To see one wild in his native country, foretells that you will pursue a chimerical fancy which will return you unsatisfactory pleasure upon possession. ... zebra dream meaning
To see it appearing weird, denotes that some untoward grief is hovering over you and it will take strenuous efforts to dispell it.
To study the zodiac in your dreams, denotes that you will gain distinction and favor by your intercourse with strangers.
If you approach it or it approaches you, foretells that you will succeed in your speculations to the wonderment of others and beyond your wildest imagination.
To draw a map of it, signifies future gain.... zodiac dream meaning
To dream of zinc ore promises the approach of eventful success.... zinc dream meaning
2. Masculine power.
3. Fertility symbol (note size). ... penis dream meaning
If a young woman dreams that she is saddened by the whisperings of the zephyrs, she will have a season of disquietude by the compelled absence of her lover. ... zephyr dream meaning
If there is a tendency to repress the sexual need, it may happen that one masturbates during sleep, in an attempt to release sexual pressure. Because the person has consciously decided not to allow sexuality, this might give rise to a feeling of being possessed by another will. In fact our unconscious will to express our needs has overridden the conscious decision during sleep. Out of such a split in the person, ideas about devils and possession probably arose. Although Christianity at a fundamental level appears to teach the love and acceptance of all sides of human nature—therefore integration through love thy neighbour as thyself, so love thyself—in practice it becomes tight morality which creates devils through rejection and splits in human nature. In many Christians, there are enormous conflicts between sexuality, love, work and spirituality. ... masturbation dream meaning
2. Reluctance to get involved sexually with anyone.
3. Afraid to have a baby. ... condom dream meaning
2. Love and affection.
3. Disappointments in the offing (bad or badly cooked zucchini). ... zucchini dream meaning
2. A change for the better (to change into clean ones).
3. Exposure, shame, embarrassment (to be caught in).
4. Feminine self; an exploration of sexuality. ... panties dream meaning
A space with limited access over which someone or something has control. Consider the type of zone portrayed.
For example, a radioactive region might imply a situation that’s way too hot to approach right now. Conversely, approaching an end zone in your dream reflects the successful undertaking of a task, or a completion on the horizon.... zone dream meaning
The action of the hean on the other systems is obvious, and the influence of emotions on the organs is also becoming obvious. What is not so well established is the importance of the feedback occurring when we gain insight into our own functioning through understanding a dream. Although our being is already a self regulating system, the ability to turn consciousness inwards to make clear aspects of unconscious function appears to increase the efficiency of self regulation. This is shown in the first example of reptiles, lizards, snakes, where David finds a long-standing neck pain and goes through insight into its cause. In this way wc might be seen as a conscious organism which not only reprogrammes mental patterns or habits, but to some extent can renovate or change body efficiency as well. See dream analysis; dream processing; the Introduction. ... interpretation of dreams dream meaning
The presence of a zealot in dreams can help us focus.... zeal / zealot dream meaning
If the numerous facts emerging from a dream are such that they correspond with each other logically then such a dream will be deemed as a genuine and authentic dream. But if the facts emerging from such a dream are such that they do not correspond with each other then the interpreter should reflect on the apparent meaning of the words. Whichever meaning is nearest to the rules of interpretation, such a meaning should be adopted
If a dream is of a complicated nature so that if cannot be weighed on the scale of the rules of interpretation then such a dream will be deemed as meaningless.
If a certain dream causes the interpreter to become dubious then he should appeal to the conscience of the observer of such a dream: If the dream concerns Salaah, he should question him about Sallah; if it concerns a journey he should question him about the journey; if it concerns marriage, he should question him about marriage. Thereafter, the mu’abbir will interpret to the best of his knowledge
The interpreter should be extremely cautious when interpreting a dream: If the dream evidences obscenity and indecency he should either use pleasant words when interpreting it or simply avoid interpreting it.
It is necessary for a mu’abbir to establish the biological and logical classification of thins and give its interpretation accordingly.
The biological and logical classification of things can be made as follows : (a) geneses (b) species (c) nature and characteristics.... facts to be taken into consideration before a mu’abbir interprets a dream dream meaning
Similarly, if two persons are seen fighting in the dream then the one who loses the battle will be the one to gain victory.
Similarly, if a person sees himself being cupped it means he will be compelled to fulfill certain conditions in an agreement or contract. Or if a person sees himself being made to agree on certain conditions, it means he will get cupped.
The reason being that in Arabic the word shart (condition) is sometimes used to mean “cupping*”
*Cupping: The use of a cupping glass from which the air has been exhausted, to draw blood to the surface of the skin-Collins).... interpretation according to the contrasting meaning of things dream meaning
(*Pillory: a wooden board with holes for the head and hands in which petty offenders were formerly locked and exposed to public scorn).
.... interpretation according to the varying conditions of people dream meaning
If you are saddened by them the soft winds, your lover will be going away for a long period of time. Soft winds ruffling a child’s hair means the child will have a long and mostly happy life.... zephyr (soft breezes) dream meaning
2. To see a larger picture—usually of a situation, often an aspect of behavior.
3. Versatility of views and opinions. ... zoom dream meaning
(Also see Dream interpreter)... interpretation dream meaning
If one who desires to maintain secrecy around his life and goals sees a dream interpreter in his dream, it means that he will find an intimate friend or a confidant to complete his intention.
If one is expecting news from an associate or if someone in a different land sees a dream interpreter in his dream, it means that he will receive the desired news.Adream interpreter in a dream also represents knowledge of sings, deciphering messages, analyzing substances, a tracer, a religious scholar, a lawyer, a good advisor, a compassionate friend, ajudge or a physician.
A dream interpreter in a dream also represents someone who does not keep a secret or someone who brings people both happy or sad news. In a dream, he is also a preacher, an advisor, one who balances things, a money changer, a garment cleaner, an undertaker, a barber, a comedian, a news broadcaster or someone who searches for people’s faults. Seeing oneself as a dream interpreter in a dream, and if one qualifies to sit on the bench, it means that he will become ajudge.lfhe is seeking knowledge, he will acquire it.
If he is seeking to become a physician, he will become one. Otherwise, he might become a money changer, a banker or any of the earlier mentioned trades. Telling a dream interpreted a dream in one’s dream, and if the explanation agrees with the common wisdom and religious norms of the Holy Qur’an and the traditions of God’s Prophet, upon whom be peace, then whatever one is told in his dream is true. Ifone does not understand the explanation of the dream interpreter in his dream, then he might need to find a qualified interpreter in wakefulness to satisfy his needs.
(Also see Astrologer; Divination; Fortuneteller; Founder; Interpretation; Seer)... dream interpreter dream meaning
The same interpretation is given if, instead of mounting, he becomes the owner of any of the above animals or he subjugates them.... mounting a zebra dream meaning
(Also see Anus; Inkwell; Satan; Scorpion; Sexual intercourse; Sodomy)... pederasty dream meaning
(Also see Zikr)... zachariah dream meaning
If one drinks Zamzam water after having placed an intention in his dream, for example to acquire knowledge, grow in wisdom, become wealthy, to recover from an illness, to conceive a child, to receive forgiveness for one’s sins or any lawful desire in a dream, it means that God willing, one’s wish will come true.
(Also see Gutter; Well)... zamzam dream meaning
The goodness of that place depends on the quality of reading, or the degree of devotion seen in the dream. When it is an ascetic song in the dream, it means that one’s deputyship is established correctly, but if one sees himself singing a sensual love song, then it means temptations.
If one sees himself repeatedly calling God’s name in a dream, it means that he will win victory over his enemy. Calling people to God and reminding them of His attributes in a dream represents the work of a preacher who admonishes people, helps them to the shore of safety, and distances them from their sins and their consequences.
If a merchant sees himselfcallingupon God’s beautiful names in a dream, it means that his business will be saved from bankruptcy.
If a disbeliever, a profane or a secular person sees himself in a state of remembering God Almighty and calling upon His most holy attributes in a dream, it means that he may fall sick, or face great adversities, while in his heart, he will remain pleading with God Almighty for mercy and relief, though he may remain silent in public regarding his inner faith, and in fear of being ridiculed by his own circles.
If during his dream one speaks words of truth and wisdom, it means that he will recover from his adversity and be cured from his illness. Furthermore, he will move into a more comfortable life and begin a life of sharing and doing good deeds in this world, or he may receive guidance and light, and faith will permeate his heart. Ifone says his prayers with a twang in a dream, it means that he will linger in difficulties, and that people will mock him too.
(Also see Supplications)... zikr dream meaning
If you are down on your luck or a bit disorganized, this dream may be calling for awareness of supportive internal and external forces. Our dreams often compensate for what is lacking in daily life. In this way, dreams attempt to balance the psyche. Thus, dreaming of Jupiter is reassuring and invites the dreamer to access the power in his own psyche and to embrace a positive attitude. Jupiter is a reminder that there is an order to the universe that provides us with an opportunity to have a prosperous, balanced and joyful life. ... jupiter (zeus) dream meaning
To taste zinc may mean you are in need of food suppliment tablets to correct an existing health problem.... zinc (metal) dream meaning
If one succeeds in touching the feelings and memories usually connected with a dream image, this becomes apparent because of the depth of insight and experience which arises. Although ideally the Freudian analyst helps the client discover their own experience of their dream, it can occur that the analyst puts to the client readymade views of the dream. Out of this has occurred the idea of someone else ‘analysing or telling us about our dream.
Carl Jung used a different approach. He applied amplification (see entry), helped the client explore their associations, used active imagination (see entry) and stuck to the structure of the dream. Because amplification also put to the client the information and experience of the therapist, again the dreamwork can be largely verbal and intellectual, rather than experiential.
In the approach of Fritz Perls (gestalt therapy) and Moreno (psychodrama), dream analysis is almost entirely experiential.
The person exploring the dream acts out or verbalises each role or aspect of the dream.
If one dreamt of a house, in gestalt one might stan by saying I am a house’ and then go on to describe oneself just as one is as the particular house in the dream.
It is important, even if the house were one existing externally, not to attempt a description of the external house, but to stay with the house as it was in the dream. This is like amplification, except the client gives all the information. This can be a very dramatic and emotional experience because we begin consciously to touch the immense realms of experience usually hidden behind the image. When successful this leads to personal insights into behaviour and creativity. See dream processing; amplification; gestalt dream work.
dream as a meeting place Any two people, or group of people who share their dreams, particularly if they explore the associated feelings and thoughts connected with the dream images, achieve social intimacy quickly. Whether it is a family sharing their dreams, or two fnends, an environment can be created in which the most profound feelings, painful and wonderful, can be allowed. Such exposure of the usually private areas of one s feelings and fears often presents new information to the dreamer, and also allows ventilation of what may never have been consciously expressed before. In doing so a healing release is reached, but also greater self understanding and the opportunity to think over or reconsider what is discovered.
Herbert Reed, editor of the dream magazine Sundance, and resident in Virginia Beach, Va., initiated group dreaming experiments. It started because Reed noticed that in the dream groups he was running, when one of the group aired a problem, other members would subsequently dream about that person’s problem. He went on to suggest the group should attempt this purposely and the resulting dreams shared to see if they helped the person with the problem.
The reported dreams often formed a more detailed view of the person’s situation. In one instance the group experienced many dream images of water. It aided the woman who was seeking help to admit she had a phobia of water and to begin thinking about learning to swim. In another experiment, a woman presented the problem of indecision about what college to transfer to and what to study. Her group subsequently said they were confused because they had not dreamt about school. Several had dreams about illicit sex. though, which led the woman to admit she was having an affair with a married man. She went on to realise that it was the affair which was underlying her indecision. She chose to end the affair and further her career.
Whatever may be underlying the results of Reed’s expen- ments, it is noticeably helpful to use the basic principles he is working with. They can be used by two people equally as well as a group—by a parent and child, wife and husband, businessman and employee. One sets out to dream about each other through mutual agreement. Like any undertaking, the involvement, and therefore the results, are much more pronounced if there is an issue of reasonable importance behind the experiment. It helps if one imagines that during sleep you are going to meet each other to consider what is happening between you. Then sleep, and on waking take time to recall any dream. Note it down, even if it seems far removed from what you expected. Then explore its content using the techniques in dream processing.
Example: My wife and I decided to attempt to meet in our dreams. I dreamt I was in a room similar to the back bedroom of my previous marnage. My present wife was with me. She asked me to help her move the wardrobe. It reminded me of, but did not look like, the one which had been in that bedroom. I stood with my back to it, and reached my hands up to press on the top, inside. In this way I carried it to another wall. As I put it down the wood broke. I felt it ought to be thrown away’ (Thomas B). Thomas explored the dream and found he connected feelings about his first marriage with the wardrobe and bedroom. In fact the shabby wardrobe was Tom’s feelings of shabbiness at having divorced his first wife. In his first marriage, represented by the bedroom, he always felt he was married for life. In divorcing, he had done something he didn’t like and was carrying it about with him. He says ‘1 am carrying this feeling of shabbiness and second best into my present relationship, and I need to get rid of it.’
dream as a spiritual guide Dreams have always been connected with the spiritual side of human experience, even though today many spiritual leaders disagree with consideration of dreams. Because dreams put the dreamer in touch with the source of their own internal wisdom and certainty, some conflict has existed between authoritative priesthood and public dreaming.
A lay person finding their own approach to God in a dream might question the authority of the priests. No doubt people frequently made up dreams about God in order to be listened to. Nevertheless, despite opposition, Matthew still dreamt of an angel appearing to him, Joseph was still warned by God to move Jesus; Peter still dreamt his dream of the unclean animals.
The modern scientific approach has placed large question marks against the concept of the human spirit. Study of the brain’s functions and biochemical activities have led to a sense of human personality being wholly a series of biological and biochemical events.
The results of this in the relationship between doctor and patient, psychiatrist and client, sometimes results in the communication of human personality being of little consequence. It may not be put into words, but the intimation is that if one is depressed it is a biochemical problem or a brain malfunction.
If one is withdrawn or autistic, it is not that there is a vital centre of personality which has for some reason chosen to avoid contact, but that a biochemical or physiological problem is the cause—it’s nothing personal, take this pill (to change the biochemistry, because you are not really a person). Of course we have to accept that human personality must sometimes face the tragedy of biochemical malfunction, but we also need to accept that biochemical and physiological process can be changed by human will and courage.
In attempting to find what the human spirit is by looking at dreams, creativity stands out.
The spiritual nature may not be what we have traditionally considered it to be.
An overview of dreams and how dreamers relate to them suggests one amazing fact. Let us call it the ‘seashell effect’. When we hear sounds in a shell that we hold to our ear, the noises heard seem exterior to oneself, yet they are most likely amplification of sounds created in our own ear, perhaps by the passage of blood. Imagine an electronic arcade machine which the player could sit in and, when running, the player could be engulfed in images, sounds, smell and sensation. At first there is shimmering darkness, then a sound, and lights move. Is it a face seen, or a creature. Like Rorschach’s ink blots, the person creates figures and scenes out of the shapeless light and sound.
A devil appears which terrifies the player. People, demons, animals, God and angels appear and fade. Scenes are clearcut or a maelstrom of movement and ill-defined activity. Events arise showing every and any aspect of human experience. Nothing is impossible.
If, on stepping out, we told the player that what occurred was all their own creation due to unconscious feelings, fears, habits, thoughts and physiological processes occurring within them, like the seashell effect, they might say ‘Good God, is that all it was, and I thought it was real. What a waste of time.’
Whether we can accept it or not, as a species we have created out of our own longings, fears, pain and perhaps vision, God, with many different names—politics, money, devils, nationalism, angels, an, and so on and on. All of it has flowed out of us. Perhaps we even deny we are the authors of the Bible, wars, social environments. Responsibility is difficult.
It is easier to believe the source is outside oneself. And if we do take responsibility for our amazing creativity, we may feel ‘is that all it is—me?’ Yet out of such things, such fears, such drives, such unconscious patterns as we shape our dreams with, we shape our life and fonune, we shape our children, we shape the world and our future.
The shadow of fear we create in our dream, the situation of aloneness and anger, becomes a pattern of feelings, real in its world of mind. We create a monster, a Djinn, a devil, which then haunts and influences us. Or with feelings of hope, of purposiveness and love, create other forces in us and the world. But we are the creator. We are in no way separate from the forces which create our existence. We are those creative forces. In the deepest sense, not just as an ego, we create ourselves, and we go on creating ourselves. We are the God humanity has looked so long for.
The second aspect of the human spirit demonstrated by dreams is consciousness.
The unconscious mind, if its function is not clogged with a backlog of undealt with painful childhood experience and nonfunctional premises, has a propensity to form gestalts. It takes pieces of experience and fits them together to form a whole. This is illustrated by how we form gestalts when viewing newsprint photographs, which are made up of many small dots. Our mind fits them together and sees them as a whole, giving meaning where there are only dots. When the human mind is working well, when the individual can face a wide range of emotions, from fear and pain to ecstasy, this process of forming gestalts can operate very creatively. This is because it needs conscious involvement, and if the personality is frightened of deep feeling, the uniting of deeply infantile and often disturbing cxpcrience is cut out. Yet these areas are very rich mines of information, containing our most fundamental learning.
If the process is working well, then one’s expenence is gradually transformed into insights which transcend and thereby transform one s personal life.
For instance, we have witnessed our own binh in some manner, we also see many others appeanng as babies. We see people ageing, dying. We see millions of events in our life and in others.
The unconscious, deeply versed in imagery, ritual and body language, out of which it creates its dreams, picks up information from music, architecture, traditional rituals, people walking in the street, the unspoken world of parental influence.
The sources are massive, unbelievable. And out of it all our mind creates meaning. Like a process of placing face over face over face until a composite face is formed, a synthesis of all the faces; so the unconscious scans all this information and creates a world view, a concept of life and death.
The archetypes Jung talks of are perhaps the resulting synthesis of our own expenence, reaching points others have met also.
If so, then Chnst might be our impression of humanity as a whole.
If we dare to touch such a synthesis of experience it may be seanng, breathtaking.
It breaks the boundaries of our present personality and concepts because it transcends. It shatters us to let the new vision emerge. It reaches, it soars, like an eagle flying above the single events of life. Perhaps because of this the great hawk of ancient Egypt represented the human spirit.
Lastly, humans have always been faced by the impossible.
To a baby, walking and not wetting its pants is impossible, but with many a fall and accident it does the impossible.
It is a god in its achievement.
To talk, to fly heavier-than-air planes, to walk on the Moon, were all impossible. Humans challenge the impossible every day. Over and over they fall, back into defeat. Many lie there broken. Yet with the next moment along come youngsters with no more sense than grasshoppers, and because they don’t know what the difference is between right and left, do the impossible. Out of the infinite potential, the great unknown, they draw something new. With hope, with folly, with a wisdom they gain from who knows where, they demand more. And it’s a common everyday son of miracle. Mothers do it constantly for their children—transcending themselves. Lovers go through hell and heaven for each other and flower beyond who they were. You and I grow old on it as our daily bread, yet fail to see how holy it is. And if we turn away from it, it is because it offers no certainties, gives no authority, claims no reward.
It is the spiritual life of people on the street. And our dreams remember, even if we fail.
For this is the body and blood of the human spirit.
dream as a therapist and healer There is a long tradition of using dreams as a base for both physical and psychological healing. One of the earliest recorded incidents of such healing is when Pharaoh’s ‘spirit was troubled, and he sent for all the magicians of Egypt and all its wise men; and Pharaoh told them his dream, but there was none who could interpret it’. Then Joseph revealed the meaning of the dream and so the healing of Pharaoh’s troubled mind took place (Genesis 41).
The Greek Temples of Asclepius were devoted to using dreams as a base for healing of body and mind (see dreams and ancient Greece).
The Iroquois Amerindians used a social form of dream therapy also (see Iroquoian dream cult).
The dream process was used much more widely throughout history in such practices as Pentecostal Christianity, shaktipat yoga in India, and Anton Mesmer’s groups (see sleep movements).
Sigmund Freud pioneered the modern approach to the use of dreams in therapy, but many different approaches have developed since his work. Examples of the therapeutic action of gaining insight into dreams are to be found in the entnes on abreaction, recurring dreams, reptiles.
The entry on dream processing gives information about using a dream to gain insight and healing. See also dream as meeting place.
A feature which people who use their dreams as a therapeutic tool mention again and again is how dreams empower them. Many of us have an unconscious feeling that any important healing work regarding our body and mind can only be undertaken and directed by an expert, the expert might be a doctor, a psychiatrist, psychotherapist, or osteopath. Witnessing the result of their own dream process, even if helped by an expert, people feel in touch with a wonderful internal process which is working actively for their own good. One woman, who had worked on her dream with the help of a fnend (non expert), said It gave me great confidence in my own internal process. I realised there was something powerful in myself working for my own good. It was a feeling of cooperating with life.’ One is frequently amazed by one’s own resources of wisdom, penetrating insight and sense of connection with life, as met in dreamwork. This is how dreams play a pan in helping one towards wholeness and balance.
The growing awareness of one’s central view of things, which is so wide, piercing and often humorous, brings developing self respect as the saga of one’s dreams unfolds.
There may be no hint of this, however, if a person simply records their dreams without attempting to find a deeply felt contact with their contents.
It is in the searching for associated feelings and ideas that the work of integrating the many strands of one’s life begins. Gradually one weaves, through a co-operative action with the dream process, a greater unification of the dark and the light, the painful and transcendent in one’s nature.
The result is an extraordinary process of education. ... dream analysis dream meaning
The word computare is Latin, and comes from putare, to think. Neither is a computer anything like a human brain. But there are parallels. Christopher Evans, a psychologist, computer scientist and world authority on microprocessors, says the brain and computers are both information handling devices, taking impulses which in themselves mean nothing, like sound waves, and processing them.
It is also his theory that both computers and the waking-brain function are taken off-line to re-program. Our behaviour responses and information bases need bringing up to date with any new experience and information that is relevant. In the case of the computer, off-line means having modifications made to programs, in the human it means sleeping and dreaming, the dream being the powerful activity of review, sifting and reprogramming. Thirdly, the brain and computer use programs. In humans, a program means a learnt set of responses, values or activities, such as walking or talking, but including more subtle activities such as judging social or business situations.
If, as Christopher Evans believes, dreaming is partly a period of revising and updating responses, insights and skills, then by working with the process one can make it more efficient.
The background for this statement is that many people have recurring dreams which change very little. Looking at this from the programming’ view, the attempt to revise is thwarted. But individuals can free such ‘stuck’ dreams by using dream processing.
Also, as some dreams are obviously a synthesis of experience and information gathered over a lifetime, the dream process is much more than a computing function which sorts new information and updates.
It is also capable of creative leaps through synthesis and conjecture. J.B. Priestley’s dream of the birds (see religion and dreams) appears to be a massive synthesis of things observed over a lifetime. It also depicts a brain function like computer simulation, which takes information and forms it into an expenmental view of possibilities arising from the thousands of millions of separate bits of gathered data. See ESP in dreams; creative and problem solving dreams. ... dream process as computer dream meaning
What is the background to the dream? The most imponant aspects of your everyday life may have influenced the dream or feature in it. Briefly consider any aspects of your life which connect with what appears in the dream. Example: ‘1 have a plane to catch. I get to the plane but the suitcase is never big enough for my clothing which I have left behind. I am always anxious about stuff left behind. I wake still with the feeling of anxiety’ (Jane). When asked, Jane said plane flights had been a big feature of her life. She had moved home often, travelling to different pans of the world, leaving friends and loved ones behind.
What is the main action in the dream? There is often an overall activity such as walking, looking, worrying, building something, or trying to escape. Define what it is and consider if it is expressive of something you are doing in waking life. Activities such as walking or building a house need to be seen as generalisations; walking can simply represent taking a direction in life. When you have defined the action, look for further information under the other headings in this book, such as swimming or sitting.
What is your role in the dream? Are you a friend, lover, soldier, dictator, watcher or participant in the dream? Consider this in relationship with your everyday life, especially in connection with how the dream presents it. Where possible, look for the entry on the role in this book. See dreamer.
Are you active or passive in the dream? By passive is meant not taking the leading role, being only an observer, being directed by other people and events, If you are passive, consider if you live in a similar attitude in your life. See active/passive.
What do you feel in the dream? Define what is felt emotionally and physically. In the physical sense are you tired, cold, relaxed or hungry? In the emotional sense do you feel sad, angry, lost, tender or frightened anywhere in the dream? This helps clarify what feeling area the dream is dealing with.
It is important also to define whether the feelings in the dream were satisfyingly expressed or whether held back.
If held back they need fuller expression. See emotions and mood.
Is there a because’ factor in the dream? In many dreams something happens, fails to happen, or appears . . . because! For instance, trapped in a room you find a door to escape through. All is dark beyond and you do not go through the door ‘because’ you are frightened of the dark. In this case the ‘because’ factor is fear.
The dream also suggests you are trapped in an unsatisfying life through fear of opportunity or the unknown.
Am I meeting the things I fear in my dream? Because a dream is an entirely inward thing, we create it completely out of our own internal feelings, images, creativity, habits and insights. So even the monsters of our dream are a pan of ourself.
If we run from them it is only aspects of ourself we are avoiding. Through defining what feelings occur in the dream you may be able to clarify what it is you are avoiding. See nightmares; dream as spiritual guide.
What does the dream mean? We alone create the dream while asleep. Therefore, by looking at each symbol or aspect of the dream, we can discover from what feelings, thoughts or experience, what drive or what insight we have created the drama of the dream. In a playful relaxed way, express whatever you think, feel, remember or fantasise when you hold each symbol in mind. Say or write it all, even the seemingly trivial or dangerous’ bits. It helps to act the pan of each thing if you can; for instance as a house you might describe yourself as ‘a bit old, but with open doors for family and friends to come in and out. I feel solid and dependable, but I sense there is something hidden in my cellar’. Such statements portray oneself graphically. Consider whatever information you gather as descriptive of your waking life. Try to summarise it, as this will aid the gaining of insight.
Try amplifying your dream You will need the help of one or two friends to use this method.
The basis is to take the role of each part of the dream, as described above. This may seem strange at first, but persist. Supposing your name is Julia and you dreamt you were carrying an umbrella, but failed to use it even though it was raining, you would talk in the first person present—I am an umbrella. Julia is carrying me but for some reason doesn’t use me.’ Having finished saying what you could about yourself, your friend(s) then ask you questions about yourself as the dream figure or object. These questions need to be simple and directly about the dream symbol. So they could ask Are you an old umbrella?’ Does Julia know she is canying you?’ ‘What is your function as an umbrella? ‘Are you big enough to shelter Julia and someone else?’ And so on.
The aim of the questions is to draw out information about the symbol being explored.
If it is a known person or object you are in the role of—your father for instance—the replies to the questions need to be answered from the point of view of what happened in the dream, rather than as in real life. Listen to what you are saying about yourself as the dream symbol, and when your questioneKs) has finished, review your statements to see if you can see how they refer to your life and yourself.
If you are asking the questions, even if you have ideas regarding the dream, do not attempt to interpret. Put your ideas into simple questions the dreamer can respond to. Maintain a sense of curiosity and attempt to understand, to make the dream plain in an everyday language sense. Lead the dreamer towards seeing what the dream means through the questions. When you have exhausted your questions ask the dreamer to summarise what they have gathered from their replies. See postures, movements and body language for an example of how to work with body movement to explore a dream meaning.
Can / alter the dream to find greater satisfaction? Imagine yourself in the dream and continue it as a fantasy or daydream. Alter the dream in any way that satisfies. Experiment with it, play with it, until you find a fuller sense of self expression.
It is very imponant to note whether any anger or hostility is in the dream but not fully expressed.
If so, let yourself imagine a full expression of the anger. It may be that as this is practised more anger is openly expressed in subsequent dreams. This is healthy, allowing such feelings to be vented and redirected into satisfying ways, individually and socially. In doing this do not ignore any feelings of resistance, pleasure or anxiety. Satisfaction occurs only as we leam to acknowledge and integrate resistances and anxieties into what we express. This is a very important step. It gradually changes those of our habits which trap us in lack of satisfaction, poor creativity or inability to resolve problems.
Summary To summarise effectively gather the essence of what you have said about each symbol and the dream as a whole and express it in everyday language. Imagine you are explaining to someone who knows nothing about yourself or the dream. Bnng the dream out of its symbols into everyday comments about yourself.
A man dreamt about a grey, dull office. When he looked at what he said about the office he realised he was talking about the grey, unimaginative world he grew up in after the Second World War, and how it shaped him.
Further information on using these techniques can be found in Tony Crisp s work The Instant Dream Book, published by C.W. Daniel. See amplification; plot of dream; adventure of the dream world; dreamer; postures, movement and body language; settings; symbols and dreaming; word analysis of dreams; wordplay and puns. ... dream processing dream meaning
An event will occur which brings about a discharge of energy. Circumstances will then be brought back into balance.
2- In a psychological sense, we will achieve a new level of awareness, perhaps even a revelation.
3- New potential and growth.... zigzao dream meaning
What you should keep in mind if you start a dream diary:
1. Make a note about the date of the dream (use the date of the morning following the dream).
2. Start out by describing the events in the dream without any kind of interpretation and in the sequence you remember them.
3. Write whether the dream you remembered is complete or only a fragment.
4. Write how you felt before and after the dream.
5. Give each dream a title at the conclusion, one that best characterizes the content of the dream.
For interpretation, remember the following:
1. The attitude you adopted toward the dream. Were you a passive observer or actively involved in the event?
2. Which persons appeared in the dream and what your attitude is toward them, emotionally and behaviorally.
3. The mood of each individual scene and of the dream in general.... dream diary dream meaning
A way to locate someone or something for which you have been searching. Make special note of these numbers, and see if you can’t find a waking representation of them.
Effectiveness of communications. Having the wrong zip code on a letter will keep its message from being delivered promptly. Are you directing your words in the right way, to the right people?
A numerological code equating to basic personality traits that either need to be developed or honed to improve your relationships. Add all the numbers together (for example, 14127 = 15 = 1+5 = 6), and look that number up herein for more ideas.... zip codes dream meaning
Depth Psychology: Singing means that you are at peace with yourself and the world around you.
A song in a dream: you are remembering past experiences and emotions. Was the song sad or happy? See Music, Song, Yodeling.... signs of the zodiac. singing dream meaning
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. ... plot of the dream dream meaning
The best “specialist” to do this is you.
An expert dream analyst or a psychotherapist would at best be a “midwife” or guide, and then only if your dream presented clear indications that there was emotional illness and that psychological support was important.
A dream symbol often points to several possibilities.
For instance, the question of whether you are the victim or the perpetrator plays a major role that only honest self-examination can answer. Dream interpretation is not a game, some thing you do every now and then. It only makes sense if it becomes—like daily hygiene—a consistent part of your daily routine—a form of “emotional hygiene.” The rewards are well worth the effort. Nothing can replace self-analysis followed by self-awareness. Only in this way can you lead a happy and productive life and be at peace with yourself.
Your unconscious is often the best friend you can have, because it provides advice and suggestions about how to deal with the problems that arise.
The wisdom of your unconscious can even open a window into the future—allowing you to face the unknown with confidence.
The increase in the number of people who suffer from emotional problems can be laid at the door of today’s culture, with its emphasis on acquiring money, property, and success. But those who are in touch with their unconscious and its messages won’t easily violate the natural needs of their soul.
The best protection we have against depression, anxieties, and coundess other emotional problems is effective dream interpretation.... dream interpretation remarks dream meaning
To taste zinc may mean you are in need of food suppliment tablets to correct an existing health problem or even smelly feet.... zink (metal) dream meaning
If you meet any one of the following symbols in your dreams, the “central tasks” described below might be important for that month. See Astrology, Planets, Star.
Aries: learn patience and focused action, rein in anger.
Taurus: learn to be more flexible and find your place, rein in your urges.
Gemini: learn to be more sensitive and find a synthesis between that and your tendency to be superficial.
Cancer: learn to be independent and assertive—rein in your self-pity.
Leo: learn what true authority means—rein in your pride.
Virgo: learn to trust—rein in your skepticism toward everything and even-body.
Libra: learn to finally make a decision—rein in your ten- dencv to be dishonest.
Scorpio: learn to say goodbye, to let go—rein in your desire for revenge.
Sagittarius: learn to face unpleasantness—rein in your arrogance.
Capricorn: learn to understand others—curb your tendency to generalize.
Aquarius: learn to do one thing at a time—rein in your restlessness.
Pisces: learn to be alone—rein in your fantasies and your tendency to “run.”... signs of the zodiac dream meaning
If you dream of having a big pimple in the middle of your forehead, someone close to you may be sick.
To see others with pimples on them means that you will be troubled with complaints from friends and acquaintances.
To dream that you are popping your pimples, indicates that you need to face and express your negative emotions.... zits dream meaning
On the site there are six different source dream interpretation.
Interprets dreams as a scientific DreamEncyclopedia.org
This dictionary of Christian Dreams, China interpretation of dreams, India interpretation of dreams contains over 44.500 indexed entries and this dictionary of islamic Dreams contains over 5.500 indexed entries.
Also, Psychological / emotional perspective, Material aspects and Gives gender - specific, interpreted of dream.
Dream Analysis and Interpretation. Understand the meaning of your dreams. Great dictionary of dream interpretations.
... dream dictionary and dream interpretation dream meaning
For example, clothing that is tattered or torn may signify that you feel emotionally shredded by an experience. You may also be expressing a "poor me" attitude.
For the hero, the horse cames him to his mission, perhaps over long distances, and thus it may signify the need to travel. A wild horse can represent unleashed and untamed power. Horses may also trot into your dream to indicate the need to stand your ground in a power struggle.
JumpingThe quality of water often describes the situation of your emotions. Crystal clear, clean, adulterated, calm mostly provides strong insights about the state of your feelings.
(2) If the sign is not yours it may still represent some aspect of your personality, conscious or unconscious. The particular meaning will depend on the particular sign, but may be quite straightforward: for example, the ram may symbolize male sexuality or aggressiveness.
... zodiacal sign dream meaning
It is hoped that this dictionary of dream interpretation will prove useful to students of culture and spirituality, but above all to seekers after truth. This is the most comprehensive report on islamic dream interpretation that you will ever read! Not only does it include timely tips and advice understanding how and why you dream, but also clues to help you zero in on and understand common symbols in dreams.
The dream of the prophet Abraham to sacrifice his son, his obedience to the Divine will and his willingness to submit in absolute faith to God made him the first true Muslim and the father of prophets.
The true interpretation of the dreams of the king of Egypt by the prophet Joseph saved both the Egyptians and the children of Israel from famine and death.
The dreams of the Prophet Muhammad, upon him and all the prophets of God be peace and blessings, marked the beginning of his revelation, the noble Qur’fm which changed the face of human history and civilization. Although dreams belong to the domain of personal experience, they are a universal phenomenon, and thus have played a crucial role in the formation of human culture. Throughout recorded human history, dreams and the interpretation of dreams have inspired sages and prophets, poets and kings, as well as the most creative psychologist/philosophers of our day.
The science of psychoanalysis of Carl Jung and his school rests on the fact that dreams form the inner diary of every human individual, and hence the need to read and interpret them correctly. This fact has for long been recognized by the sages and prophets of traditional cultures and religions. Not all dreams, however are either true or authentic. Those of the prophets and friends (awliya’s) of God are Divine revelations, true and sacred.
The dreams of pious men and women are almost always true and meaningful. Some dreams come from Satan, and are thus misleading. Others may be caused by physical or psychological problems such as stomach discomfort or emotional disturbance.
It is therefore important to distinguish true dreams from empty fantasies, and inspired dreams from satanic insinuations. This is a Divine gift to inspired prophets, holy persons and insightful sages. ... islamic dream dream meaning
This dictionary of Christian Dreams, China interpretation of dreams, India interpretation of dreams contains over 44.500 indexed entries and this dictionary of islamic Dreams contains over 5.500 indexed entries.
Also, Psychological / emotional perspective, Material aspects and Gives gender - specific, interpreted of Dream Analysis and Interpretation.
Understand the meaning of your dreams. Great dictionary of dream interpretations.... dream sources dream meaning
Love and happiness were not the only feelings expressed by these floral epistles. Infidelity, jealousy, disdain and rejection were also expressed by a suitably chosen bloom. Whilst a simple flower may have been sent to a young lady to propose marriage, another seemingly innocuous blossom may have been sent in response, telling the gentleman caller to ‘get lost’. The color of the flower was extremely significant; to cite a few examples, red usually meant love, yellow indicated friendship, lavender suggested enchantment, and orange fascination.
As far as dream interpretation goes, the list of meanings is seemingly endless, as nearly every flower has been attributed with a specific meaning at some point in time. In Victorian times, the range of available flowers was limited, and so certain flowers had specific meanings; today, with so many flower choices, there are no rules—it’s the sentiment and personal association that gives the flower meaning to you in a dream. For those interested in the historic or generally accepted meanings of flowers, the list below has been compiled from a variety of different sources, including the American Society of Florists.
Historic and generally accepted meanings of flowers Acacia: Concealed love, chaste love
Agapanthis: Secret love
Alstroemeria: Aspiration
Amaryllis: Pride, drama
Ambrosia: Your love is returned
Anemone: Sincerity, fragility
Apple blossom: Promises
Arbutus: Thee only do ı love
Aster: Symbol of love, daintiness, contentment
Azalea: Take care of yourself for me, abundance, symbol of womanhood (china)
Baby’s breath: Festivity
Bachelor’s button: Anticipation
Begonia: Deep thoughts
Bells of Ireland: Good luck
Bittersweet: Truth
Black-eyed Susan: Encouragement
Bluebell: Humility
Cactus: Endurance
Caladium: Great joy, delight
Camellia (general): Graciousness, good-luck gift for a man
Camellia (pink): Passionate longing
Camellia (red): A flame in the heart
Camellia (white): Admiration
Carnation (general): Fascination, women, love
Carnation (pink): Gratitude, ı’ll never forget you
Carnation (purple): Caprice, whimsy
Carnation (red): Passion, drama, admiration
Carnation (solid color): Affirmation
Carnation (striped): Refusal, sorry ı can’t be with you, wish ı could be with you
Carnation (white): Sweetness and loveliness, innocence, pure love, remembrance, woman’s good-luck gift
Carnation (yellow): Cheerful for all occasions (except in matters of the heart, when it means rejection)
Cattail: Peace, prosperity
Chrysanthemum (general): Cheerfulness, rest
Chrysanthemum (bronze): Excitement
Chrysanthemum (red): Sharing
Chrysanthemum (white): Truth
Chrysanthemum (yellow): Slighted love, secret admirer
Cosmos: Peace
Crocus: Foresight, cheerfulness, gladness
Cyclamen: Resignation, good-bye
Daffodil: Chivalry, respect, regard, unrequited love
Daisy: Innocence, loyalty, loveliness, purity
Dandelion: Faithfulness, happiness
Delphinium: Boldness
Fern: Magic, fascination, confidence, shelter
Fir: Time
Flax: Domestic symbol
Forget-me-not: True love, good memories
Forsythia: Anticipation
Freesia: Full of spirit, trust
Gardenia: Joy
Geranium: Comfort
Ginger: Pride
Gladioli: Sincerity, strength of character, flower of the gladiators
Gloxinia: Love at first sight
Heather (lavender): Admiration, solitude
Heather (white): Protection, wishes will come true
Holly: Defense, domestic happiness
Honeysuckle: Happiness
Hyacinth (general): Sincerity
Hyacinth (blue): Constancy
Hyacinth (purple): Sorrow
Hyacinth (red/pink): Play
Hyacinth (white): Loveliness
Hyacinth (yellow): Jealousy
Hydrangea: Perseverance
Iris: Inspiration
Ivy: Wedded love, fidelity, friendship, affection
Jasmine: Grace and elegance
Jonquil: Desire for affection returned
Larkspur: Beautiful spirit
Lavender: Distrust
Lily (calla): Regal beauty
Lily (day): Enthusiasm, emblem for mother (china)
Lily (Eucharis): Charms
Lily (tiger): Wealth, pride
Lily (white): Virginity, purity, majesty
Lily (yellow): I’m walking on air
Lily of the valley: Sweetness, return to happiness, humility
Magnolia: Nobility
Marigold: Jealousy
Monkshood: Beware, a deadly foe is near
Moss: Maternal love, charity
Myrtle: Love, emblem of marriage
Narcissus: Egotism
Nasturtium: Conquest, victory in battle
Oleander: Caution
Orange blossom: Innocence, eternal love, marriage and fruitfulness
Orange mock: Deceit
Orchid (general): Love, beauty, refinement, symbol for many children (china)
Orchid (Cattleya): Mature charm
Palm leaves: Victory, success
Passion flower: Burning passion
Peony: Healing, happy life, happy marriage
Petunia: Resentment, anger
Pine: Hope, pity
Poppy (general): Eternal sleep, consolation, imagination
Poppy (red): Pleasure
Poppy (white): Consolation
Poppy (yellow): Wealth, success
Primrose: Longing
Primrose (evening): Inconstancy
Queen Anne’s lace: Delicate femininity
Ranunculus: Radiance
Rhododendron: Beware
Rose (bridal): Happiness, love
Rose (dark crimson): Mourning
Rose (Hibiscus): Delicate beauty
Rose (leaf): You may hope
Rose (pink): Friendship
Rose (red): Love, ı love you
Rose (tea): I’ll remember always
Rose (thornless): Love at first sight
Rose (white): Innocence and purity
Rose (white and red mixed): Unity, flower emblem of england
Rose (yellow): Decrease of love, jealousy
Rosebud (general): Beauty and youth
Rosebud (moss): Confessions of love
Rosebud (red): Pure and lovely
Rosebud (white): Girlhood
Roses (bouquet of mature blooms): Gratitude
Roses (single full bloom): I love you, ı still love you
Smilax: Loveliness
Snapdragon: Presumption
Spider flower: Run away with me
Star of Bethlehem: Hope
Statice: Success
Stephanotis: Happiness in marriage, desire to travel
Stock: Bonds of affection, you’ll always be beautiful to me
Sunflower: Pride, sunshine, adoration
Sweetpea: Shyness, thank you for a lovely time
Tulip (general): Love, flower emblem of holland
Tulip (pink): Caring
Tulip (purple): Royalty
Tulip (red): Declaration of love
Tulip (variegated): Beautiful eyes
Tulip (white): Forgiveness
Tulip (yellow): Passionate longing
Violet (general): Modesty, faithfulness
Violet (blue): Watchfulness, faithfulness, ı’ll always be true
Violet (white): Adventure, risk taking
Viscaria: Celebration
Wisteria: Welcome, steadfast
Zinnia (magenta): Lasting affection, thoughts of friends
Zinnia (mixed): Thinking (or in memory) of an absent friend
Zinnia (scarlet): Constancy
Zinnia (white): Goodness
Zinnia (yellow): Daily remembrance ... dream it with flowers dream meaning
First letter of the alphabet. The corresponding letter of the Greek alphabet is alpha. Alpha and omega, the last letter of the Greek alphabet, symbolize the beginning and the end and, in the New Testament, Christ. In musical notation, the letter is the symbol of a note in the scale. The symbol can also refer to a blood group, a vitamin, the months August and April, or any word, place, sound or name represented by the letter ‘a’. In education, a grade of A typically represents the highest score that students can achieve.
The Letter B
Any word, name, place or sound represented by the letter‘b’. The second in a series. Something shaped like the letter B. The second best or second highest in quality or rank. A mark of‘B’ on a term paper. A written or printed mark representing this note. A string, key, or pipe tuned to the pitch of this tone. One of the four major blood groups in the ABO system. The symbol for the chemical Boron.
The Letter C
Any word, name, place or sound represented by the letter‘c’. The third in a series. Something shaped like the letter‘c’. The third best or third highest in quality or rank; a mark of C on a term paper. The first tone in the scale of C major or the third tone in the relative minor scale.
Symbol for the element carbon and the Roman numeral 100. A circled‘c’ represents copyright or ownership.
The Letter D
Any word, name, place or sound represented by the letter‘d’. The fourth in a series. Something shaped like the letter ‘d’. The lowest passing grade given to a student in a school or college. A string, key, or pipe tuned to the pitch of this note. In Roman numerals, the number 500.
The Letter E
Any word, name, place or sound represented by the letter‘e’. The fifth in a series. Something shaped like the letter ‘e’. In education, a grade that indicates a ‘fail’. A string, key, or pipe tuned to the pitch of this note. The hypothesized traditional source of those narrative portions of the Pentateuch in which God is referred to as Elohim, so therefore a word of great power. In weather forecasting and geography, E stands for east, one of the four cardinal directions.
The Letter F
Any word, name, place or sound represented by the letter‘f’. The sixth in a series. Something shaped like the letter ‘f’. In education, a grade that indicates a ‘fail’. A string, key, or pipe tuned to the pitch of this note. In chemistry, F is the symbol of the element fluorine.
The Letter G
Any word, name, place or sound represented by the letter‘g’. The seventh in a series. Something shaped like the letter ‘g’. A string, key, or pipe tuned to the pitch of this note. In physics, G stands for the gravitational constant, the force that brings you back to earth.
The Letter H
Any word, name, place or sound represented by the letter‘h’. The eighth in a series. Something shaped like the letter ‘h’. In chemistry, H is the symbol for the element hydrogen.
The Letter I
Any name, word, place or sound represented by the letter‘i’. The ninth in a series. Something shaped like the letter ‘i’. A symbol for the self, the person you are.
The Letter J
Any word, name, place or sound represented by the letter‘j’. Symbol of January, June and July or the Jack in a deck of cards. The tenth in a series. Something shaped like the letter‘j’. The hypothesized traditional source of those portions of the Pentateuch in which God is referred to with the Tetragrammaton rather than as Elohim, therefore a letter of power.
The Letter K
Any name, word, place or sound represented by the letter‘k’. The 11th in a series. Something shaped like the letter ‘k’. In chemistry, K is the symbol for the element potassium. In law, K is a symbol for contract and in baseball for a strikeout.
The Letter L
Any name, word, place or sound presented by the letter‘l’. The 12th in a series. Something shaped like a‘k’. In the movie Men In Black, agent‘L’ (as in ‘elle’, French for‘she’) is the lead female character.
The Letter M
Any name, word, place, or sound represented by the letter‘m’. The 13th in a series. Something shaped like the letter ‘m’. In information systems, M is often used as the abbreviation for the male sex in personal data records. In calendars, M is often an abbreviation for Monday, or for the months March or May. In French, and some English works by French authors, M. is an abbreviation for Monsieur.
The Letter N
Any word, name, place or sound represented by the letter‘n’. The 14th in a series. Something shaped like the letter ‘n’. In weather forecasting and geography, N stands for north, one of the four cardinal directions. In calendars, N is often an abbreviation for the month November. In chemistry, N is the symbol for nitrogen.
The Letter O
Any word, name, place or sound represented by the letter‘o’. The 15th in a series. Something shaped like the letter ‘o’. One of the four major blood groups in the ABO system. Zero or nothing. In chemistry, O is the symbol of the element oxygen, essential for life.
The Letter P
Any word, name, place or sound represented by the letter‘p’. Symbol for the smallest unit of the British currency, the penny. The 16th in a series. Something shaped like the letter‘p’. In chess, P is a symbol for the pawn. In chemistry, P is the symbol for phosphorus, something that spontaneously combusts at room temperature.
The Letter Q
Any word, name, place or sound represented by the letter‘q’. The 17th in a series. Something shaped like the letter ‘q’. A hypothetical lost manuscript, consisting largely of sayings of Jesus, that is believed to have been the source of passages in the gospels of Matthew and Luke. In chess, Q is a symbol for the queen. It is also the symbol for a question, as in
The Letter R
Any word, name, place, or sound represented by the letter‘r’. The 18th in a series. Something shaped like the letter ‘r’. In film, R is a rating given by film classification boards meaning‘restricted’. R is sometimes used as a symbol for river.
The Letter S
Any word, name, place or sound represented by the letter‘s’. Symbol of the snake. The 19th in a series. Something shaped like the letter‘s’. In chemistry, S is the symbol of the element sulfur. In weather forecasting and geography, S stands for south, one of the four cardinal directions.
The Letter T
Any word, name, place or sound represented by the letter‘t’. The 20th in a series. Something shaped like the letter ‘t’. In calendars, T is often an abbreviation for Tuesday or Thursday. In propositional logic, T is the symbol for true.
The Letter U
Any word, name, place or sound represented by the letter‘u’. The 21st in a series. Something shaped like the letter ‘u’. A grade that indicates an unsatisfactory status. In communication, U is an abbreviation for the word‘you’ in SMS or instant messaging.
The Letter V
Any word, name, place or sound represented by the letter‘v’. The 22nd in a series. Something shaped like the letter ‘v’. V is for Victory. In computing, V is an operation on a semaphore, used for process synchronization. In grammar, v is an abbreviation for verb or action.
The Letter W
Any word, name, place or sound represented by the letter‘w’. The 23rd in a series. Something shaped like the letter ‘w’. In weather forecasting and geography, W stands for west, one of the four cardinal directions.
The Letter X
Any word, name, place or sound represented by the letter‘x’. The 24th in a series. Something shaped like the letter ‘x’. A mark inscribed to represent the signature of someone who is unable to sign their name. An unknown or unnamed factor, thing or person. To delete, cancel, or obliterate with a series of Xs. Often used with the word‘out’. In films, X used to be the rating given to films suitable for an adult-only audience. A symbol for Christ, as in Xmas. In genetics, X denotes the X chromosome and XX denotes female in the XY sex-determination system
The Letter Y
Any name, word, place or sound represented by the letter‘y’. The 25th in a series. Something shaped like the letter ‘y’. In genetics, Y denotes the Y or male chromosome and XY denotes male in the XY sex- determination system. In Internet slang,‘why’ is commonly denoted by Y due to the similarity in pronunciation.
The Letter Z
Any word, name, place or sound represented by the letter‘z’. The 26th or last place in a series. Something shaped like the letter‘z’. In cartoons, multiple Zs are slang for sleep. In mathematics, z denotes a complex variable.
... letters in dream dream meaning
Look at it this way...a dream is like a puzzle, and although there are several pieces that are quickly pieced together because they are so obvious, the puzzle isn’t complete until all the pieces are placed together bit by bit. Then you have the complete picture...until then, you’ll only have disjointed images that don’t add up to anything coherent, and you’ll still be confused.
So please remember that and try not to piecemeal a dream...it needs to be fully interpreted or it will most likely be totally wrong.
Let’s look at some of the more common dream images and what they could mean.
Teeth Falling Out
This is probably the most prevalent dream image that people report. It is disturbing to them because it affects vanity and personal appearance – but only in the dream! a dream about one’s teeth falling out usually symbolizes that the dreamer is having a challenge getting their voice heard, or feelings acknowledged.
This may be referring to their conversations with a particular person such as their significant other, boss, or friend; or can be generalized for people who are shy, to include almost everyone they come in contact with.
The dreamer needs to brush up on conversational skills, believe in the value of their own opinion, and learn how to be less intimidated by aggressive people, and become more assertive and make their voice heard. Once they do that, this dream (which is a common recurring dream) should evolve & show improvement...or disappear altogether.
Another theory is that dreams about your teeth reflect your anxiety about your appearance and how others perceive you. Sadly, we live in a world where good looks are valued highly and your teeth play an important role in conveying that image. Teeth are used in the game of flirtations, whether it is a dazzling and gleaming smile or affectionate necking. These dreams may stem from a fear of your sexual impotence or the consequences of getting old. Teeth are an important feature of our attractiveness and presentation to others. Everybody worries about how they appear to others. Caring about our appearance is natural and healthy.
There are cultural interpretations of this type of dream as well. A scriptural interpretation for bad or falling teeth indicate that you are putting your faith, trust, and beliefs in what man thinks rather than in the word of God. The bible says that God speaks once, yea twice in a dream or a vision in order to hide pride from us, to keep us back from the pit, to open our ears (spiritually) and to instruct and correct us.
In the Greek culture, when you dream about loose, rotten, or missing teeth, it indicates that a family member or close friend is very sick or even near death.
According to the Chinese, there is a saying that your teeth will fall out if you are telling lies.
It has also been said that if you dream of your teeth falling out, then it symbolizes money. This is based on the old tooth fairy story. If you lose a tooth and leave it under the pillow, a tooth fairy would bring you money.
Flying
Dreams about flying usually represent freedom from the physical body, as we experience in sleep while dreaming where we don’t use our physical bodies but instead use our mental & spiritual bodies to experience our dreams. It’s one of the first things people attempt to do when they gain control of their dreams and start lucid dreaming.
Everybody seems to have a natural inclination to want to fly, unless that is changed by a fear of flying due to a frightening incident in their waking lives. Flying = freedom; either a desire for freedom, an “escape” from restraints in your physical life (like a mini-vacation for the mind) or any number of possibilities.
Tie it in with the context of your dream...what were you doing in your dream besides flying? How did it make you feel? Also, the type of flying here is the person flying on their own without an airplane or any aircraft at all. That would be a different symbol dealing with spiritual awareness, among other things.
Flying dreams fall under a category of dreams where you become aware that you are dreaming, known as lucid dreaming. Many dreamers have described the ability to fly in their dreams as an exhilarating, joyful, and liberating experience.
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. Flying dreams and the ability to control your flight is representative of your own personal sense of power.
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 power lines, trees, or mountains may further obstruct your flight. These barriers represent a particular obstacle or person who is standing in your way in your waking life. You need to identify who or what is hindering you from moving forward.
If you are feeling fear when you are flying or that you feel that you are flying too high then it suggests that you are afraid of challenges and of success.
In reality, we do not have the ability to fly. Thus such dreams may represent that which is beyond our physical limitations. In your mind, you can be anybody and do anything. Another way of interpreting flying dreams is that these dreams symbolize your strong mind and will. You feel undefeatable and nobody can tell you what you cannot do and accomplish. Undoubtedly these dreams leave you a great sense of freedom.
Being Caught In A Tornado
This symbol points to emotional turmoil, as in a “whirlwind of emotions”; and/or rapid or sudden changes in your life. It is a sign to “get a grip” on what is possibly spinning out of control & deal more effectively with your emotions. Meditation and finding some private “think time” for yourself would be a good idea.
Being Naked
Dreaming that you are completely or partially naked is very common. Nudity symbolizes a variety of things depending on your real life situation.
Becoming mortified at the realization that you are walking around naked in public is often a reflection of your vulnerability or shamefulness. You may be hiding something and are afraid that others can nevertheless see right through you. Metaphorically clothes are a means of concealment. With clothes, you can hide your identity or be someone else. But without them, everything is hanging out for all to see. You are left without any defenses.
The dream may telling you that you are trying to be something that you really are not. Or that you are fearful of being ridiculed and disgraced. If you are in a new relationship, you may have some fears or apprehension in revealing your true feelings.
Nudity also symbolizes being caught off guard.
Finding yourself naked at work or in a classroom, suggests that you are unprepared for a project at work or school. You may be uninformed in making a well-formed decision. With all eyes on you, you have this fear of having some deed brought to public attention. You fear that people will see through your true self and you will be exposed as a fraud or a phony.
Many times, when you realize that you are naked in your dream, no one else seems to notice. Everyone else in the dream is going about their business without giving a second look at your nakedness. This implies that your fears are unfounded; no one will notice except you. You may be magnifying the situation and making an issue of nothing. On the other hand, such dreams may mean your desire (or failure) to get noticed.
For a small percentage of you, dreaming that you are proud of your nakedness and show no embarrassment or shame, then it symbolizes your unrestricted freedom. You have nothing to hide and are proud of who you are. The dream is about a new sense of honesty, openness, and a carefree nature.
Being Chased
Chase dreams often stem from feelings of anxiety in your walking life. The way we respond to anxiety and pressure in real life is typically manifested as a chase dream. Running is an instinctive response to physical threats in our environment.
Often in these dream scenarios, you are being pursued by some attacker, who wants to hurt or possibly kill you. You are 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 and pressure.
The pursuer or attacker who is chasing you in your dream may also represent a part of yourself. Your own feelings of anger, jealousy, fear, and possibly love, can assume the appearance of threatening figure. You may be projecting these feelings onto the unknown chaser.
Next time you have a chase dream, turn around and confront your pursuer. Ask them why they are chasin you.
One may be consumed by their own anger, jealousy, love, or self-destructive behavior. For example, you may be drinking too much or exhibiting open hostility toward others around you. You may subconsciously be threatened by these actions which have been jeopardizing your relationships and/or career. Your dreams are a way of calling attention to these self-destructive actions.
A more direct analysis of chase dreams is the fear of being attacked. Such dreams are more common among women than men, who may feel physically vulnerable in the urban environment. These dreams are inspired by fears of violence and sexual assault in which we are so over-exposed from the media. The violence that the media portrays magnifies our fears and how at risk we all are.
Falling
Falling dreams are another theme that is quite common in the world of dreams. As we said earlier, contrary to a popular myth, you will not actually die if you do not wake up before your hit the ground during a fall.
As with most common dream themes, falling is an indication of insecurities, instabilities, and anxieties. You are feeling overwhelmed and out of control in some situation in your waking life.
This may reflect the way you feel in your relationship or in your work environment. You have lost your foothold and can not hang on or keep up with the hustle and bustle of daily life. When you fall, there is nothing that you can hold on to. You more or less are forced toward this downward motion without any control. This loss of control may parallel a waking situation in your life.
Falling dreams also often reflect a sense of failure or inferiority in some circumstance or situation. It may be the fear of failing in your job/school, loss of status, or failure in love. You feel shameful and lack a sense of pride. You are unable to keep up with the status quo or that you don’t measure up.
According to Freudian theory, dreams of falling indicate that you are contemplating giving into a sexual urge or impulse. You may be lacking indiscretion.
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. These sudden contractions, also known as myclonic jerks. Sometimes when we have these falling dreams, we feel our whole body jerk or twitch and we awaken from this jerk. It is thought that this jerking action is part of an arousal mechanism that allows the sleeper to awaken and become quickly alert and responsive to possible threats in the environment.
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 those of the Lord.
Taking An Exam or Test
To dream that you are taking an exam indicates that you are being put to the test or being scrutinized in some way. Such dreams highlight your feelings of being anxious and agitated. You may find that you cannot answer any of the questions on the test or that the test is in some foreign language.
Is time running out and you find that you can not complete the exam in the allowed time? Or are you late to the exam? Does your pencil keep breaking during the exam? Such factors contribute to you failing this test.
These dreams usually have to do with your self- esteem and confidence or your lack of. You are worried that you are not making the grade and measuring up to other people’s expectations of you. You may also experience the fear of not being accepted, not being prepared, or not being good enough. You feel nervous, insecure and tend to believe the worst about yourself.
These dreams also suggest that you may feel unprepared for a challenge. Rarely, are these dreams about the content of the test, but rather the process and how you are feeling during the exam taking process. Generally, you feel distressed and frustrated. These feelings may parallel how you are feeling in a particular challenge or situation in your waking like.
Dreams of this nature are also an indication that you are being judged and this dream is a signal for you to examine an aspect of yourself that you may have been neglecting and need to pay attention to. You may harbor some guilt because of your neglect in preparation for a school exam, meeting, business project, or some challenge. Most of the time people who have such dreams are unlikely to fail a test in real life. This dream goes back to their fear and own anxiety that they may not meet other’s standards of them. They are afraid to let others down.
Now let’s look at some specific symbols that appear in dreams and what they might mean.... most common dream images dream meaning
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 DREAMSThese 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.
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.... dream types dream meaning
The point is that if we are being given these messages for our own well-being, it would behoove us to try to understand them, to listen to the spirits.
The uncon¬scious, or the spirits, employ symbols with which we are familiar. They present the message using objects that per¬tain to our everyday life, the better that we may under¬stand what is being communicated. Sigmund Freud believed that the unconscious mind contains repressed material—wishes, thoughts, experi-ences—that the individual will not accept into the con¬scious mind. These things are therefore repressed and often disguised. Carl Jung called this repressed material the “Personal Unconscious.” He believed that there was also the “Collective Unconscious,” which contained elements from racial memories and experiences. Discover how to:
What happens when we sleep?
Why do we sleep? The answer is not as simple as it seems. We sleep so that our body can rest, we think at first. However, science has not been able to prove concretely that sleep is necessary for physical recuperation of the body. Experiments performed on rats have proven that when deprived of sleep, these animals die.
But human nature is not as simple as that of rats. Everyone knows people who barely sleep. The most extreme case, published in some scientific magazines, is that of a man who claims not to have slept since contracting a serious illness. In a similar vein, some individuals with a highly developed spirituality are able to remain conscious all night. We’re not referring to a student during exam time drinking coffee or taking stimulants to stay awake more than twenty-four hours straight. We’re talking about people who can achieve advanced levels of relaxation through deep meditation.
It is known that anxiety and lack of concentration increase considerably after a night or two without sleep. One theory related to sleep affirms that we sleep to conserve energy. However, another suggests that we rest to conserve our food stores, since when we lose consciousness, we repress the hunger mechanism.
How much do we sleep?
Sleep at different ages
In the course of his life, a person has, on average, 300,000 dreams. As we age, both the time we spend sleeping and the time we spend dreaming decrease gradually.
Newborns sleep almost all day, alternating hours of sleep with short spells of wakefulness. By one year of age, they sleep fewer sessions but for longer in total: they have cycles of 90 minutes of sleep followed by another 90 minutes of waking time. Gradually, the child will sleep more at night and less during the day. By 9 years of age, most need between 9 and 12 hours of sleep a day.
The average for an adult is between 7 and 8.5 hours. But after age 70, we return to the sleep phases of childhood and sleep fewer hours continuously.
There are arguments that even claim we have slept since ancient times in order to appear a less tasty snack for nocturnal predators (when we sleep, our body looks like a corpse).
There are theories to suit everyone, but we shouldn’t forget the fundamental: for almost all of us, sleeping is a relaxing and pleasant experience that lasts between six and eight hours each night, an experience that is utterly necessary to “recharge the batteries” of our bodies.
It’s no coincidence that we choose nighttime to sleep. In the darkness our vision is reduced, the world becomes strange, and as a result, our imagination runs wild. Our minds remain occupied with images (that is, dreams). At night, our eyes don’t work, but we have a need to create images. If for some reason we are deprived of sleep, the following nights our dream production increases, since we spend more time in the REM phase (the period of sleep when oneiric thoughts are most active). Therefore it seems evident that we need dreams to live.
Some ancient civilizations believed that dreaming served, more than anything, to be able to dream. They were convinced that oneiric activity wasn’t the result of sleeping, but rather the reason for it. Some scientists, however, don’t share the theories of our ancestors when it comes to the reason behind our dreams.
There is a scientific school of thought that asserts that oneiric thoughts are simply a neurophysiological activity that comes with sleep. According to this theory, when we sleep we generate spontaneous signals that stimulate the sensory channels in the mind. The brain transforms these signals into visual images and induces the dreamer to believe that he is living real experiences.
Up to that point, perfect. But, why do dreams have such an interesting narrative? Why do they so often express metaphoric language? Why do they narrate stories that directly affect us? There is no concrete or scientific answer to these questions.
Percentages of REM sleep
Cold-blooded animals never dream; the cold temperatures at night cause them to hibernate and all their vital functions, including the brain, slow down. Only when the sun comes out or the temperature rises to an acceptable level do they recuperate all vital functions. The only cold-blooded animal that has shown signs of dreaming is the chameleon.
On the other hand, we know all warm-blooded animals dream, since REM-phase activity has been detected in all of them. Birds dream only about 0.5% of the time they spend asleep, while humans dream up to 20% of the time. There are exceptional cases, such as that of the Australian platypus, that never dream.
Other theories suggest that dreams serve to eliminate unnecessary facts from memory, since we can’t store everything that happens every day. According to this thesis, at night we erase the “archives” we don’t need, just like a computer. The sleeping mind tests the process of erasing in the form of dreams, which would explain why they’re so difficult to remember. There are obvious limitations to this theory if you keep in mind that, occasionally, oneiric thoughts work creatively (they go beyond the information that we give them). These don’t have much to do with the merely “hygienic” function that the aforementioned scientific community claims. Often, dreams don’t eliminate the useless leftovers of daily experiences. Quite the opposite: they give them a surprising new shape, so when we wake up, we can reflect more deeply on their meaning.
The phases of sleep
Even though we don’t realize it, when we sleep at night we pass through four different phases of sleep. Each phase is distinguished by the deepness of sleep. That is, when we are in phase 1, it is a fairly light sleep; during phase 4, we reach maximum intensity.
When we go to sleep, we enter a period in which we gradually pull away from the exterior world. Little by little, our sleep deepens until finally (phase 4) our breathing slows and becomes regular, our cardiac rhythm slows down, and our body temperature decreases. Therefore the body’s metabolism also reduces its activity.
More or less an hour after falling asleep, your body has already gone through the four phases. At this point you begin to go back through the levels until you return to phase 1. This brings along an increase in respiratory and cardiac rhythm. Parallel to this, brain waves once again start to register an activity close to that of consciousness. You are therefore in a moment of transition, demonstrated by the fact that at this point the body tends to change position.
All signs indicate that any noise might wake us. But that’s not the case: since your muscle tone has been reduced, this is actually the moment when it’s most difficult to regain consciousness. At the same time, your eyes begin to move behind your eyelids (up and down and side to side). This ocular phenomenon, which anyone can observe easily, is known as the REM phases, which stands for “rapid eye movement.”
Certain areas of the brain are associated with different functions and human skills, translating external sensory stimuli into a well-organized picture of the world. In dreams, those same stimuli produce different reactions. If a sleeping person hears a sound or touches something repulsive, those stimuli will probably be integrated into their dream before they wake up.
The REM phase
The REM phase is particularly important for those interested in dreams. All studies indicate that during this brief spell (from five to ten minutes) we typically experience the most intense oneiric activity. Some of these studies, done in a sleep laboratory, have observed that eight out of ten individuals relate very vivid dreams when woken up right at the end of the REM phase. These periods alternate at night with what we could call non-REM phases, that is, periods when no ocular movement is registered.
How many times do we reach a REM stage at night? It is estimated that each cycle is repeated four to seven times. As the hours pass, each phase gets longer. This way, the final REM stage might last twenty to forty minutes. On average, an adult enjoys an hour and a half of REM sleep each night, although for older individuals it may be less than an hour and a quarter. Babies, on the other hand, remain in the REM phase for 60 percent of the time they spend asleep.
In any case, let’s make this clear: not all dreams are produced during this period. It has also been demonstrated that humans generate images in other stages. However, these are dreams of a different quality, since during the non-REM phases, our oneiric activity tends to generate only undefined thoughts, vague sensations, etc. Nothing close to the emotional content that characterizes dreams produced in the REM phase.
The oneiric images produced in the most intense phase (REM) are more difficult to remember. One method to remember them consists of waking up just after each REM phase.
As we’ve commented already, those who wish to read their dreams have to first do the work of remembering them. If we want this work to be 100 percent effective, we can use a method that, although uncomfortable, almost never fails: wake up just after every REM phase. If you want to try this method, set your alarm (without music or radio) to go off four, five, six, or seven and a half hours after falling asleep. You can be sure that if you wake up just after one of the REM phases you go through each night, you will enjoy vivid memories.
This is the process used in sleep laboratories, where oneiric activity is studied through encephalographic registry of electrical brain activity.
The people in the study—who are volunteers—sleep connected to machines that register their physiological reactions (brain waves, cardiac rhythm, blood pressure, muscle activity, eye movement, etc).
At certain points during the night, these reactions indicate that, if you wake them, they will be able to tell you what they dreamed. This is because the phase that produces the most intense dreams (REM) is characterized by a physical reaction easily observed: the rapid movement of the eyes of the dreamer.
With this method, sleep laboratories can collect proof of precisely
when subjects are dreaming. And given that oneiric images are difficult to remember, the lab techniques have been a great advance in dream research. Some experts assert that thanks to the scientific advances of the second half of the twentieth century, we have learned more about sleep processes in the last fifty years than in all the history of humanity.
What do we dream?
A wide study done in France on the subject of dreams produced these results:
Hypnagogic images: between waking and sleep
As we’ve seen, throughout the night our sleep is divided into four distinct phases. But what happens just before we sink into the first phase? Are we still awake? Not exactly. In the moments when our mind decides between wakefulness and sleep, we begin to lose contact with the world around us, without the characteristic physiological changes of sleep.
This intermediate point has been called the “hypnagogic state” by psychologists. This is a period when, despite the fact that we’re not asleep, our brains generate images that can sometimes be very beautiful. In some ways, these images rival those found in our dreams.
Hypnagogic images of great visual beauty evaporate like bubbles when we wake up and are barely remembered.
However, the hypnagogic state cannot be considered a truly oneiric state. Among other reasons, the scenes produced in this phase are unrelated to the episodes with a more or less coherent plot that characterize dreams.
In the hypnagogic state we produce unrelated images that hardly connect to each other and that, unlike dreams, are not linked to our daily experiences. This phenomenon occurs not only before sleeping but also in the moments before waking up, when we are not yet conscious enough to be aware of them.
Sometimes, before falling asleep we also experience a curious sensation of floating or flying, or we may see very sharp scenes, with a clarity comparable to that of real visual experiences. These types of images, like dreams, evaporate like bubbles when we wake up and we barely remember them, which is a shame because their beauty slips from our minds. In any case, unlike oneiric thoughts, the hypnagogic state is little use for understanding the messages our subconscious wants to send us, and we should value it more for its beauty than its transcendental content.
Salvador Dali, painter of dreams.
To remember them you must not lose consciousness during the apparition. That is, you must observe the process of the hypnagogic state without falling asleep. It seems simple but it is not, because you must submerge yourself in sleep while the mind remains aware of the events happening in its interior. With a little luck, we can see some of the marvelous “paintings” of our private museum.
The surrealist artists of the 20s and 30s knew all about this. This is how Salvador Dali, fervent lover of hypnagogic scenes, turned to what is known as “the monk’s sleep.” He went to bed with a large iron key in his hand. With the first dream, the key would fall to the floor and he would wake up suddenly. In his mind he recorded the hypnagogic images he would later transfer to the canvas in his masterful style.
The seven “chakras,” or centers of subtle energy in the ayurvedic hindu medicine (1).
The nadis according to Tibetan tradition (2).
The meridians of traditional Chinese medicine (3).
If you have difficulty retaining the hypnagogic state, try centering your attention on a concrete point. For example the “third eye” of the yogis (that is, between your eyes), in the area of the heart, or in the top of the head. These three positions are, according to the philosophy of yoga, the centers of subtle rather than physical energy in the human body. You need a place to direct the mind. Another trick to hold attention without effort is to think abstractly about the name of the object you wish to see. This doesn’t mean you have to “create” the images; you just have to induce its appearance during the hypnagogic state. Entering through meditation is also very useful and beneficial.
Sometimes, the hypnagogic scenes are not as pleasant as we would like, but we must confront them in order to strengthen our ability for self-control. If they persist, try following the previous advice. Think abstractly about the name of what you want to see, resisting the temptation to construct it in a certain way from the conscious mind.
The main advantage of the hypnagogic state is that it brings us progressively closer to our deep Self . . . and all that helps to understand and better benefit from dreams.
The same subject can have very different meanings depending on the circumstances and personal situation of the dreamer.... why do we dream? physiology of dreams dream meaning
ACADEMY
Denotes knowledge, especially of a philosophical and metaphysical nature. Intensive study will favor the dreamer.
ANGEL
An elevated characteristic, like friendliness, compassion, or An elevated characteristic, like friendliness, compassion, or healing, is found in the dreamer’s life. A direct encounter with an angel indicates that you should strengthen said quality.
ARM
Strength and great achievement. The dreamer has power in a particular situation. If the arm appears wounded, it symbolizes that this power grows weaker.
BABY
Something is born, possibly a relationship.
BRIDGE
Transition from one situation or point of view to another. The dreamer is experiencing a positive change in his life and attitude.
BRIGHT STAR
Divinity. Proximity of favorable events and good luck.
BLINDNESS
The dreamer cannot, or does not want to, see the truth about a part of their life. Dreams in which you are surrounded by darkness have the same meaning.
BOOK OR PARCHMENT
Knowledge is near.
CANDLE
It is the human soul. A candle that burns represents a strong soul; one that is dying little by little indicates a weakness of character.
CAVE
A place to take refuge from a threatening or stressful situation.
CHILD
Represents innocence and ingenuity, the desire to learn which benefits intellectual development. Sign of the importance the dreamer places on this virtue.
COFFIN, TOMB, OR CEMETERY
Something has died in the dreamer’s life. Everything will be fine if you accept it and move forward strongly.
COMET
A great change is coming in the life of the dreamer. It will be beneficial, but could bring a sudden loss of something, a disruption, or an unexpected turn.
CORPSE
Something has died and is rotting in your life. You should determine what it is and act immediately to “bury” it.
CLIMBING
The dreamer is searching for greater satisfaction from life. This image is very positive and signifies inner growth and advancement.
CRUISE
Higher spiritual growth and transformation. If the ship moves quietly over calm waters, the dreamer will find little stress in their life. If the waves are rough, on the other hand, it foretells tensions.
CUP or CHALICE
Divine blessing; very positive if it is gold or silver. If it is broken, it means the blessing will be rejected.
DANCING
Happiness and fun in the dreamer’s life.
DAGGER or WEAPON
Personal violence. Denotes that the dreamer is furious and holds feelings of aggressiveness inside.
DAWN, SUNRISE
A new start, either in a relationship or a job.
DAWN, SUNRISE
A new start, either in a relationship or a job.
DEAFNESS
The dreamer is ignoring the good advice of a friend or loved one. Indicates that you don’t want to hear a truth you are being told in real life.
DEMON
Symbolizes the lower passions such as jealousy, resentment, or vengeance. The dreamer should remove these from their life as soon as possible.
DESERT
Spiritual aridity in some aspect of the dreamer’s life. A way of avoiding it is to find a manner of achieving more productivity and spiritual wealth.
DARKNESS
Absence of divinity and saintliness. Ignorance. The more darkness that appears in the dream, the less spiritual illumination the dreamer will have.
DOOR
A barrier that can be overcome with willpower. Closed doors symbolize a lack of the right attitude when approaching a certain situation.
DOVE
Peace in general; pacific resolution of a particular situation. DUST. Humility before the greatness of God. Associated with destiny. It reminds you that you should cultivate qualities of deference and submission.
DRAGON OR MONSTER
Demonic or spiritually negative forces, such as black magic or malevolence. The dreamer should avoid any matter in life related to such aspects.
EAGLE
Imagination and creativity. If it flies very high it represents a greater emergence of these qualities; an eagle nest is safe place to strengthen them.
EARTH
The world is means of life, where all creatures must fight for their existence. Indicates that the dreamer has too many mundane worries.
ECHO
Everything you do echoes and has repercussions in the hidden worlds. Dreams of this kind remind you of said spiritual truth.
ELDER
Eternal wisdom, especially religious. The dreamer should seek this quality in their life.
EYE
A human eye represents that the dreamer has a correct judgment about some matter or situation. If the eye is wounded or blind, it means the opposite.
FALLING
The dreamer is falling in a lower level of consciousness and feels negative emotions such as rage, pride, or fear. Without exception, it is a negative symbol.
FISH
Abundance and material blessing in the dreamer’s life. Money,
FISH
Abundance and material blessing in the dreamer’s life. Money, properties, and other possessions will increase.
FIRE
Divine judgment of the imperfections and bad acts of the dreamer. Fire also indicates a need for exhaustive moral cleansing and self purification.
FIRMAMENT
Divine order in the universe that translates to the dreamer’s life.
FLYING
Freedom from mundane worries. Also means that you should use your imagination to experience a greater sensation of freedom when facing trivial problems.
FOUNTAIN
A good emotional state, vitality. The more water that flows, the greater capacity you have to express positive emotions, such as gratitude and compassion.
FUNERAL
Something has died in the dreamer’s life; a job, a relationship, or even an important belief.
GAZELLE
Precise and elegant decision that the dreamer should make. A very positive symbol.
GARDEN
Liveliness in attitude and beliefs. Reveals an excellent perspective and spiritual growth.
GENITALS
Generative capacity, the dreamer’s potent creativity.
GETTING LOST
The dreamer has gone astray, has diverted from the soul’s mission and his purpose in life. You must regain your spiritual orientation, above all.
GIANT
Egomania, pride, and arrogance. The dreamer or someone close to them is behaving ungenerously.
GOAT
Great ability to overcome and resist. The dreamer needs to develop other elevated qualities such as imagination or esthetic sense.
GREEN FIELDS
The dreamer’s life is full of vitality and good intentions.
HAIR
Virility and sexuality. If it is thick and voluptuous, it denotes sensuality; the opposite if you lose it. Brushing your hair is a sign of vanity.
HEBREW ALPHABET
Each of the twenty-two letters has a specific meaning. In dreams, they indicate elevated communication.
HIGHWAY
Symbolizes the road or life journey. If it is well traveled, it means the dreamer enjoys a close relationship with others. If the opposite, it denotes loneliness.
HORIZON
The near future. A clear horizon represents good luck; a hard one, on the other hand, indicates problems.
HUNGER
Physical or emotional deprivation. The dreamer feels some
HUNGER
Physical or emotional deprivation. The dreamer feels some bodily or personal need unsatisfied.
ILLNESS
The dreamer lacks balance in their life and soon could experience physical or emotional disorder.
JEWEL
Divine illumination. The more beautiful or brilliant it is, the greater the spirituality that will shine in your life.
JOURNEY
The present path of the dreamer. If the setting of the dream seems strange, it indicates a new situation or challenges. The presence of companion is a good sign; their absence denotes isolation.
KING
Power and divine judgment. Emphasizes the importance of these qualities in the dreamer’s life.
KISS
The taste of the transcendental soul. Whether consciously or not, we experience said condition in some aspect of life.
LAMB
Submission and sweetness. A shepherd directing his flock signifies that you are taking special care with a certain situation.
LAMP
Spiritual knowledge and wisdom. The Zohar speaks of a lamb of darkness, which is associated with evil and discord.
LEG
Resistance, especially in journeys by foot. Signifies that the dreamer has the strength necessary to successfully resolve a problematic situation.
LIGHT
Divinity, saintliness, and wisdom. This is a superior symbol.
LIMP
Inability to resolve a certain situation, caused by yourself or by external circumstances.
LION
Courage and spiritual strength. Traditionally, the lion also represents the Jewish community. The image of a lion nuzzling its cubs indicates that you give courage to others.
MARKET
Sustenance of human existence. Indicates your worries about how to earn a living.
MAKING LOVE
Ecstasy of the soul when it refers to a union with God.
MOON
Fantasy, intuition, and receptiveness in the soul of the dreamer. Traditionally, it is related to other hidden aspects of the soul, like imagination and creativity. Equally, it is associated with femininity. MIDNIGHT, however, represents a time of mystic study and contemplation.
MORNING
State of spiritual satisfaction and happiness. Also associated with physical pleasure, well-being, or healing.
MOUNTAIN
Place of divine inspiration and revelation. Indicates that the dreamer needs to find this place in real life.
MOUTH
Human speech and the capacity to create harmony or conflict. The dreamer should pay attention to the effect their words cause. The dreamer should pay attention to the effect their words cause. A wounded mouth symbolizes a lack of communicative skills.
NIGHT
Judgment and dark qualities. Night is usually associated with demonic forces and emotional negativity.
OASIS
A place of rejuvenation and replenishment. Indicates the end of the feeling of spiritual sterility in the dreamer’s life. It is a positive symbol.
PALACE
Dwelling of the divine. The dreamer should seek more consciously the sacred side of daily life.
PLANETS
Subtle, hidden forces in the life of the dreamer. Traditionally, the vision of this symbol was astrological and it was believed that it exercised a concrete influence on our daily experiences.
PLAYING AN INSTRUMENT
Exaltation and spiritual pleasure; also, experiencing the sacred through an esthetic activity.
QUEEN
Divine love and compassion. Her oneiric presence confirms the importance of these characteristics in the dreamer’s life.
RAINBOW
Protection and divine security. A hopeful and encouraging symbol for the life of the dreamer.
RIVER, STREAM
The vital spirituality is flowing correctly. Soon a positive change or great experience will arrive.
SNAKE
Deception and malevolence, disguised as sincerity and attention. Warns that there is someone or something in your life that may be dangerous.
SINGING
Gratitude. The act of singing, whether it is the dreamer or other people, means that you will soon have something to be grateful for and to celebrate.
SKY
The spiritual world; the intangible, pure, subtle, and mystic part of life. A cloudless sky signifies clarity; if it is clouded, it means there is confusion.
SLEEPING
Ignorance, passivity, and withdrawal. In its most positive interpretation, it represents waiting without hurry. Falling asleep symbolizes loss of consciousness and acuity.
STAIR
Character development and personal growth.
STAGNANT WATER
Blockage in the life energy, especially in the spiritual sense.
STRONG WIND
The force of change. To dream of this element means your life will undergo a complete metamorphosis. Hurricanes indicate that said change will be very violent.
STUDY
Acquisition of knowledge, above all spiritual. It is a positive dream that indicates the dreamer is above all spiritual. It is a positive dream that indicates the dreamer is developing internally.
SUN
Will and intention. The sunrise represents the birth of something new in your life. The sunset indicates that some matter is ending. Traditionally it is also associated with masculinity and it’s most characteristic traits such as stubbornness—in a positive sense as well as negative.
TEETH
Physical vitality. Losing teeth is a warning to the dreamer about their health.
THIRST
Spiritual desire. Represents that the dreamer is not receiving the spiritual satisfaction they desire.
THRONE
Physical manifestation of the divine. Indicates that the dreamer must be more conscious of the sacred side of their body.
TREE
Life and spiritual knowledge. A flowering tree also represents deserved success; a bare tree denotes a lack of achievement.
TRIPPING
Impatience and too much hurry in daily matters. You need calm and balance to avoid the possibility of a serious fall.
TURTLE
Good luck in life.
UNOPENED LETTER
The dreamer did not heed a very important message. It is necessary to pay attention immediately to any communication received in real life.
WAKING UP
The dreamer is recovering clarity, acuity, and personal energy to complete some personal matter.
WAVY OCEAN
Pride and arrogance. This dream indicates that the dreamer must cultivate humility.
WEDDING
Spiritual compromise, possibly related to a field of study, training, or an effort in the long term.
WILD
The absence of civilization. A place of power and potential danger.... a brief dictionary of dreams from the kabbalah dream meaning
Dreams Communicate in Images Because of How the Brain Works
A dream speaks in pictures because your brain is hardwired to remember visually. As psychologists have confirmed, the brain stores much of its information (i.e., thoughts, memories, and experiences) as images that are linked up to your thoughts and feelings—becoming a mental picture in the mind’s eye. This is why visual pictures are the language of the brain. That is also why, in books on how to boost your memory, you are asked to link the words or names that you want to remember with a set of images, in order to remember them. When it comes to memory and your brain, pictures rule!
All Dreams Are Meaningful.
All dreams carry a message, and even a single dream image has meaning. Some dream messages are about your emotions while others relate more to your thoughts, attitudes, or actions. For example, in one such single-image dream, a man saw a large wooden wheel. At first, the image seemed meaningless, but later he remembered that when he was growing up, there had been a wagon wheel on his family’s farm. After his mother died, he often sat beside that wagon wheel as he mourned. The dream image of the wheel made him realize that he still felt bad about the recent loss of a good friend. The dream suggested he needed to take the time to grieve for his friend, just as he had grieved by the wheel for his mother.
Everyone Does Dream.
Those who say they do not remember any dreams often wonder if they dream at all. Research confirms that everyone experiences dreams. In fact, you dream about four to six times a night, whether or not you remember any of your dreams. Dreaming and recalling your dreams are two separate issues.
There Are Several Sources of Dream Messages
SOURCE 1 OF DREAM MESSAGES: YOUR MIND. Most dreams are communications from your psyche, the inner part of you that is aware of all your experiences, goals, and memories. Like a best friend, the psyche (your inner self) acts like a bridge between your waking and sleeping self and uses dreams to guide you to be the best you can be.
SOURCE 2 OF DREAM MESSAGES: THE SOUL AND BEYOND. Some dream insights come from the soul. You may be the captain of your ship but the soul is the ship’s owner, and on occasion, the soul has something to say about your path in life. Speaking of the great beyond, many believe that guardian angels can whisper in your ear through a dream, and that, on occasion, the divine itself bestows experiences of amazing grace, healing, or inspiration in dreams. Many dreamers have confirmed such extraordinary dream events.
SOURCE 3 OF DREAM MESSAGES: THE DEARLY DEPARTED. Some individuals believe that life continues after death and that dreams reconnect you with a loved one who has passed on. Anecdotal dream experiences suggest that the dearly departed visit on occasion to let you know they still love you (see Chapter 11, “Not All Dreams Are Dreams”).
Dream Analysis Is Easy.
There is a general misconception that learning to understand the message in a dream is difficult; however, if you can learn to drive a car, you can learn to analyze your dreams. Dream analysis is about understanding the language of symbols and metaphors and orienting yourself to a few rules of the road, such as the hints listed below. Once you master these concepts, you will be on your way.
EASY ANALYSIS HINT 1: LEARN THE BASICS. Become familiar with the basics of dream interpretation such as those described in the Five-Step Dream Technique, which is introduced in later chapters. Once you crack open the nut of meaning of a dozen dreams, you will be on your way to a lifetime of amazing dream messages.
EASY ANALYSIS HINT 2: LOOK FOR THE “AHA” EFFECT. When the meaning of a dream comes together, you get an “Aha!” rush of energy as a notable shift in perception. Understanding a dream message brings satisfaction, like watching a final puzzle piece fit into the big picture.
EASY ANALYSIS HINT 3: BEWARE OF PERSONAL BIAS. Everyone has topics that trigger emotional reactions and sweep them away. Because of this, approaching a dream without preconceptions or reactions is important. If the topic of a dream is too intense, take a step back to avoid slanting your potential interpretation toward wishful thinking. Since initial reactions can steer you off course, a cool head is key to a correct interpretation. To correctly analyze a dream, put aside tinted eyeglasses and be willing to accept the truth, the whole truth, about the dream’s meaning.
EASY ANALYSIS HINT 4: PUT AN INITIAL GUESS ON HOLD. As you wake up with a dream, the excitement of the story makes it easy to decide that you already know what it means. Hold that confidence in check and decide that you do not know what the dream means, at least not yet. As you apply the dream analysis techniques of your choice, your perspectives may shift and may bring a different result than your first thoughts about the dream.
EASY ANALYSIS HINT 5: NOTE YOUR WORD CHOICES. Notice which words you select as you record your dream. The words that come to mind often alter your thoughts about the dream itself and create a shift in perception. This word-choice phenomenon is another way that the creative, unconscious mind reveals glimpses into the meaning of a dream.
EASY ANALYSIS HINT 6: SYMBOLS ARE NOT THE WHOLE DEAL. A common misstep is to focus only on the meaning of a symbol and attempt to find dream message from the symbols, or to focus on the symbols first. Though dream symbols add depth to the message, focusing mainly on symbols tends to be a misstep. There are dreams where a symbol holds the entire message, but in general, the overall story tends to be the key to understanding the dream.
EASY ANALYSIS HINT 7: YOU CAN DO IT. Despite these caveats, proceed without fear. Dream analysis is as easy as learning to drive a car. Once you know how to start the engine and observe a few rules of the road, you are on your way to dream analysis.
EASY ANALYSIS HINT 8: DREAMS AS A LUXURY VEHICLE TO GET THROUGH LIFE. Having paid attention to dream messages all my life, to me it appears as if those who do not analyze their dreams are trying to get through life using a bicycle. They miss out on a fantastic built-in Rolls-Royce of the mind—dream insights—that can get them where they want to go faster, more securely, and at their own speed.
Frightening Dreams Are Constructive Messages.
Even though a scary dream shakes you up, most nightmares carry a helpful message. The most common type of nightmare invites you to repair a character trait in yourself. Here’s how that works. In general, since people do not care to face something unpleasant about themselves, they push away a dream that makes them feel as if they are being scolded. As the dreamer pushes such a dream away—which, in psychological terms, is an attempt to suppress the dream—the dreamer’s clouded awareness “masks” the dream’s content. As a result, like seeing something in the distant, murky shadows, a friendly image now appears scary. Watching a dream about a personal flaw can feel like meeting an enemy in a deep, dark, empty forest. It is an “oops” that frightens the fragile ego, which reacts with “Who, me?” Though a rare nightmare can be a literal ESP dream warning, most scary dreams are distorted, but helpful, messages about your own flaws.
Dreams Help You Solve Problems.
As one of the main functions of dreaming, dreams can help you make decisions, clarify questions, and resolve daily challenges. In fact, experience dictates that the default stance of the sleeping mind is to assist you with any knot that you are trying to untie. Like a night-time Google session, your mind investigates the topic of your concern, compares the issue to your storehouse of past and current experience, and then cranks out an insight or a solution. Taking the time to plug into this “default nightly brainstorming” session can be highly productive on a wide range of matters, from advice to the lovelorn, daily questions, or even to achieve a scientific breakthrough.
Dream Messages Are Metaphors.
Dreams often exaggerate to make a point and most dream scenes are rarely literal. They are metaphors, and it helps to keep that in mind. For example, a scene about an avalanche that is going to engulf your home may scare you, but unless you live on a susceptible mountainside, the image is a metaphor about something that threatens your security, is off track, or is out of control. Positive scenes are also metaphors. A dream of winning the lottery suggests that you are a big winner, but what you are winning is not likely money. The win can signal career advancement, a great new relationship, or a talent that is being acknowledged—as your own kind of winning ticket.
Dream Dictionaries Cannot Tell You What a Dream Means
At best, a good dream dictionary can give you a general idea about what a symbol may mean, but it cannot tell you what that symbol actually means in the context of your specific dream. Dream dictionaries are a cookie-cutter approach to images. In contrast, the best part of a dream symbol is that it is a one-of-a kind communication uniquely tailored to you and in most cases, does not apply to anyone else. Check out the chapter on Symbols to get the exact and true meaning of dream images.
You Are the Best Interpreter of Your Dreams.
Once you learn the basics and stack up a dollop of experience, you become the best interpreter of your dreams. The reason is that dreams are about you and your life. Since you are the most familiar with the life areas about which your dreams speak, you are the best interpreter of your dreams.
What to do with a Cryptic Dream.
For every effort that you make to understand a puzzling dream which leads to a successful insight, it becomes easier to interpret the next dream. However, when you do come across a puzzling dream, there are a few options.
1. Wait awhile and try again a few hours later or a few days later.
2. Talk it over with a friend; sometimes the comments of a sympathetic listener can add new perspectives.
3. Browse through the example dreams at InterpretADream.com, check out books on dreams, or poll the Internet on specific dream topics.... fun dream facts and hints dream meaning
being a, zealot: wil fight for your cause to the detriment of the world.
not: peril and misfortune when you let sentiment rule your decision.
others who are: short courtship wil end with mutual agreement.
being unable to work with zeal: discovery of a treasure is wished for and unattained. ... zealous dream meaning
The beginner in this field must know that there are two types of dreams: one type that comes from God Almighty, and the second type comes from satan. What is good comes from God Almighty, which is a type of revelation that comes to a righteous person and carries either glad tidings, or warnings. Such dreams also cause one’s heart to reflect upon his actions and to beware of heedlessness.
dreamencyclopedia.org
The Islamic Dream Interpretation, keys to interpreting your dreams successfully.
On the other hand, they could be a reprimand for an ignoble act one is pondering, or an act one may mistakenly thinks that it is the correct thing to do, or a new friendship that could lead him to hell-fire, or a clarification concerning his treatment of his family and friends and about his business dealings, or they may bring spiritual guidance, etcetera.
This is the type of dream which is referred to in God’s Prophet’s sayings: “Atrue dream representsone offorty-six branches of a prophecy.” Both religious and irreligious people may see a true dream that could come true.
The second type of dream connotes deception, cunningness, contriving, jealousy, or a scare, causes pain, depicts any type of eavesdropping, engaging in mundane conversation, the call of one’s mind and desires, or imagination, or occur after eating a heavy late meal or even going to bed hungry, etcetera.
This type of dream comes from satan. God’s Prophet (uwbp) has said: ‘As time draws nearer to the conclusion of this world,dreams will become confused.
The most true of dreams are those ofa truthful person. Thus, if one sees a dream that he dislikes, he should tell no one about it, and he should immediately leave his bed and perform his prayers.” He also said: “The best of ropes is steadfastness to one’s religious life.”
Interpreting dreams is a process of analyzing the nature of things and their opposing possibilities, connecting their roots, and assembling the fragments of one’s thoughts to better understand his or her real condition.
In a dream, one may see things that may connote equilibrium or the opposite, while his passive and inert participation urges him to examine the elements and to awaken his consciousness. Sometimes, the elements themselves may be opaque or unclear. In this case, if one recognizes a person in the dream, perhaps the name of that person, or his trade, or his look, or the meaningofthe individual letters of his name, or their combined numerological value, etcetera, mayprovide a clue to the meaning of one’s dream. The foundation of all Islamic knowledge is revelation contained in the Qur’aan and the Sunnah.
Since good dreams are also a form of revelation from Allaah, any legitimate attempt to interpret the symbolism of dreams should rely primarily on the symbolism found in the Qur’aan and Sunnah.
A dream interpreter must listen to the complete story, and its minute details. He also must investigate and find acceptable religious references for each element in the dream.
If the does not fully understand the dream, or if he is unable to find such references, then it is better for him to refrain from making up an interpretation.
In that case, he will be giving a religious ruling, though dreams relate to psychology. Indeed, it will be a sin to tell a false interpretation, while one will be rewarded if he remains silent when he does not know the answer. Imam Ibn Sirin was the most renowned master in this science, and he often refrained from interpreting someone’s dream. Perhaps, he would interpret only one out of every forty dreams when askedto do so. Of three out of four such dreams, he used to say: “I do not know the meaning of this dream.”
The dream interpreter must investigate the dream and establish its acceptable religious references.
It is related that Imam Ibn Sirin used to spend a good part of the day questioning the person about himself, his life, type of work, living condition, and surrounding circumstance, for a dream interpreter is not a prophet and cannot tell about the future.
This dictionary for Islamic dream interpretation contains over 6000 indexed entries.... dream meanings dream meaning
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.... do animals dream? dream meaning
The theme of missing an exam, to take one example, commonly begins during college years, when the stress of performing well may be more intense than ever before. However, this theme may then carry forward as a recurring dream for many years, even as one moves on to a career.
The “missing the exam” dream may reappear the night before an important job interview or an evaluation at work.
The circumstances may change, but the same feelings of stress, and the desire to perform well, can trigger the relevant recurrent dream. Theorists suggest that these themes may be considered “scripts” (Spoormaker, 2008) or perhaps “complexes” (Freud 1950); as soon as your dream touches any aspect of the theme, the full script unfolds in completion. Dream theorists generally agree that recurring dreams are connected to unresolved problems in the life of the dreamer. In a previous post I discussed the idea that dreams often portray a Central Image, a powerful dream image that contextualizes a certain emotion or conflict for the dreamer.
The Tidal Wave dream is an example of a Central Image that represents overwhelming emotions such as helplessness and fear.
The Tidal Wave dream is a common dream to experience following trauma or abuse, and often becomes a recurrent theme that reflects a person’s struggling with integrating and accepting the trauma. Resolution of this theme over time is a good sign that the trauma has been confronted and adaptively integrated in the psyche. Empirical research has also supported findings that resolution of a recurrent dream is associated with improved well-being (Zadra, 1996). This is one way that keeping track of your dreams can be extremely informative and helpful in a therapeutic, or even self-help, process.
The dream repeats because you have not corrected the problem. Another theory is that people who experience recurring dreams have some sort of trauma in their past they are trying to deal with. In this case, the dreams tend to lessen with time. Nightmares are dreams that are so distressing they usually wake us up, at least partially. Nightmares can occur at any age but are seen in children with the most frequency. Nightmares usually cause strong feelings of fear, sadness or anxiety. Their causes are varied. Some medications cause nightmares (or cause them if you discontinue the medication abruptly). Traumatic events also cause nightmares. Treatment for recurring nightmares usually starts with interpreting what is going on in the dream and comparing that with what is happening in the person’s life. Then, the person undergoes counseling to address the problems that are presumably causing the nightmare. Some sleep centers offer nightmare therapy and counseling. Another method of treating nightmares is through lucid dreaming. Through lucid dreaming, the dreamer can confront his or her attacker and, in some cases, end the nightmares.... what does it mean when you have a recurring dream? dream meaning
If the house is being attacked or burgled, this suggests criticism or social pressure from others.
If the house is burning or falling down, this represents leaving old attitudes behind.
If the house feels cramped and dark, there is a feeling of restriction in waking life, whilst structural faults suggest broken relationships or illness.
If work or repairs are being carried out on the house, perhaps certain relationships are breaking down or health matters need to be attended to.
An impressive big house in dreams suggests that we are conscious of our potential.
If the house is small, the dreamer is perhaps seeking security and freedom from responsibility.
If you were living in a bungalow in your dream, there may be a suggestion that you are living too much on one level, both practically and emotionally.
If there are unfamiliar rooms in a well-known house, this represents unexplored potential.
If other people are in the house, they suggest different aspects of yourself you may feel threatened by, or other people you are involved with, or about to be involved with, in waking life. Going into or out of the house suggests that we may need to decide whether we need to be more introverted or extroverted.
If you go into another person’s house, this suggests that you are getting involved with that person, perhaps being a part of their life.
If you see a loved one move into someone else’s house in your dream, this may be your fear of their infidelity, but it may also reveal a growing distance in your relationship. Planning or altering a house, or building an annexe may refer to a change in your lifestyle or approach to life.
Rows of houses represent other people. According to dream lore, country houses suggest tranquility; building a house, a growth in confidence; a new house, a busy social life; an empty house or moving house, financial worries; a big house, good fortune, and a small house, misfortune.
If you are buying a house in your dreams this may relate to making a decision to change in waking life, or wanting to make some kind of change. Buying a house involves decision making and this points to the importance of clarifying what it is that you want in waking life.
If the house in your dream is an igloo, this is a symbol of security and completeness and, because it is warm on the inside and cold on the outside, it points to differences between what you feel on the inside and you do and say on the outside. In general dreaming about a flat or apartment has the same meaning as dreaming about a house, but the interpretation depends on whether or not you have lived in an apartment or flat before.
If you did, were you living alone in the flat or did you share, and what was this like? This will influence the feelings associated with the image in your dream.... dream houses dream meaning
Christianity and dreams
According to traditional Christianity, the purpose of dreams is to improve communication with God; this can be shown by the constant references in the Bible to communication through the medium of dreams between man and God, man and the angels, and between man and his higher self. The moral standards of the dreamer may be reflected in the clarity and degree of quality of their dreams.
Hinduism and dreams
Hindu dream interpretation puts great importance on individual dream images, and relates them to gods and demons. This belief that dream symbols may be universal as well as individual is similar to the more modern ideas put forward by Carl Jung in his theory of the ’collective unconscious’.
Islam and dreams
Dreams, according to Muslim scholars, are of three types. The first of these are sound dreams that are indicative of glad tidings. These can include premonitions of the future. A second type of dream is said to be evil and the result of Satanic whisperings or inspirations. A third type of dream can be termed as ’idle dreams’, and they are the result of eating unpalatable foods, the over-exercise of one’s imaginations, or experiences in life which might also be reflected in one’s dreams.
Judaism and dreams
Dreams have long been considered a legitimate form of divine revelation in Jewish mysticism and throughout Jewish history—from Hagar, Joseph and King Solomon to Sigmund Freud and beyond— Jews have honored their dreams and searched for their deeper meanings. Judaism takes dreams very seriously. In the Bible, we read of the dreams of the great people of Israel: Abraham, Jacob, Joseph and many of the prophets. Judaism is of the opinion that all prophecy, except for the prophecy of Moses, was transmitted to the prophets when they were in a dreamlike, almost catatonic, trance. The Talmud places heavy emphasis on the interpretation of the dream as the key to its fulfillment.
If a seemingly bad or frightening dream is interpreted positively, no ill effects from that dream will ever actually occur.
Other traditions and dreams
Oriental traditions concerning dreams are comparative and philosophical; the dreamer’s state of mind is thought to be of more importance than the predictive power of the dreams themselves.
Ancient Chinese philosophy holds that the soul is separated from the body whilst dreaming and that several levels of consciousness exist; the dreamer’s horoscope, time of year, and the individual’s physical condition are all taken into consideration when interpreting dreams.... major religions and dream interpretation dream meaning
If a dream comes just before dawn between about three or four o’clock in the morning—when the mind is vivid and clear—it is especially important. Always bear in mind when trying to pinpoint auspicious symbols in dreams for the purposes of interpretation that the meaning of symbols can vary from culture to culture; what is auspicious in one country might be considered to be a sign of misfortune in another. See alsoSYMBOLS.... auspicious dream dream meaning
If you find yourself in a trench in your dream, this may express your fear that a current situation is not as secure as you might think. A trench may also be warning against inflexibility and entrenched views. To see or live in a concentration camp in your dream indicates that you are afraid of differences; you are having difficulties accepting others and the way in which they are different from you.
Learn to appreciate diversity and the uniqueness in yourself and in others around you.
If you actually lived in a concentration camp, the dream may signify a situation in your waking life which is triggering similar feelings.... battlefield / war zone dream meaning
‘In the dream I was in this meadow. Suddenly I discovered a dark, rectangular, stone-lined hole in the ground. I had never seen it before. I ran forward curiously and peered down into it. Then I saw a stone stairway leading down. Hesitantly and fearfully, I descended. At the bottom was a doorway with a round arch, closed off by a green curtain. It was a big, heavy curtain of worked stuff like brocade, and it looked very sumptuous. Curious to see what might be hidden behind, I pushed it aside. I saw before me in the dim light a rectangular chamber about thirty feet long. The ceiling was arched and of hewn stone. The floor was laid with flagstones, and in the center a red carpet ran from the entrance to a low platform. On this platform stood a wonderfully rich golden throne. I am not certain, but perhaps a red cushion lay on the seat. It was a magnificent throne, a real king’s throne in a fairy tale. Something was standing on it which I thought at first was a tree trunk twelve to fifteen feet high and about one and a half to two feet thick. It was a huge thing, reaching almost to the ceiling. But it was of a curious composition: it was made of skin and naked flesh, and on top there was something like a rounded head with no face and no hair. On the very top of the head was a single eye, gazing motionlessly upward.
It was fairly light in the room, although there were no windows and no apparent source of light. Above the head, however, was an aura of brightness. The thing did not move, yet I had the feeling that it might at any moment crawl off the throne like a worm and creep toward me. I was paralyzed with terror. At that moment I heard from outside and above me my mother’s voice. She called out, “Yes, just look at him.
That is the man-eater!” That intensified my terror still more, and I awoke sweating and scared to death…
Later in his life Jung wrote the following about his reaction to this childhood dream. ‘From then on I always felt mistrustful when the word “love” was spoken. The feeling I associated with “woman” was for a long time of innate unreliability. Father on the other hand meant reliability and powerlessness.’... jung’s first dream dream meaning
If you have looked through this encyclopedia and are still having problems understanding what your dream meant, it might help before you go to sleep to ask your dreaming mind to make a confusing situation clearer for you or to present you with images or symbols that you can understand. When a dream seems important but you find it impossible to understand, ask yourself just before you go to sleep to be sent another which will give you further insight.
If you can relate the dream to a particular incident, problem or situation in your waking life but cannot understand the message, think about the incident before making your request. Some dreams reflect the worry associated with problems, showing that you are wasting your energy and could be putting it to better use. Even insoluble problems can be helped by a change of attitude—and that is how dreams can help.
Put your request as a direct command to your dreaming mind. In your thoughts, just before you go to sleep, state to yourself quite clearly what you want to know, and tell yourself that in the morning you will remember all that you have dreamed. To show you are sincere, you might want to put a notebook and pen by your bedside in readiness to write down the first thing that comes into your mind when you wake up—your dream. Sometimes it can take a few requests, depending on the link between your conscious and unconscious mind, but eventually your efforts will achieve results.
found out in waking life. Cheating and faking in dreams may also suggest feelings of inadequacy in waking life.
If you were performing a trick in your dream, try to remember if your audience was impressed or not, as this dream may suggest that you are trying to manipulate people in waking life.
If you were plotting or scheming or are a part of a group of people plotting in your dream, your unconscious is telling you that you are not being completely open and honest in your dealings with everyone in real life. Dreams of hiding or dreams in which you lock up your possessions or hide them away in a safe, strong box, under the floorboards in the attic may also represent some form of deception or fear that you are not facing up to. See also Surreal impossibility entry in SURREALISM AND FANTASY.... dream mysteries dream meaning
In short—even when using this encyclopedia—you may find that you get stuck every now and again when interpreting your dreams.
If this happens, you may want to share your dreams with a dream partner. Another approach would be to join a dream group that meets weekly or monthly.
Most of us have dream partners, and we don’t even know it.
Friends, partners, co-workers: all of them have probably heard us say at one time or another:‘I had the strangest dream last night!’ Such interaction is normal, and can be helpful and insightful; there can be problems, however, especially if your dream partner appears in an unfavorable light in your dream, or disturbing images appear in your dream that might make for uncomfortable listening
A dream group is a group of people who meet on a regular basis to share and help each another understand the meaning of their dreams. A group may consist of two or up to twelve members, although from five to seven individuals in this type of group works very well. Some are professionally facilitated or led by a well-experienced dreamworker; others are leaderless or egalitarian. Some‘organizers’ of the group charge a fee for participation; others don’t.
Each group has its own unique ethics and procedures, often based on those processes developed for doing dream group work over the past few decades. One of the most popular is Dr Montague Ullman’s‘If it were my dream’ technique, or variations on that theme.
Most groups don’t try to mimic the dream analysis or interpretation that would take place in a therapeutic situation; the intent is rather to provide a safe environment in which to allow a dreamer to be respectfully heard and questioned, respectfully listening to the dreamer, questioning them and ultimately helping them to come to a better understanding of what their dream is communicating.
Sharing dreams with a partner or with a group can be beneficial to everyone. But when you are dealing with something of such a personal nature, there have to be guidelines:
Everyone has to remember that dream sharing is NOT therapy.
No matter how tempting, do not interpret anyone else’s dream for them. All you will be doing is reflecting your own feelings about the dream.
Respect the dreamer’s experience of the dream, no matter how much you may personally disagree.
For the partnership or group’s work to be successful, the dreamers must feel comfortable enough to express as much (or as little) of their emotions as they want. Remember that the dreamer is vulnerable, and go to all lengths to ensure confidentiality.
Treat the dreamer with gentleness. When the dreamer wants to stop a discussion, they must be able to without feeling an excuse is necessary. Never pressure a dreamer to talk, no matter how helpful you may think it would be.... dream group dream meaning
If you are prone to having dreams that are more than just glimpses of the future but include entire stories or sequences of events that later happen in waking life, you may find that as well as examining possible causes of action that lie ahead, they may also zero in on important junctures or decisions in life long before they arrive. Experts disagree over whether or not this is possible, but it is possible that your life previews are set up by your dreaming mind to alert you to, and help you recognize, the importance of your actions and decisions at these significant points in our life.
If you have a dream that you believe may contain a precognitive warning of a future accident or disaster, remember that it is only highlighting a possibility not a fact; if the time comes when it is fulfilled, you have the upper hand as your sense of familiarity with the situation will help you avoid or minimize harm or hurt. See also Precognitive dream entry in DISASTERS.... precognitive dream dream meaning
If you see yourself doodling or see a doodle in your dreams, there are several factors to be taken into account besides the doodle itself. The size and position of the doodle on the page have a significance that contributes to the overall meaning of the doodle.
For example, if you were to draw a very large doodle in the center of the page, then this would indicate how important you would like your role in life to be. However, if you doodle in the margin or corners of a page, you would be revealed as a quiet individual. The intensity of the ink or pencil marks can also indicate the mood of the person, lighter strokes indicating a good day, but dark, heavy strokes sometimes signaling depression. The symbolism of specific doodles in your dream will have much the same interpretation as the dream symbol itself if it wasn’t being doodled, but the interpretation would typically be personal and referring to your feelings and your creative expression, rather than to the feelings or situation of someone else. See also Drawing entry in ARTS AND CRAFTS and Writing entry in LETTERS AND COMMUNICATION.
... dream doodles dream meaning
Or did you dream of someone who died of a disfiguring disease and in your dream they appear young and whole and beautiful again. Is this their spirit visiting you or your dreaming mind’s way of helping you move beyond what his pain and suffering did to your friend physically? It’s impossible to be able to prove that dream visits from those who have passed on do or do not occur. To a great extent it does not really matter. What matters is how you feel about the dream. What messages do you feel they were bringing you, and are those messages helping you heal your grief if the person who appeared in your dreams has recently died or if the person died years ago resolve issues you may have had with them in your life so you can move forward with your life?... visitation dream dream meaning
Witch / sorcerer / wizard
In dreams, the appearance of a witch, sorcerer or wizard suggests the presence of a powerful archetype. In most dreams, witches represent destructive forces and repression. They may also suggest moodiness, dislike of wisdom, vindictiveness or jealousy. Some interpreters believe that witches reflect difficulties in relationship with our mother and, if the dreamer is a woman, she may become the ‘witch’ in relation to someone else. Since the early days of Christianity, witches have had a bad press; their association with the devil meant that dreams of witches have been linked with misfortune. Their original role, however, was as divine priestesses and bringers of wisdom and healing. You will need to consider your personal associations with witches and notice the feelings the dream triggers to fully interpret its meaning.
Magicians, wizards and sorcerers in dreams suggest magical abilities you possess but are not using to their fullest extent.
If the magician is using black magic, this suggests negative or selfish ways in which you might use your power of wisdom. To dream of magic that turns out to be a trick produced by a conjurer, hypnotist or magician should be regarded as a warning that all is not as it seems in waking life. Try to find out who is deceiving you; the identity of the conjurer may give you a clue.
If you are the conjurer, the dream may reflect some unease or anxiety about a current plan or negotiation in your waking life that rests on your skill and personality rather than on facts and common sense.... zombie / ghoul dream meaning
As always, the context of your dream will help you determine its meaning. It might help to create your own personal dream journal or dictionary to help you identify reoccurring personal dream images and their meanings. Here are some guidelines:
For one week write down as many images as you can recall for your dream. Try to use single words for each image; for example, dog, cup, spoon and so on. Do this as you first wake up when the images are still fresh in your mind. Then write down beside each symbol any associations that occur.
If a symbol crops up on more than one occasion, make a special mark by it and note whether the context was different. At the end of the week, organize your list alphabetically and see which images appear most often. You might want to repeat this for another week afterwards to add to your personal dream dictionary.
Bear in mind that dream images change as you do and may require additional meanings. You are also more likely to have dreams at turning points in your life, such as leaving school, finding a new job or getting married.
If you find yourself inundated with symbols and messages, try to concentrate on only one or two dreams, or on those dreams that you recognize as being important by their power and the feelings with which they leave you.... your dream dictionary dream meaning
The stimuli that you are not consciously aware of are nevertheless noted by the brain, but on a subconscious level (the drip of the bathroom water faucet, the remark by a coworker at the water cooler while you were on the telephone.)
Furthermore, you feel emotions all day. Some you acknowledge and act on (you say thank you and smile when you are complimented.) Some you repress or do not allow yourself to act on (you don’t punch your boss in the nose when he tells you the report you worked on for a week is no longer needed.)
Traumatic experiences occur that you face (you call the police) or if it too painful, you deny them happening and send them deep into your subconscious (repression.)
In addition to all these emotions and stimuli the brain must process daily, it also keeps your body functioning; it remembers names and faces; it allows you to talk and walk and chew gum (sometimes all at the same time); and performs numerous other activities that you take for granted.
You must admit -- that’s a lot to do. At night, when your body must rest, the mind continues working. When no longer called upon to type letters and do the grocery shopping, the brain concentrates on processing all of those subconscious stimuli and emotions (while still maintaining body temperature and breathing, etc.)
This is why we dream. Only you are not awake to receive the signals at a conscious level -- you can not hear or see or touch (at a conscious level) while you are sleeping. The brain must resort to other means to get the signals through to your conscious mind. This is why we dream the way we do.
The mind uses everything at its disposal (which is everything it has ever been exposed to) to get the message across. Simply put, dreaming is the minds way of processing all of the stimuli and emotions it has received during the day or repressed over time, so that you may act on them.
All in all, it’s a pretty neat system. But unless you are remembering and making sense of your dreams, you are missing out on countless opportunities to learn about yourself and experience life to its fullest.
Even though we’ve addressed it before, it bears repeating. Why should you try and remember your dreams?... why do we dream? dream meaning
What did man do with these odd images that appeared during their sleep? Well, they did what we do today – tried to interpret them!
Dream interpretations date back to 3000-4000 B.C. where they were documented on clay tablets. For as long as we have been able to communicate our dreams, we have been fascinated with them and strive to understand them.
People in primal societies were unable to distinguish between the dream world and reality. They not only saw the dream world as an extension of reality, but that the dream realm was a more powerful world.
Back in the Greek and Roman era, dreams were often seen in a religious context and messages from the gods. Temples, called Asclepieions were built around the power of dreams. It was believed that sick people who slept in these temples would be sent cures through their dreams.
In Egypt, priests also acted as dream interpreters. The Egyptians recorded their dreams in hieroglyphics. People with particular vivid and significant dreams were believed to be blessed and were considered special. People who had the power to interpret dreams were looked up to and seen as divinely gifted. In the bible, there are over seven hundred mentions of dreams. Tracing back to these ancient cultures, people had always had an inclination to interpret dreams
Dreams were also seen as prophetic and an omen from outside spirits. People often looked to their dreams for signs of warning and advice from a deity, from the dead or even the works of a demon. Sometimes they look to their dreams for what to do or what course of action to take.
Dreams often dictated the actions of political and military leaders. In fact, in the Green and Roman era, dream interpreters even accompanied military leaders into battle to help. Some interpreters aided the medicine men in a diagnosis. Dreams offered a vital clue for healers in finding what was wrong with the dreamer.
Dreaming can be seen as an actual place that your spirit and soul leaves every night to go and visit. The Chinese believed that the soul leaves the body to go into this world. However, if they should be suddenly awakened, their soul may fail to return to the body. For this reason, some Chinese today, are wary of alarm clocks.
Some Native American tribes and Mexican civilizations share this same notion of a distinct dream dimension. They believed that their ancestors lived in their dreams and take on non-human forms like plants. They see that dreams as a way of visiting and having contact with their ancestors. Dreams also helped to point their mission or role in life.
During the Middle Ages, dreams were seen as evil and its images were temptations from the devil. In the vulnerable sleep state, the devil was believed to fill the mind of humans with poisonous thoughts. He did his dirty work though dreams attempting to mislead humans down a wrong path.
In the early 19th century, dreams were dismissed as stemming from anxiety, a household noise or even indigestion. Hence there was really no meaning to it. Later on in the 19th century, Sigmund Freud revived the importance of dreams and its significance and need for interpretation. He revolutionized the study of dreams.... did we always dream? dream meaning
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.... other important dream theorists dream meaning
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.... a brief history of dream interpretation dream meaning
I use the term “true meaning” to refer to the accurate translation of what your subconscious mind was portraying in the dream. The true meaning is usually the one that resonates with you as you’re considering various possible meanings, the one that rings true according to your intuition, and the one that your subconscious mind recognizes as the original meaning.
Intuition Is Your Dream Translator
Your intuition is your own personal translator of dream meaning. Intuition is key in understanding both the meaning of the overall dream and the meanings of its individual symbols because your intuition is the part of you that recognizes the truth.
Explore Until Your Intuition Says Yes
Rather than working in a linear or logical way (like when you’re solving a math problem), your intuition may require you to spend some time mulling over your dream symbol before an intuitive insight comes forward. So try looking at your dream symbol in different ways and considering different meanings until your intuition says, “Aha! That’s the one.” Keep exploring until you experience a flash of intuitive recognition, a sudden sense that everything within you is in alignment, or a sense of peace and completion. (You’ll learn to recognize this intuitive sense as you encounter it more often.)... recognizing dream symbol meaning dream meaning
Personal Meaning
Because dream symbol meaning is subjective and personal to the dreamer, consider what the symbol means to you personally. To help yourself better understand its personal meaning, you could ask yourself:
Context
A dream symbol’s meaning can be very specific to its context in the dream. So, think about how the symbol appeared in the dream and what that may convey about its meaning. For example, pay attention to:
A dream symbol often represents something beyond its obvious meaning. A rose could represent a real-life rose, but it’s much more likely to represent something else more symbolic (such as a feeling, characteristic, or event). So look beyond your symbol’s literal meaning by asking yourself, “What else could this symbol mean?”
Let Intuition Be Your Guide
(For more on intuition as a dream interpretation tool, see Recognizing Dream Symbol Meaning.)
Take the Winding Path
“When you start down the path of exploring a particular dream symbol, be willing to persevere even if the path is a winding one. You may not always know which way to go, but your intuition will guide you if you pay attention to it.
Since your goal in symbol exploration is to intuitively recognize the symbol’s true meaning, it’s a good idea to give your mind a chance to encounter that meaning so your intuition can recognize it. Sometimes the true meaning simply comes forward within your consciousness and then your intuition confirms it. However, more often you’ll need to put in a little more effort to discover it. If the true meaning isn’t evident, you can use a technique that parades various possible meanings past your “inner intuitive eye,” giving it a chance to confirm the true one. The technique can be as simple as mentally listing the meanings you associate with the symbol or reading the symbol’s description in this book. You could also use a dream analysis tool that prompts your subconscious mind to reveal the meanings it associates with the symbol, such as TOOL: Caveman Explanation, or many others in the Dream Analysis Toolkit in the first book of this series, The Curious Dreamer’s Practical Guide to Dream Interpretation.... learn dream symbol language dream meaning
Dreams Are About You
Because dreams occur within a deep part of yourself, it’s not surprising that most of what they convey pertains to yourself and your life.
Dreams Tell About You and Your Life
Dreams very often portray a snapshot of some part of your daily life or something on your mind, presented from the perspective of (and in the language of) your subconscious mind. As you examine each dream, you can often find a parallel between each element in the dream and a certain element of your waking life or mind.
Dreams Show Your Perspective
In most dreams, everything in the dream (all the elements, people, settings, etc.) pertains to you personally. More specifically, most dreams portray your thoughts and feelings about things, rather than portraying the things themselves. Each dream symbol tends to represent your perspective of something from real life, rather than the actual thing. For example, your sister in a dream likely portrays your experience of her (rather than her, herself), your perception of something she said (rather than what she actually said or meant), or your assumption about what she was thinking (rather than her actual thoughts).
Dreams Convey a Distorted Reality
Because dreams portray people and things the way you view or interpret them, you can’t rely on a dream for an accurate representation of reality. Every dream has been filtered through the distorting lens of your subconscious mind and often infused with subconscious fears, desires, and imaginings. Therefore, it’s unwise to base a decision solely on a dream, which would mean blindly following the whims of your subconscious mind.... tips for translating dream symbolism dream meaning
Literal Translation
If the dream symbol (person, event, object, action, setting, etc.) exists in your real life, it might represent that actual element of your waking life. For example, your mother who was hugging you might represent a particular time she hugged you, or her affection toward you in general. Consider whether the dream symbol might represent the same thing in your current life, past, or imagined future, and whether your feelings about the dream symbol remind you of feelings you felt about something in your real life (perhaps recently).
Emotions
The emotions you feel regarding the dream symbol are probably the same as the emotions you feel about whatever the symbol represents in your real life. For example, if you feel overwhelmed by a swarm of insects in a dream, the swarm might represent your to-do list that feels overwhelming in real life. (See more about emotions in the Emotions symbol category.)
Abundance or Lack
A dream symbol can represent something that you feel you have too much of, do too much of, or want less of in your real life. Alternatively, your dream symbol could represent something that you feel you lack, do too little of, or want more of. If your dream contained a pleasant experience (such as relaxing on a beach), your subconscious mind could be pointing to your desire for more relaxation in your life. If your dream was unpleasant (such as someone judging you), your subconscious mind may have been focused on trying to avoid that kind of experience in real life.
Personal Symbolism
A dream symbol may convey meaning that you personally associate with it based on your experiences, feelings, and other influences (as described in Subconscious Influences on Dream Symbolism). For example, one person might associate a baby with vulnerability and someone else might associate it with growth.
A particular dream symbol may bring more than one meaning to mind for you. For example, money might bring to mind how fun it is to spend, but you might also think of money as power or a solution to financial problems. If the first meaning that comes to mind doesn’t seem to relate to anything in your real life and doesn’t resonate intuitively, explore additional meanings (TOOL: Caveman Explanation is helpful for this).
Importance
The symbols you tend to notice in a dream are often the most important ones. So a good place to start when exploring your dream is with the symbols that stood out. Symbols may stand out because they’re so huge you can’t miss them (like a boulder falling on your house) or they could be small details that happen to stand out in your mind (like the chipped rim of a teacup). Sometimes an important symbol is highlighted in the dream with a bright color, illuminated with light, pointed to with an arrow, or emphasized in some other way.
Urgency
If there’s a sense of urgency involved in the dream, the dream might represent an urgent matter that you feel needs attention in your real life (or one that you fear or imagine needing attention). For example, a dream about trying to put out a fire at work could point to a real-life problem that arose suddenly at work that you feel requires quick action to avoid catastrophe.
Subject Context
A dream might be about you or it could represent your perception of a friend or a recent situation—even in the media, on TV, or in a movie. For example, in a dream about a girl wearing a cheerful flowered dress, the girl could represent a happier version of yourself or your desire to feel more cheerful. Alternatively, she might represent a friend who was in a happy mood when you saw her yesterday, an upbeat song you just heard, or an optimistic character you saw in a TV show last night.
Time Context
A dream symbol could represent something in your past, present, or imagined future. Look for elements that bring to mind a particular time frame, either in the characteristics of the symbol itself or in the other things associated with it in the dream (people, activities, clothes, places, music, books, etc.). Time-related cues could include things like hair or clothing styles, a person appearing younger or older than their current age in real life, technologies of a different era, or personal cues such as the cowboy boots you wore at age seven.
Emotional Exaggeration
When a dream portrays a real-life situation that’s particularly emotional for the dreamer, sometimes the situation shows up as exaggerated in the dream. In other words, the subconscious mind may amplify the real-life situation, “making a mountain out of a molehill,” expressing how strongly you feel about the dream’s subject matter. For example, if in real life you saw a baby snake in your yard, and you’re very afraid of snakes, the snake might show up in a dream as a huge serpent attacking you. So, consider whether a particular dream symbol could represent a similar but less extreme situation in your waking life, about which you feel strong emotion.... consider common dream symbolism first dream meaning
Throughout recorded history humankind has valued the dream. A source of guidance, inspiration, prophecy, predic tion and problem solving, dreams are a common experience to us all. They know no boundaries between young and old, rich and poor, races, religions and nationalities, In every cul ture we find some version of “sleeping on a problem” before making a decision. The Bible and other ancient texts are filled with examples of how dreams have played important roles in people’s lives.
What is this wonderful dimension that is so near and yet so far? To understand the real meaning of dreams we must delve beneath the surface to the purpose of it all. Why are we here? How are we to answer the age-old question: Who am I?... what's in a dream? dream meaning
First, write down the dream as fully as you can. Second, write down all the symbols you can identify and the possible meaning beside them. Look them up; check an unabridged dictionary if necessary. Third, write out your interpretation. The following is a sample dream and its interpretation:
Step 1
The Dream
A woman was on a bus with a spiritual leader and members of a spiritual group. A man got on the bus wearing a dark coat and hat. He started robbing everyone. The woman had $600 in her wallet. She was lying in a sleeping bag. She wanted to hide her wallet but her left hand was asleep and she could not move.
Step 2
Recording dream symbols:
Step 3
Interpretation
The feminine part of the woman has a large capacity for growth. Many parts of herself are growth conscious and she is with or being led by her higher self. She has covered up or suppressed the strong, assertive part of herself. It is unknown to her. She allows people to take her energy without ever saying no. She gives her power away. The 6 is her guidance saying: look what you are doing. Be assertive!
She is afraid of losing her identity by being assertive and she is unable to do anything about it zipped up in her cocoon. She is unable to receive and allow others to give back to her. All her energy is going out, not returning. Her inability to receive is the main message of the dream.
Levels of Interpretation
A dream can be seen on many levels. There is a literal meaning which is usually not the correct interpretation. But it depends upon what you ask for.
For example, a woman asked that she be given insight on her marriage. She had tried many things to improve the situation, suggesting counseling, communication, and so on. In her dream she was shown herself and her husband in a desert, walking up to a trader selling phony wedding bands made out of tin. When she looked at her husband, his face was in a haze, distant. When they rode out of the desert and stopped at a little house for refreshment, she was greeted by a stranger who embraced her with a warmth and love that she immediately knew was missing in the relationship with her husband.
This dream could be interpreted that her masculine and feminine parts of self were not balanced, but she had asked specifically about the relationship. In this case the woman was working on balance within. As much as she did not want to hear it, she realized the relationship was not based on mutual love. It was not really a marriage, and no growth (desert) symbolized its present state. The series of dreams which followed indicated the same thing. She knew then that she had to leave.
This was a positive solution to the problem. Although some of the answers we receive may not be what we want to hear, they are always for our highest good. As soon as the woman was out of the relationship, she wondered what took her so long to see the situation and get on with her life.... dream interpretation and recording dreams dream meaning
The archetypes predispose us to subconsciously organize our personal experiences in certain ways. We are, for instance, predisposed to perceive someone in our early environment as a father because of the father archetype. If a person’s biological father is absent during childhood, someone else (e.g., an older brother) is assimilated into this archetype, providing concrete images for the father complex (the reflection of the father archetype in the personal unconscious).
Archetypes are not specific images or symbols. They are more like invisible magnetic fields that cause iron filings to arrange themselves according to certain patterns. For example, Jung postulated the existence of a self archetype, which constitutes the unconscious basis for our ego—our conscious self-image or self-concept. In dreams, this self is represented in a variety of ways, often in the form of a circle or mandala (a circular diagram used as an aid to meditation in Hinduism and Buddhism). The self can also be represented by surrogate symbols, such as four of almost anything (according to Jung, four is the number of whole- ness and hence a symbol of the self), a pattern Jung referred to as a quaternity. These concrete manifestations of elusive archetypes are referred to as archetypal images or, when they appear in dreams, as archetypal dream images.
Jung asserted that much of world mythology and folklore represents manifestations of the collective unconscious. He based this assertion on his discovery that the dreams of his patients frequently contained images with which they were completely unfamiliar, but which seemed to reflect symbols that could be found somewhere in the mythological systems of world culture. Jung further found that if he could discover the specific meaning of such images in their native culture, he could better understand the dreams in which they occurred. The process of seeking such meanings is referred to as amplification.... archetypes (archetypal dream images) dream meaning
This tradition was transmitted from the folkloric tales about the arc of God's prophet Noah. In this sense, in dream interpretation, snot came to mean an impudent and insolent child or a newborn. In the same sense, ejaculated fluid and snout came to mean a son. (See Nasal mucus, p. 300.)
Equating slandering with curse, God Almighty says in the Holy Qur'an: "Those who slander chaste women-are cursed." (Qur'an 24:23). The common proverb says, "If you live in a glass house, do not cast stones at others." Here again, the interpreter made an association between one's own faults, weakness, and imperfection, and those of a glass house. Concerning severing relations with one's family, God Almighty says: ''We broke them up into sections on this earth." (Qur'an 7: 168). Equating washing one's hands with hope, people also say, "I washed my hands from it", meaning I have no further interest in it or any hope in it.... dream in traditions dream meaning
This tradition comes from examples such as crying when one is extremely happy; or when laughing in the face of adversities; or seeing the sun and the moon fighting and interpreting it as a fight between two people; or calling a flood an enemy and an enemy a flood, because both are destructive; or when eating a fig in a dream to mean regret and regret to mean eating a fig, because the fig tree is accursed in some traditions; or when one sees himself dead in a dream, though even if he does not have the look of dead people to mean losses or destruction of part of one's house; or interpreting locusts as warriors and warriors as locusts, because of the destruction they both cause to a land; etcetera.... interpretation by contraposition dream meaning
Crying in a dream is usually interpreted as happiness, but when accompanied with intonation or wailing, it means a calamity.
As for putting grease over one's hair, dream interpreters infer the meaning of adornment, while if it dribbles over one's face, they call it hypocrisy, fawning, or adulation.
As for saffron in a dream, they interpret it to mean praises or commendation, while should its color manifest in one's body or clothing, then they call it an illness.
As for feathers in a dream, they call them wealth or comfort, but when one sees himself flying with wings, they interpret it to mean travels or rising in station, depending on how high one reaches in his dream.
If one's hand is cut off in a dream, and if he sees himself carrying it, it means having a brother or a son, while if he loses it in the dream, it means an adversity or loss of a brother or a son.
If a sick person sees himself in a dream walking out of his house in silence, it means his death and funeral, while if he speaks in the dream, it means that he will recover from his illness. ... interpretation by correlation, relativity, and approximation dream meaning
The terrible, nightmarish quality of a Toxic Dream can signal that your body, emotions, or mind were in a toxic state at the time of the dream.
This type of dream can result from a number of factors from earlier in the day, including: eating refined carbohydrates (sugar, white flour, etc.), processed or junk food, or additives or preservatives; eating too much too close to bedtime; ingesting drugs or other substances that tax the body; encountering environmental toxins (mold, exhaust fumes, etc.); physical, emotional, or mental stress; toxic feelings (such as going to bed angry); not resting your body and mind enough during the day.... toxic dream dream meaning
YOUR MUSCLES FREEZE. A little known fact is that when you dream, the large body muscles, like in your arms and legs, become immobile, as a temporary state of paralysis.
THE DREAMING AND WAKING STATES CAN OVERLAP. Though waking and dreaming are separate states of awareness, their boundaries are not always distinct and there can be a few rare moments of brief overlap. If you accidentally wake up at the end of a dream but are not yet quite awake—which can happen during an intense or scary dream—the effect can be startling. Your mind may still be partly lodged in the dream and yet partially awake. You may notice that you can’t move, an experience people often cite with trepidation. Not being able to move during a dream is normal. The paralysis vanishes when the dream ends or as you fully awaken. This is simply an overlap experience between waking and dreaming.
YOU DO NOT SLEEPWALK WHILE HAVING A DREAM. A common misconception is that people sleepwalk because they are acting out a dream. Not so. Because your arms and legs do not move when dreaming, you cannot physically act out your dreams. People who sleepwalk are not actually dreaming, even though they may report vivid images. Sleepwalking is a type of sleep disorder that most often occurs during deep-sleep, which is stage three, the deepest phase of sleep.
THE BOUNCE-BACK EFFECT. If you lose or reduce your “dream time” for even one night due to a lack of sleep, the next time that you sleep, you will experience extra dreaming time, until you catch up. This bounce-back effect restores the missed dream time, an effect that highlights the importance of dreaming as a built-in, physiological mechanism.... physiological effects on the body while you dream dream meaning
STEPS IN THE BIRTH OF A DREAM. The psyche’s nightly review goes something like this:
A QUICK FIRST SCAN AND SORT. Like a high-speed computer, the psyche scans how the day’s activities, thoughts, feelings, and observations, match up. It compares your new experiences to your similar past experiences. The psyche further observes how these new observations stack up against your goals, ideals, hopes, and wishes. During this first pass, the mind creates two piles: (1) the “completed” pile and (2) the “still needs attention” pile.
ITEMS IN THE “COMPLETED” PILE ARE FILED. The psyche first addresses the actions, thoughts, and feelings that were adequately handled and completed during the day. The items that have no emotional leftovers or loose ends are stored in memory. This is the equivalent of filing a stack of papers that no longer need your attention.
A SECOND, DELUXE SCAN TAKES PLACE FOR THE “STILL NEEDS ATTENTION” PILE. During the first scan, the “completed” pile was filed. During a second, more detailed scan, the psyche tackles the “still needs attention” list of unresolved thoughts, feelings, actions, and decisions that were triggered by the day’s events. As if the mind were a high-speed computer, the psyche prioritizes your issues and flags the questions, unfulfilled desires, and problems that require your attention. It also compares unresolved issues against your current and past experience. The end result is a set of conclusions and suggestions about what could be done to resolve those issues, conclusions that the mind now needs to transmit back to you.
THE PSYCHE’S FEEDBACK IS CONVEYED AS A DREAM. After evaluating your ongoing concerns, the psyche cranks out a report to summarize whatever may have escaped your attention, as gleaned from the previous day’s bulletin board notes. This report from the psyche may offer you a fresh perspective, a new insight, or a suggestion to get further information about a half-processed topic. As you sleep, this mini report is relayed to you in the form of a visual memo about your unresolved feelings, concerns, and decisions. You heard it here first—this mini report is otherwise known as a dream.
WHAT DOES A DREAM COMMUNICATE? A dream memo from the psyche can include one or more of the following topics:
• An overview of unresolved feelings or issues.
• Past influences or reactions that are relevant to a current issue.
• Current unnoticed factors that affect a topic.
• Feelings with which you may not be in touch.
• An invitation to change a perspective or a goal.
• Advice on how to deal with an issue.
• General or specific insights into a problem or concern.... the birth of a dream dream meaning
My curiosity led me on a ten year trek to find the answer. I read books and explored scientific journals. These helped me see what a dream does, but not what it is. The closest link to an answer emerged from Freud’s “day residue” idea which looks at dreams as leftovers about daily concerns, a concept later expanded by Montague Ullman. Dreams as day residue became the seed thought that led to a true definition. Mobilizing a lifetime of observations about dreams, a picture slowly unfolded about the mechanics of how a dream comes to be and what it is. As the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, here is the ultimate definition of a dream, the one that satisfied.... what is a dream? dream meaning
Why Keeping a Dream Record Helps You Get the Message
1: YOU LOCK IN A DREAM MESSAGE. By recording a dream, you lock in its message. Otherwise, the odds are that you will forget the dream and lose whatever insight it is trying to share. If time is short, jot down key phrases and record the full version later.
2: IT KEEPS YOU IN TOUCH WITH YOUR PSYCHE. Recording a dream ensures that messages will keep coming. Dream communications are like talking to a friend, which, in this case, is your psyche or inner voice. If you do not return a friend’s calls or e-mails, they stop. Recording your dreams tells your psyche that you want to keep talking and hearing the advice your inner voice has to offer.
3: YOU SEE CRITICAL PATTERNS. A dream journal lets you notice patterns that relate to your emotional battles, decisions, relationships, and finding your path in life.
4: YOU NOTICE WARNINGS OR A POSITIVE HEADS-UP. It is said that you pre-dream everything of importance that happens to you. Whether a dream brings a health warning or is a heads-up about a promotion, recording your dreams regularly is like maintaining a flashlight on life’s dark roads. It can shed light on the unknown.
5: IT IS EASIER TO TRACK YOUR PSYCHOLOGICAL PROGRESS. Dreams unveil patterns about your psychological and emotional health. Each time you spot a pattern in your dream journal, you empower your own progress. Plugging into those patterns via dreams can make a striking difference to the success, peace, and happiness that you achieve.
6: A DREAM JOURNAL CAN BE A SPIRITUAL DIARY. If spirituality is important to you, your dream journal becomes a reflection of your inner life. For those who keep an eye on their spiritual progress, dreams can connect you to your soul. Many traditions value dreams as a spiritual connection and perceive dreams as a door to divine healing and blessings. Spiritual dreams are messages that relate to the journey of your soul and can answer life’s big questions. A dreamer who had never felt that God was real asked herself, “God, are you there?” She received a dream that knocked her socks off and the experience left her convinced that God personally knew her and loved her unconditionally. She described the dream experience as feeling more loved than she had ever felt in her life. Whatever your spiritual questions, staying active with a dream journal helps such experiences unfold.
7: A DREAM JOURNAL CAN BE THERAPEUTIC. Need a therapist? One key function of dreams and dreaming is to serve as a built-in counselor. The very act of dreaming may in and of itself help to relieve stress and keep your emotions in balance. At the same time, dreams often unearth insights with the deft hand of a loving counselor. At other times, jarring images may arise to get your attention when you are emotionally veering off track. Don’t laugh. Maintaining an active dream journal can feel like instant therapy.
It Pays to Review Your Dream Journal
REASON 1: A REVIEW IS A FAST TRACK TO NOTICE INSIGHTS AND SOLUTIONS. Every time you sift through past dream messages, your dreams become clearer. It’s like getting to know a new friend. Over time, you understand each other better and can help each other more. After you review your dreams, your psyche may begin to fast-track new, amazing insights and solutions. Reviewing such insights that were logged in a dream journal can be especially valuable for those in professions that require problem solving.
REASON 2: GOING THROUGH YOUR DREAMS HELPS YOU GAIN A FRESH PERSPECTIVE. Whether it is months or years later, reviewing your dreams can be the equivalent of taking an inventory of your life, who you are, and where you are at. You may notice emotional patterns to which you were previously blind and may decipher dreams whose meaning had escaped you. As you explore with fresh eyes, you see deeper meaning in certain dreams and discover further revelations about yourself and your life. As you take a trek through your dream journals, magical ongoing threads that recount the story of your life can unfold.
What to Put into a Dream Journal
Tricks for Dream Entries. Recording a dream may seem obvious, but there are a few tricks that are worth noting. Recording a dream is not the goal—the goal is to understand the dream’s message and to apply it. Including the following items as you record your nightly tales can improve your dream skills.
DATE. Note the date; someday, when you look back, it will be of interest.
TITLE. Give each dream a separate title that highlights its main impact.
DETAILS. Record every detail, even if you think it is unimportant or repetitive; such details may later prove important.
AS IF IT IS HAPPENING. Write the dream in the present tense, as if you are re-experiencing it. Doing so often helps recall extra details or fill in a scene you had previously forgotten.
FEELINGS. Note how a dream made you feel. The mood that a dream brings out in you can be a clue to its meaning.
A ONE-LINE SUMMARY. Immediately jot down a quick story line, as if writing a movie trailer that explains what your mini movie dream is about. Let this one-liner capture the heart of the dream, as your first impression about the dream.
LIFE CONTEXT. Make brief notes about your life. The question to ask yourself is always, “To what in me or to what in my life does the dream refer?” It may take a week or two to get an “aha” for every dream, and if you lose the thread of what was happening at the time, you are less likely to zero in on the message. Jot down brief reminders about:
• What was on your mind as you went to sleep.
• Major feelings you have been experiencing.
• Main issues that day, that week, or that period.
• Major pending decisions.
• Challenges, crises or turmoil related to relationships or other circumstances.... the benefits of a dream journal dream meaning
1: EXAMINING EMOTIONS IS STEP ONE OF THE FIVE-STEP DREAM TECHNIQUE
EMOTIONS AND DREAM MESSAGES. According to step one of the five-step technique, what you feel during the dream or what you feel about the dream after you wake up are the first clues to its meaning. If you see a huge lion enter your yard, yet it lies down, looks friendly, and you feel content at the sight instead of terrified, the positive feelings indicate that the message is not about being in danger. Or suppose you dream of your spouse in the kitchen losing their temper and smashing a plate in anger, but in the dream you remain calm and continue to wash the dishes. The dream may speak of the angry sparks that flew during an actual disagreement between you and your spouse, yet your serene attitude in the dream hints that the real-life situation can be resolved by staying calm.
STRONG DREAM EMOTIONS GET YOUR ATTENTION. A dream scene can pack an emotional punch and it does so to get a point across about an issue that needs your attention. A scene of almost drowning can be a metaphor for feeling overwhelmed, a child having a tantrum may indicate someone acting childish or a circumstance veering out of control, and an explosion may relate to an explosive relationship or situation. When a dream creates supercharged metaphors that affect your emotions, the strong reaction you feel to the images is a red flag that tells you the message is important.
YOUR REACTION TO A DREAM CAN JUMPSTART CHANGE. Suppose you have a dream that creates feelings of emotional upheaval in you for hours or even days. Though that sounds bad, sometimes a dream deliberately “creates” turmoil in you to stimulate a change in you. Intense reactions that leave you reeling, emotionally, can invite a change in attitude or push you into a new perspective. For example, a senior in college who is slacking off from his studies dreams that he has failed a final exam and will not graduate. The dream feels so real that it scares him into studying. Or, a man in a dead-end job dreams that everyone around him gets promoted, except him. The anguish the dream evokes in him spurs him to investigate ways to move forward in his career.
EXAMPLE 1 OF DREAMS THAT JUMPSTART YOUR FEELINGS: HAVING SEX WITH SOMEONE YOU DESPISE. Dreams of having sex with someone you cannot stand are common. A woman dreams that she has sex with a boss she despises, yet to her surprise, the passion in the dream feels real and magnificent. She wakes up confused, aware that she hates her boss but finding it hard to dislike someone with whom she has just had great sex. Because of the dream, her feelings of hate for him are now in flux; the dream softens and changes her attitude to her boss, allowing her to make a fresh start in the relationship.
When people dream about having sex with someone they dislike, their first thought is that the dream points to a secret attraction to that person. Usually, that is not the case. Instead, because prolonged animosity toward another is unhealthy (emotionally and psychologically), the psyche manufactures an intense, pleasant experience to jumpstart a change in attitude about that person. A wise man once stated that the best way to deal with an enemy is to turn him into a friend. A dream of having sex with someone you hate arrives as a peacemaker, initiated by your psyche.
EXAMPLE 2 OF DREAMS THAT JUMPSTART YOUR FEELINGS: BLESSINGS FROM A DECEASED LOVED ONE. A depressed man dreams of his dead father, the only person who truly understood him. The father hugs his son, tells him how proud he is of him, smiles, and then disappears. The dreamer wakes up elated; his depression has lifted.
Dreams that jumpstart a change can at times accomplish more than hours of encouragement by a friend or therapist, and can have an ongoing impact on the dreamer.
DREAMS AS A THERMOMETER OF YOUR FEELINGS. In life’s daily rush, it is easy to get out of touch with your emotions. When riding a roller-coaster of ups and downs, dreams can help you notice your feelings and cope with the problems behind those jangled emotions.
At times you may ignore your feelings or feel overwhelmed by them. Dreams help you notice your feelings and label them, so that you can begin to deal with them. Watching yourself in a dream where you are riding a merry-go-round that will not stop can feel terrifying, and can be a metaphor for feeling emotionally out of control. Or, seeing yourself parachute out of an airplane, gliding joyfully through the sky, may put you in touch with the pride you feel about a successful accomplishment.
Suppose you are trying to be patient with an annoying work associate but they still drive you crazy. One night you dream that you punched out the co-worker. The dream is not suggesting that you hit your associate. Instead, the dream mirrors your frustration and invites you to fix your reactions to that associate, reactions that are creating knots in your feelings.
A dream can also indicate whether your emotions are surging or sinking. If a shy man dreams of giving orders at work as if he were a drill sergeant, the dream may hint that he needs to speak up and is capable of doing so; it invites him to come out of his shell. If a confident businesswoman dreams that her staff hide under their desks when she walks by, the dream is hinting that her confidence has veered into overbearing. It invites her to soften her stance with her employees.
EMOTIONS AS A MESSAGE TO SELF. Counselors often view emotions as “messages to yourself.” For example, a scene of depression in a dream can point to a hidden hurt that needs to be expressed. Anger can point to strong feelings that need to be channeled into leadership. Arrogance may mask a lack of confidence or indicate a desire to be appreciated. When the emotional impact is strong or leaves you puzzled, see whether the emotions are a message to yourself.... emotions as dream flags dream meaning
ADVANCED DREAM ANALYSIS HINTS
1: YOU OFTEN FIND ADVICE AT THE END OF A DREAM. Although an entire dream can produce insights, specific suggestions about what to do next often appear at the end. Check how a dream ends to see what may resonate as advice.
DREAM EXAMPLE: THE TARANTULA AND THE GUARD. Faced with rumors that his company was downsizing, a young man feared he might lose his job. He dreamed he was at a train station, lying down in the middle of the tracks as trains zoomed by without harming him. As he lay peacefully on a white blanket, a huge black tarantula above his head caught his eye. Feeling afraid and in danger, the man ran for help. He found a guard and pointed to the tarantula. As they watched, a train came by and crushed the tarantula. The guard turned to the young man and said, “There is no problem now,” and walked away. In the end, the danger disappeared as suddenly as it had arrived. The ending suggested that despite rumors about downsizing, the young man’s job was safe and he was not in danger.
Notice a dream’s final images. If you see someone in a terrible storm yet they find a safe haven, all will be well. Or suppose you witness a car crash, which might be a metaphor of a major clash or fight with a loved one. If at the end of the dream, no one is harmed and all is well, whatever the disagreement, peace will be restored.
2: TIME MARKERS IN DREAMS—WHEN WILL SOMETHING HAPPEN? Dreams often portray probabilities, and an occasional ESP dream gives you a glimpse into the future. Yet such dreams seldom specify when an event will take place. Time markers in dreams are rare, but if they do appear, the predicted timing tends to be accurate.
For example, a woman dreams of meeting her true love. The first question that pops into her head is “When?” and the answer is that no one knows. She may cross paths with a future love in a few months or in a few years; unless a dream provides a time marker, there is no way for her to know. An example of a timing marker would be a dream about a wedding that shows a current friend of the bride, as a bridesmaid. In the dream, the bridesmaid just turned thirty, which tells the prospective bride that she will marry when her friend turns thirty. Or, a time marker may show the date on a wedding announcement. Though rare, keep an eye out for timing markers in dreams.
3: SPOKEN WORDS IN DREAMS ARE OFTEN LITERAL. Dreams are visual metaphors, yet paradoxically, when words are spoken in a dream, their meaning is often literal. If a relative tells you to see a doctor, you should make an appointment. If a friend you have not spoken with for a while says, “I need help” in a dream, check out what is happening. If you dream about someone having surgery and afterward the doctor says, “It is fixed,” you or the loved one will recover. Suppose you feel discouraged in your career and then dream that your boss shakes your hand, saying, “Congratulations on your promotion.” You may want to work hard and persevere.
4: DREAMS OFTEN SHOW LOGIC. Though a lot of dreams may appear disjointed, dreams can demonstrate a high amount of logic as they assess a problem or concern. When a dream has several scenes or parts, see if you can spot a sequential logic. For example, the first part may state the problem, the next might discuss what you have done about the concern or what has not worked, and the latter parts may recommend points to consider or directions that may resolve the issue.
5: SENIORS OFTEN DREAM OF YOUNGER DAYS. Those fortunate enough to reach their eighties and nineties in good shape, often describe dreams that replay the days of their youth. These dreams often portray exact scenes of one’s childhood or their earlier years, in great detail.
Sometimes these dreams of former years contain a message. At other times, they simply replay wondrous moments, cherished memories, or long-forgotten scenes of pain and trauma. As the years catch up, the waking mind dips into the past more often, and as we age, such retrospective thoughts are mirrored in our dreams.
Anecdotal reports by seniors suggest that dreams about their past are not distressing. Revisiting one’s youthful memories often tends to comfort and uplift. Such dreams from one’s early days may also be a way to prepare, ever so slowly, for a new, eternal adventure.
SERIAL DREAMING—DREAMS THAT ARRIVE IN A SERIES
Noticing dreams that arrive in a group or in a sequence indicates that you have turned a corner in mastering dream analysis. Take a breath and have a look at the patterns you may meet in your dreams.
As if watching a television series, look for repetitive dreams that have similar stories or have repeating symbols. You can have a series of dreams about the same topic in a single night. Or, several dreams with the same story may occur over a period of days, weeks, or months. You may even notice symbols or backgrounds that keep cropping up. Take note. Every time a story line, symbol, or background element repeats in a dream, your psyche is working overtime to get your attention. It is up to you to find out why.
THE BOTTOM LINE ABOUT ADVANCED DREAMING
Let your psyche lead the way to amazing dream insights when the time is right. Like a flower that unfolds or an oak tree that grows strong and tall, letting dream understanding proceed at a natural rate is always a good idea.... advanced dream analysis hints dream meaning
STEP THREE: LINKING THE STORY LINE TO YOUR LIFE IS STEP THREE OF THE FIVE-STEP DREAM TECHNIQUE
1 TO LINK A DREAM TO YOUR LIFE: ASK THE RIGHT QUESTION ABOUT WHAT A DREAM MEANS. As mentioned previously, the question is never “What does this dream mean?” The question is always “To what in me or in my life does the dream refer?” Retaining that focus bears repeating. When you keep in mind that a dream speaks of your life and is not merely an amusing tale, you stay on the right track to finding its meaning. Match the story line to an actual life area or experience, and the meaning surfaces.
2 TO LINK A DREAM TO YOUR LIFE: THE IMPORTANCE OF MATCHING THE STORY LINE TO AN AREA OF YOUR LIFE. As if moving a puzzle piece around a board to see how it fits, scan your life to see where the story line coincides with an attitude, a relationship, activity, or an ongoing situation. For example, suppose you dream that you ran a race in the Olympics and won a gold medal. The story line says, “After much effort, someone succeeds brilliantly” or, “By persevering, someone achieves great things.” Which success in your life is highlighted by the dream, depends on your life; only you can know what that success is for you. To some it may refer to fitting into a glamorous outfit after losing weight; to others it might be completing a degree or sprinting up the corporate ladder.
3 TO LINK A DREAM TO YOUR LIFE: TURN THE STORY LINE INTO A QUESTION. If you have trouble fitting a story line to an area of your life, try turning it into a question.
DREAM EXAMPLE 1 OF TURNING A STORY LINE INTO QUESTIONS: INVADING MY SPACE. A man dreams of walking into his office and seeing the manager’s assistant at his desk pulling off pieces of Scotch tape for her own use. She has no right to be in his office or go through his belongings. He walks up to her and asks her in a quiet voice, “What are you doing?” She knows she has been caught doing something off limits but ignores him and blatantly defies him by continuing to rip off tape. The man stays quiet and does not challenge her further because he is not sure what to do. The story line is, “Someone watches another misuse their position but does not know how to stop them.” The story line calls to mind questions like: Where in your life is someone overstepping their boundaries? Are you letting someone take advantage of you? Is there a situation at work or elsewhere in your life, where you would like to speak up but feel unsafe to do so? As you answer the questions that the story line initiates, the life area that the dream relates to should become clear.
DREAM EXAMPLE 2 OF TURNING A STORY LINE INTO QUESTIONS: THE WOUND. A dreamer is shocked to see a large, gaping wound dripping with blood. The story line is, “Someone sees something that needs a lot of help.” This story line begs these questions: Where in your life do you feel wounded or in pain? Have you overlooked someone around you who may be hurting? Have you, or someone close to you, caused emotional damage by your actions or habits?
DREAM EXAMPLE 3 OF TURNING A STORY LINE INTO QUESTIONS: A BEAUTIFUL SCARF. A woman dreams that her work associates are frantic and scurrying to get things done. She ignores them and peacefully puts on a wide, red silk scarf, carefully tying a bow in an artistic arrangement. The story line is, “Instead of getting caught up in the frenzy and chaos around her, someone peacefully focuses on creating something beautiful.” The story line brings up questions like: In what area of your life are others frantic? Would concentrating on doing your best resolve an issue? Are there creative activities that would distract you from the anxieties in your life?
HINT 4 TO LINK A DREAM TO YOUR LIFE: THE STORY LINE MAY RELATE TO YOUR INNER OR OUTER LIFE. As you search for answers raised by story line questions, insights about a particular situation in your life may begin to pop up. When matching a story line to an area of your life, remember that you lead two lives: an inner one and an outer one. Sometimes the life event about which the dream is commenting is an attitude, an emotion, a set of thoughts, or a perspective that is going on within you. Your inner life is also subject to lots of episodes and events, so to speak. We tend to look at outside circumstances and events for the meaning of a dream, but just as often, a dream relates to your character, attitudes, or thoughts about potential decisions, hopes, fears, and wishes.... a dream is not a mini-movie - it is a link to your life dream meaning
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