The House In Your Dream
When you dream of a house, you are meeting a hugely important and many sided representation of yourself. It is both many faceted and multidimensional.
Although you cannot see it, your mind, along with your beliefs, has a particular structure or form. If the shape of your mind could be built into a three dimensional model, such as a house, you would probably be able to see that your mind has as unique a shape as your fingerprints. But at the same time there would be features of your mental ‘house’ that were very much the same as most of the people within your own culture. If there were a museum of the mind you would see in it that the human mind has altered its shape in an evolutionary fashion just as the human body has. The model of minds of even a few centuries ago would have a much larger area devoted to religious feelings and thoughts. The area dealing with personal identity would be much larger in the modern mind.
Each dream image holds enormous data, emotional response, and created patterns of behaviour. So in considering the house in your dream you need to remember you are in touch with a full surround databank of fantastic information about you, your past and your possibilities. You can interact with this information by exploring it in the right way. And to help with this let us look at and question some of the possibilities your dream house might hold. See Techniques for Exploring your Dreams
For instance how old do you feel the house is – and in stating its age, does that connect in any way with your own age and time of birth? If so how?
If the age differs from your own age, what period of time or your life does it coincide with and what relevance has that to you? The style of the house may also suggest something of your attitude to life. As you explore the house in general look for connections to any aspect or period of your life.
Does the house seem to be much older than you are? If so what are your impressions of it and what it contains? What is your relationship with it and are you searching for or finding something in it? Or perhaps this is about an event, a relationship, or an influence you can feel in connection with the house. Try to define the influence or whatever you experience, and see if you can notice how that is active or influencing your current life. If the age differs from your own age, what period of time or your life does it coincide with and what relevance has that to you?
If this is an old house and you gain entrance to new areas, you need to ask yourself what influences from the past – perhaps the long past – are emerging in you at the moment.
Is it a strong house, or are there weaknesses; and what style of house is it? In other words what does the dream house suggest about those things?
If possible write down your response to these questions so you build up information as we go along. For instance any weakness in the house needs to be seen as difficulties you have and of course strengths as signs of ability to cope with life
Is it a strong house, or are there weaknesses? What is the condition of the house, its state of repair?
Is the house well built or weak in some areas. If weak what areas and what can you gather from that? If it is well built, does it reflect any particular skills or strengths you have and does your personality and inner life reflect those skills or lack of them?
Any weakness in the house may represent difficulties you are facing – and of course strengths are signs of your ability to cope with life. Does this link in any way with either your health, or the condition of your inner or outer life? What is it saying about you?
Is it a house you have never known before – a house new to you?
This is a situation you have not known before, an experience new to you. So it could represent a different way of seeing or relating to yourself.
In the dream how are you relating to the house?
Are you arriving, leaving, repairing it, pulling it down, exploring it? Whatever you are doing, or in whatever way you are relating to the house, what does that suggest about what you are doing to your body, your personality, or your way of life? For instance if leaving, are you leaving a way of life behind? If renovating, what attitudes or part of you are you changing?
If the house is weak in some areas, examine these areas to see what you can gather from them. If it is well built, does it reflect any particular skills or strengths you have and does your personality and inner life reflect those skills or lack of them? Is the house showing you some aspect of your life that is calling out for attention/maintenance/repair?
Is this a house you once lived in, or does it remind you of such a house or dwelling?
If so what was your way of life in that house? What happened to you there – were you going through puberty; were you in or leaving a relationship; was success or failure experienced there; was it a move to achievement or independence? Whatever you remember or define about it, how is that relevant now and in what way is it active in your life?
Also, what was the environment or atmosphere like in that house? Sometimes it is easier to see this looking back as you are often too immersed at the time, so take time to describe it to yourself.
In the dream how are you relating to the house? Are you arriving, leaving, repairing it, pulling it down, or exploring it?
Whatever you are doing, or in whatever way you are relating to the house, what does that suggest about what you are doing to your body, your personality, or your way of life? For instance if leaving, are you leaving a way of life behind? If renovating, what attitudes or part of you are you changing?
Does the house give you an impression of great age?
Is it older than you are? If so what are your impressions of it and what it contains? What is your relationship with it and are you searching for or finding something in it? Or perhaps this is about an event, a relationship, or an influence you can feel in connection with the house. Try to define the influence or whatever you experience, and see if you can notice how that is active or influencing your current life.
Does this house belong to somebody else and how are you relating to this house?
Are you entering or leaving this house? Sometimes such a house can suggest your relationship with someone else. If not that then a new or different way of or situation in life. So can you connect with any of those suggestions, and if so in what way?
Consider how you are relating to this house, your movements and feelings here. Are you comfortable here, are there aspects of the house that you would like to change? Is the house familiar, or are you drawn to explore further? What feelings does it evoke? Are you coming or going? Sometimes such a house can represent a new or different way of living or situation in life.
What social status does the house suggest?
Do the surroundings of the house suggest wealth, poverty or some level of social status? If so try to define it and how you relate to it now or in the past.
Has a new area of the house been discovered?
If so what is in it? What atmosphere or feelings does it arouse? What do you find, feel or discover in this new area? In what way does this reflect discovery of new attitudes, talents or self discovery in yourself.
If this is an old house and you gain entrance to new areas, you need to ask yourself what influences from the past – perhaps the long past – are emerging in you at the moment.
Now see if you can summarise your responses to see what they suggest of the things you are meeting, feeling or growing into at the moment.
Is this a house you once lived in, or knew well?
If so what was your way of life in that house? What happened to you there? – were you going through puberty; were you in or leaving a relationship; was success or failure experienced there; was it a move to or achievement of independence? Whatever you remember or define about it, how is that relevant now and in what way is it active in your life?
Also, what was the environment or atmosphere like in that house? What feelings does it evoke in you now? Sometimes it is easier to see this looking back as you are often too immersed at the time, so take time to describe it to yourself.
Was a ghost involved in the dream?
This usually about something that happened there, or a childood event that caused fear, and the memory is still hauntung you. See if you can feel the feelings and ask yourself what caused them.
Comments
sorry if my english is bad but i dont know if theirs any meaning of it but every time i dream its really bugging me.let see theirs a white house and its super creepy coz every time i dream it keeps dreaming the same house..first theirs a monster hiding on the 3rd floor..second its keep calling me then one time the house spoke to me and he said dont leave me something like that…
and theirs another house.
i dream it about 3x.the house was located at the woods and its an old house like in the horror movie.
and suddenly i was inside and theirs a little girl ,her skin and whole body was peeling off and saying the same thing help me.. but of course its only a dream ryt:))
i just wanna share my dreams tnx
I have a dream about being in someone’s house long after they’ve gone. I’m with others searching and finding old treasures. Clothing, machinery, bedding, etc. Some are just dusty, others are infested with bugs. We are all questioning how to clear out the old from the valuable. All of the thinks we’re veery nice when they were new. They are ubiquitous and they were special at one time.
Dear Jennifer – In your dream you become aware what influences from the long past are emerging and the inner work that needs to be done to sort out what you want to keep and what you want to let go of.
I see it as part of the inner growth process which Carl Jung called individuation;
the processes involved in becoming a self-aware and independent human being.
See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/individuation/
and
http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/ancestors/
In your dream you are questioning “how to clear out the old from the valuable” and there are different ways to co-operate with “It”;
like taking notice of your dreams and habits and your feelings about yourself.
See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/practical-techniques-for-understanding-your-dreams/
and
http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/self-observation/
Does that give you a start?
Anna 🙂
I had a dream about a house I bought I use to leave on 7 years ago and that I went back to leave in that house again and a friend that I work with had move in in the same town and down the street from my old house but when I was going home some how I wasn’t able to find the house at the beginning it look different like there was more trees and bushes and inside the house I sad one spot of the wood floor peeling but my old house didn’t have would floor use to be all tile wa kind empty in there was only me I saw a lot friends down the street from the house. After that I woke up. What does these mean ? Thank you.
I have been dreaming about this old fallen down castle looking house. The image is still so clear in my head. I have never been there in real life I think but it feels like i might have. I am exploring, but I walk on my toes not to bother anyone. Its as of I am there to speak to someone and get information. The entrance is on the left side of this long broken down building. It has cement slabs in front that are torn down, after the small entrance there is a big room with a long table and paintings on the wall. There are people sitting there but not saying anything. I walk through the dining room and exit through a door on the right of the house at the back and find another house. I think I wanted to get permission to explore about my families past but I am not a 100% sure. I want to go see the inside of the other building but never manage to get there. This dream is quite scary. It feels like a movie scene with very scary dramatic music.
Dear Tessa – Your dream expresses that you have let down part of your defences; “this old fallen down castle looking house”.
A castle is a symbol of your past attitudes which may have been necessary in childhood to defend yourself while strengthening your identity and/or your way of defending against the remembering or experiencing of childhood pain.
See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/defence-mechanisms/
I feel it will be helpful to further explore this feeling in your dream “but I walk on my toes not to bother anyone”. Who is “anyone” and why do you believe that you can’t bother “them”?
See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/beliefs/
Also what did you feel when nobody was saying anything and what memories/possibilities/potential/parts of your inner world are expressed through the paintings in the room?
I also believe that this dream is about exploring your own past and with that, the past of your family and the only one who needs to give you permission to do that is YOU.
See also http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/past/
and
http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/the-conjuring-trick/
You wrote “This dream is quite scary. It feels like a movie scene with very scary dramatic music”.
Exploring and undoing our past can give rise to fearful feelings and it is part of the process.
All dreams are attempts on the part of our being to move toward wholeness and equilibrium. At times this may necessitate disturbance, just as vomiting does when the body discharges poisonous food. Nevertheless, difficult dreams are a way of bringing attention to areas of our experience we may be neglecting to look at, or even powerfully refusing to see.
To help yourself on this inner journey you can use Power Dreaming
See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/secrets-power-dreaming/
Good Luck!
Anna 🙂
Hi, can someone help me? Im always dreaming of the old house of my grand mother. And the house was already demolished a long time ago. Eventhough I was very far away , im always dreaming of that house. And in my dream , the scene is always in the second floor of the house neer the stair and the other one is the room which no one is sleeping or we can say that it was like a stock room. And in my dream im always dreaming of some dwarfs or little person or sometimes my grand father and grand mother who are already desd a long long time ago:-( and sometimes im always dreaming in my dream which end ups I will scream . It was really misterious because wehn I was young I feele so strange in that house looks like someone is living there. Its almost everyday I was keep om dreaming o badly. 🙁 and now I was really scared to sleep. 🙁
Dear izah grey – Your unconscious mind or your dream creator really wants you to become aware of something and that is why your dream keeps recurring. Also dreaming that you are dreaming is a symbol of the need to wake up to something.
So next time this happens try to remember what you experience when you “wake up” in a dream and what the “dream in the dream” is about, for it suggests the meaning is significant to you.
It will be helpful to also read the entry about “Grandmother”, so please see
http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/grandmother-grandma/ and try to answer the questions on that page.
The way I see your dream is that your dream creator wants you to become aware of this part of your family inheritance; of what you carry within you.
I feel the dwarfs represent a part of your psyche or mind that has been held back in development due to fear, pain or guilt.
That is probably also the reason why you perceived it that “someone” was living in that house when you were young, for I see this “someone” as a reflection of rejected parts that you projected into the house. So what you perceived as living in that house was your own unexpressed potential that did not have a chance to grow and be expressed. And yes, our potential – expressed or unexpressed – is a mystery too.
See also http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/the-archetype-of-the-shadow/ for it will help you to understand that because as you grow and absorb your culture you naturally repress parts of your nature as they are not acceptable to (grand) parents or society.
In order to change these recurring dreams you will have to process them. So try “Being the dwarf(s)” and “Talking as the dwarfs” to explore what it is that wants and needs to become conscious and use this approach for your other dream symbols too.
See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/acting-on-your-dream/#BeingPerson and
http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/practical-techniques-for-understanding-your-dreams/#TalkingAs
See also http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/processing-dreams/
Good Luck!
Anna 🙂
I have had 2 dreams in the last week about my current house being inspected by strangers who would like to move in. In the 1st dream I was cleaning to get the house ready for inspection. In the 2nd dream the person wanted to move in even though in the dream I insisted I wasn’t sure if I’d be moving. There were flaws in the house (ie, a loose screw) but they wanted to move in anyway.
Dear Tee – Your first dream expresses that in order to allow certain rejected parts of your psyche – those parts you lost awareness off for some reason – or new growing parts into your inner world/mind (again) you have to clean up some of your inner world first.
I think that cleaning up first makes that this step to feeling more whole is done in a more harmonious way than without cleaning.
Cleaning yourself needs work, and this can be done by taking notice of your dreams and habits and exploring your beliefs, but particularly your feelings about yourself.
See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/habits/
and
http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/beliefs/
and
http://dreamhawk.com/news/avoiding-being-my-own-victim/
Your second dream shows that you have done enough “cleaning work” – so you CAN do it – and that allowing this “stranger in” will now be able without you moving out. I feel that the conflict that existed between you and this rejected part of you will dissolve through your inner cleaning.
See also http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/conflicts/
You do not need to be perfect – the flaws in your house – to feel whole for “so called flaws” are part of our wholeness as well.
http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/whole-2/
Also to have a screw loose is probably relating to a belief you have about yourself, which belief is worthwhile exploring too.
Many of our beliefs are unconscious. They were absorbed in childhood and often remain without any conscious evaluation.
QUOTE
Integration is about truly finding parts of yourself that are missing. Someone recently told me that in a business exercise a participant felt she was schizophrenic and it troubled her. Yet the word simply means there is a split in the way we relate to life. That is quite amusing because we are all so cut off from knowing who or even what we are that we are all, according to the definition, schizophrenic.
Please continue reading at http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/integration-meeting-oneself/
Anna 🙂
Hi i had a dream that i seen my ex husband packing up our house and i was crying i am in the middle of property settlement its been 4 years and i have been worried about fir a while now maybe thats why i have been dreaming about him
Dear Kerri – Unfortunately you do not reveal why you are crying in your dream.
See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/emotions-and-mood-in-dreams/
Your dream could express your worries and the way you respond to these thoughts.
See http://dreamhawk.com/news/avoiding-being-my-own-victim/
Your dream could also express your intuition that the property settlement is not developing in a way that feels fair to you and so it could leave you “with a sense of loss”.
One of the functions of dreams is that it is an expression of human supersenses. Humans have an unconscious ability to read body language – so they can assess other humans very quickly. Humans have an unimaginable ability to absorb information, not simply from books, but from everyday events. With it they constantly arrive at new insights and realisations. Humans frequently correctly predict the future – not out of a bizarre ability, but from the information gathered about the present. All these abilities and more show in our dreams.
See also http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/function-of-dreaming/
Your dream does not give me enough information though, so I suggest you explore this dream for yourself using
http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/practical-techniques-for-understanding-your-dreams/
Helpful articles to read might also be:
http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/ex/
and
http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/digest/
Good Luck!
Anna 🙂
I have a recurring dream that I am living in a house we sold 10 years ago.
In the dream I am always sitting in the living room with my children. I am wondering why did we move back and how did it happen, like I was confused.
In the dream, I am sad because I love the current home we live in and it was almost like we downgraded to move into our older home.
The home in my dream is about 100 years old but also that time in my life, when we actually lived there, was a very happy time in our lives. We also drive by the home often. But the dream is almost identical each time I have it.
I keep having a dream about the same house, yet I have never been to this house in real life. My daughter,girlfriend and I live there. I don’t know what the downstairs looks like but upstairs is a hallway. There are two bedrooms. The one on the far left of the hallway is mine and my girlfriends bedroom and at the other end of the hallway is another bedroom. Inside it is clean, white walls and two white beds with slanted ceilings. I can’t go in the room. Something tells me the room is bad and I won’t let my daughter stay in it. She sleeps in a bed outside of the room. In my dream I stand there and stare into the room not sure what’s keeping me out but knowing I can’t go in there. I’ve had this dreams so many times I can draw the hallway and beds with detail. Any answers to what this means would be helpful.
Thank you
Dear Miranda – Your dreams recur because there are ways you habitually respond to your internal world. Because your attitude or response is unchanging – “I can’t go in the room” – the dream that reflects it remains the same. It is noticeable in those who explore their dreams using such techniques as described under processing dreams, that recurring themes disappear or change because the attitudes or habitual anxieties that gave rise to them have been met or transformed.
See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/processing-dreams/
You mention that one bedroom is for you and your girlfriend and I feel it will help if you give her a role in your dream, for she is a living part of you and as such she is alive and responsive, with enormous depths. And a good friend is a wonderful aid in your life, an aid that can see you through the difficult times, and show you a new side of yourself.
To understand the friend you need to be that friend. I mean imagine yourself in her body and see how it feels, and describe yourself as her, even ask her questions. In doing so do not forget that this is a part of yourself you are making more real. Don’t get the silly idea this is someone else, even though she has the face and body of someone else. In this way you will discover an enormous amount about your own strength and ‘goodness’.
You can use the strength of your girlfriend to overcome your inner resistance to enter this room, which room is probably related to an unconscious painful and/or fearful memory of your inner child. Your daughter in your dream is a symbol of this inner child and your own feelings and difficulties at her age.
See http://dreamhawk.com/health-and-healing/inner-baby-and-child/
Although the dream process attempts to release difficult emotions, trauma and past experience, most people have inbuilt mechanisms which prevent this spontaneous healing activity. It is natural to pull our hand away from a hot surface because of the pain. We do this ‘without thinking’, unconsciously in fact. Similarly we unconsciously pull away from any painful or frightening emotions, even though it may be in our best interests to release or integrate them.
So once you feel you are able to “be that friend” imagine yourself back in the dream and continue it as fantasy or a daydream and enter the room and explore what is there;
walk around in the room, sit on the bed etc.
Alter the dream in any way; experiment with it; play with it, until you find a way to fully feel at ease with it. In doing this you must not ignore the feelings of resistance and spontaneous emotion and fantasy that may occur. Satisfaction comes only when you have found a way of integrating these into your conscious imagining.
See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/secrets-power-dreaming/
Good Luck!
Anna 🙂
I Dreamed that my boyfriend and I discovered two abandoned houses he realize that these were houses that used to belong to his family years ago. then suddenly I told him “you can refurnish these houses and make them into Rent houses.” they seem to be abandoned at the time but after taking a closer look it appeared as someone had been living in them. What would this mean?
I had a recurrent dream, I was in my own apartment but then it turned out to be someone else’s apartment and I am aware of this. I have to leave but keep running into new rooms. I find my self confused why I am in this apartment and how I found myself there, because initially it was my own apartment when I entered. It is when I entered the living room and another bedroom I began to realize it was not mine and I kept running into other rooms, while trying to find my exit. It is decorated with the most beautiful furnishings and I am in awe. (but at the same time it was like they were still moving in). I am not anxious to leave because I enjoy the beautiful furnishings and décor. Something which fascinates me. The dream does not frighten me, but evokes a feelings of enjoying the beautiful things, and wishing it was mine or I lived there. I do have nice things myself, it is right up my ally. In the end of my dream I am in an urgency to leave before the real owners come home and find me there as an intruder. What does this dream mean? Thanks you.
Dear Eliz – I see your recurring dream as a recurring Inner Call to continue your transformation process; “I was in my own apartment but then it turned out to be someone else’s apartment”. It recurs because you did not “hear It” yet or you did not respond yet to it.
Transformation is natural to us. From the microscopic sperm and ovum we transform into an adult millions of times larger, and capable of living in a different environment. This transforming influence is still at work even when we stop growing physically. It is still available to continue mental and spiritual growth – spiritual meaning and awareness that transcends the limitations of the physical senses
In your dream you go backwards and forwards in confusing your waking life with your dream life. Transformation enables you to meet this new and many sided representation of yourself – “it turned out to be someone else’s apartment” – and you do not recognize it (yet) as part of your INNER world. So at first you respond the way you would when entering someone else’s apartment in your waking life: “I have to leave”, then you manage to let go of your beliefs from your waking life; “I am not anxious to leave”and at the end of your dream you feel again “I am in an urgency to leave before the real owners come home”.
I like the way you express yourself so clearly in your writing, and I trust that writing is a helpful means for you too to learn to sort out/digest/release and/or integrate what arises from your inner world; your unconscious.
See also http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/dream-incubation/
You wrote for instance: “how I found myself there”, which is a nice way of expressing that you did find a part of your unknown self and you enjoy the feelings you “furnished” your mind with.
You also wrote: “and wishing it was mine or I lived there”.
Within the universe of yourself you are a young god or goddess playing at creation with the stuff of LIFE. Whatever strong longing, thought or feeling you harbour has the potential to take form, and is given life, beautiful as it might be. And so when you own that power over a longer period of time, it will lead to inner Transformation too.
See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/archetype-of-the-night-journey-the-search-for-self/
I trust I gave you enough to reflect on and please feel free to ask if questions might arise.
Good Luck!
Anna 🙂
We had an oceanfront house in lavalette built in 1904 by my great aunt. It was left to 4 nephews 1 being my father. I spent most of my life every summer in this house full of family fun grandfather the beach working in the local bakery and having my own small children. 1995 one owner abruptly wanted out and wanted an enormous amount of money for his share. We lost it was a death for me. I’m always back at the house in my dreams when all of a sudden the new owners drive up and we are scrambling to get out before they find us. The house is somtimes the same and sometime magnificent.
I dream of an old light stone mansion. Wide in length but stil 3 stories. I have never lived there, and I’m never seen this house in real life. It is surrounded by water, or at least the front of it is a huge beautiful pool, and the side of it today there was regular water with boats. I have dreamed of this house many times, throughout my life. I get excited when he reappears, sometimes it we just drive by it in my dreams, and I love driving and telling people about it, but today I moved in to the house right next-door. The house next-door was a mini version, or in essence, the slave house that was built with it. I moved in with my husband, my 11 year old, and my one year-old son. in the dream we moved in very quickly, in which I was not paying attention to my baby, and he broke his arm without anyone knowing how he it. He did not cry. We were leaving the house with a bunch of people, they were family members I think. we were in a boat, I fell out of the boat to the bottom of the water until I touched the bottom, It was very difficult to get up to the top of the water to get air, but I did it. This is how I woke up.
Myself my sister and my brother have the same dream about a place we lived I when we were young but we adults in the dream, and we’re the only one there. We’re suppose to be moving out of the house but our parents just leave the house dirty and were there waiting for them to come and finish moving out. We all have the same dream about another place we lived where were there but we’re grown and there is no one there and its kinda dark in the house.
Hi. I lived in this house 7 years ago. In my dream I was trying to stop people getting in my house shutting the door on them. They would come back with more people and me and my partner was fighting them for are protection it was crazy. Thanks