Dream Dictionary

Dreaming of an unfamiliar child or caring for a unknown baby portrays growth or the emergence of a new side of you. You may have a sense of feeling responsible for this unknown child as a representation of the need to care for and nurture this new aspect of you. See the Unknown Child under Archetypes and Universal Characters.

Dreaming of the back is associated with responsibility and burdens. Since it is that part of the body rarely seen, it can symbolize what you are not facing or how you are not acknowledging that you are carrying unnecessary burdens. See Anatomy and Body Parts.

Associated with what you carry on your back, the backpack is similar to a purse or wallet, but is carried with a sense of a burden or responsibility. It can be used to carry ‘survival’ items or books, suggesting protective or evolutionary ideas. Any drama surrounding the backpack portrays baggage and whether carrying it is good or bad. See Purses, Wallets, Luggage, Jewels and Keys.

Similar to sperm, bacteria can represent attraction, where you can become infected or transformed by allowing your biological drives free reign within you. At the same time, infection or ‘getting something from others’ carries the message of how you are being influenced by those around you. To dream of watching bacteria in a Petri dish denotes your sense of gaining insight into how you feel about your biological drives. Germs can appear ‘unclean’ and threatening, or they can portray the sense of how things happen to your body that are beyond your control. It can symbolize sexual feelings, where ideas take hold and simply grow. A virus shows the power of thought and its connection to what unfolds in experience. The fever that is connected to illness shows feelings (possibly anger) that needs to be released. 

A badge is given for acknowledgement or because you belong to a special group. Unlike the hat that crowns your ideas, the badge covers your chest and can signify trading prestige for authenticity.

Since a bag holds the things you carry with you and hold to be valuable, the bag can be a symbol of how you take inventory of what is no longer necessary on your journey. Losing a bag can be a representation of career changes or a change in identity. See Purses, Wallets, Luggage, Jewels and Keys.

Like your ideas, hair grows over time and requires that you cut and groom it to keep it healthy. When you dream of being bald, you may have had the sense that your ideas were ‘stripped’ away from you as your attitude undergoes a drastic change. This could also be the humorous way that your psyche is suggesting that you are being caught in a ‘bald face’ lie. Seeing a bald man can be a sexual symbol or it can signify old age. A bald woman suggests adjusting sensitivity with a healthy dose of aggressiveness.

Similar to a ring, the round symbol of a ball can suggest harmony and commitment. Anything circular, portrays wholeness and how all things come back to you. As a ball, it may have associations with your childhood or youth.

Being ‘yellow’ and a monkey’s favorite food, the banana is often used by the psyche as a way of bringing sexual thoughts forward. As a symbol of nourishment that grows on a tree, it suggests how you need only ‘pluck it’ as you peel away your outer covering (clothes) to get at the fruit within. See Fruit under Food.

Any social gathering that revolves around food, suggests how you are nourished in your interactions with others. In the banquet dream, you get a smorgasbord of interesting symbols with the audience or critic, the food or how you are nourished, and the social etiquette that is always squaring off with your sense of uniqueness.

Similar to alcohol, dreaming of a bar can suggest a dependency on alcohol. This is a meeting place where everyone uses intoxication as a way of giving free reign to emotions. See Alcohol.

The neighborhood character who cuts hair is the representation of how your ideas are groomed over time. The barber or beautician is the part of you that conforms to make an acceptable appearance, not necessarily your real face. Being groomed portrays a change in attitude that will allow you to continue growing. At the same time, cutting hair portrays shedding old ideas. Grooming eyebrows can suggest changing your perspective or way of expressing yourself.  Since hair grows over time, it can represent wisdom.

Since houses represent our inner architecture, the basement is associated with ideas that are stored 'below the surface' as in repression. Whatever is happening in the basement needs to be explored as a possible issue from the past that has been left (stored) and is unresolved. See Houses and Buildings.

The bathroom is a room where you ‘come clean’ when you feel dirty, and is often the setting of a dream when you need to 'release' something you are holding, reflecting your inability to make a necessary change. When you reveal your intimate side in a situation, you may find your dreams taking place in the bathroom. Of all the rooms you dream about, the bathroom shows your desire to see yourself honestly, without the need to cover up your feelings. During difficult transitions, the bathroom often becomes a symbol of the need to 'get naked' or face the truth. Sometimes urinating when the walls are missing, coincides with entering social situations where you felt forced to reveal yourself to others. See Houses and Buildings and also, the Trickster under Archetypes and Universal Characters.

The conflict created by the many transforming sides of your changing identity over time will often lead to dreaming of a battlefield or this ‘setting of psychic battle and integration.’ See Army and Weapons and Utensils.

This harbor for ships suggests a safe haven or port after a troubling period of traveling over the seas of the unknown. You may be wandering through a ship that is anchored there, exploring the various bed (sex) rooms or chow (nourishment) halls, as a way of exploring these ideas in light of your emotions (water.) The lights in the bay or lighthouse can signify searching for direction or a place to call home. Shaped like the moon, this is also a feminine symbol suggesting heightened intuition. Seeing the lights allows awareness to find its way in the dark as you travel toward the shore of the unconscious. See Water.

Generally a landscape viewed in the daytime, the beach portrays ‘consciousness’ as it meets the shoreline of the unconscious. As a symbol of water, it represents emotion and feelings. What happens on this beach will offer clues as to how you are integrating unconscious information into consciousness.

This powerful, maternal and protective animal can symbolize maternal influences. Dreaming of a bear can be a way of exploring adopted behavior when you are being emotionally over-protective. The bear can symbolize a sudden emotional outburst that appeared to 'come out of the woods' when you are not owning your feelings during the day. The bear is also a complex symbol because of its associations with 'bearing' responsibility, 'bearing' offspring or results, losing one's 'bearings,' or something that is hard to 'bear.' The bear in a dream should also be considered in light of what you hold and what you might need to release.  See Animals.

See Attack and Being Chased and Fear.

Hair is associated with ideas that grow over time and need to be groomed (cut) as we move through change. The beautician also works on improving our appearance and can represent a desire to be accepted. See Barber and Beautician.

Since furniture suggests the ideas that we rest upon, to dream of something taking place on the bed can have associations with sexual ideas. The bed also symbolizes what we make of experience as in 'make our bed and lie in it.' As a furniture symbol, it has associations with the deepest part of our nature, what is not easily changed about us. The sheets and pillows can symbolize how we hide or cover up this aspect of ourselves. See Furniture.

The bedroom is associated with the house, which represents your inner architecture as in thoughts and ideas. Since the bedroom is often a place of intimacy, something occurring in the bedroom or on the bed signifies issues that are very ingrained or habitual, often of a sexual nature. This room represents the most intimate side of your nature and can appear when you are moving to become more intimate. See Bedroom under Houses and Buildings.

The bee symbolizes the purposefulness of life and a desire to find meaning in what we do. Since they also sting, the bee can symbolize habitual behavior that is actually 'bugging' us or a well intentioned approach that may be holding us back from real fulfillment. See Insects.

Meeting the side of you represented as a beggar in your dream offers a message about your current failed approach in having your needs met. This dream suggests that a change is needed that will increase self-worth and authentic fulfillment.

When you are unaware of being ‘undernourished’ or ‘homeless,’ the beggar in a dream may appear disturbing to you, challenging you or blocking your way. It is a message about slowing down enough to ask yourself if you are really happy. Anything that stirs or ‘disturbs’ us in our dreams is a message about facing the truth about being unfulfilled in your current situation. Your ability to provide for yourself would lead to greater fulfillment if you can recognize what you are doing to undermine it.

See Placement and Perspective.

Each time you hear a bell, you are alerted to do something. The ringing of bells can be associated with knowing when it is time to go and it can also symbolize a sense that you are late for something, as in life stages. Hearing a bell can reveal where you should go next if you explore the other symbolism associated with the bell. The bell can be a wake-up call to acknowledge something you are not facing.

Belongings only become important in a dream when you are looking for or protecting them. These are things you own that may or may not be important. See Clothing and Makeup and also, Purses, Wallets, Luggage, Jewels and Keys.

See Placement and Perspective.

Seeing a bend in the road or in an object suggests a ‘kink’ in your current understanding about your direction and motivation. Associated in many dreams with an object you would hold in your hand (what is done to have your needs met) or something you would sit on (the ideas you rest upon) the crooked or bent object suggests this area that is not quite right and needs to be ‘straightened’ out. If the object bends and breaks, it shows how a necessary change can help you let go and move out of difficulty. Rickety or bent structures embody how the future is yet unbuilt and is a common setting in exploring work direction and what you are building. See Rickety Structures under Houses and Buildings.

See Placement and Perspective.

See Vehicles and Places of Transportation.

See Large and Small.

Microscopes and glasses in a dream show the need to focus clearly on all the little things you miss through a lack of awareness. Moving through life, you can also lose your focus on the horizon and a dream of a telescope can be a message about seeing the bigger picture. Increasing your power of vision, these tools allow you to see what you normally miss. On the other hand, they suggest that you may not be seeing clearly and need to change perspective. Whether you are seeing the ‘forest’ or the ‘trees,’ this dream is a call to either focus or see things from another perspective.

Because birds fly, they are representative of higher thought, inspiration, conscience, hopes and your ability to transcend limitations. The behavior and well-being of birds in a dream will portray your current sense of optimism. Birds associated with a nest will often signify issues of independence or dependence. Parrots ‘mimic’ what they have been trained to say, but they are also colorful and exotic creatures that can symbolize untapped abilities and unique qualities yet to be expressed in you.

The blackbird,  crow or raven can have mythical associations that tie it to the ‘Trickster.’ They portray aspects of the evolving mind that can ‘trick’ you into growth, like Freudian slips. Often we dream of the Crow when we are first breaking through a difficult transformation. It calls for a sacrifice of the past in order to meet the future. In some situations, becoming crafty is a necessity.

Like the bluebird of happiness, it is associated with hope, while a group of birds can suggest migratory behavior or following the crowd while still following instincts. Ducks and waterfowl remain at the surface of the great sea, representing the unconscious stirring, as a way of suggesting movement. You can be ‘chicken,’ or ‘cuckoo’ and sometimes act predatorily like the hawk and eagle, suggesting the ability to ‘see’ clearly the things below, which remain hidden. The owl is a symbol of the patience that comes from intelligence and experience.

Reptiles use shade and the warmth of the sun to regulate body temperature. As some dinosaurs evolved into birds, feathers became an evolved way of trapping warmth and cooling the body. Beyond their association with survival, feathers can symbolize the ability to rise above beliefs or move toward evolution in this way. Finding a feather describes insight related to the type of bird or color of the feather. Representing accomplishment, you can ‘have a feather in your cap.’ The elaborate feathers of a peacock can symbolize your fearlessness in demonstrating new abilities or expressing your beauty.

You can take a bite out of something and chew on it awhile, suggesting how you digest experience. Like a vampire, a person biting you can drain you of your life force or exuberance, where some side of you may be draining another aspect. An animal will bite you and ‘draw blood’ as a way of peeling the layers that hide your emotions. An insect bites you when something is ‘bugging’ you. They are small, but their venom can be deadly. Often an insect bite will paralyze you and so, a decision needs to be made to move beyond what is eating at you. Finally, a bite is pain associated with the mouth and can suggest painful communication that will open the way for intimacy. See also Teeth, Food and Tasting.

See Colors.

Being blamed for something you did not do in a dream is a message about behavior that you are not recognizing that may be undermining your success. Explore what you are being blamed for to objectively see if this is something that might provide a key to a breakthrough. This type of dream presents the psyche’s amazing power to break through by leaving you puzzled. At first you will awaken sensing that you were blamed for something completely bizarre, which you would never do in real life. The point of the dream is to make a suggestion through any symbolism that can break through.

Sometimes breaking the symbolism down into pieces will show you how being ‘blamed’ is the same as your psyche saying you need to do it. Example: being blamed for stealing a cake is a suggestion about having your just desserts or finding more reward in life; being blamed for leaving a child alone in a park is coaching you toward a type of rebirth that will lead to more independence.

To dream of ‘not seeing’ is the same as ‘not seeing’ meaning you have shut your eyes to whatever symbolism the dream is exploring, although you are becoming aware of this tendency. To dream of another person who is blind suggests you are not even aware of the part of you that is not seeing clearly. Observing an animal without eyes can represent ‘being blind’ to the power of your emotions. See Eye under Anatomy and Body Parts.

This cold and wintry weather makes going anywhere difficult. Being lost in the swirling manifestation of ice and snow suggest how coldness may be keeping you from either participating in or seeing the beauty of life. See Snow.

Blood dreams often seem frightening, but it is actually a good dream about opening to your power to feel. Red is a color associated with getting our attention and blood appears in dreams when we need a wake up call to interact with life more deeply. When you see blood on yourself in a dream, it is an image of your free flowing life force breaking through emotional restraints as feelings coming to the surface. At the same time, it can sometimes signify pain associated with feelings. The theme of the dream will tell you which is taking place.

To see blood on someone or something else reflects how you have disassociated from your feelings, objectively exploring emotion in an abstract way. Blood can represent the blood line of family, or sometimes work, for those who work in the healthcare profession. See blood under Anatomy and Body Parts.

See Colors.

Boats, buses and trains, in which you are a ‘passenger,’ suggest how you are following a course that is not self-directed and not easily changed. Travel over water is indicative of emotions and how the ‘flow of events’ or ‘current’ is leading you forward into the future, and often represent uncertainty and a lack of trust. The water can be dark, calm or choppy in relation to how you feel about where you are currently going in life. See Vehicles and Places of Transportation and Water.

See Anatomy and Body Parts.

Dreaming of bombs can symbolize the 'explosion' of repressed feelings that are coming to the surface. Oftentimes associated with unacknowledged anger, being in a setting that is being bombed can symbolize recognizing how fear or anger are sabotaging you. In a sense, your inner landscape is undergoing transformation so anger that is festering can be released. See Atomic Bomb.

Bones support the body and remain when all else disintegrates. Dreaming about bones can portray the essence of who you are or the foundation of your character. To unearth bones suggests nitpicking, fussy or overly critical behavior when you are focused only on the negative as in 'having a bone to pick' with others. Since a bone is also associated with the idea of 'throw me a bone' an unusual dream about bones can portray the key to your fulfillment. See Anatomy and Body Parts.

When you open a book, you are game for exploring new ways of thinking and sharing your ideas like being ‘an open book.’ To lose a book is the same as ‘losing’ an outworn perspective, while searching for a book signifies exploring a ‘new way’ to understand something. The type of book and its condition will offer additional clues to your current ideas and how they are changing.
 

Like shoes, boots offer a message about the steps you are taking. Offering more protection than shoes or sandals, boots can be associated with discipline and self-protection. They are also representative of ‘marching’ attire so they can suggest following the crowd, rather than moving forward with a sense of personal direction. See Shoes under Clothing and Makeup.

To see the edges of something offers a message about a turning point. This dream can be associated with embarking on a new direction or letting go of the past.

This glass vessel generally holds something nourishing, signifying refreshment or the pursuit of gratification. You can be ‘bottled up’ with emotion or recognize a bottle as something containing childish urges in the sense of a ‘baby’s bottle.’ If the bottle breaks, usual ways of finding pleasure will no longer do. The bottle is sometimes associated with feminine genitals and sexuality.

See Placement and Perspective.

This receptacle holds the things you store, but it can also symbolize the things you receive. Representing the unknown, it offers a message about opening to either giving or receiving. In some cases the box is also associated with the womb, or the sensitive ‘things you keep’ hidden that are associated with mother.

The boy can portray the innocent application of the masculine drive to achieve. A woman dreaming of a boy may be exploring assertiveness learned as a child, while a man may be exploring aspects of actual childhood. See The Unknown Child under Archetypes and Universal Characters.
 

See Food.

When something breaks in a dream, it suggests the ‘breaking point’ where something can be released. Broken bottles often release liquid as a symbol of releasing feelings. Broken heirlooms show how you are breaking from family values. Things that open up and are associated with ‘breaking’ show how opening up is not easy and the dream is allowing you to explore it. As the idea of ‘breaking with the past’ or having someone ‘break the news’ this is a symbol associated with moving through difficulty and exploring it objectively to become more empowered. When break is associated with 'taking a break' see Vacation.

Portrayed as the ‘most important meal of the day,’ the food that nourishes you or ‘gets you going’ is often suggesting the root of your motivation or the 'inner fuel' needed to achieve your aspirations. See Food.

Breasts represent the exploration of self-nurturing ideas and behavior. Their roundness combined with their maternal associations can symbolize the circle of cause and effect in how feelings lead us to recreate situations. In this case your idea of love may be overly influenced by what you observed in your mother's relationship to the father. Dreaming of breasts can symbolize a desire for love that can be achieved through unconditional love and independence. See Anatomy and Body Parts.
 

In mythology, the breath is a divine gift. It connects you to life until you ‘take your last breath,’ as a symbol of meaning and direction. A dream that focuses on breathing can suggest the need to ‘get a breath of fresh air’ or step away from the situation to see it objectively. Colored breath will be associated with the emotion that the color suggests, as a way of taking it in and allowing it to sustain you. See Colors.  

The bride is dressed in white, suggesting purity or a threshold of spiritual awareness. When a woman marries, often her name and much of her identity will change too.  A woman dreaming of a wedding is exploring the integration of the sides of her nature that various characters may represent. For the male, the bride can represent integrating sensitivity and intuition or other ‘feminine’ traits. See Wedding.

This is a structure erected to ‘gain access’ across two separate places. It suggests ‘bridging the gap’ or finding the common thread between two separate ideas that appear to be conflicting, but are actually connected.
 

Bubbling can be a cryptic symbol of sexual feelings coming to the surface. The bubble  is a round symbol that can suggest an idea of something fragile and might burst, since longevity is not its strong point. As it rises upward, it can symbolize hope and aspirations or ascending in an effort to rise above something by releasing it. Something oozing would suggest repressed feelings that are festering.

During spring, new life pushes forward, although it remains challenged by an unstable climate, signifying perseverance. Buds on a tree show new life growing aside from your family or childhood dynamics. Buds symbolize ideas or new direction emerging that still requires cultivation and care. Observing the budding of something in the ground reflects something growing that requires strong roots to weather the storms. You have planted something that will soon bear fruit.

The idea of how attitudes are constructed can be portrayed by building something in a dream. Building is also a way of understanding objectively how you are actively creating the future. The symbol that is being built can provide insight into the area of your life that you are exploring in a ‘constructive’ way.

Where houses represent your inner architecture or personal dynamics, dreaming of buildings has more of an association with work, goals and the career path. See Houses and Buildings.
 

Since bulls are said to 'see red' they can be a symbol of repressed anger and the bull headed attitudes that keep you from self-actualization or feelings of self-worth. Often representing characteristics adopted from the father, the bull can appear in dreams when you are coming to terms with the source of your repressed anger. As territorial creatures, the bull can symbolize your feelings about Self value and what you hold and protect. The Bull's association with the astrological sign Taurus as an Archetype can represent areas of life associated with security, the senses and the value you place on experience. Bulls have mythological significance in the area of controlling passions in pursuit of a more spiritual awareness. Also see Animals.

This symbol has a direct trajectory that allows it to hit its mark or penetrate through hard surfaces. Feeling a bullet entering your body is representative of the pain that comes from being forced to ‘open’ up. This symbolism can also suggest that you are being overly defensive or sensitive in receiving constructive criticism. See Blood under Anatomy and Body Parts.

The sense of having a burden can coincide with knowing you have to be somewhere ‘but…’  Whatever symbol arises that you are forced to hold on to or protect, while you miss something else, will offer clues as to how the past is adversely impacting your future.

The Burglar represents one aspect of you that may be undermining another, as in working too hard and not being open to relationships, and so you dream of having your ring stolen. You may dream of having belongings stolen like a purse or wallet when your identity or job status is changing. Also see Intruder under Archetypes and Universal Characters.
 

The ceremony or ritual performed when someone passes can signify releasing outworn sides of yourself as you move through a transition. Dreams of visiting a crypt, tomb or being at a funeral or cemetery represents the passing of a side of you that you have outgrown. On the other hand, the burial can also be suggesting that you have buried an aspect of yourself that is being explored and resurrected. The person being buried, your feelings about the situation and the characters who attend will offer clues as to this common dream of repression and the necessary transformation that is unfolding. See Corpse.
 

Something can be burning because of a natural disaster or accident, where the flames (often passion or anger) burn out of control to destroy a structure (something that is holding you back from real fulfillment-like fear.) Something burning and then breaking in a dream suggests how new life emerges sometimes through what appears painful, destructive or bad. This is actually a dream that shows constructive growth. Burning in dreams is often associated with the Phoenix that rises from the ashes of the past. If you are dreaming about flames, it is usually a message that you are not allowing the power of your passion to be released.

Since you are dreaming of burying something or a thing buried, you are not seeing how you have buried or repressed something, perhaps you do not want to face. See Digging and Burial.

Being on a bus is a common symbol of trying to conform or follow others as you explore direction from the sense of what is required of you. As you adopt new ways of expressing yourself in situations where you are being forced to conform, you are going somewhere, although you remain a passenger to the flow of events. See Vehicles and Places of Transportation.

The butt focuses the dreams message on elimination. See Anus.

Purchasing or buying is often a word play on ‘buying into something.’ Since you get something ‘in exchange for payment' it can show how something valuable must be traded or a type of sacrifice that is needed to achieve something more necessary to your sense of well being. See Marketplace and Shopping Center under Houses and Buildings.