Last Night's Dream: Who Are These People in My Attic and Why Am I Performing Shamanic Voodoo to Get Rid of Them?

Yes, it was one of those dreams where you can barely wake up and, once you do, you're convinced it was real. So vivid! (And no--there really isn't anything called "shamanic voodoo" so don't get all PC on me.) I'd love to hear anyone's thoughts on what it might symbolize.

So here's how it went down:

I was in my house (didn't look like my real house, of course, but that's dreams for you) and somehow was aware there were people in my attic (like "Flowers in the Attic?"). I'm talking, like, a whole extended family or something. Don't know how they got there, but they had to go. Not sure why I didn't just charge rent, but whatever. They all looked like refugees from "La Boheme" (go figure). As I approached, they recoiled in fear, as if I was going to beat them senseless. I would never do that, of course, but I did have some kind of plan.

The attic had these wooden vertical support columns, sort of like stripper poles (ouch--splinters!). For some reason, I walked over and touched the pole, and when I did, it appeared in my hand but much smaller, almost like a tree limb or branch. Somehow, I knew this stick held the answer to my attic refugee dilemma.

Then *poof*, I'm with friends in an abandoned warehouse. It was mostly empty except for some litter, cardboard--and lots of water and mud. I'm not sure why, but we had to clean it all out, and this had some connection to those people in my attic. It felt like a test or challenge, like they have on reality shows where you only get the prize if you first eat mealworms or something gross.

With that done, I'm back in my attic and now I must choose who can stay and who must go, just like "RuPaul's Drag Race," just without the sequins! You'd think I'd want all those people out of my attic, but for some reason this all made sense to me. I remember deliberating about it carefully and for a long time, and then narrowed it down to 5 people who had to leave.

But when I pulled those 5 people out of the crowd, it was like they transformed into something I can only describe like voodoo dolls--very tiny, except they could still talk and move! And they kept going back and forth from regular human size to voodoo doll size. Then I had to put each person in this container of mud (mud, again!) and then insert those sticks (formerly known as stripper poles) into the mud. Freaky. It was like some weird cleansing ritual, I guess. Of course, this all seemed perfectly natural and rational during the dream.

As I'm doing this, a woman appears in the attic out of thin air. Light surrounds her, she has wings and a flowing dress, sort of like an angel but I knew she was a goddess. She doesn't speak but her presence lets me know that, at least, I'm not pissing off the deities with my attic eviction! In fact, I get the understanding that she is their patron saint, of sorts, and she is offering her blessing. Then, right before my eyes, she transforms into a large bird! Hmmm, wonder which goddesses have bird totems?

So I turn back to my ritual, placing the sticks or branches into the mud around these people/voodoo dolls--and this is really where the dream ends. I never see the people actually leave the attic. But I remember coming in and out of sleep, feeling I had to be very specific about my actions to get it just right. It was very important that I do it correctly, not just for me but also for those people. And, oddly, this didn't feel constraining at all but the emotion I recall was something like being "in the zone," when I'm writing or working on one of my shaman rituals in the waking world. A communion with spirit!

An epic dream, certainly, one of the most detailed and cohesive I've had in a long while. If you have any interpretations, fire away!