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

An impressive big house in dreams suggests that we are conscious of our potential. If the house is small, the dreamer is perhaps seeking security and freedom from responsibility. If you were living in a bungalow in your dream, there may be a suggestion that you are living too much on one level, both practically and emotionally. If there are unfamiliar rooms in a well-known house, this represents unexplored potential. If other people are in the house, they suggest different aspects of yourself you may feel threatened by, or other people you are involved with, or about to be involved with, in waking life. Going into or out of the house suggests that we may need to decide whether we need to be more introverted or extroverted. If you go into another person’s house, this suggests that you are getting involved with that person, perhaps being a part of their life. If you see a loved one move into someone else’s house in your dream, this may be your fear of their infidelity, but it may also reveal a growing distance in your relationship. Planning or altering a house, or building an annexe may refer to a change in your lifestyle or approach to life. Rows of houses represent other people. According to dream lore, country houses suggest tranquility; building a house, a growth in confidence; a new house, a busy social life; an empty house or moving house, financial worries; a big house, good fortune, and a small house, misfortune.

If you are buying a house in your dreams this may relate to making a decision to change in waking life, or wanting to make some kind of change. Buying a house involves decision making and this points to the importance of clarifying what it is that you want in waking life. If the house in your dream is an igloo, this is a symbol of security and completeness and, because it is warm on the inside and cold on the outside, it points to differences between what you feel on the inside and you do and say on the outside. In general dreaming about a flat or apartment has the same meaning as dreaming about a house, but the interpretation depends on whether or not you have lived in an apartment or flat before. If you did, were you living alone in the flat or did you share, and what was this like? This will influence the feelings associated with the image in your dream.

LIBRARY/MUSEUM

In dreams, a library can represent a storehouse of your experiences in life as well as your intellect. If the library is well ordered, this suggests that you handle knowledge well. If the library is chaotic, with books missing or wrongly shelved, this suggests that you may be suffering from information overload or have difficulty processing information. If someone distracts you in the library in your dream, it may suggest that the ideas being considered in waking life are not worth your attention. If you are working on your psychic and spiritual development, the library will have added significance as a place where the collective wisdom of humankind is collected. The more we develop psychically and spiritually, the more we have access to this collective wisdom—also known as intuition and the collective unconscious.

Like libraries, museums feed minds by giving people the opportunity to study objects from the past for their historic, scientific and artistic interest. When trying to interpret dreams about museums, any exhibit that caught your eye is important because it may be pointing to something from your own past that has a bearing on your present situation. If your dream involved visiting a cinema or theatre, refer to the relevant entries in ARTS AND CRAFTS and LEISURE.

LIGHTHOUSE

A lighthouse may appear in a dream as a beacon guiding you to safety through dense fog. Bear in mind that a beacon or lighthouse can also indicate a rocky area you should avoid, and therefore contains a warning about the direction in which you are heading. Such a dream may be urging you to rely on your own resources to avoid floundering. For Freud, the lighthouse was, of course, a phallic symbol rising above the maternal symbol of the ocean.

RELIGIOUS BUILDING

Any religious building suggests a refuge where you can gather your thoughts and consider your beliefs. Even if you are not religious, in dreams religious buildings highlight your spiritual, peace-loving and idealistic potential. Most of us have principles we live by and these may surface in your dreams in the symbol of a religious building. If you are walking past a church or religious building in your dream, this suggests that you are not making contact with the best part of yourself. Is your waking life so crammed with obligations that you don’t have time to explore your inner world for some much-needed reflection, meditation and contemplation? If you entered a temple in your dream and immediately felt enveloped in a sense of calm, was your unconscious suggesting that you would enjoy better health if you treated your body as a temple, putting your physical, emotional and spiritual welfare first? Dreams about religious buildings may also be an expression of anger against dogma; again it depends on the feelings evoked by the building in your dream. Did you feel relieved or tense? If a vault features in your dream, it may represent your highest spiritual ideals, as vaults often appear in churches or temples with painted stars in imitation of the vault of the heavens. A vault may also recall a crypt or burial chamber, and as such, it may conjure up thoughts of death. See also RELIGION.

TOWER

According to Freud, a tower is a phallic symbol, signifying in its sturdiness the sexual self-confidence of a male dreamer. In dreams, towers represent psychological constructions you may have built in your life, ranging from an attitude to an entire way of life. For example, a tower may be a defensive erection of inner attitudes, suggesting an imprisonment by your own anxieties or a desire to shut yourself away from the world; alternatively, it may be an attempt to reach the heights of awareness or recognition.

If you are standing at the top of the tower in your dream, observe how you feel

Towering above the rest

Freudian dream interpreters relate towering structures in dreams to phallic symbols, and therefore to macho tendencies, on account of their thrusting shape. So if you dreamed you were living in a luxury penthouse thousands of feet above the city or that your office occupied the top floor, could your dream have highlighted your ambitions? Do you secretly long to rise above everyone else financially, professionally and socially? Dreaming of a spire may indicate pride and ambition or yearning to attain spiritual heights, and an obelisk in a dream may be a phallic symbol. A chimney in a dream may be another phallic symbol especially if it was a tall factory chimney. In both the waking and the dream world, skyscrapers are symbols of elevated social and professional status and the ‘greed is good creed’, so if you dreamed of them, perhaps your unconscious was highlighting your waking ambition.

The most prominent and famous landmark in Paris, the city of romance, revolution and passion, is the Eiffel Tower. If it appears in your dream, it presents a powerful erotic symbolism, as it is a strong image of thrusting sexuality. The clock tower, also known as Big Ben, which sits alongside London’s Houses of Parliament, may be a symbol of an encounter with destiny or some life-changing event. Ticking clocks often represent the passage of life (see TIME) and the clock tower combines this with the phallic form to form an image of courage and emotional development. Evoking great and solemn occasions, the chimes of Big Ben, or any clock in a church tower, relate to important life changes, such as marriage, the birth of a child or moving house, or important shifts in attitude, such as forgiveness, resolve and determination.

Some other buildings

Airport

A desire to rise above worldly problems and responsibilities; may also be associated with high ideals. See also TRAVEL.

Bank

Where ‘treasures’ are stored; material security. If you are making a deposit, you are adding to your assets. If you are making a withdrawal, you are calling upon them.

Barn

Associated with labor. Since this is a storage place and home for animals, the dream may be implying that you have an inner storage place containing the essentials for inner growth.

Beauty parlor/hairdressers

New ideas, thoughts are cleansed, created and rearranged.

Boarding house

The essentials are provided but payment is required.

Cleaners

Clean up some aspect of your personality or have you been ‘taken to the cleaners’?

Firehouse

Contains what is needed to put a fire (anger, passion) out.

Funeral parlor

Something dead needs to be laid to rest or reviewed. ‘It’s your funeral.’

Railroad station

Travel, change; waiting to get on the right track in life’s journey. See also TRAVEL.

Restaurant

The nourishment is provided, but payment is needed. The type of restaurant is important. In a fast-food restaurant or cafeteria, the dreamer is required to do much to help; in an elegant setting, the basic needs are provided but more is expected in return.

School

Lessons to be learned; more growth is required; associated with school days; raise thinking to a new level.

Service station

Re-energize your body, physically, mentally and emotionally.

Store

Book store—learning, study, research; clothing store—shopping for a new means of expression; department store—temptation and choices; drugstore—healing prescriptions; health food store—healthier diet; old-fashioned grocery store—inadequate nourishment; music store—harmony; supermarket—eating and living habits. See also MONEY AND SHOPPING.

as you gaze down at the activity below. Were you relieved to be far removed from other people or did you feel imprisoned? Towers in dreams can also suggest an emotionally impregnable figure in the dreamer’s life, for example an authoritarian father, or male authority in general. There may also be a reference to a ‘tower of strength’, or a person on whom you can rely for support and comfort. If your tower has no door, you are not in touch with your inner self. If there are no windows, you can’t see all the good things about yourself.

An ivory tower suggests innocence, but it can also suggest arrogance, intellectual aloofness and the loneliness such an attitude can bring. A square tower suggests a pragmatic, practical approach, and a round tower suggests spiritual harmony. If the tower is round on top of a square building, this suggests harmony in mind, body and spirit. How you get to the tower in your dream is important in your dream. If your steps are difficult to climb, this suggests you are a private person. If the door is jammed, you are not ready to understand yourself. If the door is bolted, you must make the effort to go in. Once inside the tower, you can use other explanations in this encyclopedia to interpret what you encounter.

CHANGE AND CONFLICT

Dreams about change are common because the experience of change is an inescapable fact of life and whether the change is minor, such as a new hairstyle, or major, such as getting married, all change involves both loss and gain.

Dreams about conflict are also very widespread. This is because, in the same way as with change, we all experience conflict to some degree in our daily lives. We do not, as a result, spend all our lives feeling hostile, but every one of us experiences varying degrees of tension and anxiety.

Understanding conflicts and changes can help us manage them better, and many dream researchers believe that dreams are an invaluable tool for self-understanding. For example, Freud believed that dreams reflect hidden conflicting aspects of our personality, whilst Jung believed that the process of adapting to change or conflict was vital for survival and dreams offered an insight into that process. Adler believed dreams could solve problems, and theorists from the Gestalt school believe dreams increase self-understanding.

Dreams about change and conflict should therefore be listened to closely. They are a way of processing the thoughts and feelings surrounding that change and/or conflict and by so doing they can lead us towards psychological healing and personal growth. See also STAGES OF LIFE.

Change Scenarios

CELEBRATIONS

Dreams about birthdays, weddings, anniversaries and any other rite of passage ceremony all contain symbolism associated with change. Notice how you felt in the dream. How did other characters react to the change event? Was there a sense of happiness or sadness in the air? Did obstacles prevent the ceremony from running smoothly?

DISGUISES

Dreams of yourself or other people in disguise can often suggest change. The wearing of a mask relates to the appearance you present to others (as well as to yourself), and sometimes it is hard to remove the mask, perhaps because you are being forced to wear the mask by others. This may be a warning that you risk losing all sense of self. Notice who was disguised in the dream and what they were disguised as. If they were disguised as something sinister, perhaps this suggests fears in your everyday life. If they were disguised as something light-hearted, perhaps this is an element of wish-fulfillment, reflecting a desire to drop pretences and replace them with more fun and spontaneity in your life. According to Jungian symbolism, wearing a veil over your head indicates a desire to be invisible and to withdraw from the outside world.

FERTILITY

Given their associations with fertility and growth, dreams about the birth of a baby or animal, or of tending gardens and vegetation are associated with new beginnings and positive change for the dreamer. Dreams that involve other new beginning such as new jobs, new houses and new relationships are also symbolic of aspects of life change. To understand the meaning of the dream—and what particular change it is pointing to—you need to pay attention to how you feel in the dream, as well as noting any details within in.

Dream change in art

The subject of dreams and change has often been portrayed in art and culture. For example, in his classic novella Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka used this notion of change when Gregor Samsa awakes to find himself transformed into an insect. Surrealist artists, in particular Salvador Dali, used images of dream change to inform their work. For example, Dali’s ‘Metamorphosis of Narcissus’ is based on the myth of Narcissus, who fell in love with his own reflection.

GOODBYE

Dreams that contain images of death, or of saying goodbye or farewell to family and friends, also suggest times of change. Such dreams do not mean that someone is going to die or that certain people are going to leave you, rather that a particular phase in life is coming to an end. The dream should contain clues regarding which phase in life is being referred to. If you are the dead person or the dead person is unknown to you, then some aspect of your personality or some issue in your daily life needs to be left behind. If a friend dies in your dream, perhaps that friendship has run its course, or perhaps your friend is about to get married and the nature of your friendship will change.

LABYRINTH MAZE

According to Jung, the enclosed labyrinth is a symbol of the unconscious, and a dream of entering a labyrinth represents rapid change and a journey towards self-discovery. As in the Greek myth of Theseus, who entered King Minos’ labyrinth in Knossos to kill the Minotaur, descent into the unconscious may sometimes involve confronting impulses we would rather ignore because they challenge or threaten us. If you see a maze in your dream, it may also indicate the need to find direction in life and the skills needed to negotiate change. If a map or chart of a maze appears in your dream, this may be a reassuring sign that you are on the right path.

RUIN/DESTRUCTION

If the dream centers on some kind of radical change such as revolution, war, fighting or combat, this suggests some kind of conflict in your life. Images of destruction can also relate to life changes that quite literally break with the past. A house left in ruins, for example, may suggest a family broken by divorce; fallen trees may symbolize a move to a new location. See also TREES.

TRANSFORMATION

Dreams in which obvious changes occur, and people and things are transformed into something or someone else, suggest changes in awareness. A landscape might change from dark to light (negative to positive), a person may change from male to female, or objects may take on human characteristics. These changes are often depicted as occurring immediately in dreams, like a speeded-up movie, and they reflect changes in waking life.

Bizarre transformations of objects into living things, such as a pencil turning into a snake, a doll into a donkey or a table into a swarm of wasps, suggest untapped potential within you that can help you cope with change. To clarify what this potential is, refer to the symbolic interpretation of the objects that have been transformed. Shape-shifter dreams, in which people you know suddenly transform into something else, typically a monster or beast, represent unpredictable people in your waking life. For example, someone might be kind and caring towards you until they transform under the influence of alcohol. On the other hand, the shape-shifting may be some kind of moral test. Can you uncover the beauty behind the monster’s mask? What lies below the outer skin of the dream beast? Try to make a connection to your waking life.

Sudden changes from winter to spring in a dream, or from night to day, may also suggest new directions and developments in the dreamer’s life. If the other way round, and the switch is from day to night, or spring to winter, this may suggest the need to confront and deal with dangerous impulses. If the landscape suddenly becomes unfamiliar in your dream, this can point to an unwillingness or an inability to cope with the new. However, if the new environment is welcoming and friendly this is a positive sign. A return to the comfort of the childhood home or a familiar environment is widely interpreted by Freudians and Jungians as a desire to return to the security of the womb during times of change and conflict.

If something is transfigured in a dream, such as when an object or person is surrounded by light, this suggests that light has entered the person during a period of transition and they are becoming more self-aware. If you become invisible in your dream, it can indicate that you feel ignored in waking life—that you and your life are insignificant to others. It can also mean that you are hiding from others or yourself. If you have this type of dream, it might be time to look at how you present yourself to other people.

TRANSITION

The following dreams tend to be common during times of change or transition. A dream of waking and getting up, when in fact you are still asleep, may signal reluctance to face change or a new challenge—such as a new job or new relationship. Then again, perhaps this false wakefulness is the mind’s way of preventing us from waking up, thereby exemplifying Freud’s theory that the purpose of all dreams is to prolong, rather than interrupt, sleep. Dreams of a vehicle careering out of control suggest worries about losing all sense of direction in life, especially if you are the driver, passenger or bystander unable to influence the events.

A rudderless, drifting raft or boat suggests loss of direction, but some believe that sometimes not knowing where you are going can be a way of discovering your true self. A raft is an image of survival and, in some ways, this image suggests the ability to ride out the sea of troubles rather than be overwhelmed. Strange reflections in the mirror are often said to suggest personal identity problems during times of conflict—if it’s your face, and your eyes are closed, this is a refusal to confront reality and if it is someone else’s face, this may indicate a sense of inadequacy when compared to them. No face at all is the ultimate identity crisis; a fear of death itself. If a bridge appears in your dream, this is a clear symbol of transition from the present to the unpredictable future. Crossing the bridge suggests that you possess the strength within to cope with life’s journey and with difficult events such as moving home, divorce or a new job.

Conflict Scenarios

ABANDONMENT/FEAR/LOSS OF CONTROL

Dream images connected to feelings of abandonment, fear and loss of control all have some form of conflict as their theme. For example, dreams about missing a bus, train or airplane all point to some kind of tension in the dreamer about failing to achieve a goal. Dreams about being abandoned or left alone by a group of loved ones suggest feelings of anxiety about being left out, or being different from the crowd. Anxiously searching for the right road or path could point to fears about losing your identity. If you are happily wandering alone in your dream, this may suggest a feeling that the source of your problems lies outside yourself. Dreams about anchors and lifeboats also tell of the fight for survival in daily life. If you dream of being lost in dense vegetation, towering trees or tall reeds, you may feel that your progress is being thwarted by obstacles. As in the tale of ‘Hansel and Gretel’, this dream may evoke longing for the comfort and warmth of home.