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

The shadow

According to Jung, the shadow is the repressed or unacceptable part of your own personality, so if a shadow or shadowy figure appears in your dream, this represents an aspect of yourself that you are rejecting. The image may also suggest feelings of being overshadowed, put in the shade or feeling inferior in waking life. The shadow may also express a fear of the unknown, or of negative impulses.

A shadow can be a sign of coming events or a shadow cast from the future, because you often see a person’s shadow before you see them. Bear in mind that the shadow or hidden part of your personality can express itself in many different guises in your dreams, although there is usually an air of disrepute, danger or negativity about the image.

Idioms: afraid of your own shadow; shades of; shadow of your former self.

urge or instinct that the attack is an attempt to have recognized.

If a dream attack leaves you feeling battered and bruised from the array of blow and kicks that rained down upon you, it is possible that your unconscious is trying to kick-start you into action. Is there something you need to do or have you been lazy recently? If your injuries are serious, however, this suggests deep emotional hurt. Try to identify who attacked you or stabbed you in the back, as this could help you with your interpretation. Try to recall also if any weapons were used, as weapons often have phallic or sexual associations. If blood is pouring out of your wounds, perhaps you are feeling drained of energy and vitality, or someone is sapping your strength.

Superstitions

Bad luck superstitions have been around for centuries and vary from culture to culture. Here are some of the most common in Western culture and their appearance in your dream may, depending on the context and mood of the dream, be a sign of misfortune or of the need to be cautious and consider all your options before moving ahead

Friday the thirteenth: The Scandinavians believed that the number thirteen was unlucky due to the twelve mythological demigods being joined by a thirteenth, an evil one, who brought misfortune upon humans. It was also said that Christ was crucified on Friday and the number of guests at the party of the Last Supper was thirteen, with the thirteenth guest being Judas, the traitor.

Walking under a ladder: A leaning ladder forms a triangle with the wall and ground. Triangles represent the Holy Trinity, and violating the Trinity by breaking it (walking through it) would put you in league with the Devil himself.

Black cats: Although sometimes thought to be a symbol of good luck (in ancient Egypt, the Goddess Bast was a black, female cat), during the Middle ages cats were thought to be demons in disguise and should thus be destroyed.

Spilling salt: Salt used to be an expensive commodity used mainly for medicinal purposes. For this reason, spillage was to be avoided at all costs. The idea that it is unlucky to do so probably stems from the belief that Judas spilt salt during the Last Supper.

Other superstitions associated with bad luck and misfortune include: A bat flying into the house. An owl hooting 3 times. 3 butterflies together. Looking at the new moon over your left shoulder. A 5-leaved clover. Breaking a glass whilst proposing a toast. Putting a shirt on inside out. Red and white flowers together. Hearing a rooster crow at night. Cutting your nails on a Friday. Putting a hat on a bed. Getting out of bed left foot first. Violets blooming out of season. A picture falling. Breaking a mirror. Singing before breakfast. Opening an umbrella indoors. Giving away a wedding present. Stepping on cracks in the sidewalk. An itch inside your nose. Crossed knives. Seeing an owl during daylight. Spilling pepper. Killing a sparrow. Black birds. Dropping a wedding ring. Breaking a plate, especially if it has not already been cracked. Mending a garment whilst wearing it. Signing contracts in the months of April, July or November. Spilling ink. Breaking a bottle. Fastening a button into the wrong buttonhole. A candle falling over. Stepping on board a ship with your left foot. Tripping over when you leave your house.

NEGATIVE SYMBOLS IN DREAMS

Dream symbols can have both positive and negative associations, but some dream symbols do tend to have more negative associations than positive and these include:

Acid: This suggests a corrosive, negative influence in your life. Adder: There may be a situation in which another person cannot be trusted. Atom bomb: Fear that someone else might destroy your happiness. Avalanche: A destructive force in your life. Bad: If you feel bad in your dream, this suggests that something is off balance in your waking life and that your environment is not positive for you. Barbed wire: Hurtful remarks are preventing you moving forward. Bed wetting: Anxieties over lack of control in your life. Behind: To be behind someone in your dream suggests that you feel inferior to them. Bite: Being bitten or biting someone is a symbol of aggression or hostility. Boar: Lust and gluttony. Brutality: The darker, more animalistic side of your nature. Burglar: Violation of personal space. Chain: Restriction. Choke: Inability to express yourself. Crooked line: Insincerity. Devil: Personification of the evil side of yourself. Dirty: Not at ease with your body, or lack of trust in someone or something. Drowning: Feeling overwhelmed. Earthquake: Emotional upheaval. Empty and failure: Lack of energy and enthusiasm. Falling: Lack of confidence. Gall: Feelings of bitterness. Hole: A difficult or tricky situation; can also suggest emptiness. Hood: Deceit. Ice: Frozen emotions. Immobility: Feeling stuck. Leak: Losing energy. Leper: Feeling inferior or unworthy. Maggots: Impurities that can eat away at you; fears of death and illness. Mantis: Something devious within your life. Marsh: Feeling held back or bogged down. Mist: Emotional confusion. Noose: Fear of being trapped. Obscenity: lower aspects of the self. Parasites: Someone is attempting to live off your energy. Poverty: Feelin g deprived of the ability to satisfy your basic needs. Pus: Something which is festering and has gone bad in your life. Sadism: Desire to cause harm to yourself or others. Scar: Old hurts that have not been dealt with. Sick: Bad feelings you need to get rid of. Tar: Emotions have become contaminated. Torture: Trying to come to terms with a great hurt. Traitor: An aspect of yourself that is letting you down. Trespassing: Intruding on someone else’s personal space; lack of healthy boundaries. Unemployment: Not making the best use of your talents. Vampire: Fear of the unknown and negative energy. War: Conflict. Winter: Time in your life which is unfruitful. Wound: Hurt feelings or emotions. X: An error or something of which you need to take notice. Yawn: Boredom, but also a warning against aggression or abuse.

BIRDS

What sets birds apart is their ability to fly and escape the boundaries and limitations of earth.

For this reason, they are a universal symbol of transformation and the progress towards wholeness and harmony. Their association with the element of air—itself associated with aspirations and ideals—means they have also become a symbol of high-flying ambition and the quest for enlightenment. In Greek mythology, birds are often messengers of the gods, so in psychological terms they show that the unconscious is offering you wisdom and insight. Birds can take a bird’s-eye view of the world and are therefore associated with the ability to take an objective overview of a situation.

Birds can also symbolize relationships with other people. For example, thieving birds, such as magpies, may suggest a threat to a relationship and the possibility of an affair; territorial birds, such as blackbirds, might suggest jealousy. Baby birds of all species can symbolize relationships with children or dependents. Freud believed that birds were sexual symbols that represent the penis, whereas Jung believed that birds in dreams were messengers from the unconscious, offering insight and wisdom. Some people call women ‘birds’, and birds in dreams can sometimes denote the feminine principle or the anima in a man’s dream.

Birds in dreams therefore represent freedom, transformation, insight, objectivity, relationships, intuition and the ability to see the bigger picture. If you see a bird alight, appear or take flight in your dream, ask yourself if you are wishing you could escape from pressures and responsibilities. Do you want to be free from a situation and alight at pastures new? Do you want freedom from a particular relationship or an outstanding debt? Or is it an attitude or situation you want to rise above? Do you long to travel or take flight? Alternatively was your unconscious referring to a ‘flight of fancy’, something you were hoping and wishing for in waking life? Or do you need to see the bigger picture and leave the details behind? And finally, because your unconscious conjures up bird images to reflect certain attitudes or situations in life, you also need to consider the symbolism associated with the following bird situations and different types of birds. At all times, the condition or health of the bird is important. If the bird is suffering in any way, this will suggest a certain degree of frustration. If the bird is flying or is in good condition, feelings of freedom and liberation may be indicated.

For centuries it was considered a good omen to dream of birds, but bear in mind that there are also many negative superstitions about birds. Here are some well-known ones that might influence your dream interpretation and your feelings towards a particular bird, or birds in general: albatross, sign of bad luck; black crow, sign of misfortune; buzzard, beware of gossip; cock, if it crows good news; dove, peace; eagle, success in business; goose, improvement in fortune; hawk, a bright future; magpie, a change of plan; owl, disappointment; stork, family problems; and turkey, bad luck, unless you are eating or killing it.

Bird Types and Situations

BIRD COLOR

The colors, as well as the general interpretation for birds, are significant here. For example, black birds represent one’s shadow side and white birds one’s open, expressive and free side, whilst golden-winged birds represent ambition. A display of plumage represents the way you see yourself. Is the plumage a gorgeous display of vibrant color, or a disappointing shade of shabby brown? See also COLORS.

BIRD EGG

Often a symbol of money in dreams, as in ‘nest egg’. The condition that the egg is in will say a lot about your current financial situation, or your dreams of financial success. A clutch of eggs can also express your wish to have a large family, or represent the dawning of a new, exciting idea. If the eggs are smashed, have your dreams and hopes been smashed in some way? If you dream of hatching birds, this may suggest the birth of new ideas, projects and relationships, whilst if baby birds appear in your dreams, they are usually symbols of childhood and new beginnings.

BIRD’S NEST

A symbol of independence, refuge, home and security, which might indicate that you need something to fall back on. Alternatively, it may signify a prosperous endeavor, new opportunities, or an imminent fortune. Making a nest suggests homebuilding and the accumulation of material possessions, as in ‘feather the nest’, or partnership with someone else and the parental urge. If you dream of birds leaving the nest, it might suggest that you are taking on new responsibilities in waking life or are the parent of a child who is about to leave home. Similarly an empty nest can suggest your own sense of loneliness. Has your brood flown away to make their own way in the world?

BIRD SONG

If you hear bird song in a dream, the same interpretation as for birds in general applies. Pay attention to the sound. Is it sweet, happy, anxious, excited or alarming? All these impressions will help you with the interpretation.

CAGED BIRD

This can indicate restraint or entrapment or feeling stuck in a job, lifestyle or relationship. Is your freedom somehow restricted in waking life? Are your inhibitions stopping you expressing your personality? Is your job humdrum? Is your partner possessive? If you opened the door in your dream and let the bird out to fly away with joy in your heart, this is almost certainly a message from your unconscious to take steps in waking life to release yourself from restrictions and or inhibitions. If the bird wouldn’t or couldn’t fly away, are you putting limitations on yourself? If the bird’s wings were clipped, is someone deliberately holding you back? Freeing a bird from its cage relates to expressing your emotions. If the bird in the cage is a pet bird, this often suggests happy memories. See also PETS.

Feathers

Your interpretation of feathers will be influenced by whether or not you are allergic to feathers but there are some common associations with features. If you are allergic to feathers, they may have a negative interpretation, but in general, feathers represent the beauty of the bird from which they came. If you know the bird from which the feather came, see the BIRDS A TO Z on page 84, and follow that interpretation. If you don’t know the species, the general interpretation for BIRDS applies. The color, or colors, of the feather are also significant. (See COLORS.) Feathers can also represent flight to aspects of yourself, and because of their connection with wind and air can suggest a connection to the more spiritual side of yourself.

If a feather drops on you from above in a dream, this is a message from your unconscious but what is that message? Features are light and so do you need to lighten up and take a more relaxed and softer approach to life? A white feather suggests cowardice. A black feather relates to the unconscious and your ability to explore it. Feathers on a ceremonial headdress suggest achievement (having a ‘feather in your cap’). Features may also suggest disagreements of some kind; has someone ruffled your feathers? Alternatively are you taking a featherbrained or frivolous approach to some aspect of your life? Or do you need to feel comforted in some way? Feathers are often stuffed in pillows and are therefore associated with warmth and comfort.

FLYING BIRD

Represent a sunny outlook in life, rising above everything, a sense of freedom, independence and liberation, as if a weight has been lifted off your shoulders. Flying birds can also suggest aspirations and desires, and if the bird is flying high, an expansion of your viewpoint. Another interpretation is that flying birds represent sex, a similar form of release and uplift.

FLOCK OF BIRDS

A group of birds can often symbolize yourself and the people in your life. Are the birds flying in the same direction? If they are, this can suggest harmony; if they are not, confusion may be indicated. Are the birds huddled together? If they are, do you prefer to surround yourself with people similar to you, as in ‘birds of a feather?’ A flock of birds can also represent your need to be part of a group that you identify with and admire; but is the flock celebrating or stifling your individuality? If the birds are in a tree, the branches of the tree may represent your family life, and the leaves and birds your thoughts. If the birds are fighting, this suggests disagreements about viewpoints, or differing opinions, in waking life. If a bird is attacking you, it may represent an attack on your ideas and opinions, such as being criticized by a parent; another interpretation is it symbolizes a fear of others, or of going beyond your boundaries.

LARGE BIRD

A large bird represents the power of the unconscious to uplift or terrify, and can also suggest a threat or a parent.

WOUNDED OR DEAD BIRD

If dead birds appear in your dreams, they might represent a threat to your freedom, depression or the loss of purpose and meaning. In your waking life, an ideal or hope may have died, or your creativity has been stifled. Wounded, molting or songless birds can also represent problems that are constantly on your mind.

Birds A to Z

BLACKBIRD

Ancient dream oracles suggest that to see a blackbird in your dream is a bad omen, bringing about misfortune for you in the coming weeks. It is a good sign, however, if the blackbird is flying. Modern dream researchers suggest that anxiety is expressed by the presence of black birds, or a blackbird in particular, in dreams. If the blackbird is attacking someone or something in the dream, it is a comment on how you may be relating to your emotions in waking life.

BLUE JAY

If a blue jay appears in your dream, it could be calling your attention to something or someone you are neglecting in waking life. Alternatively, it can also suggest the need for humility, as you may be arrogant and over-confident.

BUZZARD

An almost universal symbol of death and decay. It could represent an ugly or rotten part of yourself or your life.

CANARY

If the canary is healthy, it represents your own happiness. The opposite also holds true—if the canary is hurt or injured in any way, your own pain or injury is being mirrored.

CARDINAL

If a cardinal appears in your dream, it represents a sense of vitality and happiness. You feel as if you could accomplish anything.

CHICKADEE

Is there something or someone unique in your waking life that you need to pay more attention to? Small miracles happen every day in the most ordinary of activities. Perhaps your children are reaching milestones of development? Is your garden blossoming? Have you noticed how much your family and/or partner is supporting you?

CHICKEN

To see chickens in your dream can symbolize cowardice and stupidity, or chatter and gossip. Listen closely to what people may be saying about you or what you are saying about others. Alternatively, chickens can also show that there is potential for growth but this may only come about with the support of others. A group of chickens can also suggest that something you have done in waking life is about to rebound on you: as in chickens come home to roost.

The cock suggests male sexual characteristics and so the need to be more assertive. It is also the symbol of the new day and of keeping watch. Less positively, it might suggest that you are being overbearing and trying to rule the roost. The hen suggests being totally immersed in the concerns of motherhood. If a hen crows in your dream, this is taken to represent maternal domination. A group of hens may symbolize gossip and calamity. It may also suggest being ‘hen-pecked’ or that you feel being picked on, like chicken feed. Chicks represent babies or very young children in your life, or your feelings about your own childhood. They can also point to vulnerability. Are you counting your chickens before they have hatched?

CORMORANT

Symbol of introspection or inner wisdom. Are intellectual theories and ideas, or your studies in waking life, helping you to understand yourself better?

CRANE

Symbol of maternal love and of acts of kindness performed by yourself or others. Can also suggest the ability to cope with difficult situations and/or emotions in waking life.

CROW

To see a crow in your dream represents darker aspects of your character that need to be managed. Traditionally, crows are symbols of approaching death or bad news but they can also represent wisdom and or deviousness.

CUCKOO

Interpreting the presence of the cuckoo in your dream is difficult, as it can be a symbol of unrequited love or deviousness, whilst also being the herald of spring and an indicator of change from old to new. Do you need to change your direction or alter your approach in how you approach some situation? Alternatively, there may be someone in your life whose presence is unwelcome or annoying.

DOVE

The peaceful, calm side of a man’s nature can often appear in a man’s dreams as the dove. To see doves in your dream suggests peace, harmony, and innocence, or the longing for these in your waking life. The dove is furthermore a symbol of the Holy Spirit in Christianity, so if this resonates with you, your unconscious could be urging you to seek fulfillment. In particular, to see white doves in your dream symbolizes loyalty and friendship. It may also represent a message from the unconscious to become aware of your potential, and let go of thoughts of hate and revenge. A pair of turtle-doves billing and cooing at each other in your dream may suggest that you are longing to find a gentle, loving person with whom to settle down. Doves that are building a nest symbolize a joyous home life and obedient children.

DUCK

To see a duck in your dream can suggest childish behavior. If flying, it can represent freedom from superficiality; if swimming, it can represent the unconscious. Ducks can walk, swim and fly and may therefore represent your flexibility and ability to adapt to various situations. They may also warn against being superficial in the process, especially if you see a white duck. When interpreting the meaning of birds in dreams, it’s always helpful to mull over any meanings that are attached to their names. For example, if you dreamed of an albatross, do you feel as if a burden has been placed around your neck? If a duck waddled in, are you trying to duck out of a situation, instead of confronting it head on? Or is criticism like water off a duck’s back to you? Perhaps have you taken to a new hobby enthusiastically like a duck to water? Alternatively, the dream may indicate that you are setting yourself up or being set up in some way, as associated by the phrase ‘sitting duck’.