About Robert Van de Castle

Dr. Van de Castle has been studying dreams for over 40 years. In 1996, Dr. Van de
Castle co-authored The Content Analysis of Dreams with Calvin Hall Ph.D., who was
considered to be the most prominent dream researcher in the world at that time. The
content analysis method they pioneered in their classic book has become the standard
approach to objective dream research used by hundreds of later researchers.

The Hall-Van de Castle scales are used to provide normative material listing the various
types of settings, objects, characters, social interactions, activities, emotions, etc. found in
500 male and 500 female dreams. By checking the table showing the frequencies of
various objects, for example, it can be seen that items of jewelry were referred to 29
times by women and 5 times by men, while hand-held weapons were referred to 10 times
by women and 38 times by men. Hundreds of other kinds of dream images are similarly
indexed. Through his close familiarity with these extensive norms, Dr. Van de Castle is
able to determine quickly whether the content of any given dream would be considered
typical or atypical, which greatly facilitates helping the dreamer to process the
uniqueness of any given dream.

Dr. Van de Castle conducted two years of laboratory research with Dr. Hall at the
Institute of Dream Research in Miami, Florida, and has served as the Director of the
Sleep and Dream Research Laboratory at the University of Virginia Medical Center for
several years. He served as an experimental dreaming subject in his own lab at the
University of Virginia, at the Institute of Dream Research, at the University of Wyoming,
and at the Maimonides Hospital Dream Laboratory in Brooklyn. The successful
demonstration of his telepathic dreaming ability there was described at some length in the
book Dream Telepathy by M.Ullman & S.Krippner.

Dr. Van de Castle has had wide-ranging field experience in collecting hundreds of
dreams from subjects in Panama, Nicaragua, and Guatemala, and has worked with the
dreams of participants at workshops he has offered in Canada, Mexico, Belgium, and
Russia. He has gathered dreams in various educational settings such as elementary
schools, high schools, colleges, nursing and graduate schools, and he has also obtained
dreams from hundreds of psychiatric patients in hospitals and clinics, from pregnant
women and from members of a Senior Center.

In addition to his presentations at various scientific conventions, Dr.Van de Castle has

discussed reams on various television shows: Phil Donahue, David Letterman, Barbara
Walters, Tom Snyder, Mike Douglas. His work has been referenced in dozens of popular
publications such as Psychology Today, Omni, Ladies' Home Journal, Playboy, Glamour,
McCalls, Self, Parents, Family Circle, Men's Health, and in newspapers such as the
Washington Post and USA Today.

He has been a keynote speaker twice at educational presentations on dreams at the

Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. He served as co-editor (with Dr. Henry Reed)
of the Dream Network Bulletin. The State University of New York has published over a
dozen academic books on various dream topics in their SUNY Series in Dream Studies
under his guidance as an Advisory Editor.

Dr. Van de Castle's wide-ranging contributions to understanding the world of dreams

were recognized by the members of The Association for the Study of Dreams (ASD)
when they elected him President of the organization in 1985. At an international meeting
of this organization in 2004 at Copenhagen, Denmark, Dr. Van de Castle was awarded
the first Lifetime Achievement Award in Dreamwork and was also recognized for his
Lifetime Contribution to ASD.

For more information about this international, multidisciplinary organization which

promotes an awareness and appreciation of dreams in both professional and public
arenas, please see their website. Dr. Van de Castle’s website is
www.ourdreamingmind.com.
PREFACE

Humankind has always been interested in trying to understand the dramatic scenarios
known as “dreams” that each individual experiences upon awakening. A rather constant
theme that has been associated with dreams involves whether they have any ability to
predict what will be happening in the dreamer’s future. Many theories have been
advanced about the sources involved in creating these nocturnal dramas, and most current
researchers feel that dreams are created because emotional events have occurred during
the waking life of an individual which did not get adequately assimilated before they fell
asleep. This “unfinished business” provides the raw material for the dreamer’s mind to
re-process this material in order to be able to better assimilate it into the dreamer’s view
of him / herself and their view of how the universe operates. Through examining the
remembered content, an individual will hopefully discover some insights about the
patterns of thinking that contribute to their emotional distress during their waking life.
Our dreaming minds have access to a vast reservoir of personal experience that the
dreamer has accumulated during their lifetime, and there seems to be a fair amount of
agreement that the dreamer may also possess access to archetypal material and images
that came “prepackaged” in the software package we inherited at birth.

At present, there is a great deal of curiosity about how the upcoming elections in the
United States will eventually manifest. Tens of millions of dollars are invested in
sophisticated polling techniques conducted before an election begins, and also after the
voter has left the booth. Sometimes these polls are quite accurate in predicting which
states will favor selected candidates and which topics are of major interest to voters with
a certain demographic background. Sometimes, however, the polls turn out to be
inaccurate to a surprising degree: voters might report to a pollster that they intend to vote
a certain way because that would be the “politically correct” stance to take on a candidate
or about a controversial issue, but their behavior once they are in the privacy of the
voting booth and behind the closed curtain might be quite different from what they
publicly espoused.
An interesting question arises as to whether the types of imagery that potential voters
remember and report after awakening might provide a “deeper” assessment of how the
potential voter “really” feels about a given candidate or topic – at a level deeper than that
sampled in an interview conducted by a pollster.

As a researcher who has been involved with dreams for over 40 years, it is my opinion
that there is a marked correspondence between the dream imagery people report and their
waking actions and behavior. This is called the “continuity theory” and its essentially
says that there is a significant continuity of behavior between between dream behavior
and waking life behavior.

In order to place my comments in context, I should share that my current intention, as of

early May of 2008, is to vote for Barack Obama because my perception is that his
intention is to find some sort of method for respecting and synthesizing the disparate
views that currently characterize U.S. citizens.
INTRODUCTION

The dreams used for analyses were submitted to Sheila Heti as a result of a request that
she had made to readers of her website. The responses are obviously not sent by a
random sample of dreamers, nor do they represent any stratification of population
demographics, such as geographic locale, socio-economic class, level of education, age,
marital status, or any other variables which would ordinarily be included in more careful
political polling with regard to attitudes toward the current presidential candidates.

The assumption being made here is that the respondents sent in their dream accounts
because of a serious interest they held with regard to the candidates and to the political
issues currently being considered by voters. Women made up the largest percentage
(66%) of the respondents, but a reasonably large number of males also sent in dreams
(27%). In some cases it was not possible to decide the gender of the dreamer with any
certainty (7%). My impression is the occupations of the dreamers included in this same
would be more in the professional and white collar category. Overall, they might be
considered to represent sort of a “Starbucks contingency” who would discuss their most
recent dream over a cup of coffee.

A question might be raised as to why those submitting their dreams were predominately
women. It’s known from extensive laboratory investigations that women have the same
percentage of REM sleep as males and the ability to recall dreams is the same between
the sexes (although women use somewhat more words to describe the content of their
dreams). Women are more open to requests inquiring about their viewpoints on
interpersonal and communication issues. The subject matter of this survey is extremely
captivating for women. The current election between the two Democratic candidates
carries with it very positive emotional valences with regard to each candidate. Women
feel vindicated and empowered because a female candidate is finally receiving very
active consideration for the top executive position in our government, while the male
candidate has a great deal of personal charisma, sexual appeal, and platform eloquence.
In my analyses, each of the candidate’s perceived attributes will be considered from the
point of view of male dreamers and female dreamers separately. I will attempt to provide
a very brief direct quote about the candidate’s perceived characteristics from the dream
being considered, as well as the dream number, so that the full dream can be examined by
the reader in order to them diminish any concerns that the quote has been taken totally
out of context and is inconsistent with the body of the dream.

In my first piece, I will summarize some of the imagery reported by 20 male dreamers on
this blog who had dreams in which Hillary Clinton appeared. After outlining these
comments by the male dreamers, I’ll also attempt to provide a very brief overview of
those comments. I will also take a look at the dreams from 71 women who also reported
dreams about Hillary on this blog and attempt to summarize what attitudes about Hillary I
think they display. Because of the much larger number of cases involved, I won’t be able
to quote material from each dreamer as I did with the male dreams.

As well, Sheila Heti has decided to take the ellipses out of the dreams for ease of reading.
Please note that the dreams have been abridged, but clicking the number after each dream
except will take you to the full dream.
SUMMARY OF DATA POOL

A total of 129 dreams is listed in the I DREAM OF HILLARY collection [A] but one
report is not relevant [A11] and I arbitrarily eliminated [A108] because it sounded
fabricated.

A total of 31 dreams is listed in the I DREAM OF BOTH collection [B] but Hillary does
not appear in numbers 14, 15 20, 21, 29 of that collection. That leaves a total of 153
dreams in which Hillary appears as a solo character or in association with another
character.

A total of 103 dreams were classified as coming from female dreamers and 39 from
males, although in two cases that gender judgement was made on less certain criteria
[A83, A125]. The gender of the dreamer was considered as indeterminate in 14 cases
[A3, A7, A8, A12, A13, A15, A26, A29, A49, A59, A79, A110 and B9, B10].

The initial piece will deal with an analysis of the 39 dreams submitted by male dreamers
that involve Hillary Clinton. Barack Obama is also present in 7 of these dreams [A38, B4,
8, 11, 24, 25, & 38] Bill Clinton is only mentioned in 3 dreams: one indicating that Bill is
only one of her two husbands [A31], one that she is leaving Bill [A34] and one where he
is depicted as a giant inflated ballon [B11].

Since dreams and sexuality are frequently associated in people’s minds, let’s begin with
looking at some of the sexual contexts in which dreamers place Hillary.
SEXUAL CONTENT

One married man indicates that Hillary wanted him to date her and although he
respectfully declined,she insisted that he consider her advances with an undertone of or
else.” She took off her dress and asked him to check her out. The dreamer noticed she
was she was wearing average women’s underwear that was not very flattering [A18]. A
New York designer reported a dream where Hillary had a rumpled silk blouse and she
was wearing only underwear – and not particularly impressive underwear: kind of grey
and a little baggy [A102]. Underwear also came up for scrutiny by a husband when
Hillary was a guest in their home and she put on one of his wife’s cashmere sweaters
over a black bra. The dreamer protested that it showed through the fabric
glaringly. Hillary was not an available sex partner for an older art critic. He picked her up
at a peace rally and they went to her apartment where she had a waterbed, Melanie poster,
and a book of Kahlil Gibran’s poems, but she won’t put out. This left the dreamer really
put off, but with grudging respect for her [A74]. She did engage in love making with a
24-year-old Texas man who discovered that to my frustration, my lovemaking skills were
not enough for her and the dreamer woke up so confused and disappointed by my failure
to please her, then I awoke feeling sexually inadequate for the first time in my life and
saw how all of the power in her life was acquired through a personal sacrifice of sexual
desires [A25]. When a married man was at a county fair, Hillary walked up to him,
introduced herself, and asked if the dreamer was going to vote for her. When the dreamer
indicated that he hadn’t decided yet and needed more information, she told him that she
had to go to the restroom and if he went with her into the bathroom, she would talk to
him while she took care of business. The dreamer, however, didn’t want to get caught in
a women’s restroom with Hillary Clinton [A10].

ROMANTIC CONTENT

Some interactions sound more romantic. A food writer is in the kitchen of his country
house and Hilllary sits next to him. Hilllary speaks to the dreamer very gently and is very
affectionate and wants to know how I am doing, and with each answer I give, she closes
her eyes and brings my hand up to her cheek [A62]. A young Canadian dreamed my head
was resting on Hillary’s thigh. And she brought her hand down to my cheek as I nuzzled
into her jeans [A41]. A married man living in Toronto shopping for dinner runs into his
mom. When he saw Hillary in the back of the store with eyes shining then I stepped
forward and said, ‘Hi, Hillary.’ I was impressed by her handshake. She looked me right
in the eyes. ‘And what’s your name?’ she said. I told her my name and she smiled:
‘That’s a nice name’ [A37]. One journalist was interviewing Hillary and she met him in
the grand entrance hall of what looked like a 19th- century building. Hillary was smiling
and we walked out together. I remember finding her hot, but I would still never vote for
her in a million years [A113].

NOT HILLARY

Some possible reasons for not voting for Hillary were expressed in other dreams. A
Hillary supporter felt he had put a tiny action figure of Hillary back together after a
terrible plane crash and told her ‘That’s the second time we’ve brought you back from
the dead this week!’ When the dreamer went to give her a hug, her mood immediately
changed. ‘I don’t do hugs,’ she said coldly, which made the dreamer suddenly very angry
and embarrassed. Her tone was incredibly rude. I thought, ‘Well, if she’s going to be like
that. I’ll just vote for Obama!’ [122] An Obama supporter was on a plane when it started
to experience mechanical difficulties and the pilot had to land at a fairly busy highway.
This takes out a couple of cars but everyone on the plane is safe. Later, the dreamer saw a
news paper with a headline that reads: Clinton Pilots Plane to Safety and a bunch of
pictures of Hillary smiling and being congratulated on saving the lives of the passengers
[A104].

Hillary’s credibility may also have been suspect in other dreams. A history professor was
in a seven card stud poker game with Hillary and she was the bettor. The dreamer kept
calling her each time. At the end, she claimed to have a flush but then showed several
different colored trinkets which she insisted was in fact a flush. Hillary refused to accept
the dreamer’s hand which was a higher flush, and took the pot [A125]. In the bathroom
dream when Hillary finds some food in the bathroom stall: She said, ‘Look at what I
found in the stall. this is delicious!’ [A10]. A New York-based graphic designer is at a
school gym with Hillary and Barack trying to shoot hoops. The basketballs are flat, worn,
heavy and hard to throw. The dreamer complains but Hillary is adamant that everything
is completely fine, we’re having a great time. She keeps shooting but nothing is going any
where near the hoop” [B4].A clarinet and saxophone player observes a jazz band playing
but Hillary was in front of the stage with the mike, trying to be hip and somewhat relating
to black people using language like ‘Let me tell y’all about it!’ Then she started to play
the saxophone – she sounded awful [A65]. A 38-year-old married man with three
daughters was chasing Hillary down a sidewalk, but she indicated she didn’t want to talk
with him. He wound up pressing her against a brick wall and asked her why the
Democratic Party had not been getting behind Barack and were tearing him down when
he had grown up so poor… truly poor. At that point, Hillary broke eye contact and looked
off in a peevish kind of way that said to me that she knew I was right, but that she
couldn’t be bothered [A121]. An undecided New York-based editor is at a Democratic
debate. Hillary is wearing a white business suit while Barack is wearing a denim shirt.
When the debate gets underway two young women are hanging, swinging back and forth
on a giant conveyor belt. They’re wearing giant garbage bags and ask an inane question
about what the candidates would do if aliens landed on Earth. Barack cuts them off. He
tells the audience this is ridiculous, the election is something serious and this cheapens
the whole process. He walk off the stage [B24]. A journalist expat in Budapest gets
Hillary’s cell phone number and calls her. When she answers, I want to tell her not to
play so dirty in the campaign, but then realize there’s no way she’s going to listen to me.
So I tell her that I think she should use good karma in the campaign [A66]. A married
Christian man was embarrassed in his dream because the pastor “rolled off a diatribe
against Hillary running for President and how we Christians need to stand up against
her.” Hillary was sitting in the congregation. Someone went to her to apologize but
everyone else simply felt guilty because they agreed with what he said and they were
faced with the very person against whom their feelings were directed [A6].
Hillary’s priorities may be questionable in the dream of a graphic designer who is in an
industrial city in Eastern Europe. There is a war in the streets, and after jumping from
one roof top to another, he and some others wind up in a warehouse and we start finger -
painting at little art stations. The dreamer is awe-struck by her presence. Hillary
announces she is holding a rally and asks who she can count on to come. I raise my hand
and shout ‘Go Hillary!’ The dreamer’s enthusiasm is met by groans from others.I
remember that a war is raging outside and suddenly feel ashamed [A91].

Hillary is seen as a rather ruthless opponent. When she was sexually rejected in a dream
her Secret Service people kept pursuing the dreamer because they said they needed to
find him or Hillary was going to be mad as hell [A18]. A 25-year-old dreamer claimed
that Hillary had plotted against me and my friend and was trying to destroy us, and had
set her thugs upon us. The thugs chased them and the dreamer eventually ran into Hillary
and tried to convince her to let them go because they were on the same side [A111]. A
writer in Colorado began firing at two women targets with a rifle. “The first woman drops
dead, but Hillary is only wounded and turns to me and returns fire.” When he runs out of
ammo, Hillary comes after him and stalks him. The dreamer reports “I have a sense that
the fight is not over.”[A83]. In another dream, Hillary is going to give a concession
speech, and “her voice began choking up. Everybody became very upset in an
almost biblical way – shouting, tearing their clothes [A35]. After Hillary became
president, several other countries “declared war on America and were going to launch
nuclear weapons and Clinton and others were ready to surrender to prevent devastation of
the population [A36]. A middle-aged man in Calgary was very frightened because Hillary
“was president and was ordering a nuclear strike [A42]. When a young Californian is
picked up in a beat-up car by Hillary and Barack, he tries to get them to laugh about the
Middle East and suicide bombers, but finds they are “hitting a brick wall.” Finally, he
manages to get them to laugh about the possibility [A38]. After Hillary won the election
with Obama as VP, a Baptist dreamer “was watching a news broadcast from Mexico.
They were complaining about the huge number of illegal aliens that were flooding in
from the United States [A9]. A huge fan of Battlestar Galactica living in Mauritius “was
told a secret, that among Clinton, McCain, and Obama, there was one cylon.” Cylons
“look and act like humans but are really machines created by people who are in rebellion
against humanity [B8]. A less sinister comparison is offered in a dream by an Obama
supporter where Hillary and Obama are “participating in a soup-making contest. Hillary’s
was light and oily, essentially a broth, but tasty enough that people couldn’t get enough
of it. Barack’s was richer, with a much heavier consistency. After one taste, no one
wanted more. I really wished Barack’s soup was better [B25]. An American student
living in Turkey is sitting across a picnic table where Hillary is eating her hamburger. I
wanted to say something to her, but couldn’t think of anything to say. The silence was
super awkward [A32]. A young lawyer in D.C. does know what to say in a
college classroom where we’re having a discussion about current economic troubles.
Hillary is teaching the class and she is using the Socratic method, trying to elicit the
correct response. No one is getting her point, so I raise my hand and she calls on me. I
say, ‘The problem is liquidity!’ She agrees. ‘Exactly.’ I feel so proud [92]. Hillary
appears in one conversation when a History Professor and his wife are chatting and puts
in her two cents. [A56]. A Virginian interested in politics is in his house during a terrible
thunderstorm with his parents and others and Hillary and they are chatting as the storm
got worse. Then a tornado warning siren went off and we all ran into the basement bomb
shelter. Things outside continued to get worse. Hillary remained calm until two giant
aliens had started fighting in the river [A39]. A software developer ran into Hillary at a
gathering and she began to let on that she was worried about things. She needed advice
and a new campaign manager. She went ahead with a friend of the dreamer’s who was
smarter than me and now I was left behind. I called out to her loudly, ‘Take off your
gloves, and fight!’ Hillary smiled back and waved [A51]. In the dream of a man from
Pasadena, Hillary announced she was separating from Bill. She fired her campaign staff,
won the Ohio, Texaco and Pennsylvania primaries and became president [A34].
BILL CLINTON IN HILLARY DREAMS

While Bill Clinton was essentially an insignificant figure in the male dreams, he played a
major role in in the dreams involving Hillary for women. In one dream from an Irish
woman, Hillary and Bill were renewing their wedding vows in a small ceremony [A109].
In another, from a soul mate expert, Bill and Hillary were dancing in a soft embrace
[A17]. In an auditorium when he was at the podium, Bill gave Hillary a wonderful
introduction [A105]. When Hillary had been speaking with the dreamer (who was an
Obama supporter) and left to speak with the crowd at a large restaurant, Bill replaced her
at my table [A50]. The dreamer’s father and Bill hit it off [A67]. Hillary confided to a
Canadian dreamer that Bill has problems with dust mites [A85]. A woman from The New
York Times was at a cavernous theater when Bill gets up and makes a speech extolling
Hillary’s virtues, including her commitment to ‘the forgotten class.’ The audience
applauds. but between Bill’s exit and her entrance most of the audience leaves [B30].
One young woman from Seattle was in a classroom where Hillary was going to give a
little speech, but Bill Clinton was already there and all the parents and kids were circling
around him and talking with him, laughing at his jokes. It seemed like people weren’t
interested in Hillary [A96]. The woman who makes this site dreamed that the situation
deteriorated to where the political rival who she was running against was Bill Clinton
[A115].

The changing role he plays in her life is nicely symbolized in a dream of a happily
married woman where Bill disappeared behind a secret rotating panel in the fireplace,
which spun around like a secret passageway. When it turned around, the other side had a
picture of him painted on it, except dressed up like Napoleon [A20]. A graduate student
dreamed that Hillary was in the White House and Bill Clinton was in the first lady’s
office. I was hired to be Bill’s assistant, but I had the overwhelming feeling that I
couldn’t trust him, that he was running the country.[B17].

Bill’s physical appearance is not very appealing in a college student’s dream in which he
started getting nervous about something as evident from the pit stains on his shirt. As his
nervousness increased, he started turning into a beige -- colored larva about 2 feet long
or so. This made me dejected [A110]. A college student in New York reported: I’m
looking at photos of Bill and Hillary from way back when. They’re both only wearing
underwear and they’re in a dorm room with another couple only in underwear [A120].
An American woman in Taiwan reported: We arrived at the dining hall at the University
of Virginia. Bill Clinton was there. My heart leapt and I blushed when I saw him [A23].
A mom, in response to a request from Hillary to go and get Bill discovered that he was in
the shower. She saw Bill’s back, white with freckles, He said ‘Hey, how ya doing?’
[A87]. A young Moslem woman saw Bill’s pecs. He had a hot bod. For a second I
thought I was going to sleep with him.[A19]. In two different dreams, Bill hits on the
dreamer [A2, A4]. A post- production supervisor dreams that Bill puts his hand on my
knee, then checks my reaction. I’m in the middle of saying something when he reaches
out and grabs my breast [A89].
HILLARY BY WOMEN
POSITIVELY TONED DREAMS

Hillary is associated with a wide range of emotions among female dreamers. In this first
grouping, I’ll present excerpts of those dreams in which she is presented in a primarily
favorable or positive way.

HILLARY EXALTED

Hillary is portrayed in an exalted fashion by a New England nanny. She is wearing a

beautiful purple robe and is looking very queenly and goddess-like. An entourage of
smiling people surround her and place a glittering, radiant crown on her head [A127]. A
staunch supporter dreamed she was in a remote mountain town when three tigers walked
over to a hunter and started to harrass him. and we both had to take refuge in a car. The
tigers went through a huge cat door. and went up to Hillary. Hillary said, ‘There you are
my babies. Mummy’s so glad you’re back,’ and bent down to nuzzle and scratch the belly
of the first one [A43]. A lesbian dreams that Hillary and I are intimately involved. I feel
so lucky and thrilled that I actually have a relationship with Hillary [A88]. In another
dream, Hillary is driving a research scientist to a biochemistry class: I felt like she was
supporting me in my life goals [A75]. A woman who doesn’t support Hillary dreams that
Hilllary Clinton is my therapist. I am telling her my real life troubles. She is so warm and
caring, sparkling in the sunlight [A90].

A woman with a newborn dreams: I am a hospital about to go into labor. Hillary Clinton
is there and they decide to let her deliver my baby. Everything goes fine with the birth
[A84]. An Interfaith Minister is at a fund-raising dinner and Hillary wows us all. she is
personable and friendly. she takes me aside and says very earnestly, ‘I’m so sorry you
had to deal with all that harassments stuff at your work.’ I was deeply touched by this
[A124]. A college student dreams she is at a rally with her sister and her eight month old
baby: Hillary saw and asked my sister if she could feed the baby. she started talking
about the trials of being a mom and that her heroes are mothers everywhere. It was
lovely [A99]. A Texas lesbian was at a church retreat and ended up sitting next to Hillary
in the dining hall.We struck up a pleasant conversation. I found her easy to talk to,
genuine, and personable [A117]. A director of public policy received a personal e-mail
from Hillary Clinton, thanking me for inviting her to participate in Girls Day and sharing
with me her T-shirt size [A72]. An undecided voter reported: Hillary rang my doorbell at
5:30 in the morning and presented me with a box of blue placemats and some condiments
[A69]. A Hillary fan in her late 20s was shopping for corned beef in a New York deli
with Hillary who says, ‘Don’t worry honey. I’ll show you the best stuff.’ [A81]. A wife
who scrapbooks mentioned that Hillary Clinton and I were cleaning my parents’ attic.
She was actually a lot of fun, and we got a lot of work done [A16]. An undecided voter
dreamed I was in a room with Hillary and a bunch of other people. She was so funny that
when I woke up, I was laughing [A61]. A history professor is sitting in a town hall in
Vermont and the dreamer asks Hillary, who was sitting next to her, what she thinks of the
primary controversy in Michigan and Florida. She responds,in a warm and confidential
tone, ‘Honestly, I’m so busy on the campaign trail, I can’t keep up with what’s going on.’
We then start talking about our hair [A78].

CONCERN OVER HILLARY’S FATIGUE

Many of the dreamers are concerned about Hillary appearing tired and fatigued. A Hillary
supporter was concerned about Hillary. I turned to her and said, ‘You look a little
ragged.’ She said, ‘Yeah. I’m a little tired.’ [A44]. A fundraiser found Hillary at a
classical music concert, slumped over in the chair asleep. I remember thinking I’d better
get on the phones and raise more money for the campaign so Hillary can sleep [A63]. A
young actress was with Hillary and her people in a hotel room together. We eat leftovers
together at a small table. Then, though she protests like a child, I tucked her into bed for
a nap to rest before the speech [A77]. A grandmother who signed up for a class at a large
university is aware that Hillary and her people are there to help students register. Hillary
has reserved 10 minutes to talk directly with me. When she approaches me I say, ‘I really
don’t need any help. But you look tired. Why don’t you take the time you were going to
spend with me and have a nap?’ Then we lie down together on the carpet and I put my
arms around her and she falls asleep [A60]. In another dream, Hillary was at the
dreamer’s house: I had her rest on the couch, and her hair turned white like Bill’s! [A33].

FEEDING HILLARY

Some dreamers help out by feeding Hillary. On the night before the Texas primary,
Hillary and her campaign manager were sharing a hotel room with an editor: Hillary and
I sat on the king sized bed watching a late-night news report on her dim chances of
winning the Democratic nomination. I felt bad for her. I pulled a box of thin mint Girl
Scout cookies out of nowhere. This brought a smile to Hillary’s face, a real smile. We
devoured the cookies in no time [A55]. A preschool teacher dreamed: I was making a
salad for Hillary. I was carefully choosing some veggies from each plate to compose a
scrumptious, elegant salad [A58].
The Dark Side of Hillary

Every human being has different sides. In the previous section, Hillary’s warm and
positive sides were emphasized. There is, however, a rather dark side to Hillary which is
alluded to in several dreams submitted to this site. A 40-year-old woman who took
Women’s Studies reported a dream which I will quote it in its entirety because it is such a
revealing “spotlight” dream:

I was telling the actress Kathy Bates, who was my therapist, about my mid- life angst. She
responded with a feminist lecture that all of women’s unhappiness is really about
thwarted ambition that turns into bitterness and anger. While Kathy Bates was talking,
there was a panning over a large display of Hillary magazine covers, and in each of them
Hillary looked monstrously enraged [A119].

Kathy Bates achieved enormous acclaim for her role in the movie Misery. She forcibly
kept an admired author (played by James Caan) in her cabin and was ruthless in
attempting to prevent him from escaping her exclusive control. Can any material be
found in this collection of dreams that would support the notion that women’s
unhappiness is really about thwarted ambition that turns into bitterness and anger?

HOW AMBITIOUS IS HILLARY?

When a young female actress rooms with Hillary in her dream, Hillary confide in a
stripped-down, desperately honest voice: ‘I want to be President so badly.’ [A77]. A
Hillary supporter tells Hillary I have been praying for her. I say ‘I pray for the best
possible outcome.’ She snaps at me, ‘Pray for me to win!’ [A129].A former assistant
dreams, I was Hillary Clinton’s personal assistant and I was miserable, partially because
we were working non - stop on little sleep, but also because she was a tyrant. She yelled
at me in front of a group of people for a small mix- up I had nothing to do with [A24]. A
New York woman dreams: I am working as Hillary’s assistant. My primary duties
include walking her really big dogs and carrying shopping bags full of auto parts. a
passing rodent causes the dogs to go crazy and drag me into a puddle of raw sewage in
Central Park [A114 ].

Elevated aspirations may have been behind the dream of an oil painter in Las Vegas who
reports: I was at a Hillary Clinton press conference. When she appeared we were all
stunned. She was wearing a gown reminiscent of Queen Elizabeth 1. the entire creation
was made of gold and silver lame and looked more theatrical than authentically royal
[A54]. A California graduate student was reading a magazine article about Hillary. Then I
got to the part that read: ‘Also she can be cruel. She enjoys wearing $ 1billion dollar
dresses, one of which is made from the fleece of an endangered penguin.’ [A 49].A
woman getting married in May dreams: I was fully dressed in my wedding dress and
jewelry and was peeking into the hall where I’d be getting married. The wedding
coordinator informed me that I would have to share my space with a political networking
event posted by Mrs. Hillary Clinton. and to top it off, she said and I would not be
allowed to wear my wedding dress at the reception because Mrs. Clinton was afraid I
would have shined her if I had my dress on [A80].

A college student from Chicago realized that Hillary was running for president
unopposed. something needed to be done to ensure a fair election. Also, she had become
a mad woman and was making all sorts of outrageous suggestions for new policies
[A103]. An illustrator anxiously waiting to hear the results of the evening primaries.
hears Brian Williams say, ‘And this is what Hillary does in her spare time.’ There is a
clip of a Texas landscape, like George Bush’s ranch and into the scene rides Hillary
Clinton on a near perfect, super horse. She looks stiff as usual. She holds the reins
tightly, trying desperately to control the horse. There is another clip of her homeland.
Hillary appears coming down the path on a skateboard. all of a sudden there is a shot of
her doing some kind of skateboard jump right into the lake, then a huge splash [A101].
A woman who has met both candidates dreams: I am in a car with Hillary – an old 70s
Mustang convertible. The top is down, even though it’s very cold. She is driving on the
highway very recklessly, too fast for the curves. She loses control of the car, barely
missing the other cars. I am getting mad at her telling her to slow down, that she has no
control of the car and is going to get us killed. She laughs maniacally, throwing her head
back saying we are fine [A82]. An American woman in Taiwan was in an urgent
threatening crowd. I got Hillary Clinton into the car, in the drivers seat. She was a good
driver, though a bit of a tailgater (which makes me nervous). I told her, ‘Senator Clinton,
ma’am, I would be happy to drive if you have something else you need to do,’ but she just
smiled and kept driving. On a driveway we had to stop short/ Hillary opens a door and
got out. Then we got back in the car and she drove, backing up and turning to drive
across the wide median to the other side of the highway [A23].

In several other dreams, Hillary fails to heed advice offered by the dreamer. A woman
who supports both candidates was in an auditorium where the candidates were giving
speeches. When it became Hillary’s turn as her aides prepped her to go on stage, I
noticed that she was wearing a costume pig snout. Apparently it was a tongue in cheek
joke about the bad press she had been receiving. I advised her that it was wasn’t a good
idea to wear on the stage. but she and her aides insisted it was important that she wear it.
She stepped onto the stage and I could sense the audience was not amused. The joke had
flopped. I was sure it would cost her in the polls [A105 ]. A woman studying sign
language dreamed Hillary was my college professor for a deaf studies class. A deaf guest
was visiting the class so Hillary decided to have one of the Assisted Sign Language
students interpret for the deaf person. I was outraged I told her it was wrong to use a
student. She did not care, so I protested in front of the class with some of my classmates
[A46].

Hillary also displays a lack of gratitude for people trying to help her. and a sense of
condescension to others. A young Obama supporter reported in her dream: I was
campaigning for her, doing cold calls, and she walks by me and starts laughing at my
Afro -- just really digging into me. It felt very upsetting [A 26]. A teacher takes an article
that she has been working on to the office: Hillary Clinton and Keith Olbermann are the
editors. Clinton asks me if I understand the meaning of the word homogeneous. They
continue to be quite rude to me. I end up in a huge childish fight with them,screaming
and giving them the finger before I run out [A116]. A former newspaper editor reported
that Hillary was yelling at me for everything I’ve ever done wrong in my life, literally
haranguing me that I need to make serious changes or my life will have been a waste of
precious resources. She was yelling,‘You need to lose some weight. You need to go back
to work. You need to get you your shit together!’ I woke up and realized that overnight
I’d become Obama supporter [A70]. A young Obama supporter was walking with Hillary
down the railroad tracks in my home town, Illinois. She had her arm around my shoulder
and I had my arm around her waist and she felt so nice and soft, like my mom. After
walking in comfort and silence for a while, I quietly said ‘Hillary, I love you.’ She said,
in a very harsh voice, ‘Well, Obama’s policies and his personality are just so STUPID,’
and the spell was broken. Then I had to crawl on the ground while Hillary kept walking
upright [A18].

In several dreams, Hillary seems to anger rather easily. One dreamer reported, I was in
Hillary’s small, one-bedroom apartment and she had a little bit of coke left, like a line,
and I did it and she got mad at me [A13]. A Broadway lover dreamed, Hillary Clinton
and her campaign staff came in to eat. They sat in my section, which was cool at first, but
then they started requesting all sorts of food that we don’t serve. I tried to explain that we
didn’t serve those. They got mad [A15]. A New Yorker social worker was standing with
Hillary and a man who was her former husband. she was berating him and recounting all
the things that she did not like about him when she was married to him. He was looking
very hurt and I felt badly for him [A14]. A woman into fashion went up to Hillary Clinton
and said, ‘Thank you for running, it means a lot to us.’ She rolled her eyes in this weird
way. The dreamer didn’t know if Hillary was rolling her eyes in the ‘Bitch, please, I
know you like Barack’ sense, so the dreamer turned to my mother and asked her opinion.
‘I don’t know,’ my mother said, ‘but she has beautiful skin up close.’ And she did too
[A22].
Perhaps this last expression might be taken as a metaphor to indicate that Hillary was
attractive, but that it was only skin deep and more troubling characteorlogical aspects
may lay hidden beneath the surface level of appearance
WOMEN’S AMBIVALENT FEELINGS ABOUT HILLARY

It’s obvious that a political candidate has to possess credibility if they are to expect any
voter’s confidence. Several dreamers made comments that indicated that they had doubts
about Hillary’s believability. In the dream where Hillary was wearing a gown reminiscent
of Queen Elizabeth, a male reporter asked her why she was wearing so much sliver and
she replied, my father was a miner [A54]. In the dream of a Brooklyn woman working in
the media, her sister was explaining why she didn’t like Hillary Clinton. ‘I don’t trust her,
she told me. She claims to go to the gym every day, but have you seen her body?. there’s
no way Hillary exercises half as much as she claims to. And if I can’t believe her about
that, I can’t believe her about anything’ [A48]. Another dreamer from Brooklyn,who is a
post production supervisor was walking on a red dirt road. Up ahead of me, I see four
tiny, blonde, blue eyed children. They are wearing white outfits and are radiant,
otherworldly, so healthy. While the scene is so beautiful that I don’t want to break the
spell, I feel but there’s something not quite right. I look back for their mother and it’s
Hillary. She stops to talk to me and I say, ‘I’ve never met your children before. They’re
beautiful.’ She goes on to say something, but I’m not really listening. I can tell she’s
giving the answer her handlers have told her to give when she’s asked about this. I think
to myself that she must have had these kids one after the other, nine months apart [A89].
A young Californian dreams a few of us voters/volunteers were at the mall, sitting on a
bench. Hillary comes up to us all nice. I’m about to tell her that, sadly, I’ll be voting for
Obama. She sits us down on the sofa and confesses that she’s got cancer, but it can’t get
out because it could ruin the election. We’re all really sad and I start to change my mind
about voting for Obama. Then we all start strategizing about how to keep this from
leaking to the media [A28].

The dreamer doesn’t feel that Hillary is displaying much integrity in several dreams. An
older Ph.D. was watching a political show on TV at someone’s house. Hillary appeared
in the kitchen in a rose pink chenille robe. We had some perfunctory exchanges. She
would not make eye contact. She was irritable but feigning civility. I tried to say
something sympathetic about growing up in a house with brothers, but she brushed it off
[A112]. A San Francisco woman partial to Obama was renting a place and the plumbing
in the bathroom had multiple leaks. Hillary Clinton appeared at my door with a group of
people. I began to make casual conversation with Hillary, but she wasn’t listening or
acknowledging me. She was smiling, but seemed very robotic. I didn’t like her much at
that moment [A126]. Hillary was in an editor’s kitchen warming me up some leftover
risotto. I was hungry and kept asking, ‘Hey, Hillary, how’s the risotto coming?’ She kept
saying, ‘Just five more minutes!’ But I never got the risotto [A64].

Hillary apparently tries to elicit sympathy from some dreamers. A Brooklyn speechwriter
dreams “It’s the night before Hillary’s ‘coronation’ as President of the United States.
We’re in a sprawling hotel suite. I have been invited to take part because Hillary liked the
speech I wrote. when Hillary talks to me, I feel important. I ask, But how are you? She
yells, not unkindly, Terrible! I’ve had a terrible life.! I’m miserable!! It’s what I most
feared and there’s not a thing I can do [B22]. A pediatric nurse dreams I’m working at a
psychiatric hospital. Hillary Clinton is one of the patients. We are in a group therapy
session and she talks at length about her anxiety and depression. She cries as she speaks
openly and honestly about her struggles with her mental illness [A94]. A mother of a
toddler who is also a writer and teacher was walking down a city street with dirty
pavement, probably in New York, beside Hillary Clinton. There was this sense that
somebody had to walk with her, and I was there. Barack passed in front of us. I felt
Hillary bristle and I began to feel really bad for her. She stared after him forlornly and
we sat down on the hotel steps. In real life, I am an Obama person, and Hillary generally
makes me very, very angry, so the rest of the dream was strange. The weight of her
sadness and her disappointment was acute. I felt so sad, so sorry that she had worked so
hard and it didn’t matter because Obama would win. It all seemed monumentally unfair.
I felt like it was because she was a woman. I still supported Obama, but felt the injustice
Hillary Clinton faced. I wanted to cry because I could see how she deserved the
nomination, how she had worked for and earned it, and that she really felt like she was
letting down her supporters – especially her female ones [B31].
These same sorts of feeling some obligation to support Hillary, when the dreamer was
actually supporting her rival, led to several dreams in which the dreamer was deceitful in
dealing with her ambivalence. When Hillary and Bill came over to the apartment of a
young woman from Washington DC, “I spent the visit frantically rushing around the
apartment trying to conceal evidence of my support for Obama [A67]. A similar struggle
was experienced by a 55-year-old feminist. In her dream, “Hillary was coming up the
steps to my front door. In a panic, realizing I was wearing a big Obama button, I didn’t
want her to see that I’d made the decision to support her opponent. I darted out to the
back porch while hastily plastering something over my Obama pin so I could neutrally
greet my high-profile visitor. As Hillary came into the front hall, I’d realized I pasted
over my Obama pin with an Obama sticker” [A68]. A New England woman who knits
was at a campground. “Then I noticed that Oback Obama and Hillary were near -- close
enough that I could talk to them. There had been a couple of state primaries and Barack
had taken the lead.I began telling Hillary that it would be all be okay, it would work
out.Next thing I knew, I was wandering around outside, carrying the biggest Obama for
president sign ever” [A21]. A De Paul University senior had a dream that I met Hillary
at a campaign event. She was being so pleasant than I did not have the heart to tell her
that I was an Obama fan and would not be supporting her campaign [A59]. An
ambivalent supporter was escorting Hillary to the stage at a rally at some fairgrounds. I
was surprised to discover that she was wearing a completely over-the-top red ball gown
and spiky heels that poked holes in the soil as we walked. I was really worried that she
was going to make a fool of herself, but I tried to pretend that she looked absolutely fine
[A29]. A middle-aged woman dreamed she was at a Kmart and Hillary was speaking to a
small crowd. I began feeling really sorry for her and hugged her. Hillary asked me if I
had voted for her. I hesitated and then said ‘Yes,’ even though I hadn’t”[A 27].

It seems that women voters have a difficult time publicly taking a stand against Hillary. A
part-time editor dreamed “I was in a televised debate with Hillary. She looked at me and
said firmly, I think we both know, Kate, that you are one of those women who stays at
home and doesn’t really do anything with her life. For some reason it seemed vitally
important that I agree with her. Yes, that’s true I said. Why did I feel such a compulsion
to agree with her statement ?I kept looking for an opening in which I could retract my
words [A57]. A young California fan hopped a plane to Tokyo. Hillary Clinton was
there. She came up to me and asked me if I wanted to take a picture with her. I didn’t
want to, but I said yes anyway. When the photographer tried to snap the picture, the
camera broke [A100]. A Hillary supporter dreamed, I am a super delegate. I’m sitting at
the dining room table filling out the ballot. My husband sees that I’m marking my ballot
for Hillary and yells, ‘I knew you voted for her all along!’ Then I realized that I am a
super delegate. How did that happen? I began to worry that I haven’t voted wisely given
the impact of my decision. I feel the heat of shame rising on my neck. I feel not worthy of
being a super delegate. I want to hide the ballot and lie to him, tell him that I really voted
for Barack, but the truth is right there in front of us. There is nothing I can do [A76]. In
the dream of an undecided woman: We are lined up with our luggage along theside a
building in Eastern Europe.It is a very nightmarish scene., like from Schindler’s
List.Then Hillary comes by to examine us for deporting. When she appears, she says, very
friendly and motherly, ‘What are you doing here? I didn’t mean you. Come help me
catalogue my roses.’ I feel guilty, like I am obeying her for my own safety while the other
people are being deported and killed [A98].

Perhaps the strongest consequence for trying to incorporate ambivalent feelings about
Hillary was expressed in the dream of an independent voter in Washington State. I was at
a Hillary rally with an all-woman audience. Hillary was on stage and we were all
chanting. ‘We support you Hillary! We support you!’ over and over. Then we all grabbed
out right legs in agony. I felt a severe pain running from my hip to my foot. Then it hit me
that supporting Hillary was causing the pain, and I started to yell, ‘I don’t support you! I
don’t support you!’ hoping that the pain would go away [A128].