a lion create the change I need or want? How badly do I want it? Do I have the heart of lion?

There is a bit of irony thinking about, Cecil, the Zimbabwean lion. The dentist that sought to make a trophy of him ended up ruining his reputation. He may have won his battle with the lion but he lost big time in the war of public opinion. He is said to have regretted what he did. It is wise to note how others have failed and learn from their mistakes.

I think the major lesson of this dream is to get a clear picture of what I want and what success looks like, and to up my game. I am not looking to join any secret society, but I should recognize there is a concrete value in teaming up with others. Perhaps I do need to be more engaged in the game of life and I should not be so passive if I am going to make my goals this month. There are times to punt and there are times to run.

The captain of the skins was proud and his pride led him to wreck his boat and injure himself. He was, to his credit, fearless while do so. A little restraint and focused intention/attention might have helped him avoid a wreck and secured him a successful victory in this contest.

These are some thoughts I will give careful consideration to as August, the month of Leo, further rolls on. I sense there are some scrapes and battles ahead in the coming days. I'm liable to get bit if I am not careful.