So you dreamed you were partying with Lady Gaga, or in bed with Brad Pitt, or being kissed by Ava Gardner, or dancing with the Queen of England.

Quick pause for a reality check. We need to make a basic distinction between dreams of a celebrity of public figure you actually know or have a chance of meeting in the ordinary world in the future and those involving celebrity encounters that are most unlikely to take place. I was recently discussing one woman’s dreams of a movie heartthrob and was struck by the fact that she spoke of her as a family member rather than an actress; it turned out the movie star was an intimate family member, which put a slightly different spin on things.

Assuming that you don’t actually know your dream celebs, there’s a fun and illuminating game to play with your nightly screenings that involve them. I call this the Space Alien Game.

Pretend you have to explain Lady Gaga, or some other dream celeb, to someone who has never heard of her, and may actually have dropped in from another star system. What could you say about that celebrity figure? For example, you might say

LADY GAGA: Larger than life, not afraid to strut her stuff, over the top, scary yet sweet, crusader for rights of gays and immigrants.

If your celeb is a movie star, it might be very important to talk about what role you most associate with this actor – or, alternatively, about the nature of acting, which is to take on many roles.

More examples of playing the Space Alien game with movie and TV stars:

JACK NICHOLSON. A great actor who is always playing himself.

MERYL STREEP. A great actress who enters completely into the role she is playing, so she becomes another person.

KIRSTIE ALLEY: “a beautiful woman, mother, and actress.  She is obsessed with her weight and has a difficult time controlling it.”

JOHN TRAVOLTA: Takes me back to the hot dance music of my youth. In later roles, a good actor who gets into edgy and interesting territory but has a cult association (Scientology) many find troubling.

OPRAH: a modern-day goddess. Shining example of someone who survived and thrived after terrible trauma. Worries too much about her weight. Savvy entrepreneur.

JOHN HAMM (in the role of Don Draper in Mad Men): “an actor playing someone else who in turn is pretending to be someone he is not.”

What do you do after playing the Space Alien Game? Easy. You ask who in your life resembles that description. This might be a person you know, or a person who may be coming into your life. If John Hamm (as Don Draper) is in your dream, for example, you may want to think about whether there is some deception going  on in a corporate or workplace environment.

The most interesting person resembling your dream celeb may prove to be an aspect of yourself you have not acknowledged until now.