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
Tigers-
I just dreamt that it’s night time and I am at my parents previous house where I lived from age 12-25… I constantly have dreams at this location, so anyways… I am feeling a bit uneasy when I lock the front door and come around to the backyard… I hear the voices of 3 to 4 young boys playing which I believed to actually be boys but when I walked closer to the back I saw my mother but I also saw an old car parked in the grass and noticed a tiger paw reaching down onto the grass from under the car and I panicked and said, “oh no! The boys.” So my mom ran towards the driveway and I went around to the back of the garage to warn the boys, when all of a sudden I saw 4 tiger cubs! One younger than the others and also an almost fully adult tiger ( can’t tell if its male or female but it was being playful with the other 4 cubs)… So I wanted to protect the cubs so I attempted to grab the youngest cub and toss it over a neighbors fence but noticed there was a roaring lion in the neighbors yard and held the cub and searched for another yard to toss it to safety and I found one, so I carefully tossed the cub safely over, but then the tiger from under the car was became aggressive and jumped into the yard where the young cub was so I yelled at the top of my lungs and it jumped back to the car, so I continued to toss the other 3 bigger cubs to safety but it was harder since they were bigger and heavier than the 1st cub. While I’m doing that the eldest tiger was attempting to fight the tiger from the car because it was becoming vicious and I also noticed my mom was still in the driveway, so the “car tiger” was walking towards my mom and the protective older tiger was trying to protect my mom from the “car tiger” and there was roaring and clawing going on but I was to afraid to look and then finally I hear only one tiger and the other obviously was dead but I don’t know which tiger was which. I woke up and was so confused and then I tell myself that I should have either helped the older tiger from my bunch attack the “car tiger” or I should have allowed the 3 older cubs help the eldest tiger gang up on the “car tiger”…. What in the world is this dream about?!?
Leslie – Many times when I have actually explored the dream tiger – not interpreted – but enter it by allowing it to surface fully into my emotions and awareness, I realised that tigers are actually our own basic instinctive feelings. They usually represent the powerful and protective mother instinct, or even the overbearing father.
So your dream is possibly a way you are seeing your family’s situation. You can find out for yourself by using http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/acting-on-your-dream/#BeingPerson
Also realise that 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.
But of course the drama or theme of your dream is like a magic mirror reflecting your inner self. So that is important, and shows you busily trying to protect the young ones and set an action against the threatening tiger/father/male. Please read http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/questions-2/#Summing and http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/secrets-power-dreaming/
Tony
I was hiding behind a locker and a large tiger was trying to swipe at me with his paws. I was trying to yell for help but nothing would come out. All of a sudden I was in my bed hiding under the covers and The tiger was on top of me trying to get at me under the comforter. I then started to push at him(tiger) and fight back. After I pushed him off of me, my 9 yr. old son walks up to the bedside and asks, ‘Momma are you o.k.?’.
I was very afraid initially but once it had me trapped under the covers I became angry and fought back. What does this mean? I’ve never dreamed of an animal attacking me.
Heidi – A tiger is simply a image such as you see on a TV or movie screen. Like any images on a cinema screen, even if a gun is pointed at you and fired it can do no damage – except if you run in fear.
The tiger is an image you create out of your inner feelings and probably indicates that at last you are becoming the real tiger that you are as a woman. It shows you struggling at first in a passive attitude, but then you start to fight you become an active person breaking through old attitudes. See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/active-passive/
A good and positive dream. See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/questions-2/#Summing
Tony
In my dream 2 nights ago, I was at home and looked out screen door where there was a baby tiger on the porch. Woke up. Then last night I had what seemed like the same dream but when I looked out, there was a grown tiger on the porch too. I looked for a moment then it started swiping at me, it’s arm somehow cleared the millimeter under the door frame and scratched my leg twice……….what’s that about?
Death of a Tiger
I recently had a dream about an infant tiger my family and I found on vacation. The tiger had just been born and for some odd reason the mother would not take care of her new born baby, besides when it was time to feed him, but when it came to nurturing and comforting the little guy she just would just leave. So my family and I embraced the infant tiger while its mother was gone till it was time to feed again. Eventually, once the mother didn’t need to milk feed her baby anymore she left and never came back. We decided to take him home and feed him ourselves. We raised him and he grew up to be a strong, loving, and a very happy tiger. He loved us, and we loved him. He always seemed so playful and happy in my dream. I very vividly remember the warm embracive feeling of its presence, we would cuddle and sleep with him and he would give us huge loving hugs. He went everywhere with us, so we looked out for him and he looked out for us. We were protective over him as much as he was protective over us. Even though there was a strong bond and relationship between my family and this majestic tiger we all understood that it was also a very powerful and possibly dangerous animal, so we respected his space if we felt it was needed.
One day a couple of my family members and I were running through this somewhat older neighborhood with our tiger just trailing along. I don’t quite remember why or what we were really running for, I think it was some game we were playing jumping fences through other peoples yard? Not really sure why this seemed so fun to us but our tiger would frighten the people and some would be really upset, a few even chased after us because they were so angry, especially for our tiger being with us.. This confused me very much! Eventually we ended up jumping our last fence and got to this backyard that had a whole lot of people there and a truck. We seemed like we had planned on going there for whatever reason I don’t know. Quite a few people were fearful of our huge tiger, but he didn’t bother anyone. We all just hopped in the tailgate of this truck with our tiger and a few men who appeared to be rednecks were drinking and pointing at our tiger. One came out with this huge piece of meat and lured our tiger away into a boat, our tiger seemed more curious and trusting rather than hunger at this time. I don’t know where the boat came from but we yelled for him to come back and chased after them for as long as we could but they got away. We just knew they were going to hurt or murder him… My family and I went out on this large search for him and decided to check in this swampy area. My mother just knew we would find his body there, and we did. Our poor beloved tiger had been skinned and killed by those men. The shocking part when we found him though was that it didn’t look like him, it resembled a tiger like baby fetus possibly? He seemed like a soaked pink naked baby and lifeless… It was devastating. This was so sad and strange to me. Maybe he returned to the infant like and stripped state because it represented the murder of his innocence? I’m really not sure. If water is symbolic to the unconscious and we found him there in the swamp, I am curious what all thi could possibly represent or mean?
Dear Tony,
I am in an open space and everything is light coffee color, the sky is grey and the grass is tall but brown. The houses around appear to vacant.
I am sitting at a bench talking to my sister happily, when I notice there is a stage not too far away with 3-4 tigers whom are resting. However, this image doesn’t frighten us or seem to bother my sister and I. I also get this sense that other animals are lurking between the tall grass, specifically a snake or snakes. My sister points out that one of the Tigers are approaching slowly towards me….I look but fear isn’t the first feeling, I see how powerful and beautiful the tiger is, He has promise of something great and I can’t take my eyes off of him, fear doesn’t kick in until my sister’s panicked voice is urging me to run. I don’t but I am scooting further back in my seat. When he’s reached me, he speaks, his words are comforting to me enough to allow him to sit in my lap, he tells me he loves me deeply, he grabs my hand and tries to convince me of the deep and unconditional love he has for me, he places my right hand on his heart so that I can feel his heart racing and says “this is the affect you have on me” I am over come with joy and peace and is honored. He then has to leave but promises to come back for me very soon, when he gets up, he’s is not on all fours but rather he’s walking away as if he was a man but still a tiger, once he leaves, I sense danger. My sister suddenly has a baby in her hand who is asleep, a black snack is attempting to bite it, but I go to cut off it’s head, but it takes several tries because my sword is dull. But the child is safe and I have this feeling this child belongs to me, as we walk, I am looking for my tiger to return, needing his safety and protection from whats to come when I black cobra comes out and strikes me, I began to hack away at it’s neck, but it continues to revive and attempt to harm me and my family, I feel the presence of my Tiger approaching in the distance, but I feel if I stop my fight with the cobra, he may awaken and strike to kill this time, I continue to try and cut off it’s head, as I get closer to finishing him off, I see the tiger from the corner of my eyes, I stop and the Cobra lunges, I awake.
Please help! This dream was so vivid and emotional for me, so much I wanted to go back to sleep to finish off the Cobra to protect the child, my family and continue my life with the tiger.
thanks for the article and i would like to share my dream experience with tiger please then tell me what is indication`
i got that tiger in my dream is become my friend.
i was the only in that area who was handling tiger peacefully so basically i was friend of tiger
that’s all now please tell me the exact meaning of my dream
thanks
yash
Hi,
I saw in my dream that a tiger is my boyfriend! I know its weird but i am not sure what it means. Could it mean that I feel very insecure and am looking for a guy like tiger, or could it mean that I am an aggressive person? In my dream I see that the tiger very calm, powerful and is just there with me. Just by its presence other guys walk away without it getting aggressive. I see tigers in my dream often but this was a very different and strange dream.
Hi Toni ,
I just dreamt that I was in a farm house. I kept a horse a baby chick ( inside the house next to
Me constantly eating) and a tiger. Days went by and not much happened as if the tiger would get his good by night elsewhere .
Then I put the baby chick outside and an old woman tells me to keep an eye on the tiger because its not a cub anymore and it will feed on us. Next thing I see the tiger gets inside the house and I go quickly to one of the rooms and lock doors and windows . Then I hear my 5 year old daughter cry Mama!! I realized she is outside. I look out the windows and this woman is holding a knive some meat and my daughter by her neck. She keeps her as if to feed the tiger when she runs out of meat. I desperately look for meat in a fridge ( huge one) I happened to have in the room I was hiding in. I found I big horse steak( something i would never have in my fridge) and pork and a rabbit ? I make noise so the tiger would see me and tell my daughter to release herself and run towards me . The tiger comes to me really fast and I throw the horse steak as far to the left as I could then my daughter comes and the tiger looks at her. I give the rest of the meat get my daughter inside and lock everything again. The tiger comes to me and tells me in a whisper from outside the door. I never wanted to hurt you I was just so hungry thank you and went to her usual spot at the back of the farm house. My daughter was so scared I thought she her heart wouldn’t resist it. But then she calmed down right when the ambulance arrived. I don’t recall calling an ambulance .
What does it all mean??
Regards
Nathalie
Nathalie – An old woman in a dream often refers to the negative side of ones mother. And it was things that you unconsciously learned from her that caused you to be afraid of your own instinctive feelings and urges – the tiger. See ://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/the-conjuring-trick/
You deal with the chick (baby) and horse (your natural and socialised helpful feelings) well, but you are afraid of being eaten up by your wild side that simply needs feeding and allowing to express itself. Dream animals are completely different to real animals. See http://dreamhawk.com/approaches-to-being/questions-2/#AnimalDream
Again it is the fear roused by the old woman that causes you to be afraid. See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/questions-2/#FaceFear
Tony
I have had a re-occurring dream where I see a bear, and it goes away. But then I see a tiger, and it doesn’t try to attack, it just follows me around. But last night I had the same dream but then I ran up to my room (in the dream) and the tiger got up to my window from the back patio and as it crawled into my window it suddenly turned into my dog. I need help interpreting and I would really appreciate an answer. Thank-you.
I dreamed of a Lion fucking a bear
Having sex lion and bear
Dear Tony, i always find your thoughts so incredibly insightful thank you! few days ago i was confronted with a situation where i was lied to by my partner and i got very reactive and have had a lot of anger about it!! So last night i dreamt that a big bengali tiger was chasing me and i was terrified and ran for my life and no matter how i tried to outsmart the tiger he was able to find me until i came across a pink brick wall that had a hole in which i could climb to the top and sit on it..so the tiger couldn’t reach me. when i thought i was safe, i climbed down and in the room was a bed and sitting upright on the bed with a sheet over their head was an old neighbour of mine. i turned to the big window on the wall and i see the outline of the tiger sitting on the window sill!!! i yanked the sheet of the man’s head and said ‘wake up’ a tiger is in the room and it’s going to eat you! and of course, the tiger heard me and pounced on me but as he was in mid air his size changed to about half..by the time he landed on the bed he was still very powerful and demanded respect but was more like a very very big cat..it growled sniffed my head and stayed there petting it and scratching its tummy..i was not afraid but i wasn’t totally at ease given it’s shape shifting capabilities! haha..thank you so much again for sharing your knowledge
A couple of nights ago I dreamt of Tigers.
There was this cub I found in the hall of my apartment, playing with my cat. I took the tiger cub and went outside to see where it came from.There I saw the cub’s mother along with another cub.
I went to the Tigress and put her cub down. I slowly backed away, hoping she would be happy for her cub coming back and not attacking me. I then realized she had started running angrily towards me and I ran to my door, and I luckily got back in and managed to close the door before she attacked.
I looked out through the window of my door and she was standing with her paws against the door, and I had her face right in front of me.
I was so scared I immediately woke up.
As usual I start interpreting the dream directly instead of going back to sleep.
The simple explanation would be that I’ve always called myself a ‘tigress’ when it comes to my kids, and the things that occupy my mind right now is that I’m on my way into a custody battle for my youngest daughter.
The thing I couldn’t figure out though, is whether I’m scared of loosing the custody battle (which would mean the tigress would symbolize my ex-husband) or if I’m scared of showing my anger in this process.
Maybe I should try to really BE the tigress I need to be.
I tried to look it up in my dream dictionary (the only dictionary worth its name) which is written by you. I didn’t find the tiger though, so I read about lions and other animal situations.
Could this be a proper interpretation, or is there more to this than I’ve realized?
Greetings from Sweden.
/K.
I dreamnt I was trying to avoid a Tiger that kept standing in the doorway Every time I tried to pass it was in the door way so I tried to hide from it. Then it saw me & came to where I was & encroached me from behind, Almost like hugging me from behind with its mouth wide open & I felt like it was going to close in on me with its teeth then I woke up. (What could it mean?)
Hello Tony,
Like others, I have found your analysis to be amongst the best. Two days ago I dreamt about tigers, and I’d really appreciate your help in understanding this dream. I’ve dreamt about lions before but this is the first tiger dream (that I recall).
I am at an association I go to but am not a member (still thinking about joining). One of the ladies there and I are talking, it feels close and relaxed. A guy drives up and goes next door. When he leaves, I see an adult tiger in the back (it’s a Honda SUV I think). I think “Gosh that’s a wild animal, what is he doing with that?!’ Then it seems to answer my Q, the animal rises a bit and goes or stretches to the man (all still in the vehicle) and lovingly strokes him with his head, like cats do.
Back in the house, an animal comes in and I realise it’s a tiger. I’m scared and I think this is supposed to be a dog not a tiger (cause the people who live at the association have dogs; a large breed adult one and smaller breed puppy). The tiger walks into the house and kinds of circles us, I’m scared and trying not to show it. Then it goes and lays down at the back of the sofa where we’re sat (like how a cat stretches out on a sofa. Can’t recall now whether it was ON or behind the sofa). I relax after a while when it seems like it’s not bothered with us. Some time later another tiger, this time a cub, comes into the house. The large one follows it, I think it’s the mother, and they go into another room. But what has me most bothered about this dream is that the smaller tiger starts to climb the wall and has an animal skin (like when an animal is hunted and it’s skinned, bear skin) on its back. A dog’s skin!
Maybe the dog’s skin comes in cause my subconscious knows it’s supposed to be two dogs and so makes at least one of them into a dog this way?
I don’t know what to make of this dream and hope that you can please help me.
Thanks
Dear Tony,
First of all I’d like to thank you for this insightful article. It is the best I have come accross.
My dream was simple. My younger brother was petting domestic cats when a tiger came. I was scared but my brother pet it as if it were another cat and I overcame my fear and pet it as well. I’ve been struggling with my libido lately if that helps?
Thank you for your time and effort!
Aru – Yes it could easily be a libido struggle shown as a tiger. Your dream shows you the way though – treat it with loving friendship like a pet.
I added a piece to the tiger entry: 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.
Tony