My husband and I were in the shop. He had just shot a deer, and we were going to process the meat for our family, as we often do.
However, he had not field dressed the deer. In fact, it was still twitching. Instead of hanging it to skin it, it was propped up on a couple of sawhorses. He made a move to begin skinning it wrong, not at all with proper technique. I contemplated tying off the bung, but I couldn’t bring myself to do so. Instead, I asked my husband to do so. I also commented that the unborn fawn inside the deer would have to be aborted.
Then the fawn crawled out from a slit in the shoulder of its dead mother, very much alive, and much larger than a typical fawn. The fawn began running around and bleating for its mother. Though she was dead, she began to try to respond to it. I was so upset that the deer and fawn were both supposed to be dead, and were in the process of being butchered, but they were both alive. I was screaming at my husband to kill the fawn to put it out of its misery. I turned my back, unable to watch. I heard him start the sawzall and saw bits of blood and gore falling around me ( in real life, my husband is skilled at dispatching animals quickly and humanely, NOT like the horror movie this dream seemed to be).
Then I was trying to prepare work tables to cut up the meat and package it for the freezer. But the tables were filthy. Wiping them wasn’t working, so I thought I could cover them with plastic covers. the covers had been stored in the shop and were covered with dust, grease, and grime. I asked my daughter to go get more cleaning spray and paper towels. Then my husband was putting some things on the tables, and I grew frustrated.
Just take the deer inside the house to finish them, he said.
I can’t! I protested. They haven’t even been cut into the eight primal cuts!
Yes they have, he said. I cut them up.
Where are they, I asked.
I placed the pieces in the freezer to chill them, he answered.
I was happy he had the hard part done for me, and I could take the pieces inside one by one and finish prepping and packaging them.
I looked at the chest freezer where we store our meat. He had piled up all
the pork to one side to make room for the venison. We had just gotten the pork back from the butcher. Usually the butcher wraps everything in paper and labels it. Then I weigh each package and organize them in sections in the freezer. However, the packages were unlabeled and covered in plastic. Since they weren’t labeled, I tried to guess what each piece was. I was trying to write a label on each package with a permanent marker , but my marks weren’t staying on the cold plastic.
I came to a large package and was pleased to see it was bacon. I was happy to have lots of a cut I like, and it looked like it was sliced as I had requested. This package had a label. It said “ head cheese.” I have never ordered head cheese. It’s not something our family eats.
I looked very closely at the package, and it appeared to be bacon. It appeared to be good quality bacon, but the marbling pattern was a little unusual. I couldn’t tell if it was bacon,but it didn’t look like head cheese. This dream may symbolize the struggle between life and death, and the consequences of our actions. The shop represents a place of work and productivity, where the dreamer and her husband are processing meat for their family. The deer, a symbol of grace and gentleness, is killed by the husband, representing a loss of innocence or a harsh reality. The fact that it is still twitching and not properly field dressed suggests a lack of respect for the animal and its life. The unborn fawn inside the deer represents potential and new beginnings, but it is also a reminder of the life that was taken. The dreamer’s hesitation to tie off the bung and her request for her husband to do so may indicate a sense of guilt or responsibility for the death of the deer and its unborn fawn. The fawn’s emergence from the mother’s body, alive and larger than usual, could symbolize the dreamer’s desire for life to prevail and for things to be different. The dreamer’s frustration with the dirty work tables and her husband’s suggestion to take the deer inside the house to finish may represent a desire to hide or ignore the consequences of their actions. The husband’s claim that the deer has already been cut into primal pieces and placed in the freezer could symbolize the dreamer’s acceptance of the situation and her willingness to move on. The unlabeled and covered pork packages in the freezer may represent the dreamer’s fear of losing control and organization in her life. Overall, this dream may be a reflection of the dreamer’s inner conflicts and emotions surrounding life, death, and responsibility.
