Posts Tagged ‘dream dictionary interpretation’

Credit Card

This links with the feelings you have about money; the opportunities power and pleasures it brings, or the stress and uncertainty involved with it. The card can indicate the ability to get what you want, or to feel secure. Or if you have problems dealing with cards, then the difficult feelings and situations it involves.

Having or getting a credit card: A sense of gaining greater ease and opportunity with money; finding an easier feeling about relating to the world and having the power to move around in it.

Loss or destruction of credit card: Uncertainty about your financial future; feeling of stress or struggle to get your needs in life; loss of power. See: money.

Stolen card: This might also suggest someone has got hold of your desires and spending power, as might some advertising or fashions. In some ways this could suggest stolen identity.

Giving or given a credit card: This involves trust and generosity in some way, perhaps even love.

Example: I had a young puppy dog. It was full of life and exuberance. I came in and found it had got hold of my wallet and chewed it so badly there was only a shred of my wallet and American Express card left. I was so angry I punched the dog hard several times, but couldn’t feel satisfied. Cliff.

Cliff explored his feelings and associations regarding the dream and realised that because he was hoping to semi-retire on income from investments, and the investments had dropped in value because of a falling market, his enthusiasm, the dog, had taken a beating. In fact he had begun to feel he must struggle on to survive financially again. See: Money.

Useful Questions and Hints:

Are there feelings of pleasure or distress in the dream – and where am I meeting those feelings?

What issue is being met in the dream – i.e. relationship, travel, pleasure – and where does that arise in my life and how is it connected with money?

What am I feeling about money or security at the moment and what is the dream commenting on that?

See Techniques for Exploring your Dreams – Avoid Being Victims – Secrets of Power Dreaming

Cricket

See: Games

Cripple

Difficulty in fulfilling ones potential. The parts of your body usually represent the psychological functions they play. So a leg would represent your ability to stand up for yourself, to be independent, etc. Therefore being crippled suggests psychological hurt to whatever limb or part of body is crippled. See: Body; Legs; Right; Left.

 The children one hears about who are maltreated by their family or by war, might well mature with a crippled capacity to trust other people, or the stunted growth of their love. All of us have some of our potential hurt or crippled, and the above dream is graphically portraying this.  This less developed part of John has needs, but also something to offer. This less dominant side of his personality only ‘comes out’ when he relaxes, and will have talents he can use if he gets to know it.

There is a world beyond suffering and even the very sick can be a helper.

“Not a lost soul is helped because those who look upward give themselves up for lost.

In the small open space of the temple burnt a flickering oil lamp at the feet of a tall man who sat there with imperturbable serenity in the dirty room. He, too, was sunk deep in meditation. His broad chest was still, no motion of the breath disturbed it. But the hands that hay in his lap were crippled humps of flesh, and the skin of his well—built body was as though covered with shining lacquer —- the skin of a leper. Around him- and deep in the shadows sat other dark, silent figures, their eyes raised to the empty sockets of the holy man, whose features were composed in an expression of infinite joy.

An oppressive silence lay over the scene.

In the dirty corners lay human bundles, sleeping. By them and between them squatted men with staring eyes as though lost in a dream. Those who were close to the Holy Man seemed to be listening intently, and the nearer they were to his feet the more serene and enlightened seemed their worn features. He himself seemed to be the radiant centre of some invisible light He was a cripple, as they all were. He was a leper, as they all were. A beggar, as they all were. But in him their nameless misery seemed to find its culmination and its divine transfiguration. Inwardly I was buffeted here and there by my impressions. Around me was time lowest depth of human suffering, and yet that was not so. In one creature I sensed the highest degree of bliss amid wish less inner peace. Should I be compassionate or envious?

The features of the leprous Holy Man expressed that felicity whose unapproachable sublimity enforces veneration. Had he forgotten his sufferings? Is that which we feel as suffering really no suffering at all? Is that which seems more dreadful to us than death just a part of the world for which we are struggling; we who are blinder than that beggar with the empty eye-sockets? Is our compassion here merely arrogance? In fact is it we perhaps who deserve the compassion of those on the other side?” See Quoted from Beggar Among the Dead – Mountain of Love

Human beings has evolved through huge periods of time to have self awareness, a truly amazing thing, but for many it is a state of constant pain and suffering leading many to commit suicide. But Dr. Maurice Bucke, who himself lived in constant physical pain tells of how him and many others were able to evolve to a new state in which their suicidal pains no longer were active in them. He called it Cosmic Consciousness, but it has been known for ages under different names such as Enlightenment and Liberation. Those who evolved to this level of awareness often say, “That we could all be experiencing this, if only we could stop being typical suffering humans. Regardless of what hell one might fall into an enlightened one is an ordinary person who acts like a true adult.” All the major faiths recognise this and so have left records of how to reach this evolution of self.

Here are some – Ox Herding Pictures  – The Many Ways To A New Life – Psychological Vomiting – Communicating With Your Inner Guide

Useful Questions and Hints:

What part of me or another person is shown as crippled, and what does that suggest about my own condition? Look up body parts to define this.

If I imagine myself as the crippled person, or as myself with this disability what do I feel or observe. For help doing this see – Stand in Role.

In what way do I hold myself back, or fail to express love or creativity, and how does this dream relate to that?

See Associations Working With – Techniques for Exploring your Dreams – Learning to Love

 

Crocodile

See: Alligator or crocodile.

Cross

Difficulties or tribulations we carry, perhaps unnecessarily. It can also indicate human life and its whole spectrum of physical experience, sexual, mental emotional, cosmic – painful and delightful. The body, upon which consciousness is nailed or fixed during life.

The cross can also point to meeting death as an initiation into a new awareness and a spiritual life – the death being a psychological one, followed by rebirth or resurrection. See Ronnie Laing – archetype of rebirth.

In Christianity the cross also has many meanings. It represents the religion as a whole; Christ’s willing suffering; man’s suffering in the name of his religious beliefs; the strength of his beliefs; a sign of spiritual goodness and power to ward off evil. It also means the agony and wonder faced in surrendering individual will to the will of the community/communion, in exposing oneself, the sacred heart, to all emotion, pain, pleasure to transform it. See archetype of crucifixion

Lastly, it can symbolise perfect union, balance, equality and atonement of the the different parts of your being. Dreaming about the cross can be a sign of a personal destiny led by the best in us, Christ or a sense of the Divine. So a turning point in ones life. See Archetype of the Christ

A cross can also indicate wrongness as with tick being correct, cross being wrong or forbidden, or completion as when crossed off list.

If cross upright as + : Being upright; correct; self assertion; balanced.

If cross as X : The four extremities; reaching out; crossing out. Like the square, it can also represent wholeness, solidity, especially if the arms are equal length. See: crossing.

Idioms: cross my heart and hope to die; cross over Jordan; cross over to the other side; cross paths; cross someone; cross that bridge when I come to it; cross your fingers; paths will cross.

Useful Questions and Hints:

Does the dream cross have any religious significance/feelings for me?

Have I met great change or even depression that I am passing through?

What feelings are evident in the dream?

See Associations Working With – Techniques for Exploring your Dreams – Life’s Little Secrets

Crossing

As with a road or river. This usually depicts change, but sometimes with difficulties, depending on the dream. For instance if the river or bridge is difficult to cross, then it suggest you have fears or other problems to contend with in the change.

Sometimes the change is a major one, such as leaving childhood and entering adolescence, or the entering into old age. Marriage or parenthood could be such a change. Obviously, death also is frequently depicted as the crossing of a river or a threshold. See archetype of death

What you are crossing points to an obstacle you are meeting, often of a feeling nature to overcome. Maybe fear or uncertainty causes you to be unable to make the change, so you dream of a bridge giving way. Such changes often are to do with major life junctures, such as from youth to adulthood; pre-puberty to adolescent; single to married; young to middle age.

Crossing also suggests meeting the things that you do in everyday life. A busy road would indicate this, the traffic representing the many factors in life, other people’s decisions and activities, that could impact with you in one way or another. Making such crossings sometimes brings strength, or develops strength.

Something like a cable or tree trunk crossing something like a river or chasm depicts connection of some sort, something that has risk involved or needs courage to make the change.

Crossing oneself-making the sign of the cross on ones body: Most people have little understanding of this, doing it with clumsy movement high up on their chest. The cross signifies the human body which is the temple of the soul and is seen as holy by the Bible. So the sign should have a long bottom and a wide cross on one’s body. Also it should be done with some sense of its meaning and of the holy places of ones body.

Example: The coins, or really, medallions, were shining silver, depicting Christian or ancient saints and martyrs. It was, I knew in the dream, like a rosary, which one could use in prayer. But instead of just the Ave Maria’s, and the Our Father’s, all the other saints were included. Thus it was a very comprehensive guide to prayer. Some of the silvered chains between the coins were missing, but these had been mended with something else. The shape of it suggests the sign of the cross people make on their body. But it shows the right way to do this is first touching the brow then down to the genitals then to the two breasts,  – the real sources of power. Richard.

Sometimes: A trial or test such as initiation.

Crossing a river or chasm: Often depicts feelings about death. See: bridge; river; road; individuation.

 

Useful Questions and Hints:

What is it I am crossing, and what challenges or dangers are involved?

Am I making changes in my life at the moment, crossing from one situation to another?

If I manage to cross, what is on the other side that I wanted to reach?

See Techniques for Exploring your Dreams – Life’s Little Secrets – Every 7 Years You Change

Crossroad

You may be confronting a time of decision in your life. This may be caused by a convergence of events, different desires or interests, and the need to choose a direction. The crossroads often appears in dreams when there is a turning point in life, a time of change, taking another direction in life. Or it may represent a sense of indecision, a fear of not doing the right thing. Cross-roads often have a certain amount of anxiety or vulnerability involved, as with crossing; Decision; North; East; South; West.

In the past people were sometimes buried at crossroads and in some dreams there may still be this link with death in some way. And in folklore the crossroad was a place where this world linked with the unseen world, so a doorway to the unconscious.

Example: ‘I keep in touch with an old boyfriend who I have not seen since I was eighteen, which is fourteen years ago. In my dream I was on holiday on a coach which stopped at a cross-roads. I met my old boy friend who had come from the other direction and we walked together. I felt enormous pleasure being in his company again. A hearse passed us slowly with a child’s coffin.’ Mrs R.

In trying to decide what direction to take, Mrs R. still finds emotions tie her to the past, but the dead child shows she really knows the relationship has ended.

Useful Questions and Hints:

What are you facing at the moment that is causing indecision or questioning?

If you can’t decide which way to go, ask for a further dream to help clarify what is involved.

Imagine walking in each of the possible directions and see how each direction feels. When you find one that feels right, ask what that direction in your waking life.

See: carry the dream forward – Techniques for Exploring your Dreams – What we need to remember about us

Crow Raven

Being carrion birds, and so often seen near corpses or roadside kill, so they are often linked with death or feelings about death; bad news; fear; unconscious feelings. Some people see them as associated with personal death, mostly because that is how they are used in films. But more often they are simply your own dark thoughts, probably about your own future, that you are doomed and on the slippery slope. So for goodness sake, realise that thoughts are creative, and you are creating an awful feeling and so you can escape from it. See Being the Person or Thing

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. Sometimes seen as a messenger between heaven and earth, an omen of death, and a seer of the hidden truth in the unconscious.

Crows also make their sound in flight, and then it is about telling their fellows where they are; a sort of positioning. Crows are a group bird and are supportive of their fellows. See Birds

Crows can sometimes mean that they are messengers from the dark or unconscious side of you. In such a role they can act as a protector – maybe even a male protector. But also they are seen in some dreams as showing anxiety and darkness in a persons life.

Example: In some ways, it felt like a death of whatever phase connected me with those who were holding me back through falsehood and imposing their ego-driven will upon me. In others, I felt the message was still to continue my work and ethic, regardless, and let these people carry on to their own kingdoms. I felt the dream in some ways reasserted this role I played in life.

Example: The other woman was also left where we slept and I saw again the same thing under her on my left. Two dead and drenched crows, either side of me as I still laid there. It also seemed/felt as if whilst both crows were under the women more than under me, the beaks of these crows had been touching, only just, my arms while I slept. I wasn’t entirely indifferent in the dream itself to this sight… the contrast, of elevated sisterly bonding before we slept, to the sight of this suffocated/drowned crows when we woke obviously created meaning..

A day that has death in it, for to go further in the road you are travelling you need to meet and experience death – psychologically – and that is part of life. I get the impression that to some extent you were partly suffocated by the love and care you received – as shown by the dead birds. That is not a bad thing, but it is now that it will leave you to develop independence. Independence is strange thing, because it is a lifelong journey, and yet we are never actually independent. But that is what the death is about and it is like an initiation into a new chapter of your life. Remember to keep the faith in our divine prosperity, and that we shall all secure it.

Idioms: as the crow flies; eat crow; Something to crow about; crow’s feet; old crow.

Useful Questions and Hints:

Did the bird impress me with any feeling reaction?

What was the background of the dream suggesting?

If I imagine myself back in the dream what feelings arise?

See Techniques for Exploring your Dreams – Simple Truths – Inner World

Crowd

In many dreams being in the crowd shows your response to socialising. The crowd may indicate social pressure or what you feel is the common direction or response – as when we say ‘follow the crowd’. Feeling crowded out, pushed out by competition or pressure from others. A crowd can also indicate public opinion, what you feel others are feeling about you or doing to you. You might also feel anonymous in a crowd, camouflaged or lost.

A crowd in a dream may mean it is an important dream. This is because it involves many aspects of your nature, many parts of yourself. This is especially so when the crowd is in an arena, a theatre or a public event.

Lost in a crowd: Feeling without personal direction; confusion on meeting many opinions; desire not to stand out, or swayed by general opinions.

Attacked by crowd: Fear of public opinion or response to you; feeling your own anger or irrational urges as threatening.

Talking to, leading, or part of crowd at a central event: An impulse or idea which unifies many parts of your nature – as the many aspects of our own being, such as visual impressions; sensuality; thoughts; musical sense; religious feelings; sexual drive; intuition; fear; ambition; hunger; our desire for acclaim; the sadist in us and so on, constitute a crowd.

How we relate to the crowd: Suggests our relationship with our own inner community and the external public. Being unable to tolerate parts of oneself leads to intolerance toward external people with those traits. See: Group under people.

Useful Questions and Hints:

Am I happily part of the crowd or am I ill at ease – and what do my feelings indicate?

What is my relationship with the crowd, and does that reflect in any way on the way I feel about socialising?

Am I a follower or leader in this dream?

See Characters and People in Dreams – Techniques for Exploring your Dreams – LifeStream

Crown

This usually denotes importance, power or authority – either as you feel it in yourself or in someone else. It can also depict rulership – what rules you or controls you – or what you have dominion over and responsibility for, but also what demands respect because of its power.

In some dreams it points to success, either desired or achieved, or realisation of expanded awareness. In the latter case it suggests self mastership in some degree, and an opening of the higher possibilities in you or the person you see it on. In Western symbolism it is the equivalent to what in the East is called the Crown Chakra – the symbol of realised personal potential, the redirected fundamental instinctive drives, leading to the opening of higher brain functions. See: Spiritual Life In Dreams.

It may also refer to your father if on the head of a man, or your mother if on the head of a woman.

Relinquishing the crown would suggest giving up power or domination, perhaps out of love or surrender.

Being crowned suggests the receiving of a new state of being, entering into a new relationship with life and others. It is also the recognition of your quality or qualities or enlightenment.

Useful Questions and Hints:

What are my ruling passions or fears at the moment and how do I  relate to them?

What feelings were experienced in this dream, and what do they relate to in my life?

In the dream, what is connected with the crown, and how does that apply to me?

See Techniques for Exploring your Dreams – What is the main action in the dream? – Enlightenment

Crucible

The centre of our turmoil, tension or spiritual life. In it our nature is changed.

Crucifixion

Depending on the context in the dream, this can indicate either that you are facing a life situation in which you feel nailed to the physical needs of life, perhaps torn apart by desires, fears or conflicts. Or it can show you are surrendering or sacrificing your physical and ego needs to what you sense as the essential or spiritual you.

The symbolism in the New Testament shows the crucifixion taking place on a hill, and this represents the top of the head and the sexual, emotional, mental nature being opened to a wider and less object and self centred life. Due to the fact the Self dies to its divine realm during crucifixion, and is nailed to matter – the body, suffering the loss of awareness of existence in the divine, life after life, that our soul may achieve eternal life, it has a Christ like love, patience and gentleness. Here too, in passing through the experience of crucifixion, we meet those great beings of all nations, religions and times who have trod the path before us. If we remain conscious at this stage, the wisdom and experience of these saints and masters, comes to us as fully as we can receive it.

Crucifixion also suggest self sacrifice, the giving of self in service or surrender to the community or family. But it can also mean a sort of masochism where you kill out your own needs in a foolish way. This killing of ones own love, ones own sexual and tender feelings, ones own living self, is shown as crucifixion because it kills the wonderful Life in oneself, the living, loving, growing and creative core of oneself.

Example: Crucifixion is allowing oneself to be buffeted, torn by all the fears, angers, hates, prejudices human beings are heir to. There’s no creator we are told by our pundits. We are only physical maggots who live mate and die. There is no life after death. Crucifixion is the meeting of the fears and darkness this leads to. It is to meet the death that all ones inner life cries out for.

As I went through this it really did feel as if I had at last understood the meaning of that cry for father from the cross, and the taunts of the mob. The mob are all our own inbuilt doubts, fears, angst, cynicism that lash out at our life process. Our fears have to hit us to test the strength and validity of our belief. Also they need to not just believe that experience, they have to really meet it. So they shout, “Crucify him. Crucify him!” They need an actual experience of testing death to discover what the truth is; what lies beyond. And the cry from the cross is meeting the reality of the human condition. We meet our conviction that we are not divine; that there is no father to help us. We are alone. Death confronts us. We reach rock bottom. We fully accept our humanity. We have lost any awareness of a separate God and stand alone in Life – we are it. Then comes death.

Occasionally crucifixion can link with guilt or feelings of being a scapegoat. People undergoing depth psychotherapy often experience crucifixion as connected with their pains of being born.

Parts of us may have been ‘killed’ through pain or difficult life situations, and if they are coming alive again – being felt once more – the pain of their emergence is sometimes shown as crucifixion. See: Religion and Dreams; archetype of crucifixion; Cross.

 

Useful Questions and Hints:

Do I feel wrongly crucified like a martyr – if so why am I in that role at the moment?

What is being sacrificed or surrendered in my life?

Am I killing or sacrificing myself in some way?

See Meetings with Christ – Techniques for Exploring your Dreams – Methods of Awakening – inner path of christ

Crutch

This might say you are feeling incapable or weak in some way, or needing support at the moment. It might be something you are using for support because your real strength is not functioning – for instance alcohol or medical drugs may be a crutch substituting the skills to meet anxiety and responsibility. But the crutch can also be a support while you are healing or strengthening.

A discarded crutch suggests healing or that you have become independent of others, or moved beyond crippling fears or dependency.

Useful Questions and Hints:

Who or what am I relying on – leaning on – at the moment?

Do I feel incapable or crippled in some way at the moment?

Which way would I fall without support?

See Habits – Questions – Techniques for Exploring your Dreams

Cried Cry Crying

The release of sorrow, grief, guilt, misery, loss, memories that have been held back, knowingly or unknowingly, during the day or even over years. It may be the release of any type of emotion, from enormous pain to wonderful joy – they all produce tears. The way we struggle to grow or attain, the effort we put into life and perhaps feel we get no reward, the love we have for someone, are all springs from which tears can flow.

Sometimes we cry out of an intuitive knowledge of another person leaving, or dying, or sorrow over something we have done. Or else they might be crocodile tears in an attempt to convince yourself that you feel badly over an attitude, desire or action, or in order to manipulate someone.

Example: “I dreamed that I was awakened by the sound of a horse’s hooves in the street. I saw a white horse, with no rider, stopping at midnight in front of our house. I knew it came for my younger sister. I went to the door and opened it to call her, when suddenly I saw her coming down the stairs, all dressed in white. She did not say a word to me, but walked with stately steps down the stairs, through the hall, and out of the door. She mounted the horse and rode away. I woke up crying.” The woman’s sister died a month later.

Tears can sometimes express things we have no words to describe or know. They communicate without speaking. If this is so in a dream it is worthwhile seeing if there is a clue in the people, things or events in the dream as to what the emotions are emerging from. You may be crying out for something, or your body weeping for something you need.

Example: I dream my past boyfriend of five years has come to tell me he is going to marry his ex-girlfriend. I am so distraught that I jump out the window, and break my neck. The paramedics come to gather me up and place a football helmet on my head. Then I am on my death bed in the hospital where I am crying and grieving for the hopelessness of the lost relationship. My old boyfriend holds my hand and very coldly says, “You are going to make a radiant corpse.” I wake feeling I had been given a message from my deeper ‘self’. I had grieved for the last year without feeling I was able to move on. Two days later I went to the doctor – I was having palpitations and dizzy spells. He told me I had a leaky valve in my heart. I felt this dream was my wake-up call! Since then I seem to have moved on in my life. I believe my broken heart manifested itself physically and my subconscious warned me of the damage.

In some dreams we cry can depict a cleansing of yourself and a change of heart or forgiveness where old feelings are washed away. You may need to cry or release and ‘wash out’ long held emotions.  Another sort of change we can cry about is when we enter womanhood or manhood, as in the following example.

The girl is with her boyfriend. She had been ‘initiated’ into sexual activity. Sex with her boyfriend has changed her image of herself.

Example: ‘A ritual began whereby a large knife was drawn and a few deep cuts were made to both our faces. I put my hands to my face and saw them covered with blood, crying and crying.’ O. S.

Sometimes we cry as a baby in our dreams, and that is important and should not be stopped until it is understood.

Example: I was crying like a new born baby and I knew someone loved me. I knew they understood what pain was and were not afraid of it or of death. This pierced me right through. It was my grandmother, but to me it felt like some higher being who had reached out of the unknown to help me. The bonding cry was a signal to say “I recognise you! I recognise you! I’m bonding to you. I’m bonding to you! Someone recognises me. I can cry now because I am in the presence of love.”

To feel rejected as a child and to need acceptance can cause a lot of inner pain and crying, and may not be understood by others or even oneself. The following example isfrom a man who was put in an orphanage by his mother. Max was his lover and partner.

Example: My first image was to take her face in my hands and say Mum I want you to acknowledge me. I want to tell you that I love you very much. You have asked me to be your Man, Son, Lover to know and accept you. Well Max /Mum I do know you and I see your fear and I can tell you now that it is all right but do you not realise that because I love at child level I have to know everything about you for my survival, yet at the same time because of my inner work I can see and understand from an adult point of view. So you can see that I know everything about you, and it is all fear. I have died for both of us Max because of this Love and so it is OK to let go. If you can see this pain that I have suffered for us and just tell the truth then my Love can become unconditional and can only love and support you. We can then let go and go out into the world to look for what we want collectively or as individuals, but that Love is still there from Mum to son or vice versa. As I am saying all this I am very emotional and crying, and then I asked her to bless me to ACCEPT ME. To validate me in the world. There it was still looking for ACCEPTANCE.

Baby crying: Your fundamental needs are not being, or were not in the past, met. These include basic things like feeling happy and relaxed in your environment, feeling wanted and loved, having a sense of connection with other people, and being nourished. There may be something distressing you are feeling/needing at the ‘baby’ level that you are not acknowledging. It could also be a new project or aspect of you needing more care.

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.

Example: I cry like a baby. The question burns in me – Why is life like this? I cry again. Then I realise that at first when I was born I was too small and undeveloped even to be able to cry properly, so I couldn’t let out my misery. It is such a relief to cry now and be understood, to have known what I felt at that terrible time.  I am aware of my connection with my stream of life having been broken – the umbilical cord.

Idioms: It’s all over but the crying; cry in your beer; cry the blues; a far cry; cry her heart out; cry me a river; cry over spilt milk; cry your eyes out; a crying shame; for crying out loud; hue and cry.

Useful Questions and Hints:

What am I crying about in the dream, and does that connect with waking feelings?

What feelings do I hold back in daily life, and how can I release them?

Is there a deeply felt need I am not allowing?

What hurts are my tears expressing?

See Associations Working With – Emotions and Mood in Dreams – Life’s Little Secrets

Crypt

This often depicts your unconscious memories or feelings. But it may indicate repressed parts of you, or family influences from the long past. It may also show feelings emerging from the unconscious, or fear of death. Such feelings are not necessarily reflecting truth, but a reflection of cultural anxieties or ideas about death. See Face Fear; Cave; Basement.

This meeting with feelings about death is sometimes like a test or initiation. It is almost as if the most beautiful may exist in a crypt, and you can only get to it by some form of psychological dying. This keeps a lot of people out, because they feel they are meeting something bad. They only pass into the beautiful if they dare to meet their fears of death.

In some dreams the crypt indicates feelings about or contact with dead relatives or people. This connection the crypt has with death is occasionally expressed in dreams as a shrine – a shrine in which the memories and love of a dead parent, child or partner is revered. If not that, then ones ancestors.

Example: I was in some kind of cave or crypt. My father told me and my family of his coming death. He was calm and caring but my mother, sister and myself were grief stricken and for some reason went to buy him gifts.  Mrs. C.M.

Useful Questions and Hints:

How do I relate to the crypt, and what does that indicate about my relationship with the unconscious or death?

What is it I am discovering or feeling in the crypt, and what does that suggest?

Am I in contact with someone who is dead, or am I discovering things about death in this dream?

See Do Dreams Explain Death – Near Death Experiences – Techniques for Exploring your Dreams

Crystal

The human sense of the eternal, so a symbol of your core self. But a crystal can also depict rigid views or emotions, crystallised opinions, thus habits.

A crystalline form is often a symbol of the Self. In other words, you are only conscious of a small part of yourself. Most of your body functions, and memories are unconscious. Also, your links with others and life itself at a deep level may remain unknown. The word Self is used to mean your whole being, known and unknown. If the crystal is felt to be of great beauty or valuable, then it is certainly linked with what is of greatest value in yourself – your pure consciousness beyond physical sensations and thoughts.

The thing about dreams is that they show everything that is inside you as an outside image. So the crystal can actually represent the force that gives you bones and other inner activities. Crystal of whatever sort always form the same crystalline structure, so often are images of forces in us that are always constant, so can represent a part of us that is always true – our core Self. See Touching Your Core Self

The shape of the crystal, in its beautiful structure, arises through the workings of some inner force or power, invisible, but evident in its symmetry. So it can represent the hidden inner power active within you that shapes who you are. Dr Marie-Louise von Franz writes in Jung’s book Man and His Symbols, writes, “The mathematically precise arrangement of a crystal evokes in us the intuitive feeling that even in so-called ‘dead’ matter there is a spiritual ordering principle at work. Thus the crystal often symbolically stands for the union of extreme opposites – of matter and spirit.” This inner power may in some dreams be seen to shine out or to focus what are your innate talents or potential.

A crystal may also depict realisation, i.e. “It became crystal clear”. See: jewels.

Cut crystal glasses or chandeliers suggest refinement or quality, and the chandeliers might also link with what has already been said above about crystal. Glasses can also link with alcohol though, and be showing its influence on you.

Clear Crystal: This is about clearing the mind of thoughts and emotion and enabling you to look into the immensity of your inner being. It represents a space of infinite wonder, a situation or state of mind not limited by form or smallness so it allows you to seek what you want in the infinity. Although it has no image or formit has the potential of all things – a magical state.

Crystal ball: The crystal ball usually stands for insight, prophecy, the future, your hopes and plans, fate, intuition, gazing into yourself. It can, because of its shape, denote the Self, or completeness, indicating your ability to be aware of intuitive impressions and creative imagery. It can also indicate the world of your inner feelings, passions, love and dreams – your soul, and your ability to look deeply into it. The following dream illustrates this.

Example: My beautiful friend looks into the crystal. It is not a thing made of glass, but a great dimension of mind which appears to open in the room, hanging in the centre of it, about eight feet across. She tells me I am already touching something that is beginning to happen in the world. My life will become involved in it. I will play my part – by no means a key role or leader, but one which I will gain great satisfaction and love from.

But remember that delving within like this can uncover the dark shadows cast by past fears, traumas and the memory of acts and emotions we usually choose to keep in the darkness of unconsciousness. It can also show you what you know in your heart, as in the following dream. See Using Your Intuition; The Inner World

I was with a gypsy looking at a crystal ball. She told me that my present relationship – a woman with children I am living with – will last and flower. I began to cry. Then there were other people there as well. A man put his hand on me and said it was okay to cry, and I felt they supported me in this.  Don S.

Useful Questions and Hints:

If my dream crystal is of great beauty and value, what can I understand or feel from it about my own deepest self?

If I have dreamt of a crystal ball, what has been seen in it about who I am and my direction in life?

What can I gather about what is valuable or beautiful in myself from this dream?

See Life’s Little Secrets – Life’s Little Secrets – Methods of Awakening