Kissing
Union of opposites; tenderness between inner figures.
A kiss in a dream is a union between parts of the self. Alchemical imagery treats the mystical kiss (the coniunctio) as the integration of opposites — king and queen, sun and moon, ego and unconscious. Sufi poetry uses the kiss as the closest image of the soul’s meeting with the Beloved. Jungian dream analysis reads kiss-dreams as integrations underway: some are the psyche announcing a tenderness between inner figures that have long been at odds. Notice who the kiss is with — it is usually an aspect of yourself, regardless of any resemblance to a waking person. A forbidden kiss often marks a quality the dreamer has considered off-limits; a reluctant kiss, an integration the ego is resisting.
What to ask in your journal
If kissing appears in your dream, sit with these prompts before reaching for an interpretation.
- What was the kissing doing in your dream?
- How did you feel in its presence — drawn, repelled, indifferent, awed?
- Was the kissing familiar from waking life, or unfamiliar?
- What in your waking life right now resembles the quality the kissing carries?
- If the kissing could speak, what would it say to you?
Frequently asked
What does it mean to dream of a kissing?
Across the depth-psychological tradition, dream-kissings carry the meaning suggested by the dreamer's emotional response and the symbol's behavior in the dream. Union of opposites; tenderness between inner figures.
Is the kissing a positive or negative symbol in dreams?
Most dream-symbols are not intrinsically positive or negative; they take their valence from the dreamer's relationship to them in the dream. The kissing is no exception — its specific weight depends on context, emotional tone, and the dreamer's associations.
How do Jungian and other traditions read the kissing?
Jungian dream-interpretation places the kissing within the broader Jungian, Sufi, Folk reading of the dream-life. See the page body and bibliography for the specific primary sources cited.
What if the kissing keeps recurring in my dreams?
Recurrent dream-symbols generally point to material the conscious self has not yet fully integrated. The recurrence usually softens once the underlying material has been allowed expression — sometimes through journaling, sometimes through therapy, sometimes simply through more careful attention to the symbol on its own terms.
Cited works
Each interpretation on this page traces back to one of these primary sources. Quotation with attribution welcome — see our methodology for how we cite.
- Carl Gustav Jung (1959) *The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious (Collected Works, Vol. 9, Part 1)*. Princeton University Press. Trans. R. F. C. Hull.
- Carl Gustav Jung (1956) *Symbols of Transformation (Collected Works, Vol. 5)*. Princeton University Press. Trans. R. F. C. Hull.
- Artemidorus of Daldis (c. 2nd century CE) *Oneirocritica (The Interpretation of Dreams)*. Oxford University Press. Trans. Daniel E. Harris-McCoy (2012).