The Element Encyclopedia of 20,000 Dreams: The Ultimate A–Z to Interpret the Secrets of Your Dreams

PLAY/PANTOMIME

Typically, plays in dreams are images of yourself and your life projected by your unconscious. They represent an aspect of your past or your character that you are repressing in waking life or, depending on the play, particular moods or feelings. Alternatively, such dreams can suggest a desire to escape from the pressures of everyday life. If the play is a tragedy, is the routine and repetition of your life restricting your creativity? If the play is a comedy, do you need to lighten up a little in waking life? If what you are watching is a pantomime, has the time come to stop fooling about and get serious about something or someone in waking life?

STAGE

To be on stage in your dream suggests a desire to become more visible. If the stage is open air, this suggests communication with a large audience, not just a selected few. If the stage is moving, this indicates your desire to keep moving, even when acting a role. Carl Jung once wrote, ‘The whole dream-work is essentially subjective, and a dream is a theatre in which the dreamer is himself the scene, the player, the prompter, the producer, the author, the public, and the critic.’ In other words, dreams are themselves like a theatre in which your problems, hopes and fears are acted out by characters generated by your imagination. To dream of a theatre is therefore like a dream within a dream. If you dream of watching or acting a play, pantomime or circus, consider what aspects of your personality each character represents. Do these characters raise the curtain on some of your most poignant questions and experiences in life? This dream is showing you your life, the way you behave and the way you present yourself to others from a new perspective. The scenes being played out are typically ones that are being played out at present; they are experimenting or exploring an idea, relationship or situation. For example, if you watched members of your family or a group of friends performing a play, your unconscious may be telling you that in waking life they may be deceiving you in some way or not revealing their true feelings. If the stage was empty, your unconscious may be referring to the lack of creativity in your waking life and the need for more color, variety and stimulation. A curious superstition claims that if you dream you cut new teeth, it is a sign that you will hear of the birth of a child who will do great things in theatre.

Idioms: set the stage for; stage fright; stage-manage; act a part; act on; catch somebody in the act; get in on the act; get one’s act together; act one’s age; play a role.

VENTRILOQUIST

To see a ventriloquist in your dream symbolizes some sort of deception in your waking life that is affecting you in a negative way. If you are the ventriloquist, there is a part of yourself that you are not revealing in waking life.

WRITING

If writing figures in dreams, this is an attempt to communicate information when spoken words are inadequate. Your dream may be reflecting your true thoughts and feelings. If you are writing down names and addresses in your dream, this may be a reminder to remember your friends and take note of your enemies. It also suggests a need to reflect on something, or sort out your ideas and decisions. Perhaps the instrument with which you are writing is significant. For example, to write with a pencil or chalk would suggest the information is less permanent than were you to write with a pen or fountain pen, and a typewriter or word processor would suggest that the information is connected to business, rather than personal, issues. Writing a novel or writing in general can also suggest a desire to leave your mark on the world in some way. If the writing is by someone you know, this refers to their influence over your life and thought processes in waking life. If you are writing to someone you know, he or she may represent the nature of the issues you are trying to express. If you dream of someone else writing, this can show an aspect of yourself that is seeking to express itself.

Crafts and Creativity Scenarios

HANDICRAFT

In dreams, doing any handicraft, from embroidery to pottery, suggests that we have situations in hand, but also that we need to take responsibility for our actions. Pay particular attention both to what is being made and to how well it is being made, as it will reflect a situation in your waking life.

KNITTING

If you were knitting or doing crochet, the symbols may be indicative of some waking situation. For example, if you dropped a stitch in the dream, have you been tactless in waking life? If there was a break in your yarn, have you argued with someone? Wool has from the earliest of times represented warmth and protection, and if you are knitting with wool or see wool in your dreams, it can suggest gentleness or motherly qualities within yourself. Be aware, too, of the phrase ‘pulling the wool over someone’s eyes’. There might be things that you don’t know about or don’t wish to see at the present time.

MAKING A SCRAPBOOK

If you are making a scrapbook in your dreams, or looking through one, this is about making memories. Are you taking the time to treasure the uniqueness of each new day in your waking life?

NEEDLEWORK

If you are sewing in your dreams, your dream may be suggesting that your waking life has been taken over by boredom and routine. This is because sewing requires constant attention to detail and much of the work is repetitive. Your dream may be urging you to broaden your horizons. If you are sewing pieces of fabric together in your dream, this may suggest that you are bringing aspects of your life together.

PLANTING A SEED

A dream of a seed or a pip may suggest the germ of an idea that will grow into something important, if you find the determination and patience to follow it through. A dream about spreading manure carries the same implication, suggesting that an idea or notion needs feeding and nurturing. See also NATURE AND THE SEASONS.

POTTERY

If you are a creative person, a dream about making a pot may refer to another aspect of your life that is just as important as your creative work. If you are not creative, such a dream may suggest the need to find ways to express your creativity in waking life. Try to recall every detail of what you are making. To see, or work with, clay in your dream represents the ability to change or shape your mind. Alternatively, it indicates your need to set some goals and plans for yourself. You have some growing-up to do and need to plan for the future. According

Mending

To dream that you are mending a garment symbolizes your attempts to fix a problem or situation in waking life. In your dream, are your attempts successful or are you frustrated by lack of resources?

Buttons

Buttons hold things together and are used to open and close garments. In your waking life, are you opening or closing yourself to others?

Needle

In dreams, needles signify the power to heal through penetration. In other words, some concept or knowledge has to be introduced from outside. This may feel uncomfortable at first but it will eventually make us feel better. Depending on whether or not you are using the needle or it is being used on you, the ability to have penetrative insights can come from within or without. From a Freudian perspective, the needle can also suggest masculine sexuality.

Pins

If you dream that you are pricked by a pin, this signifies a difficult situation or relationship. You may be feeling anxious or feeling the need to hold together a particular relationship. Consider the pun of someone who may be a ‘prick’. Alternatively, to see pins in your dream may suggest you are feeling stifled or trapped, as indicated by the phrase ‘being pinned down’. If a pincushion appears in your dream, this can indicate stinging or hurtful comments in waking life. You may be feeling manipulated or attacked in waking life, or perhaps you are being hurtful to someone else. For particular materials used in mending, for example, cotton, linen, silk, see also CLOTHES AND IMAGE.

Scissors

In dreams, these can suggest cutting remarks or decisiveness and taking control. They can also suggest separation or independence—as in cutting the umbilical cord—or the need to get rid of someone or something out of your life that isn’t working anymore. The type of scissors may be important for the dreamer. Surgical scissors, for instance, could suggest the need to be more precise. Kitchen scissors might suggest a need to be more practical. If the scissors are blunt, this suggests you may be creating problems through speaking bluntly. If you are sharpening scissors, this suggests the need to be more tactful. If you dream of a hairdresser using scissors, this could refer to your fear of losing authority and status. In folklore, clean scissors suggest that you have nothing to fear from your enemies. If the scissors are rusty or broken however, this is a less favorable.

Tape/thimble/thread

Tapes are used to measure things in waking life. In your dreams they can suggest a need to measure and evaluate the potential of a current project you are involved in. To use a thimble in your dream suggests that you need to be thinking of the welfare of others. Ancient dream oracles say that losing a thimble is a sign of misfortune but receiving or buying a thimble signifies new friendships. To see thread in your dream suggests that you need to strengthen commitments and relationships in waking life. Ancient dream oracles say that to see broken threads in your dream signifies unreliable friends.

to Freudian interpretation, clay symbolizes feces. But to see a clay pot in your dream signifies devotion, healing, virtue or purity.

SCULPTOR

If you are a sculptor in your dreams, you are working on finding yourself and are overcoming obstacles by getting to the core of things. If a sculpture appears in your dreams, you may find it hard to accept things as they are really are. You may also be overly concerned about projecting a positive image. A statue, bust or obelisk often suggests the desire to put someone or something on a pedestal. If you are doing this, you increase the feelings of remoteness and unattainability of that person or thing in waking life. If a statue comes alive in your dreams, you may revive a long-lost interest or rebuild a friendship. Ancient dream oracles indicate that dreaming of being a statue is a sign that your fortunes will change for the better.

WEAVING

Weaving is taken to symbolize life itself and the way in which we run our lives. Most cultures contain images in which our fate is being woven in a pattern. Although at the mercy of chance, we are supposed to be in control of that pattern.

BAD DEEDS

Any violence or negative action in your dreams is typically a reflection of your own inner feelings.

According to Jung, negative actions in dreams symbolize the shadow or dark side of your nature. The shadow is everything that you are repressing or denying, the hidden side of yourself that you refuse to recognize. By conjuring up such images in your dream, your unconscious is urging you to bring these hidden feelings into the light of day so that they have less hold over you, otherwise you are in danger of projecting this ‘other self’ onto other people.

Dreams about violence, crime and other actions may not only reveal your inner feelings about yourself, they may also reveal your feelings about the situation around you or in some cases, your feelings about other people in your life. The type of negative action highlighted in the dream will be worthy of your attention if you are to fully understand yourself and your situation. Although disturbing, and unfortunately more common than positive actions in dreams, dreams in which the action focuses on bad or negative feelings, words and actions are seldom predictive, so you don’t need to worry that the horrifying events will be repeated in your waking life. Recurring dreams of committing rape are a different concern, suggesting violent urges that are in danger of spilling over into your waking life. If this is the case, professional therapy and counseling is strongly recommended. See also ACCIDENTS, ACTION AND ADVENTURES; NEGATIVE EMOTIONS; NIGHTMARES.

Crime

DECEPTION

If you find yourself lying or cheating in your dream, or overhear someone else doing so, this indicates that you are feeling guilty about not being honest in waking life or that someone is cheating or being dishonest with you. If you have recurring dreams in which cheating or lying feature, your dreaming mind is suggesting that you are living a lie in waking life and that you need to be true to yourself. Dreams of stealing, cheating, forgery, fraud and blackmail send the same message. If you are an accessory or witness to a crime in your dream but didn’t commit it, this suggest your feelings of guilt about colluding with something or ignoring something you knew to be wrong. If, however, a crime or deception was committed against you in your dream, ask yourself whether someone is committing a wrong against you.

PUNISHMENT

You may have had a dream in which you committed a crime and found yourself being punished for your actions. You may have woken from such a dream feeling extremely relieved that you have not committed a crime or been punished, but lingering feelings of anxiety may stay with you. Try to identify your feelings about such a dream as they will help with the interpretation. Did you feel guilty or angry that an injustice had been done to you? If you can discover how you feel about the punishment, this may hold the key to the interpretation. If you felt guilty, perhaps there is something in your waking life that you feel is wrong or is destroying your peace of mind. If you are actually caught in the act in your dream and find yourself awaiting or being sentenced to punishment of some kind, this is a clear message of disapproval from your dreaming mind and a warning that if you don’t change your ways, you will be in danger of being found out in waking life. Try to identify who punished you in your dream. If it was someone you know, you may be feeling remorseful towards them in waking life, but if it was someone you do not know, you may be feeling guilty about breaking a law or rule in waking life or showing disrespect for authority.

If a lynch mob attacked you, have you committed a crime against society in general by not paying your taxes or dropping litter? If you dreamed of being accused of a crime you did not commit and nobody believed your protestations of innocence, do you feel you are being treated unfairly in your waking life? When the punishment was pronounced in your dream, did you feel that is was out of proportion to the wrongdoing. If you felt the punishment was far too severe, this suggests that you are feeling extremely guilty about someone thing you have done in waking life. If you were whipped in your dream, do you feel as if life has dealt you some harsh blows?

If you were arrested in your dream, this suggests the need for some kind of restraint in your waking life, or a fear of authority in general. If a crime scene or forensic team appears in your dream, your dreaming mind is encouraging you to understand your motives. If you were chained, imprisoned or sentenced to death in your dream, see NEGATIVE EMOTIONS. If your dream features the ultimate crime of murder, see NIGHTMARES.

STEALING

Dreams of stealing, pickpocketing, burglary, robbery, theft, petty crime or taking what is not yours generally suggest that you feel envious of another person in some way and want to have what they have. The key to the dream’s interpretation is to identify who you are thieving FROM and what you are trying to take. If you are blackmailing someone in your dream or they are trying to blackmail you, this indicates emotional blackmail that you may be using to try and force someone to do as you want, or emotional blackmail used on you by someone else to get from you what they want.

Violence

ACCIDENTS

Dreams of accidents and catastrophes are examples of violent, negative actions with destructive consequences that warn you of the need to take urgent remedial action in an area of your life that is about to collapse into chaos. See also ACCIDENTS, ACTIVITIES AND ADVENTURES.

AMBUSH

Dreams in which you ambush or abduct someone reflect your desperation in waking life to ward off potential humiliation. If the person you are ambushing is someone you know, you also need to consider if you are secretly envious of this person in waking life. If this is the case, your unconscious may have been expressing your desire to capture or kidnap the qualities you admire and make them your own. Alternatively, you may have a hidden desire to control that person. If, however, you were ambushed, abducted or kidnapped in your dream, this suggests that someone or something in your waking life is trying to take control of you. Your dream expresses your surprise and uncertainty about losing control.

ATTACK

Dreams in which your anger turns into violence and you start attacking someone usually suggest hidden hostility towards someone or something in your waking life. If you do find yourself punching, kicking or fighting with someone in your dream, try to think about what triggered the violent attack. It is possible that your dreaming mind conjured up the image of an attack as a safety valve through which you can release your frustration. Another interpretation suggests that dreams in which you inflict violence on someone or something may be prompted by a sense of helplessness or resentment in waking life. Perhaps there is someone whose authority you find powerless to resist? If this is the case, your dream may be compensatory by allowing you to exact revenge against the person or object of your resentment. It is also possible that your unconscious was encouraging you to stand up for yourself.

Alternatively, dreams which feature violence can symbolize your hidden desire for power and control in waking life. When interpreting this dream, try to identify whether the target of the violence represented an aspect of yourself, particularly if the victim was a stranger. Or could your unconscious have conjured an archetypal image of the stranger to bear the brunt of your anger?

RAPE

A dream of rape can be incredibly disturbing and you are unlikely to want to dwell on it, but it might be worth your while to ask yourself why your dreaming mind would put you through such an ordeal. If you have been a victim of sexual violence, then your dream may have been trying to resolve your feelings about the trauma. If this isn’t the case, however, your dream may have been warning you about a predatory person in your life or warning you about someone in your life who is forcing you to do something against your will.

Whether you are raped by a person of the same or the opposite sex in your dream, the images reinforce your feelings of powerlessness and shame at having to bend to (non-sexual) demands in waking life. Your dreaming mind may have sent you this shocking image to encourage you to assert yourself and fight back. If you are raping someone else in your dream, this expresses your desire to humiliate or put someone in their place in waking life. If you witnessed someone else being raped in your dream but could not or would not prevent it, the message is again one of powerlessness and your feelings of frustration at being unable to right a wrong in waking life, or protect someone who is vulnerable. See also NIGHTMARES; SEX.

SHOUTING

Arguments and shouting in dreams, as in waking life, suggest that you are feeling in conflict or have opposing views on something or someone. Alternatively, they may be simply a release for negative feelings about someone or something that you are unable to express in waking life; in other words, your dream is allowing you to vent your frustration. The dream may also refer back to anxiety you experienced as a child when your parents were fighting and you felt powerless to stop them.

VICTIM

If violence or negative actions are directed against you in your dream, you may be punishing yourself in some way or feel guilty about something. Alternatively, you may be feeling vulnerable. If you knew your attacker, you may be unconsciously aware of a real threat that they pose to you in waking life. Another interpretation suggests that if others are behaving violently towards you in your dream, you need to take care not to upset others in waking life.

If your dream portrayed you in front of a firing squad, this is a symbol of your feelings of victimization in waking life. If your attacker was female, this may represent the archetypal terrible mother or huntress archetype, whilst a terrible male attacker may have represented the archetypal villain or ogre. In either case, try to identify who or what it is in your waking life that makes you feel so consciously or unconsciously afraid. If your dream attacker was an animal, the most likely interpretation is that the animal represents a problem within yourself rather than an external threat. The type of animal attacking you and your personal associations with it will be significant. Your unconscious often employs animals to symbolize aspects of your ‘animal’ or instinctual nature, so it is possible that you have neglected a basic human