ANIMAL DREAMS - S

SHEEP - Conformity; feeling or being 'one of the herd'; blind following of a leader or others; the aspects of oneself that are the same as other human beings; sheep may depict the way me might be led into situations, sometimes awful, by conforming to prevailing attitudes and social pressures; a passive female; vulnerability; sexual feelings about females.

Caring for sheep: Being a leading figure, or helping people to grow, perhaps spiritually.

Herd of sheep, or sheep in rural setting: Innocence; natural feelings and peace; quietness of mind; the following customs or a leader instinct in human.

Sheep being attacked by dog or wolf etc: This might reflect feelings of difficulty in dealing with other people's aggression or the world in general. It could also be about trying to develop an approach to the play of forces around and with in you - active/passive; passive/aggressive.

IDIOMS: Make sheep's eye at someone; follow like a sheep; being sheepish. See: shepherd under roles.

EXAMPLE: "I walked past a married couple who were walking up the hill too. As I passed I heard them say something about a shepherd. Looking up the hill I saw the sheep, then The Shepherd. A beautiful aura of many colours surrounded The Shepherd. I looked and felt joy and exuberance rise in me, and I ran to the couple saying it was THE SHEPHERD." Brian C.

In the example Brian is not only aware of the sheep, but also THE Shepherd. The sheep is his experience of being one of the crowd and the Shepherd is his sense of his own unique potential or love transforming his ordinariness. See: shepherd.

EXAMPLE: A young female sheep wanted to make love with me. We were rubbing our heads together vigorously - like a dog does when playing. Someone, a woman, was going to cleanse its vagina, perhaps by injecting disinfectant. It seemed we would have sex. Arthur C.

Useful questions are:

What is my dream sheep doing that I can identify in my waking life?

Do I have a tendency to be a follower or a leader, and what is shown in the dream about this?

Am I in some sort of caring or leading situation in the dream, and is this a reflection of my life?

Am I active or passive in life and sex?

SQUIRREL This could refer to the aability to hibernate, to pull back from outward activity. Also the squirrel is industrious in the summer collecting/saving food for the winter. So it can depict the habit or need to save. It is also a very nimble creature, and so could refer to the ability to move around in life with great ease.

SNAKE - The Hebrew word for the serpent in the Garden of Eden is Nahash. That can be translated as blind impulsive urges, such as our instinctive drives. The snake can represent many different things, but usually the energy that expresses as our life processes. If we think of a persons life from conception to death, we see a flowing moving event, similar in many ways to the speeded-up films of a seed growing into a plant, flowering and dying. The snake depicts the force or energy behind that movement and purposiveness - the force of life, the latent energy or potential within matter - that leads us both to growth and death, along with the passionate emotions and urges that drive us so powerfully. That energy - like electricity in a house, that can be heat, power, sound and vision - lies behind all our functions. So in some dreams the snake represents our sexuality; in others the rising of that energy up our body to express as digestion - the intestinal snake; or as the creative or poisonous energy of our emotions and thoughts; in the throat as destructive or constructive speech and language; in the head as thinking, perception and higher cognition.

In the destructive aspect the snake represents the poisonous thoughts and emotions that can destroy us. We tend to depict this snake biting or attacking us, even though we have ourselves given rise to such poisonous emotions as hate and guilt. Because our life energy flows into thinking and emotions, we are in this way directing the creative force of life. Directing it negatively has the power to bring illness and death, for we are dealing with the power of life and death itself.

The opposite is also true. The power of life and death can be directed creatively. Then the snake is seen in its healing role in dreams, and in ancient times was shown in the form of the staff with two snakes coiling up it - caduceus - still used today as a symbol of the medical profession. See: energy emotions mind.

A crowned or light encircled snake: When our blind impulses our instinctive or unconscious urges and functions are in some measure integrated with our conscious will and insight, this is seen as the crowned snake or even winged snake. It shows real self awareness and maturity.

In coils of snake: Feeling bound in the blind impulses or habitual drives and feeling responses. Instincts and habits can be redirected, as illustrated by Hercules labours.

Sitting on snake: Mastery of the instinctive nature and transformation and the making conscious of the wisdom and power resident in the unconscious.

Snake biting you: Unconscious worries about our health, frustrated sexual impulse, our emotions turned against ourselves as when internalised aggression poisons us causing very real illness, so may be shown as the biting snake. It may also suggest an influence in ones life - the venom - that takes away ones identity and perhaps opens one to a life beyond self, the spirit.

Snake biting others: Biting remarks; a poisonous tongue; emotional energy turned against oneself or someone else.

Snake coiling up tree, pole, cross: The blind instinctive forces of life emerging into conscious experience - in other words the essence of human experience with its involvement in pain, pleasure, time and eternity; the process of personal growth or evolution; healing because personal growth often moves us beyond old attitudes or situations that led to inner tension or even sickness.

Snake coiled around you crushing you: The way you are caught up and constricted in your own or other peoples emotions. Being crushed by emotions, fears; struggling with powerful emotions and urges.

Snake Colours - Green: Our internal life process directed - perhaps through satisfied feelings, love and creativity - into a healing process or one that leads to our personal growth and positive change. White: Eternal aspect of our life process, or becoming conscious of it. Blue: Religious feelings or coldness in relations.

Snake in connection with any hole: Sexual relatedness.

Snake in the grass: Sense or intuition of talk behind your back; danger; sneakiness.

Snake with tail in its mouth: Sense of the circle of life - birth, growth, reproduction, ageing, death, rebirth; the eternal.

SPIDER - See: spider.

SQUIRREL - This could refer to the ability or desire to hibernate, to pull back from outward activity. Also the squirrel is industrious in the summer collecting/saving food for the winter. So it can depict the habit or need to save. It is also a very nimble creature, and so could refer to the ability to move around in life with great ease. But in the USA some squirrels have rabies and so can be a source of disease, so might suggest, if the squirrel bites you, that something has got into you that is detrimental.

Useful questions are:

Am I wanting to draw back from worldly activity for a season?

Is my dream squirrel displaying ability to move through difficult surroundings, and does that relate to me at the moment?

Does the dream suggest I should be thrifty for a coming period of less income and opportunity?

STAG - Masculinity; male sexual drive; in a female dream it might depict her response to male sexuality; the joy of life; courage; the life energy; virility; healing energy.

EXAMPLE: The three of us were on our way to a lively night out and I suggested a short cut through Richmond Park. Suddenly this old man stepped out and advised us not to do so as stags were rutting. I thanked him and replied they would be too busy to care about us. As we walked through, trying to ignore the fact the stags seemed to be stuck together, we felt relieved. Suddenly an enormously big stag with tremendous horns and a leering and vicious expression came swaying toward us after breaking free of a female deer. Jasmine C.

EXAMPLE: The following comes from the notes of a man exploring a dream about a bull: As the bull, when I put my nose into the grass the earth tells me what has lived and died in this field. I hear the earth tell me things. I hear this voice in me calling out 'ME! ME! ME!' There is that one voice calling out from deep in me saying everything. It is the bull calling a mate. It is the stag saying - I AM - I will fight - I will kill - I will care - I live - I die - I lust - I want. It is saying I am alive. I've got something - LOOK . I have this precious gift of the seeds of life. I am Life. I am the baby crying for the mother. I am the death cry. It is sex which turns this energy on. It is the female which calls it. When I see the cow wonderful things happen. In the erection the blood pressure alters, the guts change. But I believe that can be redirected. It can create a new life at another level. It can leave its old path of reproduction of the body, and create a new life in the eternal - waking up in eternity. The bull or stag must come of its own accord - but the direction must be indicated for it.

Useful questions are:

Is my dream in any way referring to sex, and if so what is it commenting about my own sexual feelings and activities?

Am I in any way feeling that joy and lust for life the proud stage displays?

Is my dream stag healthy or injured, and how does that relate to my life energy?

What is my dream stag displaying in its actions?

STALLION - See: horse above.

ANIMAL DREAMS - T

TIGER - Although similar in many ways to the lion, the tiger has a more feminine quality. It can therefore represent an angry woman; ones mother/a woman as a protector or destroyer; anger; spitefulness; the power and authority of ones animal strength; anxiety or fear, flight or fight. When we call someone a tiger we either mean they are fierce, capable of defending themselves, or very successful at what they do. But we also say a woman can protect her children or loved partner like a tiger. So it is also about strength and passion to protect and care. This aspect of the tiger depicts the primeval and passionate power of motherhood, and the love and care of nature itself emanating from the unconscious.

Like any other animal, the tiger can also represent aspects of sexuality, depending upon how it is presented in the dream. As a symbol of sex it would most likely include elements of uncertainty - will I be attacked or overwhelmed - power and instinctive responses. It has to be remembered also that the tiger is a top of the food chain predator, and so can represent the predatory facets of human nature.

EXAMPLE: A person approached me holding quite a large animal. As they handed it to me I saw it was a tiger cub, large and very well built, with a thick neck. I was surprised, but even more surprised and disturbed when a huge tigress came through a doorway above us at ground level and came down the stairs to us. I thought she was going to attack us, but she took the baby cub and placed it down. She then came with something in her mouth, probably money, and placed it near me. She gave off a powerful feeling of not wanting the cub, and with the money handing it over to me or us for our care. There was an atmosphere of irritability about her. Peter G.

In this example the tiger has an obvious connection with the mother. The dreamer had often been threatened by his mother that she was going to give him away, or put him in a home. So the dream probably dealt with his need to confront these feelings of abandonment which, like the tiger, were threatening. Interestingly, almost exactly five years later, in the same month, Peter dreamt the following.

I am in a house. There is a feeling I am sharing it with a number of people, as if there is a connection with a friend Mike. Suddenly I notice there is a tiger cub running around the room. It is a large room and empty except for myself and the cub. I realise this must mean there is a mother tiger about and worry that it will be angry or aggressive because of its cub. I go to walk through a doorway, but the mother tiger walks through. I stand still, not daring to move. But she brushes against me in a friendly way and strolls over to look at her cub. Peter G.

Example: There is alarm that a wild tiger is about. I am concerned to find a place out of sight, behind a desk, in case the tiger sees me. It comes in, and, although there are many other people, it comes directly to me. As it comes towards me, I see it is small, and young, and un-coordinated in its random, flailing movements (rather like Tigger in Winnie-the-Pooh). Its body is like a pipe-cleaner twisted into a tiger shape. As it comes to me, I see it is full of energy but also shaking uncontrollably with fear, drenched in sweat. It is furiously wagging its tail, which may have a white bow tied to it (or is it the shape of the tail? - the latter I think), as if it is desperate to please. So from within my fear I say to it "Good tiger, there's a good tiger," to calm it down. I think, or say: "This tiger is terrified, because it is quite out of its element, in a classroom with humans." I look up and see there is no one else in the room - just me and the tiger. JH.

JH says of his dream: "This seems to me to be a very revelatory dream. Clearly I am the tiger, and so I am frightened of my own fear in trying to hide from it. But the clarity of the dream is in the basic fear of existence the tiger exhibits." Here the tiger is clearly about the fight and flight instinct in us all, and the struggle JH has in dealing with this in his life as a teacher.

Idioms: Fight like a tiger; paper tiger. See: lion.

Useful questions are:

Am I dealing with anxiety or anger in this dream?

What relationship do I have with the tiger, and what does this say about the way I deal with the 'tiger' aspects of my life such as fear, anger, aggression and dominant strength?

Does my dream tiger show any signs of motherhood in this dream, and if so how does that reflect on my mother or motherhood?

TOAD - See: toad .

TORTOISE - See: tortoise .

TURTLE - See: turtle .

ANIMAL DREAMS - W

WHALE - The powerful evolutionary drive involved in reproduction, which lies behind individual male or femaleness; the beneficent power of the collective unconscious. Also the ability to dive deeply into ones unconscious life process and awareness.

Example: 'I was leaning over the settee with my hands cupped under my chin looking out of the window. The view was spectacular, in that it was as if the house was situated on top of a cliff overlooking a huge bay, shaped like a horseshoe, with the house in the middle. From the sea suddenly, coming into the bay I could see three enormous whales making their way toward me. As I was staring in amazement they began to transform themselves and come up out of the water as three giant Viking like figures. They were so huge, that the water came up only to their knees and everything was moving so slowly, as they waded towards me. It was the most awe inspiring thing I had ever seen in my life.' Sue B.

The bay, the beautiful sea, the sperm? whales / men, show Sue touching the most primordial yet inspiring aspects of her own womanhood and urge to love.

See: Christ under archetypes; religion and dreams; sea.

Idioms: Big fish; big fish in a small pond; cold fish; fish for compliments; fish out of water; queer fish; smell something fishy.

Useful questions are:

Am I meeting a deeper awareness of my relationship with the fundamental drives in me?

Has a change occurred where I am starting the inner journey into who I am beyond the surface personality?

Have I recently felt a wider awareness of what I am?

WOLF - Although the wolf can depict a feeling that 'things' are out to get us, the wolf in our dream often depicts just our fear. Fear is one of our instinctive reactions to situations, so is shown by an animal. We may find ourselves a prisoner of such feelings, as Anna in the example below. The wolf, as is suggested by such fairy stories as Red Riding Hood, also represents the female fear of powerful male sexuality; repressed sexuality or anger; emotions and drives frighten you.

But the wolf also appears in our dreams as a master of life in the wild. It is a group animal and has tremendous loyalty and protectiveness to its family and group. As such it can depict your intuitive understanding of life on earth, the seasons of life and death, and the deep wisdom of group relations. In some dreams the wolf is a protective companion on your life journey - what is the past has ben called a spirit guide or totem animal.This sort of wisdom tells us that aggressive urges are natural to us, but sometimes they can turn back on ourselves and injure our wellbeing. You might then even dream of killing the wolf or animal in you. But love can resurrect that vital animal life and consciousness within you and the world. The following dream and commentary illustrates this.

I dreamt two great wolf like dogs were on a headland. They had to be killed for some reason. I shot them. They seemed to take a long time to die and I felt compassion for them. Now horses seemed to be lying with them. The death struggles became the horses - mares - struggles to give birth. I saw the vagina parted to show a head. Birth would follow. Nathan.

Nathan explored his dream and had the following intuitive response to it as if someone was explaining it to him:

"When you were trying to murder the lower animal forces in yourself they would not die, they only thresh about, trying to survive. Try bringing of life to them. The bringing of love is represented by your desire not to have them suffer. Great love turns the destructiveness of the lower forces into creativeness. The gun was the destructiveness of the fears and angers in you turned against yourself. The love redeemed this power, directing it in a new way. Love enables new life to emerge. The new life promises strength where there was only fear. When you love yourself, you lift parts of your being into new life."

EXAMPLE: "I was in a caravan in the middle of a field and in this field was a large black wolf. Every time I tried to run from the caravan to the edge of the field, the wolf chased me back, so I was a prisoner in the caravan. It all sounds so simple now, but at the time I was truly terrified." Anna S.

This next example from Oliver, a boy of six, illustrates how such fears can be met with a little courage. It is a dream which recurred several times, so his description is of a series of dreams.

EXAMPLE: "I am in my bed in my own room and I hear what I know to be a wolf wearing the sort of clogs worn in Lancashire. When the wolf gets to a certain point, there is a bang, and I wake terrified. My Mother's reassurances do not help. Each night he gets a bit nearer before my panicky awakening. The night came when I know he will reach me. Sure enough he arrives, and the bedroom door - in my dream - is flung wide open with a tremendous bang. There is no one there. I never dreamt it again."

When something gets nearer to us in a dream, it means that it is moving nearer to consciousness. So Oliver's wolf - or at least, what it represents, namely his response to his childhood fears - is becoming ever more conscious. This means he is facing his fear and thereby dealing with it. If he had run away or fought to keep the door closed, then it would have gone on haunting him.

The wolf can also be a protective and life-giving symbol as in the following dream. In the dream Cathy is demonstrating a loving and unified relationship with her natural or instinctive feelings.

Example: I dreamt about a white wolf. I know you won't believe this but I actually feel like I touched its fur in my dreams. I was protecting it and it was protecting me, and it was so real I woke up looking on the floor next to my bed to see if it was there. Cathy

IDIOMS: Wolf at the door; wolf in sheep's clothing; cry wolf; throw to the wolves; a wolf - meaning a man who lusts after women and pursues them like a predator.

Useful questions are:

Am I still dealing with anxiety with my dream wolf - if so how can I change this?

Do I relate to the wolf as an ally or an enemy?

Is my dream wolf showing a negative relationship with my fears and aggression?

Are you accepting the wolf as a protector and giver of wisdom?

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