Hi. We are Yin and Frank. Welcome to our dream glossary.
This is our online edition of the dream dictionary we finally completed after several years of research. It contains dream interpretations carefully selected from all around the world, mostly from far East and oldest European traditions.
Dream meanings we collected were passed down by word of mouth from one generation to another over hundreds of years. This way only proven meanings were retained in the folk tradition over the centuries. We have collected the most common dream explanations of all nations and traditions, and they are all covered in this dictionary.
What are dreams?
In general, dreams can be defined as “the mental experience that happens to us during sleep”. At a basic level, dreams involve visual perception during sleep. The images that appear shape a kind of a story which tends to be extremely realistic, mostly because they are filled with strong emotions.
However, the real reason why dreams occur, what exactly produces them and how to control them is still unknown to modern medicine.
Dream interpretations
Dream interpretation or Oneiromancy is, next to astrology, one of the techniques that people have been practicing for many years. Although today it seems biased and unprofessional, there is historical evidence that dream interpretation has been practiced since people lived in primitive tribal communities. Dreams were believed to be invaluable to every member of the community, so all members of the tribe gathered in the morning and recounted their dreams to others.
With the development of the first civilizations, most rulers had their own interpreter of dreams, who worked for the benefit of the whole country because it was believed that dreams are warnings that indicate the disasters that threaten the society or to mistakes in the policy implemented by the ruler of a particular country.
Given the fact that a long time ago it became known that the human psyche is like an iceberg and that the 90% of it is hiding “under the surface”, namely the unconscious content, it has become extremely important to know that the unconscious part which could provide a more comprehensive view to the life of the individual. One of the ways to get to that unconscious content and messages, and to use them to get a more complete insight and a better understanding of the problem, is to interpret dreams.
The period of scientific work on the interpretation of dreams begins with the emergence of psychoanalysis, which was introduced into psychology and psychiatry by Sigmund Freud. His book “Dream Interpretation” played a key role in this. In this work, Freud suggested that the content of what we dream is related to its fulfillment, so he believed that what happens in a dream serves to cover up the unconscious desires of the person dreaming (the latent content of the dream). Such a method of dream interpretation, in which they are reduced to some of the basic instincts, and in the background of everything as the main psychodynamic driver lies the instinct of sexuality, is called psychodynamic dream interpretation.
Sigmund Freud described four elements of the process that affect sleep, ie the so-called. “Sleep work”, which are:
- Summarization – a number of mutually different concepts and ideas presented in the duration of a dream, and the information is therefore summarized into a single image or a thought
- Displacement – this element disguises or masks the emotional meaning of the dreamer’s unconscious desires and thus leads to confusion about insignificant and significant parts of the dream.
- Symbolization – censors repressed ideas contained in a dream by including objects that should symbolize latent content.
- Secondary processing – this is the last stage of the dreaming process, and Freud believed that during it the bizarre parts of the dream are reorganized so it becomes more understandable.
To learn more about dream interpretations, please check our homepage – The meaning of dreams.
Dream interpretation theories
While Sigmund Freud believed dreams to be an expression of our repressed desires, Carl Jung argued that dreams are more than that and that they reveal personal and collective unconscious. He created the archetypal interpretation of dreams, a method that is also psychodynamic but very different from Freud’s. Jung believed that the function of dreams is to compensate for parts of the psyche that are not active enough in the waking state. Another difference between Freud’s and Jung’s interpretation of dreams is that, unlike Freud, Jung believed that dreams can be very personal and that their interpretation must include an excellent knowledge of the person who dreamed a particular dream and its desires, aspirations and life circumstances.
According to Calvin S. Hall’s theory, dreams are a part of cognitive processes, in other words, they serve as concepts of elements that exist in the waking state. He believed that the ultimate goal of dream interpretation was not to understand them, but to understand the person dreaming them.
Another prominent dream researcher is William Domhoff, and he believed that dreams reflect the thoughts and worries we face during the waking state. Domhoff established a neurocognitive model of dreams according to which the processes that take place during dreaming are the result of neurological processes
How to dig into a dream meaning
Dream interpretation can help us rectify our, often wrong, conscious attitudes about ourselves, other people, or events and situations. Dreams sometimes prepare us psychologically for important life changes and provide support in crisis situations, and sometimes even concrete advice on what we should do. It is only important to know how to interpret them.
Dreams that recur or look like nightmares most often carry a message or a warning of a conflict that the person dreaming carries deep in the subconscious and is unable to become aware of it and find a solution. Dreams in children can especially indicate problems that occur during important events in their lives, such as going to kindergarten, school, or entering puberty.
In addition, dreams can also help us to know and accept our own qualities that we do not even know we possess, regardless of them being positive or negative. It has also been proven that dreams can be a source of artistic and scientific works because some authors have literally dreamed of content that they have subsequently turned into works in reality.
It is important to point out that dreams unite our thoughts, spirit and body, because the mind creates dreams from materials gathered from experiences lived during the waking state. This is why our dreams are personal and unique, as no one else can have the same background, emotions and experience as us.
How to use our dream dictionary?
In the SEARCH bar, enter the phrase that has the most to do with your dream. All the texts that contain the given phrase will be listed. Dream explanations and true symbolism of your dream can be found here. Using our dictionary is completely free. We hope you’ll find it usefull.
Yin and Frank.