Opening door to the true meaning of your dreams 

Our psychoanalyst reveals what lies behind the most common dream symbols

Picture: iStock 

Dreams chart our journey through life like in a film. We’re the producer and director, we write the script and we commission the actors. Symbolically, everything in the dream refers to us in some way.

• The masculine side of a woman can appear as an athlete, then an action hero, a professor, and finally as a wise old man who incarnates meaning and purpose. The feminine side of a man shows up as a sexual figure, someone more romantic, a spiritual goddess, and finally as Sophia, the personification of wisdom.
• Shadow dreams feature someone the same sex as the dreamer who often appears inferior or negative, embodying the unpleasant qualities in ourselves we hide. Someone trying to break into the house may embody qualities the dreamer was forced to repress by parents or teachers. These qualities – like being streetwise, belligerent or bold – could support us now as adults.
• Dreams of dying or killing someone concern the death of attitudes that the victims embody - worn out ways of approaching life we need to shed.
• Teeth dreams signify transition - getting older when once upon a time a person’s teeth fell out as we aged. Teeth appearing in dreams also suggests getting outside help with our difficulties, because we don’t take out our own teeth.
• Wedding dreams represent the coming together of the opposites in our personalities, often giving birth to an unexpected third position partaking of the two alternatives. The goal of wholeness is to be able to move comfortably between these opposing sides, and not cling dogmatically to one attitude.
• Sitting the Leaving Cert and not being prepared for it shows a new challenge facing us in our lives. We need to wake up to this situation in order to prepare for it properly.

• A nightmare is a dream that’s shouting at us to pay attention to the potential danger. Generally, these severe anxiety dreams occur at times of important changes in our lives. They herald the beginning of significant undertakings that take us out of our comfort zone.
•  Animals appear in dreams to help us: a crafty fox, a far-seeing eagle, or a powerful lion. They remind us in an era of smartphones and laptops that we need to employ our instinctive animal know-how.
• The way we appear to others, the face we put on, can be illustrated through the clothes we wear or don’t wear: being out in public in our underwear for example. These dreams tell us that we need to increase our security in relation to others or warn us when we’re over-identifying with the professional role we play.
• Many dreams concern the Self, the archetype of wholeness and the unifying centre of the psyche. It’s perceived in dreams as other, such as god, the sun, the president, or the voice. These bring balance.

The life journey dramatised in our dreams leads us through various rites of passage to accomplish our psychological growth. The ultimate goal is a wise maturity.

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