Sometime in the night, three deer sit together in a quiet forest. The first deer, who is the main focus of the other two, lies with her feet tucked under her, her neck stretched out and resting on the soft grass, seemingly asleep. She is a vibrant blue hue that seems to glow against the night.
Nestled beside her is another doe, with a pelt of dark blue/grey, not quite black. She is awake and alert, watching over her companion.
A lavender colored fawn is tiptoeing around the pair on its spindly legs. Eventually it sidles up to the black one, leaning into its mother’s warmth. After a moment the fawn raises its head to peer shyly at the blue one they were keeping company.
“What’s it like,” the fawn whispers delicately. “What do they look like as they’re departing?”
The doe turns and looks down at the quiet companion she has been watching over, waiting patiently for its soul to leave this world. After some consideration the doe relays to her daughter what only she can see.
“There’s a gaseous substance that lifts away from her,” she says quietly. Through her eyes, the blue deer’s body is enveloped in a white mist that seems to move in an invisible wind. Her ear flickers as a gentle, burbling sound touches it. “It sounds like trickling water,” she adds.
To see a deer in your dream, symbolizes grace, compassion, gentleness, meekness and natural beauty. It has feminine qualities and may point to the feminine aspect within yourself. It also represents independence, alertness, and virility. Consider the symbol to be a pun for someone who is "dear" to you. Alternatively, the dream represents vulnerability and naivete. As a result, others may take advantage of you and your gullibility.
If the deer is black, then it means that you are not acknowledging or are rejecting the feminine qualities in you. You may not be in tune with your feminine side.
To dream that you kill a dear, suggests that you are trying to suppress those feminine qualities.
This is a favorable dream, denoting pure and deep friendships for the young and a quiet and even life for the married.
To kill a deer, denotes that you will be hounded by enemies. For farmers, or business people, to dream of hunting deer, denotes failure in their respective pursuits.
Seeing a deer in your dream, symbolizes grace, gentleness, and natural beauty. It has feminine qualities and may point to the feminine aspect within yourself. It also represents independence and virility. Consider the symbol to be a pun for someone who is "dear" to you. If the deer is black, then it means that you are not acknowledging or are rejected the feminine qualities in you. You may not be in tune with your feminine side. Dreaming that you kill a dear, suggests that you are trying to suppress those feminine qualities.
A deer in a dream can symbolize your vulnerable side. If you dream that you have killed a deer, the dream could be a warning you that you might be hurting someone unnecessarily. Chasing a deer in a dream can symbolize overcoming a fear.
A stag is a symbol of male sexual energy and strength. A stag can also represent a man that you admire.
Dreaming of a herd of deer can indicate that you are thinking about where you stand in relation to others.
Deer Symbolism
When we encounter the deer in the wild, our breath catches - we are transfixed by their graceful features and delicate movements. The tender beauty of these beasts has not gone unnoticed by our ancestors.
The deer is linked to the arts, specifically poetry and music in ancient Celtic animal lore due to its graceful form. The Celts also believed that deer were associated with the fairie realm, and would lead troops of fairies - hundreds of them trailing behind them as the stag cut a path through the forest.
Both Celts and Native Americans observed the deer to be savvy when it came to finding the best herbs. These earth-bound peoples would follow the deer to prime herb patches - many of which proved to be highly beneficial in their medicinal purposes.
A quick-list of animal symbolism of the deer include:
Love
Grace
Peace
Beauty
Fertility
Humility
Swiftness
Regrowth
Creativity
Spirituality
Abundance
Benevolence
Watchfulness
How does this translate into our own life experience?
Just as the deer has an uncanny sense of where to find the green freshness earth provides, we can ask the deer within ourselves to seek out our inner treasures. In meditation or day dream, go on a spiritual hike with the deer. See yourself walking in the woods with the deer leading you into amazing depths within your soul. Each step you and the deer take will lead you deeper into your spiritual knowing, and to limitless treasure within.
The deer (particularly the doe, females) has the capacity for infinite generosity. Their heart rhythms pulse in soft waves of kindness. Match that graciousness by offering your trust to her. She will reward you by leading you to the most powerful spiritual medicine you can fathom.
In China the deer is a symbol of happiness and good fortune. Indeed, its name in Chinese is a homonym for the word abundance.
The deer is associated with:
The Dawn
The Moon
The Easterly directions
Those wishing to invoke the symbolic meaning of the deer may have most success and profound experiences while incorporating these associations.
For example, we can honor the deer during a full moon to enhance or draw out some of the deer's qualities (listed above) within ourselves.
Likewise, honoring the deer with our attention pointed in an eastern direction at dawn will elicit responsive energy too. Nothing fancy (the deer really has no use for pomp and circumsance - her pleasure comes from quiet simplicities) just a solemn nod of your head and a simple "thank you" for deer's presence will do.
Gentleness is the key word here. The deer represents kindness and compassion.
Power of gentleness, love, alertness, camouflage, balance and alertness, attention to subtler outside influences, ability to listen, attention, shows how to walk gracefully and carefully, connections to children and people for best interests of all, vision, hearing, smell, helps discern what actions to be done. Teaches empathy for others, soft direction and leadership abilities. Are you awakening to your own innocence? Are you listening to your inner child? Deer walks softly and gracefully. Are you ready for new opportunities that will reflect this gentle love to others?
To see a fawn in your dream, symbolizes true friends and faithfulness in love.
To dream of seeing a fawn, denotes that you will have true and upright friends.
To the young, it indicates faithfulness in love.
To dream that a person fawns on you, or cajoles you, is a warning that enemies are about you in the guise of interested friends.
Seeing a fawn in your dream, symbolizes true friends and faithfulness in love.
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 dream that you are watching something, indicates your passiveness. You lack initiative to take a position or to take action. It may reflect upon your real life and how you are watching life pass you by, instead of participating it. You need to take more initiative. Alternatively, the dream symbolizes your neutrality in some situation. You do not want to take a side. The dream may also be a metaphor warning you to "watch it!"
To dream that you are being watched, suggests that you are feeling confined in your work environment or personal relationship. You are lacking privacy and feel you are being scrutinized or criticized.
Dreaming that you are watching something, represents you lack of initiative to take any action. It may also symbolize your neutrality in some situation.
To dream of seeing a wife or husband, signifies small anxieties and probable sickness.
To dream of social companions, denotes light and frivolous pastimes will engage your attention hindering you from performing your duties.
To dream that it is particularly quiet, indicates that you need to stop and reflect upon life. It is time for introspection and solace. You need some quiet time in order to restore some sanity and spiritual balance.
To dream that you are invisible, signifies feelings of not being noticed or recognized for what is important to you. You feel you are being overlooked. Alternatively, the dream indicates that you are trying to withdraw from the realities of life.
Dreaming that you are invisible means feelings of not being noticed or recognized for what is important to you. Alternatively, you may be trying to withdraw from the realities of life.
Mist is symbolic of things indeterminate, or the fusing together of the
Elements of air and water, and the inevitable obscuring of the outlines of each
aspect and each particular phase of the evolutive process. The ‘mist of fire’ is that
stage of cosmic life which follows upon the state of chaos (9) and corresponds to
the three Elements which existed prior to the solid Element—earth.
To dream that you are caught in a mist, indicates that there is some confusion and uncertainty in your waking life. You need some clarity in a situation.
To dream that you are enveloped in a mist, denotes uncertain fortunes and domestic unhappiness. If the mist clears away, your troubles will be of short duration.
To see others in a mist, you will profit by the misfortune of others.
Dreaming that you are caught in a mist means confusion and unhappiness in your home life and uncertain fortune. You need to see things more clearly. Seeing others caught in a mist means that you will gain from the misfortune of others.