Watch out! Some of these Metaphors and Figures of Speech are quite gnarly – not appropriate for children.

Image: “The Whistling Boy,” by Frank Duveneck, 1872, in Wikimedia Commons … https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Duveneck_Whistling_Boy.jpg … public domain …

COMMENT: This image of a young boy whistling, in a dark and sombre setting, is reminiscent of the manner in which the subconscious mind grasps for the meaning of the intellectual palaver of the conscious mind.

• INTRODUCTION
• COMPENDIUM: PHYSICAL MISINTERPRETATION OF METAPHORS BY THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND
• MORE INFORMATION

Dear Ones,

INTRODUCTION

The language of the subconscious mind is very physical. The way that it conceives things is like the way that an infant perceives the world. The imagery of the subconscious mind reflects primal joys, joys of the senses, primal fears related to the sensation of physical pain, and strong emotions.

Subconscious words convey an emotion; jubilation or dismay to do with the sensory perceptions of taste, touch, temperature, kinesthesia, sight, and the senses of smell and sound, and the instinct to flee from pain.

The subconscious translates the words that our conscious minds concoct into its own terms, according to its own way of perceiving the world around it. It has no means of grasping abstract concepts, except through visual imagery and sensation.

In my experience, without exception, the sounds that the conscious mind uses as nouns (often words or sets of homonyms that convey both abstract and concrete meanings) are morphed by the subconscious mind into ‘image words’. These are still images (or else ultra-short videoclips) to which is attached high emotional affect.

It is image words that constitute the vocabulary of the subconscious mind. It might be an image of a person falling, along with a feeling of dismay. It might be a picture of a house with windows closed and a scent of mildew, as the subconscious often portrays the human body as a house. It might be an image of a physical injury being inflicted, along with a feeling of agony. It might be an image of a sexual organ, along with a very good or a very bad emotion. It might be a vision of a woman’s breast, and a feeling of fullness in the stomach.

As well, the subconscious mind may use ‘image words’ to represent complex conscious concepts absorbed through rote learning of metaphors and proverbs during the early childhood socialization process. It is the imaginal, emotive nature of metaphors and proverbs that makes them such facile aids in bridging the gap between the subconscious mind of the infant and the various stages of conscious mind development that occur from the end of infancy through puberty.

Other devices that bridge this gap are story, song, and rhyme. Thus, a subconscious ‘image word’ may represent the title of a story or song, or it may represent a character in a song or story that carries one kernel of meaning together with strong emotive content. Or it might represent one image in a rhyme that carries a certain meaning and emotion.

Our dreams are stories told by the subconscious mind using subconscious ‘image words’ representing homonyms, metaphors, proverbs, story, song, and rhyme. If we understand the rules by which the subconscious translates these devices of the conscious mind to subconscious ‘image words’, then it becomes quite easy, just after waking up each morning, to dream journal, and then render a ‘reverse translation’ … from the lingo of the subconscious mind, to the parlance of the conscious mind.

In that way we can discover the hidden tangles in our subconscious minds, the repressed memories and repressed emotions stored here and there in our bodies … in this muscle, or that layer of fascia, or over there, in a nerve ending.

COMPENDIUM: PHYSICAL MISINTERPRETATION OF METAPHORS BY THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND

Achilles heel … Link: “The Metaphor ‘Achilles Heel’ and Unconscious ‘Acting Out’,” by Alice B. Clagett, filmed on 4 April 2018; published on 11 April 2018 … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-8xL ..

Backend hacking … Link: “Image Words: The Phrase ‘Backend Hacking’,” by Alice B. Clagett, Written on 11 January 2021; published on 28 January 2021 … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-lhN ..

Blown to bits … Link: “Syncretic Theory on the Antisocial Personality and the ‘Elementary’ (Black Soul or Dark Soul),” by Alice B. Clagett, filmed on 9 November 2016; published on 12 November 2016; transcribed and revised on 4 March 2019 … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-6nV ..

BuyBuy Baby … Link: “Subconscious Metaphor: BuyBuy Baby,” by Alice B. Clagett, written and published on 11 January 2023, CC BY-SA 4.0 International, from “Awakening with Planet Earth,” https://awakeningwithplanetearth.com .. 

Cutting someone down to size … Link: “Subconscious Symbolism: Cutting Someone Down to Size,” by Alice B. Clagett, filmed on 28 March 2016; published on 5 April 2016; transcribed on 5 February 2019 … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-51P ..

Don’t give away the candy! … Link: “Notes on the Subconscious Mind: Metaphors and Dreams,” by Alice B. Clagett, written on 10 June 2003; published on 27 July 2019 … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-dIg ..

Don’t touch that! If you do, you’ll go to hell! … Link: “Acting Out: Sex and Hell,” by Alice B. Clagett, filmed on 10 August 2016; published on 13 August 2016 … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-61g ..

Get thee behind me, Satan! … Link: “Get Thee Behind Me, Satan!,” by Alice B. Clagett, written and published on 22 March 2019 … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-bYm ..

Getting ‘popped’ … Link: “Subconscious Symbolism: ‘Getting Popped’,” by Alice B. Clagett, written and published on 3 October 2017 … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-7GZ ..

F— Y– in the A– H— … Link: “Subconscious Symbolism: Four Metaphors,” by Alice B. Clagett, filmed on 1 March 2016; published on 5 April 2016; transcribed on 13 September 2019; revised on 21 May 2026 … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-51h ..

F— you in the b—– hole … Link: “Uplifting and Nurturing Humankind vs Acting Out of Subconscious Symbolism,” by Alice B. Clagett, filmed on 19 September 2020; published on 19 October 2020 … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-kkE ..

Getting off [on someone] and Offing someone … Link: “Venereal Disease, Sexual Organ Diseases, and Sexual Chakra Clearing,” by Alice B. Clagett, written and published on 21 July 2015; revised on 29 November 2018 … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-6iR ..

Hansel and Gretel House… Link: “Astral Stories: Another Subconscious Metaphor and a Warning About Enticement of Children to Party Houses,” by Alice B. Clagett. filmed on 12 March 2023 and published on 14 March 2023; revised on 25 November 2025 and on 21 May 2026 … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-tGX ..

I am just to die for! … Link: “Subconscious Symbolism: Physical ‘Acting Out’ of Oft-Repeated Figures of Speech,” by Alice B. Clagett, filmed on 17 July 2016; published on 21 July 2016 … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-5T0 ..

I can’t bear it! … Link: “Western Medical Prognosis, Spontaneous Healing, and Iatrogenesis,” by Alice B. Clagett, written on 25 September 2018; published on 30 September 2018 … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-ag1 ..

I need someone to watch my back! … Link: “Subconscious Symbolism: Physical ‘Acting Out’ of Oft-Repeated Figures of Speech,” by Alice B. Clagett, filmed on 17 July 2016; published on 21 July 2016 … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-5T0 ..

It was the end of my life … Link: “Timeline Stuckness and Subconscious Symbolism: ‘It Was the End of My Life’,” by Alice B. Clagett, written and published on 8 December 2019 … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-fqI ..

I’ll die of embarrassment if people find out! … Link: “Package Dream,” by Alice B. Clagett, filmed on 16 May 2018; published on 11 July 2018 … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-9Bv ..

I’ll put people down … Link: “Symbolic Thinking, Subconscious Mind, and Spiritual Ego,” by Alice B. Clagett, written and published on 16 May 2015 … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-5KP ..

I’ll ride herd on her … Link: “Symbolic Thinking, Subconscious Mind, and Spiritual Ego,” by Alice B. Clagett, written and published on 16 May 2015 … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-5KP ..

I’ll Take My Credit Card Out on That One … Link: “Subconscious Symbolism: Four Metaphors,” by Alice B. Clagett, filmed on 1 March 2016; published on 5 April 2016; transcribed on 13 September 2019; revised on 21 May 2026 … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-51h ..

I’m a little behind … aka … I’m a little backward … Link: “How Our Kind Thoughts for Planet Uranus Will Help Earth,” by Alice B. Clagett, filmed on 24 May 2017; published on 25 June 2017 … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-7oI ..

I’m getting hitched … Link: “Symbolic Thinking, Subconscious Mind, and Spiritual Ego,” by Alice B. Clagett, written and published on 16 May 2015 … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-5KP ..

In and out … aka … The man with the knife … Link: “The Physical Form Heresy,” by Alice B. Clagett, published on 17 May 2017; revised on 11 October 2017 … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-7cY ..

In your face … Link: “Warding Mudras: To Protect Face and Lower Triangle,” by Alice B. Clagett, filmed on 4 February 2018; published on 10 March 2018 … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-8sO ..

I’ve put a bomb in her basement … Link: “Bomb in the Basement,” by Alice B. Clagett, filmed on 27 December 2018; published on 25 January 2018 … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-8eO ..

I want people to look up to me … Link: “Symbolic Thinking, Subconscious Mind, and Spiritual Ego,” by Alice B. Clagett, written and published on 16 May 2015 … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-5KP ..

I will nail you! … I’ll Nail Your Hide to the Barn Door! … Link: “Kali,” a story by Alice B. Clagett, written and published on 21 August 2019 … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-dZZ … and … Link: “Acting Out of the Subconscious Metaphor: I Will Nail You!,” by Alice B. Clagett, drafted on 14 November 2018; final draft on 10 December 2018; published on 11 December 2018 … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-b39 … and … Link: “Soul Wounding and the Issue of Transgender Violence,” by Alice B. Clagett, filmed on 27 March 2017, published on 3 April 2017; revised … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-76p ..

Lady killer [also an ‘image word’] … Link: “On Acting Out Sabotaging Energies: The Lady Killer,” by Alice B. Clagett, published on 24 July 2015; revised on 29 November 2018 … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-5ZU ..

Let me fly you to the moon … Link: “Subconscious Symbolism: Two Metaphors to Do with Romance,” by Alice B. Clagett, filmed on 6 April 2016; published on 19 April 2016; revised … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-58y ..

Let me lift you up … Link: “Subconscious Symbolism: Two Metaphors to Do with Romance,” by Alice B. Clagett, filmed on 6 April 2016; published on 19 April 2016; revised … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-58y ..

Loss of Face … Link: “Metaphors: Is ‘Losing Face’ Lethal?” by Alice B. Clagett, Written and published on 21 May 2026 … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-GQW ..

Missed a stitch … Link: “Symbolic Thinking, Subconscious Mind, and Spiritual Ego,” by Alice B. Clagett, written and published on 16 May 2015 … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-5KP ..

Offing someone … see Getting off [on someone]

On the Hot Seat – Link: “Acting Out of the Metaphor ‘On the Hot Seat’,” by Alice B. Clagett, written and published on 29 April 2022; revised on 21 May 2026 … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-qU0 ..

Overbearing [also an ‘image word’] … Link: “Image Word: Overbearing,” a drawing by Alice B. Clagett, visualized some years ago; published on 24 August 2019 … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-e3W ..

Picking a person’s brain … Link: “X-Flare Blues: Where’s That User Manual on Total Lack of Empathy” by Alice B. Clagett, written and published on 13 March 2015; revised … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-7en ..

Root Canal on That One … Link: “Subconscious Symbolism: Four Metaphors,” by Alice B. Clagett, filmed on 1 March 2016; published on 5 April 2016; transcribed on 13 September 2019; revised on 21 May 2026 … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-51h ..

‘Screw’ – Using a Screwdriver to ‘Screw’ (That Is, to Accomplish Intercourse) – Link: “Astral Stories: A Subconscious Metaphor and a Warning About Enticement of Children by Adults,” by Alice B. Clagett, Filmed on 12 March 2023 and published on 14 March 2023; revised on 25 November 2025 and on 21 May 2026 … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-tGV ..

She tore my heart out … Link: “Subconscious Symbolism: She Tore My Heart Out,” by Alice B. Clagett, written and published on 22 January 2020 … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-g8Y ..

The cross and the circle [a visual metaphor] … Link: “On Deals with the Devil, My Baptismal Sylph, and Thoughts on Thoth,” by Alice B. Clagett, filmed on 11 April 2015, published on 30 November 2016 … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-6tm ..

The Masterplan … Link: “Subconscious Symbolism: Four Metaphors,” by Alice B. Clagett, filmed on 1 March 2016; published on 5 April 2016; transcribed on 13 September 2019; revised on 21 May 2026 … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-51h ..

Think tank … Link: “Subconscious Symbolism: Think Tank,” by Alice B. Clagett, written and published on 17 May 2017 … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-7d1 ..

To dress down … Link: “The Metaphor ‘to Dress Down’ and Unconscious ‘Acting Out’,” by Alice B. Clagett, filmed on 2 April 2018; published on 11 April 2018 … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-8xI ..

To give someone ‘the boot’ … Link: “Package Dream,” by Alice B. Clagett, filmed on 16 May 2018; published on 11 July 2018 … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-9Bv ..

Women break my heart … Women are heart-breakers … Link: “Subconscious Symbolism: Women Are Heartbreakers,” by Alice B. Clagett, published on 14 October 2016, revised on 1 January 2020 … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-6gq ..

. . . . .

In love, light and joy
This is Alice B. Clagett.
I Am of the Stars … and so are you!

Written and published on 27 June 2021; updated on 11 January 2023 and on 21 May 2026

For examples of ‘image words’ and see my blog category:  Image words

See also my blog category: Inner child – lost children of the Soul – repressed memories – repressed emotions

The Introduction to this blog is excerpted from Link: “‘Image Words’: The Vocabulary of the Subconscious Mind,” by Alice B. Clagett, written and published on 25 May 2019 … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-cS5 ..

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MORE INFORMATION

Link: “‘Image Words’: The Vocabulary of the Subconscious Mind,” by Alice B. Clagett, written and published on 25 May 2019; revised and filmed on 11 June 2022; revised on 9 November 2022, CC BY-SA 4.0 International, from “Awakening with Planet Earth,” https://awakeningwithplanetearth.com .. 

Link: “Symbolic Thought in the Dream World,” by Alice B. Clagett, written and published on 11 May 2015 … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-5Uz ..

Link: “Symbolic Thinking, Subconscious Mind, and Spiritual Ego,” by Alice B. Clagett, written and published on 16 May 2015 … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-5KP ..

Link: “Subconscious Symbolism: ‘Sucker’ Operation. Also: MSM Leader of Hetero Group,” by Alice B. Clagett, filmed on 13 February 2016; published on 20 February 2016 … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-4Wc ..

Link: “Teaching Reading to Children Who Have Autism or Learning Disabilities,” by Alice B. Clagett, filmed on 16 June 2019; published on 11 August 2019 … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-dVN ..

Link: “Unified Mind: Integrating the Lower Mental Body into the Higher Mental Body,” by Alice B. Clagett, filmed on 6 September 2016; published on 7 September 2016 … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-64E ..

Link: “How to Clear the Big Bads from the Transpersonal Chakras,” channeled by Alice B. Clagett, written and published on 27 July 2018; revised on 5 May 2020 … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-9N9 ..

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0). Attribution: By Alice B. Clagett.
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