A friend and I step out of my house into the back garden along with another man that I am not acquainted with. Night has fallen and the air hangs still and cool against my flesh. An eerie shimmer stands as the backdrop to this scene in my awareness as we move beyond the swimming pool toward the banana and paw paw trees. Fear pierces the silence of my mind as I turn my eyes toward a nearby rooftop and see a large, gloss black python.
Once the initial shock subsides I am no longer afraid but my friend cowers behind me as we step backwards to give the animal room. We watch in amazement as the creature grows rapidly in size and glides off the roof before morphing into an enormous lizard; bottomless black power traversing the terrain with complete content in its supremacy. The animal has reached the opposite of the house, blocked from our view, but soon reappears on the electricity cables and clambers away.
To see a lizard in your dream, signifies your primal instincts and reactions toward sex, food, etc. and your anxieties toward these feelings. The lizard may also be representative of a person who you view as cold-blooded, fearful, or thick-skinned. On a more positive note, the lizard also symbolizes emerging creativity, renewal, and revitalization. It may suggest that you are well-grounded.
To dream of lizards, foretells attacks upon you by enemies.
If you kill a lizard, you will regain your lost reputation or fortune; but if it should escape, you will meet vexations and crosses in love and business.
For a woman to dream that a lizard crawls up her skirt, or scratches her, she will have much misfortune and sorrow. Her husband will be a victim to invalidism and she will be left a widow, and little sustenance will be eked out by her own labors.
Seeing a lizard in your dream means your primal instincts and reactions toward sex, food, etc. and your anxieties toward these feelings. The lizard can also be representative of a person who you view as cold-blooded, fearful, or thick-skinned. On a more positive note, the lizard also symbolizes emerging creativity, renewal, and revitalization. It may also suggest that you are well-grounded.
Lizard Meanings and Symbolism
I've gotten a few questions about animal symbolism surrounding dream lizards, and what it means when we dream of lizards so I was prompted to write a few thoughts about this unique messenger.
They are flexible and adaptive to their environment, and the human psyche translates this as being symbolic of going with the flow and overcoming adverse external conditions.
Due to their scurrying natures, quick pace and lightning reaction times, the lizard is considered the consummate escape artist. This makes them symbolic of our ability to recognize danger and remove ourselves from harm's way when the situation calls for it.
Within the human collective consciousness, dream lizards can be symbolic of:
Adaptation
Variation
Flexibility
Shrewdness
Quickness
Introversion
Lizards win many of these attributes due to their cold blooded nature.
Furthermore, most lizards are gifted with various forms of camouflage, and trickery to allude predators (like detaching their tails of caught by a hungry predator so that the lizard can escape to live another day).
These gifts of illusion are symbolic messages to us that within us (as children of nature ourselves) we have impressive giftswe may utilize for our well-being.
The lizard comes with a message about our responsibility to recognize these hidden gifts and skills so that we may avoid harm, and live freely and happily as we are designed to live.
The lizard symbolizes the dream world beyond time and space. It dreams of the future. The lizard teaches how to use dreams to create a future reality. Since it can see into the future, it always knows in advance what will happen. This includes self-fulfilling prophecies. One dreams of a situation, and then it is up to the dreamer to decide whether to continue fueling this situation and, thus, make it real or not. The lizard encourages you to look more closely at your dreams and your shadow in detail. Have you seen your future, your hopes, or your fears? The teaching holds that you are responsible for every single event in your life, consciously or not, because everything that happens springs from your wishes and fears.
The lizard brings into your awareness your subconscious hopes and fears so that through the light of day they can be acknowledged.
Teaches listening to intuition in dreams, visions and perceptions throughout the day. Be aware of the emotions surrounding your impressions. Aids in illuminating fears and doubts and how to change them. Lizard can teach about objective and compassionate detachment. Do you need time to rest and relax or step back from a situation? Is it time to move forward? When lizard appears, listen carefully to your inner guidance of feelings and emotions. He will give strength in taking the next steps.
To see a python in your dream, represents lurking danger, sin, lacking freedom and overt sexuality. The symbol may also parallel a waking relationship where you are feeling constricted and confined. Alternatively, a python may signify your determination.
To see a python kill its prey, suggests that you are feeling emotionally stressed and anxious. You are being suffocated in some area of your life.
Seeing a python in your dream, represents danger, sin, and overt sexuality. Alternatively, it may symbolize your determination. Seeing a python suffocate and kill its prey, suggests that you are feeling emotionally stressed and anxious.
The transformation of one being or of one species into
another generally relates to the broad symbolism of Inversion, but also to the
essential notion of the difference between primigenial, undifferentiated Oneness
and the world of manifestation. Everything may be transformed into anything
else, since nothing is really anything. Transmutation is quite another matter: it is
metamorphosis in an ascending direction, carrying all appearances away from the
moving rim of the Wheel of Transformations along the radial path to the ‘Unmoved mover’—the non-spatial and timeless Centre. ‘The duplicity of Mercurius’,
writes Jung, ‘his simultaneously metallic and pneumatic nature, is a parallel to the
symbolization of an extremely spiritual idea like the Anthropos by a corporeal,
indeed metallic substance (gold). One can only conclude that the unconscious
tends to regard spirit and matter not merely as equivalent but as actually identical,
and this in flagrant contrast to the intellectual one-sidedness of consciousness,
which would sometimes like to materialize matter and at other times to materialize spirit. . . .’
To see a metamorphosis take place in your dream, denotes sudden and rapid changes in your personal life. The metamorphosis helps to draw attention to two different aspects of your life. If the metamorphosis is a smooth one, then it indicates some changes are necessary for you to adapt to a new situation. However, if the metamorphosis is a complicated and unpleasant one, then it suggests that you are ill prepared for the changes in your life.
Seeing a metamorphosis take place in your dream indicates sudden and rapid changes in your personal life. If the metamorphosis is a smooth one, then it indicates necessary changes for you to adapt to a new situation. However, if the metamorphosis is a complicated and unpleasant one, then it suggests that you are ill prepared for the changes in your life.
Night is related to the passive principle, the feminine and the unconscious. Hesiod gave it the name of ‘mother of the gods’, for the Greeks believed
that night and darkness preceded the creation of all things (8). Hence, night—like
water—is expressive of fertility, potentiality and germination (17); for it is an
anticipatory state in that, though not yet day, it is the promise of daylight. Within
the tradition of symbology it has the same significance as death and the colour
black.
To have a dream that takes place at night, represents some major setbacks and obstacles in achieving your goals. You are being faced with an issue that is not so clear cut. Perhaps, you should put the issues aside so you can clear your head and come back to it later. Alternatively, night may be synonymous with death, rebirth, reflection, and new beginnings.
If you are surrounded by night in your dreams, you may expect unusual oppression and hardships in business. If the night seems to be vanishing, conditions which hitherto seemed unfavorable will now grow bright, and affairs will assume prosperous phases.
Dreaming of night means some major setbacks and obstacles in achieving your goals. You may find that some issues you are facing are not all that clear and you need to put them to rest for awhile before a decision is made.
To see friends in your dream, signify aspects of your personality that you have rejected, but are ready to incorporate and acknowledge. The relationships you have with those around you are important in learning about yourself. Alternatively, dreaming of a friend, indicates positive news.
To see your childhood friend in your dream, signifies regression into your past where you had no responsibilities. Things were much simpler and carefree. You may be wanting to escape the pressures and stresses of adulthood. Consider the relationship you had with this friend and the lessons that were learned. Alternatively, the childhood friend suggests that you have been acting in a childish manner. You need to start acting like an adult.
To dream that your best friend is dying, suggests that some aspect or quality that your best friend possess is dying within your own self.
To dream of friends being well and happy, denotes pleasant tidings of them, or you will soon see them or some of their relatives.
To see your friend troubled and haggard, sickness or distress is upon them.
To see your friends dark-colored, denotes unusual sickness or trouble to you or to them. To see them take the form of animals, signifies that enemies will separate you from your closest relations.
To see your friend who dresses in somber colors in flaming red, foretells that unpleasant things will transpire, causing you anxiety if not loss, and that friends will be implicated.
To dream you see a friend standing like a statue on a hill, denotes you will advance beyond present pursuits, but will retain former impressions of justice and knowledge, seeking these through every change. If the figure below be low, you will ignore your friends of former days in your future advancement. If it is on a plane or level with you, you will fail in your ambition to reach other spheres. If you seem to be going from it, you will force yourself to seek a change in spite of friendly ties or self-admonition.
To dream you see a friend with a white cloth tied over his face, denotes that you will be injured by some person who will endeavor to keep up friendly relations with you.
To dream that you are shaking hands with a person who has wronged you, and he is taking his departure and looks sad, foretells you will have differences with a close friend and alienation will perhaps follow. You are most assuredly nearing loss of some character.
Seeing your friends in your dream means aspects of your personality that you have rejected, but are ready to integrate these rejected part of yourself. The relationships you have with those around you are important in learning about yourself. Additionally, this symbol foretells of happy tidings from them and the arrival of good news. Seeing your childhood friend in your dream means regression into your past where you had no responsibilities and things were much simpler and carefree. You may be wanting to escape the the pressures and stresses of adulthood. Consider the relationship you had with this friend and the lessons that were learned. Alternatively, the childhood friend may be suggesting that you have been acting in a childish manner and you need to start acting like an adult. Dreaming that your best friend is dying, suggests that some aspect or quality that your best friend possess is dying within your own self.
To see a reptile in your dream, symbolizes your basic urges, instincts and suppressed sexual desires.
If a reptile attacks you in a dream, there will be trouble of a serious nature ahead for you. If you succeed in killing it, you will finally overcome obstacles.
To see a dead reptile come to life, denotes that disputes and disagreements, which were thought to be settled, will be renewed and pushed with bitter animosity.
To handle them without harm to yourself, foretells that you will be oppressed by the ill humor and bitterness of friends, but you will succeed in restoring pleasant relations.
For a young woman to see various kinds of reptiles, she will have many conflicting troubles. Her lover will develop fancies for others. If she is bitten by any of them, she will be superseded by a rival.
Dreaming that you are attacked by a reptile, forewarns of a serious problem ahead for you. A friend will betray and slander you. Dreaming that you are handling a reptile without harm to yourself means that you are letting the ill humor and bitterness of your friends bring you down. You will eventually succeed in regaining their pleasant relations. Dreaming that you are bitten by a reptile means that you will lose your lover to a rival. Dreaming that a dead reptile comes to life, symbolizes that your old problems that you thought were resolved and settled will resurface again.
Reptile Animal Totems
Reptile Animal Totems are special due to their cold-blooded nature. The phenomenon of reptile body temperature changing with their surroundings makes them a supreme symbol of adaptation. As most reptiles body functions depend on their body temperature this makes them dependent upon their surroundings too. Even so, reptiles are never slaves to external conditions. This is because they are super-intuitive, and fiercely independent.
If you are in contact with reptile animal totems on any kind, tune into the message they are trying to convey to you. Very often, the message reveals hints about dealing with difficult situations (adaptation) – and doing so wisely, while still maintaining integrity. Also, the message might also relate to a matter of independence – a reminder to not be a slave to your external conditions – and realizing that internal changes will truly set you free.
To see a liquid in your dream, represent some emotion that you need to confront and deal with. Consider the color of the liquid to pinpoint what emotion your dream may be highlighting.
Seeing steps in your dream, represents your efforts in achieving your goals, ambition and material gains. The dream may be telling you to take things one thing at a time. Or that you need to take a chance and take that first step toward your goals/dreams.
Mystics have always traditionally considered the feminine aspect of
the universe as a chest, a house or a wall, as well as an enclosed garden. Another
symbolic association is that which equates the house (and the above, related
forms) with the repository of all wisdom, that is, tradition itself (4). In architectural symbolism, on the other hand, the house carries not only an overall symbolism but also particular associations attached to each of its component parts.
Nevertheless, the house as a home arouses strong, spontaneous associations with
the human body and human thought (or life, in other words), as has been confirmed empirically by psychoanalysts. Ania Teillard explains this by pointing
out that, in dreams, we employ the image of the house as a representation of the
different layers of the psyche. The outside of the house signifies the outward
appearance of Man: his personality or his mask. The various floors are related to
the vertical and spatial symbols. The roof and upper floor correspond to the head
and the mind, as well as to the conscious exercise of self-control. Similarly, the
basement corresponds to the unconscious and the instincts (just as sewers do, in
symbols pertaining to the city). The kitchen, since this is where foodstuff is
transformed, sometimes signifies the place or the moment of psychic transmutation in the alchemical sense. The intercommunicating rooms speak for themselves. The stairs are the link between the various planes of the psyche, but their
particular significance depends upon whether they are seen as ascending or descending. Finally, there is, as we have said, the association of the house with the
human body, especially regarding its openings, as was well understood by
Artemidorus Daldianus (56).
To see a house in your dream, represents your own soul and self. Specific rooms in the house indicate a specific aspect of your psyche. In general, the attic represents your intellect, the basement represents the unconscious, etc. If the house is empty, then it indicates feelings of insecurity. If the house is shifting, then it suggests that you are going through some personal changes and changing your belief system. To dream that a house has no walls, represents a lack of privacy. You feel that everyone is looking over your shoulder or up in your business.
To dream that you are cleaning your house, signifies your need to clear out your thoughts and get rid of old ways. You are seeking self-improvement.
If you live with others in your waking life, but dream that you are living alone, suggests that you need to take new steps toward independence. You need to accept responsibilities and be more self-reliant.
To see an old, run-down house in your dream, represents your old beliefs, attitudes and how you used to think or feel. A situation in your current life may be bringing about those same old attitudes and feelings. Alternatively, the old house may symbolize your need to update you mode of thinking. To dream that your house is damaged, indicates your waking concerns about the condition of your house.
To see a new house in your dream, indicates that you are entering into a new phase or new area in your life. You are becoming more emotionally mature. If you are locked out of the house, then it represents rejection and insecurity. You feel you are being left behind.
To dream that your house is broken into, suggests that you are feeling violated. It may refer to a particular relationship or current situation in your life. Alternatively, it indicates that some unconscious material is attempting to make itself known. There are some aspects of yourself that you have denied.
To dream of a haunted house, signifies unfinished emotional business, related to your childhood family, dead relatives, or repressed memories and feelings.
To dream that a house has disappeared, indicates that you are not feeling grounded. You feel uprooted by a particular circumstance or relationship in your life.
To dream that water is rising up in your house, suggests that you are becoming overwhelmed by your emotions.
To dream of building a house, you will make wise changes in your present affairs.
To dream that you own an elegant house, denotes that you will soon leave your home for a better, and fortune will be kind to you.
Old and dilapidated houses, denote failure in business or any effort, and declining health.
Seeing a house in your dream, represents your own soul and self. Specific rooms in the house indicate a specific aspect of your psyche. In general, the attic represents your intellect, the basement represents the unconscious, etc. If the house is empty, then it indicates feelings of insecurity. If the house is shifting, then it suggests that you are going through some personal changes and changing your belief system. Dreaming that you are cleaning your house means your need to clear out your thoughts and getting rid of old ways. You are seeking self-improvement. Seeing an old, run-down house in your dream, represents your old beliefs, attitudes and how you used to think or feel. A situation in your current life may be bringing about those same old attitudes and feelings. Alternatively, the old house may symbolize your need to update you mode of thinking. Dreaming that your house is broken into, suggests that you are feeling violated. It may refer to a particular relationship or current situation in your life. Alternatively, it indicates that some unconscious material is attempting to make itself known. There are some aspects of yourself that you have denied. Dreaming of a haunted house means unfinished emotional business, related to your childhood family, dead relatives, or repressed memories and feelings. Dreaming that a house disappeared, indicates that you are not feeling grounded. You feel uprooted by a particular circumstance or relationship in your life.
It is common to dream about houses. They usually symbolise our emotional and psychological selves. All of your experiences, stages of development, and parts of your conscious and unconscious life may be represented by that house. The house may be representing issues concerning a particular dilemma in your life, or it may be more general and comprehensive. Either way, if you pay attention to the details in this dream, you may learn a thing or two about yourself.
To see an animal paw in your dream, suggests that you need to trust your intuition and animal instincts. The dream may also be a pun on your "Pa" or father.
To see bloody paw prints in your dream, represents a repression of your animalistic desires.
Seeing an animal paw in your dream, suggests that you need to trust your intuition and animal instincts. The dream may also be a pun on your "Pa" or father.
Dreaming of animals is a indication that you should be listening more carefully to your instincts. Try to think of the characteristics and particularities of each animal: what do you think it refers to? You may need to identify your instincts, as primitive as they can be, and try to find how they can help you in your life. Each animal has also his own significance: an owl could indicate bad news, death or sickness, a friendly dog can represent a good friend, a snake can be a mean enemy, a bird will herald some good news, a horse means victory, an agressive threatening black dog can present itself as the guardian of the dead...Generally speaking, talking animals represent superior forms of intelligence and are spiritually more important.
The interpretation of the animal in your dream depends on your relationship with it in daily life. Animals represent the qualities in our character or specific aspects of our personalities. They could symbolise our more intuitive and instinctive parts, or they could serve as messengers for the unconscious.
There are various interpretations, for the animals you see in your dreams. Some dream researchers feel that animals appear to take on activities (in your dream) of which you are subconsciously ashamed. For example a woman who had cheated while dieting saw a farm animal eating too much of cattle feed repeatedly, in her dreams!
These apart, here are the animals, and their significance according to dream interpretation:
* Alligator - Dangerous emotions
* Ants- Dissatisfaction
* Bees- hard work and organization
* Butterfly - spiritual or emotional metamorphosis
* Camel - endurance/financial gain
* Dinosaurs - refers to the past
* Donkey- humility/honor
* Dragonfly- good news
* Eagle- prosperity
* Elephant- knowledge/ power/ strength
* Horse- Power and sexual energy
* Mice- disappointment
* Tiger- power and beauty
To see a roof in your dream, symbolizes a barrier between two states of consciousness. You are protecting or sheltering your consciousness, mentality, and beliefs. The dream provides an overview of how you see yourself and who you think you are.
To dream that you are on top of a roof, symbolizes boundless success. If you fall off the roof, then it suggests that you do not have a firm grip and solid foundation on your advanced position. If you are re-roofing in your dream, then it suggests that you need to raise your goals and set your sights higher.
To dream that the roof is leaking, represents distractions, annoyances, and unwanted influences in your life. New information is slowly revealing itself to you. Something is finally getting through to you. Alternatively, the dream means that someone is imposing and intruding their thoughts and opinions on you.
To dream that the roof is falling in, indicates that your high ideals are crashing down on you. Perhaps you need to rethink the high expectations or goals you have set for yourself.
To find yourself on a roof in a dream, denotes unbounded success. To become frightened and think you are falling, signifies that, while you may advance, you will have no firm hold on your position.
To see a roof falling in, you will be threatened with a sudden calamity.
To repair, or build a roof, you will rapidly increase your fortune.
To sleep on one, proclaims your security against enemies and false companions. Your health will be robust.
Seeing a roof in your dream, symbolizes a barrier between two states of consciousness. It represents a protection of your consciousness, mentality, and beliefs. It is an overview of how you see yourself and who you think you are. Dreaming that you are on a roof, symbolizes boundless success. If you fall off the roof, suggests that you do not have a firm grip and solid foundation on your advanced position. Dreaming that the roof is leaking, represents distractions, annoyances, and unwanted influences in your life. It may also indicate that new information will dawn on you. Alternatively, it may suggest that something is finally getting through to you. Perhaps someone is imposing and intruding their thoughts and opinions on you. Dreaming that the roof is falling in indicates that you high ideals are crashing down on you. Perhaps you are unable to live up to your own high expectations.
The symbolism of power has been subjected to an extensive study by
Percy Ernst Schramm in his Herrschaftszeichen und Staatssymbolik (Stuttgart,
1954). Power, as a symbol, represents irradiating force, but it is only latterly that
it has acquired this significance, for in totemistic and primitive times it was
generally understood more in the sense of an image of the forces of nature (and of
the animal world in particular) than as an expression of abstract or temporal
dominion. Hence, the principal attributes of a superior power are simply magnified versions of totemic emblems or of adornments derived from them, such as
necklaces of teeth and claws, hides, head-dresses, horns, and various kinds of
standards exhibiting these objects. It was probably with the dawning of the solar
cult that the diadem—the original form of the crown—came to be adopted as
another attribute of power. The immediate effect of the assumption of power upon the body and the attitude of mind is to confer impassivity, indifference—
either real or affected—and serenity and, equally, a tendency to ‘swell with
pride’. Hence the fascination of the hieratic gesture and its use on solemn occasions. Dynamic movements such as stretching out the arms or nodding or turning
the head may also be executed in a rhythm suggestive of hieratic strength and
calm. Ancient art gave expression to a basically similar attitude towards the
powers of the world. Height above ground-level, and the situation of a particular
symbolic element at the centre of a symmetrical pattern—the Greek Potne Theron
for instance—are further illustrations of power-symbolism, deriving from the
symbolisms of level and of the ‘Centre’. Differentiated expressions of power give
rise to the king, the priest and the military leader, each one characterized by his
respective attributes. The synthesis of power is denoted by ternary symbols
such as the triple crown. Certain other symbols embracing the threefold power,
such as the trident, are generally reckoned to pertain to the infernal regions, but
this has come about rather through the influence of traditional, mythological ideas
than by true symbolic logic. Magic power—a corrupt form of religious power—
is symbolized by the wand and sometimes by the sword. There are also certain
other objects linked with the idea of power, but they are attributes or instruments
rather than symbols proper.
Of great interest is the complex symbolic system behind the emblems of the
Egyptian pharaoh. The double crown denotes Upper and Lower Egypt, but it
also expresses the ideas of the masculine and feminine principles, and of heaven
and earth. Sceptres—straight (the lash) and curved (the crook)—are probably
attributes of cattle-raising and of agriculture respectively; yet at the same time
they denote the straight path (or the solar, diurnal, logical course) and the crooked
path (the lunar, nocturnal and intuitive). The Uraeus beyond doubt symbolizes
the sublimated serpent—raised, that is to say, in height (the kundalini), so as to
become a symbol of strength transformed into spirit or an aspect of power. In
itself, the idea of power embraces the notions of extreme self-awareness and
integrity, defensive concentration of forces, appropriation and domination of the
environment, and effulgence. Hence, to take these ideas in turn, the symbols of
power are names, seals, marks, standards and signs; masks, helmets, head-dresses,
swords and shields; sceptres, crowns, pallia and palaces; and effulgence is expressed by gold and precious stones. Domination also finds expression in such
forms of the quaternary as four-headed sceptres, hermae or thrones alluding to
the cardinal points. The crown, in its most highly developed form, embraces the
diadem or circle and the hemisphere or image of the vault of heavens; and sometimes it denotes the four points of the compass—or suggests them by means of four bands which rise up from the diadem to meet higher up, in the middle,
surmounted by another symbolic motif. The idea of royalty is, of course, linked
with sun-symbolism, and therefore the animals associated with it are such as the
eagle and the lion, and on occasion the dragon. Once Christianity had become the
official religion of the Roman Empire, various Christian symbols of sublimation
accrue to the symbolism of power, notably the crucifix and the fleur-de-lis. The
latter symbol is found in Byzantium, whence it reached Central Europe, Germany, France and the Western world by the 1st millennium A.D.
To dream that you have power, indicates your growing confidence, high self-esteem and increasing skills. Alternatively, your dream of power may try to compensate for a waking situation where you felt powerless.
To dream that you do not have any power, refers to a waking situation in which you felt unable to do anything.
Dreaming that you have power indicates your growing confidence, high self-esteem and increasing skills. Alternatively, your dream of power may try to compensate for a waking situation in which you were powerless. Dreaming that you do not have any power or feel powerless, refers to a waking situation in which you felt unable to do anything.