The symbolism of music is of the greatest complexity and we cannot
here do more than sketch out some general ideas. It pervades all the component
elements of created sound: instruments, rhythm, tone or timbre, the notes of the
natural scale, serial patterns, expressive devices, melodies, harmonies and forms.
The symbolism of music may be approached from two basic standpoints: either
by regarding it as part of the ordered pattern of the cosmos as understood by the ancient, megalithic and astrobiological cultures, or else by accepting it as a phenomenon of ‘correspondence’ linked with the business of expression and communication. Another of the fundamental aspects of music-symbolism is its connexion
with metre and with number, arising out of the Pythagorean theory (27). The
cosmic significance of musical instruments—their allegiance to one particular
Element—was first studied by Curt Sachs in Geist und Werden der
Musikinstrumente (Berlin, 1929). In this symbolism, the characteristic shape of
an instrument must be distinguished from the timbre, and there are some common
‘contradictions’ between these two aspects which might possibly be of significance as an expression of the mediating rôle of the musical instrument and of
music as a whole (for an instrument is a form of relationship or communication,
substantially dynamic, as in the case of the voice or the spoken word). For
example, the flute is phallic and masculine in shape and feminine in its shrill pitch
and light, silvery (and therefore lunar) tone, while the drum is feminine by virtue
of its receptacle-like shape, yet masculine in its deep tones (50). The connexion
of music-symbolism with self-expression (and even with graphic art) is well in
evidence in primitive music-making, which often amounted to almost literal imitations of the rhythms and movements, the features and even the shapes of
animals. Schneider describes how, hearing some Senegalese singing the ‘Song of
the Stork’, he began to ‘see as he was listening’, for the rhythm corresponded
exactly to the movements of the bird. When he asked the singers about this, their
reply confirmed his observation. Given the laws of analogy, we can also find
cases of the expressive transferred to the symbolic: that is, a melodic progression
as a whole expresses certain coherent emotions, and this progression corresponds
to certain coherent, symbolic forms. On the other hand, alternating deep and highpitched tones express a ‘leap’, anguish and the need for Inversion; Schneider
concludes that this is an expression of the idea of conquering the space between
the valley and the mountain (corresponding to the earth and the sky). He observes that in Europe the mystic designation of ‘high music’ (that is, high-pitched)
and ‘low music’ (low-pitched) persisted right up to the Renaissance. The question of relating musical notes to colours or to planets is far from being as certain
as other symbolic correspondences of music. Nevertheless, we cannot pass on
without giving some idea of the profound, serial relationship which exists in
phenomena: for instance, corresponding to the pentatonic scale we usually find
patterns grouped in fives; the diatonic and modal scale, since it has seven notes,
is related to most of the astrobiological systems, and is unquestionably the most
important of all the series; the present-day tendency towards the twelve-note
series could be compared to the signs of the Zodiac. But, so far, we have not found sufficient evidence for this particular facet of musicsymbolism. All the
same, here are the correspondences as set down by Fabre d’Olivet, the French
occultist: Mi—the Sun, fa—Mercury, sol—Venus, la—the Moon, ti—Saturn,
do—Jupiter, re—Mars (26). A more valid series of relationships, at least in the
expressive aspect, is that which links the Greek modes with the planets and with
particular aspects of the ethos, as follows: the mi-mode (the Dorian)—Mars
(who is severe or pathetic); the re-mode (the Phrygian)—Jupiter (ecstatic): the
do-mode (the Lydian)—Saturn (pained and sad); the ti-mode (the Hypodorian)—
the Sun (enthusiastic); the la-mode (the Hypophrygian)—Mercury (active); the
sol-mode (the Hypolydian)—Venus (erotic); the fa-mode (the Mixolydian)—the
Moon (melancholy) (50). Schneider’s profound investigations into the symbolism of music seem to us well-founded. The tetrachord formed by the notes do, re,
mi, fa, he considers, for instance, to be a mediator between heaven and earth, the
four notes corresponding respectively to the lion (signifying valour and strength),
the ox (sacrifice and duty), man (faith and incarnation) and the eagle (elevation
and prayer). Conversely, the tetrachord formed by sol, la, ti, do, could represent
a kind of divine duplicate of the previous tetrachord. Fa, do, sol, re are regarded as
masculine elements corresponding to the Elements of fire and air and to the
instruments of stone and metal, whereas la, mi, ti, are feminine, and pertain to the
Elements of water and earth. The interval fa-ti, known to musicologists as a
tritone (or augmented fourth), expresses with its dissonance the ‘painful’ clash
between the Elements of fire and water—a clash occurring in death itself (50). We
have been able to suggest here only a few outlines of the music-symbolism
developed by Schneider in his work The Musical Origin of Animal-Symbols, the
scope of which is so wide that, as he has privately intimated to us, he believes all
symbolic meanings are at root musical or at least to do with sounds. This becomes
easier to understand when we recall that singing, as the harmonization of successive, melodic elements, is an image of the natural connexion between all things,
and, at the same time, the communication, the spreading and the exaltation of the
inner relationship linking all things together. Hence Plato’s remark that the character of a nation’s music cannot be altered without changing the customs and
institutions of the State (26).

To hear harmonious and soothing music in your dream, signifies prosperity and pleasure. You are expressing your emotions in a positive way. Music serves to heal the soul.

To hear discordant or out of tune music in your dream, signifies unhappiness, lack of harmony, and troubles in your relationship or domestic life.

To dream of hearing harmonious music, omens pleasure and prosperity.

Discordant music foretells troubles with unruly children, and unhappiness in the household.

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 see a road in your dream, refers to your sense of direction and how you are pursuing your goals. If the road is winding, curvy, or bumpy in your dream, then it suggests that you will encounter many obstacles and setbacks toward achieving your goals. You may be met with unexpected difficulties. If the road is dark, then it reflects the controversial or more frightening choices which you have made or are making.

If the road is smooth and bordered by trees or flowers, then it denotes a steady progress and steady climb up the social ladder. If the road is straight and narrow, then it means that your path to success is going as planned.

To see an unknown road in your dream, represents a path that has not been ventured. You are setting a new precedence for something.

To dream that a threatening creature is on a road, parallels a hostile situation/person you are encountering in your waking life. It is an obstacle that you need to overcome, no matter how intimidating the situation or person may appear.

Traveling over a rough, unknown road in a dream, signifies new undertakings, which will bring little else than grief and loss of time.

If the road is bordered with trees and flowers, there will be some pleasant and unexpected fortune for you. If friends accompany you, you will be successful in building an ideal home, with happy children and faithful wife, or husband.

To lose the road, foretells that you will make a mistake in deciding some question of trade, and suffer loss in consequence.

Seeing a road in your dream indicates your sense of direction and pursuit of your goals. Seeing a winding, curvy, or bumpy road in your dream, suggests that you will experience many obstacles and setbacks in achieving your goals. You may be met with unexpected difficulties. If the road is dark, then it reflects the darker or more frightening choices which you have made or are making. Seeing a smooth road bordered by green trees and flowers indicates a steady progress and steady climb up the social ladder. If the road is straight and narrow, then it means that your path to success is going according as planned. Seeing an unknown road in your dream means that you new project will cause more grief than it is worth and a waste of time. Dreaming that a threatening creature is on a road, parallels a hostile situation/person you are encountering in your waking life. It is an obstacle that you need to overcome, no matter how intimidating the situation or person may appear.

It usually symbolises the journey that we take to achieve our goals. The road in the dream represents a road in your life. It could be the road to your heart, spirit, or mind. Consider the kind of road that you are on and try to see how it relates to your daily realities. If the road is straight, well marked and lit, it may be reinforcement to you that you are moving in the right directions. If there are many obstacles and the road is very hard, consider your options.

To dream of talking, denotes that you will soon hear of the sickness of relatives, and there will be worries in your affairs.

To hear others talking loudly, foretells that you will be accused of interfering in the affairs of others. To think they are talking about you, denotes that you are menaced with illness and disfavor.

To dream that you are talking does not have any significance unless it is unusual or bizarre. What are you saying specifically. Consider also if what you say evoke strong feelings or behavioral reactions. The dream may simply be highlighting your need improve your communication skills or learn to express yourself more clearly.

Dreaming that you are talking does not have any significance unless it is unusual or bizarre. Consider also if what you say evoke strong feelings or behavioral reactions. Hearing others talking loudly in your dream means that you will be accused of not minding your own business and butting into everybody else's affairs.

To dream that someone or something is bigger than normal, indicates that you either have an inflated opinion of yourself or of someone. You may be expressing a desire to be more dominant in some situation or relationship.

To see a big figure in your dream, represents authority and power.

Dreaming that someone or something is bigger than normal indicates that you either have an inflated opinion of yourself or of someone. You may be expressing a desire to be more dominant in some situation or relationship. Dreaming of a big figure, represents authority and power.