I Had This Dream

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 B C D E F G H I K L M N O P R S T V W

A

Messenger from the higher Self; annunciation.

The inner feminine in a man's psyche; the soul-image.

Instinctual self; each species carries its own intelligence.

The inner masculine in a woman's psyche; the contrasexual guide.

Knowledge, temptation; in Celtic lore, the fruit of the otherworld.

What remains after transformation; grief, but also fertility.

B

A new self, a creative beginning, vulnerability.

Mother strength, solitude, protection; sacred in many Indigenous cosmologies.

Community, sweetness, the shared work of meaning.

Something in the self refusing to be faced.

Time-anxiety; a fear of missing one's own life.

Disorientation, a path not yet found, the self in transition.

Being Unprepared

The exam dream; a readiness the self doubts.

Self-powered motion; balance and effort.

Messenger, soul, freedom; specific species refines meaning.

New phase beginning; the Self arriving in a new form.

Life, kinship, sacrifice; what must be given for the next phase.

Crossing the waters of the unconscious.

Essence, ancestry, what remains when the surface is gone.

Knowledge, the life-story, the unread part of yourself.

Life, spirit, the rhythm of the self.

A crossing between states of being; decision-making.

Soul, transformation, the emergence after long hiding.

C

Attention, the small flame of consciousness.

The self in motion through life; who is driving?

The sovereign Self in its fortified form.

Feminine intuition, independence, the hidden.

The unconscious womb, initiation, hidden treasure.

The vessel, the feminine receptive; what you are filled by.

Betrayal, divided loyalty, or an unlived life asserting itself.

Origin, formative material, the self's first architecture.

The sacred, communal, the place of gathered meaning.

Wholeness, the Self; Jung's mandala.

The edge of known ground; decision imminent.

Time awareness; a sense of running out, or running toward.

Mood, the mutable, what the sky is currently thinking.

Value, exchange, what is being paid for what.

The meeting of opposites; sacrifice and sovereignty.

A decision that cannot be postponed.

Sovereignty, recognition, the crown chakra made visible.

D

Continuing bond, unfinished grief, or a genuine visitant.

Death (of Self)

Ending of a phase; the self making room for the self.

Gentleness, vigilance, the sacred in the ordinary.

Spiritual test, clarity through emptiness.

A grace so small you might miss it.

Newness itself; the Self in its earliest form.

Loyalty, the guide; in Hindu tradition, companion of Yama.

Threshold, opportunity, choice; what is on the other side?

The double; a part of self confronting the self.

Peace, the Holy Spirit, reconciliation.

Overwhelm; the unconscious rising faster than consciousness can hold.

E

Sovereign vision, the far view, the solar bird.

Grounding, mother, the body itself.

The ground itself shaking; foundational change.

A luminary temporarily obscured; a power in shadow.

Potential, the not-yet; the cosmic egg of creation myths.

Memory, wisdom, the weight of truth.

Vertical movement through levels of consciousness.

Witness, awareness; being seen, or refusing to see.

F

Loss of support, surrender, the ego releasing control.

Lightness, ascent; in many Indigenous traditions, a blessing or honor.

Grounding, direction, the stance one takes.

Passion, destruction, purification.

Contents of the unconscious surfacing; fertility; Christ.

Emotion overflowing all containment.

Freedom, transcendence, the soul in flight.

Not-knowing, transition, the softening of what is sure.

The unconscious terrain; danger and initiation.

Cleverness, shapeshifting; in Japanese lore the kitsune, a spirit.

G

Cultivated self, paradise, what you are growing.

Unfinished past, an ancestor or part of self seeking recognition.

The archetype of life, protection, devouring; earth itself.

A dream-figure who leads you toward understanding.

H

Vitality, identity, strength; loss suggests a shift in self-image.

Agency, making, the capacity to give and receive.

Focused sight, the messenger who hunts.

Feeling, courage, the center of the Self.

Instinctual power, sexuality, forward motion.

A place of healing; or of fear about the body.

Joy in suspension; the impossible made daily.

I

Feeling frozen; something preserved or arrested.

Isolation or refuge; a part of self set apart from the mainland.

K

Access, secret knowledge, the unlocking of the self.

Union of opposites; tenderness between inner figures.

L

The winding path; a journey that seems lost but arrives.

Ascent or descent; Jacob's ladder between worlds.

A held reflection; contained depth.

Carried light; the attention you bring into the dark.

A message from part of self, or from another psyche.

Sudden revelation; the force that splits old structures open.

Purity, annunciation, the tender form of the feminine.

Sovereign self, courage; the solar principle.

Primordial awareness; dreaming, regeneration.

Enlightenment rising from muddy depths.

M

The Self's geometry; wholeness in pattern.

Persona, the face shown to the world.

Open ground; ease, pasture, the soul's rest.

Self-confrontation; truth or distortion.

The feminine, cycles, the unconscious made luminous.

Drawn to light in the dark; longing.

Aspiration, the axis mundi, the meeting of earth and sky.

Small worries, hidden things, the overlooked.

N

Exposure, vulnerability, or freedom from pretense.

Entanglement or gathering; what holds you, what you hold.

O

Endurance, the sacred tree, long memory.

The collective unconscious in its vastness.

Wisdom, night-knowing; in some traditions, a death-omen.

P

The individuation journey; destiny and choice.

The many-eyed display; integrated Self, immortality.

Rapid ascent, transition, fear or freedom.

Something gestating; a creative or new-life process.

R

Fertility, trickster, the quick intelligence of prey.

Emotional release; grief, nourishment, a cleansing.

Covenant, bridge, the spectrum of the Self made visible.

Commitment, wholeness, the circle worn on the body.

The flow of life; crossing or following.

Announcement, wakefulness, the threshold of dawn.

Love, the unfolding self; the mystical rose of medieval vision.

S

Lessons, testing, the formation of identity.

Potential, patience, what is waiting in the dark.

Jung's unacknowledged self; disowned qualities seeking integration.

Raw predatory energy; the danger in deep water.

Innocence, belonging, the gentleness of flock.

The boundary of self; contact, exposure, protection.

The aftermath; signal, confusion, prayer.

Transformation, healing, kundalini; shed skin, new self.

Stillness, grief held quietly, the transforming blanket.

The humble soul; what is attended to in its smallness.

Weaver of connections; the creative feminine; fate.

Evolution, return with deepening; the shape of growth.

The source; water rising from the earth.

Ascent/descent of consciousness; effort of change.

Destiny, guidance, the distant radiance of the Self.

Emotion at full force; the weather of the inner life.

A part of self not yet recognized; often the shadow.

The conscious self, vitality, the divine masculine.

Grace, transformation, the soul in its luminous form.

Discrimination, the cutting edge of truth.

T

Competence, voice, bite; loss signals powerlessness or transition.

The place between; liminality itself.

Cycles of feeling, the lunar rhythm of life.

Formidable power, solitary sovereignty, the untamed feminine.

Ambition, isolation, the high view and the collapse.

The collective path; a schedule you may or may not be on.

The Self rooted and branching; axis between worlds.

Trinity, aspiration, the stable form.

Passage, initiation, a narrowing before emergence.

Patience, the cosmos on a back; the slow wisdom.

V

Low ground, gathered feeling, a pause between heights.

Partial revelation; mystery, the threshold of knowing.

Growth, entanglement, the slow winding self.

Long-held pressure released; the earth's own anger.

W

The unconscious itself — emotions, intuition, the maternal.

A release of energy; emotion made kinetic.

Deep source, ancestral memory, the unconscious made drinkable.

The vast unconscious, ancient song, the deep psyche.

Cycles, fate, the turning of time.

Grief, flexibility, the tree beside water.

Spirit moving; an invisible force, an omen of change.

Perspective, possibility; what you see but have not entered.

The archetype of meaning; the inner guide.

Feminine power in its untamed form; wisdom or threat.

Wild intelligence, kinship, the untamed feminine or masculine.