Tiger Tigress
Power, anger, sexual power, inner anxiety or terrifying urges. Fear of another person’s anger or forcefulness. Sometimes the power of a mother’s protectiveness. A woman’s anger or sexual craving.
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. Often children have recurring dreams of being chased by a tiger (or lion), and this is about anger that they have been told is bad to express. So this is why they are running from it when they should have made it their friend. This is probably also why most people are still running or hiding from tigers in their dreams. Instead they should have been taught to direct their anger – a natural part of our defense system – effectively.
Do not to be afraid of the animals you meet in your dreams. They are only symbols of your own inner nature, your animal self. See Your Mammal Brain
The tiger represents your own power, the power that can protect your family and any children. Feel the power of that by imaging yourself as the tiger. Yes, actually imagine yourself in its body.
Also big cats, like domestic cats and dogs are very ‘mouthey’ – in other words they do everything with their mouth. They love with their mouth and love to hold you with their mouth. It is their way of giving a hug and wanting to be near. But of course tigers can bite for real too, but your dream tiger is a part of you. Even if it did bite you in your dream it is only like holographic image and can do you no harm. To be frightened of your dream tiger is to run away, avoid or deny your own wonderful natural strength and self protection. See Mouthey Animals
Example: Just last night I dreamt I was walking and a tiger came at me. I was scared, but I thought I would try to be strong and not show my fear. It did not work and the tiger ran at me. I climbed a tree and onto a roof of a tin shed. The tiger followed me up and I ran across a series of tin sheds. I finally realized I could not escape and I turned and faced the tiger. I screamed at the tiger and ran straight at it. The tiger got scared and turned and ran away, and then I woke up. These dreams have been on my mind, and I would love some insight into them. Thank you so much.
From that you can see that an image – in a dream – cannot hurt you, though it can cause you to feel fear. So chasing it was a way of changing your feeling, and that of course changes your dream. So, there is nothing in any dream that can hurt you, unless you run away from something. Running away is leaving yourself open to being a victim of whatever frightens you.
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. Tigers are individual creatures and are not, like lions, part of a group less it is a mother with her cubs.
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. See animal for an explanation of the role dream animals play in our life:
But it has to be remembered that every image in our dreams is an aspect of ourselves, and being an animal the tiger represents the wonderful strength we have as our heritage – if we claim it. Many people are frightened of their own strength and so run from their dream tiger, but as the following dream shows it can be your strength.
Example: An adult tiger was at my bed with one of my old high school buddy holding him on a leash. When I saw him I was furious what the fuck is such dangerous animal doing on my bed. Went to load my AK (the imaginary one, don’t actually own one), but when I pointed the gun at him he ignored me with calm and assertive look. I dropped the gun and in my admiration for him just felt his strong and firm energy. Since then I started to really think of Tigers as the ultimate alpha animal!!
Example: I was in a hallway behind a door, pulling it against me to shield myself against a tiger. The tiger was large with bloodstained paws. Some people stopped outside the door to look at the tiger. I told them to move along, as it had a very uncertain temper, and could easily attack. In fact it began to grow restless and growl. They went. I saw the deep colours of the tiger, and the blood. I was terrified that at any moment it would pull the door away from me. At that moment the tiger attacked me when I came from behind the door, and swallowed me. Now instead of feeling separate I was the tiger, and delighted in his movements and anger.
If you are born in the year of the Tiger in Chinese astrology, dreaming of a tiger might be a comment on your strength and weaknesses. It could be wise to consider your basic characteristics in the light of the dream. See Chinese Zodiac Tiger
The tiger can represent many things however, and below is another important aspect of a tiger.
Example: While in a basement 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.
Interestingly the dreamer sees himself as a young tiger in his dreams.
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.
Useful questions:
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?
Comments
Today I had d almost same dream like earlier I saw.I always see in my dream a tiger who enters my house
Nd always tries to be a hindrance for me only,he doesn’t do anything to my family members but tries to scare d heck out of me, doesn’t let me move anywhere .nd one time he grabbd my arm too but nothing happend ,no blood no pain . Den.I protect my family members against him . He evn says dt he ddnt had any.nice catch since 2 years.why would he talk ? Nd later on I force to leave nd he leaves.please please answer me.I m (earth tiger ,acc.to chinese zodiac tiger)
Sorry a little correction…I m nt eart tiger acc. To chinese zodiac. I.misunderstood ,my bad. 🙂
I am a female, i am married and have two kids. I just had a dream last night about a gray tiger. I was laying down on a bed and it was not at my house or a house that i knew. The room did not have enough light and all of a sudden there was a big gray tiger laying next to me. It was friendly and just wanted to cuddle. I was happy but Afraid it could attack me at any moment. I took the tiger out of the house and closed the door. Somehow it managed to push the door and get back in looking for me just wanting to be next to me wanting me to pet it. Once again I took him out of the house (the house was very small and there was not much light anywhere). Someone opened the door it was a young girl wearing white, and I could not see the face all I did was say NO don’t let it in and the tiger went back inside looking for me and at that moment I felt giving up and just letting the tiger be with me. I felt someone was with me (I believe it was my 6 year old son) he wanted to pet the tiger and I would not let him. The tiger was friendly and loving all the time and its fur was so soft and shiny. I have no idea what it means. I don’t dream often but when i do i feel my dreams have meaning.
Ana – When we are young we are told so many things that we should not do or be – angry for instance or crying. So we learn to shut out of our life many things that are naturally us.
Your tiger is such a natural thing or feeling that you have had a habit of shutting out of your house/you. Remember that you grew from a seed in your mother’s womb, and as it did so took you through the whole process of evolution, through the vegetative phase as cell division, then into the reptilian phase, then a fish with gills and up to the mammalian. Then you entered the time when you learned the amazing computer like program called language, up until then you were a little animal and you were living in the ‘unconscious’. See http://dreamhawk.com/interesting-people/animal-children/#Program and http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/brain-levels-and-dreams/
So please learn to give it love, because it needs you as much as you need it, and do not train your son to have the same habits of fear of the natural that we all are. Imagine yourself back in the dream and holding it without any feelings of not wanting it in your life or feeling fear.
Tony
dreamt of talking to the head of a miniature tiger/tiger cub while it wore a beautfiul headdress. I was literally holding its head in my hand, pleading with it (my boyfriend) to to come out of its “body”
Jay – I haven’t come across this type of dream before, but it seems to have a connection in your mind with tribal rituals, where tribal members use an animal head. Do you or your boyfriend have any connections with tribal beliefs or thoughts?
I wonder whether this is an intuitive feeling you have about your boyfriend. It is quite a beautiful dream, but obviously it troubles you to see him as a tiger. Has he ever mentioned feeling like a tiger?
Tony
I had a dream last night, that I was in the woods with some other people selected by, well I’m not sure who, to be in a tribe that had to be completely self sufficient. We had established our camp and were doing very well. My boyfriend left me to go hunting and a female tiger came upon me where I was laying, initially she meant me harm and I knew it. But instead of being afraid I scolded her like you would a pet dog. She bared her fangs and I bared my teeth back at her. She stepped down from my laying place and I followed..my boyfriend returned to see what was happening and found the tiger and I circling each other. He told me to bite her ear to establish dominance. So I jumped on her and did as much. After that moment she became my own. She would be at my side at all times and acted as my protector. It was a very vivid dream. This animal is also my Chinese zodiac so I was unsure as to whether or not that means anything. Thank you for posting this information but I am still uncertain as to how to apply it to my own dream.
Heather – Your dream is about your basic animal nature. You are in the woods, the natural part of you nature, selected by your own native intuition. Because you are in the natural instinctive part of you, you meet your inner animal strength and character. Please read http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/questions-2/#Summing
You are still learning how to deal with the very powerful instinctive urges you have, but in the dream you see a way to do so. It is not to be afraid of your animal self but to show that you have the strength to dominate her without brutality. See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/brain-levels-and-dreams/ it explains how animals are actually built into us. It might help if you read http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/animals/ as well.
If you recognise that the inner animal is a great protector and force in your life you will feel the change in your behaviour.
Tony
Both my children have had dreams of a lion or tiger attacking them. One child it was right after we went to the zoo and he was definitely afraid of the tiger, but the other he was yelled at earlier that day for being naughty now I’m wondering if I caused this nightmare. He’s only 2 and had thrown all his food all over the living room floor. I gave him a time out and told him that was naughty behavior. Did I cause this nightmare?
dreamed of seeing a tiger underwater.. it was bleeding and dying.. I saw what looked like a person also under the water with some kind of device I thought it was a ‘gun’ and was going to shoot the tiger.. in the dream I thought it was to put the tiger out of its misery. The ‘man’ shot about 3 shots.. but no exit wounds and no more blood than there was before the shots.
Later I was thinking that maybe the tiger was being born.. and was in a mothers fluid in some kind of womb.. not sure what the ‘man’ was doing.. a very strange dream..
hi. i had a strange dream where a tiger was speaking to me. like it was giving advice and was friendly.
I am a male. For the last week, I was having this dream repeatedly that I was hugging and sleeping with a Bengal tiger/tigress (I dont know whether its a tiger or tigress). Nothing in the description above fits my dream. Can you shed some light on this?
Hi. My dream was really brief. I was at a resort with family. There was fire drill. Whilst waiting for my mom & aunt to come down, decided to take some pictures of the beautiful scenery. I heard splashing & roaring coming from the water but initially ignored it. Then I saw a large tiger calmly swimming around, & at one point even strolled along the beach. Next ‘scene’, I was just still on the sand along the shore with a cushion on my lap. Suddenly I hear yelling & look up to see a local guy running towards me, & closing in on him running like a mad man was my lover. I then noticed the tiger swimming parallel to my lover & yelled at him to stay away. Next thing I knew the tiger was lunging at me but just in the nick of time my lover grabbed the tiger, joined a few seconds later by the local guy. I then proceeded to help by grabbing the tiger by the scuff and we wrestled it to the ground. Dream ended there. Could you help me interpret pls? Thanks
I had a very weird dream about a tiger who first was going to kill me and short after it was my loving pet. I am driving with my mother to some unknown destination when we see a tiger and her cub near the intersection. I thought to myself I should call the police and report this because if a pedestrian is near they will get attacked. Moments after, I see a group of older kids coming and the tiger launched out running just as I had suspected. ( I thought to myself someone is going to get killed by this tiger) Feeling pretty safe because I was inside the car I see the tiger run after our car completely ignoring these kids which would have been easy prey for her. As it approached I told my mother to run-over it and we made a safe escape.
Moments into my dream I reunite with the same tiger as my pet along with its cub.
Hi,
I had a dream last night about a pair of tigers in a mall parking lot. They were trying to protect their cub. I arrived with my daughter and boyfriend, only to tuck my daughter into my jacket so as to conceal her. The female tiger slashed a guard (someone trying to capture her) and she came right up to me. I didn’t move from my spot, instead I stared into the animals eyes straight on. I remember breathing in the tigresses breath. I recall thinking “slow your heart rate, breathe slowly, you are not afraid” and it worked. Eventually, she gave up and walked away. What could that possibly mean?
I had a dream about a tiger about a month ago. I remember the night before I had stayed up late & watched a movie that had a black panther in it. I’m not sure about how the panther fit into the movie but it only harmed this one person who had harmed someone else. But the animal was very calm (i.e. letting people pet him & etc) but anyway. In my dream early the next morning, I remember I was awake (not really but in my dream state) lying in the bed & my eyes were heavy with sleep & I somehow knew there was a tiger lying on the floor in front of my bed (I was at a relative’s house in the guest room), & was slightly afraid, but not afraid enough to try & escape. Then the tiger got up & walked around the bed to where I was lying (I didn’t directly look at him but could see the figure through my peripheral) & lied across me while I was on my left side, back turned. I remember being able to feel EVERYTHING. From the warmth of the under part of his chin/mouth area, his fur, him breathing softly, the heaviness of his body on mines & even his paw which rested on my shoulder. It was apparent that he did not want to hurt me but I was petrified anyway. I even remember attempting to plot my escape from the room, realizing that the window was not an option because he was in front of it & that I probably wouldn’t make it out of the door feet away. So I tried to be as still as possible for fear of sudden movement would scare him into attacking me & I lied as long as I could until I just couldn’t anymore & decided to get away quickly & at which point I woke up gasping almost for my breath. It was a startling experience for me & I actually lied awake for a while because I was too afraid to go back to sleep. I couldn’t seem to figure out, though, why the tiger did not want to hurt me but rather came to lie on me & yet & still I was scared out of my mind. I thought maybe it was a case of letting something into my spirit before bed (if you’ve ever heard someone say that before/ be careful what you watch or listen to before you lie down…etc) but I after I couldn’t figure it out & no one I talked to knew what it meant or thought I was losing it, I let it go. But now reading this makes me wonder if it could have meant something more important that I didn’t consider. What do you think it could mean? Thanks.
Sasha – Your fear has stopped you from allowing a very powerful ally to be part of your inner life. Dream animals are totally different to animals in the outer world. They are images of your own wonderful powers. To understand this please read – http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/questions-2/#Summing – http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/brain-levels-and-dreams/#mammalbrain – http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/dream-yoga/
So take time imagining dropping your fear and making friends with the dream tiger. See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/animals/
Tony
I just had a dream a few minutes ago about a Tiger. It was just a normal big tiger and it was chasing me. Everywhere i tried to hide it always found me, even tho there were other people in the dream. It was hungry and i think it wanted to kill me. I think it was a male energy. (Im a male aswell)
Thank you, but my tiger was friendly towards me.
Hazel – I know it was friendly. But it is a protective strength you have. See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/questions-2/#Summing
Tony
Hey Tony,
My dream doesn’t make sense with this description, at least not to me. In my dream there were a few people at a party, and one woman was holding a baby. This tiger jumped to attack the baby, and when it had the baby cornered and wounded, I jumped in to save the baby. After it attacked me I woke up, but i cant really figure it out. If you can help me with it thanks.