According to Piobb, the Graeco-Roman conception of the ocean
encompassing the earth was a graphic representation of the current of energy
induced by the terrestrial globe (48). Setting aside its grandeur, the two most
essential aspects of the ocean are its ceaseless movement and the formlessness of
its waters. It is a symbol, therefore, of dynamic forces and of transitional states
between the stable (or solids) and the formless (air or gas). The ocean as a whole,
as opposed to the concept of the drop of water, is a symbol of universal life as
opposed to the particular (38). It is regarded traditionally as the source of the
generation of all life (57), and science has confirmed that life did in fact begin in the
sea (3). Zimmer observes that the ocean is ‘immense illogic’—a vast expanse
dreaming its own dreams and asleep in its own reality, yet containing within itself
the seeds of its antitheses. The island is the opponent of the ocean and symbolic
of the metaphysical point of irradiating force (60). In keeping with the general
symbolism of water, both fresh and salt, the ocean stands for the sum of all the
possibilities of one plane of existence. Having regard to its characteristics, one
may deduce whether these potentialities are positive (or germinant) or negative
(destructive) (26). The ocean, then, denotes an ambivalent situation. As the begetter of monsters, it is the abysmal abode par excellence, the chaotic source
which still brings forth base entities ill-fitted to life in its aerial and superior
forms. Consequently, aquatic monsters represent a cosmic or psychological situation at a lower level than land-monsters; this is why sirens and tritons denote a
sub-animal order. The power of salt water to destroy the higher forms of land-life
means that it is also a symbol of sterility, so confirming the ambivalent nature of the ocean—its contradictory dynamism (32). The ocean is also to be found as a
symbol of woman or the mother (in both her benevolent and her terrible aspects)
(56). As Frobenius comments in Das Zeitalter des Sonnengottes: ‘If the blood-red
sunrise is interpreted as the “birth” of an astral body, then two questions arise:
Who is the father? And how did the mother come to conceive? And since she, like
the fish, is a sea-symbol, and since our premiss is that the sun plunges into the sea
and yet is born in it, the answer must be that the sea previously swallowed up the
old sun and the appearance of a “new sun” confirms that she has been fecundated.
The symbolism here coincides with that of Isis whose twin lunar horns embrace
the sun.’ This appearance of the sun and its disappearance back into the deeps of
the ocean confirm that the ‘Lower Waters’ signify the abyss out of which forms
arise to unfold their potentialities within existence. Thus, the ocean is equated
also with the collective unconscious, out of which arises the sun of the spirit (32).
The stormy sea, as a poetic image or a dream, is a sign of an analogous state in the
lower depths of the affective unconscious. A translucent calm, on the other hand,
denotes a state of contemplative serenity.

To see an ocean in your dream, represents the state of your emotions and feelings. It is indicative of spiritual refreshment, tranquility and renewal. Alternatively, the dream means that you are feeling empowered and unhindered. You have a positive outlook in life and are not limited by anything. If you are sailing across the ocean, then it signifies new found freedom and independence. You are showing great courage. If the ocean is rough, then the dream represents some emotional turmoil. You are doing your best to handle life's ups and downs.

The state of life will be as the ocean is perceived to be in dream, viz., calm and
peaceful life when the ocean is calm and troublesome life when the ocean is stormy, etc.

To dream of the ocean when it is calm is propitious.
The sailor will have a pleasant and profitable voyage.
The business man will enjoy a season of remuneration,
and the young man will revel in his sweetheart's charms.
To be far out on the ocean, and hear the waves lash the ship, forebodes disaster in business life, and quarrels and stormy periods in the household.

To be on shore and see the waves of the ocean foaming against each other, foretells your narrow escape from injury and the designs of enemies.

To dream of seeing the ocean so shallow as to allow wading, or a view of the bottom, signifies prosperity and pleasure with a commingling of sorrow and hardships.

To sail on the ocean when it is calm, is always propitious.

Seeing an ocean in your dream, represents the state of your emotions and feelings. It is indicative of some spiritual refreshment, tranquility and renewal.

It traditionally represents our great unconscious, memories, emotions, and individual soul and collective experiences. Look at all of the details in this dream. Is the water clear or murky? Is it calm or turbulent? Are you catching fish, or are you stranded and afraid? Look, listen, and try to comprehend the messages in this dream. No one is in a better position to give meaning to your dreams than you can. Concentrate and learn for yourself.

In Egyptian hieroglyphs, the symbol for water is a wavy line with
small sharp crests, representing the water’s surface. The same sign, when tripled,
symbolizes a volume of water, that is, the primaeval ocean and prime matter.
According to hermetic tradition, the god Nu was the substance from which the
gods of the first ennead emerged (19). The Chinese consider water as the specific
abode of the dragon, because all life comes from the waters (13). In the Vedas,
water is referred to as mâtritamâh (the most maternal) because, in the beginning,
everything was like a sea without light. In India, this element is generally regarded
as the preserver of life, circulating throughout the whole of nature, in the form of
rain, sap, milk and blood. Limitless and immortal, the waters are the beginning and
the end of all things on earth (60). Although water is, in appearance, formless,
ancient cultures made a distinction between ‘upper waters’ and ‘lower waters’.
The former correspond to the potential or what is still possible, the latter to what
is actual or already created (26). In a general sense, the concept of ‘water’ stands,
of course, for all liquid matter. Moreover, the primaeval waters, the image of
prime matter, also contained all solid bodies before they acquired form and rigidity. For this reason, the alchemists gave the name of ‘water’ to quicksilver in its
first stage of transmutation and, by analogy, also to the ‘fluid body’ of Man (57).
This ‘fluid body’ is interpreted by modern psychology as a symbol of the unconscious, that is, of the non-formal, dynamic, motivating, female side of the personality. The projection of the mother-imago into the waters endows them with
various numinous properties characteristic of the mother (31). A secondary meaning of this symbolism is found in the identification of water with intuitive wisdom. In the cosmogony of the Mesopotamian peoples, the abyss of water was
regarded as a symbol of the unfathomable, impersonal Wisdom. An ancient Irish
god was called Domnu, which means ‘marine depth’. In prehistoric times the
word for abyss seems to have been used exclusively to denote that which was
unfathomable and mysterious (4). The waters, in short, symbolize the universal
congress of potentialities, the fons et origo, which precedes all form and all
creation. Immersion in water signifies a return to the preformal state, with a sense
of death and annihilation on the one hand, but of rebirth and regeneration on the
other, since immersion intensifies the life-force. The symbolism of baptism,
which is closely linked to that of water, has been expounded by St. John
Chrysostom (Homil. in Joh., XXV, 2): ‘It represents death and interment, life and
resurrection. . . . When we plunge our head beneath water, as in a sepulchre, the
old man becomes completely immersed and buried. When we leave the water, the
new man suddenly appears’ (18). The ambiguity of this quotation is only on the
surface: in this particular aspect of the general symbolism of water, death affects
only Man-in-nature while the rebirth is that of spiritual man. On the cosmic level,
the equivalent of immersion is the flood, which causes all forms to dissolve and
return to a fluid state, thus liberating the elements which will later be recombined
in new cosmic patterns. The qualities of transparency and depth, often associated with water, go far towards explaining the veneration of the ancients for this
element which, like earth, was a female principle. The Babylonians called it ‘the
home of wisdom’. Oannes, the mythical being who brings culture to mankind, is
portrayed as half man and half fish (17). Moreover, in dreams, birth is usually
expressed through water-imagery (v. Freud, Introduction to Psycho-Analysis).
The expressions ‘risen from the waves’ and ‘saved from the waters’ symbolize
fertility, and are metaphorical images of childbirth. On the other hand, water is, of
all the elements, the most clearly transitional, between fire and air (the ethereal
elements) and earth (the solid element). By analogy, water stands as a mediator
between life and death, with a two-way positive and negative flow of creation and
destruction. The Charon and Ophelia myths symbolize the last voyage. Death
was the first mariner. ‘Transparent depth’, apart from other meanings, stands in
particular for the communicating link between the surface and the abyss. It can
therefore be said that water conjoins these two images (2). Gaston Bachelard
points to many different characteristics of water, and derives from them many
secondary symbolic meanings which enrich the fundamental meaning we have described. These secondary meanings are not so much a set of strict symbols, as
a kind of language expressing the transmutations of this ever-flowing element.
Bachelard enumerates clear water, spring water, running water, stagnant water,
dead water, fresh and salt water, reflecting water, purifying water, deep water,
stormy water. Whether we take water as a symbol of the collective or of the
personal unconscious, or else as an element of mediation and dissolution, it is
obvious that this symbolism is an expression of the vital potential of the psyche,
of the struggles of the psychic depths to find a way of formulating a clear message
comprehensible to the consciousness. On the other hand, secondary symbolisms
are derived from associated objects such as water-containers, and also from the
ways in which water is used: ablutions, baths, holy water, etc. There is also a
very important spatial symbolism connected with the ‘level’ of the waters, denoting a correlation between actual physical level and absolute moral level. It is
for this reason that the Buddha, in his Assapuram sermon, was able to regard the
mountain-lake—whose transparent waters reveal, at the bottom, sand, shells,
snails and fishes—as the path of redemption. This lake obviously corresponds to
a fundamental aspect of the ‘Upper Waters’. Clouds are another aspect of the
‘Upper Waters’. In Le Transformationi of Ludovico Dolce, we find a mystic
figure looking into the unruffled surface of a pond, in contrast with the accursed
hunter, always in restless pursuit of his prey, implying the symbolic contrast
between contemplative activity—the sattva state of Yoga—and blind outward
activity—the rajas state. Finally, the upper and lower waters communicate reciprocally through the process of rain (involution) and evaporation (evolution).
Here, fire intervenes to modify water: the sun (spirit) causes sea water to evaporate (i.e. it sublimates life). Water is condensed in clouds and returns to earth in
the form of life-giving rain, which is invested with twofold virtues: it is water, and
it comes from heaven (15). Lao-Tse paid considerable attention to this cyclic
process of meteorology, which is at one and the same time physical and spiritual,
observing that: ‘Water never rests, neither by day nor by night. When flowing
above, it causes rain and dew. When flowing below, it forms streams and rivers.
Water is outstanding in doing good. If a dam is raised against it, it stops. If way is
made for it, it flows along that path. Hence it is said that it does not struggle. And
yet it has no equal in destroying that which is strong and hard’ (13). When water
stands revealed in its destructive aspects, in the course of cataclysmic events, its
symbolism does not change, but is merely subordinated to the dominant symbolism of the storm. Similarly, in those contexts where the flowing nature of water is
emphasized, as in the contention of Heraclitus that ‘You cannot step twice into
the same river; for fresh waters are ever flowing in upon you.’ Here the reference is not to water-symbolism as such, but to the idea of the irreversible flow along a
given path. To quote Evola, in La tradizione ermetica: ‘Without divine water,
nothing exists, according to Zosimus. On the other hand, among the symbols of
the female principle are included those which figure as origins of the waters
(mother, life), such as: Mother Earth, Mother of the Waters, Stone, Cave, House
of the Mother, Night, House of Depth, House of Force, House of Wisdom,
Forest, etc. One should not be misled by the word “divine”. Water symbolizes
terrestrial and natural life, never metaphysical life.’

This indicates birth (of some person).

To dream of clear water, foretells that you will joyfully realize prosperity and pleasure.

If the water is muddy, you will be in danger and gloom will occupy Pleasure's seat.

If you see it rise up in your house, denotes that you will struggle to resist evil, but unless you see it subside, you will succumb to dangerous influences.

If you find yourself baling it out, but with feet growing wet, foreshadows trouble, sickness, and misery will work you a hard task, but you will forestall them by your watchfulness. The same may be applied to muddy water rising in vessels.

To fall into muddy water, is a sign that you will make many bitter mistakes, and will suffer poignant grief therefrom.

To drink muddy water, portends sickness, but drinking it clear and refreshing brings favorable consummation of fair hopes.

To sport with water, denotes a sudden awakening to love and passion.

To have it sprayed on your head, denotes that your passionate awakening to love will meet reciprocal consummation.

The following dream and its allegorical occurrence in actual life is related by a young woman student of dreams:

``Without knowing how, I was (in my dream) on a boat, I waded through clear blue water to a wharfboat, which I found to be snow white, but rough and splintry. The next evening I had a delightful male caller, but he remained beyond the time prescribed by mothers and I was severely censured for it.'' The blue water and fairy white boat were the disappointing prospects in the symbol.

To see water in your dream, symbolizes your unconscious and your emotional state of mind. Water is the living essence of the psyche and the flow of life energy. It is also symbolic of spirituality, knowledge, healing and refreshment. To dream that water is boiling, suggests that you are expressing some emotional turmoil. Feelings from your unconscious are surfacing and ready to be acknowledged. You need to let out some steam.

To see calm, clear water in your dream, means that you are in tune with your spirituality. It denotes serenity, peace of mind, and rejuvenation.

To see muddy or dirty water in your dream, indicates that you are wallowing in your negative emotions. You may need to take some time to cleanse your mind and find internal peace. Alternatively, the dream suggests that your thinking/judgment is unclear and clouded. If you are immersed in muddy water, then it indicates that you are in over your head in a situation and are overwhelmed by your emotions.

To dream that water is rising up in your house, suggests that you are becoming overwhelmed by your emotions.

To hear running water in your dream, denotes meditation and reflection. You are reflecting on your thoughts and emotions.

To dream that you are walking on water, indicates that you have total control over your emotions. It also suggests that you need to "stay on top" of your emotions and not let them explode out of hand. Alternatively, the dream is symbolic of faith in yourself.

Seeing water in your dream, symbolizes your unconscious and your emotional state of mind. Water is the living essence of the psyche and the flow of life energy. It is also symbolic of spirituality, knowledge, healing and refreshment. Seeing calm, clear water in your dream means that you are in tune with your spirituality. It indicates serenity, peace of mind, and rejuvenation. Seeing muddy or dirty water in your dream indicates that you are wallowing in your negative emotions. You may need to devote some time to clarify your mind and find internal peace. Alternatively, it suggests that your thinking/judgment is unclear and clouded. If you are immersed in muddy water, then it indicates that you are in over your head in a situation and are overwhelmed by your emotions. Dreaming that water is rising up in your house means your struggles and overwhelming emotions. Hearing running water in your dream indicates meditation, reflection and pondering of your thoughts and emotions. Dreaming that you are walking on water, suggests that you have supreme and ultimate control over your emotions. It may also suggest that you need to "stay on top" of your emotions and not let them explode out of hand. Alternatively, it is symbolic of faith in yourself.

To dream that you have difficulties communicating, represents low self esteem and feelings of inadequacy.

There are two principal aspects to cloud-symbolism: on the one
hand they are related to the symbolism of mist, signifying the intermediate world
between the formal and the non-formal; and on the other hand they are associated
with the ‘Upper Waters’—the realm of the antique Neptune. The former aspect
of the cloud is symbolic of forms as phenomena and appearance, always in a state
of metamorphosis, which obscure the immutable quality of higher truth (37). The
second aspect of clouds reveals their family connexion with fertility-symbolism
and their analogous relationship with all that is destined to bring fecundity. Hence
the fact that ancient Christian symbolism interprets the cloud as synonymous
with the prophet, since prophecies are an occult source of fertilization, celestial in origin (46). Hence also the conclusion of Bachelard that the cloud should be
taken as a symbolic messenger (3).

To see fluffy, white clouds in your dream, signify inner peace, spiritual harmony and compassion. An issue in your waking life may be clearing up.

To see dark or stormy clouds in your dream, symbolize depression or anger. It indicates an impending eruption of emotions. Alternatively, it represents a lack of wisdom or confusion in some situation. Thus, the dream may be a metaphor for your "clouded" way of thinking.

To dream of seeing dark heavy clouds, portends misfortune and bad management.
If rain is falling, it denotes troubles and sickness.
To see bright transparent clouds with the sun shining through them, you will be successful after trouble has been your companion.

To see them with the stars shining, denotes fleeting joys and small advancements.

Dark clouds indicate great sorrows that have to be passed through. But they will
pass away if the clouds are moving or breaking away.

Clouds are made of air and water, two of the four basic elements. Some would say that the soul is represented by air and spirit by water. Your positive energy and idealism could be represented by white clouds and your more negative personal characteristics, and private thoughts, by dark storm clouds.

A complex symbol embracing several different meanings. According to
Jung, the island is the refuge from the menacing assault of the ‘sea’ of the unconscious, or, in other words, it is the synthesis of the consciousness and the will
(33). Here he is following the Hindu belief that—as Zimmer notes—the island is
to be seen as the area of metaphysical force where the forces of the ‘immense
illogic’ of the ocean are distilled (60). At the same time, the island is also a symbol
of isolation, of solitude, of death. Most island-deities have something funereal
about them—Calypso for instance. One could perhaps postulate an equation (of
counterpoise and identity) between island and woman on the one hand, and
monster and hero on the other.

To see or dream that you are on an island, signifies ease, relaxation and comfort. The dream is telling you that you need a vacation and escape the stresses in your life. It is time for some solitude.

To dream that you are stranded on an island, suggests that you need to get away from the demands of your daily life. Or perhaps you are running away from a situation instead of trying to confront it. Alternatively, the dream means that you feel cut off from society. You are in a rut and do not know what to do with your life.

To dream that you are on an island in a clear stream, signifies pleasant journeys and fortunate enterprises. To a woman, this omens a happy marriage.

A barren island, indicates forfeiture of happiness and money through intemperance.

To see an island, denotes comfort and easy circumstances after much striving and worrying to meet honorable obligations.

To see people on an island, denotes a struggle to raise yourself higher in prominent circles.

Seeing an island or dream that you are on an in your dream means ease, relaxation and comfort. Dreaming that you are in stranded on a island means that you are in a rut and do not quite know what to do with your life. On the other hand, you may be seeking some solitude. Perhaps you are running away from a situation instead of trying to confront it.

Dreaming about being on an island can have several different meanings and could be very revealing. Consider your mood in this dream. Was the island a place of rest, peace or solitude? If the answer is yes, it suggests that you may need time to yourself for restoration and renewal. The sea or the ocean generally symbolizes our unconscious. Thus, if you were very lonely or fearful of the waters around you, it may be an indication that you are unwilling to look deeply into yourself. You may be afraid of the materials that are under the surface of your conscious thoughts and feelings.

To dream of seeing only the side of any object, denotes that some person is going to treat your honest proposals with indifference.

To dream that your side pains you, there will be vexations in your affairs that will gall your endurance.

To dream that you have a fleshy, healthy side, you will be successful in courtship and business.

To feel a breeze in your dream, represents the movement of ideas and minor changes.

To feel a breeze, represents the movement of ideas and minor changes.

To see the sunrise in your dream, represents new beginnings, renewal of life and energy, and fulfillment of your goals and purpose. You are about to embark on a new adventure in your personal life.

Seeing the sunrise in your dream, represents new beginnings, renewal of life and energy, and fulfillment of your goals and purpose. It may also denote that you are about to embark on a new adventure in your personal life.

To dream that you are watching something, indicates your passiveness. You lack initiative to take a position or to take action. It may reflect upon your real life and how you are watching life pass you by, instead of participating it. You need to take more initiative. Alternatively, the dream symbolizes your neutrality in some situation. You do not want to take a side. The dream may also be a metaphor warning you to "watch it!"

To dream that you are being watched, suggests that you are feeling confined in your work environment or personal relationship. You are lacking privacy and feel you are being scrutinized or criticized.

Dreaming that you are watching something, represents you lack of initiative to take any action. It may also symbolize your neutrality in some situation.

To dream that you find something, suggests that you are coming into contact with some aspect of your psyche or unconscious. You are recognizing a part of yourself that was previously repressed or undeveloped. Alternatively, it represents change.

To dream that you find someone, indicates that you are identifying new facets of a relationship. You may be taking the relationship to a new level and/or direction.

Dreaming that you find something, suggests that you are coming into contact with some aspect of your psyche or unconscious. You are recognizing a part of yourself that was previously repressed or undeveloped. Alternatively, it represents change. Dreaming that you find someone indicates that you are identifying new facets of a relationship. You may be taking the relationship to a new level and/or direction.

Owl Animal Symbolism

The owl is sacred to the Greek goddess of learning, Athena and is even depicted on some Greco-Roman currency as a symbol of status, intelligence and of course, wealth.

In ancient Egyptian, Celtic, and Hindu cultures the symbolic meaning of owl revolved around guardianship of the underworlds, and a protection of the dead.

In this light the owl was ruler of the night and seer of souls. A misunderstanding of this necessary relationship gave the owl some negative associations with death.

It should be clear that the owl was honored as the keeper of spirits who had passed from one plane to another. Often myth indicates the owl accompanying a spirit to the underworld - winging it's newly freed soul from the physical world into the realm of spirit.

A quick-list of owl symbolic meanings:

Wisdom
Mystery
Transition
Messages
Intelligence
Mysticism
Protection
Secrets

Native Americans associated the meaning of owl with wisdom, foresight, and keeper of sacred knowledge. This may largely be due to the fact that the owl is a great foreteller of weather conditions. Also its ability to see at night is legend among the Native Americans, and this attribute would be invoked during ceremonies when an oracle of secret knowledge was required.

Similarly, West African and Aboriginal Australian cultures viewed the owl as a messenger of secrets, kin to sorcerers, as well as companions to seers, mystics and medicine people.

During medieval times in western and central Europe it was fabled that owls were actually priestesses (witches) and wizards in disguise. To this day the owl is considered a witch's familiar (an animal soul-spirit linked to a spiritual person via a unique, communicative bond).