Dream dictionary
An A–Z of dream symbols
163 entries. Each one draws on depth psychology and the world's dream-traditions. Click through to the full reading.
A
Angel
Messenger from the higher Self; annunciation.
Anima
Jung's contrasexual archetype: the inner feminine in the male psyche.
Animals
Instinctual self; each species carries its own intelligence.
Animus
Jung's contrasexual archetype: the inner masculine in the female psyche.
Apple
Knowledge, temptation; in Celtic lore, the fruit of the otherworld.
Ashes
What remains after transformation; grief, but also fertility.
B
Baby
The new self, the divine child, beginning, vulnerability.
Bear
Mother strength, solitude, protection; sacred in many Indigenous cosmologies.
Bee
Community, sweetness, the shared work of meaning.
Being Chased
Something in the self refusing to be faced.
Being Late
Time-anxiety; a fear of missing one's own life.
Being Lost
Disorientation, a path not yet found, the self in transition.
Being Unprepared
The exam dream; a readiness the self doubts.
Bicycle
Self-powered motion; balance and effort.
Bird
Messenger, soul, freedom; specific species refines meaning.
Birth
New phase beginning; the Self arriving in a new form.
Blood
Life, kinship, sacrifice; what must be given for the next phase.
Boat
Crossing the waters of the unconscious.
Bones
Essence, ancestry, what remains when the surface is gone.
Book
Knowledge, the life-story, the unread part of yourself.
Breath
Life, spirit, the rhythm of the self.
Bridge
The crossing — between two states, two selves, two places, two times.
Butterfly
Soul, transformation, the emergence after long hiding.
C
Candle
Attention, the small flame of consciousness.
Car
The self in motion through life; who is driving?
Castle
The sovereign Self in its fortified form.
Cat
Feminine intuition, independence, the hidden.
Cave
The unconscious womb, initiation, hidden treasure.
Chalice
The vessel, the feminine receptive; what you are filled by.
Cheating
Betrayal, divided loyalty, or an unlived life asserting itself.
Childhood Home
Origin, formative material, the self's first architecture.
Church
The sacred, communal, the place of gathered meaning.
Circle
Wholeness, the Self; Jung's mandala.
Cliff
The edge of known ground; decision imminent.
Clock
Time awareness; a sense of running out, or running toward.
Clouds
Mood, the mutable, what the sky is currently thinking.
Coin
Value, exchange, what is being paid for what.
Cross
The meeting of opposites; sacrifice and sovereignty.
Crossroads
A decision that cannot be postponed.
Crown
Sovereignty, recognition, the crown chakra made visible.
D
Dead Loved One
Continuing bond, unfinished grief, or a genuine visitant.
Death of Self
Ego-dissolution as image — the ending of an old self, not of the body.
Deer
Gentleness, vigilance, the sacred in the ordinary.
Desert
Spiritual test, clarity through emptiness.
Dew
A grace so small you might miss it.
Divine Child
Newness itself; the Self in its earliest form.
Dog
Loyalty, instinct, the threshold guardian — Anubis, Cerberus, the family dog.
Door
Threshold, choice, the moment of crossing — opening, closing, locked, unfound.
Doppelgänger
The double; a part of self confronting the self.
Dove
Peace, the Holy Spirit, reconciliation.
Drowning
Overwhelm; the unconscious rising faster than consciousness can hold.
E
Eagle
Sovereign vision, the far view, the solar bird.
Earth
Grounding, mother, the body itself.
Earthquake
The ground itself shaking; foundational change.
Eclipse
A luminary temporarily obscured; a power in shadow.
Egg
Potential, the not-yet; the cosmic egg of creation myths.
Elephant
Memory, wisdom, the weight of truth.
Elevator
Vertical movement through levels of consciousness.
Eye
Witness, awareness; being seen, or refusing to see.
F
Falling
Loss of footing — the dreamer descending uncontrollably.
Feather
Lightness, ascent; in many Indigenous traditions, a blessing or honor.
Feet
Grounding, direction, the stance one takes.
Fire
Transformation as agent — destruction, illumination, eros, purification.
Fish
Contents of the unconscious surfacing; fertility; Christ.
Flood
Emotion overflowing all containment.
Flying
Transcendence, lucidity, growth — the rising self.
Fog
Not-knowing, transition, the softening of what is sure.
Forest
The unconscious terrain; danger and initiation.
Fox
Cleverness, shapeshifting; in Japanese lore the kitsune, a spirit.
G
H
Hair
Vitality, identity, strength; loss suggests a shift in self-image.
Hands
Agency, making, the capacity to give and receive.
Hawk
Focused sight, the messenger who hunts.
Heart
Feeling, courage, the center of the Self.
Horse
Instinctual power, sexuality, forward motion.
Hospital
A place of healing; or of fear about the body.
Hummingbird
Joy in suspension; the impossible made daily.
I
K
L
Labyrinth
The winding path; a journey that seems lost but arrives.
Ladder
Ascent or descent; Jacob's ladder between worlds.
Lake
A held reflection; contained depth.
Lantern
Carried light; the attention you bring into the dark.
Letter
A message from part of self, or from another psyche.
Lightning
Sudden revelation; the force that splits old structures open.
Lily
Purity, annunciation, the tender form of the feminine.
Lion
Sovereign self, courage; the solar principle.
Lizard
Primordial awareness; dreaming, regeneration.
Lotus
Enlightenment rising from muddy depths.
M
Mandala
The Self's geometry; wholeness in pattern.
Mask
Persona, the face shown to the world.
Meadow
Open ground; ease, pasture, the soul's rest.
Mirror
The reflective face — self-recognition, distortion, the threshold of the other side.
Moon
The reflective, cyclical, feminine principle — illumination at night.
Moth
Drawn to light in the dark; longing.
Mountain
Aspiration, encounter, the sacred summit — the high and difficult.
Mouse
Small worries, hidden things, the overlooked.
N
O
P
R
Rabbit
Fertility, trickster, the quick intelligence of prey.
Rain
Emotional release; grief, nourishment, a cleansing.
Rainbow
Covenant, bridge, the spectrum of the Self made visible.
Ring
Commitment, wholeness, the circle worn on the body.
River
The flow of life; crossing or following.
Rooster
Announcement, wakefulness, the threshold of dawn.
Rose
Love, the unfolding self; the mystical rose of medieval vision.
S
School
Lessons, testing, the formation of identity.
Seed
Potential, patience, what is waiting in the dark.
Shadow
Jung's unacknowledged self; disowned qualities seeking integration.
Shark
Raw predatory energy; the danger in deep water.
Sheep
Innocence, belonging, the gentleness of flock.
Skin
The boundary of self; contact, exposure, protection.
Smoke
The aftermath; signal, confusion, prayer.
Snake
Transformation, healing, kundalini; shed skin, new self.
Snow
Stillness, grief held quietly, the transforming blanket.
Sparrow
The humble soul; what is attended to in its smallness.
Spider
The weaver — Spider Woman, Anansi, terrible mother, web of relations.
Spiral
Evolution, return with deepening; the shape of growth.
Spring
The source; water rising from the earth.
Stairs
Ascent/descent of consciousness; effort of change.
Stars
Destiny, guidance, the distant radiance of the Self.
Storm
Emotion at full force; the weather of the inner life.
Stranger
A part of self not yet recognized; often the shadow.
Sun
The light of consciousness — illumination, day, the masculine principle.
Swan
Grace, transformation, the soul in its luminous form.
Sword
Discrimination, the cutting edge of truth.
T
Teeth
Competence, voice, bite; loss signals powerlessness or transition.
Threshold
The place between; liminality itself.
Tide
Cycles of feeling, the lunar rhythm of life.
Tiger
Formidable power, solitary sovereignty, the untamed feminine.
Tower
Ambition cut off from the ground; solitude, vantage, catastrophe, reordering.
Train
The collective path; a schedule you may or may not be on.
Tree
The world-tree, axis mundi — vertical life, growth, individuation.
Triangle
Trinity, aspiration, the stable form.
Tunnel
Passage, initiation, a narrowing before emergence.
Turtle
Patience, the cosmos on a back; the slow wisdom.
V
W
Water
The unconscious in its flowing form — feeling, depth, dissolution, renewal.
Waterfall
A release of energy; emotion made kinetic.
Well
Deep source, ancestral memory, the unconscious made drinkable.
Whale
The vast unconscious, ancient song, the deep psyche.
Wheel
Cycles, fate, the turning of time.
Willow
Grief, flexibility, the tree beside water.
Wind
Spirit moving; an invisible force, an omen of change.
Window
Perspective, possibility; what you see but have not entered.
Wise Old Man
Jung's archetype of accumulated wisdom — the inner teacher, the senex.
Witch
Feminine power in its untamed form; wisdom or threat.
Wolf
Wild intelligence, kinship, the untamed feminine or masculine.