There are many ways to journey into the unknown. In dreams, these can show up as portals- doors or windows, pathways in the form of tunnels, stairs or elevators, even vehicles of all kinds. The creative canvas of the Unconscious is infinite, and I'm often surprised or delighted (and sometimes shocked) by the images that show up.
The direction of travel also conveys a meaning - going down generally means deeper in the realm of the unknown, the space of infinite potential which also harbors shadows and inspirations.
A theme seems to be emerging this week: In more than one dream, I'm playing with the idea of journeying downward but something else happens. First, I stumble upon a dark room with a sand maze, a red snake in the middle protecting something. Deciding not to disturb the snake, I leave to find someone showing me a hidden trapdoor that opens down but "is a shortcut to the roof". I ignore it and move on to find several other options laid out before me- two of which involve joining another person to pursue something enticing but also intense. Another one has me travel on a long winded path - uncovering a sort of map but leading kind of nowhere, and so I return.
Last night, my dreams had stairways and elevators. I'm in a posh hotel, with a sleek looking elevator in the middle. Someone urges me to take the elevator up with them, but I refuse. I walk over to the back of the hotel and see some laundry hang-drying(my dream self concludes it belongs to the hotel staff). Then I see a staircase - loosely blocked by some plants and going downwards. As I move in that direction a woman stops me and asks me to take an elevator. This one though looks like one from the olden days - black metallic bars that have to be opened by hand. I enter, but instead of going straight down, it seems to swing left and right a bit. Then the scene switches to me entering someone's house or room and I hear a narration in an old man's voice.
I wonder if these have to do with some kind of avoidance pattern. An urge to explore the shadow but not going through with it. Refusing to look deeper either because there are distractions present or because I can't seem to catch my breath. Something to notice in the dreams to come...