(Dear Chris,
If I recall my dreams where there were crowds, I could divide them into certain themes, but most of these dreams have a strong emotional tone, that of catharsis or despair...
1, facing a hostile crowd:
(e.g.: a dream from my university years:
scene: a Greek amphitheatre
crowd: hostile, aggressive, wants to kill a woman
my group: the woman who killed my father, she is waiting for her judgement, and a vague male figure behind me.
situation: The crowd starts to shout and is becoming aggressive, they shout "kill her, kill her", and I think to myself "but this is madness". And then I say: "Get silent and sit down. Nobody is going to kill anybody here.". I am staring at the crowd, the crowd is staring back, it is a few minutes of great tension, but then they shut up and sit down. I feel heroic)
2, being outside a "grey" crowd - catharsis:
(another university dream:
scene: the street in front of my mother's house
crowd: classmates and folks from my highschool, gathering together to go to a reunion
my group: a former classmate (a guy), with a pram with a strange baby in it
situation: I was getting ready to my highschool reunion. When I stepped out of our yard, I met one of my ex classmates, he was with a pram. my other classmates and other folks from my high school were at the other side of the road. I was not too interested in them. The guy grabbed my arm and said "could you please take care of her?". We were standing at the back of the pram, so all I could see from the child was the back of her head. and when I glanced at that head, I started to shiver, because somehow her head was deformed and way too big in comparison to her body. But when I went to to fore and looked in the eyes of this strange baby, I saw such empathy, wisdom and understanding in her eyes that took my breath away.)
3, being outside a "grey" crowd - despair:
(a dream a few weeks before I broke with my ex:
scene: a big shopping mall that is a swimming pool complex at the same time, all made of glass
crowd: the usual crowd to be seen at swimming pools, noisy, bathing
my group: T = my ex
situation: T's flat was at the back side of this swimming pool / shopping mall complex. There were many little pools in the flat, but there was no water in them, and everything was very dry, even the taps were not working. the apartment had big glass walls with a view on the bathing crowd. I was quite anxious and I wanted to bathe, but not with the crowd, but on my own, and then I wanted to drink some water at least. T did not understand why I need water, so I just walked down the stairs and out of the glass building into the snowfall, feeling very down.)
I also don't see any valuation of many versus one. If one dreams that one is part of a group with a united cause then I might suggest that is a differentiated perspective of one's ego. If one is alone against a horde from the unconscious I might suggest that that is a differentiated (multitude) view of the organization of some new, formerly unconscious content and that one has differentiated this by virtue of an integrated (single character) consciousness.
It seems that in my personal experience, the presence or absence of an animus figure is quite decisive in the feeling tone of a dream in which I am confronted or just get in touch with a crowd. I wonder whether this is just a personal dynamics, or more...
Love,
Maria)