Women's Bodies, Women's Dreams

by Patricia Garfield

Book

Genres: Nonfiction

Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

Reviews

[Kira · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating and highly recommended. My favorite section was her breakdown of how the menstrual cycle can affect and be represented by dreams. I have dream-diaries going back to when I was 16 and quite a few years of BBT/mucus charts, so it was easy for me to go back and see whether my personal experience reflected the ideas in this book. Overall, there was a far greater degree of correlation than I would have expected, particularly around the menstrual and ovulatory poles of my cycle. Dreams involving a white/shiny/glowing circle/sphere/orb falling/floating overwhelmingly occurred within a day or two of ovulation. Premenstrual imagery involved clogged pipes and faucets that wouldn't flow -- usually accompanied by strange, hollow, echoing, booming, metallic sounds like an obstruction was being dislodged. My menstrual imagery involved things like walking through a house and then noticing that I was leaving bloody footprints behind me, or frantically trying to get a bathtub full of mud to drain. Unfortunately, the section on menopausal dreams was not nearly as detailed as I would have liked.