Dream Symbolism – "I Know I Was Wearing Pants When I Left the House"

"OSHO Zen Tarot"© #1 Existence by Deva Padma
If your going to dream your naked,
it's best to be somewhere splendid like this.

I love Alice in Wonderland, the book, the various movie incarnations with their amazing dream sequences - the whole shooting match.  We watch Alice's travails and then find it was all a dream on a lovely summer's day. We face ourselves in dreams.  There's no hiding from your hopes and fears in them - not for us, not for Alice.  Often we convince ourselves images in dreams have no real significance.  We wake up in the morning confused as to why on earth we dreamt about painting a fence using a goldfish as a paintbrush.  Must have been that 7-Layer Taco Dip before bed.  There's an old wives tale that says if you eat Welsh Rarebit before bed, you will have nightmares.  I think that's a safe bet for anybody who has ever experienced acid reflux.  I know dreams mean a great deal.  They can be a warning, a chance to say good bye to a loved one who's crossed over, or a reminder from the universe that you shouldn't take yourself too seriously.  I get that last one a lot.

Much of dream interpretation is common sense.  A dream about crossing a bridge is clearly a dream about transitioning from one aspect of life to another.  Past to present, present to future, or even an actual change in locations.  Building a bridge can be about constructing an exit strategy for a situation, or re-directing your life to reach a desired goal or benefit.  What we see in dreams can be a portent of some future event, but it is often a representation of our attempt to deal with an issue.

The Lover's from "Shadowscapes Tarot" ©
by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law
Romantic dreams are the best.

A few weeks ago, my husband received a promotion.  The night before his meeting, I dreamt I was standing on a hillside under a bright and sunny sky.  The wind was howling past me, rippling the flowers and grass to waves.  It wasn't a cold wind, just very, very strong.  I woke up with one phrase echoing in my head. "The winds of change."  That evening, I learned of my husband's good fortune.  However, the significance of the symbolism introduced in my wind dream didn't end there.  Earlier this week, I learned that changes in my husband's world could result in some pretty big changes in mine.  And, you guessed it.  The wind came back.

This time, like Dorothy Gale about to head for OZ, I was

The Tower from Ciro Marchetti's
"Legacy of the Divine Tarot"©
Let the winds of change come. They simple
give you a fresh start!

standing in a quaint little cottage with casement windows.  Outside, the sky was stormy grey and the wind at hurricane force.  The casement began to rattle and I grabbed onto the latch.  Suddenly the wind ripped the entire window out, casement and all.  I was pulled halfway through the hole trying to pull the window back into place.  Two strangers stood behind me shouting, "Let go! Let go! You'll hurt yourself trying to hold on to that!"  I let go, the wind took the window and it blew across my new car without even damaging it.  The moral: Resistance causes suffering i.e. my arm being yanked out of its socket by trying to halt a change in the wind.  Let go and perhaps the damage you fear will not materialize at all, or will be much less than you expect.

I told you all that to tell you this.  In tarot readings, people fear the appearance of The Tower, or as Hollywood loves to describe it, The Tower of Destruction ( insert appropriate organ music here).  The lesson of The Tower is not the, sudden and dramatic change indicated.  It's about how you deal with that change.  Do you fall screaming, muscles tense in resistance, or do you fall acrobatically, arching and turning your body for the best advantage in landing?

Below is a pretty generalized list of dream symbols.  See how they fit for you and start thinking about how your dream images can reflect your inner feelings. Check out some books on the subject and above all, have fun with it.

Lady Oracle


Car Out of Control - Passenger, feeling powerless to alter an event or situation.   Driver, unable to control the direction of your own life.


Cat -  Power and independence


Key - A secret


Apples - Fresh and firm, good fortune.  Rotten, goals not being realized


Hammer - Building/forging new opportunities


Burial - Saying goodbye to the old.


Hawk - Keep an eye on something. Bird's eye view


Deer - Gentleness, beauty in motion.


Butterfly - Transformation and beauty


Fountains - Emotions (water is always emotionally based)


Flying - Happiness and freedom.  Escaping restriction


Mirrors - A vision of yourself.  this can be unsettling as our self-perceptions frequently are.


Ships - The unconscious mind and the realm of emotions (what is the water like?)


Climbing - An attempt to move past obstacles


Clocks - Schedules and control.  Timeliness.


Stairs - A rise or fall of social or economic status.


Lightening - Sudden awareness.


Thunder - Calling your attention to something (what else is happening?)


Elephants - Memories or the importance of remembering something


Castles - Rewards and praise for achievements