Analysis for Ethelfleda, 19 April 1999

This is how you described the room:

Ugh, I'm cold. Even though I'm under a thick comforter, the sheets beneath me feel almost painfully crisp the way they do when you first crawl into bed on a winter's night. The comforter smells like moth balls, so I pull it away from my face and feel cold air rush up my nostrils. One window is immediately opposite the bed and is halfway open, accounting for the rush of cold air. The panes of glass are too dirty to see through. I look around. The room is tiny, barely big enough for the bed. I can sit up and touch each of the 4 grey walls. The door is blocked by the heavy wooden foot board of the bed, which looks like some ugly Victorian monster of a piece of furniture. The bed is so large, or the room so small that I can't see the floor. Just outside the door, someone is murmuring. Beneath the bed I can hear a scrabbling sound, like a mouse running for cover.

The initial room is the subject’s childhood. What interests us here is the general atmosphere of the room, in addition to the level of furnishings described by the subject. This comfortable room suggests a childhood that was pleasant (42.67%). The depth of description tells us that the subject has strong memories of childhood (27.72%).

You wanted to leave the room.

The subject wanted to become an adult.

This is how you described the forest:

The forest is thin, yet dark. The trees are tall, but haven't gained the thickness to match their height. There are lots of leaves and branches underfoot. It's hard to tell how light or dark the forest would be on a sunny day because of the continual mist of rain that is falling around me. It looks like the woods from the damn scary bootlegged movie that we all watched at a friend's house. I think it was called the Blair Witch Project. I really don't need to be thinking about that movie while I'm wandering around in here.

The forest is growing up, and the trees are those adults with whom the subject interacted at that time. A semi-dark forest tells us that the subject felt somewhat oppressed by the attention the adults gave (27.69%). Tall trees imply that the adults had a strong influence on the subject (53.19%).

This is how you described the path:

What path? Sometimes I stumble on what looks like it might be a hiking trail, but it ends so quickly or disappears into a stand of bushes that they must just be animal trails. But mostly I'm just trying to walk in the same direction - isn't moss always supposed to grow on the north side of a tree? I wish I'd brought a compass.

Adolescence is represented by the path through the forest. That the path is free of obstructions indicates that the subject had no problems during adolescence (60.81%). The lack of evidence of fellow travelers suggests strong feelings of isolation at that time (58.08%). The visibility of the path tells us that the subject had a good idea of what to expect from adolescence (53.47%). A narrow path suggests that the subject had limited options for emotional growth at this time (67.75%).

This is how you described the water:

It looks just like the creek that was on my grade school's grounds. It varies in width and speed and depth, sometimes thin, shallow, and slow, sometimes wide, deep, and fast. I know that if I wander further down stream I'll come to a point where it branches in two to go around a little rocky island. I also know that if I continue to follow it, it'll suddenly become too deep for me to stand in just before it joins in with a river. I look down through the clear water, which is sun-warmed here at the edge but I know will be cold towards the middle, and try to see fish through the eddies it makes as it flows around my ankles. I don't see anything now, but I can remember coming down to the creek on warm days near the end of the school year and spending hours standing in the cold water, waiting for a crayfish to crawl out from under one of the rocks. I was the only girl that ever managed to catch one. It gave me the creeps so I threw it back in the water.

The water is the subject’s sexuality. What interests us here is the clarity of the water (representing attitude) and its movement (representing libido). Clear water tells us that the subject has no issues regarding sex (88.55%). The movement of the water suggests a normal, average if somewhat playful sex drive (31.03%). Since life only appeared in the water in the flashback, we cannot tell how strong the desire for children is. One could interpret the expectation of finding life as a strong indication of a desire for children.

When you came to the water, you crossed it.

The subject is open to new sexual experiences.

This is how you described the cup:

It's a jelly jar with a quilted pattern pressed into the glass. The glass is sturdy and thick. The two-piece twist top those things always have has a ticky-tacky piece of cross-stich attached to the flat piece that the flat piece metal that the round, screw-part of the top holds down to cover the contents. It's dirty, but I can see that it is a sprig of strawberries.

The vessel, or specifically the practicality of the vessel, is how the subject approaches marriage or bonding. A practical container indicates that the subject is pragmatic when it comes to questions of marriage (63.34%).

You took the cup and filled it.

The subject is interested in marriage, and sex will be a significant part of that relationship.

This is how you described the key:

The key is thick, heavy, and rusted. The first two prongs are of different lengths, the longer one being on the end tip of the key. It looks like a third one has broken off. The handle at the opposite end of the key looks like a Celtic eternity knot. I wish I knew what it opened, probably an attic chock full of old trunks, books, and pictures.

The key is the ideal career for the subject. What interests us here is how the key appears (representing how others view the career) and what it may open (representing the subject’s goals for the career). Old-fashioned keys suggest that the subject desires a traditional career (45.90%). Having the key open a house, car, or other commonplace use tells us that the subject has no extraordinary expectations about a career (53.41%). That this key provides access to books and pictures could also suggest that the subject would like the career to provide some link to the past.