Read the book: «The Element Encyclopedia of 20,000 Dreams: The Ultimate A–Z to Interpret the Secrets of Your Dreams»
The Element Encyclopedia of 20,000 Dreams
Theresa Cheung
the ultimate A-Z to interpret the secrets of your dreams
Table of Contents
Cover Page
Title Page
PREFACE
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK
INTRODUCTION
THE DREAMS
ACCIDENTS, ACTION AND ADVENTURES
AMBITION AND SUCCESS
ANIMALS
ARCHETYPES
ARTS AND CRAFTS
BAD DEEDS
BIRDS
BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD
BODY
BUILDINGS
CHANGE AND CONFLICT
CLOTHES AND IMAGE
COLORS
CRYSTALS, GEMSTONES AND ROCKS
DISASTERS
ELEMENTS
EVERYDAY THINGS
FAMILY
FAMOUS PEOPLE
FLOWERS
FOOD AND DRINK
FOREIGN COUNTRIES
GATHERINGS
GOOD DEEDS
HOME
INSECTS AND ARACHNIDS
LEISURE
LETTERS AND COMMUNICATION
LOSS AND FRUSTRATION
MEDIA AND TECHNOLOGY
MIND, BODY, SPIRIT
MONEY AND SHOPPING
NATURE AND THE SEASONS
NEGATIVE EMOTIONS
NIGHTMARES
NUMBERS
PEOPLE
PETS
PLACES
POSITIVE EMOTIONS
PUZZLES, MYSTERIES AND DIFFICULTIES
RELATIONSHIPS
RELIGION
REPTILES, FISH AND AMPHIBIANS
SCHOOL AND WORK
SENSES
SEX
SHAPES
SICKNESS AND HEALTH
SOUNDS
SPACE AND SCIENCE
SPIRITS AND GHOSTS
STAGES OF LIFE
SURREALISM AND FANTASY
SYMBOLS
TIME
TRAVEL
TREES
VEGETABLES AND FRUIT
WEATHER
Index
Acknowledgments
Copyright
About the Publisher
PREFACE
‘What if you slept, and what if in your sleep you dreamed, and what if in your dream you went to heaven and there plucked a strange and beautiful flower, and what if when you awoke you had the flower in your hand? Ah, what then?’
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
A dream can sometimes feel incredibly real—as if the sensations experienced are actually happening—but then as we wake up to everyday reality we cannot make sense of anything and wonder what it all meant.
Most dream analysts believe that dreams are not meaningless but littered with messages from our unconscious. They are inner communications that, if heeded, have the potential to set us on the road to a richer, more fulfilling path in waking life. Sadly, many of us forget our dreams upon waking and this is a great loss. According to the Talmud: ‘A dream which is not interpreted is like a letter which is not read.’
If we are to remember, understand and work with the messages from our unconscious minds, we first need to learn how to interpret them. The Element Encyclopedia of 20,000 Dreams is an illuminating and comprehensive exploration of the symbols that appear in our dreamscape, and a rich source of information to help you unlock the messages, possibilities, richness and wisdom of your dream world. Use it to find out the fascinating things your dreams are trying to tell you!
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK
The Element Encyclopedia of 20,000 Dreams is arranged in three parts: the Introduction, the main section covering the Dreams themselves, and the Dream Directory.
The Introduction discusses the hows, whats and whys of sleep and dreams, the complexities of dream interpretation and what you need to know about unlocking the meaning of your dreams.
The Dreams is the main section of the book. Dream messages can be difficult to decipher until you have learned their secret language; this section will give you the key to your unconscious mind’s wealth. The entries are arranged in sixty thematic chapters, beginning with ACCIDENTS, ACTION AND ADVENTURES and finishing with WEATHER, and cover approximately 20,000 different dreams. Each chapter begins with a short introduction that talks about the kind of dreams covered in the section. The dream entries that follow are arranged in thematic order and you’ll also find cross references to relevant dream entries elsewhere in the book. Some chapters also contain an ‘A to Z’ of relevant dream objects and situations. You can dip into this massive resource to gain insight into a specific dream you may have had; for example, if you dreamt about a horse you can look for it in the chapter devoted to the theme of animals. Here you will be able to read about specific horse dreams, but at the same time you can cast your eye on entries covering similar or related animal topics which may throw light on your particular dream.
For ease of reference you may prefer to first turn to part three of the book: The Dream Directory. This lists every dream entry in the book in alphabetical order, so it is simple to look up specific dreams; it also functions as a cross-reference to other relevant entries.
INTRODUCTION
‘I dream, therefore I exist.’
J. August Strindberg
Dreams. They tantalize us with their mystery. What are they? Why do we have them? Where do they come from? What do they mean? Are they a preview of things to come or glimpses of the past? Are they a vital link to our inner world; a gift from our intuition? Can dreams lead us to important insights in our waking life, and help us decide which action to take and which path to follow?
The Hows, Whys and Whats of Sleep and Dreams
‘Sleep is the balm for hurt minds, nature’s great second course.’ William Shakespeare
Sleep is absolutely crucial for our physical, mental and emotional health and well-being. It is during sleep that we abandon conscious control of our physical body and the unconscious mind is allowed to roam free, giving rise to dreams.
Although we now know a lot more about dreams, their real purpose isn’t yet fully understood. It wasn’t until we approached the middle of the twentieth century, with the first electronic monitoring of the brain, that we began to get a clearer idea of the nocturnal adventures of the mind. For centuries it was thought that the purpose of sleep was to rest the body and the mind, but this reasoning was disproved when it was shown that both the body and mind are active during sleep. If sleep doesn’t rest the body or mind, then what is it for?
Sleep researchers may not yet have discovered the exact reason for sleep or dreams but they have discovered some fascinating things. For example, it seems that when we are asleep our brains are a bit like computers that are offline. This means they are not idle but are filing and updating the day’s activities. They take stock of your body and release a growth hormone to repair damaged tissues and stimulate growth, while the immune system gets to work on attacking any viral or bacterial infections that may be present. Some experts believe the brain also jettisons trivial information during sleep to prevent it becoming overburdened with unimportant information, but this explanation is perhaps too simplistic, as no memory can be totally eradicated.
The advent of space travel gave scientists the opportunity to prove that resting the body was not the main function of sleep. What they found instead was that prolonged periods of isolation decreased the need for sleep. In other words, the fewer stimuli received from people or external contacts during the day, the less sleep was required. It seems we have a sleep control center at the base of our brain linked with activity during wakefulness. When that gets overloaded we get tired, but if there have not been enough stimuli from the outside world, the sleep mechanism isn’t triggered. It seems, therefore, that boredom and lack of stimuli may account for many cases of insomnia. (Paradoxically, overstimulation also produces insomnia.)
The Four Stages of Sleep
‘Yet it is in our idleness, in our dreams, that the submerged truth sometimes comes to the top.’ Virginia Woolf
Perhaps the best way to understand sleep and dreams is to understand the brain. At the very start of the twentieth century it was found that the brain gave off electrical impulses, and by the 1920s scientists could measure brain waves. To obtain these readings, electrodes were attached to various parts of the head, the impulses being transformed onto electroencephalograms (EECs) on computer screens.
It seems that once you settle down to bed, your brain and body undergo radical changes from their waking state. The difference between being asleep and being awake is loss of conscious awareness, and once you start to doze, dream researchers believe you progress through four stages of sleep. These form the basis of a cycle that repeats up to four or five times every eight hours of sleep.
During the first stage, your body and mind become relaxed. Heart and breathing rate slow down, blood pressure lowers, body temperature drops slightly and eyes roll from side to side. You are neither fully conscious, nor fully unconscious, and could easily awake if disturbed. This stage of gradually falling asleep is also called the hypnagogic state (the hypnopompic state is a similar state when you are just waking up) and you may experience hallucinations that float before your eyes.
In stage two, breathing and heart rate become even slower, eyes continue to roll and you become more and more unaware of the noises of the outside world. It isn’t until the third stage of sleep, however, that you are sleeping soundly and it would be difficult to wake you. Finally, you enter a deep sleep state known as non-rapid eye movement (NREM) when your brain is released from the demands of the conscious mind. It will now be quite hard to wake you and, although you may sleepwalk or have night terrors, you will rarely be able to remember them. This slow-wave sleep cycle lasts about ninety minutes. At the end of stage four, you move back through stages three and two and one, at which point you enter a phase called rapid eye movement, or REM, sleep.
REM Sleep
REM sleep is recognized by tiny twitches of facial muscles and slight movements of the hands. Blood pressure rises, breathing and heartbeat become faster, eyes dart rapidly around the eyelids under closed eyelids as if looking at a moving object and, if you are a man, you may have an erection. Researchers have discovered that when sleepers are awakened during REM sleep they typically say they have been dreaming. (You may also feel temporarily paralyzed if awakened during this stage, as if something malevolent is pressing down on you; this phenomenon can explain the supposed succubus, incubus and alien abduction experiences.)
Most of the dreams you remember occur during the REM stage when the brain is fully active. After about ten minutes of REM you enter stages two, three and four again, and keep moving backwards and forwards through the sleep cycle. As the cycle continues, however, the REM phase gets longer and longer with the longest phase being around thirty to forty-five minutes. Of all your dreams during all the stages of REM and NREM (it has recently been discovered that we can dream then too), the final REM stages are the ones you are most likely to remember.
How much sleep do we need?
We spend approximately one third of our life asleep. This means that by the time we reach the age of ninety 1 we have been asleep approximately thirty years. The exact amount of sleep each person needs depends on many factors, including age and activity levels during the day. Babies sleep for about fourteen hours a day, whilst teenagers need about nine hours on average. For most adults occupied physically and mentally during the day, eight hours a night appears to be the average amount of sleep needed, although some people may need as few as five, or as many as ten hours, of sleep each day. Older people tend to need around six hours sleep a night.
Because sleeping and dreaming are so crucial, your brain may sometimes demand the sleep it needs so that you don’t get into mental or physical overload. That’s why you may sometimes drop off for no apparent reason when you’re traveling by car or train, or watching TV.
Research on sleep-deprived animals shows that sleep is necessary for survival. For example, whilst rats normally live for two to three years, those deprived of REM sleep survive only about five weeks on average, and rats deprived of all sleep stages live only about three weeks. Other studies have shown that subjects repeatedly awoken during REM—which means they were deprived of dreams—become anxious, bad tempered and irritable. This suggests that sleep is vital for physical rest and repair, and REM sleep, when we are most likely to dream, is essential for our emotional well-being. Therefore, although we still aren’t sure about the whys, whats and hows of sleep and dreams, it’s possible to conclude that the reason we sleep is to dream.
A Brief History of Dream Interpretation
‘Now Allah has created the dream not only as a means of guidance and instruction, I refer to the dream, but he has made it a window on the World of the Unseen.’ Mohammed, the Prophet
Ancient art and literature are crowded with references to dreams. For thousands of years dreams have been credited with supernatural or prophetic significance by the majority of the world’s spiritual traditions. The Bible, for instance, makes it clear that dreams are divine messages and this explanation for dreams was shared by the ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans, all of whom also believed that dreams had healing powers.
Certain cultures, such as the Australian Aborigines and many African and Native American tribes, have always believed dreaming to be a way in which an individual can enter into the collective spirit memory. To this day, dream pooling plays an important role in those societies where tribal members gather together for the purpose of interpreting dreams. Another view is held by the Inuit of Hudson Bay in Canada, who believe that when a person falls asleep and dreams, their soul goes wandering.
The Egyptians are thought to have been the first to develop a system of contrary dream interpretation; a positive dream, for example, predicts misfortune and a nightmare predicts an improvement in waking fortunes. They produced the earliest known dream dictionary, written approximately 4,000 years ago. Now called the Chester Beatty Papyrus, it came from Thebes in Egypt and is kept in the British Museum.
It was the ancient Greeks, however, who first proposed the theory that dreams were not from some external, divine source but internal communications, or the divine spark within. Plato (427-347 BC) suggested that dreams were expressions of a person’s hidden desires, whilst his pupil Aristotle (384-322 BC) speculated that dreams shared similar themes and were not divine oracles but coincidences. It was the ‘father of medicine’ Hippocrates (460-377 BC) who proposed that dream symbols reflect the state of the dreamer’s body—for example, fire denoted indigestion—and should be regarded as valuable diagnostic tools.
The first fully-fledged dream researcher to focus on dream symbols and dream themes was a Roman living in Greek Asia Minor called Artemidorus (AD 138-180), who wrote a book about dream interpretation that is still in print. As far as Artemidorus was concerned, dream symbols had certain meanings but the most important aspect of dream interpretation was the symbols’ personal significance to the dreamer, along with the dreamer’s personal circumstances.
In much of Europe, even though the early Christians respected dreams for their spiritual significance, the repressive control of the Roman Catholic Church put a stop to any attempts at dream interpretation. By the fifteenth century, dreams were regarded as no longer significant or important. Even a century or so later, Shakespeare called them ‘children of the idle brain’. This school of thought persisted into the eighteenth century, when dreams were still thought to be meaningless.
In the early nineteenth century, when the restrictive influence of the Church began to wane and members of the German Romantic movement—in their quest for spontaneous expression—rediscovered the potential of dreams, a revival of interest in dream interpretation began to trickle into the mainstream with the publication of popular dream dictionaries such as Raphael’s Royal Book of Dreams (1830). The stage was now set for Freud and Jung; two men who continue to have the greatest impact on the way we interpret dreams today.
The Freud and Jung Revolution
‘Dreams are often most profound when they seem the most crazy.’ Sigmund Freud
Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud (1858-1939) opened the door to the scientific study of dreams with his book, The Interpretation of Dreams (1900). In a relatively prudish age, he caused general outrage with his controversial theory that dreams are wish-fulfillment fantasies that have their origins in our infantile urges, in particular our sexual desires.
Freud believed that the human mind is made up of the id, the primitive or unconscious mind; the ego, the conscious mind which regulates the id’s antisocial instincts with a self-defense mechanism, and the superego, which is the consciousness that in turn supervises and modifies the ego. According to Freud, the id is controlled by the pleasure principle (the urge to gratify its needs) and the instinct that the ego finds hardest to manage is the sexual drive first awakened in childhood. The id comes to prominence in dreams, when it expresses in symbolic language the urges repressed when we are awake. Symbols are used, because if these drives were expressed literally, the ego would be shocked into waking up. To successfully interpret a dream the symbols need to be uncovered and their true meaning discovered. The way that Freud suggested doing this was a technique called ‘free association’ or spontaneously expressing the responses that immediately spring to mind when certain words relating to the dream are put forward. The aim is to limit interference from the ego to discover the dreamer’s unconscious instincts.
Swiss analytical psychologist Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1965), although an initial supporter of Freud’s ideas, could never fully agree with them. He felt there was far more to dreams than hidden sexual frustration and put forward the theory of the ‘collective unconscious’: a storehouse of inherited patterns of experiences and instincts common to humans and expressed in dreams in universal symbols, which he called ‘archetypes’. According to Jungian theory, the psyche is made up of the personal unconscious and the collective unconscious, and when a symbol appears in a dream, it is important to decide whether it relates to us personally or is an archetype. The way Jung suggested we do this is by a technique called ‘direct association’, i.e. concentrating only on the dream symbol when you think about the qualities associated with it.
Jung speculated that the unconscious mind projected dream symbols in an attempt to bring the conscious and unconscious mind into a state of balance he called ‘individuation’. According to his theory, the only way the unconscious mind can express itself fully is in dreams, so it will flood our dreams with symbolic messages that reflect our current progress in waking life. These messages can bring comfort and guidance, or bring repressed urges to the fore, but their aim is the same—to lead to our fulfillment. However, before we can benefit from such intuitive wisdom, we first of all need to understand the language of symbols.
Other Important Dream Theorists
Austrian psychologist Alfred Adler (1870-1937) suggested that dreams are all about wish-fulfillment because they allow the dreamer to have skills and powers denied to him or her in waking life. According to Adler, ‘the purpose of dreams must be in the feelings they arouse.’
Gestalt psychologist Fritz Perls (1893-1970) believed that dreams project hidden aspects of our personalities and the best way to interpret them is to use a non-interpretative interviewing technique. In other words, you ask your dream character or object what they are trying to say. Then you try to adopt the dream’s mindset and answer the questions.
Australian dream expert Gayle Delaney suggests using an interviewing technique that addresses questions such as ‘how did the dream make you feel?’ or ‘how can you connect your dream with your waking life?’
Some dream theorists believe dreams deal with problems we can’t solve in waking life and offer solutions. Looking at them in the light of waking day, and believing them to be full of insight, we may sometimes come up with new ideas or insights while studying and interpreting them.
Thanks to the work of Jung and Freud and other influential dream theorists, dream interpretation is now accessible to everyone. It’s as popular today as it has ever been, with people from all walks of life using dreams as unique and personal sources of guidance and inspiration, or as tools for change, growth and personal development. As we’ve seen, there are many approaches to the study and interpretation of dreams and you’ll find a fusion of all of these in this book.
Famous dreams
Through the centuries, the dreaming mind has been credited with being the source of ideas, insights, revelations and guidance, some of which have changed the course of history. Here are just a few well-known examples:
Julius Caesar’s decision to cross the Rubicon is attributed to a dream in which he saw himself in bed with his mother (Mother Rome, the seers told him). His assassination was foretold in his wife’s Calpurnia’s dream. ‘She held him in her arms, bleeding and stabbed.’ Another Caesar, Caesar Augustus, is said to have walked the streets as a beggar because of instructions he received in a dream.
St Francis of Assisi founded the Franciscan Order because of a dream in which Jesus Christ spoke from the cross, telling him to ‘go set my house in order’.
Dante relates that the whole story of The Divine Comedy was revealed to him in a dream on Good Friday in 1300. When he died in 1321, part of the manuscript was lost. His son Jocojso found the manuscript after a dream in which his father showed him where to look.
Genghis Khan is reported to have received his battle plans from his dreams. He is also reported to have been told in a dream that he was a chosen one.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s famous poem, ‘Kubla Khan’, was written upon awakening from an opium-affected dream.
Robert Louis Stephenson believed that his best stories came from his dreams. He reported that the theme for Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was derived from a dream. He also reported other breakthroughs in his writing that came from his dreams. He suffered as a child from nightmares and learned to control his dreams to change the nightmares. He said he used his dreams to revise plays and stories while asleep.
Abraham Lincoln dreamt, days before his assassination, of great cries coming from the East Wing of the White House. When he investigated, he was told by soldiers on guard that they weeping for the president who had been assassinated. Days later, his body was held in state in the East Wing so people could pay their last respects.
Friedrich August Kekulé von Stradonitz was a chemist working on the chemical structure of benzene. He reported that he got fed up with his data, which made no sense interpreted as a ‘long string’ molecule. He was dozing in his comfy chair when he was startled by the image of a snake biting its own tail. He woke and worked out the mathematics of the benzene molecule as a ring rather than a long string.
Guiseppe Tartini (Italian violinist and composer) composed one of his greatest works, ‘The Devil’s Trill’, as a result of a dream he had in 1713. In the dream, he handed his violin to the devil himself, who began to ‘play with consummate skill a sonata of such exquisite beauty as surpassed the boldest flights of my imagination. I felt enraptured, transported, enchanted; my breath was taken away, and I awoke. Seizing my violin I tried to retain the sounds I had heard. But it was in vain. The piece I then composed…was the best I ever wrote, but how far below the one I heard in my dream!’
Elias Howe, the inventor of the sewing machine, wrote that he got the core idea, the breakthrough concept, from a dream. It was a nightmare. He had been captured by cannibals. They were preparing to cook him and they were dancing around the fire waving their spears. Howe noticed at the head of each spear there was a small hole through the shaft, and the up and down motion of the spears and the hole remained with him when he woke. The idea of passing the thread through the needle close to the point, not at the other end, was a major innovation in making mechanical sewing possible.
Niels Bohr reported that he developed the model of the atom based on a dream of sitting on the sun with all the planets hissing around on tiny cords.
Paul McCartney heard a haunting melody in one of his dreams, confirmed that none of the Beatles had heard it before, and wrote it down. It became the tune for the famous song, ‘Yesterday’.
Dream Types
‘I can never decide whether my dreams are a result of my thoughts, or my thoughts the result of my dreams. It is very queer. But my dreams make conclusions for me. They decide things finally. I dream a decision.’ D. H. Lawrence
Just as there are different types of music—classical, rock, jazz—there are different kinds of dreams. Although different types of dream can blend and merge, modern dream researchers tend to break dream types into the following categories:
AMPLIFYING DREAMS
These can exaggerate certain situations or life attitudes in order to point them out sharply for the dreamer. For example, someone who is very shy may dream that they have become invisible.
ANTICIPATING DREAMS
These are dreams that may alert us to possible outcomes in situations in our waking life; for example, passing or failing an exam.
CATHARTIC DREAMS
Such dreams evoke extremely emotional reactions, when the unconscious is urging us to relieve pent-up feelings we may feel unable to express in waking life. For example, you may find yourself bursting into tears on a packed commuter train in your dreams, or you might punch your irritating neighbor or tell your boss exactly what you think of him or her.
Daydreaming
There is a big difference between daydreaming and dreams when you are sleeping, even though the physical state we enter when we daydream has much in common with the relaxed state we assume during sleep. However, when you are daydreaming, you are not actually asleep. When you are asleep, your defense mechanisms are down and you are psychologically more vulnerable. In other words, we shed the masks we wear in public. Therefore what is expressed in night dreaming is probably a better representation of whom we are, not just our waking hopes and fears. Feelings and thoughts we might be unwilling to acknowledge in waking life often surface boldly in dreams. Night dreams also speak to us in the powerful language of symbols, whereas the language of daydreams tends to be more tangible, reflecting events that have a clearer reality to them.
CONTRARY OR COMPENSATORY DREAMS
In these types of dreams, the unconscious places the dreaming self in a totally different situation to the one we find ourselves in waking life. For example, if your day has been filled with unhappiness and stress due to the death of a loved one or the end of a relationship, you may dream of yourself spending a carefree, happy day by the seaside. Your unconscious may also give you personality traits that you haven’t expressed in waking life. For example, if you hate being the center of attention you may dream about being a celebrity. Such dreams are thought to provide necessary balance and may also be suggesting to you that you try incorporating some of the characteristics that your dream underlined in your waking life.
DAILY PROCESSING DREAMS
Also known as factual dreams, daily processing dreams are dreams in which you go over and over things that happened during the day, especially those that were repetitive or forced you to concentrate for long periods; dreaming about a long journey or a tough work assignment, for example. These kinds of dreams don’t tend to be laden with meaning, and most dream theorists think of them as bits and pieces of information your brain is processing.
DREAMS OF CHILDHOOD
Dreaming about your childhood may reflect a childhood dynamic which hasn’t been worked out yet and requires a resolution.
FALSE AWAKENING
It is thought that many reported sightings of ghosts are caused by false awakening, which occurs when you are actually asleep but are convinced in your dream state that you are awake. This is the kind of vivid dream in which you wake up convinced that what happened in your dream really happened.
INCUBATED DREAMS
This is when you set your conscious mind on experiencing a particular kind of dream. For example, you may incubate a dream of a loved one by concentrating on visualizing your loved one’s face before you sleep, or you may ask for a dream to answer your problems immediately before going to sleep. The theory is that your unconscious responds to the suggestion.
INSPIRATIONAL DREAMS
Many great works of art, music, literature have allegedly been inspired by dreams, when the unconscious brings a creative idea to the fore. For example, English poet and artist William Blake said that his work was inspired by the visions in his dreams. One night in 1816, Mary Shelley, her husband and a group of friends were challenged to write a ghost story. That night Mary Shelley dreamed of a creature that would later become the monster created by Dr Frankenstein in her yet-to-be-written novel.
LUCID DREAMS
These occur when you become aware that you are dreaming when you are dreaming. It takes time and practice to stop yourself waking up, but it is possible to learn how to become a lucid dreamer and control the course of your dreams.
MUTUAL DREAMS
When two people dream the same dream. Such dreams can be spontaneous or incubated, when two people who are close decide on a dream location together and imagine themselves meeting up before going to sleep.
NIGHTMARES
Dreams that terrify us or cause distress in some way by waking us up before the situation has resolved. Nightmares occur during REM sleep and typically arise when a person is feeling anxious or helpless in waking life. Once the dreamer has recognized what is triggering this kind of dream, and worked through any unresolved fears and anxieties, nightmares tend to cease.
NIGHT TERRORS
These are similar to nightmares, but because they occur in deep sleep (stage four) we rarely remember what terrified us, although we may be left with a lingering feeling of unexplained dread.
OUT-OF-BODY EXPERIENCES
Also known as astral travel or projection, out-of-body experiences are thought to occur at times of physical and emotional trauma. Researchers tend to dismiss the idea but those that experience such dreams say that their mind, consciousness or spirit leaves their body and travels through time and space.
PAST-LIFE DREAMS
If you dream of being in a historical setting some believe this is evidence of past-life recall, although most dream theorists dismiss the existence of past-life or far-memory dreams, or genetic dreams when you assume the identity of an ancestor.
PHYSIOLOGICAL DREAMS
These dreams reflect the state of your body, so, for example, if you have an upset stomach, you may dream that you are being violently sick. These dreams may highlight the progress of serious physical conditions or in some cases predict the onset of them.
PRECOGNITIVE DREAMS
Most dream researchers dismiss these dreams but precognitive dreams are thought to predict real-life events of which the dreamer has no conscious awareness. These dreams tend to happen to people with psychic abilities. They are extremely rare but there have been many instances when people claim to have dreamt of things before they happened. For example, many people reported dreaming about 9/11 before it occurred. Other people tell of cancelling trains or flights because of a foreboding dream. There are also reports of people who dreamt the winning numbers of the lottery.
PROBLEM-SOLVING DREAMS
These occur when you have gone to bed mulling over a problem and found the answer in your dreams. This could be because your unconscious has already solved the dream and sleeping on it gives your unconscious a chance to express itself. Many famous inventions were allegedly prompted by a dream. For example, Scottish engineer and inventor of the steam engine James Watt (1736-1819) dreamed of molten metal falling from the sky in the shape of balls. This dream gave him the idea for drop cooling and ball-bearings. The model of the atom, the M9 analogue computer, the isolation of insulin in the treatment of diabetes, and, as we have seen, the sewing machine, were also ideas that sprung from inspiration in dreams.
PSYCHOLOGICAL DREAMS
These are dreams that bring things we would rather not think about to our attention. They make us face an aspect of ourselves or our life that might be hindering our progress. They are often about our fears, anxieties, resentment, guilt and insecurities. For example, if you dream of yourself running around and around on the wheel of a cage unable to stop, this could suggest that in your waking life you are taking on too much and not giving yourself enough time to relax.
RECURRING DREAMS
Dreams that reoccur typically happen when the dreamer is worried about a situation that isn’t resolving itself in waking life. When the trigger in waking life is dealt with the dreams usually end. Recurring dreams can also occur when a person is suffering from some kind of phobia or trauma that has been repressed or not resolved. If this is the case the unconscious is urging the dreamer to consciously receive and acknowledge the issue and deal with it.
SEXUAL DREAMS
In dreams, sex can reflect the archetypal pattern which underlies the waking sex life or may represent a hoped-for reunion with another part of ourselves into a whole.
TELEPATHIC DREAMS
This is the kind of dream when someone you know appears in your dream in acute distress and you later learn that that person was experiencing a real-life crisis at the time, such as extreme unhappiness, an accident or even death. It is thought that telepathic dreams are a meeting of minds between two people who are close to each other emotionally.
VIGILANT DREAMS
These are processing dreams that involve your senses. For example, if your mobile rings or a picture falls to the ground while you are asleep, the sound may be incorporated into your dream but appear as something else, such as a police siren or a broken window. The smell of flowers in your room may also become a garden scene in your dreams.
WISH-FULFILLMENT DREAMS
These are the kind of dreams in which we quite literally live the dream; we might win the lottery, date a celebrity, ooze charisma or simply go on a long holiday. In these kinds of dreams our unconscious is trying to compensate for disappointment or dissatisfaction with our current circumstances in waking life.
Walking and talking in your sleep
Sleepwalking or moving is an attempt to put a dream into action. Most likely you have grown out of the habit, if you ever had it, but if an occasion arises which is very stressful, we may, like Lady Macbeth, re-enact the nightmare in this way. Talking in your sleep is similar in cause to sleep movement. It is an attempt to carry a dream on verbally. You are more likely to walk or talk or move in your sleep when you are under mental pressure. Most of the time this is totally harmless but some sleepwalkers and talkers can put themselves in real danger. Precautions should therefore be taken. Make sure windows are closed and, if stairs are a hazard, doors locked. If you’re really worried about your sleepwalking, seek advice from your doctor and if someone you know is sleepwalking don’t try to wake them—just guide them quietly and gently back to bed.
Interpreting Your Dreams
‘If the dream is a translation of waking life, waking life is also a translation of the dream.’ René Magritte
If you have ever wondered why dreams often appear so difficult to make sense of, it is because the information they contain is presented in a different language; the language of symbols: of people alive or dead, known and unknown, animals both domestic and wild, landscapes and buildings familiar and strange, or any number of symbolic objects such as shapes, colors, signs, numbers, jewelry, food, clothing and so on.
These images are your own thoughts, feelings and ideas turned into a series of pictures like ordinary scenes in your daily life. For example, if you feel overwhelmed you may have a dream you are swimming but finding it hard to keep your head above water. If you feel confused you may have a dream when you are wondering about lost in a dark forest. The number of symbols and images that your mind can translate into dream pictures is practically endless.
Words just can’t convey the countless powerful feelings that symbols do. These symbols are often chosen from something that has caught our attention in waking life, triggering a memory, conflict or concern that resonates both in the present and in the past.
One tried-and-tested way to uncover the meaning of your dream images is by direct association. You simply go with the first thing that pops into your head when a trigger image from your dream is given. If you don’t immediately get an associative thought, try working through all your feelings about that image. For example, if you saw a caterpillar in a dream. Do you like caterpillars or do you find them a bit creepy? Try to discover what the image means to you right now, for the meanings of your symbols will change over time.
The more you work with your dreams, the more familiar you will become with your personal images. You’ll probably find that you dream the most about the things that you are familiar with every day: your family, your colleagues, your friends and your pet. Each time you dream about these familiar things they will have personal significance to you alone.
The great majority of dreams are not to be taken literally and you need to do a bit of detective work to get to the real message. Just because you dream that a friend is dying does not mean that he or she will die, but rather that they are going through a period of enormous change. In fact, interpreting dreams literally can be harmful. As pointed out earlier, you have your own set of unique dream images and symbols. If you love dogs, what a dog means to you and what a dog means to someone who can’t stand dogs will be very different. Always bear in mind that your dream symbols and images are unique to you.
Although the images and symbols in your dreams do need to be interpreted, their purpose isn’t to mystify you. They are simply trying to get their message across in the best way that they can. If you do find yourself getting tense, confused or frustrated when trying to interpret a dream, let it go. Dream interpretation is best approached with an open mind and in a relaxed state.
You don’t need to interpret every single dream you have. In the same way that some movies are more compelling and thoughtprovoking than others, some dreams, like those when you do fantastic things like flying into space or surfing in Hawaii, are simply to be enjoyed. You don’t always have to dig deep for meaning. It’s good to be aware that a dream might contain a message of importance, but don’t get obsessed with finding meanings for every single detail—just interpret what you can. Dreams, like life, are full of big and little stuff. Don’t sweat the ‘small stuff’.
Capturing Your Dreams: How to Recall and Record
‘Dreams are illustrations…from the book your soul is writing about you.’ Marsha Norman
We all dream several dreams a night and it’s been suggested that we each have 100,000 dreams over the course of our lives. So you might be wondering why you can’t remember a single one. Medications, alcohol, too little sleep and anxiety about the content of our dreams can all block dream recall.
We’re most likely to remember the dreams closest to awakening, but with a little effort you can boost your dream recall. In fact the more attention you pay to your dreams, by thinking about them, writing them down, working with them, the more likely you are to remember them. Keeping a note pad and a pen beside your bed and recording your dreams immediately on waking is one of the best ways to help your dream recall.
Some dreams fade quickly from memory, so it is crucial you capture them as soon as you can. Immediately on waking, write down your dream or dreams—even if this is in the middle of the night; don’t brush your teeth first or leave it until your alarm clock goes off. If you do that, you’ll probably forget all about it and will lose a valuable dream. If you record your dreams in words, you create permanent reminders that you can use to help you figure out what they are trying to tell you.
Later in the day, transfer the information to a dream diary, specifically set aside for your dreams. In this diary include: the date of your dream, any people involved, the moods and feelings expressed, prominent colors, numbers, or shapes, the problems and conflicts encountered, prominent symbols or stories, information about the dream landscape, whether it was past, present or future and, finally, how the dream ended.
With practice, you will soon get the hang of remembering and writing down your dreams. Use this encyclopedia to help you unlock the meaning of your dream themes and symbols, but never forget that the best book you will ever read about dreams is the one you write yourself: your dream journal.
Programing your mind for dream recall
Some dreams are so vivid you can’t forget them but many are so fleeting they can vanish without a trace. One way to make sure you remember them is to talk to yourself in a positive way. Before going to sleep tell yourself that you will remember your dreams on waking. Try this visualization technique.
When you feel sleepy, turn off the lights and settle down in your favorite sleeping position. In a relaxed way, think about your dreams. Breathe in for a count of five, and out for a count of ten. Repeat this, and then breathe normally. Now imagine you have just woken in the morning and, as you slowly move back into consciousness, you reach for your pen and write down your dream. Bring your attention to the present again, and feel comfortable, warm and sleepy. Tell yourself that in the morning you will remember your dreams.
Dream Maker
‘The dream was always running ahead of me. To catch up, to live for a moment in unison with it, that was the miracle.’ Anaïs Nin
Some dream experts believe it is possible to take charge of your dreams and turn them into creative and helpful experiences that can help solve problems in your waking life. To do this you have to get your waking mind to work more fully with your dreaming mind; you need to think about what problem or issue you want your dream to resolve. This is a process called dream incubation.
STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE TO DREAM INCUBATION
Step 1: Decide what you want to dream about, what you want your dream to resolve or help you with and what question you want answered.
Step 2: Write down your question or desired dream on a piece of paper as if you were chatting to a friend—because that’s what your dream self is. Be as specific as you can, but don’t ask about silly or trivial matters, such as should I go to this or that party.
Step 3: Read this over and over again during the day and keep it in your mind during the day and again as you get ready for bed.
Top tips for perfect sleep and dreaming
1 Before you go to bed, lessen tension with a relaxing massage or warm bath, some gentle stretching exercises or a short walk. Avoid taking a shower as this will invigorate you.
2 Ensure you leave at least two hours between sleep and your last meal. Food and the process of digestion can encourage strange dream images. If you want a snack, make it light: a biscuit and a glass of milk.
3 Avoid alcohol, caffeine and cigarettes if you want to have a restful, untroubled sleep. Caffeine is a stimulant, and alcohol and cigarettes will inhibit REM sleep when dreaming occurs.
4 Make sure your bed is comfortable, your bedroom well aired and neither too hot, nor too cold. A temperature of 65°F (18°C) is about right. Keep the room dark, as light is a cue for waking, and block out any unwanted sound.
5 The calmer and more relaxed you are the better. Cleanse and calm your mind with some reading, meditation or listen to some relaxing music. If any worrying thoughts refuse to leave, jot them down in a note pad beside your bedside and consider the matter closed until morning. If you want to sleep and dream well—don’t take your worries to bed.
Step 4: Once in bed read over the question again and ask your dreaming self to bring you the answer during sleep. Put the paper under your pillow or near your bed.
Step 5: Tell yourself before you go to sleep that you will have the dream you want and trust yourself to dream the dream that you ask for.
Step 6: Tell yourself you will remember your dream. Be prepared to write down the dream when you wake up and be open to whatever comes to you.
Step 7: Leave your dream intention to incubate. What you are doing here is programing your dreaming self—giving it a particular task to focus on.
Step 8: Stop thinking about your intention to dream. Let it go. Relax and calm your mind before you sleep and don’t stress about whether or not you are going to have a dream.
Step 9: Be willing to experiment and try again if necessary.
You may not want to ask your dreaming self a question and may simply want a happy, harmonious dream. If this is the case think of a place or person you’d like to dream about—perhaps a holiday or loved one—write down a simple description and ask your dreaming self in the same way to give you a happy, inspiring dream.
Dream Magic
‘One of the most adventurous things left us is to go to bed. For no one can lay a hand on our dreams.’ E. V. Lucas
Whether you decide to practice dream incubation or not, remember that any dream you have has the potential to take you to a world of mystery and wonder that can keep you spellbound for days trying to understand it. The dream interpretations that follow will help you unravel some of the mystery, but never forget that you are the dreamer and you do the dreaming and that in understanding your dreams, you can reach a better understanding of yourself.
Use the explanations offered in the pages that follow for the interpretation of your dream symbols, and combine them with your own circumstances to work out an understanding of the likely significance of your dreams. In this way, your innermost feelings, hopes and fears can be highlighted, hopefully resolving issues in your waking life and enriching it by revealing your hidden strengths and creativity.
Dreams offer you an incredible opportunity to connect your outer and inner worlds to illuminate your waking life. So, try to take the time to enjoy the excitement, mystery, wonder and magic each and every dream brings. Dare yourself to discover and believe in your creativity and your dreams—wherever they may lead you.
THE DREAMS
ACCIDENTS, ACTION AND ADVENTURES
When you dream that you are the Lara Croft and Indiana Jones of your own adventures, it can be action packed and thrilling; but when you dream that you are in a car or plane crash, the dream can feel rather different.
The traditional interpretation of dreams involving accidents of any kind is that we are receiving some kind of warning to be on our guard against possible danger or hidden aggression, either our own or others’. From a psychologist’s point of view, such dreams may highlight anxieties to do with safety or fear of taking responsibility. Spiritual interpretations of such dreams suggest the need for some kind of intervention from an authoritative source.
According to Freud, accidents in dreams, like slips of the tongue in waking life, are not accidents but dream events with a meaning that can help us to unravel the often incomprehensible maneuvers of our unconscious mind. For Jung, accident dreams, as well as offering insights into our unconscious thought processes, can provide a reaction to a traumatic experience or the fear of it. For example, if you were in a car accident or are anxious about having one, you may dream of being involved in one. People who suffered great trauma, such as rape victims or war veterans, may have nightmares that are exactly like, or very similar to, actual life events.
The most commonly accepted theory is that accident dreams show how your unconscious has noticed things that you may not have noticed in waking life. They are both a reminder and a possible warning. You may, for example, dream of a teenager being knocked down on a busy street outside a petrol station, only to read a few weeks later that a teenager has been seriously injured in just this way. The most likely explanation is that you have unconsciously noticed how dangerous the crossing was, having read somewhere about the growing number of teenagers killed on the roads due to the use of mobile telephones, and without realizing it, you have observed that an accident was highly likely. These kinds of subtle clues and subliminal suggestions are around us every day.
Adventure dreams can be a reflection of your waking life, which may have become more adventurous recently, but it could also suggest the need to experiment, physically, emotionally and spiritually.
The Jungian archetype of the hero, starting out on his adventure and battling adversity in order to learn, mature and grow, dominates the interpretation of adventure-themed dreams. Adventure dreams urge the dreamer to take on new challenges or seek out aspects of themselves or talents that remain hidden in waking life. They point the way towards a new understanding, and the discovery of inner strength and creativity that can empower the dreamer.
Finally, activities or actions within dreams are often concerned with hidden motivations and agendas, and, interpreted within the context of your mood and emotions within the dream, are particularly important. The psychological meaning is that action needs to transfer from dreams to waking life in order for progress to be made. Symbolically the action can give an indication of the dreamer’s spiritual progress.
Typically, activities in dreams are associated with moving forward or making progress in waking life. They reflect how well you are doing in your quest to achieve your ambitions. Do you need to move on? Take another route? Speed up or slow down? That’s why it is particularly helpful to take note of the details in your dream. What was the goal you were running, walking, climbing or swimming towards? Did you feel exhausted or were you in peak form? Were you competing against anyone? Did you reach your destination or achieve your goal? Did you feel satisfied or disappointed? The answers to these questions will help you assess your progress and identify any obstacles or attitudes that may be holding you back.
Accident Situations
ACCIDENT TO THE DREAMER
If you dream that you have an accident yourself, you should take note of the details, especially if it was caused by something you use every day, such as a bicycle, a car or a lawn mower, and check that it is in good working order before you use it the next day. On the other hand, an accident dream could also be warning you of potential danger or loss of control if you continue a particular course of action. For example, you may dream that you are hit by a car as you run across the road to talk to a married colleague you’ve been thinking of having an affair with. An obvious interpretation of this dream is that the accident signifies pent-up guilt for something you have thought, said or done, and that you are sub-consciously punishing yourself over it. You could also be harboring deep anxiety over being found out. Dreams of car accidents might be urging you to slow down before you hit disaster, or telling you that you are ‘driving’ yourself too hard. You need to rethink, or re-plan, your course of actions and set yourself on a better path. Your accident dream may also represent your straightforward fears of being involved in an actual, physical accident. You may just be nervous about getting behind the wheel, or going on a train, boat or plane trip.
Whatever happened in your dreams, notice how you emerge. Did you manage to rescue something or someone? If you did,
Dreams that foretell accidents
A number of well-recorded dreams have appeared to foretell accidents and some researchers believe that accidents in dreams are a warning. Research, however, does not support the idea that dreams predict impending disaster. See also DISASTERS.
The story of the SS Titanic is well known. On 14 April 1912, the Titanic struck an iceberg and sunk in the North Atlantic, carrying with her more than 1500 lives. The lack of sufficient lifeboats has often been blamed as the leading cause of fatalities; experts will tell you, however, that there were hundreds of causes leading to the accident, including everything from faulty construction of watertight compartments to a failure to pay attention to numerous warnings of icebergs in the area. What is important here, however, is the huge number of accident dreams that foretold this disaster.
Immediately after the Titanic sank in the North Atlantic, there were at least two dozen reports of people who cancelled their trip because of precognitive dreams they had about the sinking. No one knows how many had the same warning and ignored it, going to a death they could have avoided. There is one businessman that had the same precognitive dream of the Titanic sinking three times and chose to ignore the warning. He still intended to make the trip, until a sudden turn in business forced him to cancel.
this could suggest someone who needs your help or protection. It could also suggest an aspect of yourself that is worth saving. Were you hurt, or did you come out of it unscathed? If you weren’t injured, this could suggest that you have the strength to overcome what fate throws at you, but if you were wounded, you need to take better care of yourself and ‘toughen up’.
ACCIDENT IN THE HOME
Dreaming of accidents in the home means tension may be building up in your home life, although it occasionally means you have unconsciously noticed something that might cause a domestic accident. Therefore check whatever it is that caused the accident; if you dream of falling down stairs, is the stair carpet loose? A dream that focuses on your home may also be saying something about your personality and approach to life. It may be that in order to progress with your life you need to make changes, and these changes may involve destroying what you have built up for some time.
ACCIDENT TO LOVED ONES
To dream that a loved one dies in an accident indicates that something in your own self is no longer functional, and is ‘dead’. It is also symbolic of your own relationship with that person. Perhaps you need to let go of this relationship, or let go of a particular phase in that relationship and move towards the next. For example, the first throes of passion may have ebbed away, but you can replace them with love, stability and commitment.
ACCIDENT AT SEA
To dream of an accident at sea suggests potential problems with those who are close to you, or some kind of disappointment in love. If water overwhelms you, you are likely to feel overwhelmed by emotions. If this is the case, you need to assess how best to manage your feelings and put them into context. If you are trying to save other people in a shipwreck, you need to think about what these people represent to you. For instance, if you are trying to save a baby, perhaps that represents an element in your waking life, such as unconditional love, or wonder and excitement, that you need to develop in your waking life to help you cope with your emotional response.
ACCIDENT TO SOMEONE ELSE
This could be hidden aggression towards that particular person or an aspect of yourself that person represents that you recognize in yourself. It could also suggest anxiety about the welfare of the person in your dream.
CAR CRASH
A dream of a car crash represents tensions about your efforts to ‘get somewhere’ or achieve your goals. You could be driving yourself too hard, or perhaps you are too eager to get ahead. If your car suddenly spins out of control and crashes into pedestrians, your unconscious may be alerting you to the need to have your steering and brakes checked. Alternatively, your unconscious may have been commenting anxiously on the way you are living your life. Are you in danger of losing control, coming to the end of the road, or have you set yourself on a collision course because of your life in the fast lane? If so, pay attention to who you hit in the dream and who was affected by the accident. For men, driving cars tends to relate to sex, so it could be some kind of warning. Perhaps you are being careless or casual in protecting yourself.
PLANE CRASH
Dreams of plane crashes are typically provoked by worries about over-extending yourself, such as a project or business collapsing, or not being able to pay bills. It is likely that you may be afraid of failing in some other way, especially if you are about to take an exam or test, or have set yourself an unrealistic task or objective. Have you been flying too high? See also DISASTERS.
TRAIN CRASH
A dream of a train crash could suggest the need for extreme caution concerning financial matters. It could also indicate an exaggerated sense of self-worth as a stumbling block in the dreamer’s path.
Minor accidents
Accidents from above
To see something hanging above you about to fall implies possible danger. If it falls and misses you, perhaps you have had a narrow escape from some misfortune, or your unconscious is warning you to be alert to potential danger.
Breaking things
To dream that you break something, like a window or a chair, indicates that changes lie ahead and that you want to change the direction in which your life is heading. Alternatively, it suggests that you need to take things more slowly. If you drop or smash things in your dreams, this indicates that you are letting go of—or need to let go of—some project, relationship, person or idea. Be sure to analyze the significance of what is being dropped or smashed. Another explanation for dreams of breaking things is that you are expressing some dismay or regret at how you let something slip through fingers.
Burning
To set something on fire by accident suggests intense emotions and/or passionate sexual feelings. Alternatively, it may suggest that you need to take time off for yourself and relax, or that your unconscious is alerting you to the need for a smoke alarm.
Cut
To dream that you have a cut suggests that you are being let down or being undervalued. If the cuts are on your legs, then it symbolizes an imbalance and an inability to stand up for yourself. To dream that you are cutting or harming yourself in some way, either accidentally or on purpose, indicates that you are experiencing some overwhelming turmoil or problems in your waking life. You are trying to disconnect yourself from the discomfort or pain you are experiencing.
Farting or burping in public
To dream that you accidentally fart or burp in public, suggests that you are being passive-aggressive. You need to express your feelings in a more direct manner.
Slipping, tripping and stumbling
To dream that you slip or that you make a slip of the tongue suggests that you are doing things you do not really want to do, or saying things you do not really mean. If you stumble but do not fall, it may suggest that you will meet obstacles but will be able to surmount them. If you fall, obstacles may lie in your path in waking life and you need to find a way to work round them. Trying in vain to climb a slippery slope suggests you may have taken on more than you can cope with, and are in danger of backsliding under the pressure. It could also be a warning against being a control freak; you cannot control everything and everyone, and need to show more regard for the views of others. To dream that you trip up or stumble indicates that something is out of control in your waking life and you need to deal with it. Things are not going as smoothly as you want, as you are faced with minor obstacles. It could also indicate social awkwardness; perhaps you are worried you might get off on the wrong foot. Does your self esteem need a boost, or are you simply not looking where you are going?
Adventure Scenarios
BEING CHASED
The way we respond to anxiety and pressure in real life is typically manifested as a chase dream. Often in these dream scenarios, you are being pursued by some attacker who wants to hurt or possibly kill you. You may be running away, hiding, or trying to outwit your pursuer. Chase dreams may represent your way of coping with fears, stress or various situations in your waking life. Instead of confronting the situation, you are running away and avoiding it. Ask yourself, who is the one chasing you, and you may gain some understanding and insight on the source of your fears. The dream could also indicate that you are refusing to acknowledge a certain viewpoint or idea. On the other hand, the pursuer or attacker who is chasing you in your dream may represent a part of yourself. Your own feelings of anger, jealousy, fear, and possibly love, can assume the appearance of a threatening figure. You may be projecting these feelings onto the unknown chaser and your dream is calling your attention to your own self-destructive actions. A more direct analysis of chase dreams is that they reflect the simple fear of being attacked. Media hype and overexposure play on this fear and magnify our level of risk.
ESCAPING DANGER
If you wake up before being caught, eaten or beaten, you need to ask yourself what you need to wake up to. What are you missing or avoiding in waking life? Things won’t get better until you face up to them? Dreams about breaking free from jail, cages, ropes or shackles may point to a desire for release from a situation, such as a job that is causing stress. The elation surrounding dreams of leaving jail may suggest feelings about a new opportunity in our life. However, if no joy accompanies the liberation, this could suggest anxiety about the challenges that lie ahead. Breaking out of jail on the other hand testifies to a determination to create your own chances and give free reign to talents that have too long been repressed. Alternatively, if you have been depressed recently, break-out dreams could suggest the need to seek serious help, as the dream may signify a yearning for the ultimate release—death. If, on the other hand, you are rescued in your dreams, or help rescue someone, this can express the need to liberate creative energies or some aspect of yourself that isn’t being developed in waking life.
FALLING
Falling, and the accompanying sense of vertigo, is, along with flying, one of the most often reported dream topics. Falling dreams typically occur during the first stage of sleep. Dreams in this stage are often accompanied by muscle spasms of the arms, legs, and the whole body. Sometimes when we have these falling dreams, we feel our whole body jerk or twitch, which provokes us to awaken.
Typically, the act of falling in dreams suggests loss of control and anxiety in the sleeper’s waking life. The anxiety could be related to work, or it could be related to sexual inhibition or low self-esteem. Such may be the fear of the fall that you could awake with a jolt. If this occurs, it is important to remember the circumstances of the fall in your dream, as this will help you understand its hidden message. According to Freudian theory, dreams of falling indicate that you are contemplating giving into a sexual urge or impulse. You may be lacking indiscretion. According to biblical interpretations, dreams about falling have a negative overtone and suggest that man is acting and walking according to his own way of thinking, and not that of the Lord.
FLYING
Dreams of flying are very common and vary from dreamer to dream. Most typically dreamers don’t go on long, high flights; instead they hover about a hundred or so yards from the ground. The most simple explanation of these kind of dreams was put forward by English physician Havelock Ellis in his book The World of Dreams, in which he suggests that it is our breathing whilst asleep that suggests the idea of flying (and falling) to the unconscious mind. Freud suggested that dreams of flying were nothing else but the desire for sexual freedom, and the idea that dreams of flying are associated with sex is shared by some other dream researchers. However, as with all dreams, there can be many interpretations.
Flying dreams and the ability to control your flight can be representative of your own personal sense of power. If you are flying with ease, and enjoying the scene and landscape below, then it suggests that you are on top of a situation. You have risen above something. It may also mean that you have gained a different perspective on things. Having difficulties staying in flight indicates a lack of power in controlling your own circumstances. You may be struggling to stay aloft, and stay on course. Things like birds, trees or telephone poles may further obstruct your flight. These obstructions represent a particular obstacle or person standing in your way in your waking life. You need to identify who, or what, is preventing you from moving forward. If you are feeling fear when you are flying or feel that you are flying too high, then it suggests that you are afraid of challenges and of success. Are you trying to
Varieties of flying dream
Another way of interpreting flying dreams is that they symbolize your strong mind and will. You feel invincible and nobody can tell you what you cannot do and accomplish. Undoubtedly these dreams leave you with a great sense of freedom.
Flying high
Liberation from something that troubles you. Nevertheless, flying high has its perils. The ancient Greek myth of Icarus warns against flying too high. Your dream may show that you are being overambitious.
Flying low
Native Americans, Tibetan Buddhists and others claim that all people have a light body that can leave the physical body during sleep. The light body can travel great distances and communicate with angels. To dream of flying may indicate the need or desire to develop the mystical side of your nature. Alternatively, it could be a warning to keep your feet firmly on the ground.
Hovering
If you are hovering or floating in the sky and looking down on earth this may represent feelings of optimism and success—the world is at your feet. However, as floating is impossible the dream may also be a warning against pride and over ambition and the possibility of coming down to earth with a bump.
Parachute
If a parachute opens as you fall, this may express your relief following a dangerous event, such as a car accident that you survived. Alternatively, it could suggest the need to bail out of a difficult situation, as a parachute offers a safe way to fall rather than a means to fly.
Shot at
If you are shot at or hit by something when flying, you need to be on your guard against people who might want to restrain your advancement into the higher spheres.
Sun
If you see the sun while flying, this could suggest that your worries will melt away.
Terrain below
If you are flying over muddy or broken places, this could be a warning to be on your guard against potential enemies or misfortune.
Wing color
If you are flying with white wings, this dream could represent the expansion of your awareness and the unfolding of your higher self. If your wings are black this could indicate the need for change in your waking life. See also COLORS.
rise above something in waking life? Are you developing an idea? Are you flying in the face of fortune? Flying into a rage? Flying off the handle? Flying high?
JAIL
Prisons can often stand for a set of beliefs that limit the dreamer’s personal development or progress. The dream may help us escape this limitations by forcing us to confront them and examine what triggered them. A similar symbol of psychological entrapment, a cage, may also represent some kind of frustration with our life. There may be feelings of inferiority or a desire to break free from social convention.
LOCK AND KEY
According to Freudian analysis, a lock is commonly interpreted as a symbol of the female sexual organ with the key representing the phallus. A dream of unlocking a box of treasure may indicate sex as liberating. If, however, the box won’t open this indicates sexual frustration or dissatisfaction with the sexual side of a relationship.
KIDNAPPED AND TAKEN HOSTAGE
If kidnapping features in your dream, this may suggest the desire to dominate or be dominated by another person. If you are the victim but don’t feel afraid, this could lend a sexual connotation to your dream. If you are held hostage in a dream, this could indicate that you feel someone has a hold on you, or that you are subject to some influence that prevents you from doing what you need to do. Hostage-takers often make demands for money, personal recognition and so on. Is there someone in your waking life who is placing unnecessary demands upon you, or making you feel guilty? In some hostage dreams, as in real life, a rapport develops between the victim and the hostage-taker; if this is the case, it could indicate a love-hate relationship in your waking life. Finally, might this kind of dream not also suggest that you are held hostage, not by a person, but by your fears? See also CHANGE AND CONFLICT; NEGATIVE EMOTIONS.
Courage
Courage in dreams involves turning to face your enemy or someone who threatens you, standing up for yourself or someone vulnerable or outwitting those who might want to harm you. How do your dreams display your courage? If you run in fear your dreams are urging you to discover your inner strength. If you stand up for yourself your dreams are telling you about something you need to recognize about yourself in your daily life. The feeling of courage in dreams can play a special role in empowering you in daily life. With or without lucid dreaming techniques the more courage you start to show in your dreams the more courage you are likely to display in your waking life.
PURSUIT
To dream that you are in pursuit of someone or something, suggests that you are being denied your power and influence. You may need to re-evaluate your strengths and concentrate your efforts on something more worthwhile. It is important to identify what exactly you are pursuing, but bear in mind that it may not be a person, or an animal, but an idea.
Activities A to Z
CLIMBING
Dreams of climbing stairs, hills or mountains reflect on your ambitions and your ability to face up to challenges in daily life. Were you climbing with ease or difficulty? See also AMBITION AND SUCCESS.
CRAWLING
To dream that you are crawling on your hands and knees or stomach suggests some kind of humiliation in waking life.
DANCING
A dream of dancing suggests an enjoyment of life and a go-with-the-flow attitude. This dream may contain elements of wish-fulfillment, but there is the underlying theme of years of hard work and dedication. Such a dream may be encouraging you to have more discipline or, alternatively, to have the courage to take up artistic skills. See also ARTS AND CRAFTS.
DIGGING
If you were digging or excavating in your dream you may need to resolve some deep-rooted emotional problems, with or without the help of a counselor.
EXERCISING
Do you need to exercise more in waking life? If you dream of exercising with weights, perhaps you need to lose some weight? Alternatively, your unconscious may be urging you to exercise your mind or your common sense in a particular situation. If you dream that you are jogging, you appear to have your responsibilities under control but you may also feel dissatisfied or bored with certain aspects of your life, especially if you dream you are on a treadmill. If you are jumping or leaping in your dream, this suggests ambition and a desire to move forward with your life, or progress in your career.
If you are kicked, or kick someone else in your dream, perhaps there is something in your waking life that you disagree with or disapprove of. To dream that you are hopping could suggest childish or immature behavior on your part. Alternatively, it may indicate your tendency to jump from task to task, or not being able to stay in one place. If you are stretching in a dream, your unconscious may be reminding you to work on your flexibility, not just in your body, but in your approach to life. To dream that you are skipping suggests you need to be more light-hearted and friendly in waking life. Alternatively, the dream may
Cleaning
Washing in dreams is a fairly common theme, and almost always relates to something that is troubling or worrying the dreamer in waking life. The harder the hands or body are scrubbed, the greater the need for the unconscious to be free of guilt or some kind of burden. The same applies to washing stains in clothes.
If you are taking a shower or bath in your dream, this could indicate a problem that overshadows you in waking life. If you are washing your hair, this is connected to your emotions, and if you are washing your genitals, there may be some kind of sexual adventure in waking life that you are ashamed of. You could also be worried about sexually transmitted diseases. If you are cleaning your home, this could suggest that you want to get more organized in your waking life, but before you can do that you need to dispose of dirt or dust; this may refer to ways of thinking or responding that are clouding your judgments in waking life. If you were watching a washing machine in your dream, this is a reference to your daily routine and the boredom you feel. If you are trapped in the washing machine, you feel stifled by your daily routine; it will therefore be important to make changes in daily life as soon as possible.
indicate that you have skipped something important. See also LEISURE.
PUSHING
To dream that you are pushing something suggests energy and drive to succeed in life. Consider also how you, or someone you know in waking life, may be a ‘pushover’. To dream that you are being pushed signifies that you are under some sort of pressure, or feel coerced into doing something. Alternatively, it implies that you feel you don’t have enough time to complete a task perfectly.
RIDING A HORSE
A dream of riding a horse may be associated with your sex life, and how fulfilled or inhibited you are. If you are enjoying the ride, it could indicate a rewarding love affair, or the desire for one. On the other hand, if you are afraid of falling, you may feel inhibited sexually, or be unable to commit to your partner. The same meaning is applied to dreams of riding a motor cycle or a bicycle. If you were riding another animal, think about what that animal represents in waking life.
STANDING/SITTING
To dream that you are standing suggests that you are asserting yourself and feeling proud of your achievements. To dream that you are sitting indicates indecision and not knowing what to do with your life. It could also suggest laziness.
SKATING
Dreams of skating suggest that the dreamer is enjoying his or her life. If you are performing like a professional skater (and aren’t one), this could suggest that you are about to take off in some way in your waking life. If, however, your skates are out of control, this could suggest that in your quest for enjoyment you are acting recklessly. On the other hand, this dream could be telling you to get your skates on and put more pace and activity into a particular project or relationship.
SWIMMING
Water in a dream almost always indicates emotions. To dream that you are swimming suggests that you are exploring aspects of your unconscious mind and emotions. This is a common dream for people going through therapy or counseling, as it suggests the need for emotional support. To dream that you are swimming underwater suggests that you are completely submerged in your own emotions and need to deal with emotional difficulties. If you dream of diving, perhaps this indicates your desire to throw yourself into a relationship or project. The erotic sensation of water passing over the body led Freud to equate swimming with sexual intercourse. If you feel relaxed and happy, this foretells a long and happy relationship with your partner, but if you are struggling against the tide, the relationship may be in trouble.
THROWING AND CATCHING
If you throw or catch something in a dream, you need to pay attention to what it is you are throwing and catching. Are you throwing something away, or catching something you need, or something you don’t want?
WEAVING/KNITTING/CROCHET/SEWING
Are you bogged down with routine in your waking life? Dreams of weaving, knitting, crochet and sewing could suggest that you need to broaden your horizons, as these tasks all require attention to detail and constant repetition. If you are joining together pieces of fabric, or creating an exciting design, this could, however, indicate that you are bringing together certain aspects of your waking life. If you make mistakes with your craftwork, drop a stitch or break your thread, perhaps you have recently been tactless in your daily life or had a quarrel with someone. Were you successful in patching up your differences? See also ARTS AND CRAFTS.
WALKING/RUNNING/CYCLING
In general, activities such as walking, running and cycling are self-sufficient, pro-active and personal modes of progression, owing their movement entirely to will and physical effort. A possible Gestalt interpretation would be to regard dreams of walking, running or cycling as projections of the dreamer’s developing independence and autonomy. Your competence within your dream activity depicts your emotional stage. If you are agile, this suggests you are coping well. If movements flow, you feel in harmony with your emotions and your sexuality. If, however, you get stuck, feel stiff and cannot move easily, this could indicate that your personal development is held back by anxieties and fears. To dream you are walking is probably a comment on the pace of your waking life, and how well you are coping with all your responsibilities. If you are walking confidently, it could indicate that you are in control and taking things in your stride. Consider your destination. Do you know what it is?
To dream that you are walking at night signifies discontent. If you are limping, this refers to a lack of balance in some area in your life. Perhaps you feel that you are giving more than you are getting back at work, or in a particular relationship. To dream that you are marching suggests teamwork, or the need to involve yourself more with other people in order to achieve results. If you were running or racing and keeping up with the others, this is a positive sign, but if you were falling behind or trying and failing to win a race, you need to rethink your schedule in daily life to relieve some of the pressures on you.
When specific activities appear in a dream, you might also need to consider whether or not you are filling your waking hours with productive and positive activities. It may be that changes need to be made. For example, if you dream of running, this could simply indicate your need to exercise more. Alternatively, it could suggest that you are exercising too much, and need to get balance back into your life.
See also AMBITION AND SUCCESS; LEISURE.
AMBITION AND SUCCESS
We all have ambitions and strive to achieve our ideals of success in waking life. These ambitions often surface in our dreams in symbolic disguise.
According to Adler, dreams are an expression of our ambitious desire for power and success, a way of overcompensating for shortcomings in our waking life. For example, if a person is unable to stand up to their boss, they may safely lash out in anger at him or her in a dream. Thus dreams offer some sort of satisfaction that is socially acceptable.
Although some dreams can be interpreted as wish-fulfillment, most modern dream researchers believe that dreams have another purpose, to periodically present us with reports on our progress to date. Sometimes these updates are purely expressions of wish-fulfillment, and therefore easy to interpret: for example, those fantastic dreams in which you win the lottery, or audition successfully for the lead role in a Hollywood blockbuster. Sometimes, though, dreams are harder to interpret because the dreaming mind speaks in the confusing language of symbols. Understanding such dreams is, however, important because they often contain pertinent observations and warnings—not yet registered by the conscious mind—that can help us achieve our goals in waking life.
Ambition Scenarios
CLIMBING
Freud considered dreams of climbing to represent a longing for sexual fulfillment. Other dream researchers believe climbing dreams suggest moving steadily towards your goals. What you climb signifies the scale of the task you have set yourself, whilst reaching the top signifies the height of your aspirations. Did you reach the top, or have you lost sight of your target?
One step at a time
Climbing a hill
This indicates a harder, and perhaps longer, challenge that you anticipated. Did you experience an uphill struggle in your dreams? If you did, how did you tackle it? Did you see the top of the hill, or did you keep your head down, suggesting that you may have lost sight of your goals. Were you climbing the hill with anyone? Did they help or hinder you?
Climbing a ladder
This could signify a corporate or social ladder, with each rung indicating promotion or another step towards social elevation. Alternatively, the ladder could be interpreted as a phallic symbol representing the so-called masculine qualities of power, drive and ambition that you need to adopt if you want to get to the top. The dream oracles say that to climb a ladder to the last rung means you will succeed in business.
Climbing a mountain
This represents the ultimate challenge of endurance, skill, strength and stamina. Were you equal to the task? Did you tackle it bravely, or with feelings of dread and anxiety?
Climbing stairs
You have great ambition, but are you climbing with confidence or with fear? Your unconscious may be reminding you not to become egotistical and climb too high, as other people despise arrogance and may try to knock you down. A meteoric rise to fame is not as easily sustained as a gradual and well-planned move to prominence. Be cautious, and take one step at a time.
Climbing over walls
If you dream that in front of you there is a wall you need to climb over to get to where you want to be, this suggests obstacles you may encounter in life that you need to overcome before you attain success.
On top of the world
If you got to the top, did you feel on top of the world? If you did, your dream mind is motivating you to re-enact that same feeling of success, achievement and liberation in your waking life. What did you see below you? Did you see people and places that you have distanced yourself from in waking life? If you didn’t get to the top, did you retrace your steps? If you did reach the summit, your dream mind may be urging you to reconsider your goals.
Struggling uphill
In this kind of dream you are climbing or driving up a steep incline. Progress is slow, and it seems to take more than you or your engine can handle. You may even wonder why you took this particular route. From a psychological point of view, the uphill struggle represents a challenge you are dealing with right now that feels like it is too much. You hadn’t expected it to be so tough. The overworked junior doctor, the programer who must create complicated software within a week, the busy mum of newborn twins—all may have this dream. The steepness of the incline is an indication of how difficult the challenge feels to you. The only way to reach the top is to pace yourself, so perhaps this dream is suggesting that you take better care of yourself and get plenty of rest. To put this advice into practice will improve your odds of success, and taking things one step at a time will make the process seem less overwhelming.
JUMPING
The act of jumping up in a dream can suggest trying to better ourselves. Jumping down can signify going down into the unconscious and those parts of ourselves we have yet to discover. Jumping on the spot is similar to dancing and signifies joy. If you made a perfect jump, this could suggest that you have made or are about to make a quantum leap in the form of an important decision. If your jump misses the mark, however, you may have made the wrong choice or are about to make it.
RACING
If you dreamed of racing against rivals or the clock to achieve personal, national or Olympic records, your dream probably relates to your career, as work is often called the ‘rat race’. The clock represents the pressure you feel you are under and the level of attainment you hope to achieve. The other people in the race represent competition or threats to your chances of winning the prize money, admiration or status. If you fly ahead of the competition, you may feel as if you are ahead in waking life, but if you are just keeping pace, this could suggest that you are coping but could easily fall behind. If you’re struggling to keep up, you may not be making the grade in real life. If you know who your dream rivals are, their position in the race will tell you how you think you compare with them. If you aren’t working, racing dreams could suggest a long, hard struggle for success in love and life. If you win the race, this signifies that your potential will be recognized; but an overzealous will to win may reveal a needy desire for others to acknowledge that potential. On the other hand, if you lose the race, especially if you get pipped at the post, this signifies the frustration of understanding the limits of your potential. It can also suggest that lack of confidence is thwarting your progress.
RUNNING
To dream that you are running is considered a positive sign, as it suggests speed, energy and direction. If you are running forwards, this indicates confidence or taking responsibility. To be running backwards or away from something signifies fear, or an inability to achieve your goals. A spiritual interpretation of running dreams could suggest that you are trying to do something too quickly. To dream that you want to run but cannot suggests that your ambitions are harder to accomplish than you thought.
Running events
Hurdles: In your dreams hurdles represent the obstacles that hinder your progress. Did they knock you over, or did you knock them over? Did you navigate your way successfully over them without touching them?
Marathon: If your race was a marathon, this indicates that work or life has become an exhausting slog. If you win the marathon, this suggests you have the confidence to achieve your aims, but if you fail to finish, this suggests that insecurities in waking life are holding you back.
Relay race: In the relay race of your life, were you successful at passing the baton or did you fumble things and ruin your team’s chances?
Desperate for Success Scenarios
CHEATING
Are you cheating in your dreams in order to pass an exam or test? If you dreamed of running, did you take a shortcut in the race? What happened? Were you caught, or did you get the gold star? How you feel about all this is important. Often dreams in which we win by cheating are similar to gray areas in waking life. They are actions that express a lack of self-confidence. Why do you think you couldn’t win the prize without cheating? Why do you feel inadequate? Why are you afraid to lose?
In your dreams, winning by cheating may leave you with an empty feeling. If you get caught cheating in your dream, this can leave you feeling anxious as well, and these feelings are your unconscious reminding you that you don’t feel worthy of the prize. Sometimes, though, cheating dreams can be positive, indicating that you’re beginning to see yourself as a potential winner, but are not yet ready to recognize this inside yourself. The best way to make sense of these sorts of dream is to think about how you feel, and what situation in waking life they may be referring to.
DODGING
If you are dodging flying objects or balls in your dream, this could be an image of your ability to go out of your way to achieve
The audience
Who is the audience in your dreams when you receive or don’t receive recognition? Who is there to see you succeed or fail? How does their presence make you feel? Scared? Supported? Distracted? Proud? Are they cheering you on? Or are they holding you back?
Typically the people we choose to watch and comment on our progress dreamland are those authority figures who exist in both our waking land and our memories. Parents and family members tend to be the most persistent authority figures in dreams about success and recognition. It is up to you to work out how much their values and dreams guide and nourish you, and to what extent they keep you from the finishing line. How often does your boss or a work colleague or an old teacher or friend from school appear in your dreams? Chances are when they do, your dreams are about proving yourself, and either failing or succeeding?
Is your partner there cheering you on, or is he or she absent? Which friends are there to watch your moment of glory in your dreams? If it is someone who hasn’t been in your life for years, what does he or she stand for? We all have authority figures in our dreams and in our lives. They are necessary because they each represent something important. They can guide us, warn us, and give us the feeling that we are supported. On the other hand, they can also undermine us, hold us back when we need to be moving forward, or drive us harder towards impossible to reach goals. See also ARCHETYPES.
your goals. That is, until you have the confidence in waking life to follow your dreams.
FAME
Dreams of being famous or basking in the glory of fame usually reflect a need to be recognized and respected by those around you, but they could also be messages from your unconscious to have more self-belief, and to recognize and give yourself credit for your own abilities. In waking life, you may be a little shy, but your dreams have shown you that within you is the ability to achieve great things, if you have the courage to stand out from the crowd. Alternatively, such dreams could warn people in high positions that it is impossible to be at the top for any length of time and when the moment comes he or she needs to accept that fact with love and understanding. The dream may also imply that the dreamer must remember what modesty is and what things were like before they acquired their present status. Dreams of other people becoming famous suggest that the dreamer may soon receive help from friends who will offer it unstintingly.
RECOGNITION
We all need a pat on the back now and again for work well done. It’s normal to want validation for your efforts. If you are having dreams where you are hoping for and getting a gold star, or a grade A, an honor in front of your peers, recognition at work or reward from someone you want to impress, such dreams are subconscious messages that you’re feeling a bit underappreciated, neglected or unsure of how your efforts are being received. Sometimes this sort of dream can be a gentle reminder that a loved one has lost that loving feeling, and once we realize that, we can address the problem directly. If you receive the recognition in your dream gracefully, this suggests that you are ready to accept the positive aspects of yourself, but if you feel uncomfortable or someone else steals the limelight, then you need to work on your self-esteem.
TREASURE
Dreams of finding treasure or valuable objects or ordinary objects with magical properties have numerous variations, but the one constant theme is the discovery of something precious and magical. The psychological interpretation of such a dream urges you to seek out what is magical in your life, perhaps in the ordinary things you’ve been taking for granted.
TRIUMPH
Dreams are often the perfect forum for experimenting with courageous impulses. Triumphant or courageous dreams when you succeed in a task, pass a difficult test or win when you thought you would lose can bring a great sense of elation. If you have such a dream it could be because you undervalue your abilities. Is it a wish-fulfillment dream to compensate for failures and inhibitions in waking life? Or is it a motivating dream that encourages you to become more confident about succeeding in waking life by rehearsing your success in dreamland?
TRYING HARD
In dreams where you are given a challenge or task and have to work on it for endless hours, do you curse or do you give up? The number of times you attempt to succeed could suggest how important you feel the struggle is that it represents in waking life.
WEALTH
If you dreamed of winning the lottery or acquiring money, jewels or other valuable assets, such dreams are purely wish-fulfillment, especially if you are experiencing financial troubles. It could also suggest that you feel you deserve a pay rise. Symbols of riches, such as precious jewels or cash don’t always represent money, however. For example, gold may not suggest the metal but a heart of gold and a casket of treasure could indicate the people in your life that you treasure. Free association could help you discover what such symbols really mean to you. Do you really believe that money can buy happiness? Thinking about such questions can help you decipher the secret message your unconscious is sending you, and cast a new light on what really matters to you. See also SHOPPING AND MONEY.
Personal Achievements A to Z
Symbols of personal recognition—such as being awarded the highest honor, or stepping on stage to rapturous applause—feature in dreams as reflections of your aspirations. The images you see within your dream reflect your ambitions and the ways in which you hope to reach your goals. Depending upon the details, feelings and other images conjured up, your dreams may be urging you to raise your ambitions, or telling you that your goals are unrealistic.
ADVERTIZEMENT
The purpose of advertizements is to sell something, and a dream in which you see an advertizement or create one may be reminding you about some ambition or target. What the advertizement was displaying is important. If it was clear and convincing, you are keeping your focus in waking life, but if it was confusing, you have not kept your ambitions clear. See also LEISURE AND ENTERTAINMENT.
ANGLING
If you dream of fishing or angling, what are you fishing or angling for in waking life? Is the dream telling you to take extreme care and to have plenty of patience if you are to achieve your ambition.
AUCTION
If an auction figures in your dreams, what was the identity of the object you, or others, were bidding for? Was it a position at work? Was it for a lifestyle change? Was your bid too low or too high, or did you pay more than the object was worth? If so, should you re-evaluate your ambitions in waking life?
BRIDGE
Crossing a bridge indicates an ability to move forward and achieve the success you long for. It is a dream action which represents your underlying strength to cope with life’s journey, especially in the face of difficult challenges, such as divorce, redundancy or moving home.
DECORATION/MEDAL
To be decorated or to see others decorated for some heroic action suggests that you, or someone else, deserves recognition for some action but has not received it in waking life.
FAWN
To dream that people fawn on you, or satisfy your every whim, could suggest your desire for more attention in waking life, but it could also be a warning against enemies in the guise of interested friends. Dreams of people imitating you could have a similar interpretation.
FLYING BIRD
This represents aspirations, desires and the feeling that your spirit is soaring. Its association with the element of air—itself associated with aspirations and ideals—means a flying bird might have also become a symbol of high-flying ambition and the quest for enlightenment. See also BIRDS.
GIFTS
Could the gift represent a creative talent or skill you aren’t expressing in waking life? If you were given a gift of an expensive box of oil paints, for example, could this be encouraging you to make use of your artistic talent?
All wrapped up
Giving and receiving gifts in dreams indicates a need to give and take within a relationship, perhaps to share with others what we have and to create an environment that allows for give and take. Sharing is a fundamental human need, so if you are giving in a dream, this suggests your internal relationship with yourself, the environment or others. Giving a present usually suggests a need to express love or consideration for another person, whereas receiving it suggests your need for the love and consideration of another person. Receiving a shower of gifts suggests that you are held in high esteem.
A dream of unexpected gifts can have several meanings. The gift can point to the need for you to recognize your own worth. If you are the giver, the dream may be warning you to be more open and direct with other people, so that you are not caught off guard. An inappropriate gift of something you do not like, or have no use for, may indicate that someone’s attentions in waking life are not welcome. If you receive an unpleasant gift in a beautiful gift box, this image may reveal your intuition that someone’s apparently good intentions may disguise selfish motives. Finally, the image of an empty gift box may suggest that in waking life, things are not as attractive as they seem. Perhaps you have to face the reality of a relationship ending, or need to lower your expectations in some way.
A gift of chocolates may hark back to your childhood and infantile oral pleasures. According to Freudian theory, chocolates are a dream image of excrement, representing an anal fixation that may indicate a tendency to be overly formal or uptight. Beware of overanalysing here though, since dreams about chocolate sometime suggest a longing for love, affection and…chocolate.
THE HIGHEST HONOR
If you are bestowed with the highest honor in your dream, such as the Nobel peace prize or a bravery award, this could suggest a desire for your qualities and actions to be recognized by the appropriate person or authority in waking life. Dreaming of winning a particular prize, such as the Booker prize for literature, could be encouraging you to develop your interest in writing and those ideas for a novel that you have never put down on paper. Perhaps you have an unknown potential to be a best-selling author and your unconscious mind is urging you to have a go. The same applies to dreams when you create a beautiful painting or sculpture. Your unconscious is indicating that you should explore your artistic potential.
RECEIVING A DIPLOMA
If you dream of stepping onto stage to receive a degree, diploma or award, this is pure wish-fulfillment. In your dreams, you have the recognition, the qualification, the status, the applause and the sense of achievement you long for in waking life. Although this kind of dream does not predict that your wish will be fulfilled in waking life, it is an indication that you feel you deserve the recognition. Self-belief is a powerful tool in waking life and a key ingredient for success.
SKY
A dream of observing the night sky may be a hint that you intend to reach as high as you can in your particular field.
SPORTING PROWESS
If you are an athlete and dreamed that you scored the winning goal, a perfect 10 or hit a vital home run in a professional game, such dreams are pure wish-fulfillment. If, however, you have little or no sporting ability, it is likely that your unconscious mind is rewarding you for something you have done in waking life for which you haven’t been recognized. For example, your son or daughter may have recently gained entry to university and your dream is congratulating you on the part you played in helping them achieve their success. See also LEISURE AND ENTERTAINMENT.
STAR/PLANET
A dream of one bright star and your desire to capture it may refer to someone you desire to capture in waking life. A dream of mapping the sky or stars could refer to a number of ambitions you have in waking life—from which you should probably choose one. Dreams of specific planets may also be significant. See also SPACE AND SCIENCE.
TROPHIES, MEDALS AND OTHER PRIZES
These are all symbols of success and achievement, and if you dream of receiving trophies and other prizes, the chances are you are yearning to be recognized and praised for your efforts in waking life. Again the type of prize will give you an idea of the area of endeavor in which you feel you should be rewarded. For example, to be honored with the Nobel peace prize could refer to your peace-making skills
Crowns and Tiaras
Badge
Badges in dreams draw your attention to your right to be part of a team or group of people. It could also mean that you are being singled out for special recognition. The spiritual interpretation is that you need to be accepted, not just as yourself, but as part of a greater whole.
Coat of arms
To see a coat of arms in your dream represents your familial roots and identity.
Crowns
To dream of a crown is to acknowledge your own success and to recognize your ability to forge ahead in life. You may also be about to receive some sort of honor or award. If you dreamt that a crown or laurel wreath was placed on your head or a garland of flowers was placed around your neck, this could suggest that you crave to be acknowledged as head and shoulders above the rest in your waking life. As well as wish-fulfillment, such dreams can also be literal. Perhaps you have recently been promoted at work or been given new authority over a number of people.
Cup
Receiving a cup is less about wish-fulfillment than about the symbolism of the chalice, indicating a receptive state that encourages intuitive development and a go-with-the-flow approach to life. It may be encouraging you to be more open to the feminine side of your nature, and to give and receive in equal measure. A common dream among men is the presentation of the football cup, suggesting they feel as if they should be declared the ‘first among men’.
Diadem/Tiara
The diadem or tiara in a dream suggests mental or intellectual abilities that are not being acknowledged in waking life. It could also signify a desire for the magical and unknown.
Flowers
If you were presented with a bouquet of flowers in your dream, you need to notice who or what gave you the flowers, what kind of flowers they were, and what color they were, as all these messages are significant. The giver may be someone who you already know who holds you in high regard, but if it is someone you don’t know so well, your unconscious may be alerting you to their secret admiration. It is also possible that your unconscious is compensating for lack of recognition from other people and expressing your desire for them to be more demonstrative. If the flowers are dying or have wilted this could suggest that the giver’s admiration is wilting, or that your expectations are disappointed. If the dreamer discards the flowers this signifies bad relations between the dreamer and someone close to him or her, or the people around him or her, both at work and in the family.
Medal
A medal is a reward for bravery or good work, so when it appears in a dream it is recognition of your own abilities and achievements in life. If you give the medal to someone else, then you are honoring a part of yourself represented by that person.
Prizes
Dreams of prizes can denote a feeling of well-being, but they can also indicate financial worries. Gaining a prize can also be associated with winning a loved one’s sexual favors, especially if the prize is accompanied by a bunch of flowers. Prizes can also warn against unwarranted expectations. Jung cites as a universal dream type the Greek myth of Bellerophon, who received the winged horse Pegasus from the goddess Athene, and then presumptuously tried to fly to the heavens—the god Zeus sent a gadfly to sting the horse, and Bellerophon fell crashing to earth.
Shield
A shield is a symbol of preservation and protection. It can appear in dreams as a symbol of protection, or as a barrier between you and the rest of the world. Are you erecting the shield, or is it being erected by someone else?
Trophy
Recognition in your dreams that you have done something you should be proud of and have overcome your fears.
when a feud was about to erupt at work, but no one thanked you for your efforts.
WINNING
If you dream of winning, whether it is a prize, competition or contest, this illustrates your feelings of confidence. It may be a reassurance from your subconscious that you have what it takes to be a success in waking life. On the other hand, dream oracles suggest that this kind of dream can sometimes mean the opposite. If you dream of winning a lottery ticket, this indicates a new-found sense of optimism in your waking life. If you see numbers on a lottery ticket, consider buying a lottery ticket and use the numbers you saw in the dream. Losing or drawing the lottery in the dream, is a warning that you might be surrounded by false friends or that your hopes are unrealistic. See also NUMBERS.
ANIMALS
Animals in dreams represent primitive drives and desires, such as fear, lust and anger that can only be really understood on an instinctual level.
Thus, to dream of a certain animal could suggest an aspect of your personality that is instinctual, hidden or striving for recognition. It could also represent a part of yourself you find hard to control. And because we often assign characteristics or personality traits to animals, dream animals may also symbolize gut feelings we have about others. An attacking lion, for example, may depict how we see someone who is being aggressive toward us.
Animal dreams rouse special interest because they contain images that are familiar to us, but at the same time we recognize something that is unfamiliar and obscure. Traditionally, the characteristics of the dream animal are applied to the world of humans, often seeing the animal as a harbinger of misfortune or good luck; for example, a wolf is often thought to predict thieves or misfortune. According to Freud animals in dreams are not predictive of future events but a classic expression of repressed or unexpressed sexual and aggressive tendencies. Jung, however, argued that animals in dreams should be analyzed individually, depending on the character they portray in the dream and the association the dreamer has to them.
Jung believed that animals are sublime and, in fact, represent the ‘divine’ side of the human psyche. He suggested that animals live much more in contact with a ‘secret’ order in nature itself and—far more than human beings—live in close contact with ‘absolute knowledge’ of the unconscious. In contrast to humankind, the animal is the living being that follows its own inner laws beyond good and evil—and is, in this sense, superior and a source of inspiration and guidance.
Although animals are one of the most common dream symbols, dreams that feature them can be complex and hard to interpret. Perhaps the simplest way is to first think about how you feel about the specific animal in your waking life. You may, for example, adore cats and think of them as lovely creatures because you have a much-loved pet cat, or you may associate cats with feeling unwell because you are allergic to them. Thinking about how that animal makes you feel within the context of your dream should help you recognize if that feeling is struggling to the fore, or is already expressing itself in daily life.
If, on the other hand, you have no feelings in particular about the animal in your dream, you need to think about the quality you typically associate with it; for example, a fox with cunning and stealth, an elephant with strength and mystery, or a dog with unconditional loyalty and love. Because animals are thought to represent unedited feelings and drives, it’s possible that your unconscious used the symbol of the fox in your dream to alert you to your own or someone else’s cunning. Thinking about that aspect of yourself—again within the context of your dream—should tell you whether you need to nurture and develop it, tame it or be on your guard against it in someone else.
If you still feel puzzled, it may be that the hidden meaning lies in archetypal, traditional, legendary, mythical or magical associations. Dream animals may also embody a pun. For example, if you dream of a badger, are you feeling badgered or aggravated in some way? If you dream of a zebra, could this refer to your black and white view point?
Dream animals, no matter how problematic, offer us an opportunity to contact and explore both the parts of ourselves that we have shut away and the parts that we have yet to discover. In general, researchers believe that animal dreams mean that the subconscious has woken up and has come to life.
Our dreams will be selective and personal in the choice of animal used to portray our life situation, but as you interpret never forget that animal symbols in dreams typically represent a fundamental push toward life and living it with passion. See also BIRDS; REPTILES, FISH AND AMPHIBIANS; PETS.
Animal Situations
AGRICULTURAL ANIMALS
Neither pets nor wild creatures, agricultural animals often represent personal traits that you may have tamed to a certain extent, although there is always the risk that they will escape conscious control and run wild. It’s important to reflect on the context of the dream involving a working or farmyard animal as it may reflect how you feel about the burdens and responsibilities of your daily life
ANIMALS IN PAIN
To dream that you are rescuing, caring for or saving the life of an animal, suggests that you are successfully acknowledging certain emotions and characteristics represented by the animal. A wounded animal can mean a pain you need to come to terms with that has caused an instinctive reaction, such as reactive anger or terrible fear. To find yourself in the waiting room of an animal hospital suggests a desire to avoid a responsibility or commitment you have in your waking life. To see lab animals in your dream, suggests that an aspect of yourself is being repressed. Alternatively, it suggests that you need to experiment with your fears, choices, and beliefs. Try not to limit yourself.
ANIMALS IN WATER
Dreams about animals in water are symbols of our emotions. Water is a symbol of emotion because water, like emotion, constantly moves and flows. How the animal moves within the water reveals our emotional mood. For instance if the water is calm and beautiful then it shows our emotions are good.
ANIMALS WITH THEIR YOUNG OR BABY ANIMALS
Maternal and paternal instinct; your basic childhood need for love and protection or your own experience of being parented. A baby animal can refer to yourself when young and vulnerable; feelings or memories concerning your childhood; desire for babies; vulnerability; fundamental survival instincts such as crying out for protection and comfort and the need for dependence and bonding. If the young animal is injured or dying, this could suggest problems with maturing or dealing with adult life.
CAUGHT OR CAGED ANIMALS
To see wild animals caged suggests that you are in control of your instincts. If you are in the cage with them, it could suggest a need to break free from constraints. If you dream of an animal tangled in barbed wire or in a trap, this could suggest an unhappy relationship with yourself or someone else. If the animal seems calm, it suggests inner strength during adversity but if the animal panics, unhappy memories or unhealthy habits are limiting your potential for development and growth.
CHANGING INTO AN ANIMAL
Also known as zoomorphism, to dream that you are changing into the form of an animal indicates that you are becoming less civilized and restrained, and becoming more free and instinctive. You may be expressing your new-found freedom and independence. Alternatively, taking the form of an animal can also suggest repressed urges that need to be understood and managed. Consider also the qualities of the animal that you turn into and what happens to you in the dream. According to Jung the end of the dream is particularly significant. Favorable resolutions direct us to the most constructive ways of solving problems, whilst unfavorable dream resolutions contain a warning of negative changes. Dreaming of animal skin could mean you may have found or need to acquire the traits, power and wisdom of the animal concerned.
DOMESTIC ANIMALS
Domestic animals symbolize fundamental urges and drives in ourselves which we have learnt to meet and direct with reasonable success. They still have to be cared for though or they may rebel against what we ask of them. Buying and selling an animal may indicate the need for the dreamer to be aware of possible tensions with the people close to him. If the dreamer is selling an animal, this could indicate delays and frustrations; the need for inner calmness to help the dreamer through until he or sees the light at the end of the tunnel. See also PETS.
KILLING OR EATING AN ANIMAL
Attempting to kill the animal within (our lower brain functions) can cause tension, depression and illness; giving in entirely is no answer either as our higher brain functions need expression also. One of the challenges of maturing and growing is to meet and relate to our ‘animal instincts’, and if possible find ways to express them positively. To dream of eating an animal suggests that you need to draw upon your own inner wisdom and energy, but it can also suggest a desire for sensual pleasure.
NEGLECT OF ANIMALS
A common dream symbol that typically represents neglect of some aspect of your inner nature. For example, you may have been given an animal to look after, usually somebody else’s pet, while they were away on holiday and then completely forgot about the animal, only to discover it later starving, injured or even dead. This dream is reminding you that you have a responsibility to yourself and to see that your own sexual, nutritional and bodily needs are met.
PARTS OF ANIMALS
These have the same interpretation as parts of the human body (see BODY). If a four-legged animal has a leg or legs missing, it suggests a personality that is not fully rounded. If you dream of a tail, this could signify a need for balance and adjustment in tough circumstances. It can also indicate sexual arousal or the penis. If claws figure prominently in the dream, this could suggest spitefulness; desire to hurt; hidden aggression; clinging, or ‘getting one’s claws in someone’.
WATCHED, ATTACKED OR CHASED BY AN ANIMAL
Hiding from or being trapped by animals can suggest you are feeling controlled or threatened by your urges or the emotions or feelings of others. If the animal is watching you, your unconscious is reminding you not to forget or neglect the instincts that it represents. If the animal is attacking you, this could indicate that you are in the grip of a rage that you fear you may unleash. Your dream is urging you express or deal with your anger in a controlled way. If an animal is chasing you in a dream, this may suggest that in real life you are in flight from some area of your personality that wants to be expressed. If you are trying to find refuge from animals—either by building a defense or running away—this indicates a struggle with instincts that threaten your safety in waking life. In some cases dreams of being threatened or attacked by animals may be telling you that you are repressing your instincts—perhaps being too civilized—and you should try and loosen up more. Being bitten by an animal could indicate aggression from someone close to you or that our own aggressive instincts are not under control. Any threat from a sinister animal suggests fears and doubts you may have about your ability to manage your emotions. See also SURREALISM AND FANTASY.
Animal noises
If you hear animals making sounds in your dream, you need to consider what these sounds mean to you in waking life and then to make a symbolic link. For example, if you hear an animal barking, wailing or whining for attention, these sounds could be calling your attention to the qualities that that particular animal represents to you. If you hear ominous growling, roaring or cackling, it could reflect pent-up anger either within yourself or another person. If you hear braying, it could indicate a need to overcome basic animal instincts. If you hear bleating, you may be taking on new cares and responsibilities that could be positive or negative depending on your attitude towards them. See also SENSES.
WILD ANIMAL
The symbol of a deep-rooted instinct or the beast within you. Freud suggested that dreams of wild animals represented our most sensual passions, and sometimes the ‘evil instincts’ that lie deep within our unconscious. The more wild and dangerous the beast, the greater the danger that suppressed aspect of yourself will break free from the control of your conscious mind and force you to confront and deal with it in waking life. If you dream of a herd of wild animals, this could suggest you are meeting, or need to meet, aspects of yourself you have not yet learnt to direct or usefully integrate. Taming or harnessing a wild animal indicates a need to control your instincts and if possible make them productive and useful.
Do animals dream?
It seems that they do, although we can’t know for sure. All we can measure is whether or not they have REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, which is more or less associated with dreams. All mammals have REM sleep, and that increases the likelihood that they do dream.
Because REM sleep is recognizable in mammals and birds, but not in snakes and other reptiles, scientists think that most warm-blooded animals dream. Studies have monitored the sleep of goats, sheep, cats, dogs, rats, mice, monkeys and apes, and all had dream periods and symptoms; all except the spiny anteater, which seems to be a dream-free mammal.
Watch a sleeping dog or cat sometime, and you can tell if it is dreaming of running after something. Its eyes twitch, sometimes it moves its paws—something could be happening in its dreams.
WISE OR TALKING ANIMALS
To dream of wise animals suggests important information from your intuition or inner wisdom. This intuitive wisdom is within every one of us and the result of thousands of years of life experience. Many cultures all over the world represent great wisdom and holiness as animals or animal-headed beings. To dream that animals can talk represents a wisdom inside yourself that is innocent and simple. It could also represent your potential to be all that you can be.
Animals A to Z
More than anything else, dream animals represent powerful instinctive reactions to situations, for example, fight or flight, the urge to find a mate and protect our young, the desire to have standing and recognition within a group, and so on. When instincts need to be understood, expressed or controlled in some way animals can often appear in our dreams to symbolize them. By understanding animals in dreams and the qualities they represent, we can approach life in a more instinctive, simple and natural way.
Bear in mind though that there is a huge difference in meaning between wild animals and domesticated animals in dreams. In general, domesticated animals or pets, such as a dog or rabbit, represent those urges we have more control over and are therefore less threatening to our conscious desire to be in charge. The wild animals we dream of are more threatening to our ego, but they are also more powerful, because if we can develop a working relationship with them they offer incredible potential for growth.
APE/MONKEY
To dream of apes, monkeys, gorillas or baboons suggests a link with the impulsive, imprudent, inquisitive side of ourselves, such as the self-centred grabbing of food, or sexual gratification without concern for the needs of the other person. It can also suggest the ability to mimic or copy, as well the childish, foolish and infantile side of the dreamer’s character that delights in mischief-making.
On the other hand, to dream of apes or monkeys, especially if they are white haired, can link in with the dreamer’s own unconscious wisdom: the wonderful experience of existing, of being alive with all the powers of a living creature such as strength, passion, awe and wonder in meeting life and the stars. Does your dream monkey reveal a wider side of you? The three mystic monkeys cover their eyes, ears and mouth showing that they ‘see no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil’. Do you need to keep your own counsel?
Idioms: make a monkey of; monkey business; monkey with; monkey tricks; monkey’s uncle; monkey on your back.
BADGER
Define what you associate with the badger. For most of us, the play on words will feature strongly as a dream about badgers can often refer to badgering people, or feeling badgered and needing to get away from the influence of other people.
BAT
Bats can see in the dark suggesting thoughts or influences that emerge from our intuition or inner wisdom.
BEAR
Often represents the mother figure in dreams and depending on the dream, this image can be caring or uncaring, or possessive and all devouring. If the bear is recognized as male, then it could refer to an overbearing person, or perhaps the father figure in a person’s life.
The bear is largely a solitary animal that prefers to live and survive alone. This, and its human way of standing, may be major reasons for bears appearing in dreams. We can therefore link the bear with feelings about living alone or surviving by one’s own strength. Because of the bear’s ability to hibernate, it can also represent our ability to recreate ourselves after a period of rest and reflection.
Bears in dreams may also link to feelings we have about becoming independent, or meeting strength and independence in someone else, or even wild rage as ‘the bear with a sore head’. If the latter is the case, it could suggest your relationship with someone who is touchy or grouchy or powerfully possessive in a smothering relationship. It could also indicate the danger of sudden unpredictable reactions.
Idioms: look out also for possible plays on words, such as bare facts; bearing with something or someone; bearing ones soul; bearing in mind; a bearer of tidings; come to bear; overbearing; getting one’s bearings; bear fruit; bear-hug. If there is a hint of money in the dream, this might refer to a ‘bear market’. Does your dream bear mean that you need to take on the power of the bear? Can you ‘bear’ up—keep your spirits raised—or do you need to enlist help to do so?
BEAST
Many dreams feature beasts or animals that are of no particular characteristic or type. In some cases the beast is terrifying and we awake with a feeling of dread. Such creatures are usually an expression of memories, or instincts and drives, which have been repressed or avoided in our waking lives for one reason or another. See also SURREALISM AND FANTASY.
BEAVER
Beavers are typically associated with industriousness and independence, although the word does also have sexual connotations with the female sexual organs. If a dam is being built, this could suggest holding back feelings or the need to conserve energy. In Native American tradition the beaver is considered holy and if a beaver should speak to you in a dream, this may be an expression of your inner wisdom trying to make itself heard.
BOAR
Boars are symbols of the magical spirits that protect the woods. If they appear in dreams, they can suggest protection from danger and hardship in waking life.
BULL
When bulls appear in dreams they might refer to powerful instinctual responses that can sweep us along or cause problems if we try to deny them. Such instinctual urges may be to do with lust and desire, anger at people invading our space, paternal or maternal love and protectiveness, or simply an aggressive bullish trait within ourselves or someone else. It can also suggest personal traits to do with being earthy, basic or sexual in our approach as well as strength, obstinacy and power. If the bull is aggressive, this shows the frustration that can arise from basic drives being thwarted. For example, a person may have a high libido and feel frustrated with a partner who does not care for sex as much. If the bull is wounded or killed, this suggests a killing of natural urges or drives for sex and procreation. If the bull is sacrificed, this can suggest generosity and self giving. The ridden bull indicates harmony between instinct and decision making.
In many cultures or myths around the bull there is the theme of the Hero confronting and overcoming the bull; for instance Theseus and the Minotaur. Victory over the bull therefore represents the human struggle and victory over instinctual or reactive forces influencing consciousness. From this victory a new life or consciousness can be born.
Idioms: like a bull in a china shop; red flag to a bull; take the bull by the horns; bull at the gate; scoring a bull’s eye. For example, if your dream is of someone acting like a bull in a china shop, knocking everything over, it could be a warning to slow down and take more care. If you dream of hitting the bull’s eye, it means you stand every chance of achieving your goals. If you are a bully in your dreams, perhaps you are trying to impose your will on others. If you are being bullied, you need to stand up to someone.
CAMEL
Suggests the dreamer’s ability, or the ability of someone the dreamer knows, to face adversity—especially over the dry and barren aspects of life. It may also link with inner strength, endurance, patience and plodding perseverance. Occasionally the camel’s hump may suggest pregnancy or the desire for children.
CAT
Jung saw cats in dreams as representing the hidden or secretive side of a person’s nature. Cats often feature in dreams of women to represent the urge to care for someone or in some cases a desire for sex and the need to reproduce. In men’s dreams, a cat or group of cats may refer to a woman or group of women, or to the intuitive side of men’s nature, perhaps warning him of hidden dangers; cattiness, jealousy in a relationship. On the other hand it can also suggest independence, stealth and fertility. An alley cat indicates promiscuity. In some dreams, a black cat, depending on
Big cats
Stealth, ferocity, power, strength, cunning and the will to survive are suggested by wild cats in dreams.
Jaguar
Assertiveness and fierce anger.
Leopard
The leopard’s spots—which can be seen as eyes—represent watchfulness or the need for it. As with all the big cats, leopards in dreams suggest anger, speed, courage, passion and, in some cases, cruelty.
Lion/Lioness
Generally a positive symbol that suggests physical strength and success in waking life. It can also suggest self-assertion or the need for it to be expressed in waking life because of the lion’s roar. If, however, the lion is small or injured or in a vulnerable situation, this could suggest that the dreamer feels he or she is in a dangerous place, but also that these difficulties can be overcome with strength and daring. If a lion is chasing you, this is most likely due to a struggle with natural feelings of anger or aggression.
Idioms: lion’s den; lion’s share; head in the lion’s mouth
Lynx
Shares the same qualities as all the big cats, with an emphasis on the vigilance and the keenness of the lynx.
Panther
A Christian symbol, representing power to protect against evil. It also suggests anger and fierceness.
Tiger
Similar to the lion in many ways but with the emphasis on uncertainty and unpredictability. For example, tigers in dreams may suggest the possibility of plans changing unexpectedly. It can also warn against trusting a new acquaintance. The tiger can also represent sexuality but, depending upon how it is presented in the dream, a sexuality of uncertain elements—for example, will I be attacked or ignored.
Idioms: fight like a tiger; paper tiger.
what the dreamer associates with it, may indicate good or bad luck or fear in general. If the dream suggests cats are to be feared, this can indicate fear of the female in oneself, fear of females or a particular ‘catty’ female, or difficulty in meeting feelings and intuition. If you are allergic to cats and dream of one, it might signify a negative and threatening reaction to a situation or relationship. If cats speak in your dreams, this suggests sexuality, femininity and an ability to express it.
Idioms: copycat; bell the cat; cat and mouse; cat’s whiskers; cat out of the bag; cat and dog life; cat on hot bricks; something the cat brought in; a cat’s paw; cat amongst the pigeons; while the cat’s away. See also PETS.
CATERPILLAR
Often this represents male sexuality, or sexual intercourse, but it can also suggest untrustworthy acquaintances. If moving to chrysalis stage, this suggests you may be moving towards making very profound life changes. If already a chrysalis, a new aspect of yourself is forming and is ready to emerge. Caterpillars may also indicate a desire to withdraw from social activity.
CHAMELEON
The dreamer is recognizing in themselves the ability to change and adapt to circumstances.
COLD-BLOODED ANIMALS OR REPTILES
The unfeeling, cold, almost inhuman element in some human instincts is often suggested by cold-blooded animals or reptiles. See also REPTILES, FISH AND AMPHIBIANS.
COMPOSITE OR DEFORMED ANIMALS
To dream of animals mixed up with each other, for example, half animal-half man, could suggest confusion in finding the best approach to a situation in waking life. Perhaps the qualities of the animals in the dream need to be assimilated and integrated? The dream could also suggest that the dreamer is recognizing his or her potential for development.
COW
Similar to the bull in many ways but suggesting the female aspect of a person’s nature, in particular a willingness to put the needs of others before one’s own. Cows can symbolize motherliness, receptiveness, nurturing and the feminine energy that can lead or direct the masculine energy in oneself. They may also indicate being taken advantage of by someone in some way.
DEER/REINDEER/ANTELOPE
The gentle side of oneself that can be hurt or wounded easily by cynicism and aggression or criticism. Generally, a deer symbolizes vulnerability and, in some cases, lovesickness. In a man’s dream, the deer may depict a young woman the man is in pursuit of. If the dreamer is pursuing a deer, this indicates success in overcoming fears. If the dreamer sees himself killing a deer, this is a warning dream to indicate the possibility of someone hurting them in waking life through no fault of their own. To dream of a stag suggests male sexual drive and virility, courage, and both life and healing energies. The stag may also represent a man or father figure that the dreamer admires in some way and the dream expresses the dreamer’s desire to become more like the admired person. Finally, a deer or reindeer herd have a strict hierarchical structure and the dream could suggest that the dreamer needs to recognize his or her own place in the world. Is it time for you to branch out from this place in the world and make new connections? Are you in the process of renewal or do you need to be?
DINOSAUR
The dinosaur indicates the most primitive, unsocialized, basic urges of human nature such as fear, reproduction, and survival. Such instincts are still alive within us and need to be integrated otherwise they remain in a primitive form, perhaps in conflict with our personality. To dream of dinosaurs could also indicate some aspect of our personality or approach to life that is outdated and no longer needed for survival.
DOG
The dog depicts natural urges that are well integrated, but still have the tendency to revert back to the spontaneous or ‘wild’ state quite easily. For instance, our anger might usually be well under control but, if someone teases us, we might unexpectedly erupt with uncontrollable anger. Like the cat, the dog can also represent affection or caring. A black dog suggests depression or fear of death.
Idioms: die like a dog; dirty dog; dog eared; dog eat dog; dog in the manger; gay dog; go to the dogs; let sleeping dogs lie. See also PETS.
DOLPHIN
Sea-dwelling mammals much loved by man. However, despite their fondness for human companionship and joyous sense of fun, dolphins in dreams can foretell anxious times ahead; this is especially the case if a dolphin is seen leaping out of the water. See also REPTILES, FISH AND AMPHIBIANS.
DONKEY/ASS
In the Bible, the ass carries Christ and is often thought to represent humbleness and humility but it can suggest the stubbornness arising perhaps out of long-entrenched habits and automatic behavior. Generally the donkey represents the plodding, longsuffering body and its basic needs, and a dream in which the dreamer is riding on a donkey hints at progress, even if it is slow. Do you feel impatient with your progress or overburdened? Are you refusing to give way on an important issue? Don’t forget about Eeyore, of Winnie the Pooh fame. Eeyore is a depressed and sluggish donkey. Are you feeling that way?
A dream that features a donkey braying implies that the dreamer is on a liberating journey from some kind of family or health trauma. A dream in which the donkey is tied up attests to the dreamer’s fierce will power that can ‘move mountains’ if directed towards a positive goal. If the ass or donkey is being ridden by or pulling someone else, you may be feeling you are doing all the hard work in a relationship, or working like a beast of burden.
ELEPHANT
To dream of an elephant is to recognize the qualities of patience, long memory, strength, wisdom and loyalty. It’s a particularly good sign if you are riding it. If other people are riding the elephant, it could suggest help from a friend or a close strong friendship. To feed an elephant suggests meetings with people in key positions. If you run from a herd of stampeding elephants, this could suggest being afraid of your own strength or inner power. If a rogue elephant stampedes, it could represent a chaotic element in yourself that threatens to wreak havoc in the waking world if it isn’t controlled. The question is, can we meet this enormous strength and energy in ourselves and learn to direct it positively? The elephant’s trunk is sometimes said to be a sexual symbol indicating the ability to satisfy needs.
Idioms: white elephant; pink elephants; rogue elephant; memory like an elephant. Is there a memory you are holding onto that you need to get rid of? Do you need elephantine strength for a task?
ELK/MOOSE
Suggests the wild drives or emotions that can carry us along, or trample us.
FERRET/ERMINE
Suggestive of inquisitiveness—the ability to ferret or find out things—as well of selfish actions that can injure another person’s feelings. (The ermine was traditionally linked with virgin saints and thus purity.)
FOX
A fox symbolizes shrewdness in dealing with life’s challenges, but also a tricky person or relationship, or false or deceptive rumors. It also suggests unpredictable behavior and a refusal to conform. If the dreamer chases a fox in a dream, it suggests that he or she is too detached from reality and is in danger of floating in a sea of untruths. Do you need to be as ‘wily as a fox’ at present? Does your dream fox need protection from the hunt and if so, what can this be linked to in your daily life?
FROG
Symbolic of the deeply unconscious psychobiological processes which can transform us from a tadpole/sperm into an air-breathing frog. In dreams, frogs suggest an extra, deeper element to ourselves and if we can integrate it, our life will become richer. The frog has also been associated with the power of resurrection and renewal by meeting that which we find difficult or repulsive in life and ourselves. The frog into the prince story suggests this power to transform the dark, unformed side of oneself, the toad or beast, into something which is fully aware and radiant.
Game animals
Game animals—notably the deer, rabbit and hare—offer encouragement, and dreamers should view their presence optimistically. The rabbit’s renowned ability to breed offers the promise of fertility in women and virility in men. Hares are closely associated with the moon goddess and they suggest an ability to see the magical in everything. Deer are also viewed as animals of the spirit. Due to the branching nature of their antlers, stags have been linked with the ‘tree of life’, and are thought to impart intuitive wisdom to those who dream of them.
GOAT
Traditionally a symbol of virility, and so if a goat appears in a woman’s dream, it can be linked to a lover she desires, or to fertility and procreative power. Similarly, if a goat appears in a man’s dream, it attests to the amount of importance he ascribes to his virility and, in context with the rest of the dream, should be interpreted in this way. It can also suggest the ability to ‘climb’ and survive difficulties, personally or socially. Occasionally it is connected with natural drives which, if they become repressed, are associated with the devil. If the goat is attacking, this may indicate somebody butting into your life or some form of conflict.
Idioms: separating the sheep from the goats; get my goat; an old goat (an aging man still lusting after women).
HARE
In past cultures, the hare was often given great respect. It stood for intuition, rejuvenation and resurrection, and thus of the immortal nature of humans. Because of the hare’s habit of bounding up suddenly from hiding places, to dream of a hare suggests sudden, powerful intuition. If the hare appears as a supernatural figure giving advice or as a sacrificial animal, it indicates the ability to draw on hidden potential and make great changes in life. On the other hand dreams about hares and rabbits can also symbolize timidity and inhibition as far as sex is concerned. Having said that, if the hare is running or in flight it could suggest that great changes are about to take place, and a positive change in status, environment and finance are on the cards. If a person dreams he is eating a hare, this can suggest that he or she is envious of someone’s good fortune or that someone is envious of them.
There is a legend that a hare breeder has only to tell a hare to kill itself and it will do so, thus showing its capacity for self-sacrifice. Are you making sacrifices at the moment? Are you thinking clearly or doing yourself an injustice?
HEDGEHOG/PORCUPINE
If a hedgehog or porcupine appears in a dream, it might indicate that the dreamer, or someone they know, is very prickly, easily offended or irritated by the remarks or actions of other people. It might also represent a vulnerable part of oneself that is quick to withdraw, but can react by lashing out and hurting others.
HIPPOPOTAMUS
A dream about a hippopotamus suggests the dreamer is suffering from feelings of inferiority. He or she is not satisfied about him or herself, both physically and mentally. These feelings do not always have a basis in reality but represent how the dreamer views him or herself. The hippopotamus is considered to be clumsy, ungainly and overweight, and the dreamer may also feel this way about themselves. Whether true or not in waking life, this inner feeling of being a loser will hold the dreamer back and prevent him or her succeeding in life. The dream implies that the image the dreamer has of themselves is a figment of their imagination. If they could only shake it off and see themselves in a less critical light, they would feel much better about themselves and be able to attract success into their life. Dreams about hippos can also represent concerns about fertility and childbirth as the female hippopotamus represents the Egyptian Great Mother, Amenti, the goddess of childbirth.
HORSE
Studies show that the animals that most often appear in dreams are horses, along with cats and dogs, and women seem to dream of horses more often than men do; indeed, Artimedorus of Daldis (2nd century AD) lists horses amongst the most common dreams of women. Some dream interpreters suggest that horses represent male sexuality.
According to Freud, horses symbolize the sexual drive. Jung noted that horse dreams could often be indicative of health conditions. Horses, like dogs, represent urges and passions in ourselves that we have learned to harness or direct, and in general they represent positive things that are about to happen in a dreamer’s waking life. Horses suggest the sort of enthusiasm or feelings of well-being that can carry us through the day and through life. Having said that much depends on the context of the dream; for instance, if the dreamer falls off the horse, this may suggest relating badly to urges and passions and the resulting tension this creates. If the horse is wild, this suggests undirected energy, such as sexual desires which override personal or interpersonal needs.
Idioms: back the wrong horse; from the horse’s mouth; don’t look a gift horse in the mouth; horse sense; you can lead a horse to water; wild horses; workhorse; horsing about; getting on your high horse; eat like a horse; back the wrong horse; beating a dead horse. For ‘equestrian issues’ and dreams concerning working or domesticated horses, see also PETS.
HYENA
The appearance of a hyena in a dream suggests taking advantage of someone, or being taken advantage of. A dream about an attack by a hyena may foretell an attempt to ruin the dreamer’s reputation.
JACKAL
Similar to ‘dog’, but a wilder version. The jackal is a cunning scavenger and as a result is sometimes associated with death. It can also see in the dark and the ancient Egyptians believed the jackal to be a pathfinder in the underworld—i.e. the unconscious—leading the dead to the other world or enlightenment. Be aware too of the ‘Jackal and Hyde’ phenomenon that exists inside all of us.
KANGAROO
A dream about a hopping kangaroo suggests a problematic relationship, or the potential for problems, if one person spends too much time with other people or refuses to commit. It could also indicate problems with concentration and focus in waking life.
LAMB
The childlike, vulnerable, dependent, innocent, pure part of a person that Christlike has the power to defeat evil. A dream about slaughtering lambs will suggest success at the expense of peace of mind. If wolves or dogs are tearing lambs apart, it means innocent people are suffering at the hands of unscrupulous others. A dream about carrying lambs means that the dreamer is carrying the burdens of the people he or she loves happily. If lambskins appear in a dream, this suggests that the dreamer or other people have been deprived of joy and comfort.
MOLE
Associated with solitude, seclusion and the avoidance of human company, the mole can represent the attitude of a recluse. It might also indicate problems festering beneath the surface, as in molehills.
MOUSE
Suggestive of the mousy, shy or timid part of the self, dreaming of mice could also suggest small but important developments or subtle changes that can gnaw away at our self-esteem. Dreaming that you are a mouse could mean you feel dull, undistinguished and lacking in confidence in waking life. The sexual organ which goes in and out of a hole is another association. If a person sees a mousetrap or a mouse caught in a trap, it could mean they need to watch out for people who gossip or take advantage of them.
OTTER
Ancient cultures saw the otter as a pure, holy creature and to see an otter in a dream suggests an ability to adapt to circumstances without ‘drowning’ and to clearly see what is really going on under the surface of everyday life.
OX
Very similar to ‘bull’, with the possible exception that oxen are often castrated, so dreams in which they feature could suggest frustration. Can you recognize the strength of the ox within yourself? Are you engaged in a task that demands great commitment?
PIG/WILD BOAR
Pigs are symbolic of a life governed by untamed physical needs and passions; they can also suggest impossible ventures, or inappropriate behavior and neglect of the spiritual side of life. By contrast, amongst the peoples of the East, a dream about a pig is interpreted as a good dream that attests to prosperity.
Idioms: pig in a poke; happy as a pig in shit; make a pig of oneself; pig in the middle; pigs might fly; pig headed; piggy bank (is your dream linked to savings?).
RABBIT
The rabbit breeds easily, so in dreams it is often linked to sexuality. It is also associated with the soft, vulnerable part of ourselves that can be easily hurt or hounded. If the dreamer is hunting wild rabbits, this could suggest that they are being criticized, attacked, ‘hunted down’ or hounded. See also PETS.
RAM
Representing masculine sexual energy, the ram can also indicate a refusal to conform or be part of a group, together with an unconscious desire to lead rather than follow.
Idioms: battering ram; ramming one’s point home; like a ram among sheep.
RAT
The rat is a symbol of fears and anxieties, or is the diseased or devious part of a dreamer or his or her situation. It can also represent something which is repulsive in some way. The dreamer may be experiencing disloyalty from a friend or colleague. Other associations are of dirt and squalor, or of time gnawing away at our life and the unacceptable parts of oneself. By contrast, dreaming about a pet rat suggests the opposite: vulnerability and the responsibility for caring.
Idioms: rat on someone; rat race; smell a rat; feeling ratty; cornered rat; rats leave a sinking ship.
SEAL
Dreaming of a seal suggests the dreamer is at one with the life they have chosen to lead. If the seal is wounded, injured or hunted, the opposite might be suggested.
SHEEP/LAMB
Sheep in dreams represent the aspects of oneself that conforms to social pressures, such as feeling part of a crowd or being herded by others. Dreaming of sheep can also suggest aspects of ourselves that are the same as other human beings or working hard to accomplish a goal. If the dreamer is caring for sheep, this may indicate a desire to grow spiritually.
Idioms: make sheep’s eye at someone; follow like a sheep; being sheepish.
SNAKE
See REPTILES, FISH AND AMPHIBIANS.
SQUIRREL
The squirrel represents the hoarding aspect of the personality.
TOAD
To dream of a toad suggests that the dreamer needs to become aware, and come to terms with, what is ugly in life, or in his or her behavior. However, the ugliness does have within it the power of transformation and growth into something beautiful.
UNICORN
A symbol of purity and a return to innocence; can also suggest the control of the ego, and selfishness. See also SURREALISM AND FANTASY
VERMIN
Dreams involving any sort of vermin suggest that you need to contemplate, or take into consideration, something that is unwanted or that has invaded your space.
WEASEL
The weasel highlights the devious and more dubious side of our personalities.
WHALE
The whale is a mammal that lives beneath the waters and it suggests the power of rebirth, our ability to reinvent our approach to life, or circumstances in life which are holding us back. See also REPTILES, FISH AND AMPHIBIANS.
WOLF
Dreaming of a wolf suggests that the dreamer may be feeling threatened by other people, or may be vulnerable in some situation. The wolf, as suggested by fairy stories like Red Riding Hood, also represents the female fear of powerful male sexuality, and yet might also figure in female sexual fantasies. Wolves are also symbols of repressed sexuality and anger.
Idioms: wolf at the door; wolf in sheep’s clothing; cry wolf; throw to the wolves; a wolf (a man who lusts after women and pursues them like a predator).
ZEBRA
In dreams, the zebra has much the same significance as the ‘horse’, but with the additional meaning of balancing the black and white aspects of the personality into a powerful whole.
ARCHETYPES
‘Collective unconscious’ is the term Carl Jung used to describe the part of the unconscious that everyone has access to, a sort of psychic storehouse for all humankind.
The contents of this storehouse are called ‘archetypes’: patterns and symbols that can be found within the unconscious of everyone. These archetypes represent the broad human memory within each of us. They appear as mythical images that occur in every culture throughout recorded history—the images appearing in the dreams of our ancestors are those that speak to us today.
According to Jung, dreams are attempts to guide the waking self. He thought that the purpose of life—and for him, dreams play an important role in it—is to understand and integrate all parts of ourselves; dreams are simply one aspect of the self trying to communicate with the conscious part. Dreams don’t disguise the unconscious, they reveal it, through archetypes.
Sigmund Freud disagreed with Jung, as he believed that dreams were disguised attempts to hide, not reveal, true feelings from the waking mind. Freud did, however, recognize a concept of ‘archaic remnants’, inherited—rather than learned—beliefs, through which basic emotions and responses are represented. For example, the mother figure is a universal symbol of nurturing and protection.
Today, most dream researchers believe that we are more likely to see archetypal figures in our dreams at transition points in our lives than at other, more stable times. Change generally brings about anxiety and self-reflection. Going from education to the workforce, singlehood to marriage, or childless to parent are some typical archetypal transitions. Many of these archetypes are very familiar to us already, because they can be found in myths, legends, fairy tales, books and movies: the wicked stepmother, the authoritative father and the vulnerable maiden. We are as familiar with the superhero in films like Spiderman or Batman, as we are with the character of the dastardly joker or villain. All these characters are archetypes, and enduring representations of basic human qualities, instincts and experiences.
The first step in analysing an archetype, as with any symbol, is through personal reference. For example, a dream about monsters may refer to our inner fears, but it
Jungian constructs
The Persona
In your dreams are you wearing a disguise or mask? Are you a regal persona or did you become a superhero? Are you using cosmetics or wearing a wig? Are you worried about your appearance in some way? Are you naked? Are your clothes torn and ragged? If so, this kind of dream concerns your persona or personas, as we all have more than one.
The persona represents your public image, the part of yourself that is presented externally by what you say, wear and look like. The word is obviously related to the words ‘person’ and ‘personality’, and comes from the Latin word for mask. So the persona is the mask you put on before you show yourself to the outside world.
Your persona’s wardrobe of masks comprises the various faces you use to present yourself to different audiences in waking life—for example, your family, friends, colleagues and strangers. We wear these masks to help us relate better to different groups of people, but these masks are not the real you. Depending on the context of your dream and how you felt, your unconscious may be warning you that one of your personas is in conflict with your true self, or that you need to adopt a different persona to achieve your goals.
The persona is rarely personified in a dream. It is usually a dream theme, rather than a dream figure: for example, the persona can be said to be present in a dream in which your clothes are stained, or you are naked or inappropriately dressed. At its best, the persona is just the ‘good impression’ you wish to present as you fill the roles society requires of you. But, of course, it can also be the ‘false impression’ you use to manipulate people’s opinions and behaviors. And, at its worst, it can be mistaken, even by yourself, for your own true nature; sometimes we believe we really are what we pretend to be!
The Anima and the Animus
A part of our persona is the role of male or female we must play. For most people, that gender role is determined by their physical sex. But Jung, like Freud and Adler and others, felt that we are all really bisexual in nature. When we begin our lives in the womb, we have undifferentiated sex organs that only gradually become male or female, under the influence of hormones. Likewise, when we begin our social lives as infants, we are neither male nor female in the social sense until society molds us into men or women.
In all societies, the expectations placed on men and women differ, but in our society today, we have many remnants of traditional expectations. Women are still expected to be homemakers and nurturers; men are still expected to be strong breadwinners. But Jung felt these expectations meant that we had developed only half of our potential.
The anima is the unconscious female aspect present in the collective unconscious of men, and the animus is the unconscious male aspect present in the collective unconscious of women. The function of the anima/animus is to help the dreamer establish a good working relationship with his or her male/female counterpart. This is an important step in the development of the personality.
The anima or animus is the archetype through which you communicate with the collective unconscious generally, and it is important to get into touch with it. It is also the archetype that some researchers believe guides our choice of partner. We are, as suggested by an ancient Greek myth popularized by Plato in the Symposium, always looking for our other half—the half that the Gods took from us—in members of the opposite sex. When we fall in love at first sight, then we have found someone that ‘fills’ our anima or animus archetype particularly well!
If someone of the opposite sex played a leading role in your dreams or aroused feelings of deep yearning, attraction and fascination, then your dreaming self has witnessed the appearance of the anima/animus, the opposite of your conscious personality. This is why if you are an indecisive, shy man your animus may take the form of a party-loving woman who is resolute—or if you are a cautious, rational female your anima may take the form of a spontaneous, passionate man. The anima/animus may be either positive or negative and both can be symbolized by people you know or don’t know in waking life, as well as mythical, symbolic, and legendary characters, or by objects that somehow represent the masculine or feminine to you. Typically, the anima is personified as a single figure image; for example, a young girl, a witch, or an earth mother. It is likely to be associated with deep emotionality and the force of life itself. The animus may be a plurality of figures, for example a band of robbers or a council passing judgment, although it is also often personified as a wise old man. It is likely to be presented as logical, rationalistic, and judgmental.
By introducing the anima/animus, your unconscious is urging you to seek balance and compensate for those attitudes or behaviors that dominate your thinking and being in waking life. Heeding the promptings of your anima/animus can help you become a more content and rounded personality, and perhaps strengthen your relationships with the opposite sex
The self
The most important archetype of all is the self—the higher, more spiritual aspect of the personality. In dreams it can appear in many forms; most typically as a child or baby, suggesting vulnerability, freshness, spontaneity and potential. It can also be symbolized by the circle, the cross, and the mandala figures that Jung was fond of painting. (See SYMBOLS.) To a woman, the self may also be presented as a wise old woman, priestess, fairy godmother, biological mother, queen or princess. To a man, the self may manifest as a king, priest, wise old man, guru, prophet or philosopher.
The shadow
Did you dream of someone, perhaps a stranger, or someone you know who behaved in a repulsive, hateful or shocking way and your instinctual response was one of loathing? If so, you may have encountered your shadow. In waking life, your consciousness represses your shadow, but in dreams it can come to the fore. A useful indicator of your shadow is the quality you despise most in other people, such as boastfulness or cowardice. When your shadow appears, it may be telling you to embrace that part of yourself you find hard to accept, so that you can enhance your creativity.
The shadow is the unacceptable or unknown aspect of ourselves. It derives from our pre-human, animal past, when our concerns were limited to survival and reproduction, and when we weren’t self-conscious.
Symbols of the shadow include the snake, the dragon, monsters, and demons. It can appear in many different dream disguises: a foreigner, gypsy, tramp, prostitute, murderer, thief, stranger, alcoholic, drug addict, rapist, burglar, crippled, deformed, blind, a servant or someone following you. It often guards the entrance to a cave or a pool of water, which is the collective unconscious.
The shadow is not always represented as an enemy in dreams. It often contains values that are needed by consciousness and only becomes hostile when ignored or misunderstood. Although it suggests the ‘dark side’ of the ego, the shadow is actually amoral—neither good nor bad, just like animals. An animal is capable of tender care for its young and vicious killing for food, but it doesn’t choose to do either. It just does what it does. It is ‘innocent’. But from our human perspective, the animal world looks rather brutal, inhuman, so the shadow becomes the part of ourselves that we can’t quite admit to.
may also be a carry-over from the horror film you watched the same night. The next step is to take into consideration the other images in the dream, as well as the feelings and general atmosphere.
When archetypes appear in your dreams you will rarely feel indifferent to them and your instinctive response is crucial to the interpretation. Do they make you feel angry, inspired, sad, protective, frustrated or liberated? Never forget that such images spring from the deepest levels of the unconscious, and it is up to you to discover why they have been conjured up.
Jung contributed to our understanding of dream archetypes with constructs of his own, which some dream researchers find helpful in interpreting dreams. Although Jung believed that there is no fixed number of archetypes which we can simply list and memorize, he did believe that most archetypes are aspects of the following constructs: the persona, the anima and the animus, the ego, and the shadow. As you interpret your dreams you might want to consider these constructs along with the other archetypal images suggested in the pages of this book.
Archetypes A to Z
The archetypes listed here are just a few of the many ancient patterns that exist in human consciousness and manifest as symbolic figures, played by yourself or someone else, in your dreams. See also SYMBOLS.
ADDICT
[DREAM IMAGES: CONSPICUOUS CONSUMER; GLUTTON; WORKAHOLIC ETC.]
Besides the usual suspects—drugs, alcohol, food and sex—one can be addicted to work, sports, television, exercise, computer games, spiritual practice, negative attitudes, thrill seeking and many other activities. When this archetype appears in dreams, it suggests the need to confront some kind of addiction and restore balance in your life. From a symbolic perspective, the shadow aspect of the addict represents a struggle with will power and the absence of self-control.
ADVOCATE
[DREAM IMAGES: ATTORNEY; DEFENDER; ENVIRONMENTALIST; LEGISLATOR; LOBBYIST ETC.]
The advocate embodies social justice and a sense of devotion to championing the rights of others in the public arena. The shadow advocate manifests in commitment to false or negative causes, or in committing to causes for personal gain. If this figure appears in your dreams, you should ask yourself how much of your life is dedicated to the welfare of others, and a willingness to take action on their behalf.
ALCHEMIST
[DREAM IMAGES: INVENTOR; MAGICIAN; SCIENTIST; WIZARD ETC.]
The alchemist, wizard and magician are capable of transforming the ordinary into the extraordinary. Whereas a wizard is associated with magical powers, the magician tends to be seen more as an entertainer. The alchemist tries to turn base metals into gold, but in its highest manifestation, alchemy seeks complete spiritual transformation. The scientist and inventor are associated with advances and developments in human history. The shadow sides of these archetypes are found in the misuse of the power and knowledge to transform people’s lives. This archetype may appear in your dreams if your work or living situation demands that you be especially inventive. On the other hand, it could suggest that you, or someone you know, may be using skills and knowledge for unethical purposes.
ANDROGYNOUS BEING
[DREAM IMAGES: HALF MAN-HALF WOMAN; HERMAPHRODITE; TRANSVESTITE]
The symbol of a person who has attained the perfect balance of male and female characteristics, an androgynous being represents the union of opposites, an important idea in Jung’s theory. In dreams, this archetype is not so much referring to your sexual nature, but more to the union of your inner and outer world. Your interpretation will depend on how this dream image made you feel; were you relaxed and natural, or did you feel repulsed or confused? The latter suggests disharmony, whilst the former suggests harmony.
ANGEL
[DREAM IMAGES: FAIRY GODMOTHER/GODFATHER]
Angels are typically represented as winged beings who intervene at times of great need, or for the purpose of delivering a message of guidance or instruction from God to human beings. Therefore in dreams, angels represent your higher self-image and offer guidance from within, but they can also represent an evil being of similar powers: the fallen angle who has been led astray, or is leading other people astray. Bear in mind, too, that the dream may refer to someone in your life who is an angel because of the loving and nurturing qualities of character that they embody. One may also play the role of a fairy godmother or godfather by helping someone.
ARTIST
[DREAM IMAGES: ARTISAN; CRAFTSPERSON; SCULPTOR; WEAVER ETC.]
In dreams, the artist archetype suggests the need for self-expression. The shadow artist indicates an eccentric nature and the madness that often accompanies genius. In evaluating your relationship to this archetype, recognize that the need to inspire others in some way—for example through teaching, writing, listening and encouraging—is as much an expression of the artist archetype as actually holding a brush in your hand. See also ARTS AND CRAFTS.
ATHLETE
[DREAM IMAGES: FITNESS INSTRUCTOR; OLYMPIAN; SPORTSPERSON ETC.]
This archetype represents the ultimate expression of the strength of the human spirit as represented in the power and magnificence of the human body. Athlete dreams should not be interpreted in terms of whether your body is perfect in form and function, but whether you have the willpower and strength of spirit to achieve your goals. The shadow aspect of athletes may manifest in dreams about cheating, suggesting a lack of honor in yourself or someone you know. See also LEISURE.
AVENGER
[DREAM IMAGES: AVENGING ANGEL; MESSIAH; SAVIOR]
This archetype suggests a need to balance the scales of justice in your waking life. Dreams about bringing war criminals to trial, or legally pursuing corporations that harm society, or saving the world from impending disaster are examples of the avenger archetype in action. The shadow side of the avenger manifests in dreams with acts of violence and a burning desire to get even at all costs as their themes.
BEGGAR
[DREAM IMAGES: HOMELESS PERSON; INDIGENT ETC.]
Homeless and penniless, the beggar is associated with dependence on the kindness of others, living on the streets, starvation and disease. It is easy to believe that when this archetype appears in your dreams, the interpretation should be a negative one, but this isn’t always the case. People don’t just beg for money; they can also beg for attention, love, authority, success and material objects. Learning about the nature of generosity, compassion and humility, and understanding what it is you really need, are fundamental to interpreting this dream image.
BULLY
[DREAM IMAGES: COWARD; DEMANDING BOSS/TEACHER; GANG OF INTIMIDATING THUGS; SCHOOL BULLY ETC.]
The archetype of the bully manifests the core truth that the spirit is always stronger than the body, and your relationship to this archetype should be evaluated within a framework far more expansive than evaluating whether you bully people or are being bullied. Consider whether in waking life you are giving up on things and people too easily. Conventional wisdom holds that underneath a bully is a coward trying to keep others from discovering his or her true identity. If the theme of cowardice or intimidation by a boss, teacher or gang of thugs appears in your dreams, perhaps your unconscious is urging you to stand up to being bullied by your own inner fears.
CHILD
[DREAM IMAGES: CHILD OF NATURE; DIVINE; MAGICAL/INNOCENT; ORPHAN; WOUNDED]
The child of nature archetype inspires deep, intimate bonding with natural forces. Although the nature child is loving and giving, it can also have an inner toughness and ability to survive—the resilience of Nature herself. Nature children can develop advanced skills of communicating with animals, and in dreams reflecting this archetype, an animal often comes to the rescue of its child companion. Such dreams can reflect a compassionate, nature-loving aspect of our character, or the need to stop abusing the environment (understood in its widest sense) and reconnect with nature.
The magical child embodies qualities of wisdom and courage in the face of difficult circumstances. In dreams, it suggests the power of imagination and the belief that everything is possible. If, however, the magic is not put to positive use, the dream image is a negative one, and indicates lack of energy and action in waking life.
The orphan child is the major character in most well-known children’s stories, including ‘Bambi’, ‘Cinderella’, ‘Hansel and Gretel’, ‘The Little Mermaid’, ‘Little Orphan Annie’, ‘The Matchstick Girl’, ‘Snow White’ and many more. The pattern in these stories is often reflected in the dreams of people who feel from birth as if they are not a part of their family or community, or who fear surviving alone in this world.
The wounded child archetype in dreams holds the memories of the abuse, neglect and other traumas that may have been endured during childhood. From a spiritual perspective, a wounded childhood cracks open the learning path of forgiveness. The shadow aspect may manifest as an abiding sense of self-pity, a tendency to blame your parents for your current shortcomings and to resist moving on through forgiveness.
Whilst dreams about children that never grow old reveal a determination to remain eternally young in body, mind, and spirit, they can also suggest an inability to grow up and embrace the responsible life of an adult. Peter Pan is the most obvious example of this archetype—he resists ending a cycle of life in which he is free to live outside the boundaries of conventional adulthood. For women, this archetype may manifest as extreme dependency on those who take charge of their physical security. A consistent inability to be relied on, and the inability to accept the aging process, are also markers of this archetype.
Carl Jung claimed that the dream symbol of a child is a metaphor for the forgotten things in childhood. For example, your dream may be telling you that you have forgotten how to play, or that you should take a more innocent, carefree attitude. The symbol of the child also represents possibilities and paves the way for future changes in the personality. In addition, it can also represent the part of you that needs security and reassurance. See also BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD.
CLOWN
[DREAM IMAGES: COURT JESTER; FOOL; TRICKSTER]
If a clown appears in your dreams, ask yourself if you need to bring humor into a situation or carry truth into closed circles or closed minds. Did a clown or trickster try to undermine you in your dream? Did someone you know play a trick on you? Playing pranks is associated with the clown or trickster, who delights in challenging the status quo and rebelling. Although confusing, this attention-seeker is worthy of your attention, as it represents the part of yourself that wants to challenge you out of your complacency. If you listen to the message, the clown can transform your waking life into a more carefree, spontaneous and happy one.
DAMSEL
[DREAM IMAGES: PRINCESS; YOUNG GIRL ETC.]
The damsel in distress may be the oldest female archetype in all of popular literature and the movies. She is beautiful, vulnerable and in need of rescuing. If this image appears in your dreams, it may suggest your intense desire to be rescued or protected by a loved one; it may also suggest the need to go it alone. When disappointed, a damsel must go through a process of empowerment and learn to take care of herself in the world.
DESTROYER
[DREAM IMAGES: ATTILA; MAD SCIENTIST; SERIAL KILLER; SPOILER]
The impulse to destroy and rebuild is archetypal. We are bound to that cycle so that new life can begin. Dreams which have destruction as a theme, or where you or someone else are destroying things or people often refer to releasing emotions or behavior that are destroying us. It can also represent an aspect of yourself that destroys relationships or promotes attitudes and opinions that destroy others’ dreams or potential.
DETECTIVE
[DREAM IMAGES: DOUBLE AGENT; PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR; SHERLOCK HOLMES; SLEUTH; SNOOP; SPY ETC.]
Positive characteristics of the detective include the ability to seek out knowledge and information that supports solving crimes and protecting the public. The shadow side of these archetypes can manifest as voyeurism, falsifying information, or selling out to the highest bidder. If the detective archetype appears in your dreams, it could be encouraging you to become more inquisitive. On the other hand, it could be questioning your motives for seeking out information.
DON JUAN
[DREAM IMAGES: CASANOVA, GIGOLO, SEDUCER, SEX ADDICT]
Although associated with sensuality and sophistication, this archetype represents a man preying on others for the sake of conquest alone. Like the Femme Fatale, if the Don Juan archetype appears in dreams, it can make us aware of falling into sex-role clichés, and misusing the power of romantic attraction and pursuit.
ENGINEER
[DREAM IMAGES: ARCHITECT; BUILDER; SCHEMER]
The characteristics of the engineer reflect the grounded, orderly, strategic qualities of mind that convert creative energy into a practical expression. This archetype also manifests as a talent for designing solutions to common dilemmas. Are these talents ones you are expressing or need to develop? The shadow engineer manifests as a master manipulator, designing and engineering situations to one’s own advantage, regardless of the needs or desires of others.
EXORCIST
[DREAM IMAGE: SHAMAN]
Shamans and exorcists conduct rituals for the release of negative spirits, and if this archetype appears in a dream, it suggests a form of possession by destructive or antisocial impulses in oneself or others, and the need to confront it.
FATHER
[DREAM IMAGES: PATRIARCH; PROGENITOR]
This dream archetype represents the guiding wisdom that comes from within. A true father guides and shields those under his care, sacrificing his own desires when that’s appropriate. The shadow father emerges when that caring guidance and protection turns into dictatorial control or abuse of authority. See also FAMILY.
GAMBLER
The gambler is a risk-taker who plays the odds. In dreams of winning lotteries and gambling at casino tables it can suggest following hunches, and believing in your intuition, even in the face of universal doubt. To assess whether you are a gambler, review your ability to follow your intuition and what others might consider risky inner guidance. Ask yourself how many of your decisions are based on gut instinct, rather than facts and figures. Alternatively, gambling dreams may refer to the way you are focused on looking for lucky breaks, rather than doing the hard work needed to succeed.
GOD
The God archetype, whether represented as deity or a worldly power in dreams, represents the ultimate in male dominance. On the positive side, a God can be benevolent and compassionate, willing to use his powers to help others out of love for humanity. The shadow God easily becomes a dictator or despot, oppressing others with those same powers, or using his physical attractiveness to get what he wants without ever returning the affection he elicits. Such dreams suggest that you have a life-long sense of great power. Are you using this power selfishly or selflessly?
GODDESS
The oldest religious tradition on earth may well be Goddess worship, which some archaeologists trace back further than 30,000 years. It was certainly natural to worship the archetype of woman as the source of all life, especially in the age before male warriors replaced Her with their combative sky gods. The Goddess archetype in dreams can be inspiring as it embodies wisdom, guidance, physical grace, athletic prowess and sensuality. If a particular goddess appears in your dream, study the specific qualities of that goddess and evaluate how much of your sense of self is reflected in one of those patterns. For example, Venus/Aphrodite: love and fertility; Diana/Artemis: nature and hunting; Minerva/Athena: strength, clear thinking; Ceres/Demeter: motherhood; Juno/Hera: queenship and partnership; Proserpina/Persephone: mysticism and mediumship; Sophia: wisdom
GOSSIP
The gossip archetype is associated with rumor-spreading, backbiting, and passing along information that is exaggerated, harmful, and intended to disempower. If a gossip or gossiping figures in your dreams, the archetype is connected to lessons of truth, integrity, and honoring the trust another has placed in you.
GUIDE
[DREAM IMAGES: CRONE; EVANGELIST; GURU; SAGE; SPIRITUAL MASTER; WISE WOMAN]
You do not have to be a professional preacher or guru to have this archetype, as we can all learn to lead others spiritually through developing our own intuitive spiritual awareness and passing on whatever we have learned with genuine humility. If a guide or spiritual master appears in your dreams, your unconscious is urging you to pass your wisdom onto others. Alternatively it can warn against controlling others rather than guiding them.
HEALER
[DREAM IMAGES: ANALYST; CAREGIVER; COUNSELOR; NURSE; THERAPIST; WOUNDED HEALER; INTUITIVE HEALER]
The healer archetype in dreams is encouraging you to guide and support others in some way. Alternatively, it could be urging you to heal and transform your pain into a sense of direction and purpose. The shadow of the healer manifests through a desire to take advantage of those who need your help.
HEDONIST
[DREAM IMAGE: BON VIVANT, CHEF, GOURMET]
This archetype has an ‘appetite’ for the pleasurable aspects of life, from good food and wine to sexuality and sensuality, and when it appears as a theme in your dreams, it could simply be urging you to enjoy yourself more. As scientific research has shown, pleasure can improve our health and extend our lives, and needs to be part of a balanced life. The shadow hedonist may manifest as pursuing pleasure without regard for other people or one’s own good health.
HERO/HEROINE
The hero is a classic figure in ancient Greek and Roman literature, often portrayed as one who must confront an increasingly difficult path of obstacles in order to mature into adulthood. Today this archetype still holds a dominant position in the social mind, and can appear in dreams as a superhero or heroine, or similar icon of male and female power. Such dreams suggest that you have within you the courage and determination to face the challenges that lie ahead.
JUDGE
[DREAM IMAGES: ARBITRATOR; CRITIC; EXAMINER; MEDIATOR]
One need not be an attorney, judge, or critic by profession to identify with this archetype; it can appear in your dreams if you are, or need to be, a natural mediator or are involved in interventions between people. It can also appear if your unconscious requires you to learn justice and compassion. The shadow judge manifests as consistently destructive criticism, judging without compassion or with a hidden agenda. Legal manipulation, misuse of legal authority, and threatening others through an association with the law are other expressions of the shadow.
KING
[DREAM IMAGES: CHIEF; EMPEROR; LEADER; RULER]
The king is an archetype that represents the height of temporal male power and authority. He represents the father figure in your life, or the dominant ruling power—the part of you that is in control. Both benevolence and cruelty in their extreme expressions are associated with this archetype. Whether your kingdom is a corporation, community, family or your own life, such dreams suggest the need to rule compassionately.
The free sample has ended.
