Stairs Staircase
As a baby, stairs presented a huge challenge. To deal with them we had to develop several major abilities, such as steady balance, confidence, control of fear of falling, strength of purpose. Therefore, stairs represent many feelings in connection with achievement, failure, climbing and falling. When these feelings also connect with work, relationship, social standing or sex, then we use stairs as a symbol of what we are feeling.
Taking steps toward something; going up or down in life in your own estimation; moving from one environment to another, so a shift in some way; gaining a new skill, or facing a challenge – stairs are difficult and dangerous when we are children, and so probably remain as a symbol of challenge, danger and achievement in adulthood. Many dreams of climbing stairs include feelings of high anxiety. This is either to do with avoiding a danger at the foot of the stairs, or arriving at something threatening or dangerous at the top. But the difficult feelings might not be due to danger, but to finding or realising things that radically change the way you see yourself or the world. The following example illustrates this.
Example: We move into a house and nobody but myself has really taken any notice of the stairs. Nobody has been up. In one dream I try to go up but the children are scared for me. They plead, “don’t go up Mum, just forget them.” Then I wake. In the next dream I wait till they are asleep. Half way up I can see there is a glass roof, the wooden frames painted green. I am terrified but have to go on. Then I wake. Next dream I got up there. It smells very musty. Lots of draw sheets
covering things. See Nothing Can Hurt You in Your Dreams
Going down stairs: This is a controlled fall. The ease or difficulty with which you manage the descent, shows how well you manage the fear of falling, or the measure of your confidence.
If you are going down into a basement or cellar it can mean that in the cellar or basement one is near to the earth, the primordial forces of nature, what moves beneath ones ‘street level’ personality. So if you feel anxious as you go down it suggests you have not explored this level of your mind yet. This is because many people as their awareness reaches beyond what they feel is their normal self feel scared. Such resistances cause us to create awful dreams and fears as a means of avoiding our own inner world and its wonders. We feel that we will be swallowed up and we will die. It is important to say that when we meet the experience of powerlessness through becoming aware of the hugeness of your Life, which we are usually unaware if, it feels like something alien or attacking, and it is a shock.
Going down may mean you are going down in life, but sometimes it links with loss of good feelings, of health or even like the following dream.
Example: “I dreamed that I was awakened by the sound of a horse’s hooves in the street. I saw a white horse, with no rider, stopping at midnight in front of our house. I knew it came for my younger sister. I went to the door and opened it to call her, when suddenly I saw her coming down the stairs, all dressed in white. She did not say a word to me, but walked with stately steps down the stairs, through the hall, and out of the door. She mounted the horse and rode away. I woke up crying.” The woman’s sister died a month later.
Going up stairs: Again, this is about a change of situation or environment, but going up frequently depicts greater excitement, awareness or discovery of new experience.
Going up shows you leaving the everyday, ground level or ordinary world of experience.
So it can be an escape from involvement with others or events, or also an ascent into greater vulnerability.
The example below shows how going upstairs can be an opening or widening of awareness to include areas of experience usually avoided. In fact Mrs. H. takes her awareness down to more everyday levels to escape meeting the light. This shows how we not only avoid unpleasantness, but also something wonderful or out of the ordinary.
Running up: Escaping from urges arising from lower down in the body – so a movement of attention towards the abstract or mental away from fears arising from unconscious or sexuality; lack of confidence, a fear of failing or not being capable is also a common feeling in connection with stairs; if running up with pleasure, then it suggests exuberance producing a change in your feelings and situation.
Walking down: Going down stairs, apart from a descent from a higher place, a more inclusive view, is also a controlled fall. This might suggest being in control of a changing situation.
Skimming down: This is a dream often experienced by children. It is almost like flying down the stairs, the feet just touching the edge of the stairs every so often, creating an exhilarating sense of pleasure. The reason for the dream is most likely that going down stairs as a young child is a difficult and dangerous skill. Most of us have fallen at some point. As we gain greater physical control and can run down stairs, a sense of greater achievement arises. Not only stairs, but other areas of our environment that were dangerous, are now a source of pleasure. The dream translates this feeling into the image of skimming the stairs.
Example: I would stand at the top of the stairs and instead of walking down the stairs I used to fly. This dream lasted for a number of years and as I got older I sometimes dreamed that boys or men were chasing me. I would suddenly take off like a helicopter and fly away. Sometimes narrowly escaping from my pursuer.
Here the stairs represent confidence in dealing with difficulties. But when she got to puberty she faced a new difficulty, her desire for a partner and her sexual feelings, flying away into the air often shows how we can escape difficult feelings by living in a fantasy, reading a book or watching a film as an escape.
Example: ‘I was in a building with a group of people. I was being chased and suddenly fly up in the air to escape my pursuers.’ Michael O.
Spiral staircase: The spiral staircase usually indicates – if going up – your personal evolution and positive change, and the change is one involving greater insight or wider view of yourself and life. It also involves the continuous repeating of experience, going around daily activities, facing the same again and again, but each cycle brings positive change.
The spiral staircase hints at a view of life you have, that you are in a process of continual growth, the spiral staircase of Life. So perhaps the change is part of your growth. The feeling of the house is usually a way of telling you something – probably that the house/you that you live in at the moment is not a good place to be – or the reverse. It is probably referring to your attitudes in life.
In most cases the ascent is, like the rising sun during the day or the summer, linked completely with the descent in the evening, night, or winter. Ascent is therefore part of a spiral which also descends, the cycle of birth, death, rebirth. Christianity tends to speak of a one time resurrection, whereas the ancients saw it as a continuing cycle.
Example: ‘I go up the first flight of stairs, then the next, and there is my ex husband’s Nan who is dead and whom I have never met. I don’t see her face but I know it’s her. She is a blinding white light and I run down the stairs.’ Mrs. H.
Comments
Hi, I had the weirdest dream of me and my family where me and my husband moved to a new house on a farm. But I also remember in the dream that we had another house as well and that my father thought I was gonna live in this new one by myself.
I specifically remember my parents being there as well as my sister and grandmother. As we moved in my sister and myself saw a staircase and it seemed as though it was made for a wheelchair. We tried going up and found a button/leaver that takes you up automatically and very fast. When we got up the staircase ended but I remember of thinking in the dream the potential the house has and maybe they started with the second floor and never finished. As we got down again there was something hanging from the ceiling and as we moved closer it was an old lady that had a red/maroonish old style dress on and she fell. When we got to her to see if she is okay she was fine. My sister and myself went with the lady to the kitchen to introduce her to my family and they could not see her only my sister and myself. Then I dreamt we were all sitting outside eating bread with butter and my dad told me to try it with some sauce and then he said the people in the area are very nosy as they were driving by to check out who moved in. I remember seeing the car lights in rows coming down the road as it was getting dark.
I had a dream (felt like a nightmare) about going up stairs with my daughter (she’s 17 months old in real life) she was probably 6 or 7 years old in my dream, we were going up the endless stairs and (I’m not sure why) i kept holding her hand while climbing and i kept reassuring her by saying “only 8 more years, just 8 more years” but i guess we climbed for well over 8 years because as i felt her grip release i look back and she’s an old woman (I’m still the same age in my dream) and she told me she can’t keep climbing and just kind of gave up….. then i woke up crying, hyperventilating, sweating.. i have no idea what it all could mean, i just know it hit me hard to make me cry and hyperventilate when seeing my daughter go from 6 year old to an old woman…
.
Hi – It is important that you read https://dreamhawk.com/forums/index.php?topic=529.msg1472#msg1472
Nothing can replace your own ability to understand your dream. With a little effort you can do this by practicing what is described in – http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/acting-on-your-dream/#BeingPerson or http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/getting-at-your-dreams-meaning/
Tony
Brittani – Dreaming of a young daughter is usually referring to you at that age – 6-7. We often use this in dream when we are meeting a childhood event we couldn’t cope with at that age but are now able to meet.
Obviously it was still difficult for you because you hyperventilated and cried. It might help to try https://dreamhawk.com/health-and-healing/lessons-in-relaxation-part-3/ – https://dreamhawk.com/approaches-to-being/opening-to-life/ – https://dreamhawk.com/body-and-mind/1-4-2-breath-control/
I keep having this reoccuring dream that i am climbing a metal staircase at a hotel as I climb this staircase the stairs become steeper & steeper to the point where if i let go of the railings of the stairs i will plummet to my death. As I am climbing I soon realize I can’t turn around to go down or i will fall & if I climb foreward they will continue to get steeper & I still might fall. I call out for help from my mother. And she replies yelling “take the elevator!” “I can’t!” I scream then there is no response. In this dream my boyfriend of two years is always there i cannot remember vividly why he was there and what he is doing but he is always there with me. This dream is confusing to me. And I would love to hear anyones input.
Hi – It would help you to understand your dreams, if you would read – http://dreamhawk.com/news/summing-up/ and also http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/features-found-on-site/ which has so much information in.
Nothing can replace your own ability to understand your dream. With a little effort you can do this by practising what is described in – http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/acting-on-your-dream/#BeingPerson or http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/getting-at-your-dreams-meaning/
Tony
Rose – Is your work or your life stressful, because the dream image of you getting more and more stressed as you climb higher – in life?
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.
So there is no real cause to feel fear of dying because you fall, but falling in dreams can indicates a loss of confidence. A threat to usual sources of security such as relationship, source of money. Also falling can link with your social image such as loss of face or sustaining beliefs. It often involves tension, loss of social grace or moral failure – such as falling into temptation
So again stressful feelings. In the past you appeared to reach out for your mother in difficult circumstances – but it is not working for you at the moment. Your dependence has changed to your boyfriend, but the problem is not an outward one but one within yourself, one you need to deal with. Maybe it will help to read http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/eight-step-method-to-manage-intense-emotion/
I had a dream that I was sitting with a group of people on small rocks grey dusts floor under a black metal (a little rusted) staircase of about 5 or less steps. We where looking toward a fountain full of people washing their faces. I would like to understand what it means to be under a staircase and looking at the stairs from above.
Hi – I am stopping from answering your posts fully – but will try to give hints; sometimes long ones because I quote from masses I have already put online. Also, I need to take time to update the site – dreamhawk.
It would help you to understand your dreams, if you would read – http://dreamhawk.com/approaches-to-being/questions-2/#Summing and also http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/features-found-on-site/ which has so much information in.
Nothing can replace your own ability to understand your dream. With a little effort you can do this by practising what is described in – http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/acting-on-your-dream/#BeingPerson or http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/getting-at-your-dreams-meaning/
Tony
Lian – The stairs are about the ability to change your level or environment. This usually suggests changing your ability to know or see more about your life and its meaning.
That they were a little rusty says that you have not used your ability to grow in awareness. It shows the emergence of a wider awareness growing out of the limitations of everyday experience.
Because you were looking at the fountain full of people washing their faces continues the dreams story. For you too should go to the fountain and face your face, or even get into it and immerse yourself in it. For it is the fountain of Life that cleans and heals us.
It has the features if water, the river, the something we all experience but usually fail to understand. Each of us are immersed in a ‘river’ of constant change. If you think about it you have been carried, pushed, impelled by this current as you were moved through babyhood, childhood, teenage and adulthood. It is the current if Life. This current then carries us on through old age and through the gates of death. All the time we are faced by decisions, and each decision directs us on a different path, helping to create our future. And this force of growth and change. and is fought like hell by many as we are afraid of such changes, especially getting old and facing death. So make a decision to get into the water using http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/acting-on-your-dream/#BeingPerson and http://dreamhawk.com/approaches-to-being/opening-to-life/
I had this dream… First i was in a forest or garden. There’s this little girl that im actually fond of at first. But it turns out that she’s a little naughty and not listening to instructions and warnings that almost cause her danger. She run into the forest, i trued to stop her. But still she went there. Then, she looked at me so fierce and i said, i dont care, do whatever you want to do. Non of my business anymore. Then the set up/environment changed. It became like a building. I am running first riding a bicycle… All throughout the running there are obstacles there age people who’s coming after me. There is something that’s they want to get from me. Then, i continue to run, and im carrying a baby – that’s what they want to get from me. I continue to run although i dont know where to go. I jsut follow the road sheaf of me and continue to ride the bicycle. Then more detailed obstacle – people are throwing me sharp things (just like to ninja) so i lost the bike. Then the’s one person while im running… On my mins i was thinking…where should i go… Then she/he answered “go up” i run going up the stair carrying the baby. They continue to come after me. Then i reached the top. It seems to be a road l, on the other aide of the road there’s 3 people waiting for me. One seems to be like God… They are waitint for the baby. I cross the road after waiting since there are vehicles passing through. Then i hand over the baby. Then the set up change. It becomes like a too of something – all white. The baby is lying done in a white crib. Then the 2 people and God was talking. As i observed the place. It seems ghat its not the and yet. I really don’t want to wake up. To continue til the AND of the dream. Bust since i hold up my bladder long time i did wake up.
Hi – I am going to halt from answering your posts – the reason is that in so many of your post I give the same information to many people. That is because most posts do not realise the difference between dreaming and waking life. /it makes a great difference.
So, most of what I put in answers is my attempt at explain what dreams are really about. It would help you to understand your dreams, if you would read – http://dreamhawk.com/approaches-to-being/questions-2/#Summing it would help me, and hopefully you too.
Tony
WOW – What a story. The child and the baby are all you because we have memory of all our ages. All the images, people, animals, places we see in our dreams, are simply your own feelings, fears, hopes and wonder projected onto the screen of your sleeping mind as images. So, it makes sense to take the image of your dream person, thing or animal back into you and own it. In that way, you are meeting and dealing with the things about yourself you are not owning or conscious of. That is why dreams are often difficult to understand, because we are hiding things from ourselves. To do this you can use Being the Person or Thing
Nearly always when people dream about someone they know or a strange new person or situation they automatically believe the dream is about that person, situation, or animal. But when we think of our friend or partner our thoughts are not them – just our thoughts and feelings about them.
You are running because you are not facing the life lessons you need to know – you are avoiding them. But you touched the wisest part of you telling you to run up. Up means lifting your awareness to be able to see or understand more. There you touch your core self – God/Life. Obviously there is still more to learn, after all you have barely woken to the central part of you. See http://dreamhawk.com/approaches-to-being/lifes-little-secrets/ and http://dreamhawk.com/approaches-to-being/opening-to-life/
I Am having a repeated dream where I climb a set of stairs made of stone but as soon as I am about to reach the top I get really scared to take the next step fearing that I might fall and than I start going back down . Every time I have this dream there is always a person (some times known sometimes unknown ) who encourages me to take the next step. It’s a repeated dream and I am veryvery curious to know what it means . Thanks in advance .
I been dreaming a whole week now .. with me being in diffrent situations that always lead up to ne coming home snd having to go up the stairs i live in the floor so going up tge stairs for me is nothibg .. but in my dreams.. i start going up fine but when getting close to my floor iget scared i fall and try to drag myself to another step but am too scared of falling cuz i feel like the space between each step now suddenly is wide i panic out
Hi – I am sorry I cannot answer many dreams at the moment. But I have described a way that you can get to the meaning of your dream. It only takes a little time to work at knowing the meaning of your dream.
So please click on the link and find your dreams meaning – http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/getting-at-your-dreams-meaning/
Tony
OK so I had this dream the other night and I was at this house where I was babysitting and I had a friend over and her boyfriend well I went out side and there were these creepy look stairs and I knew it lead to a room but I was so scared to fall I didn’t go up there I’ve been look for a reason I was so scared to go up those stairs can anyone help figure out why
Had a very freaky dream. My husband and i were at my deceased grandparents house when we received a phone call my husband answered and it was from my grandparents it was my grandmother asking about where something was and you could hear my grandfather in the background of the phone call he has a booming voice. I didnt hear exactly what she was looking for but my husband responded very casually. When the call ended i asked who it was and my husband told me it was grandma and grandpa and i reminded him that they are dead how is that possible. I remember saying i hope that freaky kinda stuff doesnt happen or im outa here. We started watching a movie quite loudly upstairs when i started hearing crying from the basement we stopped the movie to investigate mu husband was like its prob the cat and i pointed under the side table where the cat was curled up sleeping peacefully. I held my husband tight as we walked to the top of the stairs to the basement where the young child (est 1-3 years old)could be heard clearly crying somewhere deeper in the basement but out of sight i got on my hands and knees to look between the cracks of the stairs and still couldnt see the infant but i could see the usual cluttered basement of my grandparents house. There was a light on in the laundry room which is where the source of the crying was coming from. This dream freaked me out so much it woke me up. Any ideas?
Floating stairs i walk down very strong stairs but i dont walk up them they are floating i like th az its to my lovely new house
i have this two dreams…first when i have to go up on a stairs…somethong bad happen to me and my lady boss would have to hurriedly carry me in that stairs so they wil take me to the hospital… and then suddenly i was up and where talking to a little boy
and didnt noticed im on a stairs and i almost fell
what does this means….
Hello, I had an odd dream last night. I was in a new house but then I had decided to go upstairs to the next floor. The stairs were wooden and had carpet on them. The hallway I was in was a bit dark and gloomy, in my opinion it just needed a light to be turned on and it would have felt homey and comfortable. But, while I was upstairs going down the hallway to find a light I kept here my family call my name from down below. I turned around and started to head down the stairs but was turned around and kept in the hallway! No matter how many times I tried to go down I kept getting spun around and drifted down the hallway more away from my family. I felt like I was being played tricks in the whole time by a ghost. I kept turning around to confront whatever was there but nothing was and I kept walking down the hallway more and the ghost seem to follow I woke up after one point when I asked the ghost in the hallway what it wanted. Wonder if you can give some insight. I am starting a new job and a new chapter in my life.
Dear Nikki – Well it would be interesting to hear what the ghost wants; http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/dialogue-with-a-dream-character-or-object/
A ghost may reflect an aspect of your mind that exists beyond preconceived ideas and beliefs.
The stage of your (inner) life is new to you; with awareness you can move through the unknown that you perceive as “a bit dark and gloomy” towards feeling homey and comfortable again and it will take some persistence to not return to your “family”.
Family in a dream represent values, attitudes and emotional or social responses you have absorbed from your family and http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/individuation/ refers to the processes involved in becoming a self-aware and independent human being.
Anna 🙂
I dream of my friend that she came home unexpectedly from abroad. Her boyfriend which is also a friend of mine we have an affair in real life but we are done now, was also there. My friend she brought a lot of stuffs for me and our other friends. She was smilling at me at kisses me on the left cheek and i kissed her on the right. I thought she was pregnant because she wore a jacket. I told her that. And she said “No, who would the father be?”. Like she is abroad and her boyfriend is home. Her boyfriend and also my ex, well we become together 1 month after she left for abroad but we broke up after 2 months cause he can’t leave her. Back to my dream – Her boyfriend got a little dirt on his hair and she took it off. They were sweet and Im really jealous. But she took my hand smiling at me and said we should talk all three of us. She pulled me downstairs and her boyfriend was also with us going downstairs. We sat down the table and her mood changed she is not smiling anymore. There is anger in her eyes. And my ex and her bf told me that he is already ashamed of me and like he was angry and talks about he is like a hard stool or poop something and ashamed to get near me. My friend starts to talk about us that everything is not okay. Then I woke up. Me and her bf we are still working together.
I had a dream last night that i was going upstairs woth my boyfriend and he was holding my hand and helped me to climb upstairs i dont know that i was a good sign or bad or anything related to my boyfriend.
I have always had these types of dreams throughout my whole life. It’s where I’m in any house, and it’ll usually be mine, my aunt’s or any of my old houses. But if it’s a totally different and brand new house, it’s an extremely large and beautiful white home. When I’m on the middle floor I feel like I’m the queen of the world because the house is so beautiful, and I feel giddy and joyful because it’s like I moved in for the first time. But whenever I try to go upstairs or downstairs, the stairs become darker and darker. Eerie and disturbing noises echo across the staircase, and I start to feel terrified. And when I try to walk back, I can never return unless if I tried to go back on the first few steps or so. After a few years of these kind of dreams, I made it a rule to never go upstairs or downstairs ever again. But last night I had a dream where I was in a beautiful white home again, but this time I walked downstairs with my father down and down and my surroundings became browner and browner. After a while, we reached an end point and I saw two large brown staircases – one backwards and one in front of us, next to each other. I was scared again and I ran up the stairs trying to find the beautiful white floors again, then I woke up.
Dear Aurora – I believe the middle floor of the white house expresses a state of mind in which you connect with your Core Self; the potential for all that you can achieve or become and so express in your waking life; http://dreamhawk.com/approaches-to-being/touching-your-core-self-part-6/
You wrote “When I’m on the middle floor I feel like I’m the queen of the world because the house is so beautiful, and I feel giddy and joyful because it’s like I moved in for the first time.”
This could reflect a “core experience” and I believe that moving in for the first time could reflect your ability to see/perceive/experience things in a new light.
Going upstairs or downstairs may express how you dare to move away again from being aware with a clearness of mind to explore the parts of you that are still dark and so unconscious – http://dreamhawk.com/inner-life/the-unconscious-2/ – so that the content can be brought to the white, middle floor as well, where you can see it in a new light.
It takes some practice to move into unconscious territory so that you can explore its contents AND find your way out of it again.
It might help to remember especially if what occurred for you in exploring your unconscious mind was a deeply felt experience that it only occurred because you made an agreement with yourself to allow it; you choose to go upstairs or downstairs.
Therefore, although it was spontaneous and unexpected, it was still an expression of your own will to allow. To stop the process you simply reverse your decision, thinking to yourself something like – during this exploration – going upstairs or downstairs – it was appropriate to allow myself freedom of movement fantasy and sound – “Eerie and disturbing noises echo across the staircase/surroundings becoming browner and browner” – but now I will again assume my usual social behaviour. This is my choice.
With this in mind, you might be able to move beyond your fear of not being able to “find the way back again.”
It might help to practice it while being awake; http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/secrets-power-dreaming/ with or without the help of your inner father. (http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/father-dad/#InnerFather )
Also, it will be helpful to learn to allow yourself to spend some time “in the dark (clouds of unknowing)” and to move through the fear before you will be able to return to a state of mind where you can see more clearly.
It will take some trust to learn to not interfere with this process and to just let it happen; to look at the different parts in your inner world and to trust that clarity will arrive at Its own pace.
Perhaps you feel like exploring the fear of the “two large brown staircases – one backwards and one in front of us, next to each other”? http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/acting-on-your-dream/#BeingPerson
and
http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/brown/
Please also read http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/the-house-in-your-dream/
Let me know if you have any questions Aurora.
Anna 🙂