How to Study Dream Reading
From how symbols work to the dreams people have most
Reading dreams is not a matter of memorizing a dictionary. Learn first how symbols come to mean what they mean, and you can work out dreams the dictionary does not list. Bring one dream you had recently to mind before you start, and you will see the principles land on that dream directly.
Stage 1 · How symbols are read
Start with how tradition and psychology each look at dreams, and by what rules a symbol takes on meaning. Once that is in place, the rest is application.
- 1. The Principles of Dream Interpretation — Reading Symbols Through Tradition and Psychology — Why people have interpreted dreams, the views of traditional interpretation and modern psychology, and the ideas of auspicious dreams, ominous dreams, and reverse reading.
- 2. Common Dreams and Reading Their Symbols — What do the common dreams everyone has at least once — of pigs, water, fire, or losing teeth — really mean? We set out a broad frame for reading recurring dream symbols.
Stage 2 · The dreams people actually have
These are the dreams people actually bring. Animal dreams, and dreams that lead to numbers, are the subjects our tradition returns to most often.
- 3. Animals in Dreams — The Meaning of the Pig, the Snake, and the Tiger — A pig dream means wealth, a snake dream means wisdom and wealth — or so they say. Here is how the animals that often appear in dreams are read in traditional dream interpretation.
- 4. Dreams and Lucky Numbers — The Play of Reading an Auspicious Dream as a Number — Where did the saying that you buy a lottery ticket after dreaming of a pig come from? Here we look at the grain of an old amusement — reading a dream's symbols into lucky numbers.
By the end of this path you can work out a dream that no dictionary covers. The knack is to read the feeling you had and what came before and after the scene, rather than fixing one meaning to one symbol. Traditional lore and psychology read the same symbol differently; rather than deciding which is right, choose whichever fits your present situation better.
When you can change the order
If the dream you want to look up is already decided, you can skip the principles in stage one and go straight to the pieces on symbols. Reading the principles first does pay off, though: it explains why the same symbol is read differently from one person to the next, and why this site splits each entry into situations rather than giving a single answer. If you came about a conception dream, the piece on animals sits in stage two and is a fine place to start.
What people usually get wrong
The most common belief is that dreams foretell what is coming. Traditional interpretation mostly read them as a reflection of your present circumstances and state of mind, not as an announcement of a fixed future. It is equally mistaken to assume that an unpleasant dream means an unpleasant event. Excrement, blood and thieves are among the many symbols that tradition reads in reverse, and a dream that felt awful often resolves into a reading about money.
What this path does not cover
Nightmares that keep returning, or dreams disturbing enough to cost you sleep, are not a matter for interpretation. Nothing medical about sleep is covered here, and if that state continues for a while, rest and a doctor come before any reading. This order was not written to be used for suspecting the people around you or for spending more money either. A reading is a window onto your own mind; it does not make the decision for you.