Dream Dictionary

Dreams related to hair symbolize attitudes and ideas that grow, must be groomed and fall out of fashion. Body hair can portray a need to be more natural in your expression. See Anatomy and Body Parts.

See Barber or Beautician.

Buildings and Houses represent our inner architecture as it relates to work or simply being and expression. The various rooms will represent different aspects and the hall is the transitional space that joins them. When we dream of being in a hallway, we are opening to opportunities, exploring potential and the idea of making a change. See Houses and Buildings and Corridor.

See Weapons and Utensils.

As an extension of the Arm, the hands represent the idea of taking and giving. Focus on a hand can symbolize the need to release something or that the power to change and know success is within your reach.  See Grasp and Anatomy and Body Parts.

See Purses, Wallets, Luggage, Jewels and Keys.

See Clothing and Makeup.

The head 'houses' your ideas. It is the seat of your personality and way of thinking. If the dream focuses on a head that is not yours, the message is that you have adopted ideas that are not yours. This type of dream can show the disconnect between what you are doing and saying and how your really feel. See Anatomy and Body Parts.

Dreaming of being healed signifies a necessary change that is required, but you may not be acknowledging. Symbols that are green, or associated with Digging or the Earth often portray how healing is taking place within you. Dysfunctional issues related to a house can represent certain physical parts of the body. Non working parts of a car too, can also portray the physical body.  Many times vehicle doors or lower and upper rooms of a house will depict aspects of the body, offering a message about your health and well-being.

The front door can suggest arms and the back doors can represent legs. Lighting can be electrical circuitry or neurological, while water problems can be vascular or reflect ‘plumbing.’ Water appearing as a threat is usually associated with emotional issues. The top floor of a building can represent the head, while the rooms below can suggest various parts of the lower body. Protecting a ‘treasure’ can signify repression at the root of illness, while searching for a key is often the clue to achieving wellness.

If you are experiencing ‘dis-ease’, where it is taking place in the body is as important as why. If the left leg is suffering, look for its representation in dreams of the back or lower left portion of a structure or vehicle. Sometimes before a physical manifestation will appear, you are warned of over indulgence or things that can impact wellness. This is most obvious in the border-line alcoholic who is always dreaming of searching for something with images related to alcohol. Many therapists recognize repression at the root of illness. Since dreams portray what you are repressing, they are a profound tool in achieving wellness and balance.

Dreaming of issues related to your ability to hear often point directly to the idea that you are not listening. This could emerge from a situation of verbal abuse that is being ignored. Sensory tools allow you to take in new experiences. Communicating your ideas is important, but not at the expense of discovering new ways of understanding the world you are growing into. When you are trying to communicate to others who are not listening, it portrays some part of you attempting to communicate with another side. What is being said and the other symbolism will shed light on what it is.

The idea of hiding something in a dream suggests the need to cherish or protect what may be given too freely. Finding something hidden is usually a reference to feelings or experiences that were long ago repressed, but are currently being explored. If you are hiding, see Attack and Being Chased.
 

See Placement and Perspective.

The Hippopotamus presents a sort of hybrid, in that it is an animal associated with diving beneath the water, where its large size is indicative of the enormous emotions that can be submerged. See Animals and Reptiles.

This is another dream of trying to ‘grasp’ the importance of something you are holding on to. It may be important and require protection or may need to be discarded. What you are holding and the situation surrounding it can offer insight into whether this is a dream suggesting you resurrect or abandon something. See Defend, Grasp and Hand under Anatomy and Body Parts.

The hole is an obvious symbol that ‘something is missing’ or ‘incomplete.’ As a hole in the ground, it can represent the idea that the foundation that you are standing upon may be unstable. At the same time, the hole is associated with the Cave or womb, so can appear as a way of combining the idea of incompleteness with motherly influences or nurturing.

Since dreams have an uncanny way of breaking through your defensive barriers, often a homonym or 'play on words' will be used. A homonym is a word that sounds like one thing when it is actually tricking you into exploring another. In this way, dreams have clever ways of ‘tripping you up.’

For example: if you dream of saying something aloud, you repeat it back, and you are suddenly saying what a part of you is not allowed to say, as in the case of discussing difficult ideas you’d rather not discuss. Someone may give you ten cents as a part of you explores the idea of sense or the increased ability to feel and acknowledge your self-worth. The idea of time and how you may be missing the importance of the present, can be symbolized by a watch and the idea of watching. Approaching the altar often coincides with times when you alter or change your behavior; Inside of a cell can be a way of understanding the ideas that you sell to others. When the original word doesn't seem to make sense, explore whether it may be a homonym or word play of this type. 

The dream can focus on a duel as a way of understanding dual, or the two conflicting ideas that have brought you into crisis. An urn can be a way of understanding what you earn as you explore self-worth. When a maid appears to make the bed, you are given the opportunity to understand what you have made of circumstances, in the sense of ‘making your bed and lying in it too.’ Hearing the word morning or a dream that is focused on the morning can also have an association with mourning or feelings of sadness that remain unprocessed.

You may dream of a mummy in the first stages of recognizing things that were adopted from mommy that may need to be relinquished. Dreaming of a witch can suggest how one thing leads to another or unacknowledged choices as in which. To knead bread is the same as the idea that you may need money or are overly focused on material security. The number six often appears as a cryptic way of getting the idea of sex out on the table. The number eight can be associated with eating issues or the need to digest something as in ate. Seeing a knot can suggest not, while untying a knot can be the idea of removing 'not' from your vocabulary when you are opening up. An oar can be or, offering the idea that the resolution is something you perhaps, are not considering. Tents can suggest nervousness or being tense, and focusing on a vein can signify being vain.

One of the most common dreams, yet often misunderstood, is the dream of performing sexual acts with the same gender. Since dreaming simply brings the idea of the ‘taboo’ or disowned side of yourself forward for exploration, mounting or being intimate with the same sex is a way of ‘incorporating’ the deeper aspects of either your feminine or masculine nature. At the same time, you may be exploring your hunger or lack of affection from either your mother or father, depending upon the scenario. See Affair and Anima/Animus under Archetypes and Universal Characters.

Associated with the ‘birds and bees,’ honey can symbolize the sticky, but sweet nature of sexuality. See also Cream.

The horse is a 'spirited' animal and can appear in dreams when you are exploring issues of spirituality. Also associated with racing, the horse can be a symbol of enthusiasm and a desire to win. As an image of 'horsing around' the horse can also be a clue that you need to take life more seriously. See Animals and Centaur.

See Fire.

Houses and Buildings are structures that represent aspects of your inner architecture. Commonly, you will dream of a house from childhood  with some new additions, representing the way that the self is constructed in childhood, although it continues to evolve as you explore potential and change over time.

Specific rooms are associated with aspects of the self and its decoration and architecture can portray your emerging ‘style.’ The attic signifies higher thought or spiritual ideas, but can also suggest the ideas you store and collect or how you must ‘climb upward’ or raise consciousness to sort through what you no longer need to store and protect.

The basement is the subconscious or area of the self that you keep ‘below the surface.’ Commonly, you will dream of basements when you are going through therapy and sorting through the past. New or undiscovered rooms will suggest aspects of the self you are unaware of, but are currently being explored for potential. The ‘living’ room is a social place to explore interactions with others and your mindset in meeting others, while the ‘bed’ and ‘bath’ rooms are representative of ‘coming clean’ or exploring your sexuality. These types of dreams bring these ideas to the forefront specifically because you are not open to them during the day. If your house is shifting on the foundation, sliding or crumbling, perhaps negative ideas need to crumble as a representation of how your foundation of beliefs must be renewed over time.

The ‘family’ room houses family dynamics at play in relationships and social situations, while the office portrays work and issues relating to how you are currently providing for yourself or your role and sense of achievement in life. The hearth or fireplace often symbolizes your sense of heritage and what you hold to be sacred. Since it is associated with fire, the idea of family dynamics and emotional well being are being portrayed.

Hallways are places of transition, where you meet others in ‘neutral space’ and often appear when you are exploring choices or going through a transition. The ‘front’ yard or garden is what you are making of yourself for ‘public view.’ The ‘back’ yard is suggestive of more organic aspects, which are not made obvious to others. Focusing on foliage or growth in a garden can symbolize how you are nourishing developing traits. You often discover or search for something or explore the correctness of your behavior ‘in the bushes’ or ‘in the shadows.’

Buildings sometimes appear as rickety structures, representing how you grow to meet a future that has not yet been erected or ‘solidified.’ Buildings can be places in which you are lost or searching for something, as in the case of searching for a new identity when changing jobs. By traveling to a specific floor or level of consciousness, you can also find yourself outside of your work building or on the roof as you take an objective view of leaving a job because the ceiling isn't high enough. The floor of a structure can be indicative of levels of awareness or may be associated with the meaning of the number involved: See Numbers. You stand on the ground floor of awareness and travel upward to achieve your ideals, or downward to find those things that you keep hidden below. Elevators in a building can also symbolize aspirations or how your upward journey is being orchestrated beyond your control.

The roof of a structure shows limitations. As a setting of activity, something taking place on a roof can portray your desire to break through barriers in achieving your ambitions. When the ‘sky is the limit’ the ceiling can block your ambitions, suggesting how self-defeating ideas may be blocking your ability to discover success.

Opening a door suggests objectivity or discovery associated with the symbolism of where the door may lead. The door can lead to certain rooms as a way of opening to the area associated with that room. Doors can mean many things: boundaries and unblocking potential, while knocking is often a sexual symbol. The ‘front’ door leads you ‘out’ into the world, suggesting the barrier between the self and the social realm. The ‘back’ and ‘side’ doors allow for an ‘escape’ or for the ‘intrusion’ of characters who appear as aspects of your unacknowledged potential. See Intruder under Archetypes and Universal Characters.

A church is obviously spiritual, but can often suggest how religious ideas are holding you back in some way. Sometimes you may find yourself looking for a ‘key’ in a church as a way of suggesting how a self-criticism and conscience are trapping your organic nature through illness or dis-ease. See Key under Purses, Wallets, Luggage, Jewels and Keys. 

A school suggests learning experiences or being measured against others in your abilities. The library can represent your communication that is ‘out there’ for public view. Searching through books can symbolize past ideas and how they affect the present. Being given a book can symbolize direction from higher sides of you. A gymnasium is a place of competition and a factory is a place of ‘mass production’ or the attitudes that you have ‘assembled’ to fit in. It can also suggest what you are currently ‘making’ out of your experiences. A warehouse shows your reserves or what you are falling back on or exploring during crisis.

A hospital is a place of personal crisis; or where you might find ‘critical’ care, as in understanding and re-writing your critical tapes. Hospitals can also represent ‘new life’ or the place where you are ‘born’ into a new way of interacting. When doctors and nurses offer you advice, you should give the message careful consideration as an aspect that may enhance your ‘well-being.’

A shopping center reflects ‘shopping’ for new ways of being and exploring the things you ‘need’ against your values. It is a place of exchange, where you ‘buy’ something by giving back another thing of equal value. Markets and shopping areas also show how you are exploring commerce and work when you are making a change.

Dreaming of being hungry can symbolize a lack of fulfillment. See Food.