Popular Themes

What are the most popular themes in dreams, and what do they mean?

Dead bodies jerking…

Dream: I’ve had this dream for many, many years. I dream that I am at a funeral home and there are three coffins with dead bodies in them, however, the bodies begin moving in jerky motion, I then go to the director and he tells me that’s what dead bodies do. Sometimes I recognize the dead people, other times no.

DreamsMaster: Interesting. Let’s take a look at each of the symbols in this dream and then piece them all together into a theme…

Funeral home: A house or home in a dream often represents our personal space or self. Along these lines, a funeral home or a “house of the dead” could represent a part of yourself that feels obsolete or lifeless, that harbors old memories or ways of being.

Three coffins with dead bodies: The number three may be a religious symbol (such as the Trinity), or it could mean something personal to you. Is there something in your life that comes in threes? Or do you have any other personal association to that number?

Dead bodies moving in jerky motion: When I project myself into your dream, I visualize this jerking as being similar to when we first fall asleep and sometimes jerk ourselves awake. How did you feel when you saw the bodies jerk? Were you afraid, or just confused?

Funeral director: This character could represent the part of yourself that is in charge, in control of the situation, even when another part of you doubts or questions.

“That’s what dead bodies do”: Even though one part of you questions what you see, another part of you “takes charge” and provides an answer for you. Interesting that you appear to take the director’s words at face value, despite the fact that the answer does not seem logical with your felt sense of the experience. Do you tend to give your power away like this in the waking world, question your intuition?

A dead person in a dream generally represents some aspect of ourselves that has become obsolete, has “died off”. If the dead person is someone you recognize but is not someone close to you, think of how you would describe that person and then consider how that person may represent your shadow side, an unseen or personally unacceptable part of yourself with those same traits you described. If the dead person is someone you know well, then seeing them dead may have to do with your relationship with that person – for example, some aspect of the relationship is over, outmoded. This is not necessarily a bad thing, though, as the other side of death is new life. Old parts of ourselves and/or of our relationships need to die in order for new aspects to be born. This is what growth is all about.

All that said, this recurring dream may be a metaphor for “out with the old, in with the new” in regards to different aspects of growth occurring in your life. The fact that the bodies are dead but still moving may represent resistance to accepting the finality of transition, not allowing the past or obsolete to “rest in peace”. Next time you have the dream, think about what was on your mind the night before, and this may provide more clues as to the message the dream is trying to relay.

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I am at a wedding, a Roman Catholic service…

Dream: I am at a wedding, a very large wedding. There seems to be a Roman Catholic service in progress. I meet a cousin that was deceiving in the past and embrace her, then I turn to my mother and take off my wedding ring (I am happily married) and give it to my mother to keep. What does this dream mean or reveal?

DreamsMaster: A wedding in a dream often symbolizes transition and new beginnings. The presence of the Roman Catholic service is quite significant, though its specific significance is dependent on your personal association to the Roman Catholic religion. Regardless, it’s a spiritual symbol, so the wedding likely represents a spiritual transition.

Depending on how close you are with this cousin that appears in the dream, the way you describe the scene appears to represent forgiveness. It could be genuine forgiveness of the cousin herself, or it could be forgiveness of an aspect of yourself that was “deceiving” in the past.

You take off your wedding ring and give it to your mother to keep. This may be symbolic of your lasting commitment to your mother as her devoted son. This act may also symbolize your elevation to a greater level of maturity and obligation in both the physical and spiritual realm.

Putting it all together, stated as if it were my dream:

I am in a state of spiritual transition. I experience this through transforming negative judgment lodged in the past to present-day forgiveness, as well as by honoring my role as a faithful son.

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I dreamed I was falling…

Dream: This dream I had last night. I dreamed I was falling and I was so frightened. But I started to take control of my fear and landed safely. When I looked around me I saw cats everywhere and I felt safe again.

DreamsMaster: What a great dream! To have an experience of falling – the essence of feeling ungrounded, lacking support, out of control – and then to convert that experience into taking control of your fear and landing safely is a very powerful dream experience, which you can now take and translate to your waking world. In other words, you now know on a deeper level how to control your thoughts and emotions in such a way as to convert fear into positive action.

Cats in a dream commonly symbolize feminine energy, as well as power and freedom. To me, a cat also symbolizes independence (similar to freedom) and wisdom. More important is what cats mean to you. Think about how you would describe a cat, and then look at that description and consider how those traits may be aspects of yourself – aspects that contribute to your sense of safety in the world.

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I dreamed of my father’s funeral…

Dream: I dreamed of my father’s funeral. As we were carrying him to the grave site, the coffin fell and he fell out of it, wearing the same jeans he always does and a shirt and tie. We rolled him over to put him back in the casket and once he was in, his eyes opened and he looked around as though to say “what am I doing in here?” but he never spoke. That’s when I woke up. My dad is 85 and still alive, although not in the greatest medical shape. I don’t know if I am suppose to prepare myself for something that I don’t want to happen. Please help if you can.

DreamsMaster: Yes, I believe this dream is indeed preparing you for something that you don’t want to happen. Your dad is aging, his health is failing, and death is imminent. Not necessarily in the next few days or weeks, but intuitively you know the day will come soon enough, and your innermost mind is preparing you for the inevitable. In fact, you have already begun the grief process.

Perhaps a friend of yours recently lost a parent. Or you may have seen a movie or read a story that involved death. There are numerous ways the outer world may have infiltrated your inner world and triggered thoughts of your own parent loss, resulting in this dream.

If your dad were young and in good health, then the dream would more likely symbolize your childhood image of him dying or becoming obsolete, representing a new level of maturity awakening within you. This level of symbolism may still be true, but based on the additional information you added about his age and health, the more literal interpretation in regards to mentally/emotionally preparing for the loss carries more weight.

In your dream your dad had the sense he didn’t belong in the coffin. This is likely your own rational mind recognizing he’s not dead yet, and perhaps even symbolic of your resistance to his dying. However, your intuition – what dreams are largely made of – is warning you that the time is drawing near. From my perspective, the takeaway message is to start preparing for the loss mentally and emotionally… first and foremost by taking advantage of the time you still have with him in the present.

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Fish and fortune…

Dream: Eating cooked but not ready fish

DreamsMaster: Fish and fortune usually go hand-in-hand when it comes to dream interpretation. Fish in dreams often symbolize faith and fertility as well. It’s interesting that in this particular dream the fish is cooked but not ready. This could represent your faith, fortune or fertility (which could also represent creativity) is not yet fully developed, but is on the path. Give it a little more time.
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Dream: I dreamed of an open sea… I saw lots of big fishes… then we cooked heads of big shrimps, squids and other fishes

DreamsMaster: Although every dream is personal to the dreamer and only the dreamer can truly interpret it, my sense is that this dream is a sign of riches ahead for you. An open sea could represent endless possibilities, while catching big fishes to feast on could represent the bounty ahead.

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Additional note: Although dreams about fish or eating fish often symbolically represent good fortune or fertility, sometimes a dream about eating fish has a literal meaning. The body could be craving certain qualities of fish such as omega-3 fatty acids, which are believed to have important benefits to the heart and even to infant development during pregnancy. In this case, a dream about eating fish could be a message to the dreamer to add fish to the dreamer’s diet.

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