The Dream Dictionary from A to Z [Revised edition]

BIRTH CONTROL

See CONTRACEPTIVES.

BIRTHDAY

See CELEBRATIONS.

BITE Being bitten or biting someone is a symbol of aggression or hostility, either toward you or toward someone else.

BLACK

See COLORS.

BLACK-AND-WHITE DREAMS To dream in black and white suggests that you need to be more objective in formulating your decisions. You may be a little too unyielding in your thought processes, and thus need to find some sort of balance between two opposing views. Consider the views and opinions of others. Alternatively, black-and-white dreams may be a sign of depression or sadness. You may feel that there is not enough excitement in your life.

It is a quite commonly held belief that we dream only in black and white, but many people are able to identify tones of color in their dreams. If this is the case, why is it believed that we dream only in black and white? It may be because dreams that appear to be black and white only appear so because the color is not relevant. This doesn’t necessarily mean, however, that such dreams are in black and white. Black and white is a function of television when the color information is removed, but the same is not true of the mind. For example, grass might not be green in a dream, but it’s not gray as it is in a black-and-white movie; the color simply is not relevant and your unconscious isn’t highlighting it. This non-relevance fools the conscious mind on waking up into concluding that, by implication, the dream must have been in black and white.

BLACKBIRD

See BIRDS.

BLACKBOARD The blackboard sets information out in black and white, so in dreams it can represent unambiguous insights or the need to make your mark on the world.

See also CHALK.

BLACKMAIL If you are blackmailing someone or they are trying to blackmail you in your dream 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 what they want.

BLANKET This image in a dream suggests a deep need for emotional or physical comfort and security. It can also suggest being wrapped up in someone or something or withdrawal and vulnerability.

BLEMISH Feelings of dissatisfaction for someone or about something.

See also BODY.

BLIND One of the things most of us fear is losing control of our faculties. Dreams in which you are blind or you see blind people may represent your refusal to see the truth or face reality. Perhaps you are unable to see any other point of view but your own, and it is time to open your eyes. The blindness may relate to an object you seek but are unable to find because of your blindness; this object is generally your hopes and goals in life, and becoming blind indicates that you have lost sight of your ambitions and are unclear about how to regain your focus. For Freud, loss of sight indicated a man’s fears of being castrated. In the Greek myth that inspired Freud’s theory of the Oedipus complex, Oedipus unwittingly killed his father to marry his mother. Once aware of what he had done, he blinded himself, an act Freud saw as a symbol of self-castration. Another interpretation suggests that blindness is a mystical dream symbol that represents inner vision, wisdom, and self-knowledge. To imagine that you are deaf or dumb in a dream, or unable to make contact with people, may symbolize irresponsibility, laziness, or an inability to get your point across.

BLISTER If you dream you have a blister, consider what irritant in your real life may have caused it. If you burned yourself, have you got too close to the flames emotionally? Dreams in which you are burned alive or someone else is torched suggest the need for some kind of drastic change in your life. Rashes, sores, and eczema are all unpleasant ailments that are not serious but uncomfortable as well as embarrassing. So if these conditions appear in a dream, what are you feeling ‘sore’, uncomfortable, or embarrassed about? Although it may seem a big deal to you, your dream is telling you that you have no need to feel anxious as the situation is not as serious as you might think. The skin is a symbol of how you present yourself in public, so blisters, rashes, burns, and other skin blemishes are recognized as one of the most clearly psychosomatic disorders. In dreams, therefore, a skin rash can express lack of confidence in your ability to face the world. A dream bruise may reflect some emotional hurt or emerging health problem, while scars can carry their figurative sense of hurtful memories and suggest an awareness that emotional healing takes time.

For Jewish or Christian dreamers, boils may express feelings of guilt for how they have behaved toward someone in their waking life; this is because in the Bible, boils were the sixth of the ten plagues visited by God on the Egyptians to force Pharaoh to free the Israelites. Rough skin suggests a rough exterior, while burnt skin might indicate hurt in a relationship with the outside world or people. If you are shedding skin like a snake, you are changing your way of life and leaving old attitudes behind. Pimples and blemishes represent your sense of not being good enough in some way, and a feeling that other people see you as unattractive or see failings in you; they can also indicate shyness and the difficulties you experience being in the company of others.

BLOOD/BLEEDING

See BODY, WOUND.

BLUE

See COLORS.

BLUEBIRD

See BIRDS.

BOAR

See ANIMALS.

BOARD GAMES Games in dreams symbolize the manner in which the dreamer is approaching life. Individual games such as solitaire will indicate your tendency for self-absorption, where excelling or enjoyment is a significant motive. Interactive games such as chess indicate that competition is a significant motive for you. In either case, the dream will be highlighting your thought processes, mental skills, and dexterity. In general, dream board and card games indicate how you are rising to a particular challenge in your waking life, or how successfully you are playing the hand that fate has dealt you.

Little physical effort is required when playing board and card games, so games of this nature tend to focus on your intellectual performance or ability to think and react quickly. Pay attention to the tactics you use while playing and to your overall strategy. Were you calm and controlled with a set of tactics, or were you out of control? Was your game defensive or offensive? What is the dream telling you about your ability to respond to external stimuli in the directing of directing of your life? Are you self-motivated, continually striving to better your skill, or do you rely on competition for motivation? Your answer to questions such as these will tell you much about your current approach to waking life.

Consider too the colors of the pieces or cards you were using and what they might signify. For example, if you were playing with white chess pieces, do you associate yourself with kindness and your opponent with malevolence? If you are accused of cheating in your dream, are you deceiving anyone in waking life? Games in which pieces are moved around a board at the throw of a dice are often designed to mirror life’s challenges, and this is often what they represent in dreams, suggesting fears or concerns about factors you can’t control. The game board reveals the moves you make in life, and a game room stands for a meeting place in which plans and strategies are devised. A TV game show cautions against a desire to consider yourself intellectually superior.

Specific dreams may have their own symbolism: for example a game of backgammon may point to your desire to resolve the secrets of your unconscious (the inner table) before time or the other player stops you. Games that are played with dominos speak of the repercussions of your actions. Pool, billiards, or snooker suggest clever scheming, combined with the skill to accomplish a goal. The condition of the poolroom will give you a clue as to whether this refers to healthy competition or dirty dealings, while the pool table refers to the issue or subject of your plans.

See also CARD GAMES, CHESS, DICE.

BOAT If you dream of a boat, pay close attention to the condition of the boat and to the conditions of travel as they will reveal much about your waking situation. Is there a storm brewing? Is the boat secure or is it in need of repair? If the boat is drifting aimlessly, you may feel you are lacking direction, while if the boat capsizes, this suggests imminent danger or obstacles ahead. If you are enjoying a tranquil boat ride that is slowly but surely heading in the right direction, this could imply a sense of anticipated success with a particular project in real life.

See also TRAVEL.

BODY Typically, dreams about the body, or parts of the body, occur for four reasons.

The first is that in waking life, your body and/or body image has taken center stage. For example, if you had a manicure yesterday or cut yourself shaving, your unconscious may simply be recalling that. The second reason is that dreams about your body, or body parts, can signal ailments before you consciously recognize what is wrong with you; sometimes even before there are any physical signs. This isn’t to say every nightmare suggests serious illness, but if you do have a dream about any part of the body that is injured or painful, especially if it is a reoccurring one, it might be worth making an appointment for a check-up.

The third reason is that some dreams about the human body are simple reflections of the dreamer’s feeling about their own body or appearance. These dreams can be significant markers of the dreamer’s self-esteem regarding their physical appearance. If in the dream the body appears beautiful and healthy, then the dreamer may be feeling good about themselves. However, an unattractive or unhealthy body could point to signs of insecurity, or body image problems.

The fourth reason is that in dreams, the body often represents the ego, the self, or the lifestyle of the dreamer. That is why broken bones or injuries can symbolize emotional pain, or losing parts of yourself. When you lose or give up parts of yourself in order to fit in with or please others, psychologists call this ‘fragmentation’. We all do this to a certain extent in our lives, but when we do it too much or for the wrong reasons, the unconscious may send out warning signals. The dreaming mind may then express its concern in body image dreams, not only about your health and happiness, but about your ability to cope when your true nature is profoundly censored.

For instance, if you dream of missing a hand or foot, or having an organ or other body part removed, this can be a sign that a portion of your potential is being lost as a result of a path you have chosen in waking life. A common dream is one where you lose teeth; this is a great example of your dreaming mind issuing you with a warning. It is asking you just how far you are willing to compromise, and reminding you that what you are losing may be irreplaceable.

If body images appear in your dreams, it can help to think of body-related expressions you may use to describe feelings; for example, ‘I lost my head’, ‘feels like I’m losing my right arm’, ‘I don’t have a leg to stand on’, or ‘can you stomach it?’ When we say these things, we are not being literal. We haven’t lost a leg or an arm, we are expressing an emotional response and our unconscious uses images to express the emotions these phrases convey; typically, a sense of loss of direction, helplessness, or confusion. Such dreams often begin to make sense when you view the body images as parts of yourself, and connect their meanings to your emotional responses.

See also HEALTH.

Body Image Scenarios

Anesthetized, Cold, or Dead Body

The image of an anesthetized body can represent a deadening of feeling, or a loss of passion and creativity in waking life. The same meaning applies to coldness of the body, with the implication of emotional coldness, lack of enthusiasm or distancing oneself from others. If the coldness is in the lower part of the body, this suggests sexual coldness and again, lack of passion. Coldness in the chest (heart) suggests lack of feelings or feeling cold toward someone. Cold feet indicate a fear of doing something or indecision. The image of a dead body in a dream depicts feelings and potential to which we have not given expression in daily life.

Appearance

How your body appears in a dream can offer vital clues when it comes to interpretation. In many cases, the interpretation is fairly obvious: if you are smiling you feel confident, if you are frowning you feel annoyed. Are you confident and organized in your dream, or are you tired and unhappy? All these factors represent the state of your mind, and perhaps your health, at the time of the dream. If your body disappears in a dream and you become invisible or you aren’t aware of your body, this clearly suggests that you are feeling ignored, isolated, and perhaps lonely. If you leave your body in a dream, this indicates a need to get away from cares and responsibilities. If you grow tall in your dream, your unconscious may be mirroring waking feelings of satisfaction with yourself; but if you were horrified to shrink small, it may be that you feel insignificant and looked down upon, or that you long to shrink away from a problematic situation. To dream that you are becoming fat is to recognize that you need to widen the scope of your activities in some way. It can also indicate fear of taking on too much responsibility.

Diseased, Dismembered, Injured, and Deformed Body

If the body is diseased in a dream, this suggests a sickness of attitude or it could simply indicate extreme emotional and physical fatigue. A dismembered body indicates emotional and mental distress; perhaps you are tearing yourself apart over something or someone, or your life is falling apart. Half a body dream images suggest a lack of balance in your life between your outer and inner life. If the top half of your body is missing, this indicates lack of reasoning and emotional intelligence. If the bottom half is missing, this relates to loss, or denial of instincts and sexuality. If the body is injured or you see injuries, this suggests emotional scars or hurts, or repressed anger. If the body is cut open, this indicates a vital change within yourself or the release of emotional tension. In times past, such dreams were interpreted as the release of ‘evil spirits’, hence the association of a sometimes painful release of tension.

Loss of limbs in a body usually indicates a sense of inadequacy, sometimes connected with the limb that is lost. For example, loss of legs could suggest an inability to stand up for yourself or someone dependent on you. Loss of an arm could indicate an inability to influence other people, or to give and receive. If your body is burnt in the dream, this suggests an emotional scar, and if the burn is painful, this suggests that you are relating to this hurt in an unhelpful, self-destructive way. If, however, the burning isn’t painful, it has a more positive interpretation: feelings of potential and new beginnings.

Marks on the body in a dream suggest things you carry with you in life, or experiences that have marked you. If your body is crawling with maggots, this indicates the need to cleanse your body of toxins, infection, or resentment. A murdered body in a dream represents aspects of your life that you find hard to deal with, such as anger toward a family member. Sometimes such anger may be a way of avoiding the real issues involved and, if this is the case, the dream murder may show how you feel about being ‘murdered’ by lack of love or trust. If you are pulling things out of your body in your dream, this suggests growing self-knowledge; you are becoming aware of thoughts and emotions of which you were previously unaware.

See also HEALTH.

Left and Right Side of the Body

Typically, the left side of the body represents feelings, intuition, and the irrational, while the right side suggests the rational and logical. The left side is also associated with maternal influence, and the right with paternal.

Body Parts

In dreams, body parts can be interpreted in the following way.

See also HEALTH.

Abdomen/Stomach/Belly

When dreams focus on your abdomen, belly, or stomach, they are referring to repressed feeling and emotions. The stomach is often seen as the center of emotions. This symbol may also have purely physiological origins if you have been experiencing constipation or indigestion. From a psychological point of view, seeing your abdomen in your dream may imply something in your real life that you ‘cannot stomach’ or have difficulties accepting, something you want to get out of your system. If your abdomen is exposed, this signifies trust and vulnerability, and in women it may indicate a desire for motherhood. If you are injured or shot in the stomach, this is about emotional hurt. Traditional folklore says that dreaming of your abdomen can foretell infidelity. A shriveled abdomen warns of lies, a swollen abdomen promises success. To see your navel in your dream represents your being and self. The dream may suggest that you need to find your center and middle ground.

Anus

This suggests repressed emotion or an aspect of childish behavior, as the child’s first experience of control is when they gain control over bodily functions. Consider also if you or someone in your life is anal retentive and perhaps needs to loosen up a bit. To see buttocks in your dream represents your instincts and urges. It can also indicate feelings of insecurity, especially if the buttocks are misshapen. If you see your pelvis in a dream, you may be dealing with issues of creativity and self-expression.

Arm/Armpit/Elbow

To see your arms in your dream highlights your ability to reach out to others. Alternatively, it may represent the struggles and challenges in your life, loss of confidence and not being able to reach out or create. Consider also the pun ‘arm yourself’, which implies that you need to protect yourself, or be more aggressive and take a firmer stance on things. So if arms appear in your dream, are you defending yourself, fighting or being held, or showing passionate commitment?

To dream that your arm has been injured or your arms are tied up signifies your inability to care for yourself, or your helplessness in reaching out to others. The right arm signifies your outgoing nature and is associated with masculine energy, while your left arm signifies your supportive or nurturing nature, and is associated with feminine qualities. Losing either arm may suggest that you are failing to recognize its respective characteristics. To dream that you rip someone else’s arms out, indicates that you are extremely upset with something that this person has done or represents, but you have not been able to fully express your anger.

If you see, notice or smell someone’s armpit in your dream, this represents the characteristics and personality that you choose to display to the public. To smell your armpit in your dream indicates that you are hoping for some kind of acceptance in waking life. If you see your elbow in your dream, perhaps you need more personal space in waking life?

Back

To dream of your back represents parts of yourself hidden from view, secrets that you are keeping from other people or aspects of your personality you would prefer not to think about. Your dream could be pointing to some aspect of your life that is behind you, or a situation that is over. Maybe your dream contains some other play on words: is someone getting your back up? Do you feel the need for a pat on the back? Do you need to watch your back? Is somebody on your back or trying to dominate you? Are you engaged in a back-breaking task? Is your back against the wall? Do you wish someone would get off your back? Have you been stabbed or scratched in the back? Traditionally, seeing a back in your dream forewarns that you should not lend money to anyone. In particular, lending money to friends will cause a rift in your relationship. If a person turns their back on you, this may suggest that you may be deeply hurt in waking life or that other people may not be ready to share their thoughts with you.

Breasts

Usually, to be aware of breasts in a dream indicates your connection with the mother figure, and your need to be nursed and cared for. Does a part of you long to again be an infant without responsibilities? Alternatively, breasts represent sexual arousal and raw energy. Seeing naked breasts can also denote a feeling of exposure and invasion of privacy. In particular, for a woman, the dream may indicate anxieties about becoming a woman/mother. If a chest appears in a dream, this indicates a sense of social confidence or good feelings about yourself. Alternatively, it represents feelings of being overwhelmed and being dangerously confronted by something. Consider also if the dream is telling you that there is something that you need to ‘get off your chest’. If nipples appear in your dream, this signifies dependency. If you squeeze pus out of your nipples you may be feeling inadequate sexually.

Ears

If you see ears in your dream, this suggests that you could be more responsive or receptive to guidance and assistance from others. Alternatively, it signifies your immaturity and lack of experience. Such dreams may be about the need for the dreamer to listen to their own true feelings and make a connection with their unconscious self. Dream ears may also reveal a concern on the part of the dreamer that someone close to them is not being totally straightforward. If you have more than two ears in your dream, you may be feeling valued and respected. The size of ears in a dream can have important interpretative associations. Small ears could suggest that someone is not telling you the whole truth, whereas large ears can suggest the help and support of a colleague or friend. Ears being pulled in a dream can represent disagreements in waking life. If there has been a dispute, perhaps the time is right to move forward with a sensible solution. If you are cleaning wax out of your ears, perhaps you are not listening, or refusing to listen, to the opinions of others. Are you turning a deaf ear?

Eyes/Eyebrows/Eyelashes

Any dream connected with the eyes is associated with observation and judgment. It suggests wisdom, enlightenment, and the dreamer’s attitude to, and understanding of, the world. These windows of the soul can give vital clues to the state of your true health and well-being. Are the eyes bright? If they are, this suggests awareness. Are the eyes happy, sad, angry, kind? What color are the eyes? All this can tell you a lot about your way of looking at things. Darker eyes are linked to emotional and romantic relationships, whereas pale eyes are seen as connectors to the more social side of one’s world.

If the dream eye is wide open, this can refer to innocence or the excitement caused by a new undertaking. Narrow eyes on the other hand may be a symbol of deceit or cheating. Dreams about eyes may also be a pun on ‘I’ or the self. If you dream that your eyes have turned inside your head and you can now see the inside of your head, then it symbolizes insight and something of which you need to be aware. This dream may literally be telling you to look inside yourself, and trust your own intuition and instincts. To dream that you have something in your eye could represent your critical view and how you tend to see faults in others.