'E denare

'E denare: money. Forty-six is the number of money, and it’s best to say the most important thing right away — here we read a dream, we don’t predict anything, and we never suggest gambling on anything. In the Smorfia, money is an image like the sea or the key: it stands for what it makes possible, for the power it gives and for the peace of mind it can take away. In dreams, forty-six arrives when the value of things is involved. A decision made with an eye on your wallet, a money worry that follows you around, money that came in and the way it changed your mood. And it also arrives when the theme isn’t having but owing: the bill to settle, the steward who comes by to collect what’s due. Among the images that lead here there’s one that’s ancient and concrete: grain, which for centuries was the safest wealth there was. The Smorfia, born among people who had little cash, never pretended money didn’t matter. But it put money alongside all the other numbers, not above them: at forty-six there’s money, at forty-five good wine with friends, and neither is worth more than the other. If forty-six has shown up in your dream, there was a question of means. Whether it’s plenty or lack, you know. We stop here — this is symbolic entertainment, not advice on what to do with your money, let alone on gambling it.