Lots of visuals in this dream, so I will get right to it. I wish the dreamer could have remembered the song, it would have added a lot to the decoding. I would also liked to have asked her where she was, or what she was doing in the 70’s, or perhaps what the family was up to. This is why doing these in person can be so enriching, because you get to dialogue with the dreamer and they usually remember more. When you are going at a dream blind-folded it is harder to get all the nuances.

I just want to address raccoons before we start. These critters have multiple meanings and so it will be up to the dreamer to decide which might apply. On the one hand they can be seen as bandits, deceptive, trash pickers, and scavengers. In Native lore they can represent family or fatherly protectors, cleanliness, dexterity, and inquisitiveness. They are no longer only woodland or even suburban animals, they are now prevalent in cities as well. They can unmask deception as well as cunningly get at what they want, either way they are clever, resourceful, and survivalists.

The Dream

I was fixing the curtains in the living room moving them back into the hooks to hold them but I was wondering why the kitchen valence pattern was now our pattern on our curtains in the living room. Then I turn towards the kitchen and see all this food on the kitchen floor all trash, cookie pieces, veggies, all covering the floor. I walk into kitchen and there’s a racoon in there. It turns in a circle towards the slider but the slider is closed.  Turns back to me and hisses. I’m so confused because all the doors are closed. I grab a broom and hold it like I’m going into battle (it’s a short broom) and try to shoo it but don’t know where to shoo it to. I wasn’t scared in my dream I just knew I needed to take care of this.  It was so real, the house was my house now. I woke with a song in my head but lost it. It was playing during my dream on my echo while I was fixing the curtains. It was loud but I forgot it. It was a 70’s classic but can’t grasp it. 

The Decoding:

I was fixing the curtains in the living room moving them back into the hooks to hold them but I was wondering why the kitchen valence pattern was now our pattern on our curtains in the living room.

We hang curtains to hide or block things from the eyes of the outside world. When we hang them on hooks we are trying to stabilize or secure something. Living rooms represent mental, emotional or physical comfort. It is where we relax with family or are entertained, or do our entertaining. Each room in a house stands for an aspect of our self, so the kitchen would symbolize how we nurture or feed our self. The patterns have all become the same on the living room and kitchen curtains. In other words there is something that cannot be hidden anymore.

I would suggest this dreamer may be trying to hide or camouflage how others see her. She is trying to hold it all in place by fixing things, but her emotional, physical or mental patterns do not necessarily bring her comfort. Her usual ways of nurturing herself, or potentially “feeding” her needs, do not feel stable and are encroaching on how she is currently accepting life as it is.

Then I turn towards the kitchen and see all this food on the kitchen floor all trash, cookie pieces, veggies, all covering the floor. I walk into kitchen and there’s a racoon in there. It turns in a circle towards the slider but the slider is closed.  Turns back to me and hisses.

When she turns back to the kitchen, where one could find sustenance (energetic or literal) everything is trashed. Trash or garbage represent things that have not been processed. It could also imply things from the past as a child that have been wasted because they are on the floor, symbolizing our foundation. Cookies represent happiness, but they are in pieces and vegetables represent healthy nutrition. This takes me back to my initial question, what was going on in this dreamer’s family in the 70’s, as happiness and nurturing seemed to only partially offer her foundational support for where she finds herself in adulthood.

She sees a raccoon. Gram Twylah suggested raccoons represented fatherly protection, or at the least family support. It goes in circles telling me the dreamer needed to learn to adapt to life back then on her own. The slider is closed. Sliders can move freely back and forth, but this one is not able to move. She may feel stuck in some aspect of her life, or closed off to something she wishes to experience. The raccoon turns back and hisses its warning.

The raccoon is hissing, to get her attention, but it is also threatening. I can offer a twofold explanation. For the dreamer to begin to learn to nurture herself in more healthy ways (as the inner parent), does that feel threatening? Or for her to see where she has locked things away that no longer serve her adult self, does that need her attention? Spiritually raccoons signify belief in our self.

I’m so confused because all the doors are closed. I grab a broom and hold it like I’m going into battle (it’s a short broom) and try to shoo it but don’t know where to shoo it to. I wasn’t scared in my dream I just knew I needed to take care of this. 

This tells me that the dreamer is ready to do battle with her past. Brooms sweep things away, they clean up the trash, what needs to go. The broom is short, signifying that the inner turmoil isn’t as pronounced as it might once have been, but that there are still realizations or acceptances that will allow for more comfort in this dreamer’s life once they are named. By her own admission she is not afraid to confront those things, she is perplexed though that there are still some ‘doors’ or passageways into her past, that are as yet unexplored. Growth of the self never ends, there is always more to acknowledge or process as we become more aware. She knows she will address and take care of what needs to be done.

It was so real, the house was my house now. I woke with a song in my head but lost it. It was playing during my dream on my echo while I was fixing the curtains. It was loud but I forgot it. It was a 70’s classic but can’t grasp it. 

Hearing songs in a dream is a message about something. That is why it would have been wonderful to know what this song was as the words would have offered the dreamer inspiration. Even knowing who sang the song would give further information for this dreamer to digest. That she cannot remember the words suggests there are still some things within herself to uncover, or to grasp so she can be in a happier place-either internally or externally, or both.

Thank you dreamer for sharing.