Wednesday, December 26, 2012

My Favorite Dream Dictionary Websites

When I first got interested in dream language, the first place I looked was online. What is so nice about online dream dictionaries is that they are so accessible, literally at your fingertips. You can quickly find hints, concepts and ideas to help you along. Fortunately, because Jung’s and other psychologists’ extensive dream work, we understand that there is a vast reservoir of symbols that span time and culture. Well, thank goodness! That means there is quite a bit of help out there.

As I’ve gone along, I’ve found some favorite online dream dictionaries that I go back to time and time again.  The number of words is very important, the more the better.  Also, I prefer sites that suggest several possible meanings I don’t really like the ones that act as if they are fortune tellers. I believe a dream is more like a tool that allows you to understand the changes you can chose to make. 

The third helpful aspect is whether the author can communicate or suggest interpretations related to spiritual or emotional content. This can be very helpful, because sometimes I miss the forest for the trees.

Well, here goes - favorite dream sites with a sample of ‘Wind’ from each one.

The Dream Moods Dictionary


The Dream Moods Dictionary is very comprehensive. I can only imagine the work that has gone into creating it. Because it contains so many words, it will almost always give you something to work with as a starting point. Having a starting point is very helpful.

‘Wind’ definition from the Dream Moods Dictionary:

To dream that the wind is blowing symbolizes your life force, energy, and vigor. It reflects changes in your life. Alternatively, the dream suggests that you need to pick up your pace and work on achieving your goals more quickly and efficiently. To dream of strong or gusty winds represent turmoil and trouble in your life. You are experiencing much stress in some waking situation.


Inspired By Dreams


I find Inspired by Dreams to be thoughtful, sometimes bringing in eastern thought.

‘Wind’ definition from Inspired by Dreams site:

The wind has a way of stirring things up and moving what remains stationary, so that life can be renewed. Dreaming of the wind stirring the branches of trees can symbolize a type of transition that involves the family or your roots. Just as the wind removes the seeds of the future and returns them to the ground, it can be representative of the classic transformative process.


As a Tornado, the wind can portray a force that feels beyond your control that has the potential to place you in another context of interacting with the world. Dreaming of the wind is a classic symbol of impending changes.


Bella Online, the Voice of Women

I have found the Bella Online site very helpful in the areas of color, water, snow, and emotional connections in dreams.

'Wind’ definition from Bella Online:
The phrase winds of change pretty much sums up the symbolism behind dreaming of wind.


To dream of wind is to dream of change, and a way of thinking, as air is very strongly connected to the intellect. It can be gentle, like a breeze or zephyr, or it can be life changing and tumultuous as a tornado.

Think of the popular story about the butterfly that flaps its wings in China, and creates a hurricane in Japan. This is known as the butterfly effect, or sometimes the butterfly principle. Small things you do now can have a big impact on your life later on.


Dream sites, dream books, and even the regular old dictionary are all great resources.  Help is where you find it, so be open.  Check out my other blog Dream Dictionaries for the Bookish.

Other Dream Blogs:


10 Steps to Interpreting your Dreams

The Trinity of Faith, Hope and Love

People You Know - Family, Friends, Co-workers, Bosses

Strangers, Vampire, Cheerleaders and Foreign Folk

Friday, December 21, 2012

House, Home, and Words of Wisdom

I believe that seeing a Home in a dream has a different meaning from a house. Houses represent our psychological makeup but a Home concerns our feelings and movement toward integration.


Being at Home


To be at 'home' in someone's house, means that you have or will soon integrate important traits that you are learning from that person. This might be represented as being very comfortable in that home, cooking in the kitchen, or sitting on the couch.

To be in a childhood means that you are being reminded of something you already know but maybe have forgotten. It can be hard to put your finger on the meanings of these ones.


Your Mother's Home


To be in your mother's home means you are finding value in lessons your mother taught you. What would she say about a situation in your waking life? Think back to those things she said to you 100 times! One of them will probably ring with the wisdom of a lifetime.

Even if your mother is no longer with you, her words and lessons are very much alive.

Top Quotes from my Mom

  • Handsome is as handsome does.
  • Actions speak louder than words.
  • If all your friends jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge, would you jump too?
  • Kill them with kindness.
  • Rise above it.
These are the actual words, but in my dreams, these lessons come across as little vignette's acted out with dream symbols. I have actually had the experience of rising up through the air to illustrate 'Rising above' a situation.

I've also had a dream character tell me something, where their actions speak a very different message. Ah, which to believe? Actions always speak louder than words.


Your Self, Your House

Much is already written on meanings for the basement, various rooms and levels of the house, but that is not what I want to break down.

Your house can be a representation of your total psyche, your whole Self, so seeing your house or a friend's house in a dream is significant. It’s important to notice the condition of any house in your dreams. Maybe the house is in fine shape, or maybe it needs repair.

Or, you may hear a message about how important it is to ‘own your house.' This has to do with taking control and possession of your life and destiny, as in, to own it outright, with no mortgage or obligation to anyone else.

You may also walk in and take possession of a house belonging to another dream figure (possibly animus), and this means you have laid hold of the essence of that dream figure. Whatever he/she represents to you, you now own that, whether strength, initiative, courage, or something else.

So, what would your Mom say?

Other Dream Blogs:


10 Steps to Interpreting your Dreams

The Trinity of Faith, Hope and Love

People You Know - Family, Friends, Co-workers, Bosses

Strangers, Vampire, Cheerleaders and Foreign Folk

Saturday, December 15, 2012

Is a Kiss Just a Kiss?

Our inner Self exposes us to new ways of being and thinking so that we can grow and more successfully deal in life. When we recognize that a little change is needed and act on that, it's called Integration.

Integration symbols often closely follow the attraction, dating, and mating process - because we universally understand and relate to these symbols. Many times Integration shows in dream actions that use in waking life to show affection, love, acceptance, and friendship. They can be sweet, or they can be earthly.

When we adopt and integrate a new idea (or way of thinking, or living) the symbolic language or stories often align that with getting close to a person, sort of like dating. At the very beginning of the Integration process, you might be sitting with someone (like a date). If you are further along, you might be walking, holding hands, sitting close together (strong interest). As you get really ready to accept the trait, in your dream you may feel attraction, kiss, hug, possibly jump into bed with some person. You may even attend a wedding or get married in your dream.

All this can be pretty confusing if you don't realize its about your inner life. Hey wait - I'm already married!

Symbols and Stages of Integration


1. Starting Toward Integration
If you are meeting with someone, sitting near them, next to, or across from a known or unknown person, you are exposing yourself to new approaches to life that are owned by the other. These traits or aspects of yourself may be helpful to you in your waking life in some way.

2. Movement Forward

If you are walking, running, swimming, climbing you are probably working your way toward a new ‘place’ in terms of accepting a new idea. These actions are very common in dreams because life is an ongoing journey toward more learning. We are always going somewhere.

3. Approaching Integration

If you are talking to another, hugging or embracing them, you kiss them or they you, or they touch  or even bite you you are very close to integrating what they represent. Or maybe you are so close that you feel their breath. The dream probably reveals what you need, and you are ready to accept it. In waking life, very few people are allowed this close, at least in Western culture.

It may still take a little while to work out the exact message and decide how to implement the change. Moving closer is the opposite of running from something in a dream.

4. Complete Integration

Sometimes the final stage of Integration comes with a dramatic moment that demonstrates that you have unified your old self with your new self (i.e. added the new trait to your repertoire). It is now fully part of your psyche, ready to be called upon when needed.  In your dream, you might be under the covers with someone, attending a wedding, at your own wedding, or having sexual intercourse.

When is a Kiss Not Just a Kiss?


It’s important to understand that psychological processes are going on in your dreams, which are then represented waking symbols. So that is a symbolic kiss, a symbolic man, and a symbolic wedding in your dream. Whew! That's a relief!

 

Just a Little Love Story

It’s just like a simple little love story, "Once upon a time, a woman(you)  met this man (known or unknown) with amazing honestly and gorgeous blue eyes. He was so handsome and attractive, she wanted to kiss him. And then she did."

This is a dream that would make an impression and you would remember it – especially the blue eyes!

And that is the point of our dreams, to be memorable, so we can act on them. Then waking, we can say, "Wow, what a handsome man that was, how beautiful his eyes, so honest. Where should I be more honest and straightforward?”

End of story, beginning of change.


Other Dream Blogs:


10 Steps to Interpreting your Dreams

The Trinity of Faith, Hope and Love

People You Know - Family, Friends, Co-workers, Bosses

Strangers, Vampire, Cheerleaders and Foreign Folk

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

My Misspent Youth – Confessions of a Business Major

Yes, it is true. When my friends were taking Eastern Religion, History and Pottery, I was drudging away in the B-School and the Computer Lab. I realize now that this might have been something of a mistake.

Here’s how I saw it – who needs language, literature, poetry, and art? I had double entry accounting, macro economics, and debugging Pascal programs! I will also confess that at 19, I found psychology and sociology deadly dull and seriously lacking in practical usefulness. Ah me!

So, where does that leave me now? Well, I’ll tell you - my inner Self would probably complain that the dream symbols available are poor indeed. But still my inner Self trudges on, doing its best, with the few meager symbols. But… what else will I understand except meetings, reports, and brochures?

Business-Speak


Business imagery has confused my dream interpretation at times, because early on, I assumed that if my dream location was work, populated with work friend, it must be about work, right? Not true -  business symbolism do not always refer to work situations. Maybe the business world just supplies a useful phrase. Maybe that work friend demonstrate the character trait that needs illustration. So, I had to learn to be careful in interpretting ‘business-speak’ in dreams. Below are some interesting phrases and images that have popped up for me - they will demonstrate the terrible dearth of images that I suffer with.

• Investor relations – advising that I invest more in personal relationships
• Value Added Reseller – advising that I look for situations that reflect my values
• Swivel chair – advising that I turn and look at a situation from all angles, 360 degrees
• PR interviews – advising that I get out and speak to more people
• Cell phone – advising that messages are coming in over the air

What About You?


Maybe you ‘re in the same boat. You could be, especially if you’ve been doing time in technology, science, IT, accounting, or some such 'brass tacks' occupation. And ‘double especially’ if you just started trying to understand your dreams.

Is God Gone or Just Hidden?


What does all this mean for our inner and spiritual lives? Are we then all just soulless products of a modern  technologically advanced culture? Not necessarily - but again, it’s easy to assume that work-a-day symbols refer to our jobs or companies, missing the point and leaving us confused. I’ve found something different entirely. It’s just that corporate life is my point of reference and so my dreams often speak in those terms.

The kind of imagery that we might expect – lots of crosses, Jesus, God the Father, Angels, halos, blood, and sacrifice are entirely missing from my dream life. It’s a fact. But I also recognize that I don't control my dream images, and neither do you. So, there is no use being embarrased by the images that do appear or the ones that don's apper. Its best to just deal with the imperical facts, as Jung taught us, and carry on.

After identifying what was missing, I have begun to look at what is present. And I find messages of a spiritual nature coming through mundane dream situations, without alot of fanfare.  I don’t think that God and the Spirit have left us, and I believe we often are reminded to hold on to faith and hope. These are very helpful and supportive dreams.

Let’s look a bit closer at some of the dream symbols from work situations. Anything can be a symbol. Any phrase, or action can give us a hint.

Symbols for God and Higher Power  – Biblically think of the burning bush, transfiguration

• Energy or  Electricity (abbreviated GE, also a gigantic worldwide company)
• Higher Power (abbreviated HP, also a gigantic worldwide company)
• Engine/turbine (power beyond ourselves)
• Connecting to batteries (connecting up to the power)
• Laying underground electrical cables (connecting to the fundamental source of power)

Faith, Hope and Love

• Recovering an almost lost diamond (Don't lose that diamond, as in the Hope Diamond)
• Embracing a Christian friend (hold on to Faith)
• Tranparency (inner blood showing through to outside, not hiding our love)

For more, there is a blog on this topic, Faith, Hope and Love - Uncovering Christian Symbols in Dreams


I hope you don’t suffer from my terrible lack of interesting symbols. I hope you dream of wonderful talking animals, auras and light, and other truly remarkable things.

Me? I better work on broadening my perspective.

Other Dream Blogs:


10 Steps to Interpreting your Dreams

The Trinity of Faith, Hope and Love

People You Know - Family, Friends, Co-workers, Bosses

Strangers, Vampire, Cheerleaders and Foreign Folk

Friday, December 7, 2012

The Dream On Dictionary

Breaking Down the Symbols to Get to Your Story


Our inner dream creator uses symbols to weave powerful stories for us. Each person, word, color,  number, location, object or emotion contributes to the story. Every day heros and movies empower and inspire us, giving us the hope, peace, and faith we need to transform our lives. Well, our dreams are just the same if we only will learn their language.

Learning and Working


If you are here on this page, you are learning the language, a skill that will surely help you to be a more successful human being, create more joy, and bring more love in our lives. And it all starts with a meaningful dialogue with ourselves!

Section A-C - Animus figures (Men/Women), Antenna, Cactus, Computer

Section D-J - Eating, Feet, Garden, Initiative

Section L-R - Las Vegas, New Places, People, Retreat

Section S-Z - Selfishness, Sitting, Walking

The Dream On Dictionary is a work in progress. Dream meanings unfold over time, but only if we work hard. If we just say ‘That was really weird,’ and go on with our lives, we will miss so much.

I find that the short dreams that seem the simplest at first sometimes really pack a punch. If the dream is short and simple, it is often very dense, with words and symbols with 2 or 3 layers of meaning. These can be really interesting and fun to work with.

By accessing dream dictionaries, exploring our own associations, and using traditional dictionaries, we can begin to understand symbolic language – it opens our eyes a new kind of communication.

Let's Ring Some Bells


Every person has their own unique dream language and symbols – maybe The Dream On Dictionary will suggest some new ideas, or ring some bells, ultimately opening a door to understanding.

I hope you find this Dictionary helpful. Please feel free to leave a comment.

Other Dream Blogs:


10 Steps to Interpreting your Dreams

The Trinity of Faith, Hope and Love

People You Know - Family, Friends, Co-workers, Bosses

Strangers, Vampire, Cheerleaders and Foreign Folk