Dream Dictionary

Seeing a face can be the objective idea of ‘facing’ something or 'keeping face'. The symbolism associated with the face can suggest issues related to self-esteem and the expression of your unique qualities. See Anatomy and Body Parts and Clothing and Makeup.

See Houses and Buildings.
 

The sense of humiliation that comes with failing in real life when transferred into the dreamscape, often comes with intensified emotion. Dreams always offer a playground to explore and process anxiety. You may have anxiety about succeeding in something you are working on, and dreaming about failing is a way of lessening or releasing unproductive worry and tension. If the issue is from long ago or not related to a current event, the dream may be exploring self-defeating thoughts. In real life, you may hold back your emotions and some incident can ‘set you off’ with more emotion than the situation warranted. In the same way, the psyche takes a similar opportunity, by using ‘short range’ or passing situations to work through ‘longer range’ issues that can lead to wellness and balance. Dreams about failing that have nothing to do with the present should be explored to understand how the symbolism might represent misplaced self-worth.

See Amusement Park and Circus.

See Autumn.

A dream in which you are falling has the exact opposite meaning as the dream where you ‘wake up’ to discover that you can fly. Where flying suggests an awareness that can transcend self-restraint, falling suggests the anxiety associated with setting unrealistic goals. Another reason that is suggested for the common occurrence of ‘falling dreams’ is that some part of the psyche is aware of ‘falling asleep’ or ‘sinking’ into a state of unconsciousness during dreaming. See Diving, Accident, Airplanes under Vehicles and Places of Transportation, and Flying.

Dreams of family members are very common, although they are still generally a reflection of how you explore the qualities of others to learn more about your potential.. Dreams of this type often take place after an experience that has left you wondering about your personal dynamics.

Dreams are often portrayed in cycles of three, where one dreamscape morphs into two other settings. The first part of the dream suggests the crisis at hand, while the second part of the dream often includes family members as a way of exploring early dynamics that were inherited, and may need to be released. The third part is usually the most bizarre, offering clues to your transformational process. You wake up and dismiss the peculiar when this is the most relevant part of the dream. The psyche seeks to break through in any way it can. The things you find most difficult to face will appear in symbolism that leaves you puzzled. Family dynamics that you have inherited offer an enormous pallet of symbols for transformation as you move forward to discover your real identity.

Natural selection drives divergence in character because the more diversified we are, the better will be our chance for survival. Even family members within a particular species are endowed with variations. This ensures that competition for short supply in a shared environment is minimized. The family can be a source of support, even while their dynamics shape you like water shapes a stone. In the contrast of your differences, they often reveal your deeper color. You simply stand in the present as life’s best example of one variation of the line you carry forward.

The characters that appear in dreams are always portraying aspects of you. Siblings can personify your competitiveness or aspects that you associate with them, while parents suggest motherly and fatherly traits within you. See People and Wise Man/Woman under Archetypes and Universal Characters.

All people in our dreams represent sides of us. When you dream of famous people you are exploring the side of you that would be associated with the character. What are the adjectives you would use to describe this icon? These same qualities are being explored as emerging aspects of you. See People and Archetypes and Universal Characters.

Since a farm is a place where animals are domesticated, dreaming of being on a farm is a symbol of getting to the roots of your emotions and behavior. See Animals.

Generally all people in a dream represent us. The father in a dream signifies what we were taught in terms of aggression and asserting ourselves to become independent. The father portrays that part of us undergoing exploration, and the dream offers a message about its well being through the drama of what takes place with the father. See Family.

This fixture allows you to turn the flow of water on and off. To dream of a faucet suggests that you are exploring how you turn emotions on and off. In a new relationship, you may be trying to overcome feelings of jealousy and possessiveness, or are being forced to subdue your real feelings. A situation may be forcing you to control your emotions and the issues surrounding the faucet will describe whether this is healthy.

If you were to boil all negative emotions down, you would find fear at the root in nearly every case. If something is unknown or not classified as good, it tends to go hand in hand with fear. As a self-organizing system, all human beings seek stasis, while life leads you to move beyond your tendency to hold to the familiar. Every plant and animal on the earth has outlasted a struggle for existence that is three and a half billion years old. Driven toward survival, overcoming fear is never second nature.

Fear and anxiety fund a large portion of what we dream. Why? Because we spend all of our lives trying to control the outcome. Change is the enemy unless we are the one orchestrating it. Dreams seem to push us beyond our need for control because growth is always easier when we are fearless. See Answer Shadow under Archetypes and Characters and Evil. 

See Feather under Birds.

See Defecate and Excrement.

Feet can symbolize the ability to stand on your 'own two feet' or the ability to walk away from difficulty. Strange feet can suggest the path not traveled suggesting an unusual approach or way of carrying yourself forward. Bare feet suggest taking a path that allows for the natural expression of who you are. See Anatomy and Body Parts.

See Anatomy and Body Parts.

Like the symbol of being enclosed, a fence can have associations with feeling trapped. In the case of the fence, it doesn’t really keep things out and can be removed or bypassed quite easily. Feeling trapped goes hand in hand with idea of being a victim, when in actuality you are the perpetrator of a perpetual cycle. That you are dreaming of a fence, suggests that you realize that ‘established boundaries’ can be torn down. The fence can portray the idea of ‘no trespassing’ in a new relationship where boundaries are being explored.

Unusual fenders can be a clear symbol of an elaborate defense mechanism that is blocking or protecting your motivation. It is not uncommon to dream of an accident that causes a dent in the fender of an automobile. Since the car represents your power to move toward your goals, this is a common dream scenario. Look at the rest of the dream to understand your motivation and issues that may be keeping you from feeling empowered. See Vehicles and Places of Transportation.

This symbol combines the idea of taking a cab with being on a ship. Since the ship portrays traveling across the waters of your emotions, ‘hitching a ride’ can represent a type of ‘shallow’ interaction in social situations. You are not in control, but are a passenger, suggesting going with the flow of events. What takes place on the ferry will offer additional insight into this emotional crossing. See Cab and Ship under Vehicles and Places of Transportation.

This can be a ball field, symbolizing competitiveness or a natural setting, of random or ‘un-manicured growth,’ suggesting that aspect of you that remains ‘uncivilized.’ To dream of wandering into an empty field suggests a type of openness in meeting the future, where ideas come out of ‘left field’ as inspiration. Regardless of what you are doing in the field, it is a symbol of expanding awareness. If it is a ball field, the message may revolve around how you behave when you interact with others.

The idea of fighting with someone or something is slightly different from the fearful dream in which you are running away. In this case you are taking stand to defend some aspect of yourself against another part of you. As a dream of integration, it will reveal whether something is emerging or being discarded. See Defend and Attack and Being Chased.

Watching something happening on film. television or as an audience member show how you are exploring something objectively that you have not yet integrated into consciousness. The character, drama or even the news has taken a format where you are 'entertaining the idea' but it has not yet been accepted. The message is being played, although you could just as easily walk out of the room and it would continue playing. This portrays a type of disconnect from the issue at hand and exploring the other symbolism in the dream will shed light on what it is. Operas and concerts show how you are exploring harmony between various sides of you so that all can function in 'concert.'

Just as fear and anxiety are at the root of many dreams because they are usually emotions we are processing in dreams, looking for things and discovery is also an important aspect. When you dream of finding or searching for something, it is because whatever aspect that symbol represents in daily life is not given much consideration. To ‘find’ it in a dream suggests that you must ‘find’ or discover it in daily life. For example, finding a watch can focus you on time and the stages of life. Finding clothes can be related to discovering your authentic identity. Finding money can be symbolic of discovering self-worth. Finding an ancient object can represent a side of you that has been buried and needs to be resurrected.

The finger can be a symbol that is pointing you toward something you are failing to see. A finger on the right hand shows direction, while on the left hand, can symbolize commitment. See Grasp and Hand under Anatomy and Body Parts.

Since fingernails grow and must be groomed, because they are associated with the hand, dreaming of fingernails can symbolize new ways of providing for yourself or taking what you need. Extremely long fingernails can symbolize not letting go, while broken fingernails show how change must take place even while you hold to the past. If your fingernails fall out, there is a sense of learning to let go of what you thought you needed. Fingernails can also be associated with wisdom, although the are still associated with the hand. See Anatomy and Body Parts.

Associated with anger and emotion, fire is a symbol of transformation and passion. When fire becomes the subject of a dream, there is a sense of recognizing the destructive power of anger or feelings that cannot be controlled. Anger is a variation of pain. When you are denying anger it is because you are hurting in a way that you are unable to understand or process. Dreaming of fire and the other symbolism surrounding it can be a catharsis or healing vehicle for transcending an old way of repressing feelings that are holding you back. Whatever symbol is on fire may need to be released or your relationship to it needs to be redefined. Fire is also associated with sexual feelings that are not finding an outlet. Passion can also be symbolized by fire and it is important that you recognize how passion is currently at work for you. In this case, the fire can be a call to activate passion in work that has become routine. Seeing a building burn can represent the transformation of your belief system or attitudes. See Ashes.

Representing the character ‘who puts out fires’ the firefighter can portray 'dousing' feelings.  Meeting police in a dream can be a symbol of restriction and the firefighter can symbolize dousing passion and anger. At work, you may be the ‘firefighter’ rushing in to solve everyone’s problems as a way of validating your worth. Perhaps there is insecurity surrounding your ability to delegate and as a problem solver, you find a road of many problems. Just as a person with a hammer sees only nails, a person with a fire extinguishing device will find many fires. As a character representing you, the firefighter may be ‘putting out your fire’ in terms of passion, sexuality and feelings. This character can also portray the defense mechanism at play in controlling anger or feelings. In this case, acknowledging anger may be required. See Fire.

The creatures that live beneath the sea bring together the theme of instinctual behavior and the idea of repressing emotion (water) as something that stirs ‘below the surface.’ Any living thing associated with the sea will generally portray movement of the unconscious as something that is living but unseen. Since ancient times, the fish has been associated with the idea of ‘trapping fate’ or a lucky break. You may dream of a fish when everything seems to be going your way. The different types of fish or creature and its Color, can shed light on how you are currently connecting with information from the unconscious. ‘A fish out of water’ is a symbol of the uncertainty you may feel in integrating your authentic nature with what is expected of you. Seeing fish in the air and out of water also symbolizes the free movement and release of what had previously been kept under the surface, as in an epiphany. A dead fish often has an odor and may be a symbol that ‘something doesn’t smell right’ or the idea that what you are hoping for has passed you by. Finally, the fish can be symbolic of success and achievement. See Sealife.

This is a classic symbol of trying to ‘hook’ or capture the emerging sides of you that are stirring below the surface of awareness. See Water, Fish and Sealife.

Five is often associated with fertility and creativity. Like the five digits of the hand and feet, it can symbolize our path or how we take what we need to be fulfilled in life. See Numbers.

Dreaming of a flame can signify taking a closer look at what you are passionate about. Trying to light something in the rain can suggest the sense of something or someone ‘raining on your parade.’ See Candle and Fire.

Many things in life float. A symbol floating in Water can symbolize an idea that has emerged from the unconscious. A dandelion seed floats in the wind, and has combined an intricate design with an ability to use the wind in its pursuit of regeneration. Floating can suggest finding a new way of seeing the ordinary. When you see a symbol suspended in the air that does not usually float, the message suggests seeing beyond the restrictions you have put on life. As you let your defenses down and move toward intimacy with another, you have the sense of ‘floating on air.’ Floating or seeing another symbol float is often a good indication that you are letting go of self-restrictive tendencies. Explore the symbol that is floating for more clues about the need to open yourself to its possibilities. See Flying.

Water dreams are very common because water represents your emotions, and how you feel about the changes that you face, as you move through life. To dream of turbulent water suggests a sense of emotional crisis associated with moving forward. Water flooding the feet can be symbolic of changes to the path that incorporate feelings and sensitivity. Water flooding into a house can represent integrating feelings with thoughts and ideas. Water flooding over ground can symbolize changes to your foundation that need to give way to feelings. Flooding can be a positive dream about being on the threshold of emotional growth and the release of feelings. In all of our ancient stories, water is the mysterious reservoir where the hero is to retrieve a treasure. Similarly, raging water often initiates you into a process of self-discovery. Floods can undermine the foundation of your beliefs until you are forced to let go. What you thought was solid and what you thought you needed, is washed away in the pursuit of basic survival or real fulfillment. Water can also represent health and wellness since it is a symbol of the elixir of life. See Dam and Natural Disasters under Landscape and Scenery.

See Houses and Buildings.

The beauty and delicacy of a flower can reflect the budding, blossoming or fragility of your ‘beautiful and sensitive’ nature. It can sometimes reflect the sexual organs or the pleasure you give or receive.

Dreams of flying occur during exhilarating or empowering points in your life. You may be dreaming and suddenly ‘wake up inside of the dream’ to realize that anything is possible and that you can fly. This is an aspect of the psyche exploring potential against self-imposed limitations. Flying can symbolize aspirations and the ability to achieve your goals. Sometimes you may ‘wake up inside the dream’ and do something of a routine to start the day. When you really wake up to discover that it was only a dream, it can portray the need for a ‘wake up’ call in some situation. See Airport and Airplanes.

Like the dream of Aliens, there is something unfolding that is so ‘foreign’ to you, that you find it hard to identify with. The flying saucer combines this idea with issues of empowerment or moving forward as revealed by Vehicles and Places of Transportation.

The inability to see your way forward in some situation can be portrayed by fog. As the emerging or transforming and therefore, temporary state of affairs, it can also signify being ‘cold and wet’ or reserved in your feelings.

When you have a clear sense of following the crowd or being led, it can represent how some patterned or conditioned aspect of yourself is currently dominant. If you are dreaming about it, chances are there is a need to follow a path that is not so habitual or along the lines of conformity. Sometimes you will follow a Wise Guide in a dream to explore untapped potential. This can be an initiation type dream of discovering the clues that will help you actualize your destiny. Explore the landscapes and symbols associated with following to gain additional insight into the type of potential that is being explored.

In daily life, food is the essence of nourishment, and has similar associations in dreams, although it captures the idea of fulfillment. We dream of food when we are seeking more reward from what we do, or are seeking deeper meaning in our relationships. If you are hungry in a dream, you are exploring what you need. Food and its connections to others or events suggests your hunger for success in this area. If eating is disrupting something you are attempting to do, then you are not finding fulfillment and need to ‘digest’ something to achieve satisfaction.

The different places where you eat can offer clues as to the area of life that is currently under exploration. A kitchen is associated with your upbringing, while restaurants portray social exchanges or public recognition. Food related to work imagery suggests the way you are seeking more reward and fulfillment in your work. Food associated with cars will symbolize your motivation or what you may be doing that is undermining fulfillment for you.

Bread and water represent basic needs, where bread can symbolize the body, and water -the emotions. Bread also has associations with money and when it is toasted, it can represent how you are being 'seasoned' by experience, or the sense that you are 'ready.' Toast can also symbolize a fear of failure or the sense that it is time to go. The nourishment that is taken in by ‘drinking’ is associated with a ‘thirst’ for something describing necessity, luxury and pleasure, like ‘lapping it up’ and ‘drinking it in.’ Milk actually takes the idea of nourishment a little deeper because of its associations with mother and childhood.

Cake or desserts represent enjoyment or becoming more open in the sense of ‘having your cake and eating it too.’ Dreaming of desserts symbolizes a desire to truly enjoy life as in 'icing on the cake' or reward from the sense of receiving one's 'just desserts.' Since desserts are not considered fundamental nourishment and tend to gratify our desires, they have associations with seeking reward, perhaps when considering changing careers or exploring love, and how it can nourish you. Vegetables will have associations with their shapes and colors, often portraying sexual needs and the idea of doing what is good for us. Vegetables that grow beneath the earth, such as carrots, potatoes, onions and radishes often suggest how you are gestating or not actively acknowledging what is growing within. Corn has a special significance because of its association with teeth and ears, signifying increased sensitivity and perception. The carrot is a symbol of ambition, as in going after the ‘carrot.’ Onions have many layers and can portray the intricate layers that need to be peeled way to discover sustenance. At the same time, onions make you cry and can symbolize the need to allow something painful to surface so that you can move to greener pastures. Plants that require that you care for them while growing, suggest that you must prune or nurture your sense of nourishment and fulfillment over time.

Fruit on a Tree presents a type of food, where sustenance is there for you, to be taken from the ‘Tree of Life.’ Apples can represent consequences, or achievement and effort, as something that grows and falls to the earth. Apples and oranges can suggest health associated with their power to heal, although an orange is sometimes odd, since nothing rhymes with orange. Orange is also associated with the color that makes something stand out or requires attention. The lemon can be associated with a sour attitude or missing out on something and feeling jealous. Dreaming of fruit suggests that something exists within your reach and you need only ‘pluck it’  to be more fulfilled. Meat has an association with ‘hunting’ or sexual nourishment, while milk suggests attainment and satisfaction in the sense of ‘the land of milk and honey’ or ‘mother’s milk’ flowing from the breast.

Going to a foreign city means that you are exploring social needs that are new or unfamiliar. Life is a constant learning process, and as you make changes, all aspects of who you are changing too. Reflect on the nature of a particular city for clues about your current direction. Meeting foreign people, like aborigines, can suggest your more organic and natural elements coming forward. Cosmopolitan places and people will reflect the side of you that you associate with this group of people.

The tree often signifies the roots of who you are and the genetic heritage that grows within you. Just as we 'see the forest or see the trees' the forest is a more broad perspective of the dynamics we have inherited and how they are serving us on our journey. It is not uncommon to be lost, wandering or searching for something in a forest or cave as you move through various levels of consciousness. Sometimes you will meet the enchanting characters and animals that become archetypes during a period of transformation.

Like the Cave, the forest is a powerful symbol of searching for your roots. It also represents the subconscious or area that is most near consciousness, where ideas are being explored and assimilated.

Since you are dreaming that you are forgetting something, you might explore its opposite meaning. Perhaps you are overly focused on something that some aspect of your higher mind finds trivial. On the other hand, you may be dreaming of what you are forgetting as a way of bringing it into a higher level of focus. Like dreams where you seem to be Awake, while actually asleep, dreams of forgetting show your Anxiety about having so much on your plate that you fail to ‘remember’ the important things. The symbolism surrounding what you are forgetting will provide additional insight into what it is.

See Eating Utensils.

As a majestic and endless flow of water, the fountain can represent your regenerative and free flowing feelings and your connection to your inner ‘wellspring.’ See Water.

A dream that focuses on the number four is exploring a more earthy perspective. Four can represent the elements in terms of balance and the idea of getting grounded before moving forward. See Numbers.

The fox is associated with craftiness or sneaky behavior. Their refined instincts can symbolize intuition that is not being acted upon. See Animals.

All people in a dream represent various parts of your identity as you grow. Friends from childhood can portray characteristics that were adopted during those formative years, while current friends will portray that side of you that you associate with them. What is the one word you would use to describe this friend? Reflect on this characteristic within yourself.

See Reptiles.

See Placement and Perspective.

See Border.

Seeing something frozen, or encased in ice and lifeless, can signify your awareness that some aspect of you is inanimate, possibly because of fear: ‘frozen with fear.’ Explore the symbol that is associated with being frozen for additional insight.

See Food.

See Burial.
 

As a ‘protective covering that provides warmth,’ fur can be a symbol of seeking protection or security. It can also appear as a reference to sexual urges that are being hidden.

Often associated with a specific room, furniture represents ideas in relation to the area of the psyche described in Houses and Buildings. You may explore your idea of sexuality in a bedroom, although if the dream focuses particularly on the bed, it suggests that you are ‘trying out’ a new way of understanding your sexual needs. Sometimes you will find yourself doing unusual things on the bed as your psyche exercises the opportunity to break free from restraint to to bring unacknowledged feelings to the surface. Items associated with a kitchen can portray how you are moving to find fulfillment or become more nourished by experience. Items associated with the living room show ideas related to social exchange or family dynamics.

A chair captures how you rest on ideas and can symbolize ideas from the past in which you take comfort. It’s condition, colors and patterns can offer clues to the ideas that are being explored. The couch and sofa reveal a more relaxed attitude as you approach the idea of comfort and satisfaction. The table is a place where things are ‘out in the open’ or displayed for public view, as in 'out on the table.' Items on a table can suggest the current way you are expressing yourself. A lamp provides additional light or insight, and can symbolize something from the unconscious that is attempting ‘to come to light.’ The carpet or rug is often a symbol of sweeping issues ‘under the rug’ as you move forward. Patterns in a rug can portray how you are exploring the part you play in creating your circumstances. See Houses and Buildings for additional insight on specific furniture.