Dreams and Their Symbolism: An Introduction to Dream Interpretation

Dreams, Dream-Messages and Visions: What Are We Talking About?

A dream is the whole of the images, emotions and thoughts that occur during sleep. The French word songe (“dream-message”) suggests a dream seen as a message, and oneiromancy is divination by dreams. We also speak of oneirology for the study of dreams, and of oneirocriticism for the art of interpreting them. This page presents the history of these readings, what the sciences say about them, and a method for keeping a journal.

Dreams have fascinated people for as long as there have been people, because they combine the familiar and the strange: we meet loved ones and places, the worries of the day, mixed with impossible scenes. It is natural to look for meaning in them.

Dreams in Antiquity

In Mesopotamia, dreams were regarded as messages sent by the gods, and diviners classed them among omens. The Epic of Gilgamesh contains several, which his mother interprets. In Egypt, a papyrus from around the 13th century BCE, the Chester Beatty III papyrus, is the oldest surviving dream book: it classes dreams as “good” or “bad” according to the image seen. Egyptians and Greeks also practised incubation: they slept in a sanctuary, such as those of Asclepius, hoping to receive a dream sent by the god.

The most complete ancient text is the Oneirocritica of Artemidorus of Daldis (2nd century CE), in five books. Artemidorus classifies dreams, but above all he insists on a principle that remains valid: the same dream does not mean the same thing to everyone. One must know the dreamer's trade, age and condition. The universal symbol dictionaries sold today therefore contradict one of the earliest theorists of the subject.

In the Middle Ages, the Somniale Danielis, a dream book attributed to Daniel, circulated widely. In the Muslim world, a treatise of interpretation attributed to Ibn Sirin (8th century) was very widely distributed, although the attribution is debated. The Bible also recounts important dreams, such as those of Joseph.

Freud, Jung and Modern Psychology

In 1899 (dated 1900), Sigmund Freud published The Interpretation of Dreams. He argued that the dream is a disguised fulfilment of a wish, and distinguished the manifest content (what one remembers) from the latent content (the hidden meaning). His method relies on the dreamer's free associations, not on a dictionary.

Carl Gustav Jung took his distance: for him, the dream compensates the conscious attitude and draws on images common to all humanity, which he called archetypes. He recommended working on a series of dreams rather than on a single dream. These theories nourished psychotherapy, but they remain models, debated, and not established truths.

What Neuroscience Says

Sleep unfolds in cycles of about 90 minutes, with slow phases and so-called REM phases (rapid eye movements), identified in 1953 by Eugene Aserinsky and Nathaniel Kleitman. The most vivid and narrative dreams occur mainly in REM sleep, but people also dream in the other phases. In 1977, J. Allan Hobson and Robert McCarley proposed the activation-synthesis hypothesis: the brain produces signals, which the cortex organises into a story.

Several hypotheses coexist: dreaming helps consolidate memories, rehearse threatening situations and regulate emotions. None commands unanimous agreement. One result is broadly accepted: dreams partly reflect the concerns of waking life (the “continuity hypothesis”). There is no evidence that dreams predict the future. Sleep science studies dreams, but it does not provide any “dream dictionary.”

Dreams Across Cultures

Traditions see very different things in dreams. In ancient Chinese thought, the Zhuangzi (4th century BCE) tells the famous story of a sage who dreams he is a butterfly and wonders, on waking, whether he is not a butterfly dreaming that he is a man: the dream becomes a question about reality. In the Bible, the dreams of Joseph or Daniel are messages of a prophetic kind. In the Muslim world, tradition distinguishes “good dreams,” seen as good news, from ordinary or disturbing dreams.

Beware of confusions: the Dreaming of the Aboriginal peoples of Australia is not simply the interpretation of dreams, but a complex spiritual, legal and cosmological framework that belongs to those peoples. Quick equivalences should be avoided. Likewise, each culture has its own ways of describing what happens at night; none holds the single key.

Keeping a Dream Journal

1. Prepare a notebook and a pen by the bed, with soft light.
2. Write down upon waking, without moving, everything you remember, even fragments: places, people, emotions, colours.
3. Date the entry and add the context of the previous day (tiredness, an event).
4. Underline the emotions rather than the objects: what you felt often says more than the scenery.
5. Reread after a few weeks and spot the recurring themes.

Here are three useful questions to ask of a dream: what was I feeling? What does each element bring to mind for me? What current situation might this dream be shedding light on? The answer comes from you, not from a dictionary. Over time, you will notice that your memory of dreams improves.

Precautions and Limits

Interpreting a dream is a conversation with yourself, not a diagnosis. If frequent nightmares disrupt your sleep, or if a dream troubles you for a long time, speak to a doctor or a psychologist. Some people also practise lucid dreaming (knowing that one is dreaming): it is a documented phenomenon, but it is better not to practise it during periods of fatigue or significant anxiety. For symbolism and folklore, see the meaning of the dreamcatcher and the Ojibwe origin of this object.

And to place dream interpretation among the other divinatory arts, consult the history of divination and the guide to other divinations.

Frequently asked questions

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The meanings mentioned belong to tradition and symbolism. They are neither promises of results nor medical advice. Back to Other divinatory arts.