The Noble Pagan Forums - 6 Steps to help you interpret your dreams

**CelticSpider** · #1 11-21-2008

A lot of people have some really crazy dreams right? But what do they mean?

It depends. Sometimes it's just psychobabble. Images, textures, colors, sounds or even a rampant theme that gets spit up for the hell of it.

A good example would be a dream I once had. I was racing around in a jungle looking for things and Jimmy Neutron. What could that mean? Considering that Jimmy Neutron was the last cartoon that was on that evening ( my kids love it) and the jungle looked JUST like the one in the video game I had been plugged into all day ( Tak).....it's no wonder my dream was just one long wandering run of nonsense.
In essence my brain was just spitting up to things it had focused on during the day.

So while some dreams are just mental midnight burps of visual nonsense.....others may actually have a message for you.
It could be an answer to a problem that you have been working on. It could be a way to handle your finances better. A way to resolve an emotional issue. A fear you haven't confronted yet. The list is endless. So are the ways your brain may choose to speak to you in your sleep.

The problem is, dream speak is a language of colors, textures and symbols ( sometimes sounds, smells and tastes too) that the conscious mind is not fluent in speaking. The conscious mind likes things neat and orderly.
Let's use a cat for an example.
Say you dream of a purple cat.
A purple cat?! Screams your conscious. That is RIDICULOUS!!!!!
Already your conscious mind is balking at the purple cat because it has learned that in reality there is no such thing.
However for the sake of this lets say that before the dream you just got a kitten because your favorite cat passed away. The purple cat in this case could be your subconscious mind bringing up the memory of the cat. The purple? Let's just say that it's your favorite color and that cat was favorite cat out of the three your mom has.

So while your conscious mind is reeling from the purple cat, the subconscious mind spit it out with clarity and purpose.
It's up to you to learn the language of your subconscious mind.

So should you run out and check 100 links on dream symbols and interpretations? Maybe dash to the library for books on symbols, dreams and maybe even psychology?

You could if you wanted to. That would take some time and really would you know what you are looking for? Did your subconscious need those books in the first place to speak to you in the symbols it chose?

Step one - Find a theme. See if you reconize a theme in your dream. Are you running away/towards something? Is there a prevalent emotion through out it? A particular person, place, color, item that keeps cropping up?

Step two- Your symbols. Be honest with yourself when you break your dreams down. A banana may just be a banana to one person, a phallic symbol to another and the most hideous phobia for another. So be honest with what your dream symbols are.

Step three- Breaking it down objectively. Sometimes you will come across a symbol that is reoccurring but makes no sense consciously. This is when it helps to break down what that symbol may represent outside of yourself. One person had terrible dreams about a famous person chasing him. It made no sense because he was na afraid of this person in real life but in the dream it was ridiculously horrifying. That's because it was not the person his subconscious was trying to portray. It was what this famous person stood for ( and this famous person was a very shocking, in your face, almost confused sort of musical artist).
So if a reoccurring symbol or dream is confusing you but won't leave you alone, try getting to the bare bones of what it may represent.

Step four - Listen to your gut. A lot of times animals, people and places show up in our dreams. Listen to your gut feeling about how you feel about them, react to them, they react to you in dream world. Remember to stay honest with yourself (sometimes our subconscious makes us look at things we consciously repress or ignore).

Step five - Road side assistance. Sometimes you've gone through steps 1-4 and you are still stuck. NOW would be a good time to look through some sites or books and see if what you come across helps out. Again be honest with yourself. It's too easy to read something by someone else and then try to make their definitions fit.
You can even try batting your dream off of a friend or two and see what they think of it.

Step Six - Trigger Point. After such a poignant dream definately record it. Then ask yourself "what could have triggered all that? What have I been going through lately?" Sometimes just asking yourself those questions will help you find the message much quicker than you though. I have found in helping others interpret dreams that this last step is really important to figuring out the dream.

This is just some steps I use when helping others to interpret dreams. I find that they help me a lot. And remember not EVERY dream is a deep and meaningful message, so don't drive yourself crazy trying to interpret each and every one.

C.S.