Stacey Axler Comedy

Is anyone good at analyzing dreams?

I have had a recurring dream since I was a teenager.  In it, I stumble upon this abandoned/ ghost town that is near a forest of the established town in which I (presumably) live.  The town is derelict and a lot of the structures are decayed and crumbling.  I seem to have the internal knowledge that certain buildings once were used for certain things – one that stands out to me is a building with columns and cracked, crumbling stone steps that I know is the old town library.

In one section of the town there is a large mansion set back behind a grove of trees.  Though this is not my house, in the dream I know how to get into the house and I know how to navigate it, despite there being no internal light.  I typically go into the house attic, which can only be accessed through a small hidden staircase.  The house isn’t creepy, per se, just large and abandoned and when I wake up – I have no clue why I know how to navigate through it or why I keep going into this house.

Occasionally, in this dream, I encounter a mountain lion that I am somewhat friends with.  The mountain lion does not speak, it is a real mountain lion, but I feel a kinship with it.  This could be because, in several dreams, when my dream self has been running from something or someone, the mountain lion will come out and protect me.  I have a very vivid memory from back in high school about a dream I had in which my dream self was trying to walk down the street of the town, and the mountain lion came out and pounced on me, stopping me from going any further until a few dream characters passed by.  After, the mountain lion made sure I was alone before leaving me.  That will happen occasionally.

In this dream world, I know that the town is located off of the highway.  I know this because I have had dreams in which I am driving down the highway, or in a car, and I pass by an exit in which I know will lead to the town.  That is another interesting part of the dream – occasionally the town will be the main backdrop and occasionally it will just be a passing item or thought.

I would love to know more about this dream.  What does it mean?  What is the symbolism of the mountain lion?  Is it strange that this dream is so vivid?

I talk a bit about the dream here: