Interpretation:
The significance of the dog in this dream was that several months prior, I was facing a crisis that may have required that I let go of the dog. I had wanted a dog all of my adult life, but I was never in a position where I could responsibly have one. By midlife, I finally could no longer wait and adopted her from a shelter. I then had to move several times just to keep her. As my life situation worsened, it looked as if I would finally have to find another home for her. I loved her a great deal; I took her most everywhere with me, rather than leaving her at home alone. However, in a lot of pain, I finally hit my knees and told God that I was willing to let go of her if necessary. My being willing to give her up was a very big deal, because I had encountered so much loss in my life, that the sense of having to let go of even my beloved dog was beyond overwhelming. Amazingly however, through this dream, God was letting me know that He would take care of both me and my dog.
The brilliant city of concentric circular castles, suggested to me St. Teresa of Avila's classic work, The Interior Castle, whereby seven concentric layers of less deadly creatures are traversed by the seeker of God, on the way from the outer wall to the spiritual center. The dropping and cracking of my eyeglasses indicated that I needed to begin to walk by faith and not by sight. My complete immersion in water upon an altar in a secret, sacred room suggests that I am being fully initiated into the spiritual life. And this is occurring despite any thoughts or feelings of unworthiness on the part of my inner shadow figure---the critical little man--- or even possibly any collective shadow personification of my society as a whole.