What does it meaning ignored, in the dream?

If a woman has this dream, she will fail to hold her husband’s affections, letting her temper and spite overwhelm her at the least provocation.

If it is with her husband’s friend, she will be unjustly ignored by her husband. Her rights will be cruelly trampled upon by him.

If she thinks she is enticing a youth into this act, she will be in danger of desertion and divorced for her open intriguing.

For a young woman this implies abasement and low desires, in which she will find strange adventures afford her pleasure.

It is always good to dream that you have successfully resisted any temptation.

To yield, is bad.

If a man chooses low ideals, vampirish influences will swarm around him ready to help him in his nefarious designs. Such dreams may only be the result of depraved elementary influences.

If a man chooses high ideals, he will be illuminated by the deific principle within him, and will be exempt from lascivious dreams.

The man who denies the existence and power of evil spirits has no arcana or occult knowledge. Did not the black magicians of Pharaoh’s time, and Simon Magnus, the Sorcerer, rival the men of God? The dreamer of amorous sweets is warned to beware of scandal. ... Ten Thousand Dream Interpretation

To pass under one, foretells that many will seek you who formerly ignored your position.

For a young woman to see a fallen arch, denotes the destruction of her hopes, and she will be miserable in her new situation. ... Ten Thousand Dream Interpretation

If the orchard is filled with ripening fruit, it denotes recompense for faithful service to those under masters, and full fruition of designs for the leaders of enterprises. Happy homes, with loyal husbands and obedient children, for wives.

If you are in an orchard and see hogs eating the fallen fruit, it is a sign that you will lose property in trying to claim what are not really your own belongings.

To gather the ripe fruit, is a happy omen of plenty to all classes. Orchards infested with blight, denotes a miserable existence, amid joy and wealth.

To be caught in brambles, while passing through an orchard, warns you of a jealous rival, or, if married, a private but large row with your partner.

If you dream of seeing a barren orchard, opportunities to rise to higher stations in life will be ignored.

If you see one robbed of its verdure by seeming winter, it denotes that you have been careless of the future in the enjoyment of the present.

To see a storm-swept orchard, brings an unwelcome guest, or duties. ... Ten Thousand Dream Interpretation

To see children at play with toys, marriage of a happy nature is indicated.

To give away toys in your dreams, foretells you will be ignored in a social way by your acquaintances.... Ten Thousand Dream Interpretation

If you find yourself contented in a state of want, you will bear the misfortune which threatens you with heroism, and will see the clouds of misery disperse.

To relieve want, signifies that you will be esteemed for your disinterested kindness, but you will feel no pleasure in well doing. ... Ten Thousand Dream Interpretation

2. A need to address emotions or feelings otherwise ignored or taken lightly, likely in someone else.

3. An aspect of life needs attention.

4. Desires will be addressed. ... New American Dream Dictionary

2. Repressed needs begin to rise to the surface—usually in intimate relationships, often in friend­ships.

3. An aspect of self is “demanding attention.” 4. Someone, possibly a family member, has needs that remain ignored. ... New American Dream Dictionary

2. Need for protection or concealment.

3. Sense of being forgotten or ignored. ... New American Dream Dictionary

2. Inability to focus, concentrate.

3. A measure of annoyance or distraction, often in a relationship. ... New American Dream Dictionary

2. Fear of being abandoned or ignored. ... New American Dream Dictionary

The basement is built first.

It is often below ground (or at least some parts of it), and is essentially the foundation of the house. Dreaming about a basement and understanding the dream, may provide you with valuable information which may lead to greater self-awareness.

A recurring dream about basements (i.e. being in a basement, cleaning a basement, furnishing a basement, etc.) should not be ignored. These dreams may be symbolic of your unconscious, instincts and intuition, and degree of awareness of a current situation or a problem.

The look of the basement may provide you with clues about your current feelings and state of contentment.

If the basement is a mess, and you see great disorder and clutter, it suggests that you may be experiencing confusion and that it is a very good time to sort things out emotionally and psychologically. At times, the activities which are going on in the basement of your dream may be based on past experiences or childhood memories. As with all dreams, their main purpose seems to be to bring the dreamer to higher consciousness so that he may deal with his current issues more effectively, rather than to dwell on the past. See also: House.... The Bedside Dream Dictionary

It is a strong color that can not be ignored. Likewise, most people have a strong opinion of purple: they really like it, or vehemently dislike it.

To some people, purple has spiritual connotations.

The Catholic Church uses it at funerals and around Easter time. It represents spiritual and personal transformation. Purple could also represent higher consciousness and spiritual protection.

A version of purple is also the color of the crown Chakra. When interpreting this color consider all of the details in the dream and try to make connections between the above mentioned-ideas and your current issues. See also: Colors... The Bedside Dream Dictionary

It is associated with the sun and considered to be the sun’s messenger and an intermediary between the sun and mankind (between mortal and the impartial). In Greek mythology, Aphrodite is the goddess of beauty and love.

The love that she represents is not of the emotional and fruitful kind, but rather lust, sensual pleasure and raw animal attraction. Aphrodite was able to stir sexual feelings in both animals and mankind and often represents the perverse side of human sexuality. She is the goddess of the house of prostitution. Aphrodite may represent our basic sexual nature before it is tamed and humanized by emotions and spirit. In order to understand the symbolism of Venus in a dream, some reflection is required. Are you full of lust and/or has your sexuality been ignored? Aphrodite may be stirring your basic sexual nature.

If you are feeling drained by life, the planet Venus may be a representation of the ability to regenerate and begin anew. Seeing Venus in a dream may be a reminder that there is an abundance of internal energy and resources accessible to all that tap into it.... The Bedside Dream Dictionary

The words find, finds, finding, found occur 297 times. And the words connected with looking and seeing occur 1,077 times.

During our development or growth we ‘fall’ from our mother’s womb when ripe; being dropped by a parent must be our earliest sense of insecurity; we fall many times as we learn to stand and walk; as we explore our boundaries in running, climbing, jumping and riding, falling is a big danger, at times it could mean death. Out of this we create the ways falling is used in dreams.

Example: ‘I am sitting in a high window box facing out­wards, with my son and a friend of his on my left. I feel very scared of falling and ask my son and his friend to climb back into the building. I feel too scared to move until they shift’ (Trevor N). At the time of the dream Trevor was working, for the first time in his life, as a full-time freelance journalist. His wife was out of work and his frequency of sales low enough to cause them to be running out of money.

The building behind him in the dream felt like a place he had worked nine to five —security. Falling was failure, getting in debt, dropping into the feelings of self doubt and being incapable.

In general, then, falling represents loss of confidence; threat to usual sources of security such as relationship, source of money, social image, beliefs; tension. Sometimes it is loss of social grace; losing face, moral failure—falling into tempta­tion; coming down to earth from a too lofty attitude, sexual surrender.

Example: ‘I was on a road which led up to the hospital I was put in at three. I felt a sense of an awful past as I looked at the road. Then I was standing on the edge of a precipice or cliff. My wife was about four yards away near the road. I stepped in an area of soft earth. It gave beneath my weight and I sank up to my waist. I realised the cliff edge was unsta­ble and the whole area would fall. I was sinking and shouting to my wife to help me. She was gaily walking about and made light of my call for help. I cried out again. Still she ignored me. I shouted again for her help. She took no notice and I sank deeper, the ground gave way and I fell to my death’ (Barry 1). Through being put in a hospital at three without his mother, Barry had a deep seated fear that any woman he loved could desen him. His fall is the loss of any sense of bonding between him and his wife out of this fear. His death is the dying of his feeling of love and relationship, and the pain it causes. Understanding these fears, Barry was able to leave them behind in later dreams and in life.

By learning to meet our insecurities (perhaps by using the last question in dream processing) we can dare more in life. This is in essence the same as meeting the fear of falling off our bike as we learn to ride.

If we never master the fear we cannot ride. Therefore some dreams take falling into realms beyond fear.

The following examples illustrate this.

Example: ‘Near where I stood in the school gymnasium was a diving board, about 20 ft off the ground. Girls were learning to dive off the board and land flat on their back on the floor.

If they landed flat they didn’t hurt themselves—like falling backwards standing up’ (Barry I).

The school is where we learn. Once we learn to fall ‘flat on our back’, i.e. fail, without being devastated or ‘hurt’ by it, we can be more cre­ative. Going fast to an edge and falling: could mean overwork and danger of breakdown of health.

Example: ‘As I prayed I realised I could fly. I lifted off the ground about 3 feet and found I could completely relax while going higher or falling back down. So it was like free fall. I went into a wonderful surrendered relaxation. My whole body sagging, floating in space. It was a very deep meditative expe­rience (Sarah D). Sarah has found an attitude which enables her to soar/dare or fall/fail without being so afraid of being hurt or dying emotionally. This gives a form of freedom many people never experience. This does not arise from denying or suppressing fears.

Seeing things fall: sense of danger or change in regard to what is represented. Person falling: wish to be rid of them, or anxiety in regard to what they represent; end of a relationship. Child, son falling: see baby; son and daughter under family. House falling down, personal stress; illness; personal change and growth due to letting old habits and attitudes crumble. Example: ‘I was standing outside my mother’s house to the right.

The ground in front had fallen away.

The house was about to cave in. I felt no fear or horror. Instead I was think­ing about new beginnings and the possibility of a new house’ (Helen B). Helen is here becoming more independent and leaving behind attitudes and dependency. See house; abyss; chasm. See also flying. ... A Guide to Dreams and Sleep Experiences

Example: I was walking up a steep hill on a sunny day when my husband came running down the hill with blood pouring from his right arm. He couldn’t stop running. As he passed me he called to me for help. I was happy and peaceful and ignored him. I calmly watched him running fast down the hill, then continued on my way’ (Joyce C). Out of the infinite number of situations Joyce could have dreamt about, this was the one produced. Why? There are many factors which appear to determine what we dream. How events of the day influ­enced us; what stage of personal growth we are meeting—we might be in the stage of struggling for independence; prob­lems being met; relationships, past business such as child­hood traumas still to be integrated. And so on.

If Joyce had dreamt she and her husband were walking up the hill the whole message of the dream would have been different.

If we can accept that dream images are, as Freud stated, a form of thinking, then the change in imagery would be a changed concept.

If the language of dreams is expressed in its images, then the meaning stated is specific to the imagery used.

In processing our dreams, it is therefore profitable to look at the plot to see what it suggests. It can be helpful to change the situation, as we have done with Joyce s. Imagining Joyce walking up the hill on a sunny day, arm in arm with her husband, suggests a happy relationship. This emphasises the situation of independence and lack of support for her hus­band which appears in the real dream. Seeing our dreams as if they were snatches from a film or play, and asking ourself what feelings and human situations they depict, can aid us to clarify them. As a piece of drama, Joyce’s dream says she sees, but does not respond to, her husband’s plight.

Our internal ‘dream producer’ has an amazing sense of the subtle meanings of movement, positioning, and relationship between the elements used. And some of these are subtle.

A way of becoming more aware of what information our dream contains is to use visualisation. Sit comfonably and imagine yourself back in the dream. Replay it just as it was. Remember the whole thing slowly, going through it again while awake. As you do so, be aware of what it feels like in each scene or event. What do the interactions suggest? What does it feel like in the other roles? We can even practise this with other peo­ple’s dreams.

If we imagine ourself in Joyce’s dream, and replay it just as she describes it, we may arrive at a feeling of detachment from the husband.

If we stand in the husband’s role we may feel a great need which is not responded to as we go down hill fast*. In this way we gather a great deal of unspoken’ information from dreams.

Looking at our own dreams in this way can be more diffi­cult, simply because we do not always want to see what is being said about ourself. See amplification; dream process­ing; postures, movement, body language; word analysis of dreams; settings. ... A Guide to Dreams and Sleep Experiences

1- If the banner in the dream is a commercial one, it represents the need to have something which we may previously have ignored or rejected brought to our attention.

If the banner is an old-fashioned one - as used in medieval battles it indicates a need to consolidate thoughts and actions.

2- Psychologically we may adopt or need to adopt some kind of crusade. We need to know we have a common cause to fight for which is organised and specific.

3- A certain standard of spiritual behaviour is required of everybody. Therefore, to dream of a banner alerts us to this.... Ten Thousand Dream Dictionary

Red carpets: Special treatment or well-deserved honor.

Sweeping beneath: Hidden matters or things you’re trying to conceal (see Broom).

Flying carpet: Another type of flying dream, but one that also denotes a sense of rescue, maneuverability, and safety. Aladdin’s carpet aided him in times of great need.

Buying a rug in dreams is a good sign that foretells gains and financial help that’s available from friends.

Wall-to-wall carpeting reflects an attempt to try and cover up some type of flaw in your character instead of fixing it.

Tapestry rugs often have pictographs or whole scenes that reflect prevalent matters in your life. Look at the whole image first, then each object or person shown, for significance (see Fabric).... The Language of Dreams

Speaking or acting in “jest,” but not necessarily having people interpret this correctly.

In the Middle Ages, jesters relieved people from their worries for a while, and often kept royalty’ happy so that less severe judgments got handed out. In a modern

setting, this reflects taking much needed time to relax and enjoy life, and stop being such a difficult task master to yourself.

(see Cijstals, Stones, Gems)... The Language of Dreams

If you have a tendency to always help others while neglecting your own needs, the physician in your dreams is the Super Ego counseling that to be a healer, you must first heal yourself.

A gentle nudge to seek medical evaluation or treatments for something you have either ignored or overlooked up until now.

The patient in this dream can represent a person or group with whom you need to patch things up. It may also be situational.... The Language of Dreams

An emblem of rebirth, especially if empty. Besides the Christian stories of Christ’s victor \ r over death, the ancient Celts buried people in tombs to await their next existence.

Is something inside the tomb? If so, consider what it represents of yourself that you may

have buried or recentlv uncovered.

Tombs can also represent the collective past of humankind and our link with archetypal ancestors. Have you honored this connection in some manner recendy? If not, this dream may be calling you to a figurative graveyard visit where you can explore your past as a member of humanity.

The portions of the self, the suhconscious , or the Collective Unconscious that have heen ignored so long as to be figuratively dead and buried.

An alternative womb emblem if rounded in shape.... The Language of Dreams

Time’s cyclical movement, especially the seasons. In India, Kali ruled the Time Wheel that fixed life and death for all things. In ancient Greece, the 12 zodiacal houses are fixed around a wheel.

Native American: The medicine wheel that symbolizes everything’s equality.

If one part of the wheel is ignored or broken, the entire thing doesn’t function right.

A mandala that equates to the cosmic model or pattern that maintains congruity of life- death-rebirth, beginning-middle-end-return on both intimate and universal levels.

It is thereby a vital representation of the rede “as within, so without.”

The power of fate and destiny.

The Etruscans and Romans both had goddesses whose domain was the wheel of time and fate. In the Tarot, there is also the WTieel of Fortune that marks the succession of human and universal affairs.

A source of control and regulation (see Car).

A cycle that the psyche sets into motion, resulting in internal change, or external events.... The Language of Dreams

Depth Psychology: The root is a symbol of your personality and represents your basic needs. It also points to the relationship you have to tilings and people who have become indispensable to you. Occasionally, it also shows your need to get to the essence of a thing or person.... Dreamers Dictionary

If someone is talking to you: you are getting on people’s nerves. Giving a speech: you are too ambitious. Listening to someone else’s speech: a warning not to let other people talk you into things. See Speaking.

Depth Psychology: Are you trying to make others understand you better? Have you decided finally to speak your mind, express your opinion? Do you feel misunderstood or ignored right now? For a person who normally is not talkative, the dream is a challenge to be more courageous and assertive.

For more outgoing people, it is a warning about being too ambitious, too talkative, and too pushy. You know which of the above applies to you!... Dreamers Dictionary

Depth Psychology: The storm is a symbol of strong feelings and fears that have your emotions in an uproar. Storms are usually a sign that you feel your livelihood is in danger. Do something to calm the “inner turmoil” so that you can return to calm and tranquil waters! Getting caught in a storm: expect an emotional storm—you have ignored all warnings so far.... Dreamers Dictionary

The spider also represents female strengths and intensity. It may be implying that there is some entity trying to keep you safe from your own actions.

If you kill a spider, it indicates that you will soon face hardships and obstacles.

To see a spider spinning a web implies that your energies and exertions will result in great gifts. This can be in the form of career advancement, elevation in social status, or prosperity. Spiders represent imagination and artistic nature. On a negative note, spiders may suggest that you feel stuck in a negative relationship. Perhaps your significant other is being too dependent on you. It can indicate that you are being influenced by someone or something that is detrimental to your happiness or safety.

To see a spider climbing up a wall in your dream implies that you will achieve your goals in the near future.

To dream that you are bitten by a spider symbolizes an issue between you and a female associate. You may be feeling entangled in a relationship that you no longer want to be a part of.... Dream Symbols and Analysis

If you are dialing 911, then you are calling out for help. You are in a situation that leaves you feeling helpless and you need support to return to balance. See Hospital.... Strangest Dream Explanations

If the banner is an old fashioned one – as used in medieval battles – it indicates a need to consolidate thoughts and actions.... Dream Meanings of Versatile

If you dream of someone else going cra, you may feel that you are no longer able to depend on someone. Also see “Mental Hospital”... My Dream Interpretation

To dream that you are outside a mental institution, suggests that you are feeling shunned, excluded or ignored by others.... My Dream Interpretation

To see a mentally challenged person in your dream, suggests that someone around you is feeling ignored or overlooked. Perhaps you have failed to listen to what they have to say.... My Dream Interpretation

To see a mentally challenged person in your dream, suggests that someone around you is feeling ignored or overlooked. Perhaps you have failed to listen to what they have to say.... My Dream Interpretation

If you dream of sacrificing yourself to save another, you are trying to find a way to express a part of yourself that has been neglected or ignored.... My Dream Interpretation

If the toys in your dream are broken or scary, a relationship you care about is going to end in sadness.

If you give away toys in your dream, this predicts you will be ignored in a social way by your acquaintances.... My Dream Interpretation

The reader will find, in many stimulating observations, and plenty of interesting material relating to our subject, but little or nothing that concerns the true nature of the dream, or that solves definitely any of its enigmas.

The educated layman, of course, knows even less of the matter. The conception of the dream that was held in prehistoric ages by primitive peoples, and the influence which it may have exerted on the formation of their conceptions of the universe, and of the soul, is a theme of such great interest that it is only with reluctance that I refrain from dealing with it in these pages. I will refer the reader to the well-known works of Sir John Lubbock (Lord Avebury), Herbert Spencer, E. B. Tylor and other writers; I will only add that we shall not realise the importance of these problems and speculations until we have completed the task of dream interpretation that lies before us. A reminiscence of the concept of the dream that was held in primitive times seems to underlie the evaluation of the dream which was current among the peoples of classical antiquity.[1] They took it for granted that dreams were related to the world of the supernatural beings in whom they believed, and that they brought inspirations from the gods and demons. Moreover, it appeared to them that dreams must serve a special purpose in respect of the dreamer; that, as a rule, they predicted the future.

The extraordinary variations in the content of dreams, and in the impressions which they produced on the dreamer, made it, of course, very difficult to formulate a coherent conception of them, and necessitated manifold differentiations and group-formations, according to their value and reliability.

The valuation of dreams by the individual philosophers of antiquity naturally depended on the importance which they were prepared to attribute to manticism in general. In the two works of Aristotle in which there is mention of dreams, they are already regarded as constituting a problem of psychology. We are told that the dream is not god-sent, that it is not of divine but of daimonic origin.

For nature is really daimonic, not divine; that is to say, the dream is not a supernatural revelation, but is subject to the laws of the human spirit, which has, of course, a kinship with the divine.

The dream is defined as the psychic activity of the sleeper, inasmuch as he is asleep. Aristotle was acquainted with some of the characteristics of the dream-life; for example, he knew that a dream converts the slight sensations perceived in sleep into intense sensations (‘one imagines that one is walking through fire, and feels hot, if this or that part of the body becomes only quite slightly warm’), which led him to conclude that dreams might easily betray to the physician the first indications of an incipient physical change which escaped observation during the day.[2] As has been said, those writers of antiquity who preceded Aristotle did not regard the dream as a product of the dreaming psyche, but as an inspiration of divine origin, and in ancient times, the two opposing tendencies which we shall find throughout the ages in respect of the evaluation of the dream-life, were already perceptible.

The ancients distinguished between the true and valuable dreams which were sent to the dreamer as warnings, or to foretell future events, and the vain, fraudulent and empty dreams, whose object was to misguide him or lead him to destruction. The pre-scientific conception of the dream which obtained among the ancients was, of course, in perfect keeping with their general conception of the universe, which was accustomed to project as an external reality that which possessed reality only in the life of the psyche. Further, it accounted for the main impression made upon the waking life by the morning memory of the dream; for in this memory the dream, as compared with the rest of the psychic content, seems to be something alien, coming, as it were, from another world. It would be an error to suppose that the theory of the supernatural origin of dreams lacks followers even in our own times; for quite apart from pietistic and mystical writers -- who cling, as they are perfectly justified in doing, to the remnants of the once predominant realm of the supernatural until these remnants have been swept away by scientific explanation -- we not infrequently find that quite intelligent persons, who in other respects are averse to anything of a romantic nature, go so far as to base their religious belief in the existence and co-operation of superhuman spiritual powers on the inexplicable nature of the phenomena of dreams (Haffner).

The validity ascribed to the dream life by certain schools of philosophy -- for example, by the school of Schelling -- is a distinct reminiscence of the undisputed belief in the divinity of dreams which prevailed in antiquity; and for some thinkers, the mantic or prophetic power of dreams is still a subject of debate. This is due to the fact that the explanations attempted by psychology are too inadequate to cope with the accumulated material, however strongly the scientific thinker may feel that such superstitious doctrines should be repudiated. To write a history of our scientific knowledge of the dream problem is extremely difficult, because, valuable though this knowledge may be in certain respects, no real progress in a definite direction is as yet discernible. No real foundation of verified results has hitherto been established on which future investigators might continue to build. Every new author approaches the same problems afresh, and from the very beginning.

If I were to enumerate such authors in chronological order, giving a survey of the opinions which each has held concerning the problems of the dream, I should be quite unable to draw a clear and complete picture of the present state of our knowledge on the subject. I have therefore preferred to base my method of treatment on themes rather than on authors, and in attempting the solution of each problem of the dream, I shall cite the material found in the literature of the subject. But as I have not succeeded in mastering the whole of this literature -- for it is widely dispersed and interwoven with the literature of other subjects -- I must ask my readers to rest content with my survey as it stands, provided that no fundamental fact or important point of view has been overlooked. In a supplement to a later German edition, the author adds: I shall have to justify myself for not extending my summary of the literature of dream problems to cover the period between first appearance of this book and the publication of the second edition. This justification may not seem very satisfactory to the reader; none the less, to me it was decisive.

The motives which induced me to summarise the treatment of dreams in the literature of the subject have been exhausted by the foregoing introduction; to have continued this would have cost me a great deal of effort and would not have been particularly useful or instructive.

For the interval in question -- a period of nine years -- has yielded nothing new or valuable as regards the conception of dreams, either in actual material or in novel points of view. In most of the literature which has appeared since the publication of my own work, the latter has not been mentioned or discussed; it has, of course, received the least attention from the so-called ‘research workers on dreams’, who have thus afforded a brilliant example of the aversion to learning anything new so characteristic of the scientist. ‘Les savants ne sont pas curieux’, said the scoffer, Anatole France.

If there were such a thing in science as the right of revenge, I, in my turn, should be justified in ignoring the literature which has appeared since the publication of this book.

The few reviews which have appeared in the scientific journals are so full of misconceptions and lack of comprehension that my only possible answer to my critics would be a request that they should read this book over again -- or perhaps merely that they should read it! And in a supplement to the fourth German edition which appeared in 1914, a year after I published the first English translation of this work, he writes: Since then, the state of affairs has certainly undergone a change; my contribution to the ‘interpretation of dreams’ is no longer ignored in the literature of the subject. But the new situation makes it even more impossible to continue the foregoing summary.

The Interpretation of Dreams has evoked a whole series of new contentions and problems, which have been expounded by the authors in the most varied fashions. But I cannot discuss these works until I have developed the theories to which their authors have referred. Whatever has appeared to me as valuable in this recent literature, I have accordingly reviewed in the course of the following exposition.... About Dream Interpretation

I shall begin by giving a short account of the views of earlier writers on this subject and of the status of the dream-problem in contemporary science; since in the course of this treatise, I shall not often have occasion to refer to either. In spite of thousands of years of endeavour, little progress has been made in the scientific understanding of dreams. This fact has been so universally acknowledged by previous writers on the subject that it seems hardly necessary to quote individual opinions.

The reader will find, in many stimulating observations, and plenty of interesting material relating to our subject, but little or nothing that concerns the true nature of the dream, or that solves definitely any of its enigmas.

The educated layman, of course, knows even less of the matter.

The conception of the dream that was held in prehistoric ages by primitive peoples, and the influence which it may have exerted on the formation of their conceptions of the universe, and of the soul, is a theme of such great interest that it is only with reluctance that I refrain from dealing with it in these pages. I will refer the reader to the well-known works of Sir John Lubbock (Lord Avebury), Herbert Spencer, E. B. Tylor and other writers; I will only add that we shall not realise the importance of these problems and speculations until we have completed the task of dream interpretation that lies before us.

A reminiscence of the concept of the dream that was held in primitive times seems to underlie the evaluation of the dream which was current among the peoples of classical antiquity.[1] They took it for granted that dreams were related to the world of the supernatural beings in whom they believed, and that they brought inspirations from the gods and demons. Moreover, it appeared to them that dreams must serve a special purpose in respect of the dreamer; that, as a rule, they predicted the future.

The extraordinary variations in the content of dreams, and in the impressions which they produced on the dreamer, made it, of course, very difficult to formulate a coherent conception of them, and necessitated manifold differentiations and group-formations, according to their value and reliability.

The valuation of dreams by the individual philosophers of antiquity naturally depended on the importance which they were prepared to attribute to manticism in general.

In the two works of Aristotle in which there is mention of dreams, they are already regarded as constituting a problem of psychology. We are told that the dream is not god-sent, that it is not of divine but of daimonic origin.

For nature is really daimonic, not divine; that is to say, the dream is not a supernatural revelation, but is subject to the laws of the human spirit, which has, of course, a kinship with the divine.

The dream is defined as the psychic activity of the sleeper, inasmuch as he is asleep. Aristotle was acquainted with some of the characteristics of the dream-life; for example, he knew that a dream converts the slight sensations perceived in sleep into intense sensations (‰_÷one imagines that one is walking through fire, and feels hot, if this or that part of the body becomes only quite slightly warm‰_ª), which led him to conclude that dreams might easily betray to the physician the first indications of an incipient physical change which escaped observation during the day.[2]

As has been said, those writers of antiquity who preceded Aristotle did not regard the dream as a product of the dreaming psyche, but as an inspiration of divine origin, and in ancient times, the two opposing tendencies which we shall find throughout the ages in respect of the evaluation of the dream-life, were already perceptible.

The ancients distinguished between the true and valuable dreams which were sent to the dreamer as warnings, or to foretell future events, and the vain, fraudulent and empty dreams, whose object was to misguide him or lead him to destruction.

The pre-scientific conception of the dream which obtained among the ancients was, of course, in perfect keeping with their general conception of the universe, which was accustomed to project as an external reality that which possessed reality only in the life of the psyche. Further, it accounted for the main impression made upon the waking life by the morning memory of the dream; for in this memory the dream, as compared with the rest of the psychic content, seems to be something alien, coming, as it were, from another world. It would be an error to suppose that the theory of the supernatural origin of dreams lacks followers even in our own times; for quite apart from pietistic and mystical writers -- who cling, as they are perfectly justified in doing, to the remnants of the once predominant realm of the supernatural until these remnants have been swept away by scientific explanation -- we not infrequently find that quite intelligent persons, who in other respects are averse to anything of a romantic nature, go so far as to base their religious belief in the existence and co-operation of superhuman spiritual powers on the inexplicable nature of the phenomena of dreams (Haffner).

The validity ascribed to the dream life by certain schools of philosophy -- for example, by the school of Schelling -- is a distinct reminiscence of the undisputed belief in the divinity of dreams which prevailed in antiquity; and for some thinkers, the mantic or prophetic power of dreams is still a subject of debate. This is due to the fact that the explanations attempted by psychology are too inadequate to cope with the accumulated material, however strongly the scientific thinker may feel that such superstitious doctrines should be repudiated.

To write a history of our scientific knowledge of the dream problem is extremely difficult, because, valuable though this knowledge may be in certain respects, no real progress in a definite direction is as yet discernible. No real foundation of verified results has hitherto been established on which future investigators might continue to build. Every new author approaches the same problems afresh, and from the very beginning.

If I were to enumerate such authors in chronological order, giving a survey of the opinions which each has held concerning the problems of the dream, I should be quite unable to draw a clear and complete picture of the present state of our knowledge on the subject. I have therefore preferred to base my method of treatment on themes rather than on authors, and in attempting the solution of each problem of the dream, I shall cite the material found in the literature of the subject.

But as I have not succeeded in mastering the whole of this literature - for it is widely dispersed and interwoven with the literature of other subjects -- I must ask my readers to rest content with my survey as it stands, provided that no fundamental fact or important point of view has been overlooked.

In a supplement to a later German edition, the author adds:

I shall have to justify myself for not extending my summary of the literature of dream problems to cover the period between first appearance of this book and the publication of the second edition. This justification may not seem very satisfactory to the reader; none the less, to me it was decisive.

The motives which induced me to summarise the treatment of dreams in the literature of the subject have been exhausted by the foregoing introduction; to have continued this would have cost me a great deal of effort and would not have been particularly useful or instructive.

For the interval in question -- a period of nine years -- has yielded nothing new or valuable as regards the conception of dreams, either in actual material or in novel points of view. In most of the literature which has appeared since the publication of my own work, the latter has not been mentioned or discussed; it has, of course, received the least attention from the so-called ‰_÷research workers on dreams‰_ª, who have thus afforded a brilliant example of the aversion to learning anything new so characteristic of the scientist. ‰_÷Les savants ne sont pas curieux‰_ª, said the scoffer, Anatole France.

If there were such a thing in science as the right of revenge, I, in my turn, should be justified in ignoring the literature which has appeared since the publication of this book.

The few reviews which have appeared in the scientific journals are so full of misconceptions and lack of comprehension that my only possible answer to my critics would be a request that they should read this book over again -- or perhaps merely that they should read it!

And in a supplement to the fourth German edition which appeared in 1914, a year after I published the first English translation of this work, he writes:

Since then, the state of affairs has certainly undergone a change; my contribution to the ‰_÷interpretation of dreams‰_ª is no longer ignored in the literature of the subject. But the new situation makes it even more impossible to continue the foregoing summary.

The Interpretation of Dreams has evoked a whole series of new contentions and problems, which have been expounded by the authors in the most varied fashions. But I cannot discuss these works until I have developed the theories to which their authors have referred. Whatever has appeared to me as valuable in this recent literature, I have accordingly reviewed in the course of the following exposition.... About Dream Interpretation

If the commanding was done by someone else, the dream has the same significance, except that it applies to someone with whom you are closely involved rather than to yourself.... The Complete Guide to Interpreting Your Dreams

(1) Climbing a ladder or steps or a mountain, or going up in a balloon or a lift, may signify simply high achievement; an arduous mountain or rock-face climb may signify the accomplishing of a hard but rewarding task.

(2) The significance of the ascent may lie in the wider, more comprehensive (or more god-like) view of things gained by the ascent, signifying a possible transformation of your own life through changing your view of life in general - or by putting a problem in perspective, seeing it in a more detached and less emotional way.

(3) High ascent - to the top of a mountain or high in the sky - may symbolize the gaining of (or a desire for) a more spiritual, less worldly perspective or lifestyle.

(4) On the other hand, an ascent in the air may represent a state of mind that is too idealistic, or too much in the grip of fantasy. The dream may be telling you that you need to anchor yourself more firmly in reality, that you need to ‘come down to earth’. For ‘earth’ you might need to read ‘body5: the dream might be telling you that you are in danger of lopsided development through too much emphasis on the head - intellect, thinking - and too little on the senses and instincts. See also Flying, section (4).

(5) What is ascending in your dream may represent something that is rising from your unconscious into vour conscious mind. This interpretation would be indicated if the thing was rising from a deep place or surfacing from the depths of the ocean. That something is coming up from the unconscious into consciousness is good: it is giving you a chance to become aware of desires and anxieties that you have previously ignored (perhaps deliberately).

NB Anxieties are often associated with repressed desires. Desires are repressed - rejected from the conscious mind - because thev gave rise to anxiety (perhaps in the form of guilt-feelings or fear of punishment).

(6) A special instance of (5) is where what is rising symbolizes libido or psychic energy. This interpretation would certainly be suggested if what was seen rising was a snake or serpent. (In Hindu thought, the serpent Kundalini - feminine - lies coiled in the base of the abdomen; from these genital regions she may be induced, by meditation and breath control, to rise through various psychic centres to the crow n of the head. This represents the bringing of the sexual-psychic energy into union w’ith consciousness - thought of as masculine. The opposite process may then be induced: the conscious ego descends into the unconscious psychic depths. And so the twofold process may continue, up and down, until there is a complete mixing of the mental-spiritual and psychic-physical factors.)... A Dictionary of Dream Symbols