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

PHOTOGRAPHS

Photos in dreams represent some aspect of yourself that you need to be looking at, perhaps your younger self, or a part of yourself that you have grown out of but need to understand. If you are developing photos, this suggests discovering hidden talents or abilities. If you are looking at family photos or an album, this refers to an appreciation of past influences in your life. If the photo is of yourself, this suggests you need to take an objective look at yourself, especially if you are given the photo in your dream. You need to stand back and see clearly. If the photo is of someone you know, perhaps you need to look at that person’s qualities and make use of those qualities yourself. If the photos in your dreams come to life, this indicates your continuing involvement in what the picture depicts, or that the past as a whole is still influencing you.

If you are taking a photograph, this suggests that you need to remember or take notice of something. If you are using a camera in your dreams, this might suggest that you need to remember what is important in your life and perhaps take more notice of certain situations or people. You may have noticed something out of the ‘corner of your eye’, but not yet have processed it into waking consciousness. If you are being filmed or having your picture taken, you need to take a careful look at your thoughts and responses to certain situations.

PICTURES

Pictures in dreams often represent situations in our lives, or a view we may have about something. The subject matter will suggest what we should be looking at in our lives. The condition of the picture will be significant, as will the colors (see COLORS). If a drawing fails to appear, a video refuses to focus or a photo refuses to develop properly, there may be something wrong with your own vision of an important part of your life. Are you seeing things clearly?

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.

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.