Creating a Dream Dictionary

Whenever you have a dream it is an opportunity to add every symbol in it to a dream dictionary. In part 3 of Dream Journaling, I guide you through the process of creating a dream symbol chart. That chart is a useful tool for creating your dream dictionary, so have it ready. Below, I will walk you through the steps to take when trying to define your dream symbols.

Learning how to work with an unknown symbol and define what it means to you:

Using a list of symbols, possibly from your dream symbol chart, pick one that you feel won’t be too hard to define.  Then, follow the steps below.

Step #1:

Ask the standard questions:

What is “the symbol”?

What does “the symbol” mean to you personally?

At this point you may understand how you’re using the symbol in your dream and be able to write your first entry in your dictionary. If so, jump to Step #4.

If not, continue to follow the steps below.

Step #2:

Research the symbol by looking it up in a dictionary, on the internet, in a book, etc.

Step #3:

Now that you understand this symbol better than you ever have before, you can examine the way you’re using it in your current dream.

Step #4:

Write your dream dictionary entry.

Choose a notebook or your computer for this purpose.

If you use a notebook, I suggest using the spiral kind and make a separate page for each entry. In this way you can insert new pages in alphabetical order whenever you choose.

I’ll go through the steps myself to show you how simple it can be.

I’ll use Water as my example symbol.

Step #1:

What is water?

It is essential to life. You need to drink water.

Without water you will die.

Water represents a key to life.

What does water mean to you personally?

I love the water. I love to swim.

I love sparkling clean water.

Represents happy times at the pool and the beach.

I am in awe of the vastness of the ocean.

I do not like water I cannot see through.

I fear things in the water that I cannot see.

Note: I didn’t have to go through steps 2 and 3, because I knew what the meaning of water was.  Had I not known, I would have researched, which is what steps 2 and 3 are about, and then hopefully come to the same conclusions that I have below in Step #4.

Step #4:

Your dream dictionary entry could look like this:

Water: Essential to life. A key to life. Without it you will die.

Water in a dream could represent life.

Clear water could speak about being able to see the things that are moving through your life. It could represent that childlike joy of seeing something in your life with clarity.

Water that you are unable to see through could speak of the inability to see things. It could also be about your fear of things you cannot see.

Continue the Process

Follow the steps above for each symbol that appears in your dreams and you’ll eventually have a substantial dream dictionary to pull from for assistance when interpreting and analyzing your dreams.

To get a feel for what your dream dictionary will look like, I have made my personal dictionary available for you – simply click here: Dream Dictionary. You can also find it in the navigation bar at the top of every page here at Dream Talker.

As always, thanks for reading!