The Gothic Dictionary of Dreams

The Gothic Dictionary of Dreams

Robert Ing, DSc, DLitt, FAPSc

www.lhpcounsellor.com Toronto - Ottawa

THE GOTHIC DICTIONARY OF DREAMS

Copyright 2011 by Robert Ing, www.lhpcounsellor.com

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any

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“Cherish your dreams, for they are eternally yours

and will never leave you through adversity.” - Robert Ing

Of Perception, Power and Symbols Your life, your world and your past, present and future are rooted in your perception. Your perception; that is how you see and subsequently interpret what is around you, defines your very existence. Everything we perceive is symbolic of the emotions they stir within us. These symbols may take the form of a simple image or shape, or may be a complete vision consisting of many images with the components of shape, colour, quantity and arrangement. These symbols may be physically real or may only exist intellectually through words or within our minds eye. Our intellectual perception of these symbols is based on our culture and spiritual belief system. Our emotional perception of these symbols is based upon our own personal life experiences. Intellectual and emotional perceptions of these symbols manifest in how we personally view and conduct ourselves in our world. Ultimately and subconsciously, it is the emotional value that we assign and attach to these symbols that lead us to be master or slave, victor or victim, and success or failure in our life. Symbols and the emotions - feelings associated with them on both a conscious and subconscious level are the bedrock of existence for all sentient beings. It is our own internal perception and the external symbols that stimulate us on the journey to who we are and what we may achieve. All the emotions we will ever experience are within us. Love, hate, fear, jealously, passion, compassion, insecurity, curiosity, nostalgia, surprise and much more are within, not without our being. It can be said that in reality, love the emotion, is within us. However in order for us to experience this or any other emotion, we must find a “symbol” either physically, intellectually or spiritually that releases this feeling we have within. In reality, we have no need to search for love, contentment, compassion or any other emotion outside of ourselves as we have these within. What we do is search for the combination of symbols; whether in actual symbols, objects (such as the object of our affection) or words that will culminate in, and release favourable emotions within us causing us to experience these in real time. By understanding symbols; how we personally interpret these, the emotions we attach to them and identifying which symbols trigger the best, worst and mediocre in us, we can use this information to improve our lives, achieve our goals and remove or manage negative symbolic influences. Subconscious Analysis and Reprogramming (S.A.R.) is a system that is dedicated to achieving this and assisting people in realizing their goals and achieving the life they want.

As a Certified Subconscious Analysis and Reprogramming (S.A.R.) Technician and Life Strategies Coach, my goal is to work with my clients so they can understand their present in order for them to be the true authors of their future. The purpose of S.A.R. is to provide clients with an understanding of their strengths and weaknesses in relation to their personal goals through their perception of symbols in their life. This monograph is a compilation of standard definitions as determined by Western culture for symbols that appear in dreams. It is my hope your interest may be piqued and at the very least you realize a symbol is merely a neutral image that only takes upon it the amount of power our own individual and cultural perception assigns to it. A symbol is only a symbol, it is our perception that determines how it will impact us personally.

Robert Ing, DSc, DLitt, FAPSc LHP Counsellor / Life Strategies Coach

Certified Subconscious Analysis & Reprogramming Technician Website: www.lhpcounsellor.com

A

Abbey: * Possible Meaning: Represents your spiritual Self, areas that lie beyond the conscious mind and offer quietude. Abyss: * Possible Meaning: The Ego's dread of the bottomless depths of the Unconscious. Aches: * Possible Meaning: Focuses on real-life neglect, non-use or misuse of the body part distressed in the dream. Airship: * Possible Meaning: A potential release from limits, restrictions and barriers. Anchor: * Possible Meaning: Signals a wish for a stabilizing influence in your waking world. Angels: * Possible Meaning: A symbolic indication of protection and guidance. A possible indication for you to carefully consider the choices that you may make and how they impact your life. Anxiety: * Possible Meaning: Freudians postulate that the anxiety you feel in a dream actually masks a suppressed desire to perform a violent or vile act. The dream anxiety would represent fear of the consequences of such an act. Arrested: * Possible Meaning: To dream you are arrested, suggests that there are control issues in your life or perhaps feelings of guilt. Ascent: * Possible Meaning: Any high climb -- up steps, a mountain, rising in a balloon -- may be the visualization of the achievement of a goal in your conscious life. Autumn: * Possible Meaning: Time to decrease activity and allow for some personal reflection and growth.

B

Banana: * Possible Meaning: Usually a masculine sexual symbol. In a woman's dream, this would suggest the presence of her Animus, her own unconscious masculine nature. Baphomet: * Possible Meaning: To dream of a baphomet suggests that you are striving for balance in either the physical, intellectual or spiritual world; subconsciously realizing that you are unlike most. Baptism: * Possible Meaning: A death/rebirth ritual beckoning you to leave one phase of life to enter a higher one. Bat: * Possible Meaning: Something frightening or traumatic that has been repressed into your personal unconscious. May also indicate a sign of good fortune. Bear: * Possible Meaning: Powerful symbol of the Anima, the feminine powers of the Unconscious. Beheading: * Possible Meaning: A message from your own judgmental Super-ego, indicating your own unconscious feeling that you deserve severe punishment. Birth: * Possible Meaning: Signals an opportunity for dramatic personal growth or transcendence. Blood: * Possible Meaning: An ambiguous symbol of passion and power, representing love or hatred, life or death. Blue: * Possible Meaning: The colour blue represents the emotional side of the subconscious. Heavy shading or amounts tend to equate to deep emotional issues. Hints of blue or light shading could be the need for more attention of emotional issues. Boat: * Possible Meaning: Calm waters indicates solutions to problems. Rough waters, or a damaged Boat, can indicate lack or total loss of control.

Books: * Possible Meaning: Within the pages you will find some unconscious wisdom that offers a key to solving a conscious problem. Bottles: * Possible Meaning: Often a symbol for the vagina, signaling the presence of the Anima, the female nature, in a man's dream, seeking to lead him toward union and wholeness. Bride: * Possible Meaning: In a man's dream, she is his Anima, his unconscious feminine nature, which he must "marry" if he is to achieve self-realization. Bull: * Possible Meaning: A cross-cultural symbol of masculinity. In a woman's dream, the animal represents her own male nature, her Animus. Burglars: * Possible Meaning: Some unconscious element -- a repressed drive or a complex -- is trying to force entry into your conscious world. Butterfly: * Possible Meaning: A symbol of your true Self, evolved and released.

C Cage: * Possible Meaning: The bars of your cage may be your own inhibitions, which prevent you from exercising true emotional independence in your waking life. Captured: * Possible Meaning: To dream that you are captured suggests that there is something within you that you have not fully expressed to the outside world. Castle: * Possible Meaning: Buildings are often a symbol of the dreamer. The condition of the castle will point to the meaning -- if it is strong and impenetrable, it indicates a perceived need for defenses; if it is ancient and crumbling, this might indicate an old paradigm that no longer serves to shelter the dreamer. Cavern: * Possible Meaning: An entrance to the Unconscious. Cellar: * Possible Meaning: The level of the Unconscious mind.

Cemetery: * Possible Meaning: An indication of re-inventing yourself and rediscovery. A new beginning. Chains: * Possible Meaning: Constraints in your waking world, forged by your own dependencies. Chased, Being: * Possible Meaning: An indication that you are avoiding an issue in your life and must attempt to better understand the situation. Christ: * Possible Meaning: A projection of our own highest Self -- our unrealized potential. Circle: * Possible Meaning: A symbol of wholeness and completion, representing the realized Self. Clothes: * Possible Meaning: Any dream emphasis on clothing implies a concern about the dreamer's Persona, the face one presents to the outside world. Cock-crowing: * Possible Meaning: A warning from the Unconscious; an intuitive sense that a reckoning is coming. Coffin: * Possible Meaning: Indicates habits and ideas that are no longer of benefit. Cold: * Possible Meaning: Frozen emotion, a holding-back of feelings, resulting in cold numbness. Companion: * Possible Meaning: Often an older or younger projection of yourself, offering a rounder perspective of the journey underfoot. If older, probably a higher self, offering wise guidance along the path. If younger, probably your Shadow, possessing characteristics necessary to the journey's success, but undesirable to your Ego. Convict: * Possible Meaning: To dream that you are a convict, suggests that an aspect of yourself is unable to freely express itself.

Corner: * Possible Meaning: Turning a blind corner in a dream strengthens the dreamer to summon the courage necessary to take a necessary risk in his waking life. Crocodile: * Possible Meaning: A projection of your Ego's terror of being swallowed by the Unconscious. In some cultures, the mouth of the crocodile is a gateway to the Underworld. Cross: * Possible Meaning: Indicates the union of two opposites and a symbol of the reassurance of one’s faith. If inverse, this suggests an unconventional change may occur. Crossroads: * Possible Meaning: A call to take decisive, paradigm-shifting initiative in a waking situation. Crowd: * Possible Meaning: A sense of having one's individual identity (Ego) smothered and overwhelmed, not only by the external world of public opinion and expectations, but also by the interests and demands of one's unconscious alter egos. Crucifix: * Possible Meaning: Indicates hardships and difficulties brought on by responsibility. Crucifixion: * Possible Meaning: The Ego's fear of being sacrificed, or murdered, to allow the birth of the whole, realized Self. Crystal Ball: * Possible Meaning: Indicates a search for guidance and counsel on a personal matter. Cupboard: * Possible Meaning: One's own Unconscious, containing sustenance for those willing to open it and explore its contents. Cut: * Possible Meaning: If it is the dreamer who is cut, this symbolizes an initiation -- the carving of a tattoo, a circumcision or even a castration, regardless of the dreamer's sex. Such an initiation symbolizes the passage to a higher state of being or awareness.

D

Dagger: * Possible Meaning: An instrument of violent intrusion, often thrust with repressed anger. Danger: * Possible Meaning: A sense of danger in a dream reflects the Ego's wish to avoid any encounter with Unconscious elements it finds painful, repulsive or terrifying. Dead: * Possible Meaning: If the dead person in the dream was known to you in life, consider any unresolved feelings you may have about this person. Deer: * Possible Meaning: A gentle dweller of the Unconscious forest; in a man's dream, likely his Anima feminine nature, leading him deeper into the wilderness. Devil or Demon: * Possible Meaning: Indicates issues concerning physical wants and desire. Diamonds: * Possible Meaning: A symbol of the Highest Self, ageless, indestructible, reflecting infinity in its multifaceted clarity and purity. Dirt: * Possible Meaning: An inner drive or impulse that disgusts the Ego. Diving: * Possible Meaning: Willing descent into the depths of the Unconscious. Dogs: * Possible Meaning: Reflective of the demeanor of your animal nature; innocently and joyously playful, open to proper discipline, but dangerously vicious if mistreated. Dome: * Possible Meaning: Resembling the top of the skull, a dome often signals that we are once again in the realm of the conscious mind, the rational world. Door: * Possible Meaning: An invitation to pass through to another plane of awareness. Drinking: * Possible Meaning: To accept a drink and down it is to accept the knowledge your Unconscious is offering to your conscious Ego.

Drowning: * Possible Meaning: An overwhelming feeling of being pulled or held under by unconscious forces the Ego cannot control; often a desperate struggle to reach the surface (consciousness), ending with the dreamer waking from sleep. Dust: * Possible Meaning: A dream object covered with dust represents an element long-neglected in your Personal Unconscious. Dynamite: * Possible Meaning: Repressed unconscious impulses building pressure to explode into consciousness, perhaps with great devastation to your well-ordered waking world.

E Eagle: * Possible Meaning: The archetype Zeus's courier. It was the eagle that was sent to the mortal plane to snatch up the shepherd boy Ganymede and carry him back to Olympus (the Collective Unconscious), the realm of the Gods (archetypes). On what errand could the gods have sent the eagle in your dream? Earthquake: * Possible Meaning: An Ego fear: the psychic surface upon which the Ego stands can't be trusted not to yawn open and plunge it into the perceived chaotic peril of the Unconscious below. Eclipse: * Possible Meaning: If it is a solar eclipse, this may signal a spectacular overshadowing of the conscious forces (Sun) by the Unconscious (Moon). If it is a lunar eclipse, it may indicate that an important feminine (Moon) influence in your life is being overshadowed or removed. Elephant: * Possible Meaning: A symbol of the fully-realized Self, which recognizes no obstacles in its path. Engine: * Possible Meaning: A focus on your own motive force -- the instincts, emotions and urges that drive you. Evening: * Possible Meaning: Time for a winding down of conscious activity and worrisome busy-ness, so that the dreamer may relax and spend some time with oneself -- that is, with the parts of one's Self introduced into the dream by one's Unconscious.

Exam: * Possible Meaning: To dream of an exam may indicate that you feel you are being tested or asked to prove something in your life which is creating anxiety and concern for you. Explosion: * Possible Meaning: A sudden, shocking release of psychic energy which had been under tremendous pressure; this could be a warning that repressed elements within the Unconscious are ready to explode into your rational world as a sudden fit of rage or some other emotional release.

F Factory: * Possible Meaning: The alchemical Unconscious processes, which work tirelessly to forge the whole Self. Fairy: * Possible Meaning: In a man's dream, his Anima, or unrealized feminine nature; in a woman's dream, a 'wise woman' or Goddess archetype with a boon to bestow. Falling: * Possible Meaning: May indicate that you are feeling overwhelmed or insecure about a situation or aspect of your life and that you may give in, to a less than beneficial option. Father: * Possible Meaning: If the father in the dream is your own, then his presence probably indicates that the Unconscious is working to resolve repressed issues concerning your relationship. Fence: * Possible Meaning: An Ego-imposed separation from Other. Is the fence keeping something out or holding something in? Can it be breached? Should it be? What boundary does it define? Field: * Possible Meaning: Immersion in the natural cycle of the Earth -- the openness of the sky, the span of the landscape. The condition of the field is usually the dream message. Is it barren? Overgrown? Bountiful? Wild prairie or meadow? If an agricultural field, its yield is the metaphorical result of what has been sown and cultivated.

Fingers: * Possible Meaning: The most expressive and communicative of the mind's tools in both the dream world and waking life. If a dream character signs with his fingers, the gesture can be read to have the same meaning as in real life. Fish: * Possible Meaning: Generally a spiritual element in the dream, signaling that the dreamer is plumbing deep into the Collective Unconscious. The dream fish can symbolize the realized Self or the Christ archetype, as well. Floating: * Possible Meaning: A letting-go of conscious striving, trusting the Tao -- the natural flow of all things -- to buoy you up and carry you easily along its current. The Unconscious mind's invitation to 'Be' instead of 'do'. Flower: * Possible Meaning: A symbol of the Self, your realized true nature, allowed to bloom forth. Flying: * Possible Meaning: Liberation from the gravity of an oppressive conscious circumstance. An indication that you are in control of a situation. Forest: * Possible Meaning: The confusing, sometimes frightening landscape of the Unconscious, full of death and rebirth in an endless symbiotic cycle. One is easily lost, and must blaze an individual trail through the thick undergrowth and twilight canopy, encountering the forest's inhabitants (drives, instincts, complexes, Shadow) along the way. Dante's dream-like Inferno opens, 'Midway through life's journey ... I woke to find myself alone in a dark wood ..." Fortress: * Possible Meaning: Your Persona, the facade you have constructed to keep the outside world at a safe distance. Friend: * Possible Meaning: Your Shadow -- those essential qualities of yourself that your Super-ego and Ego have rejected and repressed into your Unconscious -- taking the shape of a companion, one with a different perspective, but on the same path, with the same destination as you. Frost: * Possible Meaning: Sign of an impending emotional Winter, a natural ending and dormancy before cyclical rebirth and new growth.

Funeral: * Possible Meaning: Dreams of viewing your own funeral are wake-up calls from your Unconscious. This is not a prophetic dream, but, as with Ebenezer Scrooge's dream of Christmas-Yet-to-Come, it is a summation of your life, your values, and the Consequences of your actions toward family, friends and loved ones. Do they honour you in the dream the way you want to be remembered? Start living the eulogy you hope for, today.

G Garden: * Possible Meaning: A reflection of the condition of your soul. If full of lush growth, a sign of the growing balance within; if overgrown with weeds, an indication that disorder rules your inner life; if newly planted and sprouting, this could foretell a period of impending personal growth. Gargoyle: * Possible Meaning: Indicates a secret matter known only to you. Ghost: * Possible Meaning: Not a part of the Self, but a repressed memory or past trauma buried so deeply in the personal unconscious that it is not immediately recognizable to the dreamer. Goblet: * Possible Meaning: To drink wine or any liquid from the goblet indicates you are receptive to communion with the spiritual forces in the Unconscious. God: * Possible Meaning: Indicates a spiritual expression and an attempt at perfection. Goddess: * Possible Meaning: Indicates the pursuit of spiritual oneness within and the influence of the heart. Gold: * Possible Meaning: Anything made of gold in a dream belongs to your Higher Self. As the transformation of base metals to gold was the alchemist's ultimate goal, so is the realization and integration of all psychic fragments into your true Self the ultimate goal of dream alchemy within your Unconscious.

Green: *Possible Meaning: Green represents growth. To understand more, what else was associated with the colour? Plants or other forms of life tend to relate to personal growth, whereas non-living entities could mean that financial or other areas of life that need attention to grow. Gun: * Possible Meaning: Instrument for an irrevocable act of aggression, either to take by force from another, or else to protect oneself from a similar assault.

H Hair: * Possible Meaning: A nearly-universal symbol of virility, suggesting its ancient origins in the Collective Unconscious. Hand: * Possible Meaning: The significance of a hand or hands in a dream depends on what the hand is doing. The hand is capable of a whole language of gestures, which usually carry the same meanings in the dream world as in the waking world. Hat: * Possible Meaning: Usually a Persona symbol, categorizing a dream character by his attire. Head: * Possible Meaning: Home of the rational Ego and attendant Persona. The Ego hopes never to 'lose his head'; the Persona, never to 'lose face'. Hearse: * Possible Meaning: Indicates the beginning of something new, and the time to let go of unfinished business or old ways. Heaven: * Possible Meaning: A dream glimpse of what it is like to be one with the Universe, the fully-realized true Self. Hen: * Possible Meaning: A maternal force that patiently protects and incubates. Hills: * Possible Meaning: Represent small achievements on your journey to your personal peak. Horn: * Possible Meaning: Symbol of aggressive virility or fertility.

Horseshoe: * Possible Meaning: A world symbol for protection from evil if it points down. If its tips point upward, they represent the horns of an evil presence. Hostage: * Possible Meaning: To dream that you are a hostage, indicates that you are feeling victimized or powerless with limited options. Hunger: * Possible Meaning: A craving for emotional or spiritual fulfillment. Hurt: * Possible Meaning: If you are the one inflicting the hurt, the meaning lies in discovering the nature of your dream victim. If you are the one injured, it is important to understand the cause of the injury.

I Ice: * Possible Meaning: Inhibition, rigidity, numbness, 'frozen' emotions. Icicles: * Possible Meaning: Repressed sexuality, notably in a male. Incest: * Possible Meaning: A jolting dream that doesn't usually express true sexual desire, but instead brings to surface repressed, unfulfilled emotional needs dating back to childhood -- perhaps even to infancy. Iron: * Possible Meaning: Strong, inflexible willpower -- usually a defense mechanism that overcompensates to the point of ruthlessness.

J Javelin: * Possible Meaning: A phallic symbol, in this case used for sport or in a contest to measure superiority. Jockey: * Possible Meaning: The Ego, seeking to stay mounted and in control of your animal instincts.

Judge: * Possible Meaning: The Super-ego, imposing the standards of society or parents, and perhaps amplifying them to a Puritanical oppressiveness.

K Key: * Possible Meaning: Unlocks a symbolic solution to a problem that exists in your conscious world. Killing: * Possible Meaning: Subconscious desire to rid oneself of a negative pattern or influence. King: * Possible Meaning: An archetypal image of the dreamer as ruler of his environment. This archetype demonstrates the unconscious personal power -- the charisma that the dreamer generates -- which influences his waking world. Knife: * Possible Meaning: An instrument of division and penetration, often prevalent in dreams of separation. Knight: * Possible Meaning: Indicates honour, protection and security in your life.

L Labyrinth: * Possible Meaning: A confusing, winding, perhaps treacherous passageway through the Unconscious which must be successfully navigated on the journey toward self-realization. Lake: * Possible Meaning: The dreamer's self, with a surface (consciousness) and depths (the Unconscious). Lamp: * Possible Meaning: Illumination of the unknown or unforeseen, 'shedding light' on a problem in conscious life. Legs: * Possible Meaning: The dreamer's support system, source of confidence.

Lighthouse: * Possible Meaning: A spiritual guide through the murky seas of the Unconscious; the dreamer's core values. Keeping these always in sight will lead the dreamer through all trials. Lily: * Possible Meaning: A world symbol of new life after death. Lips: * Possible Meaning: An imparting of awareness, either through a kiss or through speech. Lock: * Possible Meaning: Holds a mystery -- either something repressed and forgotten by the Ego, or new awareness that can be carried into consciousness. In either case, unlocking this will lead to personal growth. Luggage: * Possible Meaning: Emotional baggage you are carrying.

M Magic: * Possible Meaning: An unconscious force, perhaps an unsuspected latent ability, which cannot be explained by the rational mind. Magician: * Possible Meaning: An indication that you must beware of illusion. Are you fooling yourself or is someone trying to fool you? Man: * Possible Meaning: An aspect of the dreamer's self, personifying characteristics as yet undeveloped, or else rejected and repressed by the Ego. In the latter case, the man would represent the male dreamer's Shadow or the female dreamer's Animus, her unconscious masculine nature. Marsh: * Possible Meaning: The Ego's sensation of being pulled down by the swampy terrors waiting in the Unconscious. Meadow: * Possible Meaning: Lush personal growth in an open, abundant and nurturing environment. Milk: * Possible Meaning: Psychic nourishment passed from one dream element to another.

Mine: * Possible Meaning: Descent into the Unconscious to unearth precious elements. Mirror: * Possible Meaning: Indicates contemplation of the self and a search to make sense of what you see. Mist: * Possible Meaning: The disorienting atmosphere of the Unconscious. Dream elements that emerge from the mist are meant to be carried back to the conscious world. Monk: * Possible Meaning: A facet of the dreamer's spiritual self as seeker and disciplined ascetic. This dream figure may serve as a guide on a journey through the Unconscious. Monster: * Possible Meaning: Repressed emotions or traumas from the past that threaten to surface into the conscious mind. With the help of a professional therapist, these monsters could be faced and finally healed. Mother: * Possible Meaning: The appearance of one's own mother in a dream invites deeper exploration of the nature of your relationship. What transpires between you in the dream will offer clues. These dreams often address issues of emotional independence and separate identity. Mud: * Possible Meaning: Our most primordial nature, with its needs and instincts; the less savory biological functions and building materials that tie us to the natural world. Murder: * Possible Meaning: Indicates that you are to the point of deep frustration with a habit or way of thinking and that you desire to put an end to it now, as in the past you had procrastinated dealing with it. This may also indicate that you are attempting to separate your emotions from your intellect. Museum: * Possible Meaning: A glimpse into the collective Unconscious, the storehouse of humankind's memories and most awe-inspiring creations and memories.

N Naked: * Possible Meaning: Facing the world without the insulation of your Persona, the image you have built as a secure facade, presented to others as the real you. To the dreaming Ego, the shedding of the Persona would make one as vulnerable as standing naked before others. Neck: * Possible Meaning: Symbolic connection between the head and the heart, intellect and emotion, consciousness and the Unconscious. Needle: * Possible Meaning: Acute but temporary pain necessary to the healing of a psychic wound. Nemesis: * Possible Meaning: Even if represented by a person known to you in real life, this dream enemy is actually a projection of a rejected part of your own psyche. Is your conscious-world enemy also the product of projection? Netherworld: * Possible Meaning: The Ego's dread of the bottomless depths of the Unconscious. Night: * Possible Meaning: The realm of the Unconscious, especially in dreams involving your Shadow, the Alter-Ego who personifies all traits rejected and repressed by the Ego. Nine: * Possible Meaning: Fruitfulness, fertility; the number of generation (3) multiplied by itself; nine months from conception to birth; new beginning within completion. Nose: * Possible Meaning: The human body's probe and sensor -- of little use in modern times, but heavily-used in earlier times to diagnose illness, determine quality, locate hunted quarry, predict weather and more. A dream emphasis on the nose may be a nudge from the Unconscious to trust your senses and rely on your instincts in a given situation. Nunnery: * Possible Meaning: Represents your spiritual Self, areas that lie beyond the conscious mind and offer quietude. Nuts: * Possible Meaning: Symbol of the Self, with the eternal seed of rebirth within the outer (mortal, conscious) shell.

O

Oaf: * Possible Meaning: A personal reflection of some foolishness or abstinence on your part. Occultation: * Possible Meaning: If it is a solar eclipse, this may signal a spectacular overshadowing of the conscious forces (Sun) by the Unconscious (Moon). If it is a lunar eclipse, it may indicate that an important feminine (Moon) influence in your life is being overshadowed or removed. Ointment: * Possible Meaning: Symbolizes the Unconscious element needed to relieve and heal a psychic wound. Onyx: * WORLD SYMBOL: Used in charms to strengthen the spirit, this jewel's presence in a dream would indicate a Spiritual journey. Opal: * WORLD SYMBOL: Traditionally a symbol of prophecy, indicating that one's dream may foretell an inevitable event or probable outcome not readily detectable to the empirical mind and its five attendant senses. Orange (colour): * Possible Meaning: Orange is a combination of Red and Yellow. Check these meanings and relate to other aspects of the dream. Orbit: * Possible Meaning: A symbol of wholeness and completion, representing the realized Self. Other Side: * Possible Meaning: Seeing the backside of anything in a dream indicates that some element which has been banished to the Unconscious (the "back of your mind") is calling for attention. Outfit (clothing): * Possible Meaning: Any dream emphasis on your clothing evokes concern about your Persona, the face you present to the outside world. Oven: * Possible Meaning: A symbol of the womb, where spiritual rebirth is seen as an alchemical process of inserting raw materials and removing a finished product.

Owl: * Possible Meaning: Embodies a dispassionate wisdom that knows what lies beyond the veil of Death.

P Package: * Possible Meaning: Contains something necessary to the solution of a conscious problem. Pal: * Possible Meaning: Often an older or younger projection of yourself, offering a rounder perspective of the journey underfoot. If older, probably a higher self, offering wise guidance along the path. If younger, probably your Shadow, possessing characteristics necessary to the journey's success, but undesirable to your Ego. Pantry: * Possible Meaning: One's own Unconscious, containing sustenance for those willing to open it and explore its contents. Paradise: * Possible Meaning: Cosmic awareness, full harmony with the Tao, transcendence beyond good and evil through the wholeness of the true Self. Parents: * Possible Meaning: Your parents are your earliest encounter with the union of Anima and Animus. What you witnessed in their relationship colours your own inner journey to wholeness, through the integration of your own masculine and feminine natures. Parrot: * Possible Meaning: A facet of the dreamer that toes the mark of the Super-ego, accepting and repeating what others think and say without weighing it against the dreamer's own core values. Pass Key: * Possible Meaning: Unlocks a symbolic solution to a problem that exists in your conscious world. Pasture: * Possible Meaning: Immersion in the natural cycle of the Earth -- the openness of the sky, the span of the landscape. The condition of the field is usually the dream message. Is it barren? Overgrown? Bountiful? Wild prairie or meadow?

Patron Saint: * Possible Meaning: Personifies your own inner power to solve a problem that has been plaguing you. Pearls: * Possible Meaning: The rounded, fully-realized Self, especially if the dreamer is female. Penknife: * Possible Meaning: An instrument of division and penetration, often prevalent in dreams of separation. Pentagram: * Possible Meaning: Indicates a connection or matter of the elements of the air, fire, earth and water. It may indicate the need to find balance in your life. People: * Possible Meaning: Often brings up feelings of loss of individuality, when surrounded by a dream crowd. Perhaps a ploy of the Super-ego to smother your adherence to personal values; perhaps a convenient way to abdicate responsibility for a conscious personal decision, by instilling a sense of going along with the majority. Persona: * Possible Meaning: The 'face' we are willing to show the external world; the image we have created for ourselves to appear acceptable and 'fit in'. In dreams, the persona is most often represented as clothing or something we 'put on'. Phantom: * Possible Meaning: Not a part of the Self, but a repressed memory or past trauma buried so deeply in the personal unconscious that it is not immediately recognizable to the dreamer. Phobia: * Possible Meaning: The thing feared in a dream is a repressed memory or emotion that eventually must be faced and integrated, if self-realization is to be achieved. Picklock: * Possible Meaning: Some unconscious element -- a repressed drive or a complex -- is trying to force entry into your conscious world. Pig: * Possible Meaning: The dreamer's own repressed animal instincts; life lived only as deeply as the satisfaction of sensual appetites.

Pink: * Possible Meaning: Timidity, shyness, vulnerability. Pirouette: * Possible Meaning: A seductively joyous invitation to join the natural flow, the Tao, the dance of life. This invitation is extended by a woman's Animus nature or a man's Anima nature, the respective soul-guides who lead the dreamer toward the state of self-realization and Oneness. Pit: * Possible Meaning: The Ego's dread of the bottomless depths of the Unconscious. Pixie: * Possible Meaning: In a man's dream, his Anima, or unrealized feminine nature; in a woman's dream, a 'wise woman' or Goddess archetype with a boon to bestow. Plunge: * Possible Meaning: Willing descent into the depths of the Unconscious. Pocket Watch: * Possible Meaning: To dream of a pocket watch suggests you have a subconscious connection to the past and that you must never forget who you are or where you came from when it comes to making decisions in your life. A reminder that you must always be true to yourself. Poison: * Possible Meaning: Something bad within. A foreign element that is infecting your inner Self and threatening to cause damage. Repressed memories or emotions can poison the psyche, resulting in toxic behavior and relationships in your conscious world. These harmful repressed elements must be discovered, faced and neutralized to restore balance. Polka: * Possible Meaning: A seductively joyous invitation to join the natural flow, the Tao, the dance of life. This invitation is extended by a woman's Animus nature or a man's Anima nature, the respective soul-guides who lead the dreamer toward the state of self-realization and Oneness. Pond: * Possible Meaning: The dreamer's self, with a surface (consciousness) and depths (the Unconscious). Poniard: * Possible Meaning: An instrument of violent intrusion, often thrust with repressed anger.

Portal: * Possible Meaning: An invitation to pass through to another plane of awareness. Potter's Field: * Possible Meaning: Your experiences in this dream setting reflect your unconscious feelings about death and afterlife. Precious Stones: * Possible Meaning: Inner treasures, qualities of the Self not fully realized by the Ego. Once claimed and fully possessed, wholeness will become possible. Priest: * Possible Meaning: Depending on the actions and attitudes of this dream cleric, he represents either your own deep spiritual wisdom or your judgmental, guilt-inducing Super-ego. Prisoner: * Possible Meaning: To dream that you are a prisoner, suggests that you are feeling restricted in some way or have a sense of the loss of freedom. Promenade: * Possible Meaning: A seductively joyous invitation to join the natural flow, the Tao, the dance of life. This invitation is extended by a woman's Animus nature or a man's Anima nature, the respective soul-guides who lead the dreamer toward the state of self-realization and Oneness. Publication: * Possible Meaning: Within the pages you will find some unconscious wisdom that offers a key to solving a conscious problem. Purple: * Possible Meaning: The colour Purple usually denotes issues dealing with the spiritual aspect of the dreamer. Is there enough or too much? How does the colour Purple relate to other aspects including beliefs and feelings about one’s spirituality? Purse: * Possible Meaning: Contains the dreamer's identification -- and all the valuables that make up the Self.

Q

Quadrille: * Possible Meaning: A seductively joyous invitation to join the natural flow, the Tao, the dance of life. This invitation is extended by a woman's Animus nature or a man's Anima nature, the respective soul-guides who lead the dreamer toward the state of self-realization and Oneness. Quagmire: * Possible Meaning: The Ego's sensation of being pulled down by the swampy terrors waiting in the Unconscious. Queen: * Possible Meaning: Usually a powerful Mother symbol blended with projections from your own psyche. Alice's Queen of Hearts, for instance, was a classic mix of the Devouring Mother archetype with a heavy dose of the judgmental Super-ego.

R Rabbit: * Possible Meaning: An ancient fertility symbol to many civilizations. In the realm of dreams, the fertility implied is dramatic personal growth. Raft: * Possible Meaning: An invitation to relax your rational mind and lean on your feminine, intuitive nature while traversing the deep waters of the Unconscious. Rain: * Possible Meaning: Often a symbol of fertility and new growth. Rain-clouds: * Possible Meaning: Ambient indicators that reflect true emotions about an issue or situation addressed within the dream. Rape: * Possible Meaning: Being raped in a dream focuses on very real repressed feelings of being violated in an acutely personal way. It could be the unfair termination of a former job, public humiliation or ridicule as a child or adult, or any other deeply piercing psychic wound. Feelings of shock, horror, powerlessness, panic, pain, and of being defenseless and alone coalesce to state clearly the rape of one's psyche, if not one's body. Raven: * Possible Meaning: A Trickster side to your Shadow, taunting and opportunistic.

Red: * Possible Meaning: The primary colour of action. Excessive amounts could mean issues of anger or strong passion. Rescue: *Possible Meaning: If one is rescued from peril in a dream, this suggests a desire to 'let go' of responsibility and control in a waking situation, and turn the matter over to a Higher Power. Resurrection: *Possible Meaning: Passing through a ritual 'death' to be reborn with new awareness and abilities that enhance the newborn Ego. Retreat: * Possible Meaning: Often a flight from an inner problem the Ego fears and doesn't want to face. This delays your journey toward self-realization. Revolution (circular orbit): * Possible Meaning: A symbol of wholeness and completion, representing the realized Self. Revolver: * Possible Meaning: Instrument for an irrevocable act of aggression, either to take by force from another, or else to protect oneself from a similar assault. Ride: *Possible Meaning: Perseverance in a situation not under one's control; one can hope only to 'ride the storm out' or 'ride it till the bell'. Rise: *Possible Meaning: Any high climb -- up steps, a mountain, rising in a balloon -- may be the visualization of the achievement of a goal in one's conscious life. River: *Possible Meaning: The Tao, the natural flow of the universe. One's relation to the dream river indicates one's current positioning in the waking world. Are you floating with the current? Are you trying to swim upstream? Is the river an obstruction you must ford? Are its waters rising to threaten you? Rocket: *Possible Meaning: An upward surge of energy and opportunity that helps the dreamer break out of the downward gravity of a conscious attitude or circumstance. Rodeo Rider: * Possible Meaning: The Ego, seeking to stay mounted and in control of the dreamer's animal instincts.

Roses: * Possible Meaning: Symbolizes the sum of the dualities of the Self -- good and evil, life and death, joy and grief, the bloom and the thorn. Round: * Possible Meaning: A symbol of wholeness and completion, representing the realized Self. Rubbish: * Possible Meaning: Attitudes, fears and guilt that have outlasted their usefulness to your psyche and should be discarded. Ruin: * Possible Meaning: Symbolic self-punishment you unconsciously feel you deserve for an act or desire that causes guilt. Running: * Possible Meaning: The terror you run from in a dream is a memory or emotion repressed into the Unconscious. Continued avoidance of this pain brings neurosis; facing and processing the pain brings healing.

S Safe: * Possible Meaning: Holds an inner reserve of self-worth and values that resides safely in the core of the Self. Sailor: * Possible Meaning: A dream character who personifies your own sense of adventure and taste for the exotic, best satisfied by embarking on a personal Odyssey of self-discovery. Sarcophagus: * Possible Meaning: A cocoon or womb which regenerates a rebirth from death. Satan: * Possible Meaning: A potent archetype in the Judeo-Christian-Islamic psyche, and a definite threat to full integration of the dreamer's Self. This Dark One champions all the rebellious instincts and drives, attempting to split the Egocentric will from the Divine Will of the Higher Self. Savings and Loan: * Possible Meaning: Represents your own inner store of unused resources.

Scalpel: * Possible Meaning: An instrument of division and penetration, often prevalent in dreams of separation. Screw: * Possible Meaning: A phallic symbol. If the dream object is being screwed into a surface, this symbolizes sexual intercourse, or the union of the Anima (feminine nature) with the Animus (masculine nature), bringing the dreamer closer to wholeness of one's Self. Sea: * Possible Meaning: The vast depths of the Unconscious. Seducer: * Possible Meaning: The dreamer's Anima/Animus seeking union for reasons much loftier than mere sexual gratification. Joining one's masculine and feminine natures is an act of integration -- one step closer to the wholeness of one's true Self. Self: * Possible Meaning: One's whole Being. More than just the total of separate parts, the Self is the synergistic integration and transcendence of all polarities within one's psyche. Seraph: * Possible Meaning: Personifies your own inner power to solve a problem that has been plaguing you. Seven: * Possible Meaning: Traditionally a sacred number revered by the gods; marks the completion of many cycles -- seven notes in the musical scale, seven colours in the visible spectrum, seven days in a solar week. Shackles: * Possible Meaning: Constraints in your waking world, forged by your own dependencies. Sheep: * Possible Meaning: That facet of the dreamer's psyche that is easily driven and controlled by the Super-ego. Our sheep-selves conform to society's expectations, values and goals. This side of our personality may be either conscious persona or repressed Shadow. Ship: * Possible Meaning: In a man's dream, the Anima, guiding him safely through the oceanic depths of the Unconscious; in a woman's dream, the conscious mind, afloat upon the same bottomless sea of Unconsciousness.

Shooting: * Possible Meaning: An irrevocable act of aggression, either to acutely violate another, or else to protect oneself from a similar assault. Showdown: * Possible Meaning: Often a clash between the Super-ego, enforcer of society's and parental moral codes, and your own core values, repressed into the Unconscious during formative childhood years. No compromise or co-operation is possible between these two forces. Shunned: * Possible Meaning: An unconscious fear of abandonment is surfacing. It could stem from a childhood fear that hasn't been dealt with, or the result of a more recent development in your life. Sideboard: * Possible Meaning: One's own Unconscious, containing sustenance for those willing to open it and explore its contents. Silver (metal): * Possible Meaning: A symbol for the feminine, intuitive powers of the psyche. Singing: * Possible Meaning: Emotional and/or spiritual harmony within the Self, with another, or with the Universe. Added meaning is given through the song's lyrics. Six: * Possible Meaning: Balanced, harmonious evolution. A world created in six days, the six-pointed symmetry of a snowflake; the hexagonal growth of crystals. Skeleton: * Possible Meaning: A universal death symbol, in dreams often personifying a facet of the dreamer's psyche that the Ego has 'killed off' or 'buried' in the personal unconscious. Skull: * Possible Meaning: A symbol of mortality, used to great effect in Shakespeare's 'Hamlet'. Like the Danish prince, the dreamer's Ego sees a reflection of its own mortality in the skull. The choice left us is to make the most of each measured mortal minute, or turn from the sign and escape into diversions until mortality overtakes us.

Slash: * Possible Meaning: If it is the dreamer who is cut, this symbolizes an initiation -- the carving of a tattoo, a circumcision or even a castration, regardless of the dreamer's sex. Such an initiation symbolizes the passage to a higher state of being or awareness. Slaying: * Possible Meaning: The Ego's persecution and hatred of parts of the self. These are only symbolically murdered -- eliminated from consciousness, but only repressed (buried) into the personal unconscious. Sledgehammer: * Possible Meaning: An instrument of brute animal aggression, used to shape, shatter or penetrate. Sleep: * Possible Meaning: To dream of sleeping, trying to sleep, or pretending to sleep is an Ego defense mechanism -- an attempt to avoid becoming aware of subjects the Unconscious has made apparent in the dream. It is the little child within us, clamping our eyes tightly shut and pulling the blanket over our heads, so the bogeyman will evaporate into the night. Slime: * Possible Meaning: An inner drive or impulse that disgusts the Ego. Slippers: * Possible Meaning: One's feet in a dream represent the dreamer's values -- the principles one 'stands' upon. Feet, like values, give us direction. Shoes protect the feet, and thus, in dreams become the defense of personal values. Smarting: * Possible Meaning: Focuses on real-life neglect, non-use or misuse of the body part distressed in the dream. Snakes: * Possible Meaning: In most world cultures, a symbol of wisdom, healing and the cyclical nature of eternity; in the Judeo-Christian cultures, a sign of evil. Snow: * Possible Meaning: A signal that the dreamer has reached a cyclical stage of dormancy -- a time to live off stored surplus, rest, gestate and recharge for a coming Spring of rebirth and rampant personal growth.

Son: * Possible Meaning: Dreaming of one's own son may be just that -- a working out of issues concerning relations between you; archetypically, a dream son may be symbolic of the more assertive, extroverted functions of the dreamer's own psyche. Sovereign: * Possible Meaning: An archetypal image of the dreamer as ruler of his environment. This archetype demonstrates the unconscious personal power -- the charisma that the dreamer generates -- which influences his waking world. Spectre: * Possible Meaning: Not a part of the Self, but a repressed memory or past trauma buried so deeply in the personal unconscious that it is not immediately recognizable to the dreamer. Spider: * Possible Meaning: Symbolic of mother-dependency. Issues and conflicts between the dreamer and the dreamer's mother have not been resolved, resulting in an obstacle to emotional independence. Spinning: * Possible Meaning: The dreamer's lifeline is the thread spun, symbolizing the passage of one's mortal conscious life, its history and its future. This archetypal concept of determinism is clearly defined in the Greek myth of the three sister Fates -- Clotho, who spins the thread of one's life; Lachesis, who measures out its length and tests its fiber; and Atropos, who cuts the thread. Not even the Gods of Olympus (other archetypes) could persuade the sisters to alter the measure once made. Spirit: * Possible Meaning: The dreamer's true Self -- the interface between mortality and eternity, the earthly and the Divine, fraction and wholeness. Personified in dreams as angels or higher intelligence’s' who make the abstract concrete, the variables certainties, the Unconscious conscious. Spring: * Possible Meaning: A cyclical return to dramatic, perhaps chaotic, personal growth. This phase is characterized in the third hexagram of the I Ching as 'Difficult Beginnings'. So many potentialities and choices become available at once, priorities must be imposed almost arbitrarily and life-altering decisions must be made on the fly. The integrity of one's own core values is the only reliable guiding light in these storms. This is the opportunity or deliverance the dreamer has prayed for, in spades -- much more awesome in magnitude than could ever have been imagined. Sprite: * Possible Meaning: In a man's dream, his Anima, or unrealized feminine nature; in a woman's dream, a 'wise woman' or Goddess archetype with a boon to bestow.

Stag: * Possible Meaning: Animus symbol of animal drive and masculine virility. Stars: * Possible Meaning: Symbolizes core spiritual truths and personal values; those points of light by which we navigate the uncharted seas of life. Stealing: * Possible Meaning: Symbolizes deep longing for the fulfillment of some inner need that is not being met. It is not the dream theft, but the condition of being needy that causes one to feel guilt or shame. It is not the chance of being caught committing the dream theft, but the fear of having one's need discovered that causes the anxiety. Steps: * Possible Meaning: A focus on detail; the dreamer's progress is defined in a clear series of 'steps'. Sticks: * Possible Meaning: Branches of one's tree of life which were not developed, left to wither, and finally broken off from the main structure. Stomach: * Possible Meaning: A psychic center, calling you to become aware of inner powers other than brain (rational) control. Stone: * Possible Meaning: Artifact from the primordial Collective Unconscious, reminding the dreamer that one's current mortal consciousness is just a wink in the eye of the eternity available within one's fully-realized Self. Storm: * Possible Meaning: The Shadow passions -- emotions repressed and pressure-cooked in the personal unconscious until they effect their own furious release, threatening all the Ego treasures. As with a storm front, there are warning signs before the onslaught that, if heeded, can minimize damage. Stranger: * Possible Meaning: Dream projection of a facet of yourself with which you are unfamiliar. You need to become acquainted. Stronghold: * Possible Meaning: Buildings are often a symbol of the dreamer. The condition of the structure will point to the meaning -- if it is strong and impenetrable, it indicates a perceived need for defenses; if it is ancient and crumbling, this might indicate an old paradigm that no longer serves to shelter the dreamer.

Stumble: * Possible Meaning: A crisis of spirit, a false step along one's journey; the goal of forward motion is supplanted by the need to regain balance. Submerge: * Possible Meaning: Willing descent into the depths of the Unconscious. Suffocating: * Possible Meaning: A constrictive situation in one's waking life is closing in and smothering; the actual ailment may remain hidden below the surface of one's awareness, making its presence known in an outbreak of symptoms with no seeming cause. Dreaming of suffocation is the Unconscious mind's method of bringing the threat into conscious awareness. Sun: * Possible Meaning: The conscious mind, rising over the waking world by day, and sinking below the surface into the Unconscious by night. Super-ego: * Possible Meaning: A Freudian term for that facet of one's psyche which champions the assumed morals and rules of society and parents, as opposed to one's own core values. The Super-ego soundly condemns and persecutes those elements of one's personality judged 'unsatisfactory' or 'repulsive'. This leads to repression and a never-ending struggle to keep these buried elements from resurfacing into the conscious world. Swarm: * Possible Meaning: A sense of having your individual identity (Ego) smothered and overwhelmed, not only by the external world of public opinion and expectations, but also by the interests and demands of your unconscious alter egos. Swimming: * Possible Meaning: Making one's way through the depths of the Unconscious. Sword: * Possible Meaning: An instrument of separation and penetration that demands great discipline to use correctly; an alchemical symbol that separates the fundamental elements before they are synthesized into a greater whole; mytho-poetically, the blade that slays 'dragons' -- unconscious terrors that must be overcome to achieve wholeness.

T

Tabby: * Possible Meaning: The Anima, or feminine powers within the Unconscious. These must be joined with the masculine nature within the dreamer to achieve wholeness. Tail End: * Possible Meaning: Seeing the backside of anything in a dream indicates that some element which has been banished to the Unconscious (the "back of your mind") is calling for attention. Tap Dance: * Possible Meaning: A seductively joyous invitation to join the natural flow, the Tao, the dance of life. This invitation is extended by a woman's Animus nature or a man's Anima nature, the respective soul-guides who lead the dreamer toward the state of self-realization and Oneness. Tapestry: * Possible Meaning: The psychic membrane that separates the conscious and Unconscious planes. To lift, part or rend the veil is to invite awareness of what lies beyond. Tarot Card(s): * Possible Meaning: Indicates you require and are seeking more information. An attempt to find answers. Teeth: * Possible Meaning: The condition and action of the teeth may indicate anxiety and concern over your physical appearance, how people see you or what you believe people think of you. Do they devour? Are they out of the mouth? Healthy or decayed? Human or animal? Temple: * Possible Meaning: The sanctuary of one's own timeless, tranquil, spiritual Center -- undisturbed and unchanged by the turmoil swirling on the outside. Thanatos: * Possible Meaning: A powerful archetype of the Collective Unconscious, older than modern rational consciousness. This is the Destroyer, the gatekeeper to oblivion or afterlife, the ultimate test of the dreamer's faith.

Thief: * Possible Meaning: An Unconscious complex that threatens to break into one's waking world and seize something of great value to the Ego -- control, security, reputation, relationship, etc. Thorns: * Possible Meaning: Incessant torments, annoyances, worries and difficulties that tear at the fabric of the dreamer's peace of mind. Threat: * Possible Meaning: A sense of danger in a dream reflects the Ego's wish to avoid any encounter with Unconscious elements it finds painful, repulsive or terrifying. Threshold: * Possible Meaning: An invitation to pass through to another plane of awareness. Throat: * Possible Meaning: Symbolic passageway between the head and the heart, intellect and emotion, consciousness and the Unconscious. Throng: * Possible Meaning: A sense of having your individual identity (Ego) smothered and overwhelmed, not only by the external world of public opinion and expectations, but also by the interests and demands of your unconscious alter egos. Thunderbolt: * Possible Meaning: Symbolizes a sudden, dramatic paradigm-shifting revelation from the Unconscious. Tiger: * Possible Meaning: The latent ferocity of the Anima, often tapped in defense of one's young. Facing or exhibiting such savagery in a dream will irrevocably shatter one's misconception that the feminine nature is weak or passive. Toad: * Possible Meaning: A world symbol of transformation (egg/tadpole/toad/prince). A repressed element of the psyche considered ugly and disgusting by the Ego, this toad can become beautiful if it is understood, embraced and integrated. Tomb: * Possible Meaning: Symbolizes one who is 'dead' inside; a disconnectedness with one's Self. Spiritual emptiness, perhaps amorality and a total lack of personal principle, opting instead for the judgmental values of parents, society or congregation. In the New Testament's gospel of Matthew, Jesus portrays the religious leaders of his time as 'whitewashed sepulchres', beautiful and righteous on the outside, yet 'full of dead men's bones'.

Tongue: * Possible Meaning: An important tool of the conscious mind: sensual, sexual, pleasure-seeking; a gauge of conditions -- hot and cold, sweet and sour, textures, etc.; communicator of concrete fact and abstract concept; both transmitter and receiver. Torch: * Possible Meaning: Enlightenment bestowed: the Promethean flame; 'passing the torch' to a chosen successor; a guiding light to steer toward. Tower: * Possible Meaning: Implies a rational, non-intuitive approach to universal truths and immortality; an attempt at Omniscience through pure observation, devoid of communication or connectedness. Town: * Possible Meaning: Symbolizes the dreamer's own self. How familiar are you with the area? Do you know your way around it, or are you quickly lost? Are its residents friendly, helpful, or do they seem alien and threatening? Tragedy: * Possible Meaning: Symbolic self-punishment you unconsciously feel you deserve for an act or desire that causes guilt. Transvestite: * Possible Meaning: To dream of a transvestite suggests that you are subconsciously seeking to regain balance in either the physical, intellectual or spiritual world, and that the answer can only be found within yourself. Traveling: * Possible Meaning: An inner journey that returns to its starting point -- more an excursion to survey what is possible, rather than a quest to achieve it. Treasures: * Possible Meaning: Inner treasures, qualities of the Self not fully realized by the Ego. Once claimed and fully possessed, wholeness will become possible. Trees: * Possible Meaning: The trunk of a tree represents the whole Self's unswaying center, which connects the roots within the Unconscious to the expanse of branches spreading higher and wider in the conscious plane. Tremor: * Possible Meaning: An Ego fear: the psychic surface upon which the Ego stands can't be trusted not to yawn open and plunge it into the perceived chaotic peril of the Unconscious below.

Triangle: * Possible Meaning: A symbol of the whole Self. One point represents consciousness; a second, the Unconscious; the third, their synthesis -- a new form beyond the sum of the parts. Turn: * Possible Meaning: Turning a blind corner in a dream strengthens the dreamer to summon the courage necessary to take a necessary risk in his waking life. Turquoise: * WORLD SYMBOL: Worn as a charm against violent death. Twin: * Possible Meaning: The dreamer's Shadow; one's 'not-Me', embodying the personality traits denied and repressed by the Ego.

U Ugly: * Possible Meaning: Repressed emotions, memories and urges pushed deeply into the personal unconscious. Umbrella: * Possible Meaning: The shield of rationalization, denial, repression and projection the Ego uses to avoid facing painful truths. Underworld: * Possible Meaning: The Ego's dread of the bottomless depths of the Unconscious. Undress: * Possible Meaning: Dropping one's persona; exposing one's true nature to others. Unearth: * Possible Meaning: Mining an important treasure from the Unconscious.

V Vagrant: * Possible Meaning: An uninvited, unwelcome and perhaps unruly complex drifting into one's tidy, ordered conscious world from some wild, Unconscious outland.

Valley: * Possible Meaning: An Anima symbol of the receptive feminine qualities of the dreamer's psyche. Vampire: * Possible Meaning: An indication of seduction and sensuality. May also indicate the attraction to someone or something that may not be in your best interest but requires more thought and caution on your part.. Vehicle: * Possible Meaning: Symbolizes the dreamer's self. If the dreamer is driving the vehicle, this implies that one is in charge of the direction of one's life. If another drives, this suggests that the dreamer is 'driven' by internal or external forces. Velvet: * Possible Meaning: Anima symbol of sensuality, recalling the texture of the pubic hair. Vermin: * Possible Meaning: Repressed elements of the psyche that are reviled by the Ego. Violence: * Possible Meaning: Desperate confrontation between the Ego and a complex that threatens the Ego's dominance of the conscious mind. This blood feud is fueled by fear, pain and blinding self-hatred. Virus: * Possible Meaning: A hostile inner conflict erupting as an outer physical trauma. Volcano: * Possible Meaning: The violent eruption of complexes or repressed drives into one's conscious world. Voodoo: * Possible Meaning: Indicates you are unconsciously attempting to remove a negative influence. Voyage: * Possible Meaning: A significant journey on the sea of the Unconscious, guided and protected by the intuitive, nurturing Anima nature, which is symbolized by the ship. Vulture: * Possible Meaning: Symbolic of an actual adversary in your external world who feeds off your misfortunes.

W Wall: * Possible Meaning: An Ego-imposed separation from Other. Is the wall keeping something out or holding something in? Can it be breached? Should it be? What boundary does it define? Wand: * Possible Meaning: To dream of a wand, whether one of magic or of more earthly applications suggests power and influence exercised by whomever is holding the wand in your dream. If no one is holding it, you must consider the aspects of your own influence and power in your life and the impact of the influence and power others may have upon your life. Want: * Possible Meaning: What one desires in a dream often corresponds with an actual Unconscious need. The dream brings this need to conscious awareness, so that balance may be restored. War: * Possible Meaning: A relentless onslaught of repressed drives and emotions trying to break into the dreamer's conscious world. Washing: * Possible Meaning: A scrubbing away of old guilt, fear and emotion no longer useful to the psyche, preparing the dreamer for regeneration. Watch: * Possible Meaning: To dream of a watch suggests that you must enjoy life and realize that each minute of your life is valuable. Use your time to do the things that bring you pleasure. Water: * Possible Meaning: If the water flows, it represents the Tao, the balanced flow of the universe. If the water is a bounded body, such as a lake, an ocean, or even an aquarium, it represents the depths of the dreamer's Unconscious. The surface of a body of water represents the conscious mind. Water Lily: * Possible Meaning: Symbol of the whole Self, blooming into beauty on the surface of consciousness, with its root firmly rooted in the depths of the Unconscious. Waves: * Possible Meaning: Agitation on the surface (consciousness).

Wedding: * Possible Meaning: Union of the (male) Animus and (female) Anima natures, bringing the dreamer closer to wholeness. Well: * Possible Meaning: Point where the store of Unconscious powers is made available to the surface consciousness. Whale: * Possible Meaning: The Unconscious feminine nature in its mother role; the womb. The ocean is the Unconscious, and the whale is the largest and most magnificent of the ocean's sea cows. Jonah was 'reborn' from the whale. Wheel: * Possible Meaning: A symbol of wholeness and completion, representing the realized Self. Whirlpool: * Possible Meaning: Ego anxiety of being pulled into the Unconscious underworld. Whiskers: * Possible Meaning: Symbolizes virility in most cultures. The more hair, the more libidinous the symbol. Wife: * Possible Meaning: One's wife often possesses (or has projected upon her) the characteristics of the dreamer's own Anima, both in the waking world and in the language of dreams. Her role in a man's dream is to lead him closer to his own Center, where Anima and Animus may merge to further the integration of the dreamer's Self. Willow: * Possible Meaning: A Collective Unconscious symbol of sorrow and mourning, related to water (Unconsciousness). These trees are often found on the banks of ponds. Ancient burial mounds in the British Isles were often built on the banks of lakes and lined with willows. Window Shade: * Possible Meaning: The psychic membrane that separates the conscious and Unconscious planes. To lift, part or rend the veil is to invite awareness of what lies beyond.

Wine: * Possible Meaning: A 'nectar of the Gods' in Mediterranean mythologies; the 'blood' of Christ in the oldest of Christian sects. Drinking wine in a dream opens the dreamer up to communion with the Divine, a spiritual journey in search of one's Higher Self. Wings: * Possible Meaning: Transcendence to a higher plane of Being. Winter: * Possible Meaning: A signal that the dreamer has reached a cyclical stage of dormancy -- a time to live off stored surplus, rest, gestate and recharge for a coming Spring of rebirth and rampant personal growth. Witch: * Possible Meaning: Repressed negative emotions toward women (especially one's mother) have constellated into a malevolent complex -- a 'dark Anima' -- with the beneficent archetype of Mother Earth/Earth Goddess at its core. The Ego must face and resolve these repressed emotions, stripping the complex of its potency and freeing the powerful feminine archetype to use its healing, nurturing powers on one's psyche. Witchcraft: * Possible Meaning: An indication of inner transformation and change. Wizard: * Possible Meaning: An ambivalent Wise Old Man dream character who can use the dreamer's untapped Unconscious power to do great good or great harm. An indication that you may be developing your own inner power. Wolf: * Possible Meaning: A primal, instinctual part of one's psyche which the Ego fears might overthrow it, and, as in lycanthropy, may cause great harm in the conscious world. Worry: * Possible Meaning: Freudians postulate that the anxiety you feel in a dream actually masks a suppressed desire to perform a violent or vile act. The dream anxiety would represent fear of the consequences of such an act. Wound: * Possible Meaning: If it is the dreamer who is cut, this symbolizes an initiation -- the carving of a tattoo, a circumcision or even a castration, regardless of the dreamer's sex. Such an initiation symbolizes the passage to a higher state of being or awareness.

Writing: * Possible Meaning: What is being written in the dream is significant to the dream's meaning. The Unconscious has chosen a literal image to ensure the dreamer gets the message.

X X-Ray: *Possible Meaning: Penetration through one's Persona to search for the source of a problem beneath the surface (in the Unconscious).

Y Yellow: * Possible Meaning: The colour of the intellect. Are you a heavy thinker or do you tend to not think things clearly through? How does you ‘mind’ play a role in the other aspects related to the yellowness of the images? Young: * Possible Meaning: A young man or woman in a dream often exhibits the dreamer's own feelings and outlook at the same age. These behaviors of one's youth were rejected and repressed for the sake of 'maturity', by imposing society's or parental standards on oneself. This dream's purpose is to put one in touch with that repressed facet again, to learn to understand and integrate it for psychic renewal and a more rounded personality.

Z Zeppelin: * Possible Meaning: A potential release from circumstances which have held you down.

The Gothic Dictionary of Dreams

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