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Journal of Analytical Psychology, 2001, 46, 211214

00218774/2001/4601/211 2001, The Society of Analytical Psychology

Published by Blackwell Publishers Ltd, 108 Cowley Road, Oxford OX4 1JF, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA.

A dream and a vision ofshooting stars*

Sabina Spielrein(Translated by Pramila Bennett in collaboration with Barbara Wharton)

These two observations are interesting because of their common structure; thetwo cases are about people of different nationality; one of the girls is ratherplump, the other is schizophrenic. In spite of that, in both cases, we have theimage of the golden rain in the foreground and that of personal desire in thebackground; in the dream there is a signboard in the sky bearing in large lettersthe word love, in the vision it is the beloved himself.

The dream of shooting stars

Plump Miss N. tells the following dream to a small group of people:I was by my bedroom window; the window was closed, there were lots of stars; Iwas looking at them casually; suddenly I saw several shooting stars. I found the sightmagnificent; it was never ending, it went on and on. I went on admiring them.Suddenly I saw that they were not shooting stars, that it was rain, rain-water runningdown the other side of the window, driven against the other side of the window bythe wind. It was like the reflection of starlight, with the water falling in a continuousmotion, like rivulets of gold, threads of gold, not really threads as it was a flowingmovement, not a linear one.

She was astonished when she woke up. The contradiction of stars and water,rain, both being present in the same dream struck her. When she discoveredthat it was nothing, only water, she was disappointed, but she drew comfortfrom the fact that it was nevertheless very beautiful. One must always make awish when a shooting star appears; but she was always too late for it. Thistime she said to herself in her dream: If you are too late for that one (star),there will be another.

*This article first appeared in French in the International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, 1923, 4, 129132.

Copyright Institute of Psycho-Analysis.

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Analysis (a few days later)

The shooting stars remind her of a childhood memory: she was walking withher aunt, when suddenly a star fell; it was so fast that she did not have time tomake a wish; then a second star fell; a million stars. The aunt commented thatshe ought to have made a wish, to which she answered that she had alreadymade it silently. How stupid I was then, she said to me, this time I wouldhave made an altogether different wish. What would you have wished? A great love. Later she confides to me that she had not wanted to tell her wholedream in front of everybody. What she hid from us was this: on a signboardin the sky she had seen written in huge letters the word love; the letters were

round and black on a red background. Now I am thinking of a dish (a kindof brown pudding which is sold as a powder); I think of the factory that makesit; the letters were round like those on the wrapper of this pudding; I see therivulets of gold; I remember yesterdays walk (after the dream), we were in arestaurant where we drank tea; there was an advertisement showing a comet,with a tail, like the golden rivulets in my dream. I was told that once havingsustained a knock on the head, I saw stars. As a child I used to love the marvel-lous candles on the Christmas tree; once I burnt myself on them. In my dreamtoo I saw a torrent; a firework; it was magnificent, but it was soon gone! It

was a waste of money.I would like to have a great love, an immense love; I am so afraid that itwill never happen.

The rivulet of gold makes her think of money. Good gracious! she exclaimsin surprise, I never think of money, that is, I am happy to be able to carryon with my studies, but money is not important to me. I think of gold, ofMrs Holle and the golden rain; a fir-tree wished it could have golden leaves. Iremember a sad story, something that happened recently to a young girl. Thisyoung girl, like me, was always looking for the ideal. She loved a young manand was fighting this feeling; she thought she had conquered it. And then thisyoung man came to ask for her hand. But he does not love the girl, he is think-ing of her money. The poor girl on the other hand loves him very much; sheis very disappointed.

Miss N. also is very disappointed. What if the same thing were to happento her too? These days she is always thinking of this young girl. Miss N. hasnever experienced anything as disgusting as this. She confides in me that sheis in love with a young man for the first time. She will soon be going away, shewill be able to conquer this love, but she feels transformed since that moment,she feels a new, until now unknown, element penetrating her soul against which

she will have to fight constantly. She has been offered a good job at R. Herfuture boss is very rich (golden rain, the rivulet of gold in her dream and theassociations with money); but he is said to be not very likeable (he has beenpainted black in her own words). He is thought to be very lazy, and stingy,though he is rich; he would love the pudding. All this considered I said to

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myself that it would perhaps be better not to be introduced to him. He lovesthe pudding, like me.

I think the dream is understandable without explanations: the young girl islooking for a paradise on earth, a heaven of love, something immense andpure. At the same time she has doubts whether it exists. The sad story of herfriend accentuates this feeling of doubt even more. She herself has recentlyfelt the torments of love. She runs away, carrying in the depths of her heart,unknown to her, the secret desire of finding this ideal love in the form of herfuture boss. The letters on the board are black they have been painted black,but fundamentally there is something good the background is red (=the colourof passion); the letters are round as on the pudding wrapper he likes pud-

dings, as she does. The impressions of the last few days, which have playedtheir part in the formation of the image of the signboard, are still present.These black letters remind her of a comedy poster, it is that of a performance here she hesitates, of La dame de Chez Maxime (The woman fromMaximes). She confuses the poster of this play with another, which hadblack lettering on a red background. These two posters have a commoncharacteristic, in that they both advertise plays of a rather frivolous,improper character. The idea of heaven on earth, the doubt (a false flashwhich is gone in a moment), the image of the boss, who is very rich (=gold),

are evocative of the image of the shooting stars in the dream; there is one morepoint, based on the popular belief that a shooting star could bring onehappiness. Images of shooting stars have played a big part in Mrs N.s lifesince her childhood. As free association shows, they are transformed intoimages of golden rain. The two stories of Mrs Holle and the little fir-tree arewell known: Mrs Holle rewards the beautiful and good young girl byshowering golden rain on her: this rain makes her even more beautiful, rich,and finally brings her a handsome prince. She had heard this story when shewas four or five years old, and had always wanted to hear it again and again.The story of the young fir-tree had impressed her even more: the young treewas not happy with its needles: it wanted leaves of glass: once its wish hadbeen granted, the leaves were broken by the wind; next it wanted leaves ofgold but the children plucked this finery off; its third transformation was asunhappy as the first two: the beautiful green leaves which it received this timewere eaten by animals. So it was very happy to get back its old needles.

Some people may believe that dreams reveal an idea of a moral order, becausethese stories contribute to the formation of the images. Objective observationdoes not corroborate this supposition; throughout the dream we see only thecriss-crossing of the desire and its negative aspect, doubt; desire happens to

triumph: the signboard in the sky is the image of the fulfilled desire. Even theshooting stars, which give rise to numerous associations with doubt, give greatpleasure to the dreamer in the end: the great love is only a firework; it fadesaway very quickly. She finds out that it was nothing, only water, at the sametime she feels that it was nevertheless very beautiful.

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The vision of shooting stars

A patient (a schizophrenic) had read somewhere in the Bible that at the timeof the last judgement a shower of shooting stars will fall on to the earth anddestroy the world. In her delirium, one rainy day, it seemed to her that the rainwas a shower of shooting stars; behind it came the angels, dressed in blue; theyintroduced the patient to a Mr K. with whom she was in love. She could seeall this through the window of her cell.

The patient herself said to me: Yes, in my delirium the shower of shootingstars meant something completely different from what the Bible says! On thecontrary there was great rejoicing! Such force! A thrilling of the senses. I stillfeel that sensation when I think about it!

She felt a warm glow at the same time.So here as in the previous dream, the symbol of the shower of stars has

become the image of personal desire, which, so it is said, must be prepared foror introduced, and enhanced, while at the same time perhaps remaining hidden,as a result of this symbol.

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