The Dream Book of Self-Knowledge

Canal

  • another key symbol of the Basic Perinatal Matrix archetype and especially of its third phase in which it represents the fetus's path through the birth canal; once a person gets to this memory and recognizes his own birth in dreams of canals, he can confidently hope to achieve understanding of the connections between birth experiences and the self-improvement process.
  • undergoes interesting development in dreams: we first notice a canal (sewer), then test it and then dare to enter it when we understand (even if only subconsciously) the connection to birth and re-experiencing the birth trauma (even if only in allegories); we then find refuge in the canal from the danger of the dream world (alas in this phase the dreamer is usually hiding from emotional and spiritual personifications) so that the canal in dreams eventually abandons the meaning of a sewer and instead expresses a navigation channel whose water during the course of positive self-improvement development becomes much cleaner and the canal bed turns into concrete.
  • restrictive or threatening (usually moving walls, bottom and ceiling), with unpleasant feelings, with attacks, getting stuck, too narrow, being dragged through the canal (usually toward a gate or drain), dark, the canal leading to a cave or oval room, with flowing water, blood or urine in the canal: clearly a memory of the birth drama with which everyone's consciousness is psychologically imprinted; the only question is when this content will emerge from within; the Basic Perinatal Matrix archetype describes the entire process.
  • cluttered or with a heap of material, with trash or junk: symbolizes the biological waste in the birth canals; see Basic Perinatal Matrix archetype.
  • a canal changing into a swimming pool: understanding at least part of his own birth process allows the dreamer to enter the emotional level.
  • a rat in a canal: impulses urging the dreamer toward sexual acts can survive for an abbreviated period even in emotions (like a rat in water) and can sow here the urge for sexual acts; if, however, they endure in the emotional realm for a longer period it is fatal for the subconscious urge for sexual acts (the rat drowns); see Rat.
  • children in a canal: a positive element in the process of understanding, and if a canal flows out into nature among children then it is an indication that the process of discovering the Basic Perinatal Matrix archetype is coming to an end.
  • a rope or cord in a canal: clearly a symbolic depiction of the umbilical cord in one part of the birth.
  • a sewer lid opening during a special occasion or once in a long period: clearly corresponds to the function of the cervix during the actual birth.
  • cleaning: very important work in one's self-improvement, work on removing the ego's domination.