I move through the forest, tall firs, squatter pines with their fat furry branches, cedar, poplar and birch, fresh bright green mixed with dark evergreens. No breeze, no wind sounds, everything still and forever green. Springtime in the forest - most of all the smells - rich, sharp tree smells, mixed with the pungent earth, rich loam formed from decades of rotting leaves, pine needles and undergrowth. I soak it all up - this time of the year is best for inhaling it all - springtime, with leftover moisture from winter, moss springing back from my footsteps, the imprints fading fast. I have my spade with me, am digging a circle around the trunk of a large fir tree, maybe spruce. Moss and a maze of roots binding the soil make me sweat with effort. Dark earth, now exposed, allows me to capture its strong rich aroma. I feel blessed by this moment in time, this gift of the grandeur surrounding me. I vow to replace the soil once the ceremony is over.
Within the general symbolism of landscape, forests occupy a notable
place, and are often found in myths, legends and folktales. Forest-symbolism is
complex, but it is connected at all levels with the symbolism of the female principle or of the Great Mother. The forest is the place where vegetable life thrives
and luxuriates, free from any control or cultivation. And since its foliage obscures
the light of the sun, it is therefore regarded as opposed to the sun’s power and as
a symbol of the earth. In Druid mythology, the forest was given to the sun in
marriage (49). Since the female principle is identified with the unconscious in
Man, it follows that the forest is also a symbol of the unconscious. It is for this
reason that Jung maintains that the sylvan terrors that figure so prominently in
children’s tales symbolize the perilous aspects of the unconscious, that is, its
tendency to devour or obscure the reason (31). Zimmer stresses that, in contrast
with the city, the house and cultivated land, which are all safe areas, the forest
harbours all kinds of dangers and demons, enemies and diseases (60). This is why forests were among the first places in nature to be dedicated to the cult of the
gods, and why propitiatory offerings were suspended from trees (the tree being,
in this case, the equivalent of a sacrificial stake) (8).
To dream that you are in or walking through the forest, signifies a transitional phase. Follow your instincts. Alternatively, it indicates that you want to escape to a simpler way of life. You are feeling weighed down by the demands of your life.
To dream that you are lost in a forest, indicates that you are searching through your unconscious for a better understanding of yourself.
To dream of a forest fire, indicates that transformation and regeneration is only possible through some hardships. Alternatively, it suggests that your anger is out of control; it is affecting those around you.
To dream that you find yourself in a dense forest, denotes loss in trade, unhappy home influences and quarrels among families. If you are cold and feel hungry, you will be forced to make a long journey to settle some unpleasant affair.
To see a forest of stately trees in foliage, denotes prosperity and pleasures. To literary people, this dream foretells fame and much appreciation from the public. A young lady relates the following dream and its fulfilment: ``I was in a strange forest of what appeared to be cocoanut trees, with red and yellow berries growing on them. The ground was covered with blasted leaves, and I could hear them crackle under my feet as I wandered about lost. The next afternoon I received a telegram announcing the death of a dear cousin.''
Dreaming that you are in or walking through the forest means a transitional phase. You may be following your instincts. Dreaming that you are lost in a forest means that you are searching through your unconscious for a better understanding of yourself.
To dream that you are rich, signifies pride and self confidence. You will experience much success through your perseverance. The dream may also refer to someone named "Rich" or "Richard".
To dream of darkness overtaking you on a journey, augurs ill for any work you may attempt, unless the sun breaks through before the journey ends, then faults will be overcome.
To lose your friend, or child, in the darkness, portends many provocations to wrath. Try to remain under control after dreaming of darkness, for trials in business and love will beset you.
A dark place, such as a cave, in a dream can symbolize negative emotions. In your dream, are you able to find your way out of the dark place?
A dream about being in darkness can also mean that you believe you are being "kept in the dark" about something - that someone else is keeping a secret from you.
If you dream that you are afraid of the dark you could be unwilling to deal with obstacles that you expect to face in the future.
To dream that spring is advancing, is a sign of fortunate undertakings and cheerful companions.
To see spring appearing unnaturally, is a foreboding of disquiet and losses.
Dreaming of the season of spring means new beginnings and creative endeavors. It is also a symbol for virility and fruitfulness. Seeing a water spring, symbolizes your emotional energy and expressiveness. You have the tendency to make your feelings and opinions known. You may also have the ability to draw on your inner resources.
The tree is one of the most essential of traditional symbols. Very often
the symbolic tree is of no particular genus, although some peoples have singled
out one species as exemplifying par excellence the generic qualities. Thus, the oak
was sacred to the Celts; the ash to the Scandinavian peoples; the lime-tree in Germany; the fig-tree in India. Mythological associations between gods and trees
are extremely frequent: so, Attis and the pine; Osiris and the cedar; Jupiter and
the oak; Apollo and the laurel, etc. They express a kind of ‘elective correspondence’ (26, 17). In its most general sense, the symbolism of the tree denotes the
life of the cosmos: its consistence, growth, proliferation, generative and regenerative processes. It stands for inexhaustible life, and is therefore equivalent to a
symbol of immortality. According to Eliade, the concept of ‘life without death’
stands, ontologically speaking, for ‘absolute reality’ and, consequently, the tree
becomes a symbol of this absolute reality, that is, of the centre of the world.
Because a tree has a long, vertical shape, the centre-of-the-world symbolism is
expressed in terms of a world-axis (17). The tree, with its roots underground and
its branches rising to the sky, symbolizes an upward trend (3) and is therefore
related to other symbols, such as the ladder and the mountain, which stand for the
general relationship between the ‘three worlds’ (the lower world: the underworld,
hell; the middle world: earth; the upper world: heaven). Christian symbolism—
and especially Romanesque art—is fully aware of the primary significance of the
tree as an axis linking different worlds (14). According to Rabanus Maurus,
however, in his Allegoriae in Sacram Scripturam (46), it also symbolizes human
nature (which follows from the equation of the macrocosm with the microcosm).
The tree also corresponds to the Cross of Redemption and the Cross is often
depicted, in Christian iconography, as the Tree of Life (17). It is, of course, the
vertical arm of the Cross which is identified with the tree, and hence with the
‘world-axis’. The world-axis symbolism (which goes back to pre-Neolithic times)
has a further symbolic implication: that of the central point in the cosmos. Clearly,
the tree (or the cross) can only be the axis linking the three worlds if it stands in
the centre of the cosmos they constitute. It is interesting to note that the three
worlds of tree-symbolism reflect the three main portions of the structure of the
tree: roots, trunk and foliage. Within the general significance of the tree as worldaxis and as a symbol of the inexhaustible life-process (growth and development),
different mythologies and folklores distinguish three or four different shades of
meaning. Some of these are merely aspects of the basic symbolism, but others are
of a subtlety which gives further enrichment to the symbol. At the most primitive
level, there are the ‘Tree of Life’ and the ‘Tree of Death’ (35), rather than, as in
later stages, the cosmic tree and the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil; but
the two trees are merely two different representations of the same idea. The
arbor vitae is found frequently, in a variety of forms, in Eastern art. The—
apparently purely decorative—motif of hom (the central tree), placed between
two fabulous beings or two animals facing each other, is a theme of Mesopotamian origin, brought both to the West and to the Far East by Persians, Arabs and
Byzantines (6). In Romanesque decoration it is the labyrinthine foliage of the
Tree of Life which receives most emphasis (the symbolic meaning remaining
unchanged, but with the addition of the theme of Entanglement) (46). An important point in connexion with the ‘cosmic tree’ symbol is that it often appears
upside down, with its roots in heaven and its foliage on earth; here, the natural
symbolism based on the analogy with actual trees has been displaced by a meaning expressing the idea of involution, as derived from the doctrines of emanation:
namely, that every process of physical growth is a spiritual opus in reverse.
Thus, Blavatsky says: ‘In the beginning, its roots were generated in Heaven, and
grew out of the Rootless Root of all-being. . . . Its trunk grew and developed,
crossing the plains of Pleroma, it shot out crossways its luxuriant branches, first
on the plane of hardly differentiated matter, and then downward till they touched
the terrestrial plane. Thus . . . (it) is said to grow with its roots above and its
branches below’ (9). This concept is already found in the Upanishads, where it is
said that the branches of the tree are: ether, air, fire, water and earth. In the Zohar
of Hebrew tradition it is also stated that ‘the Tree of Life spreads downwards
from above, and is entirely bathed in the light of the sun’. Dante, too, portrays the
pattern of the celestial spheres as the foliage of a tree whose roots (i.e. origin)
spread upwards (Uranus). In other traditions, on the other hand, no such inversion occurs, and this symbolic aspect gives way to the symbolism of vertical
upward growth. In Nordic mythology, the cosmic tree, called Yggdrasil, sends its
roots down into the very core of the earth, where hell lies (Völuspâ, 19;
Grimnismâl, 31) (17).
We can next consider the two-tree symbolism in the Bible. In Paradise there
were the Tree of Life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Both were
centrally placed in the Garden of Eden. In this connexion, Schneider says (50):
‘Why does God not mention the Tree of Life to Adam? Is it because it was a
second tree of knowledge or is it because it was hidden from the sight of Adam
until he came to recognize it with his new-found knowledge of good and evil—of
wisdom? We prefer the latter hypothesis. The Tree of Life, once discovered, can
confer immortality; but to discover it is not easy. It is “hidden”, like the herb of
immortality which Gilgamesh seeks at the bottom of the sea, or is guarded by
monsters, like the golden apples of the Hesperides. The two trees occur more
frequently than might be expected. At the East gate of the Babylonian heaven, for
instance, there grew the Tree of Truth and the Tree of Life.’ The doubling of the
tree does not modify the symbol’s fundamental significance, but it does add
further symbolic implications connected with the dual nature of the Gemini: the tree, under the influence of the symbolism of the number two, then reflects the
parallel worlds of living and knowing (the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge). As is often the case with symbols, many more specialized meanings have
been developed on the basis of the general tree-symbolism already outlined. Here
are a few: firstly, the triple tree. According to Schneider, the Tree of Life, when it
rises no higher than the mountain of Mars (the world of phenomena) is regarded
as a pillar supporting heaven. It is made up of three roots and three trunks—or
rather one central trunk with two large boughs corresponding to the two peaks of
the mountain of Mars (the two faces of Janus). Here the central trunk or axis
unifies the dualism expressed in the two-tree symbolism. In its lunar aspect, it is
the Tree of Life and emphasizes the moon’s identification with the realm of
phenomena; in its solar aspect it relates to knowledge and death (which, in symbolism, are often associated). In iconography, the Tree of Life (or the lunar side of
a double or triple tree) is depicted in bloom; the tree of death or knowledge (or the
solar side of a double or triple tree) is dry, and shows signs of fire (50). Psychology has interpreted this symbolic duality in sexual terms, Jung affirming that the
tree has a symbolic, bisexual nature, as can also be seen in the fact that, in Latin,
the endings of the names of trees are masculine even though their gender is
feminine (31). This conjunctio confirms the unifying significance of the cosmic
tree. Other symbols are often brought into association with the tree, sometimes
by analogy with real situations, sometimes through the juxtaposition of psychic
images and projections. The resulting composite symbolism is, of course, richer
and more complex, but also more specific, and consequently less spontaneous
and of less scope. The tree is frequently related to the rock or the mountain on
which it grows. On the other hand, the Tree of Life, as found in the celestial
Jerusalem, bears twelve fruits, or sun-shapes (symbols of the Zodiac, perhaps).
In many images, the sun, the moon and the stars are associated with the tree, thus
stressing its cosmic and astral character. In India we find a triple tree, with three
suns, the image of the Trimurti; and in China a tree with the twelve suns of the
Zodiac (25). In alchemy, a tree with moons denotes the lunar opus (the Lesser
Work) and the tree with suns the solar opus (the Great Work). The tree with the
signs of the seven planets (or metals) stands for prime matter (protohyle), from
which all differentiations emerge. Again, in alchemy, the Tree of Knowledge is
called arbor philosophica (a symbol of evolution, or of the growth of an idea, a
vocation or a force). ‘To plant the philosophers’ tree’ is tantamount to stimulating the creative imagination (32). Another interesting symbol is that of the ‘seatree’ or coral, related to the mythic sea king. The fountain, the dragon and the
snake are also frequently related to the tree. Symbol LVII of Bosch’s Ars Symbolica shows the dragon beside the tree of the Hesperides. As regards the symbolism of
levels, it is possible to establish a vertical scale of analogies: dragons and snakes
(primal forces) are associated with the roots; the lion, the unicorn, the stag and
other animals expressing the ideas of elevation, aggression and penetration, correspond to the trunk; and birds and heavenly bodies are brought into relation with
the foliage. Colour correspondences, are: roots/black; trunk/white; foliage/red.
The snake coiled round the tree introduces another symbol, that of the spiral. The
tree as world-axis is surrounded by the sequence of cycles which characterizes
the revealed world. This is an interpretation applicable to the serpent watching at
the foot of the tree on which the Golden Fleece is suspended (25). Endless
instances could be quoted of such associations of symbols, full of psychological
implications. Another typical combination of symbols, extremely frequent in
folktales, is that of the ‘singing tree’. In the Passio S. Perpetuae XI (Cambridge,
1891) we read that St. Saturius, a martyr alongside St. Perpetua, dreamed on the
eve of his martyrdom ‘that, having shed his mortal flesh, he was carried eastward
by four angels. Going up a gentle slope, they reached a spot bathed in the most
beautiful light: it was Paradise opening before us’, he adds, ‘like a garden, with
trees bearing roses and many other flower-blooms; trees tall as cypresses, singing
the while’ (46). The sacrificial stake, the harp-lyre, the ship-of-death and the
drum are all symbols derived from the tree seen as the path leading to the other
world (50) (Plate XXIX). Gershom G. Scholem, in Les Origines de la Kabbale,
speaks of the symbolism of the tree in connexion with hierarchical, vertical structures (such as the ‘sefirothic tree’ of the Cabbala, a theme that we cannot develop
here). He asks himself whether the ‘tree of Porphyry’, which was a widespread
symbol during the Middle Ages, was of a similar nature. In any case, it is reminiscent of the Arbor elementalis of Raymond Lull (1295), whose trunk symbolizes
the primordial substance of Creation, or hyle, and whose branches and leaves
represent its nine accidents. The figure ten has the same connotation as in the
sefiroth, the ‘sum of all the real which can be determined by numbers’.
The tree in your dream is you. The health, size and overall quality of the tree is indicative of how you feel about yourself. This interpretation is to be made only when the tree is the focal point of the dream. Also, consider whether the tree is alive with leaves, flowers or fruit, or if it's barren. You may see trees in your dream as a part of a landscape or as a secondary symbol. At those times, consider all of the details as they may have different interpretations than the one just given.
To notice the earth in your dream, indicates that you need to be "grounded" and realistic. Perhaps your sense of stability and security is lacking. Consider the consistency of the earth for additional significance on how you are feeling. If the earth opens or separates, then it represents a project or relationship that you are afraid of falling into.
To see the planet Earth in your dream, signifies wholeness and global consciousness. You are interconnected with the world.
Seeing the earth in your dream means wholeness and global consciousness. It may also symbolize the sense of being "grounded" and your need to be realistic.
To see moss growing in your dream, indicates an extremely slow progress in some project or relationship. You need to be more patient.
To dream of moss, denotes that you will fill dependent positions, unless the moss grows in rich soil, when you will be favored with honors
Seeing moss growing in your dream indicates an extremely slow progress in some project or relationship. You need to be more patient.
Seeing or be in contact with soil in your dream, symbolizes growth and fertility. It also represents a solid foundation for life. You need to approach your goals with practicality.
To dream that you are in a maze, denotes that you need to deal with a waking task on a more direct level. You are making the situation harder than it really is. Alternatively, the maze symbolizes life's twists and turns. It represents indecision, confusion, missteps, feeling lost or being misled.
Dreaming that you are in a maze indicates that you need to deal with the task on hand at a more direct level. You are making the situation harder than it really is. Alternatively, the maze may symbolize your life and its twists and turns.
The maze could represent your current mental outlook. A maze is a frightening and confusing place. If in your dream you are trapped in a maze and are having difficulty getting to the end, then you need to stop and consider your current emotional and psychological status. I don't mean to suggest anything is terribly wrong. Simply speaking, are you often confused and unsure of which way to go? If you are facing many hard decisions this dream is a good indicator that you need to step back and look at the entire picture. At times we are all emotionally disorganised and confused, but admitting this dream's message is step in the right direction.
To dream that you are sweating, suggests that you are experiencing some overwhelming anxiety, stress, fear, or nervousness in your life. This dream may serve to remind you that in order to achieve success, you need to endure the struggle and efforts that go along with success. Alternatively, sweating signifies a kind of cleansing or ridding of bad karma. You may be going through an emotional cool-off period.
Dreaming that you are swSeeing or eating, suggests that you are experiencing some overwhelming anxiety, stress, fear, or nervousness in your life. This dream may serve to remind you that in order to achieve success, you need to endure the struggle and efforts that go along with success. Alternatively, it may signify a kind of cleansing or ridding of bad karma. You may be going through an emotional cool-off period.