You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
Dreams in which twin personalities appeared were studied, and in each instance it was concluded that they represented the dreamer and his mother. There seems no doubt that this double representation has a symbolic significance beyond the use of common language. Illustrative dreams are related. Twins refer to a pregenital union with mother. In mythology there is a widespread belief that twin children possess magical powers over nature, especially over rain and the weather. In certain cultures a twin is always buried near water and the grave is kept wet. Mythologists interpret this as an intent to bring the twin into union with water to make him, as it were, an ally of the powers that control rain and to guard him against their hostility. Water is the symbol of the mother or refers to aspects of gestation and birth. Folklore bears out the interpretation derived from analytic studies that twins symbolize a union with the mother. This idea is contained in the universal belief that one twin draws sustenance from the other twin at the latter's expense.
The magical power over rain imputed to twins in mythology is associated with fertility of the soil, which in turn has a close relationship to human fertility. Twins in dreams represent the wishful thinking that twins have the power to compel mother to yield life and are able to ward off her destructive potentials.