Rape
This can mean you are overcome by events, by other people dominating you, or by your own internal unwanted emotions.
Rape in dreams is very different from rape in real life, as we create our own dream, so why introduce rape? Perhaps in the example below Mrs B. discovers her own power in the situation as she realises the weakness of the male.
Example: ‘I tried to turn but my legs were like lead. The man caught me and I fought. He tried to rape me but couldn’t do it. As I talked to him I began to feel sorry for him and not frightened. I realised that inside he was a nice person. In the end I found I liked him so much I began to kiss him myself.’ Mrs J.B.
Example: ‘A man is trying to make love and at the last moment I repel him as I know it will cause a pregnancy. When I was about ten I was raped and for many years had a fear of men.’ Anon.
This is the other side of rape. Rape in this dream may be memories, the effects of that are still visible in the life of this dreamer, causing her pain in warm sexuality.
Example: ‘The Devil attacked a woman. He was invisible. The woman turned black as he raped her. She didn’t die. At this point I woke and went to the toilet. On returning to bed I continued the dream, particularly wondering what I was in conflict with in the image of the Devil. I found it disturbing and frightening to be confronted by such a powerful opponent. Partly because of the rape, I realised it was repressed sexuality. I then approached the ‘black’ woman with tenderness and this transformed the Devil into available sexual or emotional energy. I tried this again and again. Each time it worked, and I could observe the Devil was my sexual warmth and love that had become negative through restraint.’ Neil V.
In this male dream, it is the conflict with his sexuality that causes the ‘devilish’ rape. When he can find tenderness the negative aspect disappears. Rape also depicts the real evil of another person disregarding our personal needs and feelings, abusing not only the body, but particularly the ‘person’. Being raped by someone known: Feeling anxious about sex with them; fighting off desire for them.
This can mean you are overcome by events, by other people dominating you, or by your own internal unwanted emotions.
Rape in dreams is very different from rape in real life, as we create our own dream, so why introduce rape? Perhaps in the example below Mrs B. discovers her own power in the situation as she realises the weakness of the male.
Example: ‘I tried to turn but my legs were like lead. The man caught me and I fought. He tried to rape me but couldn’t do it. As I talked to him I began to feel sorry for him and not frightened. I realised that inside he was a nice person. In the end I found I liked him so much I began to kiss him myself.’ Mrs J.B.
Example: ‘A man is trying to make love and at the last moment I repel him as I know it will cause a pregnancy. When I was about ten I was raped and for many years had a fear of men.’ Anon.
This is the other side of rape. Rape in this dream may be memories, the effects of that are still visible in the life of this dreamer, causing her pain in warm sexuality.
Example: ‘The Devil attacked a woman. He was invisible. The woman turned black as he raped her. She didn’t die. At this point I woke and went to the toilet. On returning to bed I continued the dream, particularly wondering what I was in conflict with in the image of the Devil. I found it disturbing and frightening to be confronted by such a powerful opponent. Partly because of the rape, I realised it was repressed sexuality. I then approached the ‘black’ woman with tenderness and this transformed the Devil into available sexual or emotional energy. I tried this again and again. Each time it worked, and I could observe the Devil was my sexual warmth and love that had become negative through restraint.’ Neil V.
In this male dream, it is the conflict with his sexuality that causes the ‘devilish’ rape. When he can find tenderness the negative aspect disappears. Rape also depicts the real evil of another person disregarding our personal needs and feelings, abusing not only the body, but particularly the ‘person’. Being raped by someone known: Feeling anxious about sex with them; fighting off desire for them.
Occasionally some rape dreams are traced back to sexual assault by the father when young, or another member of the family. Here is a quote from the book Dreams and Sex by Dr. Gayle Delaney.
The terror Deborah felt in this dream was so great that it led to her recall of incest with her father thirty years earlier. When she told her sister about the dream and the memories, her sister refused to talk to her. But later her sister confirmed that she had experienced similar nightmares and memories. Both had worried that they might be falsely accusing their father of incest, but after a few months of therapy, they decided to confront their parents and found solid confirmation of the abuse. I have written about it because there are so many adults who have been abused as children and do not yet know either what to do about it or that they have plenty of company among others who were abused and are still ashamed.
Useful Questions and Hints:
Was I raped in the dream?
If so did I fight successfully or unsuccessfully?
Was it a frightening experience?
How did you deal with it?
See Active Passive – Magical Dream Machine – LifeStream – Secrets of Power Dreaming
Comments
The dream took place in another time period outside of a castle at nighttime. I dreamt of getting raped. I didn’t enjoy it but I wasn’t struggling. I did not know the individual. i was just sort of waiting for it to end since that’s how women were treated during that time period. It almost felt like a routine of some sort–like “oh, well this is just how we’re treated, let’s just get it over with.” A man was watching us from the top of a tower. He did not interfere but watched the man take advantage of me. He was looking into my eyes with an eerie understanding. I also have never met this man. He was much handsomer then the man raping me. Neither of them were ugly though. The men were dressed in their time period clothes (armor, cloaks, etc.). I was a normal summer dress from today’s time. Not sure what this all means.
i have just dreamt that i was being chased by a man, i started screaming for rape was running frantically n screaming, but no one came to my aid. what could this mean
Sasha – When you dream there is nobody there except you, your fears, your imagination, your longings and even your hopes. So why are you dreaming of a man chasing you? Is it a fear or a hope that you are hiding. Please see – http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/what-we-need-to-remember-about-dreaming/#Hurt also http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/what-we-need-to-remember-about-dreaming/#Virtual
Tony
Last night I was with the guy I am seeing and found a message on his Facebook of him talking to other women in a to close for comfort sense, I confronted him about it said I wanted to
Think about what I want to do, that same night I dreamt that he had raped me, in his bedroom, it was horrific and completely out of no where, he come onto me but I said no because of what happened but he never stopped, I remember screaming loudly and his mum came in and he was gone, I’ve never had a dream like this before and it’s really shooken me up, what is the reason for something so horrific? I haven’t seen any dreams about rape that match to this?
my boyfreind woke up the other day telling me to drink the ice tea in the fridge saying iwas trying to posion him, he belived what he was feeling. tonite he told me that he wasn’t sleeping when i was giving oral sex all nite, he tells me some way out stuff he says i beat him in my sleep no one else has ever told me that what ever he dreams about me its all bad . whats up with this is he for real
Patsy – His dreams are not actually about you, but are the way he projects all his negative feeling onto your image. He obviously has some mixed up feelings about sex and relationship. So each time he suggests something about you say, “This is your dream, not mine, so ask yourself why are you dreaming it”. If he is willing you could ask him the questions in http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/processing-dreams/
Tony
Last night I had a dream where I was at a party with many friends and the guy I like at my house, things were going fine between us until he morphed into a guy I met at a party last weekend who a few friends thought was going to take advantage of me, I tried to run away but he followed me and pushed me against a wall and then tried to rape me. He was then pulled off me and my mother and godmother were then there.
We were talking in my living room and everyone else had gone and I showed them a picture of the guy who had tried to attack me, they then said he was very attractive etc.
All in all I woke up terrified, I’m aware its not because of sexual inexperience, though it could be related to trust issues from the past, does anyone have another idea why I could have had this dream?
I awoke as attempted rape began, and I was about to fight with no holds barred, fortunately I awoke, my heart racing… but what seems most relavant, in the dream, I had just finished dinner with a group of spiritual friends after a week long reatreat, many of whom I am very close to. There was one Man I did not know, but we were friendly and aparently met at the retreat. I said my goodbyes and went back to my room to pack when I heard a knock at the door… it was this new friend, I trusted his goodness, and had no reason not to invite him in. He had made advances earlier at dinner, but came to apologize for having been too forward. I wanted to make sure there were no hard feelings or that he felt rejected. I did not want him to feel badly for making his feelings known, or that he was in anyway un-attractive but that I had a boyfriend, two years now.. and that’s when he grabbed me from behind and started feeling me up, and trying to force himself into me… I grabbed his member with free hand with intent to hurt badly when I woke up… I typically do not have violent dreams, but definitely there was a feeling of betrayed trust… while at the same time, many close friends who can be trusted were in the building and completely unawares of my impending struggle, many of whom I know would have jumped to my aid had they known it was needed… but no help was on it’s way… Without knowing anything else going on in my life… what are your strongest hits as to what my dream was about?
I had a dream I was having sex with an invisible man. I enjoyed it, I could feel fear, but I loved the sex. At some point I looked at the invisible force and declared my love to it/him. As a response the intensity of the love making increased, I could feel every touch. In the end, I open my eyes to the invisible person and I see my reflection.
I woke up with mixed emotions – love, lust, sadness and fear. I wonder what it meant.
Layla – This is a very instructive dream. It is a statement of one of the great secrets that many people cannot believe. No wonder you woke up with mixed emotions.
As I say in http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/what-we-need-to-remember-about-dreaming/ “Unfortunately this wonderful virtual reality world of dreams is usually felt as dealing with other people, as externals, like something that can damage us, or something like the Devil that can possess us. But the greatest truth I have found in exploring dreams – not interpreting them – is that we are alone with ourselves in the world of our dream. If we can acknowledge and admit that our terrors we dream are actually our past hurts that we have not faced presenting themselves for us to heal; that the ghosts and demons that can rampage about our night are embodiments of our fears and ideas presented to us as truths; that our wonderful visions and insights are an expression of our own infinite potential, then we can walk a pathway to finding what we really are.”
We fool ourselves with hoping, fearing, sensing everything is outside us, yet when we are free of the body in dreams we are everything – and can play as never before. Tell me you know. Know that here – This moment – All that has been, All that can be – Is with you.
Tony
I had a dream that i am sure i have had before, some years ago. In this dream i am in someone elses body. I dreamt i was with my family (her) family. There was a huge get togther. I had to go outside for some reason, there was a bridge near the house where i was confronted by a man who seemed like he wanted revenge for a boat of his. he dragged me underneath the bridge and threatened my family. I looked over at the light of the house feeling helpless. It was at this point he raped me (but i did not experience the actual rape just the feeling of before and after). After i ran to the house to warn my family but i was too late, he came in and killed them all. Then there is a flashback to what happened to him to make him angry. This girl had conflicting feelings about her sexuality and wanted help from this man because she was afraid her family would disown her. On her way there she had an accident and drove into this man garden wrecking his boat. He was quite angry and forced her and her friends to perform fellatio on him and his friends in a pool. I woke up after being pushed under the water to perform this act. Such a bizzare dream but it really concerns me. Any suggestions on what this could possibly mean Thanks
Deb – The thing about being in somebody else’s body is often a way of distancing yourself from the action. In other words, it wasn’t me doing it, it was another woman. Have you read: http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/what-we-need-to-remember-about-dreaming/
He boat incident suggests that in some way you were involved in the breakup of a relationship. Also do you have any conflicts about your sexuality? Being pushed under water is another indication of being unconscious and frightened.
It is a difficult dream to comment on, but may be you could get near the truth by using http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/practical-techniques-for-exploring-your-dreams/#TalkingAs
Tony
I keep finding myself in nightmares about babies. I dream of them being raped. or dead. or about them being born without a parent, or even worse I’ve had dreams about discovering they have been birthed from a necrophile.
they usually don’t involve me at all, but often the baby is in my dream from the beginning and after a few hours of sleep an accident of this sort occurs. in my dreams when this happens I usually cover my own eyes because I feel like I shouldn’t be seeing it, and every other person in my dream getting very scared or mad or shocked.
I am not expecting a child or thinking about having one, so I am assuming its a symbolic baby. but how can I prevent these babies from appearing? and why do you think I keep dreaming this.
Kia – Usually every dream figure I have investigated – except for predictive dreams – represent aspects of yourself. You say the babies do not involve you at all, but that is a way of keeping you from being involved in the dream drama – to keep you from feeling too much. I have myself delved into dreams in which I was not immediately involved, only to find that I had to dig through three levels of symbolism before hitting the real experience it represented.
So I wonder whether you had a difficult birth, or what was your relationship with your parents? A difficult birth can produce such dreams, even worse. But you might be able find out for yourself by using the suggestions in – http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/peer-dream-group/ Please let me know how you get on.
Some people have told me they have banished troublesome dreams simple by determinedly saying, “I banish you from my life”. But it can be storing up problems, because recurring dreams are a way of sorting out real difficulties.
Tony
Last night i had a dream that i was being raped by some kind of ghost-like invisible man. My mother and a doctor and what seemed to be my boyfriend in the dream were all with me when it happened. It seemed as though this was something that they knew had to happen and were just there for support. I’ve done a lot of research on this as it has freaked me out a lot and I always get the ‘repressed feelings’ response but i have never read anything that could help me understand why this man that was raping me was completely unseen and why my mother and doctor and boyfriend were there with me when it happened not trying to stop it at all.
Bella – There are things that you misunderstand about this – in fact about how life works in us. You you need some information before you can begin to understand.
Remember that dreams arise, your existence arises, from a process you may label in some way but barely know about. You do not have to believe in your existence. You are convinced of it because you exist. Do you think you know everything about whatever it is that causes you to exist? For instance although we now know a great deal about life processes in biological science, that science still sees life as a mystery. Can you take that attitude to your own origins? Can you accept that at the base of your being is a mystery?
Close your eyes, become aware of your breathing, then put your hand under your clothes so you can feel your heart beating. There you have it. The conscious you is touching and directly experiencing in a quiet moment how that mystery we call Life is right there in every moment of your being spontaneously (not under your control) giving you existence. You are touching the unconscious. You can feel it moving right under your hand. You know it is not your conscious will, knowledge or beliefs that is pulsing that beautiful movement. Right now life is breathing you and beating your heart. And that is just the very evident surface signs of what it is doing. Feel it! Do you really fully understand that? Isn’t that an amazing miracle and mystery? Wouldn’t it be wise and wonderful to get to know that mystery directly and more fully?
Very few people understand how their mind works and what part dreams play in life. Also it is common for people to mix up their outer waking life with their dream life – there are completely different rules in them and dealing with them.
Some facts about dreaming.
• During REM sleep while we are dreaming our voluntary muscles are paralyzed – except for our eyes. It is thought this was developed during a period when our forebears were sleeping in trees. Any movement would have made them fall. The eye movements were of course not dangerous.
An important fact about dreaming is that all the signals for movement while we dream are sent by the sleeping brain but are blocked by a part of the brain called the pons. See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/man-who-didnt-dream/.
• This allows for a little recognised phenomenon which, while awake and in a passive state, allows the dream process to break through as spontaneous movement, sound and emotion, exactly as with dreams. In the past, and still in the present, this spontaneous movements and speech were seen as God’s action on humans, and is the root of many psychic phenomena. It is seen in operation in the Pentecostal experience, the ‘drunkenness’, speaking in ‘tongues’, the flow of cosmic energy – holy ghost – are all things that happen when this dream process breaks through into consciousness. Things like Chi Gong, Tai Chi, Seitai, Shaktipat, and Reichian therapy, where spontaneous movement was practiced by thousands or people. See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/sleep-paralysis/ – See also http://dreamhawk.com/approaches-to-being/lifes-little-secrets/
But when this spontaneous movement breaks through to consciousness many people are frightened of it and rush to the doctor to sedate it.
• For simplicity I have called this experience of what is actually waking lucid dreaming, ‘LifeStream’. It would take us too far out of looking at dream to explore it, but it can be studied within these features: http://dreamhawk.com/approaches-to-being/the-lifestream/ – http://dreamhawk.com/body-and-mind/peoples-experiences-of-lifestream/ – http://dreamhawk.com/approaches-to-being/lifes-little-secrets/ – http://dreamhawk.com/body-and-mind/the-arm-circling-meditation/
• Dreams are a magical mirror in which your innermost hopes, longings, fears/terrors and genius are made real. They are made real as external environments, people, animals and relationships. Unfortunately this wonderful virtual reality world is usually felt as dealing with other people, as externals, like something that can damage us, or something like the Devil that can possess us. But the greatest truth I have found in exploring dreams – not interpreting them – is that we are alone with ourselves in the world of our dream. If we can acknowledge and admit that our terrors we dream are actually our past hurts that we have not faced presenting themselves for us to heal; that the ghosts and demons that can rampage about our night are embodiments of our fears and ideas presented to us as truths; that our wonderful visions and insights are an expression of our own infinite potential, then we can walk a pathway to finding what we really are.
So that is simply some of the things that are not commonly known about life and dreaming. So your invisible force that raped you was in fact the Life Process that acts on us and causes spontaneous movement and experience in our dreams. But because you knew nothing of it you were frightened. It is interesting that the doctor, your boyfriend and mother were supporting you in it. It is because if you face the fear you will take a big step in your inner growth. See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/dream-yoga/
Tony
Ok i’ve been having these strange dreams lately first i would have these dreams of me getting chased by someone i knew they wanted to kidnap me so i would run n they would follow me i would ask everyone for help cuz there would be people around but they would jst turn around real slowly n i would keep running that i would leave them behind but that is how it was and then i would wake up be scare at the beggining but i would eventully get over it, i would have this dream again in different versions like me running away away but somewhere else and i never really got to see the man’s face i had this dream about 3 times and now am having this other dream that a man wants to rape me one dream was that i was taking a shower and then i would get out and be in my towel thn all of the sudden theres this fat guy in a towel too i tried to ignore him and started to look for someone else since we were the only 2 in there he started to get closer and i started to fear him more then i started to run but he caught me i was hitting him and everything i dont really remember the dream but another important part i think that i still remember is me hitting him over and over again with something i didnt feel bad i would hit him harder and harder even thoe i knew i already had enough time to run away and that he wouldnt move and that is all i remember but recently i had another one i went to Mc. Donalds i was looking for a job and then they saaid i could stay so i did when i got out i went outsside and was planning to go walking to my house bt since it was too dark i decided to go back and call my mom to go and pick me up so i went back when i went back i entered a house not Mc. Donalds no more there was a man he wasnt fat and was following me around the house i feel he pulled me by my foot i kicked hit and started running i don’t know why but i didnt get out of the house and i started hitting him too with a chair really hard over and over again and thn he was in the shower i called my mom again and told her to come get me please that he was taking a shower and from then on i don’t know what happened.
Last night I dreamed of my father… We were in a trailer but there were a lot of people there. I cannot remember their faces not could I really see them, but I saw his. When I was little I was taken away into foster care and they asked me if I wanted to go live with my father. I refused. In my dream it was him that had refused to take me and he wanted me to know why. His hand slipped between my thigh and he called me his little girl. Told me that he wanted me the same way as my step-father had and that’s why he couldn’t have me. He said he still wanted me and there was something wrong with me in my dream- I wanted him too. He told me I was the same way when I was little, that I had just opened my little legs right up for him. I was lying there on the floor as he kissed me all over. I was repulsed but allowed it. A couple of people that were there came in the room and took me. It was as if a trance had been lifted- I vomited at the very thought of my submission. I don’t understand this dream at all. My father never touched me, I was the one who refused to go live with him, and I haven’t seen in 10 years.
Verity – Your dream self is I believe showing you something you have held back for ages. And it isn’t about you being a small temptress.
What happens inside us, deep in our unconscious, is that we all want to be loved and encouraged by our father and mother. Now in the child mind there is no moral judgement, but there is a tremendous urge to get our father’s love and so we have dreams like yours. We know what would make a man want us so we dream of doing it.
As you say, you were repulsed by it but allowed it. Men sometimes do the same when they haven’t had love from a father, sometimes acting it out with another man.
In the end our dreamt of father is only an image we use to deal with feelings. So gradually turn your father into a loving man you can feel good with.
Tony
Hey, I was wondering if you can help me out. My friend has this weird dream. He said that he was rape by the demon. Can you interpreted this dream?
Last night I dreamt of the man who raped me 3 years ago, I was trapped in a hospital and noticed he was in one of the wards, I went to see him, I don’t know why as I can’t face him in the flesh, and he trapped me on the ward and raped me again. I ran and found my family, I told them about it and tried to ring the police (both of which I had not done 3 years ago) I saw my beloved dead uncle and ran to him, he hugged me but then my rapist trapped my 3 month old son in a room full of water and drowned him. I ran through to A&E with my son and was told to wait because another lady’s baby was dead. Just as they were about to tend to my son I woke up. I have to know if there is any meaning for my mind to put me through that and take me back to such a traumatic time in my life.
Cassie – Yes, there is a meaning in your dream.
Whenever we are shocked or hurt it leaves a great and powerful force in us. That force needs to be led out and digested and understood as quickly as possible. It is a force that if not dealt with gradually haunts you or disturbs any further relationships.
Dreams are one of the major ways of presenting such shocks and trying to heal the effects. So you dreaming of being raped are a way of representing the hurts and damage done. Mostly such hurts remain unconscious so we do not fully know about what is left inside us.
For instance the bit about your baby drowned can suggest that the most vulnerable part of you has been killed by the hidden emotions. If you could let yourself fully feel and express the hateful, hurt, shocked emotions it would heal you. But few of us can howl and shout with all of our feelings. We have been trained since childhood to repress such feelings. So it might be a good idea to tell the police and they will offer counselling.
Tony
I have always had dreams. And about 80% of them are nightmares. Recently I dreamed I was raped by a female, the next night I dreamed men were being raped by men. Last night I dreamed about a great earthquake, and also of being snake bit.
Alot of “christian” groups tell me to do “soul search”, some say watch what you eat, do, listen to. Trust me, I have slept with a bible under my pillow , head, bed, all around me, annointed windows, prayed, pled the blood of Jesus, all kinds of things, and yet the night mares continue……….no it not’s what I ate either. Maybe I need to go on a fast, but I had surgery and am on meds, that require me to eat. So, any suggestions>>>> Thanks
Shaom,
Lynn
Lynn – Well your dreams are all signs of you having a bad time. But you appear to believe that dreams are something that you have no control over. Of course you do not have control over your dreams while you believe dreams are literal and real.
I suggest you read What We Need to Remember about Dreams – (http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/what-we-need-to-remember-about-dreaming/) in which it is attempting to explain dreams in a way that helps people meet such awful things as your are experiencing.
Here are two parts of that, from 18 sections of advice.
1. Dreams are a magical mirror in which your innermost hopes, longings, fears/terrors and genius are made real. They are made real as external environments, people, animals and relationships. Unfortunately this wonderful virtual reality world is usually felt as dealing with other people, as externals, like something that can damage us, or something like the Devil that can possess us. But the greatest truth I have found in exploring dreams – not interpreting them – is that we are alone with ourselves in the world of our dream. If we can acknowledge and admit that our terrors we dream are actually our past hurts that we have not faced presenting themselves for us to heal; that the ghosts and demons that can rampage about our night are embodiments of our fears; that our wonderful visions and insights are an expression of our own infinite potential, then we can walk a pathway to finding what we really are. Audio Introduction to Exploring a Dream
2. Dreams are virtual realities that we create in our sleep. Even the wonderful dreams of God and angels are an external virtual reality, and mirror of our own inner immensity and our enormous variety. Unfortunately people either accept them as externally real, or as fantasy. But they are reflections of your potential, that cannot be seen in your daily life so dominated by your physical senses and hungers and fears. See The Magical Dream Machine. So the images and fears we experience in our dreams are projection upon the vast screen of our mind. They are all projections from you. Running from them is like trying to escape from yourself.
Tony