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 that frighten you. See Animals
Also whenever we dream its images are not like real life. Because a dream is nothing like outer life where things could hurt you, but is an image like on a cinema screen that even if a gun is pointed at you and fired it can do no damage – except if you run in fear. So all the things that scare you are simply your own fears projected onto the screen of your sleeping mind. In the early days of moving pictures, a film was shown of a train coming fast toward the audience; the viewers all fled in terror, fearing the train would crush them. That is exactly the same response if you are terrified of any thing you dream of. See Masters of Nightmares
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 in the past has been 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 well being. 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.
Quote: We have doomed the wolf not for what it is, but for what we have deliberately and mistakenly perceived it to be… the mythologized epitome of a savage ruthless killer… which in reality is no more than a reflected image of ourselves. Harley Blake.
To see the wonderful nature of wolves watch https://www.facebook.com/AppreciateENG/videos/1763709230595548/?t=63
Example: 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 animal forces in yourself they would not die, they only thresh about, trying to survive. Try bringing 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?
See Programmed – Levels of the Brain – Being the Person or Thing
Comments
I had a dream that my husband and I were walking in the desert by some large rock formations. It was sunny outside with clear sky’s. We saw a white Wolfe running towards us. He was scared but I was just curious. As the Wolfe changed direction and ran away. From behind us came a small red fox with a bushy tail. It was very peaceful and seemed to just walk around me. It stopped in front of me looked me right in the eye ( it’s eyes were big and sparkly green). Then it just walked back behind me and walked away. What could this mean?
I was living in a caravan at the time of my dream. I dreamt that I was preparing breakfast for 2 of my friends when I could hear a load of banging on top of the caravan, thinking it was kids messing around I went out to scare them off. When I opened the door I found it was a pack of wolves running and jumping from one caravan to another. One wolf (black with white chest) approached me steadily (I felt that he was a male) so I let him in, when the bacon was cooked I dished up, as I gave a plate to my friends the wolf growled, I did not feel threatened by him, if anything I felt at ease with him being there. I gave him some bacon, and what felt like 10min I thanked him and he was on his way again. Please could you let me know what this means as I have tried to find the answer for some time know xxx
Dear Toni – You do not mention if you were living in the woods; http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/not-enough-information/
Your IP number shows that you live in Western Poland and I read that in spring 2014 there were at least 31 resident wolf family groups and that wolves were present in all biggest forest tracts of Western Poland.
Were you afraid sometimes at night?
The first part of your dream may reflect a time of some rebellion in your life; “a load of banging on top of the caravan, thinking it was kids messing around.” And your response towards this part of yourself; “I went out to scare them off.”
Is that how you were treated?
QUOTE from http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/animals-in-your-dreams/
“Is the animal domesticated or wild?
This illustrates the difference between urges within yourself that you have completely socialised or learned to cooperate with, and those that are in conflict with your conscious actions or what other people expect of you. An example of this can be seen in youthful rebellion, and in the difference between what is instinctive and spontaneous in a young person, such as aggression or fear, and what is expected of them by others. The rebellious youth might allow their unsocialised urges to express as criminal acts, or disruptive social behaviour. On the other hand they might express it in the form of music or art that, while it is still ant- establishment, is rewarded, as with the Rolling Stones.
So the need here is to recognise what of your feelings or urges are involved, and ask yourself if the wild is healthy as it is, or does it need a better relationship with your social or work activities? On the other hand, sometimes social restraints or needs deaden the spontaneous and natural in oneself, and so need to be reduced for greater personal harmony.”
The way you respond to the wolf approaching you shows that you are willing to face and allow this aspect of yourself to enter your mind; http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/acting-on-your-dream/#BeingPerson
Sharing your salty breakfast I see as a symbol of your willingness to become friends with this part of you; to feed it according to its needs and to give it a better relationship with your social life, which makes that you feel grateful for this “wild” part of you too.
Anna 🙂
I once had a dream that I was trapped in a place with a bunch of other people and a pack of wolves. The wolves were a mixture of grey, white, and black. They were chasing us all and killing the people that they caught. A greyish colored wolf was chasing me and had finally tackled me to the ground and I was sure that he would hurt me, but when I looked into its blue eyes I knew that it wasn’t going to harm me and I started to get a strange sense of comfort with the wolf. Why would the wolves kill everyone else but spare me?
I have this dream 1-2 times a year and have had it for the last 6 years and it’s always the same. I’m at my old house, it’s nightime and I’m looking out our front glass door and I see something moving around outside. I know it’s not good but I can’t see it yet. There are a lot of people in my house and several of them pass me and ask what I’m looking at and I turn to them and say,” don’t open the door. It’s not what it really looks like.” The people laugh and keep chatting away with each other and I keep telling people not to open the door, don’t let it in. And after I get finished saying it for the 3rd time, everything goes in slow motion. There is no noise and I turn around and look at the glass door and sitting there is a little white fox with big green eyes and it’s just looking at me. I know it’s not what it looks like. And then the noise picks back up and people are now looking at the door saying how cute it is and they open the door and the fox comes in. In the blink of an eye everyone is dead, bodies are everywhere and are torn to shreds. There is blood on the walls and the floor is puddles of blood. I just stand there and turn around and walk down our hallway looking at all the dead bodies. I finally come in the kitchen and there is more blood and bodies in there and through the rest of the rooms. At this point my head is bowed down and I turn and sit on top of the kitchen island and I lift my head up and I’m smiling and looking at all the blood. And from the other end of the hallway near the glass door comes this large black wolf with red eyes and blood dripping from its mouth. It walks up to me and bows it’s head. I simply keep smiling and say,” good job, you did well.” I keep smiling, I feel thrilled and alive like I’ve never felt before, and the blood makes me happy. I then jump down from the island counter top and walk up to the wolf and stroke it’s head and say, “let’s go.” The wolf then follows me, walking side by side with me and we walk out the glass door. At the end of the dream and when I wake up, I never feel threatened or scared.
I was saw a wolf in dream and trying to escape it. Running throughout the dream and saying my sister to save me. I saw only her face. I was in room first and out side its a dark forest. Wolf are white & brown. What i remember these are more than 2.
I had a dream and would like some info on it please. Me and a buddy from work pulled off on the side of the road and i noticed infront of us it looked like a liter of rotweiler pups someone had abandoned and i thought that was so sad and pitiful. So i got out of the truck to go help them and i made it past the front of my truck and a big white wolf rose up from within the liter and charged me. I ran back towards my door and turned around to try to keep it from attacking but it just ran by me a few feet and turned then ran by again a few feet. I yelled no at it but from yelling no in my dream i mumbled it loud enough to wake me up so i didnt get to finish the dream and see the outcome. Any thoughts?
I’ve had these dreams since I was a young teen. The first one I ever had in was deep in the woods running with a pack and we came to a clearing. In front of me a wolf black as could be with red in his eyes. Beside me came a white wolf with silver on its back. As both wolves and I started circling in the clearing, the white wolf and I became one. Then the black wolf lunged and we fought. I came out the victor. Through my life the black wolf has returned. During those times sometimes I would sometimes be joined with the white wolf, others I would fight as me. If I won, everything was fine. Buthe if I lost, in my waking life something bad always happened. Usually a death in my family. Last night I saw him again but this time he was just laying on the grass in from of me. Just laying there looking at me. Several times I woke myself because I didn’t want to fight him. But each time I closed my eyes again I saw him. This happened 5 or 6 times and on the last time he just stood up and walked away. The white wolf just sitting there next to me. Like a dog might. I’m not sure what this all means.
In my dream I was on a swing, flying very high with a lot of fun. The wolf appeared-he was jumping on me trying to bite me-i was scared. And then the man showed up who advised me how to tame the wolf. I started feeding him with raw, red meat. After a while a wolf was resting on my lap, peaceful and soothed. I was giving him pieces of meat, he still was pinching my fingers my rather for fun. He was huge, brown-grey, with his big head on my lap. I would be grateful for an interpretation. Thank you, Kinga
Dear Kinga – Well you have some wise and powerful helpers in your inner world!
It is good to realise that everything you see as outside you in your dream is coming from you, your emotions, your fears, your beliefs, your joys and explorations and are all you, clothed in the dream images and drama. Every image and person and animal in your dream is an expression of your own life process. As such it is alive and intelligent and is something sent to help you. A dream is like a projection from a movie projector, except that you are the projector.
The way I see your dream is that you start with enjoying your (sexual?) self, which leads to the wolf appearing; a symbol of your natural and instinctive urges and feelings.
This direct confrontation frightens you and then the man appears to help you learn to relate to these urges that were previously unavailable to your will or needs.
Perhaps you mainly lived in your head, without having a real connection with your body and its sexual and emotional needs?
See also http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/archetype-of-the-animus-jungs-view-of-the-male-in-the-female/
Meat represents sexual or physical experience, physical strength and prowess. To partake of meat is to partake of experience of the body, or material values.
So your dream could reflect that there is a need to take care of this side of you.
The need here is to recognise what of your feelings or urges are involved, and ask yourself if the wild is healthy as it is, or does it need a better relationship with your social or work activities? On the other hand, sometimes social restraints or needs deaden the spontaneous and natural in oneself, and so need to be reduced for greater personal harmony.
See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/animals-in-your-dreams/
Anna 🙂
Just had a dream of a white wolf. I was sleeping in my bedroom, happened to be a furnished carport.
a window at the end of my bed was open, a metal mesh covering the open window, my cat woke me playing with the white wolf through the mesh screen. I got up to tell my cat to stop playing with the white wolf. Got up the wolf bounded away. A second one joined in the distance, they playfully ran away. I was going to watch them leave….the door was neither latched nor locked, in my dream I thought “has always been open.” I awoke.
I need help understanding this dream please… I was in my house and my dog ran outside so I went after him only to find myself in a grave yard looking over a grave and saying how sad I was.. My boyfriend came out and called me I told him I had to get Prince ( my dog) as I walk towards my boyfriend and dog I walked over another grave stone that wasn’t stable in the ground it moved as I walked over it I started to pray and continued after my dog when I finally got my dog in my hands a white wolf appeared and turned to me and started to come to me I was scared of wat it was goin to do to me but I didn’t move I thought he was goin to attack me but still didn’t move I only moved my dog behind me and the white wolf put my hand in his mouth as he did that I yelled for my boyfriend and woke up… Please help me with understanding this dream as it has had a powerful impact on me thank u
You have a great writing about the topic, thanks for sharing your knowledge.
I saw two gilrs were taking a dead body (someone i dont know, i feel was female), the dead body was on cart that they were pushing and caring to hide. The body was on cart hidden by huge tent but icould see her legs. I started following them into the jungle (with intention to witness). I saw some one was coming from another side with some armour, i changed my path to avoid engagement, but then i returned, i had a gun in my hand and the attacker was then four or five wolves, i was shooting and killing them one by one, the last one after shooting and being hit, was following me i was afraid that my gun had no more bullets but there were some and i could kill the wolf. I could see white bullets wehen i was firing all the times.
I had a dream where I was sitting at the top of a stair case. A tall, thin wolf apeared at the bottom of the stairs and it looked at me like it knew who I was. It seemed to be starving because the outline of it’s back was visible. He kept walking halfway up the stairs (I assume to eat me) and then turning away (because I had a feeling it knew me). It continued this process until it collapsed at the bottom of the stairs with a drooling mouth. It got a sad, apologetic sad look in its eyes and it walked faster toward me. All the while I was aware of a room off to the side about half way up the staircase. A girl I knew from high school, but am not close with was doing crafts in this room. When the wolf was halfway up I called out the girls name so the wolf would hear her voice and go into where she was instead. The wolf heard her and turned into the room where she was. I woke up before I saw what happened but I can only assume she was eaten.
Dear Mandie Martin – It is important to understand that every person, animal, image in your dream is a reflection of your inner world.
So please read http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/what-we-need-to-remember-about-us-3/#Reflect
and
http://dreamhawk.com/inner-life/inner-world/#MakesInner
The wolf in your dream reflects that important aspects/urges/feelings of your inner world are struggling to survive and have even turned against you and it is not what “the wolf in you” wants; “It got a sad, apologetic sad look in its eyes”.
Your position at the top of the stairs suggests that you have escaped from urges arising from lower down in the body – so a movement of attention towards the abstract or mental away from fears arising from the unconscious or sexuality.
See http://dreamhawk.com/inner-life/the-unconscious-2/
The girl doing crafts in the room half way up the staircase is a symbol of your wonderful creative potential, your ability to deal with this situation in a way that will be healing and that will help you grow. You assumed that this girl was eaten, and I believe that the wolf went to her because she represents the creative part in you that can deal with this situation.
See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/create-creative-creativity/
and please also read http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/animal-situations/
What you can do to feed your wolf is to enter the world of your creative imagination and continue your dream where it stopped using Power Dreaming.
Explore what the wolf is trying to communicate to you by “Being the wolf” and “Talking as the wolf” and use the same approach for your creative part inside you by being the girl doing crafts.
See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/secrets-power-dreaming/
Good Luck!
Anna 🙂
I had a dream I was living in a house full of family and friends including my own children. And one day I took a walk down a long path beside my house and at the very end of it I came across I pack of wolves and I could hear there thoughts I knew the wanted to attack me for a reason unknown but for more than I was human. I ran back towards the house and they followed all I could think about was warning the people I loved and making sure they was safe inside the house because when I left they was all in the yard. There was a fence around my house and I had to get past it and once I did I warned everyone of the pack coming and for them safe inside. Then grabbed two knifes and ran back outside to confront the pack. Once there it started to get dark they was surrounding the house I ran and slide under the fence where there was a hole. They started to surround me but I wasn’t afraid I was in full “battle mode” you could say ready to defend myself and others. As they closed in on me the moon started to rise and out of no where I became one of them but not only was I one of them I was there leader. I was the biggest the strongest the most beautiful. This is why they were after me the leader knew who and what I was and wanted to stop the change before I could take over. I remember standing tall (as a wolf) and them bowing there heads to me. I remember looking back at the house knowing there was people I loved in there but that I could never turn back my life was forever changed. So I went to them as a wolf said my goodbyes in my own way and left with the pack.. This is a recurring dream what could it mean?
Dear Jennifer – Occasionally dreams occur that directly questions our beliefs and ways of living/relating or even gives us experience of a completely different belief system or paradigm. If we remember that dreams might be a sort of virtual reality we create ourselves, formed out of unconscious fears, hopes, intuitions, attitudes, beliefs, and the mass of our experience, then it seems likely that in this virtual world there are boundaries to the landscape, people and things we create. Not only do we spend time within the graphically projected beliefs, formed as they are into events and situations, but we might also at times venture beyond the creation of our own imagery into discovery of fresh worlds. In doing this we may realise that there are no boundaries except what we create.
See also http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/archetype-of-the-paradigm/
You shared that this is a recurring dream and in general dreams recur because there are ways the dreamer habitually responds to their internal or external world. Because their attitude or response is unchanging, the dream that reflects it remains the same. It is noticeable in those who explore their dreams using such techniques as described under processing dreams, that recurring themes disappear or change because the attitudes or habitual anxieties that gave rise to them have been met or transformed.
The way I see your dream is that it reflects an inner transformation process “in a nutshell”
and when you “respond to the inner Call” of individuation your dream will change or stop recurring at all.
See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/individuation/
So please use http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/processing-dreams/
and
http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/practical-techniques-for-understanding-your-dreams/
and “answer the inner Call”, for your dream does show that you have the leading inner qualities of the Alpha female wolf; which I see as an expression of your authentic (True) self.
D. Winnicott used “True Self” to describe a sense of self based on spontaneous authentic experience, and a feeling of being alive, having a “real self”.
“False Self” by contrast Winnicott saw as a defensive facade — one which in extreme cases could leave its holders lacking spontaneity and feeling dead and empty, behind a mere appearance of being real.
Anna 🙂
This time I dreamt I had awoken in a field surrounded by trees that circled me. I hear the howl of a wolf and from the left is a white wolf and is coming towards me an circles me then growls at me as if I was some threat and before it lunges I hear another wolf howl and from the right is a black wolf then stands in front me then circles the white wolf and both wolves attack each other. The white wolf was bloodied and limped away an the black wolf was unscathed and sits in front of me then I awake. A week after I end up in the same place where the wolves fought but there was drumming and singing that surrounded the whole area. I see the black wolf but I avoided him and tried to find a way out but made no results in finding an exit. An the black wolf was watching with patience and gets up as I gave up on finding a way out an brushes his tail on my leg hinting me to follow. I do and I get to a certain area where the singing and drumming got louder with blankets covering every branch on every tree, the black wolf shows me how to walk around the blankets without touching them till I reach two giant blankets that almost resemble gates and the black wolf open the blankets with the singing and drumming got louder and fast and a white light drowns my sight till I wake up. What does it mean ?
Dear Aaron – The dream starts with an awareness of your wholeness in which both black and white have a place. In ourselves the good and bad coexist, and one balances the other.
So please explore why the wolfs attack each other by using
http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/acting-on-your-dream/#BeingPerson and/or
http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/practical-techniques-for-understanding-your-dreams/#TalkingAs
Feeling whole means that you have integrated and come to terms with every aspect of who you are. You have met within you the murderer, the saint, the swindler and the honest trader, the sexual pervert and the straight married person, the homosexual and the heterosexual, the darker and the light filled should find a balance in each individual.
This balance is like a razors edge in which any one-sidedness would lead to imbalance within the individual. But at the same time it is not about being perfect or a saint, but a balanced and whole human being with very wide choices.
See also http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/what-we-need-to-remember-about-us-3/#DualBeing
I feel the second dream is an initiation into a wider awareness and the black wolf is your guide. The drums are a symbol of your state of mind which is changed.
I believe every branch of every tree was covered with a blanket because for the moment this changed state of mind made that your awareness did not touch any connection with your physical body and the earth, your family background and influences, cultural roots etc.
When the wolf opens the gates you met What you are – LIGHT/POTENTIAL – beyond the form “the past” has given you.
Dreams like these are so important to explore for yourself, for it is YOUR inner journey into a much wider awareness, into becoming aware of your potential.
See also http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/energy-sex-and-dreams/
So please use http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/practical-techniques-for-understanding-your-dreams/
Good Luck!
Anna 🙂
I had a dream where I was wolf but I was running to meet people. I was racing with another person, but I was so fast I made it there first… Is there a meaning of why I was a wolf myself and not just seeing a wolf or hear it?? I need to know what’s going on!
Dear Brianna – Thank you for such an interesting question.
To answer it, yes, I believe there is a difference between being a wolf in a dream and hearing or seeing a wolf.
The difference is found in being moved by your mammal brain without awareness – “I need to know what’s going on!”( http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/conditioned-reflexes-or-responses/) and being moved by your mammal brain with awareness.
It is a wise decision from you to not overlook the fact we are largely moved by our mammalian (and reptilian) brains. In the first place we are our own victims when we are directed by our reptilian and/or mammal brain only. Other people can become victims if they are directed by the same brains too. If they manage to become aware they can leave the dance of interaction with another person who has triggered a response in us, they can outgrow the game in which we trigger each other to re-act from our animal brain rather than to act with AWARENESS from our human brain. See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/brain-levels-and-dreams/
and
http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/self-observation/
Anna 🙂