The Dictionary of Symbols
This is a symbol which is very common in iconography all over the
world. It embraces the following essential ideas: ascension, gradation, and communication between different, vertical levels. In the Egyptian system of
hieroglyphs, steps constitute a determinative sign which defines the act of ascending; it forms part of one of the appellations of Osiris, who is invoked as ‘he
who stands at the top of the steps’. Ascending, then, can be understood both in
a material and in an evolutive and spiritual sense. Usually, the actual number of
steps involved in the symbol is of symbolic significance. In Egyptian images, the
number tends to be nine: the triple ternary which symbolizes the gods of the
ennead who, together with Osiris, make up the symbolic number ten which
stands for the completed cycle or the return to unity (19). A great many Egyptian
tombs have yielded up amulets in the shape of ladders. The Book of the Dead
says: ‘My steps are now in position so that I may see the gods.’ Eliade has
pointed out parallel images, such as the following: Among many primitive peoples,
mythic ascension is indicated by means of a rope, a stake, a tree or a mountain
(symbolizing the world-axis). Or, according to an Oceanian myth, the hero reaches
heaven by means of the fantastic hyperbole of a chain of arrows. And in Islamic
tradition, Mohammed saw a ladder which the just climbed up to reach God (17).
To refer again to primitive belief, Schneider observes that in order to ‘reach’ the
mountain of Mars and reap its benefits, one must ascend the ladder of one’s
forebears—suggesting a biological and historical source for the mystic symbol of
the ladder. Hence steps are also one of the most notable symbols in ancestral rites
(50). Images specifically connected with the steps are the mountain, and architectural structures incorporating steps, such as the Egyptian pyramid of Sakkara,
the Mesopotamian ziggurats, or the teocallis of America of pre-Columbian days;
we have then a synthesis of two symbols—that of the ‘temple-mountain’ and
that of the steps—signifying that the entire cosmos is the path of ascension
towards the spirit. In Mithraism, the ceremonial steps were seven in number,
each step being made of a different metal (as was each different plane of the
ziggurat in a figurative sense). According to Celsus, the first step was of lead
(corresponding to Saturn). The general correspondence with the planets is selfevident. Now, this idea of gradual ascent was taken up particularly by the alchemists from the latter part of the Middle Ages onwards; they identified it sometimes with the phases of the transmutation process. In Stephan Michelspacher’s
work Die Cabala, Spiegel der Kunst und Natur (1654), the following graded scale
is given: Calcination, Sublimation, Solution, Putrefaction, Distillation, Coagulation, Tincture, leading to a kind of shrine inside a mountain (32). According to the Zohar, the ladder which Jacob is said to have seen in his dreams had seventy-two
rungs and its top disappeared into the clouds (39). Broadly speaking, in emblems
and allegories throughout the Middle Ages, it is the ascending (affirmative) aspect
of the steps which predominates, emphasized by the signs and symbols clustering round the ladder. Bayley points out that many steps are surmounted by a
cross, the figure of an angel, a star or a fleur-de-lis (4) located on the border itself.
In Romanesque art, and generally in the thought characteristic of the period, the
steps are the symbol of the ‘relationship between the worlds’ (14, 20), but it
must not be forgotten that, within the spatial symbolism of level, there are not
two grades indicating two different worlds (the terrestrial or intermediary and the
celestial or upper) but three (through the addition of a third: the infernal or lower
world). This is why Eliade (for reasons of psychology as well) states that the
steps are a vivid image of ‘breaking through’ the levels of existence in order to
open up the way from one world to another, establishing a relationship between
heaven, earth and hell (or between virtue, passivity and sin). Hence, steps located
beneath the level of the earth are always a symbol for an opening into the infernal
regions. In Bettini’s Libro del monte santo di Dio (Florence, 1477), steps are
shown superimposed upon a mountain; to emphasize the parallel—and indeed
identical—symbolism of the mountain and the ladder, the former is portrayed as
if it were terraced and the terraces are shown to be the rungs of the ladder. On
these rungs are the names of the virtues: Humility, Prudence, Temperance, Fortitude, Justice, Awe, Mercy, Science, Counsel, Understanding and Wisdom. The
steps are portrayed as if chained to the mountainside. On the peak of the mountain is a mandorla formed of angels with Christ in the centre. (Plate XXVI).
Dream Moods
To see steps in your dream, represent your efforts in achieving your goals, ambitions and material gains. The dream may be telling you to take things one at a time. Or that you need to take a chance and take that first step toward your goals or dreams. Alternatively, the dream signifies your closeness to your spirituality or religious beliefs.
To dream that you are sitting on the steps, suggests that you need to pause from life's demands and reevaluate your decisions, challenges, goals, and path before continuing on.