To dream of a spider denotes that you are being ignored and overlooked by others. Perhaps you feel that it is best to avoid someone or something that will only influence you negatively.
The spider also represents female strengths and intensity. It may be implying that there is some entity trying to keep you safe from your own actions.
If you kill a spider, it indicates that you will soon face hardships and obstacles.
To see a spider spinning a web implies that your energies and exertions will result in great gifts. This can be in the form of career advancement, elevation in social status, or prosperity. Spiders represent imagination and artistic nature. On a negative note, spiders may suggest that you feel stuck in a negative relationship. Perhaps your significant other is being too dependent on you. It can indicate that you are being influenced by someone or something that is detrimental to your happiness or safety.
To see a spider climbing up a wall in your dream implies that you will achieve your goals in the near future.
To dream that you are bitten by a spider symbolizes an issue between you and a female associate. You may be feeling entangled in a relationship that you no longer want to be a part of.
All spiders except tarantulas are omens of good luck.
If you see a spider climbing the wall you will have your dearest wish come true and if you see a spider spinning a web you will have an increase in your income due to hard work.
A large spider sitting on a telephone shows you will have a phone call that will benefit you greatly.
The larger the spider, the bigger the rewards.
General Meaning: Represents a spirit of fear and spirit of infirmity. Negative: Spiders to most people are not pleasant creatures.
If you have a strong fear of spiders, then they would speak of your fears in your dreams.
• Generally though, they speak of the work of the enemy.
The good news however, is that they are not a strong attack and refer to something that you can easily overcome.
• Even though a spider can be deadly, it can also be easily killed.
The Word says that we can trample on serpents and scorpions, and the same is true of spiders! • Spiders speak of the work of the enemy.
If you have been getting involved in things that you should not be, then seeing a spider in a vision is an indication that Satan has gained access in your life.
• It speaks of the things that the enemy would like to poison you with, bringing you pain and discouragement.
• In the spirit we often see spiders as spirits of infirmity. This is a good picture, because even in the natural their bite causes pain and sickness.
• A Spider’s web speaks of a subtle work of the enemy that is not obvious at first. When we were first starting out the Fivefold Ministry was really new. We faced a lot of opposition! • Often in the spirit we saw this huge spider weaving a web trying to slow us down.
The Lord showed us that this was the result of the words of many other ministries speaking against us.
• Through these negative words, they were licensing a curse against us and giving the enemy a chance to slow us down. There is no work of the enemy that is stronger than the work of Calvary though.
• We stood against those words in the spirit and the fact that you are reading this today is proof that we did indeed overcome.
• Isaiah 59:5 They hatch cockatrice’ eggs, and weave the spider’s web: he that eats of their eggs dies, and that which is crushed breaks out into a viper.
See also: Insects, Scorpion.
All spiders except tarantulas are omens of good luck.
If you see a spider climbing the wall you will have your dearest wish come true.
If you see a spider spinning a web you will have an increase in your income due to hard work.
A large spider sitting on a telephone presages a phone call that will benefit you greatly. in general, the larger the spider, the bigger the rewards.
To see one building its web, foretells that you will be happy and secure in your own home.
To kill one, signifies quarrels with your wife or sweetheart.
If one bites you, you will be the victim of unfaithfulness and will suffer from enemies in your business.
If you dream that you see many spiders hanging in their webs around you, foretells most favorable conditions, fortune, good health and friends.
To dream of a large spider confronting you, signifies that your elevation to fortune will be swift, unless you are in dangerous contact.
To dream that you see a very large spider and a small one coming towards you, denotes that you will be prosperous, and that you will feel for a time that you are immensely successful; but if the large one bites you, enemies will steal away your good fortune.
If the little one bites you, you will be harassed with little spites and jealousies.
To imagine that you are running from a large spider, denotes you will lose fortune in slighting opportunities.
If you kill the spider you will eventually come into fair estate.
If it afterwards returns to life and pursues you, you will be oppressed by sickness and wavering fortunes.
For a young woman to dream she sees gold spiders crawling around her, foretells that her fortune and prospect for happiness will improve, and new friends will surround her. ... spider dream meaning
Depth Psychology: Seemingly insignificant events turn out to be more important than you thought. Guilt feelings or a bad conscience is bothering you. See Bee, Fly, Spider.
The insect represents instinctive actions and conduct. Whether your actions are beneficial or harmful can be determined bv look- ing at the rest of the dream images.... insects dream meaning
A marketplace in a dream also represents a mosque, or winning a war. In fact, the merchants and the customers bargain with one another, some win and some lose.
If a knowledge seeking student sees himself in a marketplace that he does not recognize, then if he walks away from it in the dream, it means that he will cease schooling or interrupt his studies and fail to acquire his degree, or it could mean that he has missed his Friday congregational prayers. It also could mean that the knowledge he is seeking is not intended to please God Almighty. Ifone sees himself shoplifting in a dream, it means that he steals, or holds contempt and conceit in his heart, or if he is a man of knowledge, it means that he will foster falsehood or become affected. Ifone sees a common marketplace on fire, or filled with people, or with a stream of fresh water running in the middle of it, or if it is fragrant with perfumes in the dream, then it represents good business for everyone and increase in their profits, though hypocrisy will later on spread among the people. Otherwise, if one finds the shops closed, the merchants drowsing and spiders webs spreading in every corner and covering the merchandise in the dream, it means stagnation of business or suffering major losses. Seeing the marketplace in a dream is also interpreted to represent the world. Whatever affects it will show in people’s lives, in their mosques, churches, or temples including their profits, losses, clothing, recovering from illness, lies, stress, sorrows or adversities.
If the market is quiet in the dream, then it represents the laziness of its salespeople.
(Also see Entering a house)... marketplace dream meaning
Accidents: Inability to focus on the here and now.
Aging: Lack of appreciation for the natural stages of life.
Alcohol: Doubts regarding your self-control.
Aloneness: Low self-esteem and the need for others to validate you.
Amnesia: Insecurity about your identity.
Animals: Basic instincts that are threatening to spill over into your waking life.
Ants: Inability to cooperate with others.
Bacteria: fear of being affected by others.
Baldness: fear of losing the ability to think clearly.
Beards: Suspicion over what someone is hiding.
Bedtime: Fear of dying before certain goals are accomplished.
Beggars: Fear of appearing helpless or difficult feelings when faced with another person’s neediness.
Birds: Fear of freedom or success.
Black/dark: Fear of what you do not understand.
Blindness: Dread of losing your perceptive skills.
Blood: Dread of losing your inner strength.
Blushing: Fear of embarrassment.
Body odor: Dread of offending others.
Books: Fear of the opinions or criticism of others.
Brain disease: Fear of losing your reason.
Buildings, high: Fear of being forced into a situation in which you feel you have no control.
Bullets: Fear of loss of self-control.
Burglars: Sense of vulnerability.
Buried alive: Fear that a pending plan will not have a chance to prove itself.
Cancer: Fear of negativity, poor health.
Cats: Fear of loss of independence.
Childbirth: Fear of change or new beginnings.
Children: Fear of the child within.
Clocks: Fear of falling behind in your schedule or commitments.
Clowns: Fear of letting your guard down.
Coitus/sex: Fear of getting close to another person.
Cold: Fear of becoming lazy or apathetic.
Color: Fear of standing out.
Computers: Fear of learning new things.
Confined spaces: Fear of getting into situations in which you feel trapped.
Constipation: Feeling unable to express yourself.
Cooking: Aversion to planning things.
Cross: Fear of being reminded of sacrifices you need to make or have made.
Dancing: Dislike of showing emotion.
Daylight: Fear of exposure.
Death/corpses: Refusal to accept reality.
Decisions: Fear of taking responsibility.
Demon/goblin: Fear of life’s negatives.
Dentists: Fear of someone changing your mind.
Disease: Fear of problems.
Doctor: Aversion to the opinions of others.
Dolls: Tendency to look at the motives of others with suspicion.
Electricity: Dislike of control from anyone but yourself.
Empty rooms: Suggests lack of vision.
Fat/gaining weight: Fear of loss of self-control.
Fire: Fear of emotional outbursts.
Fish: Revulsion towards anything associated with religion or spiritual growth.
Floods: Fear of being emotionally overwhelmed.
Flowers: Denial of your talents.
Flying: Fear of expressing your opinions.
Food: Fear of nourishing an aspect of yourself.
Gay/lesbian: Fear of human diversity or traits different to yourself.
Ghosts: Fear of your past returning to haunt you.
Gold: Inability to handle money.
Hallowe’en: Dread of discovering hidden aspects of another person’s character.
Heat: This suggests procrastination and the avoidance of challenge.
Heights: Reluctance to advance due to fear of failure.
Hell: Fear of depression.
Horses: Fear of others seeing your own wild nature.
Hospitals: Fear of change.
Houses: Fears about personal security.
Hurricanes/tornados: Aversion to fanaticism.
Injections: Fear of the new and different invading your personal space.
Insanity: Fear of losing grip on reality.
Insects: Inability to deal with life’s irritations.
Jumping: Fear of becoming impatient.
Lightning/thunder: Reluctance to experience new insights.
Machinery: desire to avoid assistance.
Medicine: Lack of trust.
Men: Distrust of men or problems accepting masculine traits within yourself.
Mice: Worry over something invading or upsetting your routine.
Mirrors: Apprehension over facing yourself or knowing yourself.
Money: Avoidance of responsibility.
Myths: Fear of hearing the truth about a situation.
Night: This implies someone with an overactive imagination.
Noise: Someone who is easily distracted.
Old people: Fear of aging or mortality.
Open spaces: Fear of exposure.
Opposite sex: Being out of touch with your opposite gender characteristics.
Outer space: Feeling helpless and weightless.
Pain: Fear of being hurt in waking life.
Performing: Panic about being watched or judged.
Plant: Fear of not using your natural talents and not measuring up to expectations.
Railways/trains: Fear of not being able to change direction.
Relatives: Fear of others knowing things about you.
Reptiles: Fear of what you do not understand.
Ridicule: Fear of being criticized.
School: Fear of the inability to reach your potential.
Shadows: Suspicions about all sorts of things.
Snakes: Fear of what you do not understand.
Speaking aloud: Fear of being criticized for speaking your mind.
Speed: The need to take things slower.
Spiders: Fear of being manipulated by others.
Stairs: Fear of moving forward.
Stuttering: Fear of not being able to express yourself.
Swallowing: Fear of being gullible.
Technology: Distrust over advancements.
Telephones: Aversion to communication without being able to read the other’s body language.
Tests: Trepidation about your ability or competence; fear of failure.
Tombstones: Fear of facing your mortality.
Ugliness: Inability to face reality.
Walking: Fear of being independent.
Wind: Fear of showing emotion.
Women: Fear of not being accepted by others or inability to accept feminine traits within yourself.... phobias / fears 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.
The following is not a comprehensive list and they are not listed in any particular order, but they are 20 of the most common dreams that people experience.
This one would easily rank in the top five most common dreams. The house normally represents your life, and the circumstances taking place in the house reflect the specific activities in your life. These dreams may also reflect the church as well.
Individual rooms of the house may represent specific things. For instance, if the bedroom appears, the dream may have something to do with issues of intimacy.
The bathroom may represent a need for cleansing. The family room may be a clue that God wants to work on family relationships and so on.
These dreams often center on taking of tests. The tests may be for the purpose of promotion. Or you might find yourself searching for your next class-an indication that guidance is needed or a graduation has just occurred. You might be repeating a class you took before, possibly meaning that you have an opportunity to learn from past failures. High School dreams may be a sign that you are enrolled in the School of the Holy Spirit (H.S. = High School = Holy Spirit). There are limitless possibilities.
These are just a few examples. Interesting enough, the Teacher is always silent when giving a test!
These may indicate the calling you have on your life, the vehicle of purpose that will carry you from one point to another. Cars, planes, buses, etc., may be symbols of the type or even the size of the ministry you are or will be engaged in. That’s why there are different kinds of vehicles. Note the color of the vehicle.
If it is a car, what is the make and model? Observe who is driving it. Are you driving or is someone else driving? If someone else is driving, who is it? Do you know the person? Is it a person from your past? If the driver is faceless, this may refer to a person who will appear sometime in your future or that the Holy Spirit Himself is your driving guide.
Storm dreams tend to be intercessory, spiritual warfare-type dreams. They are particularly common for people who have a calling or gift in the area of discerning of spirits. These dreams often hint of things that are on the horizon –both dark, negative storms of demonic attack for the purpose of prayer, intercession, and spiritual warfare, as well as showers of blessing that are imminent. What kind of storm is it? Are there tornadoes involved? What color are they. Tornadoes can indicate change that is coming good or bad. Also tornadoes can indicate great destruction.
Flying dreams deal with your spiritual capacity to rise above problems and difficulties and to soar into the heavenlies. These are some of the most inspirational and encouraging in tone of all dreams. When awakening from a dram where you fly or soar, you often wake up feeling exhilarated –even inebriated- in the Spirit.
Ascending-type dreams are more unusual yet edifying. Remember, we are seated with Christ Jesus in heavenly places far above all principalities and powers.
These dreams indicate that you will be or are becoming transparent and vulnerable.
Depending on your particular situation, this may be exhilarating or fearful and could reveal feelings of shame. Note: these dreams are not meant to produce embarrassment but rather draw you into greater intimacy with the Lord and indicate places where greater transparency is required. These types of dreams often appear during times of transition where you are being dismantled in order to be re-mantled.
Often, these dreams reveal the need for wisdom. Are your teeth loose, rotten, falling out, or are they bright and shiny? Do you have a good bite? Are you able to chew your cud? Teeth represent wisdom, and often teeth appear to loose in a dream.
What does that mean? It may mean that you need a wisdom application for something you are about to bit off. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
This kind of dream may indicate that you are being tempted to fall back into old patterns and ways of thinking. Depending upon who the person is in the dream, and what this person represents to you, these dreams might also be an indication of your need to renew your former desires and godly passions for good things in life.
Seeing a person from your past does not usually mean that you will literally renew your old relationship with that individual. Look more for what that person represents in your life – for good or bad. A person who was bad in your life may represent God’s warning to you not to relapse into old habits and mind-sets that were not profitable. On the other hand, a person who was good in your life may represent God’s desire or intention to restore good times that you thought were gone.
These dreams are not normally about the person seen in the dream in a literal sense, but are symbolic about something that is passing away or departing from your life. The type of death may be important to note. Watch, though, to see if resurrection is on the other side.
Normally these dreams are not about an actual childbirth but rather about new seasons of purpose and destiny coming forth into your life.
If a name is given to the child, pay close attention because that usually indicates that a new season in the purposes of God is being birthed. There are, of course, exceptions to this where an actual pregnancy and birth is going to take place.
These are cleansing-type dreams (toilets, showers, bathtubs, etc) revealing things that are in the process of being flushed out of your life, cleansed and flushed away. These are good dreams by the way. Enjoy the showers of God’s love and mercy and get cleansed from the dirt of the world and its ways. Apply the blood of Jesus and get ready for a new day!
These dreams may reveal a fear you have of losing control of some area of your life or, on the positive side, that you are actually becoming free of directing your own life.
What a substance you fall into in the dream is a major key to proper understanding. The outstanding primary emotions in these dreams will indicate which way to interpret them. Falling can be fearful, but it can also represent falling into the ocean of God’s love.
Chasing dreams often reveal enemies that are at work, coming against your life and purpose. On the opposite side, they may indicate the passionate pursuit of God in your life, and you towards Him. Are you being chased? By whom? What emotions do you feel? Are you afraid of being caught? Or maybe you are the one doing the chasing. Who are you chasing? Why? Again, what emotions do you feel during the chase? The answers to these questions and, particularly, the dominant emotions in the dream, will often help determine the direction of its interpretation. Often the Lord appears in various forms, motioning to us, saying, “Catch Me if you can!”
Most likely, these dreams indicate generational issues at work in your life –both blessings and curses. You will need discernment as to whether to accept the blessing or cut off the darkness. This is particularly true if grandparents appear in your dreams, as they will typically indicate generational issues.
Nightmares tend to be more frequent with children and new believers in Christ, just as calling dreams do. They may reveal generational enemies at work that need to be cut off. Stand against the enemies of fear. Call forth the opposite presence of the amazing love of God, which casts out fear, the fear has torment!
The snake dream is probably one of the most common of all the categories of animal dreams. These dreams reveal the serpent – the devil with his demonic hosts- at work through accusation, lying, attacks, etc. Other common dreams of this nature include dreams of spiders, bears, and even alligators. Spiders and bears are two other major animals that appear in dreams that show fear. The spider in particular, releasing its deadly poison, is often a symbol of witchcraft and the occult.
After snakes, the most common animal to appear in dreams is the dog. A dog in your dream usually indicates friendship, loyalty, protection, and good feelings. On the other hand, dog dreams may also reveal the dark side, including growling, attacking, biting, ect. Sometimes these dreams reveal a friend who is about to betray you.
These dreams generally reveal change that is coming. New ways, new opportunities, and new advancements are on the way. Similar to dreams of doors are dreams including elevators or escalators, which indicate that you are rising higher into your purpose and your calling.
Clocks or watches in a dream reveal what time it is in your life, or the need for a wake-up call in the Body of Christ or in a nation.
It is time to be alert and watchful.
Sometimes you may have a dream in which Bible passages appear, indicating a message from God. This phenomenon may occur in a number of ways: verbal quotes where you are actually hear a voice quoting a passage, digital clock-type readouts, and dramatizations of a scene from a Bible, just to name a few. Quite often these are watchmen-type dreams, dreams of instructions filled with ways of wisdom.... 20 common dreams dream meaning
See also Spiders).... tarantula dream meaning
Arachnophobia is an instinctive effect for humans since ancient times, the time when poisonous spiders were common. Such a dream merely reviews that fear to express that there are things in real life that cause sadness. Other ancient superstitions, however, consider that dreaming of spiders is a positive omen.... spinning top dream meaning
A hallucination can be experienced through any of the senses singly, or all of them together. So one might have a hallucinatory smell or sound.
To understand hallucinations, which are quite common without any use of drugs such as alcohol, LSD or cannabis, one must remember that everyone has the natural ability to produce such images. One of the definitions of a dream according to Freud is its hallucinatory quality. While asleep we can create full sensory, vocal, motor and emotional expenence in our dream. While dreaming we usually accept what we experience as real.
A hallucination is an experience of the function which produces dreams’ occurring while we have our eyes open.
The voices heard, people seen, smells smelt, although appearing to be outside us, are no more exterior than the things and images of our dreams. With this information one can understand that much classed as psychic phenomena and religious experience is an encounter with the dream process. That does not, of course, deny its imponance.
There are probably many reasons why Sue should experience a hallucination and her husband not. One might be that powerful drives and emotions might be pushing for attention in her life. Some of the primary drives are the reproductive drive, urge towards independence, pressure to meet unconscious emotions and past trauma and fears, any of which, in order to achieve their ends, can produce hallucinations.
A hallucination is therefore not an ‘illusion’ but a means of giving information from deeper levels of self. Given such names as mediumship or mystical insight, in some cultures or individuals the ability to hallucinate is often rewarded socially.
Drugs such as LSD, cannabis, psilocybin, mescaline, pey- ote and opium can produce hallucinations. This is sometimes because they allow the dream process to break through into consciousness with less intervention.
If this occurs without warning it can be very disturbing.
The very real dangers are that unconscious content, which in ordinary dreaming breaks through a threshold in a regulated way, emerges with little regulation. Fears, paranoid feelings, past traumas, can emerge into the consciousness of an individual who has no skill in handling such dangerous forces. Because the propensity of the unconscious is to create images, an area of emotion might emerge in an image such as the devil. Such images, and the power they contain, not being integrated in a proper therapeutic setting, may haunt the individual, perhaps for years. Even at a much milder level, elements of the unconscious will emerge and disrupt the person’s ability to appraise reality and make judgments. Unacknowledged fears may lead the drug user to rationalise their reasons for avoiding social activity or the world of work. See ESP and dreams; dead lover in husband under family. See also out of body experience.... hallucinations, hallucinogens dream meaning
If you have not explored vour unconscious, the ‘cellars of your mind’ will be the whole of the unconscious mind.
If you have begun to explore, the ‘cellars’ will be the parts or levels of your unconscious that you have not yet explored.
Cellars are sometimes dark places; so are the unemployed layers of the unconscious, since they have not been illumined by the light of consciousness.
Because they are dark, and because they may harbour spiders and other creepy-crawly things, cellars may be frightening places. Similarly, unfamiliar parts of our mind may present a forbidding aspect. There are, in the unconscious, things we are afraid to face: that is why they are in the unconscious - we repressed them, banished them from consciousness, because they frightened or disgusted us or made us feel guilty and ashamed. But these repressed feelings or desires will rum out, on better acquaintance, to be quite innocent products of natural instinctive drives, requiring appropriate expression in our life.... cellar dream meaning
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
The canine teeth of humans are not considered fangs, but in vampire mythology these teeth are elongated and are that creature’s tool for extracting the blood he or she needs.
If some animal, fictitious creature, or other human being is exposing fangs to you in a dream, you may be expressing fears of being dominated and consumed in some way.
If you are the one who is sporting fangs, you may be expressing a voracious appetite that either needs to be expressed or is being expressed in the world.
If the former idea resonates, look to where you can increase your passions.
If it is the latter that feels true, you may be hurting others with your words or actions.... fangs dream meaning
According to Jungians, the general interpretation of insects in dreams closely follows the way they are perceived in real life: as irritating and potentially dangerous creatures that often attack in great numbers. Some insects do, however, have qualities we can admire and although still able to annoy us, they can set a helpful example when they appear in dreams. Use your common sense and some general impressions about the specific insect when interpreting your dream. For example, if you dream about bees stinging you, think about some of your relationships; if ants appear, then consider you social interactions and work ethic.
If you dream about wasps, are you in some kind of danger? Bear in mind, though, that dreams featuring insects are generally warning you of some poisonous or dangerous influence in your waking life.
Insects can also represent irritating, small problems in daily life with which you feel powerless to deal or feelings you would rather do without. These might be feelings of guilt or regret, or something that you cannot quite recognize tugging at your conscience. More often than not, insects represent negative feelings; they can symbolize how life requires you to form a brittle shell; they can also sometimes completely replace your own body, as in Franz Kafka’s novella Metamorphosis.
Arachnids—here comprising scorpions, spiders and ticks—often have a different symbolism; many people suffer from severe phobias for spiders in particular.
If you are fearful of spiders in the waking world, they will quite often simply represent something of which you are terrified in your subconscious.... insects and arachnids dream meaning
If you have a recurring dream of this nature, try to urge your dreaming self not to panic or run away but to face the spiders, ghosts, vampires or whatever fills you with dread.
You may find that this puts an end to the dream once and for all.
If the cause of your dread is not so clear cut—for example, you are talking with a friend and suddenly feel anxious in your dream—your dreaming mind may be telling you that there is something about this person you fear at an unconscious level in waking life. You may feel that your friend is undermining you all the time with silly jokes about your weight or appearance. If, on the other hand, a hideous monster is about to devour you in your dream, this is a clear symbol of something you fear; your dreaming mind is telling you that, unless you deal with your anger, jealously or guilt will consume you.... horror / panic dream meaning
Dreaming Lens: Were you encountering a spider or spider webbing? Was it frightening? Were you in danger? Did you kill the spider? Did you want to? Did the spider want to harm you? Was the overall scene macabre or more magical?
Personal Focus: Spiders are a powerful image of the feminine principle, which relates to creativity and receptivity. Spiders embody this by virtue of the creative act of making a web and the patience involved in awaiting their prey. Many, if not most people, have an aversion to spiders, which makes them a creature of the Shadow.
Spiders can be found everywhere, which is one of the reasons why they feature prominently as a common dream image. While not all are venomous, the most widely known spider is the Black Widow, famous for mating with and then killing her male counterpart. This is the feminine principle in its most ferocious expression.
A spider’s webbing is a miraculous feat of engineering and unparalleled beauty. Its purpose is twofold. On the side of nurturing, it is a home. However, it is also a weapon of prey—a trap set to capture, kill, and eat. Spiders also connect to the numerological expression of abundance because of their eight legs. (See Numbers.) Any or all of these themes may be being expressed in a dream that features this image.
A spider web may point to creative ideas that are currently being spun. This also indicates that a period of waiting must follow in order for success to be achieved. A spider bite may indicate that an infusion of the feminine principle may be in order for your current dealings to succeed. The irritation, illness, or death that is possible with a spider bite indicates the level of sacrifice that will be required of you on an emotional level at this time. ... spider/spider web dream meaning
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