Talking whilst asleep is a relatively common sleep disorder. The subject matter being talked about tends to be harmless. It may also make no sense at all. At other times,...

Nightmares are significant dreams that help us maintain emotional and psychological balance when faced with stress and fear. These frightening and often memorable dreams can wake you up and leave...

People who experience nightmares may find themselves jolting awake in the middle of the night, often able to recall the terrifying dream that disrupted their sleep. Nightmares are common during...

If you have experienced a traumatic event, for example an attack, accident or disaster, such as an earthquake, you may find that your dreaming mind recalls the horror of that...

Not being aware, avoidance of feeling or looking at something, surrender of waking self. Idioms: lose sleep over, sleep around; put it to sleep; sleep in; sleeping panner; sleep like...

J. Allan Hobson, a renowned neuroscientist specializing in brain structure and dreams, has identified five common characteristics of dreaming in his book "The Dreaming Universe," as outlined below: Intense Emotions:...

To dream you sleep or slumber, is evil to all except those who are in doubt or expectation of some danger, for this delivers them from pain and care. To...

As you age, your sleep patterns change; so too will the time you spend dreaming and the subjects of your dreams. By their mid-forties, many people begin to go to...

No one has yet discovered the function of dreams in our lives. Some scientists believe that we sleep in order to dream, because dreams tidy all our emotions. Different experiments...

The down expresses sleep; rest; withdrawal; non-involvement. Idioms: feel down, down and out; do some­one down, down at heel; down hearted; down with.See prone above in this entry.

Alcohol can have a significant impact on sleep and sleeping patterns. Under the influence of alcohol, the quantity of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep decreases and Stage 4 sleep increases,...

Night terrors are not nightmares. In fact they are not even dreams. Also known as sleep terrors, night terrors occur during non-REM sleep, not during REM sleep when the majority...

Animals exhibit a wide range of sleep patterns. While lions may slumber for two to three days at a time, some antelope sleep for only one hour a day. Dolphins...

In ancient times, nightmares were thought to be caused by evil spirits. The word, in fact, derives from a Scandinavian legend in which a ‘nacht-mara’—the ‘mara’ being a female demon—came...

Material aspects: Physical abuse can give rise to nightmares and other terror dreams, further depleting our resources due to both broken sleep patterns and the over stimulation of the fright,...

During experiments to monitor the brain activ­ity of animals and humans while asleep, it was noted that the brain seemed to move through a series of levels of activity. In...

A spiritual threat is one that forces us to reassess our beliefs. Most often it will contain options of action that lead to a degree of inevitability either way. Once...

If you have nightmares, try to understand the fears and the events in those dreams. They suggest that you might be holding on to be traumatic or guilt based conflicts....

This is a wonderful, peaceful, quiet dream, and sometimes even romantic. This may be a sign that you may need more peace and quiet in your daily life. Or maybe...

Jung, Hadfield and several other dream researchers believe the dream process is linked with homoeostasis or self regulation (see Man and His Sym­bols, Jung; Dreams and Nightmares, Hadfield; Mind and...

Most people who have kept a dog have witnessed it bark while it is obviously dreaming. Calling out during a disturbing or active dream is common to humans also. Some...

See the individual entry for intruder and also the entry in people

By the time a boy or girl reaches puberty, their sleep patterns and dreaming closely match those of an adult. Just like an adult, they spend about twenty-five per cent...

See individual entry and also the entry for monster.

The scientific exploration of dreams is known as oneirology. This field delves not only into the content or meaning of dreams but also the intricate mechanics behind them. It examines...

It seems that they do, although we can’t know for sure. All we can measure is whether or not they have REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, which is more or...

Green has always stood for vegetation, nature, and growing (deep green in astrology relates to Taurus, ruled by Venus). Green reminds us of spring; only a “poison” green is ugly....

Oswald (as related in his book Sleep) observed active rocking in some children and adults during sleep. These rocking movements were very powerful, occur­ring at a rate of one per...

To dream that you are ruptured, denotes you will have physical disorders or disagreeable contentions.If it be others you see in this condition, you will be in danger of irreconcilable...

If one sees himself turning in his sleep and putting his face down, or resting on his stomach in a dream, it means that he will turn away from his...

Dr Ernest Hartmann carried out studies in connection with people who have stable sleep pat­terns. His aim was to define whether waking events influ­enced people’s need for sleep.For instance, a...

Recurrent dream themes often start at a young age, but can begin at any time, and persist for the rest of one’s life.The theme of missing an exam, to take...

Generally, nightmares come from a range of emotions, including anxiety, guilt, confusion and stress. If you are going through a tough time in your life, then you’re more susceptible to...

Sleepwalking or moving is an attempt to put a dream into action. Most likely you have grown out of the habit, if you ever had it, but if an occasion...

There may be a physical cause for dreams in which you find yourself unable to move or sense anything; it is called sleep paralysis. During REM sleep when dreams are...

Adaptive theory speculates that species-wide sleep patterns developed as a way of adapting to the environment. Grazing animals, for example, sleep relatively few hours a day in short bursts. According...

(See Sleep, Turning in one’s sleep)

If you are experiencing great fear in your dreams, you are having nightmares. These types of dreams are positive because your unconscious mind is trying to tell you something.If you...

The intruder in a woman’s dream is often a personification of her own animus. In a man’s dream it characterizes his shadow. In either case it suggests the need for...

Nightmares are easy to recognize: you wake up feeling anything from mild fright to complete terror. Despite the fear they evoke, even the scariest dreams come to help you. The...

While we sleep, our brain constantly remains active, passing through different phases or steps. Sleepiness This first step occurs just before we fall asleep, as we transition from wakefulness into...

(Sleep) To doze or fall forward on one’s face in a sleep in a dream means going astray.

Gives gender-specific: In a woman’s dream a bag can represent her feelings about pregnancy, while, interestingly enough, in a man’s dream it is more likely to mean some kind of...

Material aspects: As nowadays many workplaces use electronic passes to gain entry, to forget a pass might denote a lack of interest in what we are doing or that if...

The whole sphere of sexuality and sensuality, not just the sex act. Our unconscious often connects sex with giving oneself, a death of self, and making connections or bonds— obviously...

REM sleep is recognized by tiny twitches of facial muscles and slight movements of the hands. Blood pressure rises, breathing and heartbeat become faster, eyes dart rapidly around the eyelids...

Daydreams Studies show that we all have the tendency to daydream an average of 70-120 minutes a day. Day dreaming is classified as a level of consciousness between sleep and...

We typically spend more than two hours each night dreaming but there is much that scientists do not know about how or why we dream.Freud, who greatly influenced the field...

A skeleton in dreams alerts us to our attitude to the macabre. We are aware that the physical must ‘die’ or change, but that there is still a framework left.The...

Aromatherapy is an ancient healing art that is currently enjoying a new-found popularity. Essential oils are used to stimulate healing through the senses. They are highly concentrated and some can...

Very common with some people, especially during adolescence or times of stress. Sometimes accompa­nied by hallucinations. Sleep walking is normal as an occa­sional event in children.If the child is agitated,...

Gives gender-specific: In dreams nymphs are connected with a woman’s sense of beauty and her own femininity. Each group of nymphs has their own particular role and guardianship of specific...

It is bad to dream of cabbage. Disorders may run riot in all forms.To dream of seeing cabbage green, means unfaithfulness in love and infidelity in wedlock.To cut heads of...

The Balm for Weary Minds "Sleep is the balm for hurt minds, nature’s great second course." - William Shakespeare Sleep is an absolute necessity for our physical, mental, and emotional...

Research has shown that sensitive or gifted children tend to be more prone to dreams and nightmares. Dreams in childhood often mirror the stress and confusion that is associated with...

For Jung, life was a great mystery, something about which we know and understand very little. He never hesitated to say, ‘I don’t know,’ and always admitted when he had...

E. and Kleitman, N. Aserinsky, while working under Kleitman in a sleep study laboratory, was the first to observe the rapid eye movements (REM) now known to occur dunng dreaming....

Your innermost fears or negative attitudes that are seen as larger than you can handle.See also NIGHTMARES; SURREALISM AND FANTASY

For centuries, dreams have fascinated humans, with theories ranging from divine messages to psychological reflections of the subconscious mind. Today, thanks to advancements in neuroscience and psychology, the science of...

Material aspects: The images that appear in dreams will reflect how we are feeling, what obstacles there are, possible courses of action and what our ultimate goal should or may...

If the house is one we know, live in now or in the past, what is said about home applies.If it is a house created by the dream: one’s body...

When they are associated with pleasant oneiric images, ants are synonymous with difficult preparation work. But on many occasions, their multiplicity provokes an unfavorable meaning.If you see them invading your...

Example: ‘After our first baby was born I had such nightmares my doctor gave me a tranquilliser to take before going to sleep. I have taken one at bedtime for...

See castle above in this entry.

See individual entry.

It's a widespread phenomenon that more than half of individuals have little to no recollection of their dreams upon awakening. This leads to a common misconception that they don't dream...

See captive, prisoner above in this entry.

A black cat can symbolize evil or bad luck for many non-Christians and is a common dream symbol in many nightmares

Consult the entry for vulture in this section.

Consult the entry for magpie in this section.

Consult the entry for horse in this section.

Consult the entry for abdomen in this section.

There have been many claims that one can learn while asleep—possibly with the aid of a re­corded series of suggestions or information being spoken from a speaker under one’s pillow....

Each one of us can learn the art of remembering dreams. This ability is a fundamental requirement for working with dream symbols and harnessing the power of your dreams for...

When a person feels that they have stepped out of, or been separated from, their physical body and have the ability to travel to another location on earth or even...

The observation of animal sleep patterns has long been of interest, dating as far back as 44 B.C.E., when the Roman natural philosopher Lucretius described “the twitching movements of dogs...