Dream Symbols Unveiled

  Dream symbols can be one of the biggest challenges a person faces when they’re searching for meaning in their dreams, especially if you plug your dream symbols into a search engine. As research for this blog post I pulled up Google and plugged in the phrase “What do snakes mean in dreams?” The very first result reads a s follows.

  “Generally, a snake featured in a dream means that you’re dealing with a difficult situation or unsettling emotions in your waking life. On the positive side of this dream analysis, dreaming of snakes could also mean that healing and transformation are taking place.”

  The source Google referenced is a website called quora.com. Like me, you might be unfamiliar with this website.  After some research, I found out that it’s a question and answer website that describes itself this way: “Quora is a question-and-answer site where questions are asked, answered, edited, and organized by its community of users.” Creating a website where people can submit questions to experts on virtually any subject imaginable is a great idea. Only thing is, experts are not posting answers to questions on this website. The community of users post the answers. Although there are undoubtedly experts in certain fields that have and will continue to post answers on Quora.com, I could find no answers from a single expert on the meaning of snakes.

  Instead, here is a small sample of the 55 answers I found on the website:

  A dreamer who has a fair knowledge of dreams says that snakes are a symbol of the unconscious, they indicate that the dreamer is in the process of healing and resolving issues, they are an untamed part of yourself or untamed resource, or intuition or spiritual aspects of yourself. 

  A person who has years of experience in psychological dream interpretation says that snakes are often symbols of personal power. They likely represent a person’s own power which they are deeply afraid of and must deal with whenever it attacks other people. In other words, snakes represent the dreamer.

  Another person who has approx 20 years herptile experience including multiple snake species, basically says that when snakes appear in your dreams it’s a product of what the subconscious is dealing with.

  Well…. I think you get my point. Instead of a concrete answer to what a snake means, a dreamer is treated to a bit of confusion. And that’s only the first of over 38 million results of web pages offering the meaning of a snake in a dream.

  Understanding a single dream symbol shouldn’t be that hard, and it really isn’t. Although the psychoanalytical process of dream interpretation is very popular nowadays, the method I use is based on an ancient Hebraic model. (For the difference between these two interpretive models reference my post The Psychology of Dreams )

  So how does one figure out what a symbol like a snake means? The method I’ve found to be most accurate is to use the most basic definition of the symbol. So what’s the most basic definition of a snake? A legless reptile? Yes, but more basic. In fact, when you reduce a snake down to its most basic form you have a long tail. The symbol’s definition comes about by word play — a long tale, or lie. This definition will result in a radically different interpretation of a dream than if the snake means a spiritual aspect of the dreamer.  Here’s a snake dream to try it on.

  Dream:

  The dreamer is outside and sees a cobra within striking distance. They are not afraid and have a sense that the snake is under control, even contained, although it’s out in the open and there are family members milling around who don’t see the snake. The cobra is standing tall, as if ready to strike.   End of Dream.   When looking at a dream symbol in context of this dream dream (which should always be done), you’ll notice the dreamer is not afraid. That fact should stand out because when such a deadly reptile is within striking distance it’s very common for any person to be afraid. It’s also important that the dreamer has a sense that the cobra is under control and contained. If you apply the long tale or lie meaning to the symbol of the snake, the dream means that the dreamer sees a lie that no one else in their family sees. It’s contained and not currently a threat. The dream doesn’t define what the lie is, but when I told the dreamer the interpretation they knew exactly what I was talking about. It was like a missing puzzle piece that completed a picture for them.   Now for a more difficult dream symbol:

This is a jack. When the dreamer first told me the dream he had with this symbol in it he called it an asterisk. It became quite clear as the symbol was revealed to me that is was not an asterisk but a jack.

  Here’s the dream.

  I’m in a doctor’s office and the doctor’s showing me an x-ray of an intersection. A jack’s suspended a few feet in the air over a cross walk. The doctor points to the floating jack and says “You’re going blind in your left eye.”

  End of dream.

  Okay. The dreamer finds himself in a doctor’s office looking at an x-ray of an intersection. X-rays are usually pictures of body parts not intersections so this stands out as unusual. The fact that the doctor points at the jack and says the dreamer is going blind in his left eye makes this scene even more curious.

  Let’s tackle the symbols. First, the x-ray. The most basic definition of an x-ray is something that shows you what you are not able to see with the naked eye. So the dreamer’s being shown something he does not currently see. But what is it? A jack floating over a cross walk that is somehow connected to the dreamer going blind in his left eye. So what’s a jack? A piece in a child’s game? Well, yes, but there is something more going on here with the symbol. Where is the jack? It’s several feet in the air above a cross walk. I got to tell you I struggled for several hours over the meaning of the symbol and I finally got it when I thought of asking “What do you call a jack that’s suspended several feet in the air?”  After a few tries I said ” high jack” and that was it! The dreamer is being shown there was a plan to attack his vision(“You’re going blind in your left eye”), when the doctor pointed to the “high jack”.

  It’s also important to note where this “high jack” is suspended over a cross walk. Now here is where it gets really personal. It just so happens that the dreamer’s faith is Christian and the cross walk is a reference to his Christian walk. With this added detail the interpretation comes into focus. The dreamer’s being shown that there’s a plan to hijack the vision of his spiritual Christian walk.

  So the next time you’re searching for the meaning of a symbol in one of your dreams, try reducing the symbol to it’s most basic definition and plug it in.

EB