Lightning
Lightning stands for sudden insight and abrupt change. Seeing it flash hints at unexpected news or inspiration, and marks a time when the answer to a long-stuck problem appears all at once. A bolt striking your body or house is startling, yet tradition read it as a good omen of great change and wealth arriving. If you hid in fear of the thunder, though, it means you are avoiding a change already on its way.
Lightning is the instant a path opens between sky and ground. Traditional reading took lightning as a signal sent from the sky and did not read it as purely ill-omened even when it startled.
Readings by Situation
Seeing lightning flash
A sign that unexpected news or inspiration is coming. Tradition read lightning as word from the sky. Take it as a time when a long-blocked thought opens up.
Lightning lighting the way ahead
A good omen that the road shows itself for a moment. Brief as it was, a direction appeared. If you remember what you saw then, that is your thread.
Hiding, startled by lightning
This reflects fear of sudden change. It is not a forecast that something bad is coming. Having a little prepared makes it easier to bear.
Lightning striking something
A sign that something splits in one stroke. Tradition sometimes treated a lightning-struck tree as precious rather than ruined. Read it as a signal of large change.
Lightning dreams do not forecast a real accident or disaster. They are scenes drawn by what you feel in the face of sudden change. Do not fix it as a bad omen because it startled you.