I am at some type of gathering or festival. I am looking for my friends and seem to know where they are located. It has begun pouring rain right after I notice some holes in my rain coat, though I am unaffected by this. I step through a large trench filled with water, using my umbrella I begin to make my accent climbing an incline up a hill. When I reach the top of this large mound I look and I am standing a top a cliff with a small body of water below. As I was climbing the hill I had achieved some sort of lift of with the umbrella making it an easier to walk up, with hopes that the opposite would be true and that my descent would be safe, I jump! The umbrella doesn't make me float but it gives some resistance on the way down. Letting go and taking the plunge into the water feels amazing!
A very important symbol, with two main aspects: on the biological
level, it has fertilizing power and is related to fertility rites; on the spiritual plane,
it stands for the ‘opening’ of this world on to the other world. Worship of
‘perforated stones’ in one form or another is very common all over the world.
Eliade notes that, in the region of Amance, there is just such a stone in front of
which women kneel to pray for the health of their children. To this day, in
Paphos, barren women crawl through the hole of such a stone. Primitive Indian
peoples were mainly concerned with its symbolism at the physical level, identifying the hole with the female sexual organs, although they too had an intuitive
awareness of the fact that holes could stand for the ‘gateway of the world’, which
the soul has to cross in order to be released from the cycle of karma (17). In the
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad it is said that ‘when a human being leaves this world,
he makes his way through the air, and the air opens up for him as wide as a
cartwheel’ (50). The artistic expression of this symbol is found in the Chinese Pi,
i.e. the representation of heaven. It is a jade disc with a hole in the middle;
measurements vary from case to case, but according to the Chinese dictionary
Erh Ya, the relation between the outside ring and the central hole remains constant. This hole is the Hindu ‘gateway’, also the Aristotelian ‘unvarying mean’ or
‘unmoved mover’. The origins of the Pi are exceedingly remote, and carved and
decorated Pi have also been found (39). As a symbol of heaven, the hole also stands specifically for the passage from spatial to non-spatial, from temporal to
non-temporal existence, and corresponds to the zenith (52). The strange and
roughly hewn door-openings of some neolithic stone-structures have been interpreted by some scholars as symbolic holes in the above sense; the laborious
nature of these holes could otherwise have been avoided by means of the simple
and well-known pillar-and-lintel method of construction. An outstanding example of this kind of door is that at Hagiar Kim (Malta). It is interesting to note,
in this connexion, that the initiation ceremony among the Pomo Indians of Northern California includes a ritual blow from a grizzly bear paw, which is supposed
to make a hole in the neophyte’s back, on account of which he ‘dies’ and is reborn
to a new stage of life. It is probable that, from the earliest times, the visual aspect
of wounds helped to strengthen the association between the concept of the hole
and that of passing into the other life. All this seems to be corroborated by the fact
that in many symbolist pictures, e.g. in Gustave Moreau’s Orpheus, the background landscape includes perforated rocks which are evidently invested with a
transcendental significance. It is also worth recalling Salvador Dali’s frequent
practice, amounting almost to an obsession, of painting holes (regular in shape,
like windows) on the backs of some of his figures.
To see a hole in the ground, denotes hidden aspects of your activities. On the other hand, it may mean that you are feeling hollow or empty inside. This dream may be an awakening for you to get out and expose yourself to new interests and activities. Alternatively, the dream may be a pun on "wholeness' or completeness.
To dream that you fall into a hole, represents a pitfall in some waking situation. You feel you are stuck. Perhaps, you have dug yourself into a hole and cannot get out of it.
To dream that there is a hole in your clothing, indicates that there are some flaws in your thinking or thought process. You may need to undergo an image makeover.
Seeing a hole in the ground indicates hidden aspects of your activities. On the other hand, it may mean that you are feeling hollow or empty inside. This dream may be an awakening for you in that you need to get out and expose your self to new interests and activities. Dreaming that you fall into a hole means a pitfall in a situation in your life or that you are stuck in a hole. Perhaps, you have dug yourself into a hole and can not get out of it.
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.
This symbol is invariably related to the sun-shade, which is a solar
emblem of the monarchs of certain peoples. But its mechanism has tended to lend
it a phallic significance. It is a father-symbol for this reason and because of its
implications of protection and of mourning (42).
To dream of carrying an umbrella, denotes that trouble and annoyances will beset you.
To see others carrying them, foretells that you will be appealed to for aid by charity.
To borrow one, you will have a misunderstanding, perhaps, with a warm friend.
To lend one, portends injury from false friends. To lose one, denotes trouble with some one who holds your confidence.
To see one torn to pieces, or broken, foretells that you will be misrepresented and maligned.
To carry a leaky one, denotes that pain and displeasure will be felt by you towards your sweetheart or companions.
To carry a new umbrella over you in a clear shower, or sunshine, omens exquisite pleasure and prosperity.
To see an umbrella in your dream, symbolizes emotional security. You are putting up a shield against your emotions and are trying to avoid dealing with them. If the umbrella is leaking, then it indicates that you are unprepared with facing your problems.
To dream that you cannot open you umbrella and it is raining, then it suggests that you are open to confronting your own feelings and letting your emotions come to the surface.
Seeing an umbrella in your dream indicates a shield against your feelings. It also symbolizes financial protection and security. Seeing an unopened umbrella in the rain indicates that you are opened to your own feelings and emotional needs as you let the rain drench you. Seeing an opened umbrella in the rain means fortune and good luck in your endeavors. Seeing a leaky umbrella in your dream indicates quarrelling with loved ones. You are also unprepared to face your problems.
Rain has a primary and obvious symbolism as a fertilizing agent, and is
related to the general symbolism of life (26) and water. Apart from this, but for
the same reason, it signifies purification, not only because of the value of water as
the ‘universal substance’—as the mediating agent between the non-formal or
gaseous and the formal or solid, an aspect which is common to all symbolic
traditions (29)—but also because of the fact that rainwater falls from heaven (7).
Hence it is also cognate with light. This explains why, in many mythologies, rain
is regarded as a symbol of the ‘spiritual influences’ of heaven descending upon
earth (28). In alchemy, rain symbolizes condensation or albification—further
proof that, for the alchemists, water and light were of the same symbolic family.
To see and hear rain falling, symbolizes forgiveness and grace. Falling rain is also a metaphor for tears, crying and sadness. Alternatively, rain symbolizes fertility and renewal. If you get wet from the rain, then it indicates cleaning from your troubles and problems.
To dream that you are watching the rain from a window, indicates that spiritual ideas and insights are being brought to your awareness. It may also symbolize fortune and love.
To hear rain tapping on the roof, denotes spiritual ideas coming to fruition in your mind.
This foretells trouble especially when it is heavy and boisterous. Gentle rain is a good
dream indicating happy and calm life.
To be out in a clear shower of rain, denotes that pleasure will be enjoyed with the zest of youth, and prosperity will come to you.
If the rain descends from murky clouds, you will feel alarmed over the graveness of your undertakings.
To see and hear rain approaching, and you escape being wet, you will succeed in your plans, and your designs will mature rapidly.
To be sitting in the house and see through the window a downpour of rain, denotes that you will possess fortune, and passionate love will be requited.
To hear the patter of rain on the roof, denotes a realization of domestic bliss and joy. Fortune will come in a small way.
To dream that your house is leaking during a rain, if the water is clear, foretells that illicit pleasure will come to you rather unexpectedly; but if filthy or muddy, you may expect the reverse, and also exposure.
To find yourself regretting some duty unperformed while listening to the rain, denotes that you will seek pleasure at the expense of another's sense of propriety and justice.
To see it rain on others, foretells that you will exclude friends from your confidence.
For a young woman to dream of getting her clothes wet and soiled while out in a rain, denotes that she will entertain some person indiscreetly, and will suffer the suspicions of friends for the unwise yielding to foolish enjoyments.
To see it raining on farm stock, foretells disappointment in business, and unpleasantness in social circles.
Stormy rains are always unfortunate.
Dreaming that you get wet from the rain means that you will soon be cleansed from your troubles and problems. Rain also symbolizes fertility and renewal. Seeing and hear rain falling, symbolizes forgiveness and grace. Dreaming that you are watching the rain from a window indicates that spiritual ideas and insights are being brought to you awareness. It may also symbolize fortune and love. Hearing the tapping of the rain on the roof indicates spiritual ideas and blessings coming to mind. It may also suggests that you will receive much joy from your home life.
Interpretation is contingent on your current circumstances as well as the kind of rain that is falling. Rain naturally cleans, refreshes, and provides life-giving moisture. Depending on the dreamer it could suggest a period of renewal and fertility (reproduction or creativity). However, dark clouds and a heavy downpour indicate feelings of isolation and helplessness. On the other hand, the heavy downpour could represent unconscious materials and emotions attempting to enter the dreamer's conscious mind.
Traditional symbols of love always express a duality in which the two
antagonistic elements are, nevertheless, reconciled. Thus, the Indian lingam, the Yang-Yin, or even the Cross, where the upright beam is the world-axis and Chinese
the cross-beam the world of phenomena. They are, in other words, symbols of a
conjunction, or the expression of the ultimate goal of true love: the elimination of
dualism and separation, uniting them in the mystic ‘centre’, the ‘unvarying mean’
of Far Eastern philosophy. The rose, the lotus flower, the heart, the irradiating
point—these are the most frequent symbols of this hidden centre; ‘hidden’ because it does not exist in space, although it is imagined as doing so, but denotes the
state achieved through the elimination of separation. The biological act of love
itself expresses this desire to die in the object of the desire, to dissolve in that
which is already dissolved. According to the Book of Baruch: ‘Erotic desire and
its satisfaction is the key to the origin of the world. Disappointment in love and
the revenge which follows in its wake are the root of all the evil and the selfishness
in this world. The whole of history is the work of love. Beings seek and find one
another; separate and hurt one another; and in the end, comes acute suffering
which leads to renunciation.’ Or to put it another way: Maya as opposed to
Lilith, illusion balanced by the serpent.
To dream of love or being in love, suggests intense feelings carried over from a waking relationship. It refers to your contentment with what you already have and where you are in life. On the other hand, the dream may be compensatory and implies that you may not be getting enough love in your life. We naturally long for the sense to belong and to be accepted.
To see a couple in love or expressing love to each other, indicates success ahead for you.
To dream that your friend is in love with you, may be one of wish fulfillment. Perhaps you have developed feelings for your friend and are wondering how he or she feels. Your preoccupation has found its way into your dreaming mind. On the other hand, the dream may suggests that you have accepted certain qualities of your friend and incorporated it into your own character.
To dream that you are making love in public or in different places, relates to some overt sexual issue or need. Your dream may be telling you that you need to express yourself more openly. Alternatively, it represents your perceptions about your own sexuality in the context of social norms. You may be questioning your feelings about sex, marriage, love, and gender roles.
To dream of loving any object, denotes satisfaction with your present environments.
To dream that the love of others fills you with happy forebodings, successful affairs will give you contentment and freedom from the anxious cares of life. If you find that your love fails, or is not reciprocated, you will become despondent over some conflicting question arising in your mind as to whether it is best to change your mode of living or to marry and trust fortune for the future advancement of your state.
For a husband or wife to dream that their companion is loving, foretells great happiness around the hearthstone, and bright children will contribute to the sunshine of the home.
To dream of the love of parents, foretells uprightness in character and a continual progress toward fortune and elevation.
The love of animals, indicates contentment with what you possess, though you may not think so. For a time, fortune will crown you.
Dreaming of love of being in love, suggests intense feelings carried over from a waking relationship. It implies happiness and contentment with what you have and where you are in life. On the other hand, you may not be getting enough love in your daily life. We naturally long for the sense to belong and to be accepted. Seeing a couple in love or expressing love to each other indicates much success ahead for you. Dreaming that you are making love in public or in different places, relates to some overt sexual issue or need. Your dream may be telling you that you need to express yourself more openly. Alternatively, it represents your perceptions about your own sexuality in the context of politic and social norms. You may be questioning your feelings about sex, marriage, love, and gender roles.
To dream of climbing up a hill or mountain and reaching the top, you will overcome the most formidable obstacles between you and a prosperous future; but if you should fail to reach the top, your dearest plans will suffer being wrecked.
To climb a ladder to the last rung, you will succeed in business; but if the ladder breaks, you will be plunged into unexpected straits, and accidents may happen to you.
To see yourself climbing the side of a house in some mysterious way in a dream, and to have a window suddenly open to let you in, foretells that you will make or have made extraordinary ventures against the approbation of friends, but success will eventually crown your efforts, though there will be times when despair will almost enshroud you.
Going upward, or ascending, is always a positive dream symbol. Whether you are struggling on a difficult rope or ladder or walking up an easy slope, this dream suggests that you are moving in the right direction. If the climb in your dream is extremely difficult, it may be pointing to some obstacles that you need to overcome before reaching your goals. Consider all of the details in your dream, and if you recently completed a difficult task, achieved a goal (e.g. graduating), this dream may be reflective in nature.
To dream that you are climbing a hill, signifies your struggles in achieving a goal. You need to focus your energies on the prize. To dream that you are standing on top of a hill, suggests that you have succeeded in your endeavors. You have the necessary resources to complete the task at hand.
Dreaming that you are climbing a hill means your struggles in achieving a goal. Dreaming that you are standing on top of a hill means that you have succeeded in your endeavors or that you have now have the resources to complete a task at hand.
To see or spin a top in your dream, represents idleness. You are not going anywhere in life and are wasting your time away on frivolous pleasures.
To dream that you are on top, signifies your goals, aspirations and ideals. You are seeking higher understanding and knowledge.
Seeing or spin a top in your dream, represents idleness. You are wasting your time away on frivolous pleasures. Dreaming that you are on top means your aspirations and ideals. You are seeking higher understanding and knowledge.
To dream that you are reaching for something or someone, signifies a yearning or desire for something you do not have. The dream may also be symbolic of an emotional void in your life that you are trying to fill.