If the waters are muddy or tumultuous, there will be disagreeable and jealous contentions in your life.
If you are water-bound by the overflowing of a river, there will be temporary embarrassments in your business, or you will suffer uneasiness lest some private escapade will reach public notice and cause your reputation harsh criticisms.
If while sailing upon a clear river you see corpses in the bottom, you will find that trouble and gloom will follow swiftly upon present pleasures and fortune.
To see empty rivers, denotes sickness and unusual ill-luck. ... river dream meaning
2. “Bull-headed”, “angry as a bull” word play.
3. Danger; Exod. 21:29;
4. Economic increase; Lev. 9:2;
5. Idol; Exod. 32:49
6. business; Luke. 19,13... bulls/bison/buffalo dream meaning
If it the river is static, your unconscious may have been commenting on your lack of drive and direction.
If you threw a stone in the river, did the ripples that formed echo your sense of going around in circles in waking life? The river depicts the richness or poverty of your life energy, so if you are crossing a river in your dream, this suggests you are in the process of making great changes in your life.
If you are in the water to cross, it means you will feel a lot of emotions in the process of change.
If you see someone else cross the river or fall into the river, this may refer to your feelings about aging and the passage of time.
If the river is contaminated, this suggests that you are holding back your feelings in waking life and not doing the best you can for yourself.
If you were in a river—or steamboat in your dream, this may refer to the circumstances that surround you, for example your family or home life. The context of the dream and how you feel will all help you with the interpretation. Was the boat solid and safe like a steamer, or fragile like a canoe or a dingy?
Canals, dams and reservoirs are all designed to regulate water flow and in dreams they suggest conscious attempts to control emotion; how effective they are at directing the water mirrors how effective you have become at controlling your emotions in waking life. A canal may also symbolize the birth canal and thus represent a desire for children. Because reservoirs are where water is collected and stored, if one features in your dream, could it be commenting on your own emotional reserves? The water level of the reservoir in this dream is important.
If it is high, your emotional resources are abundant but if it is low, you may be feeling emotionally drained by the demands of others. In dreams, dams also suggest control over your emotions, and their effectiveness in your dream will say a lot about your emotional health. If, in your dream, you were standing on a bridge watching the water flow beneath you, you could be ready to leave the past behind—as suggested by water under the bridge—since you are at a turning point in your life (the bridge is a symbol of transition).
See also TRAVEL.... river / bridge / canal / dam / reservoir dream meaning
If your dream reveals an image of yourself contemplating on the river bank, pay attention to how you feel. Are you anxious or feeling confident? If an artificial embankment or levee appears in your dream, this may be a sign that you need to build stronger defenses as you are in danger of being submerged by unconscious desires.
In dreams, lakes are symbols of the unconscious. What lurks beneath the water? If you dream of fishing, swimming or sailing on the lake, this can suggest contentment; if you are drowning, this suggests anxiety. For Jung, a lake, like the sea and the river, is a symbol of the mother archetype. A dream pond can suggest hidden depths. When you see a swamp in your dream, it is referring to a part of your life that is dark and hidden, or to something that is holding you back.
If you see a marsh, this may refer to anxieties that undermine your confidence in waking life. A spring is an image of beginnings and, as such, it symbolizes maternity in dreams as well as purity and clear, clean water.
According to Freudians, the image can suggest joyful sexuality. Jungians might see dreams springs as an image of the inner life or spiritual beginnings. A waterfall unites images of female and male sexuality with the foam of the tumbling waters evocative of the sensations of orgasm. Alternatively, the turbulence of the waterfall can represent powerful changes in your life.
See also ELEMENTS; PLACES.... river / lake dream meaning
The passage of time.
The “path of least resistance” (since that’s the path water usually takes).
A river that’s flowing well can represent things flowing well or going easily somewhere in your life.
You floating in or flowing with a river can represent peace, contentment, “going with the flow,” an attitude of acceptance, surrendering to a higher power, cooperating, or using your current circumstances to your benefit.
Fighting against the current or trying to go upstream can represent “going against the flow” somehow in your life.
A dry riverbed can represent challenging circumstances, especially ones that hinder your progress.
See also: Water, Body of; Flood; Canal; Waves; Fountain; Squirting; Leaking; Wind; Swirl or Eddy; Valve... flow or river dream meaning