Tree Trees

The tree depicts the living structure of yourself or another person. In particular it shows not only your past in the condition of its roots and trunk, but also what you have grown into and what your possibilities or potential are.  It is what has grown from the past into the present. Its roots show your connection with your physical body and the earth, your family background and influences, and cultural roots; its trunk the way you direct the energies of your being – growth, sex, thought, emotion. The branches are the abilities, directions and many facets you develop in life – varied and yet all connected in the common life process of your being. The tree can also symbolise new growth, stages of life and ageing, with its spring leaves and blossom, then the falling leaves. The top of the tree, or the end of the branches are your aspirations, the growing vulnerable tip of your personal growth and spiritual realisation.

From this point of view, the leaves may represent your personal life, this particular life with its many activities and desires, that may fall off the tree – die – but what gave it life continues to exist. The leaf may indicate something in you that is living, growing, or outworn (depending on colour of leaf). This may be part of your thinking or feeling. You can also be blown like a leaf, suggesting separation from your roots and main growth; or you can take a leaf from someone’s notebook, thus following their example or idea.

To sum up:

The roots depict your connection with the earth through food, air and water, as well as your psychological roots in family and culture. Earth is made up of everything that has died and so becomes soil. In the cycles of life things live and then die. In death they become important fertiliser and nutrients for what is growing. In human life earth represents all that our forebears left us from their lives – our inheritance. It has all been purified by death and so is worth our roots feeding from it.

The trunk shows your body and what you have developed in your life, the main thrust of your expression. The tree can also depict new growth, the stages of life and ageing, with its spring leaves and blossom, then the falling leaves. The top of the tree, or the end of the branches, are your aspirations, the growing vulnerable tip of your personal growth and spiritual realisation. From this point of view, the leaves may represent your personal life, this particular life with its many activities and desires, that may fall off the tree – die – but what gave you life continues to exist. The leaf may indicate something in you that is living, growing, or outworn (depending on colour of leaf). This may be part of your thinking or feeling. You can also be blown like a leaf, suggesting separation from your roots and main growth; or you can take a leaf from someone’s notebook, thus following their example or idea.

The tree may also at times represent a place of safety or refuge, as when we climb it to escape. In fact, the tree is such an enormously deep symbol it depicts your whole life, as well as the urge that pushes you into being and growth. It depicts the force or process which is behind all other life forms – but seen as it expresses in your personal existence. See Ancestors

The seeds or flowers are your own fruition, the expression of what is deeply your own unique self manifesting creatively. They are also your reproduction as a parent with children or ideas or influences in the lives of others.

Dead wood represent parts of you that no longer carry life and energy, perhaps ideas or opinions that you no longer hold.

The lightning struck tree represent sudden change, even death. The tree may also at times represent a place of safety or refuge, as when we climb it to escape. The tree is our whole life, the urge which pushes us into being and growth. It depicts the force or process which is behind all other life forms – but seen as it expresses in our personal existence.

The phrase ‘family tree’ describes a way the unconscious uses the image of a tree to represent something that is an internal reality. Within the unconscious there is an awareness that our present personality is built upon the lives and character of our forebears. So our face may be presented on the top or surface of the tree, but behind our face, or on lower branches, or in the trunk, lie the lives of our ancestors stretching back throughout the ages.

In some old manuscripts pictures show a man lying on the ground and his penis growing into a tree, with fruits, birds, and perhaps people in its protective shade. This illustrates how ones personal life energy can branch out from its source in the basic drives, and become creativity, fruitfulness, something given to others. The tree can also represent the spine, and the different levels of human experience – physical, sensual, sexual, hungers, emotions, relatedness, communication, thought, self awareness. 

Example: In the dream I was looking at a very large and old tree. I wondered if I could climb it but couldn’t see any way up it. But I noticed a large area without any bark, like an old wound, and I thought that area would become rotten and so the tree would become hollow and offer shelter to animals and humans. Then I walked around the back of the tree and saw that the bark was like thick cables about 6-8 inches wide. I could then see a fairly easy way to climb the tree. So I climbed up and the top of the tree was like a massive bell shape made by the branches, like a huge flower, a crocus shape. And it was light and colourful. Suddenly I saw a spirit, a beautiful female. It was the spirit of the tree. At this point I was semi awake, and I wanted to hold the beautiful spirit, but realised that the tree was a representation of my life, and so was the spirit of the tree. The spirit sat on me in a sexual position, so I was lying on my back and she was upright. She slowly took me into her, I mean the whole me, as if she was sucking my whole body into her. There was no sexual movement as this happened. Then I realised that I had to die because she wanted to take all the experience of my life and endeavour into her and fertilise herself to form a baby. So I was ready to let go and watched her form a new baby, a mixture of her and me. See The Sacred Tree In Dreams And Myths

A wood or collection of trees: The natural forces in your own being, therefore ones connection with or awareness of the unconscious; other people’s personal growth and connection with self. The wood also indicates allowing yourself to be natural, to express what is innate in you, and for the mind and emotions to move in their own way. Walking in a wood might therefore suggest a feeling of relaxation, but it can also mean delving within your deeper feelings and mind – your unconscious – exploring your inner life.

Birch or Silver birch: The birch symbolises growth, renewal, stability, initiation and adaptability because it is highly adaptive and able to sustain harsh conditions with casual indifference. Birches are also associated with the Tír na nÓg, the land of the dead and the Sidhe, in Gaelic folklore, and as such frequently appear in Scottish, Irish, and English folksongs and ballads in association with death, or fairies, or returning from the grave. The leaves of the silver birch tree are used in the festival of St George, held in Novosej and other villages in Albania. (Sidhe are Irish earthen mounds, which in Irish folklore and mythology are believed to be the home of the Aos Sí (the people of the mounds))

Birch bark played a key role in the manufacture of canoes for transportation, wigwams for shelter, and a host of useful implements made by the many tribes and nations of the Northeast. Indians believe that the mist emitted from birch tree leaves placed upon heated rocks in a sweat lodge helps purify the body; the tree’s branches, when tied together and then used to lash the body, result in the removal of poisons. Because of the prolonged existence of ancient birch trees on Earth, American Indians maintain that these trees have much to offer humans.

Branches: Members of your family; directions or possibilities in your life. Or the end of the branches are your aspirations, the growing vulnerable tip of your personal growth and spiritual realisation.

Burnt tree:If this is just an area of the tree or trunk, it shows painful events and the mark they have left on you, perhaps from early in your life. If the hole tree is burnt it shows great difficulties or the death of someone.

Christmas tree or other evergreen: The eternal or unchanging aspect of your transitory experience.

Climbing a tree: Exploring or becoming aware of the directions and facets of your personal growth; using your skills or strength to get away from anxiety or danger, such as you do when climbing to get away from a dangerous animal.

Cutting down: Could be that you are getting rid of old influences in your life, or clearing space. It depends on what attitude is behind the cutting. Are you seeking wood to burn, to build with, or just for devilment.

Dead branch: A direction that no longer has life or motivation in it; a member of your family dying or leaving you.

Dead tree: Past way of life; something which was full of life for you in the past, but is now dead; dead relative.

Falling fallen or crashing down tree: Sense of threat to your identity; this can often suggest a big change in the way you express yourself. It is a breaking down of the influences you lived from in the past, perhaps because your childhood set in place painful or negative influences, or it could suggest the loss or death of a relative or someone close to you.  It can also sometimes shown the death of someone. When trees are old or storm blow in our life trees are felled by wind or weather. But in some dreams it may suggest making more space around by the dead trees falling.

Flowering tree: Fertility; femininity.

Human or animal hung on tree: Personal sacrifice; the death of some part of self so further growth can occur – death of dependence so independence can arise; surrender; the pains and struggles, the sense of crucifixion occurring in the maturing process, so the pains and suffering of life in the body.

Leaves and tree tip: The tip is the living, growing part of you. The part that is still vulnerable because of its newness, or outworn (depending on colour of leaf) part of your thinking or feeling. leaves, well you can also be blown like a leaf, suggesting separation from your roots and main growth; or you can take a leaf from someone’s notebook, thus following their example or idea. The leaves as a whole, if falling, can represent the end of your a period of your life, or can be the passing ego that dies, but leaves the trunk, the process that gave life. See Death of Ego

Roots: Your connection with the past, with your family heritage or influences; the things you are tied to by necessity or love; your fundamental physical characteristics as they express in your personality; the aspects of your culture or family ties that you particularly identify with or find connection with.

Roots in dreams represent the hidden and often unconscious links that reach deep into our body and its long past. For our body is an outcrop of the life that began when life began on this earth, and it carries with it ancient memories. The dream roots give us entrance into that long past and what it brings with it into our life today. See The Conjuring Trick  

The root can sometimes indicate the ‘root’ of your biological potential/energy – the root centre. As such it shows your undifferentiated self – the you rather like an energy, like electricity. that is invisible until it flows into an apparatus/body, which enables it to show part of its enormous potential – movement, feelings, self consciousness, etc.

Tree trunk: Your family background and connections; What you have developed or grown from. Any injury to the trunk shows a traumatic event; if it is low on the trunk it indicates youth, if higher up then later in life.

Example: Dreamt that I was looking at the large plane tree at the back of our house in London. I noticed the base of the trunk was burnt internally. I pulled away bark. It looked a bit like a bees nest, but was cindered wood. Now I saw folds in the trunk of the tree showing that the tree was leaning, and I realised the cindered bark I pulled away had been supporting the tree. It would now soon fall. I saw a very clear mental image of the tree falling to the right where there was space, because straight ahead was a building it would crush. The tree then began to fall exactly where I had visualised. I now saw the top of the trunk base cut clean.

The dreamer explored their dream and said: The tree is that which has grown from the past into the present. When you discover it is burnt at the base, this means you begin to see that deep within, at the foundations of this lifetime, much has been destroyed in you.

The burnt wood means that much which was to have been expressed as growth was turned inward and consumed the inner life. The burning was realised as your loneliness, your fear of relating, and the pain of living within yourself. When the tree fell, this is the part of you built upon those problems falling away. Tree threatening to fall on building is perhaps having a medical career, but have gone in another direction, against something being built. The burn is the debt on the hands. It is in my hands what I do.

Uprooted tree: It is mostly about your inner world so your every day life has been uprooted – to remove a person from their home or usual environment. See The Inner World 

So it can indicate either a serious psychological injury which can lay you low; or that you are living a life that does not connect with your real or core self. See Core

Idioms: Top of the tree; family tree; barking up the wrong tree; tree of knowledge; dead wood; can’t see the trees for the wood.

See: Sacred Tree in Dreams and Myth; death and rebirth, and archetypes of the self ; Individuation; Cross, Wood.

Comments

-Kougie 2017-07-15 14:49:48

I had a dream my youngest daughter were climbing up a tree into a very nice tree house which very much like a home. My daughter and I walked to an opening which was like a window looking out into the forest. She climb over the edge onto some sort of ladder and I urged her to be careful. She the fell what had to be at least 3-4 stories I looked down over the edge. She was laying there legs looked broke. I could tell she was alive but barely and was badly injured. In the dream I called 911 but they couldn’t figured out our location and no one in the house knew the address. I was panicking and crying. I finally found the address on some mail in the treehouse and as I was telling the 911 operator where we were I woke up. I was crying when I awoke. The dream really had me upset. It was so real.

    -Tony Crisp 2017-07-17 12:21:14

    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

    Kougie – You dream says very clearly that you daughter was making her own decisions and becoming independent. A tree house is often a childs first experience of having their own independent life. Look at this woman’s dream – all about the awful state of anxiety mothers go through as they deal with their child’s firs attempst at being independent.

    Example: Hello, I am a single mom. My son Just turned 7 two days ago. I have had numerous dreams where he has died or the dream will be as of I can’t find him. I Just had a dream about my son and he was playing with some friends and one of them knocked at my door and said that my son was going to die. This woke me straight up out of my sleep. My son gets to the point now to where he wants to be independent at times and I try to tell him he can’t do the things he sees other big kids doing because he’s still so small. I am so protective of my son and don’t want to lose him. I wish I could stop having these dreams where he’s dead, or dies,or I Just simply lose sight of him in my dreams. I worry about him all the time when he’s not with me. What can I do.

    Your love and care for your child or children can trigger your mothering instincts with a vengeance. Being female and a mother holds with it an enormously increased anxiety about your child. You see all manner of things that might be a threat, and I believe that is what such dreams shows. Your imagination for such dangers is enormously increased. This is natural in all mammals, and acts as a warning making you aware. It helps to check whether your child or children are okay, and if they are, say to the part of you that is worried, “It’s okay, I checked, but thanks for keeping me on my toes, you can relax now.”

-Rashmi Raghu 2017-06-16 5:08:04

Hey,
I m writing the first thing after waking up this morning. I had a dream where I was with my family in a mall, some young guy troubled me & I kind of had a physical fight with him & later on, I started escaping from that place & eventually ended up jumping on a massively huge tree from the top of the wall of that campus we were in. They were still chasing me long behind apparently. However once I caught one of the tip of those branches, I started jumping from one branch to another to settle down somewhere in the tree. I did notice that I was kind of worried if the branches would break due to my weight while I was jumping & was amazed & happy everytime it didn’t break & carried me to the next tip of the branch. I never climbed the tree as such I straight away caught hold of the tip of a branch n started hopping from one to another. Finally I did settle down at one place little below, but close to the upper part of the tree.
I really need some help in understanding what’s going on in my life please. Because I’m going through quite a time in my life!
Thanks in advance & much appreciate your help
Regards
Rashmi

-De 2017-06-03 8:30:41

Hi Tony,
I had a dream that my younger daughter’s right hand was turning into a tree bark.
I was very scared in my dream and was rushing into hospital with her but for some reason I knew that I need to find a initial cause like a thorn to prevent her skin turning into a tree bark

Tony your guidance would be much appreciated

    -Tony Crisp 2017-06-04 13:04:31

    Hi – 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

    De – First, you must understand that dreams use nearly all dream images to indicate something else. Also you tend to see your life as YOU as you are at the moment, but again, dreams see your life as a whole, not just a part, like the present, but everything about you. It is now known that in the womb we start off at the very primitive level of cellular production. Then our forming body goes through a fish stage and has gills. Slowly it moves toward an air breathing body. And all these evolutionary changes leave their mark in our memory, but our memory is not just in words, but before we were born we remembered in emotion and deeply felt impressions.

    Therefore your daughter probably represents a younger part of you, because you can remember her at that age, but you have blocked memories of yourself at the same age – yet it reminds you.

    What your dream is saying is that your right hand, your ‘doing’ hand with its wonderful skills and possibilities, is losing its flexibility and becoming protective – what are you protecting?

    But the amazing clue about the frightening thing is you know there is an initial cause that happened in your childhood. Maybe you felt recently that your creativity and potential has been blocked somewhere. I don’t know where or how that was, but you know deep in yourself, and you can find out by being the thorn using http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/acting-on-your-dream/#BeingPerson and maybe http://dreamhawk.com/approaches-to-being/opening-to-life/

-Lhea 2017-06-01 2:21:43

How do I find my previous comments?

-Lhea 2017-05-31 15:55:03

I ask to dream and to remember my dream afterwards. I recently had lost a sister, and I was feeling drained and a bit depressed. I was also going to a phase of my life that I had to commit to move to move to another state and I was not looking forward to it since the decision to move was not entirely mine. I did due to outside circumstance that was beyond my control. After my sister passing, I become increasingly interested in reincarnation and life after death. I always liked Edgar Cayce, so I was reading and watching videos about this topics, as well as the Kabbalah tree of life and the Kundalini. I was also concerned about my health and how to restore my energy since I was feeling drained and unenthusiastic about pretty much everything. So, the night in question I did a mediation, and asked my guardian angel do help me remember my dream. And so I did:

I dreamt that I was jogging up and down a hill (with natural steps) I was a bit confused why I was only going up and down and I did not venture further, since I love to jog. I then started running real fast and all the sudden I see myself standing under a Mulberry three, the tree was not tall, it was a little taller than me (I am 5’3) the leaves were vibrant green in color, and had a nice canopy that cover me, but also was not huge. I felt protected under it. The small tree it was full of fruits, they were deep red almost black/purple in color and they were much bigger than the normal mulberry. I was very happy that I could reach the fruits easily and I started eating them. They were really juice, sweet and delicious. I also noticed that between the fruits were white silkworm, they were also very large. I was careful picking the mulberries, because I didn’t want to pick a silkworm and eat it instead. The thought of that made me squirmy. Then, I noticed the other people were also under the tree. It made me uneasy that other people came under the tree and starting eating the fruits. I didn’t like the idea to have other people sharing the fruits that I thought was mine only. I dint’s know who these people were and I didn’t recognize any of them. I was annoyed at first, then their presence didn’t bother me anymore. It seems that someone that was there — in the dream it seems that was me that noticed it , yet it also felt that it was another person that was there who called my attention to it – I noticed that from a portion of the tree trunk started to grow two new branches. I remember thinking that I never seen a plant grown like this, except on TV/movies when you see those picture slideshows where a flower is blossoming frame by frame. This branch however, was growing very fast right before my eyes. The place where the new branches was growing was sprinkled with something that looked like gold glitter, but it was floating around where the branch was shooting up, it was alive and the golden aura around it pulsated with life. The branch was also golden in color and I was amazed by it. Then from the taller growing tree branch came out a gorgeous golden butterfly. I was absolutely dazzled by its beauty. At this exact moment I wake up.

-Tara Fields 2017-05-30 7:07:45

Hi there,
This morning I woke from a very vivid dream, one that I don’t recall having before.

I was with a group of people, who I didn’t know, in a very beautiful snow covered place with very tall evergreen trees. The scene was very still and beautiful, the air cold and fresh.

I had gone some distance away from the group of people with one other, whom I was teaching to do something (I am a drama teacher by trade) when suddenly the trees (which were some distance away) started to crash down. I told this person we needed to get back quickly although I didn’t feel immediately threatened by the falling trees. It felt quite a natural phenomenon within the dream. And then I woke up …

-Vera 2017-04-29 6:33:44

Hello Tony,
I wrote earlier about the flying tree and would like to know if you have any idea about a tree that is flying since a friend of mine was dreaming about one as well!
Looking forward to your answer.
Vera

-Will 2017-04-25 23:11:23

Had a very unusual dream last night: I was peering out of a window in a house watching an enormous pecan/oak tree trunk (the trunk was all that was visible) during the middle of a violent storm at night…Oddly, the tree had been secured via a large chain to a large piece of concrete to prevent being blown over…Suddenly, the winds picked up and the tree was very slowly bent all the way over to the ground, dragging the concrete, until it lay completely over on its side with its ROOTS EXPOSED.

I have no idea how to begin to go about interpreting all of this…

-Amanda jones 2017-04-12 7:24:15

My family have recently found out that my dad has dementia, it’s changed him rapidly in the last few months and we are all now taking action to be with him and give him daily help.
Last night I had a dream about his house suddenly being empty but then I was with a lot of people at the house, we were outside with a tree which was growing out of the ground but growing around us not upwards and the tree had flowers on, two types and one was daffodils. My dads fsmily are Welsh so maybe that’s the daffodil connection?
Can you shed some light on what this could mean?

-cess 2017-04-07 0:34:12

I dream about a tree that looks like a pine tree but a big one and without a leave. But it looks strong and people is sleeping and found safely up in the tree. Then I saw a woman wcarrying a child trying to get up in the tree to find protection and shelter. Please help me, what does that dream mean?

    -Tony Crisp 2017-04-07 8:09:49

    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

    Princess – The tree represent you – not just your conscious personality, but what underlies it, the seed you grew from. No plant or tree grows from a dead seed, and each living seed carries within it all the past gathered from all its forebears. So, the seed in your mother’s womb is as old, and even older than human kind, and you carry that wisdom in you. To explore it see Opening to Life on this site.

    A seed is a return to the source of life and it/our beginnings under the sun. Consciousness on our planet started in the slime of creation, the slime we return to, to procreate. And from that slime which is a vehicle for our seed to exist in, our awareness goes through the whole process of evolution, the dividing of cells, the forming of structure and organs, the creation of a creature with gills, and on to a human type form ready to breathe air, carrying our seed onward. See Wild Side

    But your tree, which also grew from a seed, has no leaves, perhaps suggesting that you have grown anything new in this lifetime. See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/growth-of-something/

    But despite your not growing the new leaves which take in the Life energy, you are basically a strong person, and with that strength you can, if you reach out to other people, support and shelter them.

    Getting up the tree shows you trying to get higher, an attempt to grow in understanding your life and the lives of others. See http://dreamhawk.com/approaches-to-being/opening-to-life/

-Vera 2017-03-24 20:56:49

Hi, I had a dream about a flying tree. It was a tree that from afar had only branches. Like a spoked wheel the branches were around a center. When I said to the people around me (who I didn’t know) that there is a flying tree they answered happily and not surprised “wow, you can see fairies” as if it was normal that some were able to see fairies in this region. And when I looked to the tree again which was a lot closer now I could see a male body which resembled the tree trunk. The butt was covered by a leaf ad the rest of the body was greenish. The branches and leaves were in a darker green. I could only see the back of the fairy. it made me very happy that I could see him.
What are your thoughts on this?
Thank you!

-Michelle 2017-03-11 10:33:09

I had a dream last night that I saw a huge white tree in the middle of the forest however, I could not see the top of the tree due to its size. The tree had the chatacteristics of a silver maple tree. Whist looking at the tree I was in awe. I was just wondering what the tree represents as it was the trademark in my dream.

-Mandy 2017-02-22 16:00:25

Hello,
If you have time to offer your thoughts that would be great.
I had a dream last night that I was combing and cutting my sons hair only to find trees growing out of his head. Different kinds of trees. This scared me and I wanted to take him to a doctor to find out what was wrong with him. i was able to find small trees with the roots to take to the doctor to be analyzed but these did not come from his head.

Thank you for your time.
Mandy

-B 2017-02-20 22:35:59

Sometimes i get insanely intricate dreams, and last night was one of them. I can remember a major aim in the dream was to protect a huge tree in a forest. It was massive, like ancient sequoia size but more oak tree looking. Eventually, i made it invisible and felt it was safe. Thats like the main part about the tree in the dream. It was in a forest, with houses dotted around, and it seemed there were no cities, everything was wild. And there were animals everywhere, not all normal, and i was trying to care for them. Including a black snake that took ages to catch, chased it for a bit nd woke up just as i caught it and held it up. Was odd, there was a lot more going on and it went much longer but these parts seemed most significant.

-Eli 2017-02-10 12:38:45

I had a dream that I was following my girlfriend through a forest. She was wearing a dress, I was right behind her. She ran and ran until at one moment she turned and smiled at me. We went by a lot of trees. I couldn’t see how tall they were, there was no light coming from above. It was getting darker the more we ran. But I could still make out each individual tree and her. I could still clearly see her.

Copyright © 1999-2010 Tony Crisp | All rights reserved