I think that dream symbols are not so much universal as "conventional" -- that is, certain ideas happen so commonly that they take on certain conventional meanings that may or may not apply to a specific situation. It's like language. Take a word like "cow." It doesn't have a universal meaning, per se, even though most English speakers know what it means. But "I went to WalMart and was in line at the checkout for 45 minutes because of some old cow and her four squalling brats"--suddenly "cow" has a different meaning that says a lot both about the woman at WalMart and about me and my attitude (and culture and nurture and maybe even parentage, who knows). The unconventional meaning actually communicates more information.
So you can go to a web site with a "dream dictionary" and say there's value there, and be right. And you can say, "It has to be individualized," and also be right. And you can say, "Wait a minute, how can they both be right?" And you know what? That would be right too.
After my dad died, my mom told me about a dream where she was visiting my dad's grave, and she saw an old boyfriend of hers from her school days years ago, walking away with his back towards her. She walked after him for a little ways, and called out his name (he was an old boyfriend, after all), but when he turned around, he had a pig snout instead of a nose. She asked me what the dream meant.
I told her I figured she was weighing the idea of being single again, and just playing "what if?" in her mind, i.e. what if she were to start dating again, and her mind was saying, in effect, that men are pigs, and she'd be happier staying single. Or more elaborately, that she wasn't particularly interested in investing the effort in beginning a new relationship, since she felt the one she had with dad was special and probably not one that would be easily replaced.
The most important part of dream interpretation IMHO is if the person who had the dream feels like the interpretation is correct and satisfying. If the interpretation is correct, it will satisfy their desire for an explanation. If the interpretation is not correct, the dreamer will have questions and loose ends, and that's the clue that something's not quite right in the interpretation. My mom went on to talk about how she felt about remarrying (purely theoretical, since she wasn't seeing anyone and still isn't), and the dream pretty well summed up her attitude. Not that she's a man-hater, but she just doesn't expect any other man to live up to the standards my dad set. They had a good marriage.
I'm only an amateur dream interpreter, but I've always had something of an affinity for it, and it's kind of fun. If I know the person and their life circumstances it's usually pretty easy for me to discern the meaning of the dream. Or at least I
think I'm getting the meaning anyway. But it's fun to try.
Oh, the "I'm in public in my nighties/skivvies/whatever" dreams? I associate that with being in situations where, in real life, you're just not confident you have what it takes to cope with the demands that are being placed upon you, especially the social demands. Especially when society (including family) insists on making demands that fail to respect what you are and should be capable of delivering. Sometimes dreams are an indicator that you're under pressure, and it's time to take stock of your situation.
But that's all the tea-leaf reading I'm going to do for today. I have no knowledge of your situation, so I can't say whether that has anything at all to do with why you're having those dreams. Besides, it's my bed-time now. I'll let yunz know if I dream anything interesting...
