Confronting Dissolution

In dream symbols and tarot

The Tower of Babel by Pieter Brueghel the Elder

The two most common scenarios I find myself in during a stress dream is working as a waitress at a restaurant and dreams where my teeth are falling out. The teeth dreams are particularly distressing. The sense of alarm I have is often present when I wake up. Although I wouldn’t categorize them as nightmares, they take the stress dream to a different area of panic compared to the restaurant dreams where overwhelm and desperation to get things in order seems most prominent.

When I awake from these dreams, I often have to do a reality check: “I am awake, that was a dream, my teeth are not falling out.” Touching my teeth and finding them securely in my mouth brings my body back to a state of calm.

This week I asked my Instagram followers if they have teeth dreams and what they mean. Here are a few responses:

• “I recently dreamed that one of my teeth fell out (a crown I have). Not sure what it means.”

• “I have had a lot of those. Terrifying. Feels like an indicator of mortality, dissolution, decay.”

• “I usually think it means I’m afraid of losing everything, or feeling vulnerable.”

• “I dreamed last year that my teeth were made of shards and shattering. Very disturbing.”

Without context, my follower’s dreams all seem to generally circumambulate experiences of loss and instability. An inner or outer aspect that is relied upon has been threatened, a deeply embedded structure of our being is crumbling. Jung shares on teeth dreams…

“The symbol of losing teeth has the primitive meaning of losing one's grip because under primitive circumstances and in the animal kingdom, the teeth and mouth are the gripping organ. If one loses teeth, one loses the grip on something. Now this can mean a loss of reality, a loss of relationship, a loss of self-control, etc.” - Jung’s Letters

Although teeth dreams can span a variety of potential meanings, I think it is important to focus on the experience of losing our grip on something vital. These are likely the type of teeth dreams that constellate deep anxiety and terror.

On the left: Q&A from my Instagram. On the right: The Tower from the Rider-Waite-Smith tarot deck.

Let’s look further at this submission:

“I recently dreamed that one of my teeth fell out (a crown I have). Not sure what it means.”

What struck me about this dream was the image of the crown, which we can look at as representing a ruling principle that protects and brings order. Further, the function of a dental crown is a permanent cap that protects a weak or damaged tooth. From a psychological point of view, an established and integral framework or adaptation has been built up around a wounded inner aspect. Yet the dream is showing us that the crown is in the process of falling, or needs to. Like many fairytales and myths, the old king seeks an eternal rest, to pass on the crown to another. Or, at times, the king is stubborn and tyrannical, unwilling to release their grip on power so a new ruler can ascend, thus blocking the natural cycle of evolution and building tension in the system.

These old stories are analogous to our own psychological peculiarities. We build up structures around beliefs that bring a sense of ego continuity, however maladapted or advantageous they may be. At a certain point, reality catches up with us, the impulse to individuate awakens and we are tasked to dismantle the castles we have built upon broken and outdated foundations.

After my analysis on the crown, the dreamer wrote: “This immediately made me think of the Tower card for some reason.” The similarities are striking. It is not just the image of the falling crown that we see in both the dream and the tarot card, but the underlying archetype being constellated. We are dancing in dissolution, facing the disintegration of what defines us. As Jung said, our grip on something we held tightly is being challenged and ultimately, lost.

This is what the arcana of the Tower initiates us into. A catastrophic collapse, a moment of painful revelation, the loss of something that grounded our sense of self and identification. Hubristically we kept building our tower higher and higher to heaven, never considering that at some point God, that omnipotent principle of reality, would strike us down and scatter the pieces of our ego’s strong-held beliefs in all directions.

If these dreams and the emotions it brings forth are any indication, we might understand how difficult this task is — how painful it feels, how vulnerable we are. Sometimes our crowns and towers are built around wounded, traumatized, and neglected parts that needed protection. Sometimes they are built upon beliefs of superiority or other cognitive biases that distort reality. Other times they are built around another person or relationship that is fundamentally flawed and unhealthy. No matter the circumstance, we must anticipate that instinctually, we will often defend against anything that threatens our security.

Although we might try to safeguard against our shadow being revealed or deny a truth that is emerging, the Tower reminds us that it will fall no matter how hard we may fight it. Whether it is in a tarot reading or a dream, what I find most compelling when these images arise is the opportunity for renewal and surrender. As we stand amongst the rubble of destruction, as the smoke clears, can we see a path towards new beginnings? Can we let go of what we so desperately clung to? Do we have the resilience to endure the upheaval that this change brings and take on the task of rebuilding?