Archetypes in dreams
Dream archetypes are an extremely important part of our personality, deeply rooted in our unconscious mind, connecting us with the collective unconsciousness and, as it were, a proof of its existence. Their source is located in a common for every human part of the mind. Jung, the outstanding disciple of Freud, dedicated himself to the subject related to a considerable degree to archetypes and claimed, that they are an attempt to transmit in an easier way to our consciousness complicated, in some cases, abstract visual forms, that are created in our unconscious mind.
It is worth considering the archetypes while interpreting a dream, however, we need to remember that before categorizing a symbol as an archetype, we have to think whether we have any personal associations and experiences first. Below are presented the most important dream archetypes and their common meanings:
- A beautiful, tall, noble, timeless woman is the epitome of spirituality and the guide.
- A wise old man symbolizes knowledge and rational wisdom, gained by experience, while a wise old woman is the symbol of knowledge and emotional wisdom.
- A child is the symbol of our latent creative possibilities.
- A horse means primitive animal needs.
- A leader is the character symbolizing a father, his care etc.
- A dog has the meaning of masculinity and instincts.
- A cat is the symbol of femininity, a mystery and independence.
- The sun symbolizes latent, life-giving, masculine elements.
- The moon symbolizes latent, mysterious, feminine elements.
- The Earth is the metaphor for a mother, meaning safety and care.
- A sea is connected with the spheres of unconsciousness, eternity.
- A fire is the metaphor for an energy, destruction, sexuality.
- The rain symbolizes suffering, but also a great purification, which may happen after the suffering.
- A mountain means ambition and spiritual “mountain climbing”.
- The act of flying is a symbolic illustration of our need of avoiding the consequences.
- Swimming metaphorically illustrates the way of coping with life.
- A death means that one period in our life ends and the new one begins.
- A house is a symbolic illustration of the structure of our personality, a very important archetype which is worth looking into, as it says a lot about our psychic life.
- The even numbers are assigned to the female sex and they mean everything that is connected with femininity, while the odd numbers mean everything that is masculine.
