Animals and Dreams

As a third segment in our dream blogs sequence, we want to focus on animals and how they impact our dreams as well as their possible interpretations. Animals play a large role in our lives. Whether they are pets or visit us from the wild, seeing animals in our dreams is nothing unusual; in fact, almost all of us have animal dreams at some point or the other. While some dreams focus on a single animal, there are others in which animals make a sort of “guest appearance.” Regardless of which animals appear in our dreams, they carry messages. To decode the message you need to remember the animal you saw, what it was doing in your dream and the context of its appearance.

The Animal

Animals in our dreams are actually symbols of the characteristics we associate with them. For instance, the fox generally stands for cunning and stealth, lions for ferocity and bravery, dogs for loyalty and faithfulness, etc.

What is the Animal Doing?

Was the animal threatening you? Were you merely watching it? Were you playing with the animal or running away from it? The answers to these questions will help you understand your dream. For instance, if a fox was threatening you in your dream it could mean a cunning person may be trying to sabotage your career or relationships.

The Context

To understand the context in which an animal appeared in your dream, ask yourself these questions: What were the surroundings? Were you in a forest or in your home? Were you outdoors or in a closed area? What kind of feelings did the animal evoke in you? Was the animal’s appearance sudden or was it there throughout the dream?

To decipher the meaning of your dream, you need to view all your answers together. Animals could represent a person in our life, or they could symbolize some of our animal traits. You will be able to understand who or what an animal represents by analyzing the feelings the animal evoked in you in your dream.

To be able to answer these questions, you would of course need to remember your dream in vivid detail—and that will be possible only if you maintain a dream journal. In fact, you will find maintaining a dream journal extremely useful for all kinds of dream interpretation exercises. If you find remembering your dream is causing you stress or frustration, then prior to closing your eyes at night set a mental intention to remember the details of your dreams when you wake in the morning. You can also ask for the information you need to remember be clearly identified in the dream so you take notice of it, thus making it easier to remember.

Until next time, embrace your inner wisdom.

Namaste,
Karen