Lions

What does it mean to dream about lions?

Killed cheetah and lion with scimitar…

Dream: I dreamt that I first killed a cheetah and afterwards a large majestic, ferocious and yet beautiful female lion. They were trying to attack some people in a kind of a huge mansion. The craziest thing was that I had killed them both with a freaking scimitar! And I was the only one in my dream to step forward while all others had stepped back or fled the scene (it was a huge floor and the surroundings kind of resembled a small coliseum in a huge mansion). I wasn’t scared at all from the big cats. I actually felt brave and confident. They didn’t give that much of a struggle even though they were showing teeth and growling at me. They tried to get in close but I kept fending them off. The cheetah was the first one to die, and afterwards I threw the lion to the ground and held it down with one foot so it wouldn’t get up and meanwhile I slowly shoved the scimitar into its heart. The weirdest thing was that after I killed the lion I felt kind of sorry for it because it was such a majestic and beautiful animal. I remember wanting to skin the lion and to wear its hide.

DreamsMaster: This dream is rich with symbolism, which can only be fully interpreted by you. However, because you provided so much detail, I can more easily project myself into the dream and provide interpretation ideas for your consideration.

Cheetah and female lion: Power, aggression, beauty. These powerful felines could symbolize these aspects in yourself, or they may symbolize outside forces such as other individuals or even nations that have majestic and beautiful aspects yet at the same time may be perceived as a threat.

Mansion/coliseum: In dreams, dwellings or buildings generally represent the self or ego. To dream of a mansion could symbolize an expansive ego or sense of self. The fact that others are in this mansion and you feel the need to protect them could mean that you feel you have an expanded sense of personal power and resourcefulness. Also, the fact that the inside of the mansion resembles a coliseum could represent the sense that you feel you are the center of attention in an important contest.

Scimitar: A trusted source cited the scimitar as a weapon that originated in the Middle East, popular within Islamic armies. To dream of killing with this ancient weapon could represent a desire to take control and conquer a perceived threat to one’s deep-seated cultural roots.

If this were my dream, the dream may represent a strong desire to demonstrate my personal power, pride and dignity in the face of a threat that I perceive as majestic yet vulnerable.

Chased by lions…

Dream: Being chased by lions and being bit from behind. My young son has been dreaming this over and over for a month or so.

DreamsMaster: A lion generally symbolizes strength, power, courage, pride and leadership. It may also symbolize cruelty, especially if it has turned on you. The core question is whether the lions in this repetitive dream represent certain others in your son’s life that he’s feeling threatened by, or if they represent another aspect in his life or a trait in himself that he’s trying to run away from.

The fact that this dream began about a month or so ago is a significant clue to its meaning. Have your son think back on what started happening in his life back then. Did something of concern occur at school? For example, is he being bullied by someone he perceives to be a leader of an intimating group? If he cannot identify any external threat like this, ask him what else he may feel threatened by, such as overwhelming demands of school and fearing falling behind (“being bit from behind”). Most likely an event in his daily life triggered this feeling of being threatened, and the threat persists.

Regardless of whether the perceived threat is external or internal, work with your son to draw on the lion’s courage and transform the symbol from a threat to a friend. Have him draw a picture of a lion that represents strength, power and protection, and then encourage him to hang the picture where he can look at it frequently. Once he can tap into his own personal power and with your support face the threat head on, the dreams will become less threatening and likely cease altogether.

Killed a lion…

Dream: I killed a lion.

DreamsMaster: What powerful symbolism! In order to determine what the dream means, start by defining what a lion represents to you personally.

For example, if it were my dream, these are some adjectives I would use to describe a lion: strong, powerful, protective, dangerous, wild. Would any of those descriptions fit for you as well? What other words would you use to describe a lion?

Next, provide more details about the dream:
– What events led up to you killing the lion?
– Were you feeling threatened by it?
– Was there a struggle?
– How did you kill it? Was it with weapons, or with your bare hands?
– Was it a male lion with a mane, or was it a female?
– What feelings did you have in the dream? Did you feel afraid, fearless, powerful?

As you answer all of these questions (and any others that come to mind as you run through this exercise), watch for a theme to emerge, and then see how that theme may be occurring in your waking world.

For example, let’s say the lion is behaving in a threatening manner. One possible theme could be: I’m feeling threatened by someone or something I perceive as being very powerful and needs to be destroyed. But I am more powerful than the other, who is not really a threat after all.

Finally, once you’ve reached some satisfying conclusions about the symbolism of the lion and the theme of the dream, ask yourself, where in your life does this fit for you? Is there a [powerful, strong, wild] person in your life that you perceive as a threat that needs to be eliminated? Or, is there a [powerful, strong, wild] part of yourself that you consider threatening and feel the need to subdue?

You can see how many directions a dream can take you, and how only the dreamer can uncover the true meaning of a dream. In fact, here’s another angle this dream could take depending on the dreamer’s own personal frame of reference — Do you pay attention to astrology? If so, is there a Leo in your life? ☺

Submit a dream of your own to the DreamsMaster…