Posts Tagged ‘dream dictionary interpretation’
Belly
Almost half the dreams on file that mention abdomen, belly or stomach, show the dreamer being shot, as in the example below. This is obviously to do with a particular type of hurt. When human beings learned to stand up, they exposed their vulnerable underbelly. If we are hurt or threatened we tense the pelvic and abdominal area. The sort of hurt referred to is that related to when we might be deeply criticised, feel badly wronged or slandered. This area often feels the pain of a broken relationship too.
Example: ‘The people watching are saying ‘Kill her! Kill her! Kill her!’ Then someone finds an extra bullet, puts it in the gun and shoots me in the stomach. I wake with my body completely straight with my hands on my stomach. I feel my whole body cracking up inside.’ Vanessa. LBC
Vanessa wakes to just such tension, with a sense of her body being fragmented. In her dream Vanessa was re-enacting a disaster in which a man rampaged and shot down many people, and she was feeling the fear it engendered. See Nothing Can Hurt You in Your Dreams.
Very often has to do with vulnerability, but also sensual feelings, passions, hungers, the physical side of self. Or in body dream may refer to an internal organ. See: Abdomen; Digestion; Absorb.
Here is a woman’s take on bellly.
Example: I then walked on down the street to another shop where Jared was working. I gave him the pin. He was overcome by my kindness. He hugged me a lot. I felt his pot belly and his flaccid penis. I started to feel like it was time to move on.
Example: I was looking at my belly button. There was a good three inches of cord sticking out. The end of it was red and raw. Cassie A.
Cassie had been in a long dependent relationship which she had recently broken. She felt at the time of the dream she was having to stand alone and do things for herself. The end of her relationship felt like a ripping apart, and thus the sore cord. See Umbilical.
If your dream is about pregnancy in any way see Pregnant in my dream; Pregnancy; Woman’s Creative Power.
Example: I felt sick between my throat and belly, staying with what was happening I felt a black tar like substance it felt like it lined part if the inside of the cord it was thick and dense and I felt it was something I had been dealing with all my life. It felt like it went along way back ancestral or beyond and I felt emotional. As I staying with the image the dense heavy blackness something started to move in my belly, a bubble type ball of energy came out from the blackness into my hands. It felt like I was like a baby inside, holding the energy bringing it out up my body then taken back in through my mouth like eating its own tail, a complete circle moving slowing down my body transforming the blackness as it went. I became the Tsunami in my dream, and it I saw it as levels of attachments that you identify with. It was like being in a room but you are not a room having things in the room. But I am letting go of stories of my self. I am not the story but have lived through it , I realise with wonder that I am the energy of the Tsunami the energy of everything. The blackness transformed in this wonderful energy.
As I made my way home I felt very ‘in the moment’. I experienced waves of people all colours, cultures shapes and sizes. On the bus the conversations behaviors, I could see myself in it all, the buildings cars traffic lights all connected.
Here B. explored her dream of being a huge tsunami and the blackness in her belly.
Another exploration to clean the gunk out of her belly.
Example: I sit down and and as I tune in I receive the message, ‘Your old stories are defunct.’
Tony then gets me to do REM, moving my open eyes quickly down from top left to bottom right and then going within. I feel that to cleanse the gunge that lies deep in my belly, instead of pulling at the rope we could insert a hollow tube through my mouth and have water come in and cleanse that way. I do REM in the oposite direction from top right to bottom left.
As it has been there for quite some time it is quite hard to remove and I become aware that to do so could mean the whole structure will fall apart. Tony assures me that it is safe to let it die. As the water continues to jet onto the filler I become aware of a new born life form which has been protected by the structure. Its skin is slightly mottled and I become acutely aware of its breathing and the strong sense of magic pervading from and all around the creature. The creature lies in a crib in the centre of a room, alert, curious, enchanted and I am fascinated by this incredible discovery. From death new life miraculously arises! Beneath the man made structure behold a faery child! I reconnected with the magic that lies at my very core; the newness, the freshness, the playfulness and innocence. I am renewed! Untouched, at the centre, whole, safe, breathing, alive, wondrous beating heart, coupled with the capacity to come to each moment afresh and be fascinated by what I discover. This is my birthright! Tara
Being hit in the belly: This might be related to criticisms you have received, or some kind of felt hurt.
Laying down on belly: Sometimes represents a way of crawling away from attack or of remaining hidden.
A doctor puts his hand on my belly: A healing or examination of some sort – or even sexual feelings. If ther eis any information given about you belly give it serious thought.
Light or a spirit entering your belly: This sometimes happens in a woman’s dream and signifies a wonderful child will be born to you. You child can result in physical birth or be a dream child.
Escape from the belly of – or being in – the whale or big sea creature: This is usually the sign or a great change in your life, and it relates to what is called The Night Sea Journey. It is a journey into the experience of entering what was previously unknown or unconscious within you; a search for self. See archetype of the night journey.
Shot in the belly: something to do with sex, a painful response to relationship, or feeling a target of someone’s verbal or emotional attack.
Dreaming of grapes near a woman’s belly: A woman dreaming of this can believe that she might be pregnant.
Idioms: belly up; belly up to the bar; yellow belly; belly aching; have a bellyful; eyes bigger than one’s belly; have a strong stomach; turn one’s stomach; butterflies in stomach.
Useful Questions and Hints:
Does this relate to issues with the abdomen area?
Is there in the dream and sensuality, passion or maybe hungers in general?
What is the theme of the dream?
Have you felt hurt or attacked recently?
What feelings were evident in the dream?
Try using Easy Dream Interpretation.
Below
If something or someone is below you in a dream you might be feeling superior, or you are looking back on something, like looking back on the past. If you have climbed to somewhere, then what you are looking back on is a more inclusive viewpoint.
Something you feel is ‘beneath you or what is ‘below’ in the body – so the non intellectual aspects of self. Something one can now look back on from a detached viewpoint. If below something else it could suggest a feeling of being in an inferior position or observing someone or something you look up to. See above.
You could also, depending on what you are doing in the dream, have a birds eye view, giving a wider awareness of what you are viewing. Without understanding what is below you it may lead to misunderstanding what is seen.
Example: I have a view that looks over houses, and below is a market square. I say, presumably to the woman, what a marvellous view, and think what an excellent photograph it would make if only there was someone in the foreground. Then I see a young woman in the square, with a baby in a pushchair. She is attractive. Her baby falls out and gets dirty, and she ignores it, and I feel that despite her attractiveness, this side of her is repulsive. There is a greengrocer’s shop on the left of the square, run by Arabs or Pakistanis. One of their children throws something at someone in the square. People throw things back. Then the Arab parents come out, and do not at first realised their children started it.
If you are falling from a height then the ground, or what is below you, is vitally important. See Nothing Can Hurt You in Your Dreams.
You could be below the surface of water, and the meaning depends on what is felt about this; is it an emergency or is it an exploration? See swimming pool.
Example: When I got to the pool I found it was covered with glass, and although my dog Tramp now came to the surface, he could still not breathe due to the glass. I quickly pushed the glass away, and was about to dive in and feel around in gloomy water, when I saw Tramp just below the surface. I pulled him out. He was drowned and stiff, but I gave him artificial respiration, and he came to life.
I use so many examples to show the many ways the word can be used in ones dreams.
Example: Dreamt we, as a family were walking along a road. To our left was a steep cliff falling away at the roads edge. My young son fell down the cliff. He was only a baby, and we thought he was dead. Then I went to a nearby house and phoned police. I went back to the cliff. We could hear crying from far below and so felt Mark was not dead. I, or someone, was lowered down on a rope to bring him up.
Idioms: Beneath my contempt; It’s below my standards; a notch below; below the poverty line; notch below.
Useful Questions and Hints:
How has below been used in my dream?
Is there any connection with my recent feelings or thoughts?
If the dream has a negative ending what can I do to improve it?
Belt
If it is a belt such as on a car or machine, it depicts how power or energy is being directed or used. So problems with the belt would suggest that ones powerful drives such as ambition, sexuality, desire for acclaim, are meeting with conflicts or obstructions etc.
Seat belt: This has to do with restraint and feelings of safety in emergencies. So not fixing it could be to do with feelings that you are not taking enough care in situations or relationships, or else you want to avoid social restraints.
If a clothing belt: Often tightly restrained sexuality or emotions, or protectiveness or support. Taking it off might therefore suggest relaxing or giving yourself more freedom or naturalness. It could also be something to do with you attractiveness, or wanting to look more attractive.
A man’s belt: Is largely functional to keep trousers up, so might suggest feelings about sexuality or restraining it – taking it off the reverse. But some belts are for carrying tools or equipment, so might associate with skills or abilities you have developed.
If you have been punished with a belt in the past: Then it could have direct links with those events or feelings.
Particular types of belt: Like a cowboy belt, or a fancy decorated belt would have a connection with how you felt about the belt while wearing it.
If it is an ornamental or dress belt: Indicates your feelings about it and that will be the key to its meaning.
Conveyor belt: Something automatic going in a particular direction or purpose. Obviously the belt doubles back on itself in a non ending circle. If you are on it maybe it is an easy way to get somewhere – but where does it lead in your dream.
Idioms: Belt up; tighten one’s belt; belt you; grain belt; ; had a belt; tighten our belts; under my belt.
Useful Questions and Hints:
What function does this belt have – is it decorative, practical, protective or to carry equipment?
What function is this belt playing, and can I identify with or understand that?
What is the condition of this belt and what is it driving or linked with?
Can I feel this energy or drive in myself?
Is this a belt I own – if so what feelings or associations do I have with it?
What action is occurring in connection with the belt?
What feelings are there about the belt.
Using the Simple Dream Interpretation can help. Or see Secrets of Power Dreaming
Berries
Very much depends on what the dream portrays. If they are poisonous for instance, then it suggests the realisation of possible contact with something that might poison your mind or feelings with fears or disturbing thoughts. This might even apply to food you are eating or allergic to.
If healthy, then the contact with possibly useful or nourishing experiences.
Berries can also suggest fruitfulness or ripeness. As berries are seasonal there may at times be a link with coming into season, or even with menstruation. See: Food.
Useful Questions and Hints:
Am I eating these, and if so what do I feel their effect is?
Is the dream showing the berries are ready to harvest – if so what is ripe in my life now?
If I am seeing these as harmful, what associations do I have with these berries?
Use Peer Dream Method to explore your dream.
Bible
Dreaming about the Bible may link with your traditional moral standards, perhaps inherited without re-evaluation. It will also often indicate your feelings about religion.
In some dreams it involves your most inclusive realisations, your highest or most inclusive realisations about yourself and your place in the world. In that case it would be about those things you hold to be most true.
As it represents traditional religion, it may depict your conflicts or difficulties with religion. See: bible – dreams and symbols; spiritual life in dreams; religion and dreams.
Useful Questions and Hints:
Is my dream showing me feeling I am in touch with great wisdom – if so can I say what that wisdom is?
If I am in conflict with what the bible represents, what is at the heart of my feelings?
What moral standards do I hold, even unconsciously?
See Prayer And Dream Interpretation and Processing Dreams.
Biceps
Strength or ones sense of being capable.
Because biceps are the strength of the arms they, as the arms, are the strength that flows into to your ability to love, give, take, create, defend, reach out. Our arms, especially the arm we use most, can also represent all the struggle and effort we have put into life, what we have given and taken, what skills we have learned or created in the work and labour of life. See: Body; arm.
Injury the bicep: If it is the hand you use most it is your confidence and ability to act in the world, to work and create. If the non-dominant bicep, is probably you ability to support what you do that is injured, your confidence that supports the action. See Left; Right.
Useful Questions and Hints:
What part does the bicep play in my dream?
Do I feel weak or strong in my ability to hold, love and create?
What do I associate with the bicep when I think of it?
Try Talking As to define it.
Bicycle Cycling
Personal effort or motivation which gets you somewhere. For many people a bicycle was their first experience of mastering a body skill and gaining greater freedom. In your dream it might therefore represent youthful freedom or enthusiasm without responsibilities, the perseverance and confidence to master a skill, mental balance – confidence – which enables one to achieve ones goals. It could mean facing dangers in learning a skill or confidence or even adolescent sexuality.
Cycling can also refer to the cycles of feeling or mood we pass through. So it can imply that one is experiencing a cycle which you may be trapped in. The way to get out of this cycle is to step back from it using observation, this is like stepping back and not be lost in the emotions or moods. See self-observation and letting things happen
Bicycle race or riding with many other people: Dreams often use this scenario to represent an overall view of your situation in life. It shows how you feel about your place in the human race, whether life is a struggle or pleasure, etc. See: race.
Falling off bike: Losing balance – losing confidence; awkwardness; vulnerability. This could also suggest a problem occurring in your chosen direction, a failure of your energy or ability to achieve.
Flying on bike: The magic of believing in yourself and therefore being able to achieve things that would otherwise be seen as impossible.
Pump: This often seems to link with sex or masturbation as in example.
Example: We walked a bit further and came to a hut beside the road. we laid down behind the hut in some long grass to make love but suddenly I saw a snake and jumped up. It turned out to be only a bicycle pump but by now we were aware of other people nearby and the moment had gone.
The snake and pump in this dream are obvious links with sexual desire.
Riding a bicycle downhill: Taking or facing a risk; being daring; need for care. It might also suggest ‘going downhill’ in the sense of losing advantage, losing the ‘high ground’.
Stolen bicycle: If you are using the stolen bicycle, it suggests a feeling of needing someone else’s skills or confidence’ of not having developed your own initiative or life skills. If you have had your bicycle stolen, then it is a feeling of losing your ability to get on through your own efforts; loss of enthusiasm or confidence.
Example: I was walking up a hill pushing a bicycle. Several other people went by riding theirs but that didn’t worry me. I went on up the hill and could only gasp in wonderment when I got to the top – I could see for miles and everything was in the most wonderful colours you could ever imagine. My first thought was ‘How wonderful God is to create such a beautiful world for us.’ I thanked him then and there. I thought ‘I wonder if it is like this behind me?’ as I looked around, right up close to me was what seemed like a huge black wall. As I looked along the wall, right at the end the marvellous view started, this continued round to the side of me and in the huge expanse in front. I can’t remember any road or pathway going down the hill, onwards. Muriel M.
Muriel’s dream presents what she feels about life when she sees it as a whole. The bicycle and her relationship with others illustrates that she doesn’t see herself achieving as much as others, but this does not perturb her, or rob her of her wonder at life. The black wall suggests that the past, the territory she has already covered, is now gone and only what she lives and creates in this moment is before her.
Example: I am in a bicycle race with many other people. I come to a very long hill. It is difficult and I have to push my bicycle. It takes me until midday. When at the top I meet a lot of family. Then I cycle on, realising that because the road is flat, I can go much further before nightfall than I covered in the morning. Anthony.
Anthony was in his late forties at the time of the dream. It shows him feeling as if the first half of his life has been a long difficult climb. His assessment or intuition of the second half of his life is that it will achieve much more, or cover more ground and he will have more human and warm relationships, represented by his family. The bicycle represents his personal efforts to deal with life and his place in the human race.
Bicycle wheel: Like any circular thing, it represents your wholeness, the best of you. If you have lost the wheel or it is damaged, it shows you have lived or done things in your past that have lessened your effectiveness in life, and you are trying or ought to deal the failure in daily life.
Example: One of my wheels had broken. Apparently a new wheel was supposed to be in the room, which was like a spares store. I looked in a cupboard on the left of the room, but although other people’s wheels were there, I couldn’t find mine.
On exploring this dream the dreamer he saw that, “The dream was given to show the difficulties now coming into your own life. The wheel represents that wholeness which you seek and need. The wholeness is broken from past lives. The wheel reminds you that your journey up on the trackless way must have this wholeness. When you lost this wholeness, you lost your proper relationship with my light, life, and love. This must be found within the future.”
Useful Questions and Hints:
Is this depicting my personal effort to move and change in life, or is indicating my life as a whole?
Are other people involved and in what way?
What attitudes or skill are shown in the dream?
Maybe Acting on your dream will help.
Big Bigness Huge
If something is very large in a dream, it usually denotes the emotional and mental impact of the thing, as ‘It was a big thing in my life. It was bigger than both of us.’ Important; relationship – as when we feel small beside somebody with a ‘big’ reputation.
You can have a big smile, a big heart, a big house; or you can face or fall into a big hole or meet up with big trouble. So you need to define what it is you are meeting. And it is always useful to remember that dreams are simply mental images and are not to be frightened of or overly impressed by.
Many big things can cause people who dream them a lot of unnecessary fear or panic. So things like a huge tsunami rushing at you; a great fish of whale swallowing you; or a giant and threatening person are actually a sign you are nearing a very important experience.
Such enormous things are showing you your own immensity. The human personality – the You that you call yourself, with a name, is only a tiny thing. It is moved and tossed around by all manner of drives, ambitions, emotions, fears, temptations, worries, love and desire with its pains and hopes; it is something we take so seriously and get carried away into awful situations; we take many sorts of pain killers to deal with ourselves. Things such as alcohol, coffee, medical drugs and street drugs, and yet we are still prone to break down, as can be seen by the number of people who need antidepressants or are totally lost in themselves.
We are small because we know nothing about who we are and how we came to be – except of course in the words we have been taught are really the truth. We do not know anything about the mass of things that keep is alive – except what we have read, yet more words. We are largely unconscious of what makes our heart beat, and all the millions of things that life behind our existence does, so we are moved by whatever moves us – whatever that is – childhood fears and social programming, or haunted by the past.
As we begin to meet the Hugeness that we are we often react to it with fear or panic. So we dream or being attacked by aliens or frightening creatures. If we realise that they are things we have created with fear we will pass on.
A woman wrote to me that she could see in her dream a massive wave building up and coming towards her. It was so huge that the water was retreating as the wave was building. She said she couldn’t move because there was nowhere she could run from it, and so she stood in fear of it. Then as it hit her she woke in fear.
Now I want to say to somebody like that, “Why are you frightened of life?” I say this because it is so obvious in the dream that what is coming to her is something so huge and wonderful, and yet she is the terrified of it. That wave was a massive force of positive change that if she had met it would have transformed her life. Unfortunately many people are frightened of Life. See Summing Up
Idioms: Big of somebody; big brother; big fish/noise/wheel/shot; big guns; big head; go down big; big time; too big for shoes; big time; a big rig; a big wig; Big Apple; big boys; big break; big bucks; big cheese; big deal; big hairy deal; big picture; big wheel; in a big way; make a big deal of it; make a big to-do; make it big; open up a big can of whoop-ass; play a big part; talk big; the big cheese; too big for his britches; what’s the big idea.
Useful Questions and Hints:
Is there something really BIG going on in my life – if so what is it?
What is the big thing in the dream and what do I feel about it?
Do the feelings in the dream tell you what this is about?
How do I relate to the big thing?
Try using Acting on my Dream to see if it helps.
Bill
To receive a bill often symbolises a bill of reckoning. In other words, something you have done or thought, is now producing consequences that have to be paid for. For USA Bill, See: Money; cheque.
Something being asked of you that you might not like – what you owe to others. It might also be past actions catching up with you, either in a negative or positive way. It can be a reminder of something you need to do or attend to.
A bill you have can suggest what you are willing to pay or give of yourself in your growth toward becoming more fully yourself. If the bill relates to others it can either suggest what they owe you – in terms of the service, or what of yourself, you have given them – or what they are giving or willing to give in the way they are relating to you or working with you.
If presented to someone else: Something you feel is owed to you or something you want from someone else.
If presented to you: Something you owe someone, or something being asked of you by someone.
Useful Questions and Hints:
Is the bill given or received?
If received, what have I got to pay for, and how does that relate to me?
If given, what have I done, or what from the past does it relate to?
Try using Simple Dream Interpretation or Talking As.
Billiards
Most games, in their winning and losing, their tactics, skill, luck, represent the game of life, with its difficulties, triumphs and despairs. May also represent sexual intercourse. See: Games.
Your aims and ambitions; aiming at a goal and trying to achieve it; the difficulties of achievement.
Opponents: What you are meeting or in conflict with. This may be a part of your nature, such as self awareness, sexuality, even your body. You might be in conflict with life itself or ‘God’.
Useful Questions and Hints:
Am I winning or losing the game – or simple watching?
Is there money involved?
What skill are shown in the dream?
What is the setting in the dream? See Settings.
Use Processing Dreams.
Binoculars
Being able to see something or someone more clearly; the ability to pry into someone else’s life; taking in ones environment and possibilities. It might at times also suggest looking ahead or into the future so see what is before you.
If someone else is looking at you: The feeling of being closely examined.
Useful Questions and Hints:
If I am looking ahead of me what am I seeing and what does it suggest?
What do I understand of what I am looking at?
Am I seeing or failing to see something clearly?
Think about what is the Background and Action in your dream
Bird Birds
This a big entry and is in three parts, the general information first part. The second Bird Situations – and the third Different Birds.
The life cycle of a bird has so many similarities with important human stages of growth we frequently use birds to represent parts of our own deeply felt experience.
In general the bird in your dream can depict imagination, intuition, the mind, freedom from restraints, thoughts or hidden wishes or hopes, or your longings to move beyond limitations or boundaries, or even love or a lover. Because the word is sometimes used to indicate a woman, it can have that meaning – i.e. a ‘bird’.
The meaning depends on the context in which the bird appears in the dream. So in some dreams, especially if the bird is flying high, or you identify and become the bird, it can show an expanded awareness or a greater insight into your life and the meaning of your life. This type of dream usually appears as a large bird that can fly high. This is because wider – or spiritual – awareness is like a higher, overall view of things.
Meeting this enlarged awareness may be painful or frightening as we approach it. The enlargement of what you experience is a form of growth and brings new possibilities, all of which can strip away old ways of life and relationship. This expansion of our viewpoint, the uplift of our emotions or mind, can be a link between the world we experience with our physical senses, and the deep world of our often unconscious passions, intuitions and insights.
But in some dreams birds are messengers – For instance a swallow is a symbol of spring, a rooster can be symbolic of a new day (or a new beginning), doves can be symbolic of love, a relationship or peace, and so forth. Both crows and vultures are symbolic of a “death” or the ending of something.
A big or huge bird: The power of the collective mind or unconscious. It shows you leaving the limited view of the three dimensional world most of us are trapped in, and enter a world beyond time and space. Imagine you are going to communicate with a part of yourself that has an unlimited amount of information and influence to share with you. What this dimension of yourself gives you will be in direct response to what you ask. So the question, interest or urgent drive in you will be the factor shaping the response.
It may uplift or be felt as threatening; something that can protect or be felt as a threat. If felt as a threat remember that dreams are like computer game, nothing can actually harm you, see Wider awareness – Dream as Computer Game – Personal Unconscious.
Big birds often appear in dreams and the huge bird in the house means contact with a lesser used ability you have, one of being able to have a wider view of who you are and the world you live in. But it is also an invitation to learn to fly with or separate from the bird. You can learn to fly; it is a great way of overcoming fears.
‘During childhood I learned to fly in a long sequence of dreams. Each linked very clearly to the last. I would go to the nearby churchyard and in the beginning I would run along as fast as I could then jump and just manage to extend the jump by a great effort of will. In subsequent practices I managed to gradually extend the jump for many yards; and eventually I could skim along indefinitely. The next stage though was to extend my flight height, and this took enormous effort of will and body. I made active swimming motions and climbed, but only held altitude with great and constant concentration. With further practice still, this clumsy mode of flying was left behind as I learned to use pure motivation, decision or will to lift me into the air and carry me easily and gracefully wherever I wished. At this stage my flying was swift, mobile and without struggle.’ See Flying
Baby bird: It can refer to your children, or to your own childhood memories. Coming out of the shell is a very powerful experience for us as babies. Facing the enormousness of physical experience with all it wonder and dangers is something we have faced. And don’t live with the belief that babies cannot remember such early memories, because it has been shown they do. See Lumpkin – The Baby Who Became Tony
Bird attacking: Fear of ideas, ideals or opinions; verbal or mental (suggestions or suggestive behaviour) attack by others; fear of going beyond ones narrow boundaries. Be daring and face the restrain that holds you back.
Bird descending: A wider view or experience becoming known to you, or becoming available. In practical terms this may be experienced as inspiration or new insights regarding work or creativity, or a bursting of ones previous views or concepts into a wider insight.
Bird in house: Hope that something interesting or new will enter ones life; a wish for new love; a new idea; an intuition or precognition; a new person or event entering your life; or something trapped in you that seeks freedom.
Black or carrion birds: Because such birds often feed on dead animals, they have the association with death or news of death. This may not be connected with someone dying, but perhaps that some project, love or aspect of yourself is being left to die; feelings or fears about death. Or it could be about something you are unaware of but is on the edge of consciousness.
Bluebird: Especially represents the personality or flight of the soul after death. But it can also show the flight of awareness into new or wider experience. The colour gives it a link with the heavens and it is therefore a symbol of your own ability to reach a wider awareness – the spiritual. See Definition of Spirit.
Useful Questions and Hints:
What way am I relating to the bluebird?
Do I feel anything on seeing the bird?
Have I been meditating or doing something uplifting recently?
Dead bird: Threat to ideals or hopes of freedom; feeling life is only material; ones spirit feeling defeated or crushed. Also a loss of sense of beauty or meaning in life; an ideal or hope has died; a flight of imagination or creativity has fallen.
Eggs in a nest: The nest and eggs are saying that you have created inside of you a sort of womb. not for a baby, but for a huge but unexpressed self. You have a huge but latent potential, it is maybe beginning to show in your present life, but will certainly emerge as the eggs are hatched.
Feather: See: feathers.
Fighting birds: Family disputes; arguments about viewpoints.
Flock of birds: Sometimes shows you feeling a deeply intuitive sense of connection with thousands of others, all being moved by life itself flowing through you. Describing his recovery from feelings of being ill at ease within herself, Gloria writes:
As this occurred I had a wonderful sense of being a lovely bird that has been in some way ill all its life. This meant it never flew when the flock took flight. Instead, to deal with its own difficulty it felt feelings of not wanting to fly like the others, of not wanting to be like them and do the meaningless things they do. But with the healing came the realisation I could fly, and I took wing and joined the flock. Now I am a creature of spirit, which I have always been, and I asked the Light to help me learn the ways of ‘flying’ in the spirit.
It can also point to how you add your influence to others socially.
Flying: Rising above something; an escape from a feeling of being trapped, or some fear; independence; freedom; self expression; ones love or thoughts winging its way to someone. The sexual act – possibly because during sex we may feel released and uplifted.
Hatching from the egg: Our birth and infancy; rebirth. Something new and uplifting coming into your life, or coming to life in you.
In cage: Feelings of being restricted or trapped; holding back love or inspiration; safety in restriction. If there are positive feelings around the caged bird, it might suggest the need to withhold love or freedom, but it could suggest feeling trapped in a relationship, especially if there are two birds in the cage.
Leaving nest: Gaining independence; meeting change or leaving a dependent relationship.
Making nest: Home building; parental urges; partnership if with another bird.
Nest: Home; family environment; security; even the womb.
The baby bird: Our own childhood, as in the following example. The old lady in the second example is once more reference to the mother, who the bird is first connected with before moving on to the difficulty of independence.
Freud said the bird represents the male phallus, and flying means the sexual act. Many languages use the word ‘bird’ to mean woman. In Italy it alludes to penis. The bird is also used to denote a sense of death and survival.
The example shows Pauline using the bird to depict her own urge to be independent of her mother’s influence, opinions, likes, dislikes and decisions. Later in the dream her mother hands Pauline the ribbon to hold, suggesting an offer of independence.
Example: ‘I was standing outside the house of my teens, with my mother. She had a very young bird on a long ribbon and the bird was flying very high in the sky. As soon as she lets go the ribbon, a huge black bird attacks the ribboned one.’ Pauline.
The ribbons are a reference to Pauline’s own girlhood. When she lets go of her girlhood, moving toward independent womanhood, she feels threatened by her internal feelings of guilt – i.e. a child feels guilty if it acts differently to what its mother wants. This is the black bird. To become independent we have to find a way of doing what we wish despite this internalised mother. (Internalised means all the standards, self controls she learned from her life with her mother, she now carries within her as her own urges even if absent from her mother.)
Example: ‘An old lady made room for me to sit at the end of one of the three seats of a bus. As we drove away a very large chicken size baby bird flew in. It had short stubby wings and yellow down, but flew expertly. I believe it first landed on the lady and chirped squeakily. But in it’s squeaks it actually spoke, saying it had lost it’s mother. It sounded as if it were crying.’ Andrew.
This dream is clearly about Andrew becoming aware that at some time he felt abandoned by his mother, and this part of him needs helping to grow into greater independence.
Wild bird: An untamed freedom of feelings and mind. If it has landed on you it shows how a new and wonderful attitude or ability has opened in you. If you feel love for the bird it is what has brought about the change in you – the love of or ability to free yourself so you can fly – you can let you feelings and creativity become enormously more effective.
White birds: We all have several levels or floors of our awareness. The ground floor is our every day awareness, limited to our brains memories, limited to today and this life. But we were all seeds planted in our mother’s womb, and all seed carry the memory of the past growth in them, and our seed is thelatest that started from the beginning if life on our earth. So at the level if that enormous memory, we have enormous instinctive information gathered over millions of years, but only dreams has access to it unless we have dug deep into our awareness. The white birds represent this wider or huge awareness. But access it you need to explore the image of the bird by using Being the Person or Thing
blackbird or black bird Unconscious urges. At times we may relate to enormous waves of feeling in an anxious way, and this relationship of anxiety may be represented by a black bird. The bird may be shown attacking something or oneself because that is how we relate to the emotions or energies – i.e. we feel attacked by them. The black bird can also link with feelings about death, the negative aspect of mother, or something unconscious that we are becoming aware of.
chicken If being eaten suggests nourishment. Otherwise a female, or the female in a male; being ‘chicken’ or scared.
Example: A large cockerel was amongst them and to my amused pleasure began immediately to chase the hens. They all ran madly away. My father was there now and said the chickens wouldn’t lay with that chicken chasing them. I said it wasn’t a chicken that a cockerel, and they would soon calm down. My mother now came. I said the chickens would stop running eventually because the cockerel was bigger than they. She said, no, it wasn’t the size, but the manner and attitude of his approach. She meant it caused an instinctive responses them.
When I explored the dream I realised that of course. I am a cockerel that is inwardly a chicken. I am chicken because I won’t see my own homosexuality. I am chicken because I have made myself a passive female. My mother says it is not the size, its the – inner – attitude. Of course, my inner attitude, as a chicken, is changing. I have been the size of a cockerel, but with the soul of a chicken – female.
The cockeral: a male or the male sexual characteristics; confidence.
The hen: The female, sometimes shown in male behaviout; mother; motherhood; being immersed in motherhood concerns and perhaps not having a life beyond that.
Chicks: This is a reference either to your own babyhood and feelings or events associated with it, or to external baby or babies. This may at times point to vulnerable people or assets.
Example: ‘An old lady made room for me to sit at the end of one of the three seats of a bus. As we drove away a very large chicken size baby bird flew in. It had short stubby wings and yellow down but flew expertly. I believe it first landed on the lady and chirped squeakily. But in it’s squeaks it actually spoke, saying it had lost its mother. It sounded as if it were crying.’ Andrew.
This dream is clearly about Andrew becoming aware that at some time he felt abandoned by his mother, and this part of him needs helping to grow into greater maturity and independence. See Ages of Love
Idioms: chicken feed; chicken hearted; she’s no chicken; cock of the walk; don’t count your chicks/chickens before they are hatched..
crow rook raven Being carrion birds, and so often seen near corpses, they are linked with death or feelings about death; bad news; fear; unconscious feelings. Some people see them as associated with death, mostly because that is how they are used in films. But crows are a group bird and are supportive of their fellows.
It can at times depict the negative aspect of father. The dark intelligence in underhanded people or animals; forces in life that seem to have intelligent direction yet are not outwardly visible.
cormorant Intellectual ideas that have the power to dig deep and bring up unconscious wisdom. Because the cormorant is used to dive and catch fish, it might suggest you are practising some form of introspection or self examination.
crane Inner feelings about wholeness; good luck. The ability to deal harmoniously with the libido or energy within.
cuckoo Wanting to, or feeling your partner is, having sex outside your relationship; pregnant with child from another man than ones partner.
dove Peace; lacking aggressiveness; awareness of one’s potential; religious experience; relatedness. See: religion and dreams.
duck Because a duck can fly and also dive under water it can represent both your ability to raise your awareness, to expand your mind and horizons, and also to look into what is hidden under the surface of life. And its ability to float and swim on the surface of water shows it can survive in the conscious mind.
Idioms can also suggest other meanings such as sitting duck, like a duck takes to water, dead duck and lame duck.
eagle buzzard hawk Sometimes the hunting, providing parent; dominance; a male figure; an uplifting power of feelings or ideas; a protective influence; a threatening influence. Often the ability to develop an integrated vision or perception out of a wide range of experience. This is because the height of the bird and its steady gaze give it unusual perception and wide awareness.
Idioms: Watch like a hawk; eagle eyed.
feather or feathers See: feather.
goose/geese Freedom; your soul; wanderlust; foolishness or group conformity. In some cases you might use the goose as a symbol for life long relationship.
hawk Often a messenger or a far seeing creature. Because it flies high it had an overview of what it surveys. It can therefore signify the spirit or the flight of the soul.
heron A heron is a very still bird and often stands for ages looking into the water. So in your dream it may signify patience and the ability to look deeply into you. As such it may show you things about yourself that are very important.
It catches fish, meaning it brings up things that are usually hidden and are for your personal growth and nourishment. To explore its deeper meaning see Techniques for Exploring your Dreams
owl Because the owl sees in the dark it represents our intuitive sense that ‘sees’ what is happening in the subtle areas of our feeling and experience. This sense ‘feeds’ by watching or acting as an integrating function with the many dark or hidden aspects of our experience and behaviour. Because this part of our mental process is aware of the hidden activities in the depths of our body and mind, it can initiate our conscious self into the mysteries of life and death. If one can imagine having a council of all living things, we would all have in common the drive to reproduce, and there would be huge links of understanding regarding care and rearing of young and perhaps of love for mate. The unconscious seems to have a sense of this synthesis of all life, and the owl, representing it, speaks with this sort of collective wisdom; a wise advisor.
Because the owl as a dream symbol is an actual doorway to the usually hidden side of life, we may sometimes feel fear or danger in regard to it. In some mythologies the owl was connected with death, and might act as a messenger regarding the death of a family member. For instance in Jewish tradition it is unlucky to dream of an owl, but okay to dream of any other bird.
Example: ‘I was standing with my wife at the end of the garden of the house I lived in as a child. We were looking over the fence to the rising meadow beyond. She said, ‘Look at that bird in the tree there.’ On our right, in a small ash tree, an enormous owl perched. It was at least four feet high, the biggest bird I have ever seen. I recognised it in the dream as a greater hooded owl, which was not native to our country. I was so excited I ran into the house to telephone someone – zoo, police, newspapers? – to tell them about the bird. I cannot remember contacting anyone, but felt the bird was there in some way to meet me. Also it was hungry and looking at next door’s bantams. So I wondered what I could give it to eat.’ David P.
This shows the positive side of David’s relationship with his wife. The garden represents the behaviour boundaries which arose from his childhood. But he is growing – the garden – and looking beyond them through his marriage. The amazing bird is the deep feelings he touches because he has a mate like any other natural creature. Out of his mating he becomes aware of drives to build a home – nest – and give himself to his mate. These are natural and are a part of his unconscious or spiritual nature. The bird is a hooded owl which can see in the dark – the unconscious – meaning David is realising things he had never ‘seen’ before. The bird is masked, because David through loving is learning to put his ego aside, which is a necessity for touching the wider dimension of life or the unconscious. The hunger of the bird shows an intimate detail of what David has learned from his wife. She had been working as a waitress and bringing home pieces of chicken for him, saved from her own meal. The spiritual side of David wants to develop this quality of self-giving, which his wife’s love had helped him see.
Idioms: Wise old owl; wisdom of the owl; night owl; owlish – looking wise or solemn. See aura; spiritual life in dreams.
parrot Repeating without judgement what others have said; accepting or copying something without evaluating it. Ability to speak.
peacock Pride; self display; vanity; the desire to be more attractive; sometimes the same as phoenix.
In some cultures the peacock represent the soul or psyche – ones sense of self with all ones individual memories and characteristics. Because the peacock could shed all its beautiful feathers and then grow them again, early Christians saw it as a symbol of resurrection and immortality.
As the peacock is a male bird displaying for the sake of a mate, it can also obviously represent male sexuality in its proud, ostentatious or displaying mode.
Example: There were trees and a grassy patch of ground. A dog was having puppies. But a great flock of small black birds emerged running and skimming over the grass. I heard myself remark, “They are smaller than the others and there are more of them.” Then, from among the trees emerged a large peacock, tail half raised. The dream left me feeling that from small things could emerge something large and beautiful. Mrs E. E.
penguin The penguin hardly ever appears in dreams, or in fact in literature generally, so I have not been able to gather from people’s dreams how they use this symbol. From common associations however, it is likely to represent foolishness; a difficult life situation; coldness in relationships. Because of recent studies of the penguin and the major National Geographic film, the penguin might now depict lasting love and wonderful care and survival skills.
It can also represent something the rare and unusual.
phoenix The ability to find a new impulse, new strength, new growth even in death; the power in oneself to transform the dying, depressed, dark and desperate into new endeavour and growth.
sparrow The ordinary but living parts of you that are special.
stork The soul; symbol of birth or babyhood, and perhaps parenthood; the beauty of the wider awareness of the unconscious.
swallow It promises the ability of a mind that can easily move and shift perspectives and so see different peoples view points, and alo a mind that is intuitive.
swan Grace; beauty; dignity. In mythology often represents the psyche or soul and its connection with a spiritual world; the side of human nature usually hidden because unconscious, often referred to as the spiritual – meaning the consciousness of connection with all life.
The swan in your dream may be linked with an ending of something due to the association with ‘the swan song’ – a final act. It can also suggest amorousness, or the ideal of love in sexuality, and as such may represent virginity or a blend of male and female.
vulture A relative waiting for you to die – or vice versa; people around you trying to live on you – or vice versa; difficult feelings about dependants; an environment of ill will or hopelessness.
white bird Anything white usually depicts thoughts and feeling that are inspirational or uplifting. They are often shown as similar to the white Pegasus, the lower sexual energies lifted into a power of wider awareness.
Wren or very small bird: A vulnerable but exciting intuition – something unusual and valuable entering your awareness.
Example: My dog looked keenly passed me, excitedly. I began to feel a build-up of excitement and “presence”. This feeling of presence became very intense, so that I knew the woman was now here in spirit. It was unmistakable. At the height of this a tiny bird, like a Wren, flew out of a wall or hedge, and I knew this was the spirit of the woman reborn. I knew that all was well, as she was now spiritually reborn.
Useful Questions and Hints:
Idioms: A bird; Charm the birds from the trees; a bird told me; the bird has flown; bird in the hand; bird of ill omen; free as a bird; odd bird.
Is the bird in my dream expressing any of the important stages of growth such as babyhood, leaving the nest, or making a nest?
What quality or attitude is the bird expressing and how does that relate to me?
What is the rest of the dream indicating about the bird?
Definitely try using Talking As and Processing Dreams.
Birth
When we were born, one world of experience ended for us and another began. When we witness the birth of a new child, we see a new beginning, the emergence of a new being and life. Birth is about the possibility of infinite potential expressing some of its qualities. Birth in a dream has the same meanings. So it can indicate the beginning of a new way of life; a new attitude; new ability; new project. But also the death of the old. See: first example under woman.
The birth can be about our own physical birth, its difficulties and trauma. But most difficult birth dreams are about coming to terms with our existence. Many of us are still wondering whether we wanted to be, or want to be, born. ‘To be or not to be’, that is still the question for many of us. Lots of us live at a remove from life because of this. If there are connections with our own birth, any negative feelings, fears and pain may need to be met before one can continue real development and growth in life.
This is not an easy process as birth experience is deeply primal and existing at the very foundations of our identity. Even if one manages to let this material rise into consciousness in the form of present day fears – such as loneliness, feelings of vulnerability etc – it usually takes a long time to move through them. To help with this process see the features on Life’s Little Secrets; active imagination; compensation, processing dreams. But if one had a very difficult birth in which one nearly died, life and death can get very mixed up in you, and need at some time to be met.
Example: I realised during this that I had gone back to birth because my fear of death was inherent in birth. I was afraid I was dying as I was born. I also felt that my chest pain could not be healed or got out of my being. Death was in us from birth, working away like corruption. We cannot heal death, we cannot get it out of us. Perhaps what I could do would be to open the rest of my being to it instead of fighting it. Maybe it was like my weakness and failure I had so long fought out of consciousness. If we admit our weakness, failure, our germ of death, perhaps death enriches as like our failure humanises us. Example: Ever since childhood I had a nightmare dream of being in a very confined bag and being suffocated, I try to get out of a small and seemingly impossible outlet. I used to dread this awful dream. Then, at the birth of my daughter, I realised my dream was of my birth. I never had a recurrence since. D. R. Hobs
This is very clearly a dream about her difficult birth. When the birth in your dream depicts a new phase of your maturing process, a new stage of growth, see the feature on individuation for clarification. In such cases your birth dreams may be an expression of huge changes in your life that are occurring over quite long periods of time.
The birth might have come after much has ‘died’ or been lost. Birth is also the moment of our coming into a particular set of circumstances. These include everything from the relationship, social status, financial wealth, education and background of our parents, to the physical environment in which we grew, the social customs and culture in to which we are born. So birth can also depict a sort of destiny, the taking on of a set of influences, burdens and opportunities. In the East this is all placed under the one word karma – the situation of ones birth, its working out in the present, and the streaming influences from the past. See: karma and past lives.
Example: I was in a room apart from friends and family, they were unaware I had the child but I knew they were expecting it with joy. I was trying to name the baby. It was a baby boy, but the name that came to mind was “June”. It wasn’t right and I kept trying to consider other names but none of them felt right. Just..”June”. The baby was a lovely blond boy with a wide smile, very happy. I am a single mother unable to have more children (I have no sons) and living a chaotic life but moving forward with help of friends and family. I have professional and moving plans for late summer but nothing in the pipe line for June.
This is the interpretation given for the dream in March – “What does giving birth to a lovely baby boy mean – and I take it no man was involved – it means that you, like any mother, can dream and create something that wonderfully adds to you. You create it from all that you have gathered of life, as if you have reached up to the sunlight, the clouds in the blue sky, and added the moon and stars, and pulled them into you and brought forth this little man.
For each child, whether a dream child or one taking on the weight of a body, is a birth of the whole of creation. For aren’t we ourselves, our very bodies, formed out of the mystery of the universe, and the bodies of old stars?
But in another way your son is a new aspect of you, something that hadn’t been known to you so far, with infinite possibilities. It is still young and vulnerable, so needs your love and care for it. But it will grow quickly, and then you will see traces of it in your everyday life – the new happy you.I think you should watch for signs of this little man growing into your life in June and flowering. Such signs are not usually very materialistic, but are new awareness and abilities that will be seen as you look back.” Then from the dreamer again in June – “I wanted to update you on developments that have been connected to my dream. Dates and times moved around and I find myself moving this month. A new start! On a very fun note, I also have begun a relationship with a man who looks very much like the little baby I cradled. I actually “recognized” him! It was really unusual and regardless of how the relationship turns out, it’s been a great awakening to have a bright, positive experience with a good man. Thanks again.”
Birth – even from a man – of a shining, talking or holy child: The beginning of awareness – not intellectual knowledge – of how the conscious self is interwoven with the processes and beings of the cosmos. This includes any unusual features straight after birth, such as being able to walk or sit.
Example: “Was in a basement where my wife and a woman I loved was giving birth to a baby, but I was somehow the one who gave birth to it without a doctor being there. It was a lovely boy. Its lower face was covered by a tight caul, but I pulled this off and it began to breathe. It opened its eyes and looked about, fully conscious; then said something about Jesus, and, “It is gone!” I asked what had gone, and it replied, “The other ego; where has it gone?” I explained that the spirit self it knew before birth was now gone so it could live in the body. The baby was then taken upstairs, and I felt it was a holy and wonderful baby. I was going to rest from the rigours of the birth, but on looking around saw how dusty and dirty the basement was. I began to clean it, and felt I would go upstairs and rest afterwards.”
The man who dreamt this said that he felt afterwards that at the time of the dream he had given birth to the very best of him. This became more and more obvious as years went by. Also he realised that his inner life, his unconscious needed cleaning.
Boasting about birth of child: Difficulty about responsibility of parenthood, but coming to terms with it.
Childrens view of birth: Many dreams of birth are symbolic attempts to come to terms with the fact of birth. It is difficult to accept accept. For children it felt that one was not born at all; one always was. Really it’s no theory but an instinctive spontaneous conviction.
“Recently my four-year-old son was inspecting a copy of a Raphael Madonna. He scrutinized it meditatively for a minute or so, then, pointing to the Christ child, announced, “That’s Michael Caldwell.” “Oh,” I responded. Then he pointed to Mary. “That’s Mama.” I nodded acceptance. Then he went on to bigger things. “He came out of her belly?” A little rise of intonation at the end showed he was looking for reassurance. I thought we were getting along fine. “Mama kept you in there cozy and warm until you were ready to come out.” He took it all in, puzzled it over, and then let fly: “Why did she eat me?” It was utterly incomprehensible that he had been made out of nothing, and most infants, could they communicate, would laugh at the proposition. However, as it must to all men, the serpent of knowledge appears in this Garden of Eden. Other children appear, little boys and girls talk about it, and slowly the uncomfortable knowledge grows that one had to come from somewhere.
Giving birth or Birth pains: The creative process; pain of arriving at a wider vision. Giving birth to a more mature self is a struggle. The NEW in our life is sometimes born out of such pains. If you are pregnant at time of dream this is probably about working out of anxieties about birth. See: birth dreams during pregnancy.
The mouth can also give birth: People often dream of giving birth from the mouth. The shape of the mouth is similar in some ways, and can also discharge things. This usually happens when the person has something important they want to say, and is a way of allowing lifein us to give thanks and birth to something new.
Recurring dreams of giving birth: The drive to have a child doesn’t stop just because one has one or more children. Many women, even past childbearing age, dream this over and over as in the example below. The urge to care, to love, to give birth, exists despite one’s age, and the dream may be a way of trying to satisfy that. The dream may also be, as with Pamela below, an urge to have a child of the sex dreamt of. It might of course be that you are incredibly creative and constantly ‘giving birth’ to new ideas or conceptions. See Woman’s Creative Power.
Woman’s dream: Desire to have a baby. Giving birth to a new aspect of yourself. Man’s dream: Envy of the creative ability of women. Giving birth to a new aspect of self.
Example: Thinking about the young monk – Hare Krishna – I met yesterday. I realise how much I still have to learn. I gathered hardly anything about him. He told me a dream that he had given birth to a baby out of his rectum. It was quite bloody, but he said he didn’t feel any pain. Just with this image in mind.
Example: For years I have dreamt I am pregnant. I go into labour in different surroundings, not always hospitals, with different people. I never see the child but I think it might be a girl, and the labour is different each time. I stop dreaming as the birth is completed. I have one 33 year old son – my only pregnancy. Pamela B. Example: I am on a table giving birth to a baby. It was very small and very ugly, with a hawk like nose. I am walking down a corridor carrying the baby, who is smoking a cigar. I must have had some feeling for the baby as somehow I lost it and was very concerned about its whereabouts. I must have found it again because I was walking down a street and passers by would stare and condemn me for allowing the baby to smoke. I awoke with stomach pains. Mark M.
See Woman’s Creative Power. Useful Questions and Hints: Also see: baby in your dream. What have I given birth to – i.e. what quality or potential? If I imagine myself as the baby what do I feel? For help doing this see Stand in Role. Is there any suggestion of problems that might point to my own birth? Try Acting on your dream.
Birthday
Good feelings about yourself; feeling recognised and warmth regarding friends. Depending on the activities and theme of the dream it might also suggest a change happening; a special time when good things or favours can come to you. Of course no birthday can cause feelings of not being appreciated.
But celebrating your own birthday in a dream does not necessarily mean the same as it does in waking life. For birth means a new you, a new opportunity to express and realise the immense potential you have. It is a time to recognise what you want to do with that potential; it does not mean an opportunity to get drunk or to go out to a posh restaurant. It is an opportunity to decide what you want to make of your life.
Someone else’s birthday: Reminder of social obligation to another person; showing of affection or otherwise; relaxed feelings. Or perhaps purposely forgetting it.
Example: I dreamt that no one, including myself, remembered my birthday – I was thirteen in December. My family were all celebrities from TV. Then one of my friends phoned to wish me happy birthday. Then my Grandma kept cuddling me and telling me how sorry she was no one had remembered. I felt very disappointed but kept saying it was OK as I also had forgotten. B – Teletext.
For B. dreaming about her birthday obviously deals with her need for affection and also a feeling of not being appreciated.
Birthday cake: The reward or gift of sensual pleasure.
Useful Questions and Hints:
What feelings are involved in the dream, and how do they relate to me at the moment?
If this is a happy dream, what makes it so?
If this is a sad dream, what happens to make it so?
Birthright
The innate qualities you are born with, but may never receive, or unfold in life.
Biscuit
Pleasure, perhaps connected with childhood. If you are making the biscuits, it might suggest caring for your own needs or those of other people. See: Cookie.