Hagging Dreams

The black witch, the recluse, the old maid, the devouring mother, the spinster. She shows up in our dreams screeching, guarding the unconscious and insisting that nothing change. Can you identify her multitude of disguises?

   I was in the house with a woman whose son was outside digging a deep hole in the ground. The woman went outside and then I heard her screaming horrible blood curdling screams -- No, No, Oh My God, No!
   I ran outside expecting to find her son dead or dying. She was crouched at the edge of the hole rocking back and forth on her heels, sobbing. I looked down into the hole, and saw the young man, happy and alive, digging what looked like several rooms in the dirt.
   Then I was in the underground rooms. I saw several boxes stacked on top of each other, and opened the top box. It was filled with all kinds of doll clothes. A beautiful variety.The second box held a wedding veil and the bottom box contained an antique wedding dress.
   They wanted me to try it on, but I could see that it was several sizes too small. On the floor were a pair of soft shoes. I saw them moving and thought that there was something inside them. Then they turned into a pair of dancing turtles. F/53:11.3.89

No, No, No, Oh my God, No! Don't go down below into the underworld my dear little boy. Stay home close to mommy. Yet the dreamer is fine, her masculine is digging in the dirt, she goes down into the rooms and although the dress is too small for her she has some fine dancing turtles to keep her company. Aren't turtles creation myth symbols, doesn't the world sit on their back?

   I am staying in my neighbors home as a permanent guest. One day I accidently open a wrong door and find an old woman in bed there. She is fine but has taken to her bed ill with the family's guilt and shame.
   Years before she had reversed some pictures taken of the family which had the effect of making them backwards. It was reversible then but they would not allow that and hid her instead.
   I tried to exonerate her and the family watched every action after that. When she died, I decided I would leave and take her body back to its home to be buried. Along the road I am aware that that same force will destroy me in order to keep me from my mission.
   I jump off in the bushes and realize this cat and mouse game is for my life even though I have off loaded my bundle. Knowing is my crime. F/47:4.14.94

Spend time with this silver dream which not only describes the generational dimension of the hag but shows what is at stake. Is there a better description of the Hag archetype than the opening theme of this dream?

   Again the next day, in the hills, I saw the scald crow. Eating an afterbirth, a sheep's she was. And that reminded me of a dream I had: a hag knee deep in a river washing my modern mind: downstream, in pool after pool, the fish died. --John Moriarity, Dreamtime

Here is a dream in a book. The fish die downstream from where the Hag cleans his modern brain. The Hag is relentless. She insists on tackling the most disgusting tasks. Pay attention to her and her many disguises: wild boars, wolves, crows, and hysteria.

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