As a general rule, caves are associated with dark, mysterious places, full of narrow paths and partings of ways – and that is how they usually look like in our dreams.
A typical dream about a cave goes like this – we are in a dark, cold cave, we can not find the exit, we are wandering around gropingly, maybe heading towards the wan light which we hope to take us outside. Sometimes, exploring a cave we happen to discover its beautiful mystery, e.g., a wonderful chamber or a treasure, but, on the contrary, we can also find something scary, what makes us wake up screaming…
How to interpret a dream about a cave?
A cave, which is a dark and inaccessible place, may be interpreted in many ways. It may be considered as a safe place, a shelter from stresses and worries which we experience on day and where we run away at night, willing to come back to the safety and care of our fetal life.
On the other hand, a dream in which we are wandering around a cave may be a signal for our psychic life that it is the time to take a break from our everyday activity and to get some rest, especially as for the emotional aspect of our existence.
We can consider cave dreams at an angle of our unconscious mind. Usually, caves are dark, hard to move in and to find anything in the net of labyrinthine corridors without any light or a guide. Exploring them may be the symbol of exploring our soul. If we are scared that something bad will happen in the dark, it may mean the fear of our dark side, while finding something special in a cave may indicate that we are experiencing a revelation, which can change our life.
How would Freud interpret a dream about a cave?
Freud interpreted all the dark places we enter or get out of as the metaphorical illustration of a vagina – and he would interpret such a dream in this context.
How would Jung interpret a dream about a cave?
In Jung’s interpretation, a cave means “the darkness and inaccessibility of the unconscious mind”. Thanks to its discovering, the effort put into uncovering mysteries which he brings, we can learn many surprising things about ourselves and improve the state of mind in our everyday existence.