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Jumping off high building I am standing on the roof of a high building. My family and other people I know are standing beneath, looking up at me. I jump off and am falling down towards the ground. As I fall, they all start clapping. When I am about a foot from the ground, I stop falling and they all sigh disapprovingly. Then I continue to fall and go splat on the ground. Everybody cheers loudly. Does this dream mean that my family think they would be better off without me? Alex, Surrey Dear Alex, Please be reassured that your dream does not have a literal meaning. You tell me that you are 15 and often feel depressed. Although your parents know about your unhappiness, you say they do not seem to care. You go on to mention that you sometimes think of ending it all. Adolescence can be a difficult time for many people and it is not at all unusual to harbour thoughts like yours. Being in a high place in a dream suggests a tendency to live in your head. Notice that although you fall to earth, you do not actually die. This implies a need to ‘come down to earth’ and stand on your own two feet. The fact that you hover above the ground suggests a reluctance to do so. In most primitive societies young people have to undergo initiation ceremonies that mark the end of childhood. Only after enduring a dangerous or painful ordeal is the initiate considered to have earned adult status. Our culture does not provide comparable rites of passage. Your dream, though, is your psyche’s attempt to offer you an experience of initiation. The onlookers are cheering not because you have died but because you have made the transition to the new perspective you need.  (Sun Taurus, Moon Scorpio)
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